Old towns of the Benelux

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Old towns of the Benelux outlines an overview of notable old towns in the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands).

Prehistory

Whilst towns and cities founded in prehistory don't exist in the Low Countries, many traces of prehistoric life exist, mostly in Luxembourg and Belgium. The oldest encampment that has been found back, is found mostly in quarries and mines. Most notably, the Belvédère Quarry and Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, both near Maastricht, have uncovered activity of Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis dating as far back as 250,000 BCE. Most traces of humanoid activity from before the last ice age, however, is sporadic and situational.

During the Saale Glaciation, the Benelux was largely uninhabitable, with the Low Countries switching between a tundra climate and ice climate. During the Eemian interglacial, beginning around 130,000 BCE, more and more traces of Neanderthals are found. It's only during the Holocene (11.700 BCE until today), that humans and their ancestors really started settling in the Low Countries. The oldest-dateable culture that has called any part of the Low Countries their home, was the Hamburgian culture (15,500 - 13,100 BP). Most of their traces have been found in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Drenthe. During this time, the Dogger bank still exists, connecting the low countries to Great Britain. It's only around 7000 BCE that the coastlines start resembling those of today.

Neolithic

Around 5300 BCE, the neolithic starts in the region. With it, many new things start in the Low Countries, such as agriculture, small-scale animal husbandry, wooden longhouses and pottery. A divide remains however. Above the river Rhine, a hunter-gatherer society remains active, whilst a more sedimentary society settles below the river. The Linear Pottery culture settles in regions such as Limburg, making their settlements the first of the Low Countries. Around 4250 BCE, they become advanced enough to manage small towns, making their settlements some of the Benelux's oldest towns. After about 700 years, the culture disappears, presumably being driven out by hostile cultures. They, however, did interact with the hunter-gatherers in the lower-lying swamps, and these hunter-gatherers slowly took over some of their customs like the domestication of animals.

The region becomes important in neolithic Europe around 3800 BCE, when flint is mined in large amounts around Spiennes, Belgium. Spiennes thereby is the oldest-known flint mine of Europe, earning it a listing as UNESCO World Heritage. On the Dutch-Belgian border, in Rijckholt near Eijsden, one of the oldest mines of Europe comes into operation as well. Rijckholt, consisting of some 5000 small mines, produced about 40,000 tonnes of flint over its thousand-year tenure. Other notable remnants of this age are found in the Northern Netherlands and towards the border of France, where dolmen were erected as funerary structures. Similarly, menhirs were erected in much of Belgium, the largest of which is found near Tournai.

Metal Ages

Around 2100 BCE, the Bronze Age begins, and mostly brings specialisation along. Trade becomes a lot more important to humans in this period, and with trade, so does purchasing power and status. This then gets expressed through the possession of high-quality goods, such as the Jutphaas Sword - One of five similar swords found in Britany, England, and elsewhere in the Low Countries. Around 1300 BCE, a notable shift in funerary traditions takes place, with the standard shifting from burial to cremation. Around the same time, natural landscapes such as peat swamps are known to have played a role in the rituals of humans. Temples have been found in these swamps, as well as bog bodies - presumed human sacrifices.

During the Iron Age, rituals shift towards thermal water sources, and temples get built around them. Health cults of the Celtic cultures are presumed remnants of those rituals. Similar to the Celts, priests and doctors ('Veleta') were highly regarded among the Gallic people living in parts of Belgium. Germanic and Celtic cultures in general dictate most of the day-to-day lives of people during this time. The Low Countries are mostly settled by the Hilversum culture (Belgium and the Netherlands below the Rhine), Hoogkarspel culture (Western Netherlands) and the Erp culture (Eastern and Northern Netherlands, as well as much of Northwest Germany).

The first fortified trading towns and hill forts are known to date from 700 BCE, and warriors become a distinct social class. In Friesland and Groningen, towns are founded on top of mounds (Terpen or Wierden), many of which still form the basis of towns in these provinces. Meanwhile, between the Rhine and Seine rivers, the Belgic people establish themselves. Coins get introduced into society around 450 BCE.

That the people inhabiting the Low Countries at this time were mighty and capable, is shown by the invasion of the Senones into Rome in either 390 or 387 BCE. Only after paying hefty sums of money, do the invaders from around the river Seine leave Rome. Several hundred years later, the expansion of the Roman Empire would mean the Celtic and Germanic tribes of the Low Country ended up displaced, with some Belgii settling in southeastern England.

Notable prehistoric destinations

Prehistoric settlements in the Benelux.

50.42473.98731 Spiennes — The largest and oldest neolithic flint mine of Europe, having been in use between 4300 and 2300 BCE. Spiennes flints were distributed throughout most of western Europe.
52.79156.90762 Drentse Hondsrug — Hill ridge in the north of the Netherlands, on which a substantial amount of dolmen (Hunebedden) remain standing. These were originally in use as iron age burial structures, in use between 3450 BCE and 2850 BCE. Their burial chambers are built out of Scandinavian rocks, deposited during the ice age.
50.33954.28683 Thuin — City in the southwest of Wallonia, which has been used as a settlement sporadically from the neolithic onwards. Around 100 BCE, Celtic tribes created a hillfort here, which became permanently inhabited around the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul. The hillfort has been under siege by the Romans, and was used as a settlement during Roman times. Presumably the settlement remained inhabited after the fall of Rome, as it was still a notable city in the eighth century, blossoming in the tenth century.
50.1635.64764 Le Cheslé — Located in a meander of the river Ourthe, this 14 hectares (0.054 sq mi)-large Celtic fortification has been a strategic and hard-to-reach stronghold located some 80 metres (87 yd) above the river. It is the largest Celtic settlement in Belgium known to date, and has been in use between the eighth and sixth century BCE. Large parts of the fortifications have been recreated in situ.

Roman Empire

Roman era towns and cities in the Low Countries.

Main article: Roman Empire

The Romans subjugate the Belgic people between 57 and 51 BCE by Julius Caesar. The area between the Rhine and Seine rivers becomes a part of the Roman Empire under the name of Gallia Belgica (Belgic Gaul). Roman presence, specifically that of Julius Caesar and his troops, kicks off the Gallic Wars during which Gallic, Germanic and Brittonic tribes in modern-day France, Belgium and Switzerland try to defend themselves from the Roman coloniser. Within the Low Countries, Caesar either nearly or entirely eradicates the Germanic Usipeti and Tencteri tribes, which would have lived in modern-day north Noord-Brabant. Caesar's own Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War) are, nonetheless the first written history of the region, and it is him who ends the prehistoric era in the Benelux.

Tribes that are more friendly with the Romans settled in the largely depopulated Gallia Belgica after the Gallic Wars. The Batavi settle in the Betuwe, the Cananefates between the mouths of the Meuse and Rhine rivers, and north of the Rhine, the Frisii settle. The Tungri are allowed to settle the former land of the Eburones (northeast Belgium). During the reign of Tiberius, Germania Inferior (Lower Germania), the land around the river Rhine, also gets settled. With this, the Cananefates, Batavi, Sigambri and Ubii become subjugated. Around the same time, most of the Belgic settlements form. Some of which where tribes once called home, others in completely new locations. The coastal settlements of the Menapii on the Belgian coast get modernised, and are mostly used by the Romans to harvest salt. Further inland, agriculture and weaving become the main industries. Logging and mining (of iron, zinc and calcium) also become respectable industries.

Gallia Belgica

These are more or less the major Belgian settlements that were founded in Roman times. Most of its territory is found in Northern France. Belgium itself was rather sparsely populated with major Roman settlements.

49.68435.81535 Arlon (Orolaunum) (est. <57 BCE) — Whilst the area around Arlon has been inhabited since as early as the 15th century BCE, the first time history tells us of an actual settlement is in the Itinerarium Antonini, a third-century CE Roman travel guide. The town was originally a settlement of the Treveri, which became Roman after his conquest passed through this region in 57 BCE. Orolaunum was expanded and fortified, and became a well-off trading hub. The Roman roads from Reims to Trier and Metz to Tongeren met here, making the settlement a logical place for mercantilism. A temple in the town was dedicated to the Celtic and Roman gods of war, and the thermae built in the first century were used until after the Romans left. When Germanic tribes invade the region in the third century, the settlement gets moved to a better defensible hillside. Remnants of the Treveri-Roman settlement remain to be seen; two of the settlement's tower's ruins can be viewed, as well as the thermae ruins. A more complete version of this history though, can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Arlon.

50.78075.46436 Tongeren (Atuaca Tungrorum) (est. ±51 BCE) — To ensure safety and peace in Gallia Belgica, the Romans founded many army encampments, of which Tongeren was one. The city is presumably established around 51 BCE, when the Tungri people are permitted to settle in the lands formerly occupied by the Eburones. The city was named after the Tungri tribe. With the start of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace), the city lost its military function and became inhabited by the Tongri tribe. The city was destroyed during the Batavian Uprising (69-70 CE), but was swiftly rebuilt. The rebuilt city grew rich again after the completion of a road connecting to Cassel in France, and an aquaduct supplying the city with drinking water. Under Trajan (98-117 CE), Tungrorum was promoted to be the capital of its civitas, and became a garrisoned city to feed the supply line for the Rhine border. The city became quite prestigious, featuring a multitude of temples, thermae, a forum, grain depot and amphitheatre. During the second century, the town was fortified with a 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi)-long wall, making the city larger than Cologne, the capital of Germania Inferior. During the fourth century, after years of political instability, the city wall was reduced to 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) to fend off the Franks and Vandals. The city kept growing despite this, and became the capital of the Diocese of Tongeren (later of Maastricht, then Liège) in 280 CE. Tongeren was conquered by the Franks under Clovis' reign. It kept its importance, but didn't exactly flourish again until the eleventh century when a fortified monastery was built, which allowed the city to regain its role as a trade hub.
50.6073.38917 Tournai (Turnacum) (est. <14 CE) — Found along the Via Belgica, Tournai came to be founded as a Roman city, following a checkerboard pattern layout, and would grow to a size of 40 hectares (0.15 sq mi), covering both banks of the river Scheldt. The city was equipped with paved roads, stone buildings, and a sewer. Turnacum grew into an important industrial centre, even though it was originally only a secondary settlement to Castellum Menapiorum (Cassel, France). Stone and textiles were the city's main produce, and were shipped from a small harbour on the right bank of the Scheldt. Political instability caused the city to shrink in the third and fourth centuries, and the city on the right bank of the Scheldt was abandoned. The city was fortified during this period as well, and around 320 CE, the capital of the civitas (region) shifted from Menapiorum to Turnacum, which would become the later Diocese of Tournai. The Roman city was conquered by the Franks, who used the city as their capital until 486 CE, housing the Frankish kings Childeric I and Clovis. The latter of which conquered Tongeren.
50.7783.04268 Wervik (Viroviacum) —
50.41314.15069 Waudrez (Vodgoriacum) —

Germania Inferior

The part of Germania Inferior that lies within the Low Countries more or less corresponds to the modern-day Netherlands. As the river Rhine formed the frontier of the Roman Empire up until the Fall of Rome, the Netherlands are quite densely populated with Roman settlements. Many of these were just small fortified army camps, but the group below make up the main cities of the Dutch part of Lower Germania.

52.12914.661310 Alphen aan den Rijn (Albaniana)
50.88735.9811 Heerlen (Coriovallum) — Located where the Via Treverorum and Via Belgica meet, Coriovallum was a notable settlement without doubt. Most notably, its thermae have been excavated, making them the oldest, biggest and best-preserved Dutch building from antiquity. A museum about Roman life in the Netherlands (Thermenmuseum) has been built around the excavation.
52.21124.378812 Valkenburg (Lugdunum Batavorum) — Lugdunum is a Celtic-Roman settlement that made for the northwest-most settlement along the Lower Germanic Limes, near to where Katwijk lies today. Just beyond the current shoreline lie the remains of a Roman fortification dubbed "Brittenburg", which was part of the Roman fortifications along the empire's borders. The settlement's suffix (meaning "of the Batavi") might have been a later fabrication, as the settlement lied in territory of the Cananefates. Lugdunum's main use was as a naval base and trade harbour. The nearest Roman settlement that hasn't been swallowed by the waves is in nearby Valkenburg, the town centre of which sits atop a Roman castellum. The town's Roman history has been made visible around the Castellumplein.
50.84935.693313 Maastricht (Mosa Trajectum)
51.84665.861914 Nijmegen (Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum)
52.09085.12215 Utrecht (Traiectum)
52.06044.348216 Voorburg (Forum Hadriani)

Romans in Luxembourg

The massive villa grounds near Echternach.

Whilst there are no cities in Luxembourg that are founded by the Romans, most of their legacy in the small country comes in the form of individual villas. Its most prominent sites are:

Ricciacum (Dalheim, near Mondorf-les-Bains), a notable settlement on the Via Agrippa, connecting the Meuse with the Mediterranean. Nowadays, a well-preserved theatre from the second century is the main remnant. In its heyday, it could house some 3500 people. Ricciacum was founded in the first century, after Caesar's invasion, and became abandoned after being sacked and raided several times in the third and fourth century. In 407 CE, the settlement was abandoned altogether.
Echternach, which is one of Luxembourg's oldest still-inhabited cities, has a preserved Roman villa near the Lac d'Echternach.
Mamer, near Bertrange is home to a decent amount of Roman finds. Best-visited are the conserved foundations of a bathhouse on the banks of the Mamer.

The Franks

Map of towns and cities in the Low Countries, founded in the early Mediaeval period.

400 CE - 925 CE

51.10195.805717 Aldeneik — Founded in 730, Aldeneik formed around the cloister of the same name which was founded ten years prior by a Frankish nobleman. The cloister was superseded by a collegiate church before the middle of the tenth century. Two churches were built in the twelfth and thirteenth century, of which only the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic Sint-Annakerk remains standing today. The town today lies in the shadows of Maaseik, as the Iconoclastic Fury (Beeldenstorm) and subsequent Dutch Revolt forced the religious chapter to move to Maaseik in 1570. The former cloister and one of the churches had thereby become redundant, and were destroyed.
50.48685.100718 Andenne — Founded as an abbey in the middle of the seventh century near to a late-Roman fortification. The town formed around the abbey, and would even be one of the two claimed birthplaces of Charles Martel (689-741), commander in the Frankish army who grew powerful enough to be the de facto king of the Franks without usurping his superiors. The town would become notable for its production of ceramics during the later Mediaeval period.
51.22174.400519 Antwerp

50.36574.331620 Aulne — Based around the abbey of the same name, Aulne was founded in 637 by road robber-turned-hermit Landelin of Crespin (c. 625-686). The abbey was secondary to that of nearby Lobbes, but in the late ninth century started blossoming under guidance of Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal. The abbey saw soaring highs, combined with reeling lows, but nonetheless became one of the Low Countries' most powerful abbeys. At its height, it owned several refuge houses in notable cities, and an own college at the University of Louvain. The abbey was seriously damaged by the Burgundians ransacking it during their conquest of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, a French invasion under Henry II of France, and the Eighty Years' War. After this it regrew some of its former glory. The Gothic abbey was rebuilt with excessive luxury into a Baroque abbey. Work was finished around 1775, just in time for the abbey to once again be knocked down by conflict. The French Revolution destroyed the newly rebuilt abbey in 1794. Some parts were rebuilt in the nineteenth century, but many of the ruins remain standing today.
50.22885.008521 Celles — In the middle of the seventh century, the later beatified monk Hadelin founded a hermitage. His hermitage attracted some followers and expanded into a cloister, which later still became a collegiate, which founded the Romanesque Saint-Hadelin Church in the eleventh century. The town came into the hands of the noble family Beaufort in the 12th century. The Castle of Vêves was built by them in the following century. The town also makes the furthest point that the Second Pantzerdivision of the German army managed to push in the Battle of the Bulge (1944).
52.25336.157522 Deventer — As the hills of the nearby Veluwe dried up in the eighth century, farmers moved into the valley of the IJssel, which is the latest point at which Deventer could have been founded. In 768, the Northumbrian Saint Lebuïnus crossed the river and founded the church here. The town became a trade hub for fishermen, farmers and tradesmen. Presumably, the town flourished due to Viking raids which ransacked and destroyed the town of Dorestad near Wijk bij Duurstede. Even the Bishop of Utrecht settled here, founding a substitute court, making the city a religious centre as well. Viking raids, however, also came to target the city because of this. In the second half of the 12th century, Utrecht lost its hold on the Veluwe to Guelders, which led to Deventer becoming the capital of the exclave of Oversticht (roughly modern-day Overijssel), and making it the second city of the Bishopric of Utrecht. Before 1000 CE, the city gained its coinage rights, and was one of the most important trade cities of the modern-day Netherlands during the 11th and 12th centuries. The city joined the Hanseatic League during the thirteenth century. The city kept this importance until trade shifted into Holland and Zeeland during the 16th century. The Proosdij found in the city centre holds claim as the Netherlands' oldest stone building, dating from around 1130 CE.
49.81356.42223 Echternach — The Northumbrian Saint Willibrord founded an abbey here in 698, under the protection of the wife of Pepin of Herstal and her mother. Willibrord, who converted much of the Netherlands and Belgium to Christianity, lies buried in the crypts of the abbey. The abbey became a princely abbey around 750 CE, but eventually became subservient to the Counts of Luxembourg in 973. The scriptorium of the abbey, the department that hand-copies books, was one of the best-regarded ones of Europe during the 11th and 12th century. The abbey lost this importance slowly over time, and eventually was disenfranchised in 1797 following the incorporation of Luxembourg into the French Republic. The abbey was bombed in 1944, but largely rebuilt faithfully to its Neo-Romanesque style.
51.05333.726424 Ghent
50.6655.630125 Herstal
50.64255.571226 Liège
50.42726.027627 Malmedy
50.88385.754328 Meerssen
50.45443.951629 Mons
50.59764.323730 Nivelles
50.02515.373931 Saint-Hubert
50.81545.186332 Sint-Truiden
50.39355.931533 Stavelot
51.06483.101134 Torhout
51.88655.434735 Tiel
52.14076.194736 Zutphen

Rise of Cities

925 - 1384 CE

Burgundian and Habsburg age

1384 - 1562 CE

Age of Revolt

1562 - 1648 CE

List

Map of OTotB