H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DD O R D R E C H T

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DIn the historic heart of Dordrecht, on the site where Augustinians founded their monastery in the 13th century, we now present the history of Holland’s oldest city. A history that reaches far beyond the city’s boundaries. On more than one occasion Dordrecht has been the setting for key moments in Dutch history. In 1572, for instance, the First Assembly of the Free States was convened there. This was a key event, that laid the foundations for the independent Republic of the Netherlands, the predecessor of our current Netherlands. And in 1618-19, the city was host to the meeting of the Synod of Dordrecht. This major international ecclesiastical gathering set the course for the Protestant Church worldwide.

This book offers the reader a tour around Het Hof and tells the story of Dordrecht through historical objects, archaeological finds, archival records, paintings and prints from the Dordrecht Collection. Not only are the events of 1572 brought to life, but also Dordrecht’s golden age as a powerful trading centre, the devastating St. Elizabeth’s Day Flood, and Dordrecht’s metamorphosis from ‘city of wood’ to modern industrial city. And of course the history of the monastery itself. It is the fascinating story of Dordrecht, spanning almost 800 years of history.

HET HOF VA

N NEDERLAND

DO

RDREC

HT

E N G L I S H

ENGLISH

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DD O R D R E C H T

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DIn the historic heart of Dordrecht, on the site where Augustinians founded their monastery in the 13th century, we now present the history of Holland’s oldest city. A history that reaches far beyond the city’s boundaries. On more than one occasion Dordrecht has been the setting for key moments in Dutch history. In 1572, for instance, the First Assembly of the Free States was convened there. This was a key event, that laid the foundations for the independent Republic of the Netherlands, the predecessor of our current Netherlands. And in 1618-19, the city was host to the meeting of the Synod of Dordrecht. This major international ecclesiastical gathering set the course for the Protestant Church worldwide.

This book offers the reader a tour around Het Hof and tells the story of Dordrecht through historical objects, archaeological finds, archival records, paintings and prints from the Dordrecht Collection. Not only are the events of 1572 brought to life, but also Dordrecht’s golden age as a powerful trading centre, the devastating St. Elizabeth’s Day Flood, and Dordrecht’s metamorphosis from ‘city of wood’ to modern industrial city. And of course the history of the monastery itself. It is the fascinating story of Dordrecht, spanning almost 800 years of history.

HET HOF VA

N NEDERLAND

DO

RDREC

HT

E N G L I S H

ENGLISH

HE T HOF VAN NEDERLAND

Jan Al leblas

Teun de Brui jn

Niels van Driel

Herman A. van Duinen

Marianne Eekhout

Ir is Knapen

Liesbeth van Noor twijk

Liesbeth van Noor twijk

a u t h o r s

e d i t o r

P R E FAC E

I N T R O D U C T I O N

I N D I S P E N S A B L E PA RT N E R S

T H E AU G U S T I N I A N M O N A S T E R Y O F D O R D R E C H T 1275-1575

F R O M AU G U S T I N I A N M O N A S T E R Y T O H O F VA N N E D E R L A N D

E M B O DY I N G H I S T O R Y R E M O D E L L I N G H E T H O F

E I G H T H U N D R E D Y E A R S O F H I S T O R YI N T E N K I LO M E T R E S O F A R C H I V E S

H I S T O R Y A S E X P E R I E N C E

S T O R I E S O F D O R D R E C H T

T H E S PA R K L E

T H E S T O R M

T H E C I T Y

T H E F R E E D O M

T H E FA I T H

T H E C I T Y ’ S P R O G R E S S

C O L O P H O N

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10

12

16

24

30

42

52

62

82

94

106

118

130

144

CONTENTS

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11

INTRODUCTIONAfter more than two years of renovations, Het Hof van Nederland is ready and open to the public. On the site where Augustinians founded their monastery over seven centuries ago, we now present the rich history of Holland’s oldest city – a history that reaches far beyond the city’s boundaries. On more than one occasion Dordrecht has been the setting for key moments in Dutch history – in 1572 of course, when the First Assembly of the Free States was convened there, and again in 1618-19, when the city was host to a six-month meeting of the Synod of Dordrecht. This major international ecclesiastical gathering set the course for the Protestant Church worldwide. It also commissioned a new Bible translation, the States Bible, which went on to have a profound influence on the Dutch language.

Today, in 2015, Het Hof van Nederland is a place where everyone can discover the story of Dordrecht through hundreds of historical objects, archaeological finds, archival records, paintings and prints from the Dordrecht Collection. These museum items are part of an innovative and exciting multimedia exhibition including tailor-made film, audio and video presentations and digital information. The emphasis is on experience, participation, surprise and astonishment. Not only are the events of 1572 brought to life, but also Dordrecht’s golden age as a powerful trading centre, the devastating St. Elizabeth’s Day Flood, and Dordrecht’s metamorphosis from ‘city of wood’ to modern industrial city. And of course the history of the monastery itself. Alongside the permanent exhibition, the museum offers space for temporary exhibitions. The reading room of the Dordrecht Regional Archives, which is freely accessible to everyone, is also part of the remodelled Hof complex.

Het Hof van Nederland has been a major project for the city of Dordrecht. This unique monument has been extensively renovated, bringing together different functions under one roof and creating a cutting-edge museum with ambitious plans for the future. The fact that the municipality of Dordrecht has supplied the funding demonstrates their courage and confidence – I am extremely grate-ful to the municipal executive and council for their support.

With its wealth of images, this book gives some idea of the fascinating story of Dordrecht, spanning almost 800 years of history. I hope many visitors from the city and beyond will come and experience it.

Peter SchoonDirector

THE AUGUSTINIAN MONASTERY OF DORDRECHT 1275-1575

In the Middle Ages a monastery stood on the site of Het Hof. Parts of the original complex – the cellars, refectory and dormitory – can still be seen in the current building. This internationally renowned monastery meant a great deal for Dordrecht, a city on the rise – that is, until 1572, the year in which Dordrecht supported William of Orange in the Revolt against Spain, and Calvinism became the dominant religion.

A U G U S T I N I A N S I N D O R D R E C H T

17

Herman A. van Duinen

H O W I T B E GA NThe Order of St. Augustine was founded in 1256 under Pope Alexander IV. Its aim – alongside learning, hearing confession and spiritual care – was to preach the gospel in the cities that were emerging throughout Europe at that time. The Augustinian ideal was to lead the vita apostolica, the way of life of the Apostles and the first Christian community. In emulation of the Apostles, they renounced all worldly goods and lived as itinerant preachers. They adopted the Rule of St. Augustine. Aurelius Augustinus (354-430), the Father of the Church, had founded a monastery for laypeople at Hippo in North Africa in 391. The rule that he devised for them is among the oldest surviving monastic rules in the West.

Augustinians settled in Dordrecht in 1275, just nineteen years after the Order was founded. The city was developing rapidly. Thanks to its favourable location, it evolved in the second half of the 13th century to become a centre of inter-national trade and one of the largest and most important cities in Holland.

The Augustinian monastery meant a great deal to Dordrecht’s urban community. It provided them with a church, which they eagerly attended because of the diversity of preachers and confessors. People also wished to be buried there so that masses could be read for their own and their family’s salvation. They frequently expressed their gratitude by donating altars and stained glass windows.

The monastery was built on an open block of land donated by Count Floris V, bounded by the Voorstraat, Steegoversloot, Nieuwstraat and Augustijnenkamp. The first building will have stood adjacent to the levee of the inland waterway, the present-day Voorstraat and Voorstraathaven. In the 13th century the area along the levee was developed and brick houses were built. There was enough room between the houses for the monastery to be built.

18

Symbol of the Order of St. Augustine

The symbol features a text by St. Augustine: You [God] have pierced our hearts with the arrow of your love, and Your words that have penetrated my heart set me aflame (St. Augustine, Confessions)

Map of Dordrecht, 1545 (detail of map on p. 64) Copy (1674) after Jacob van Deventer (original lost). The monastery site was located inside the white boundary.

T H E R E B U I L D I N G O F T H E M O N A S T E R YIn 1295, soon after the monastery church was built, a fire broke out and a new monastery was built on the site. Little is known about the monastery buildings during the 13th and 14th centuries. A 15th-century deed (1442) mentions the rebuilding of the monastery (die nyeuw tymering van den cloester). The church was also extended during that period. For its construc-tion the Augustinians used material from the church of Eemkerk that had been submerged by floods in 1421.

The monastery church, the construction of which began around 1440, replaced the former, single-nave church. The choir and nave of the new church were probably built on the foundations of the old church. A narrower aisle was built, separated from the nave by an arcade of stone columns with cabbage-leaf capitals. The extension was necessary because of the large crowds that flocked to the church, attracted by the Augustinians’ preaching. Shortly after the church was completed, four family chapels were built against the south wall of the aisle. The chapels could be accessed from the church through large pointed arches.

The first chapel, viewed from the Voorstraat, was founded in 1488 by the Schrijver regent family. It was followed by the rectangular chapels of Jan van Drenckwaert and Willem van Drenckwaert, founded before 1549 and 1488 respectively, the years in which their founders died. The adjacent chapel, founded in about 1460, originally belonged to the Queckel family, but was later acquired by the Van Beveren family. Each chapel had an altar, but these disappeared when Dordrecht turned to Calvinism in 1572. An altarpiece that had stood in the Jan van Drenckwaert chapel before the Reformation is now in the National Museum in Warsaw.

19

South side of the Augustinian church, with the Jan van Drenckwaert and Willem van Drenckwaert chapels on the left and the Van Beveren chapel on the right

Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) triptych, 1544Maarten van HeemskerckWarsaw, National Museum

Founder Jan van Drenckwaert is depicted on the left panel, his wife Margaretha de Jonge van Baardwijk on the right.

F I R E A N D R E B U I L D I N GFire broke out once again on 23 August 1512. There were no serious conse-quences for the church, although the timber roof structure was destroyed and had to be replaced. The monastery was harder hit. The Archbishop of Cologne, Philip II of Daun-Oberstein, granted an indulgence of eleven days to everyone who contributed to the rebuilding or who supplied stones and lime.

What did the monastery look like after it was rebuilt? The square monastery courtyard (or quadrangle) and the rib-vaulted cloister surrounding it formed the central section. There was a well in the centre of the courtyard and a lavatorium, for washing, by the eastern cloister. The cloister led to the monks’ cells and offered shelter from the rain or heat. It was also a place for medita-tion; silence was obligatory.

Opposite the lavatorium was the small winter refectory (refter), which gave access to the large summer refectory and kitchen. Above the summer refectory was the dormitory, reached by a spiral staircase. Below it was the cellar, comprising four masonry rooms with barrel-vaulted ceilings. The winter refectory is now demolished, but the summer refectory, the dormitory and the cellars still exist. Although heavily remodelled in around 1972, they are – with the exception of the church – the oldest rooms that survive from the rebuild of the monastery after the fire in 1512.

On the northern side of the cloister, along the Steegoversloot, were the prior’s chamber, infirmary (sieckhuys), brewery and storerooms (loeven). Monks who were too weak or ill to carry out their daily duties were cared for in the infirmary. It is not clear where the library was located, or the chapter house, where the monks gathered on important occasions.

20

Steegoversloot

The monastery garden lay behind the monastery buildings

The monastery garden

Drawing of part of the buildings after the fire of 1512Albert van Engelenhoven,2000

Also on pages 14-15: in the pavement of the courtyard, the location of the eastern cloister and lavatorium is marked.

Behind the monastery buildings, between the Ganck ten Augustinen (‘Augustinian passage’, now the Hofstraat) and the Augustijnenkamp, was the monastery garden, surrounded by a canal, the Augustinengraft. It inclu-ded a herb garden for the cultivation of plants with medicinal properties. Medicines made from these plants were used to heal the sick in the infirmary. The monastery garden also contained a vegetable garden (hortus) and an orchard. The most important monastery building was the church. It was where the Augustinian monks gathered seven times a day for the divine offices (scripture readings, psalms and prayer). And, as mentioned earlier, it was where people could be buried and where the souls of the dead were prayed for (the Requiem Mass).

The Dordrecht monastery was part of the ecclesiastical Province of Cologne. The monastery’s high standing is evident from the fact that the most im-portant meeting, the Provincial Chapter, was held there on several occasions. Representatives from all the monasteries belonging to the Province gathered there under the leadership of the Prior Provincial. For example, on 29 September 1489 the chapter fathers assembled in the monastery’s chapter house. The Dordrecht monastery also had a reputation as a centre of learning. After their preliminary education, young Augustinians would leave Dordrecht to study further at famous seminaries and universities abroad.

21

Interior of the contemporary ‘Augustijnenkerk’

144

COLOPHONThis issue was published at the opening of Het Hof van Nederland, Dordrecht, 27th of April 2015.

ArchitectMecanoo, Delft

Interior and exhibition designXPEX Experience Architects, Amsterdam

Graphic designNatwerk, AmsterdamJantijn van den Heuvel, Made

Artifacts, photographs, books and documents depicted in this book are part of the Dordrecht Collection (Dordrecht museum, Van Gijn House, Regional Archives, Monuments & Archaeology) unless otherwise provided.

PhotographyDordrecht Collection: Richard Boonstra, Marco de Nood,Roel Weenink

Jeroen Musch p. 2, 4, 6-7, 8, 10, 14-15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 27 (below), 30, 32-33, 34-35, 36, 37, 38-39, 40-41, 42, 50, 52, 54-55, 58-59, 60-61, 62, 74-75, 82, 94, 106, 118, 130, 142

Jeroen Niemeijerp. 111, 112-113, 116-117

Herman A. van Duinen p. 17, 18, 19, 85, 120

Mascha Joustra p. 56, 57

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford p. 86-87

National Archives of the Netherlands, The Haguep. 114-115

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam p. 88

Rob Hodselmansp. 129

Frank Peters p. 93 (above)

Rinie Boon p.93 (below)

TranslationUvA Talen, Amsterdam

EditorLiesbeth van Noortwijk

Graphic designJantijn van den Heuvel, Made

PublishingWBOOKS, Zwolle, The Netherlands

© WBOOKS / Het Hof van Nederland

All rights reserved. Nothing in this publication may be multiplied, stored in an automated database, or published, in any form or in any way, be it electronically, automatically, through photocopying, recording or in any other way, without the publisher’s prior, written consent.

ISBN978 94 625 8092 3

Het Hof van NederlandHof 63311 xg Dordrecht

www.hethofvannederland.nlwww.wbooks.com

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DD O R D R E C H T

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DIn the historic heart of Dordrecht, on the site where Augustinians founded their monastery in the 13th century, we now present the history of Holland’s oldest city. A history that reaches far beyond the city’s boundaries. On more than one occasion Dordrecht has been the setting for key moments in Dutch history. In 1572, for instance, the First Assembly of the Free States was convened there. This was a key event, that laid the foundations for the independent Republic of the Netherlands, the predecessor of our current Netherlands. And in 1618-19, the city was host to the meeting of the Synod of Dordrecht. This major international ecclesiastical gathering set the course for the Protestant Church worldwide.

This book offers the reader a tour around Het Hof and tells the story of Dordrecht through historical objects, archaeological finds, archival records, paintings and prints from the Dordrecht Collection. Not only are the events of 1572 brought to life, but also Dordrecht’s golden age as a powerful trading centre, the devastating St. Elizabeth’s Day Flood, and Dordrecht’s metamorphosis from ‘city of wood’ to modern industrial city. And of course the history of the monastery itself. It is the fascinating story of Dordrecht, spanning almost 800 years of history.

HET HOF VA

N NEDERLAND

DO

RDREC

HT

E N G L I S H

ENGLISH

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DD O R D R E C H T

H E T H O F VA N N E D E R L A N DIn the historic heart of Dordrecht, on the site where Augustinians founded their monastery in the 13th century, we now present the history of Holland’s oldest city. A history that reaches far beyond the city’s boundaries. On more than one occasion Dordrecht has been the setting for key moments in Dutch history. In 1572, for instance, the First Assembly of the Free States was convened there. This was a key event, that laid the foundations for the independent Republic of the Netherlands, the predecessor of our current Netherlands. And in 1618-19, the city was host to the meeting of the Synod of Dordrecht. This major international ecclesiastical gathering set the course for the Protestant Church worldwide.

This book offers the reader a tour around Het Hof and tells the story of Dordrecht through historical objects, archaeological finds, archival records, paintings and prints from the Dordrecht Collection. Not only are the events of 1572 brought to life, but also Dordrecht’s golden age as a powerful trading centre, the devastating St. Elizabeth’s Day Flood, and Dordrecht’s metamorphosis from ‘city of wood’ to modern industrial city. And of course the history of the monastery itself. It is the fascinating story of Dordrecht, spanning almost 800 years of history.

HET HOF VA

N NEDERLAND

DO

RDREC

HT

E N G L I S H

ENGLISH