Roermond (Limburgish: Remunj; French: Ruremonde) is a city in the
Dutch province of Limburg. The city is the seat of the diocese of
Roermond and is the urban core of the eponymous municipality of
Roermond. The municipality had a population of 58,620 on August 1,
2020. Roermond is located at the confluence of the Roer and the
Maas.
Roermond was a Hanseatic city in the late Middle Ages,
and one of the four capitals of the old duchy of Gelre, second in
size and largest in terms of trade.
Roermond was called Ruregemunde in 1130. The first word refers to the river Roer, which is said to be named after a Celtic-Germanic water goddess "Rura". The second part of the word seems to refer to the "estuary" of the Roer, but this is less likely since the Roer and the Maas joined the Weerd until ± 1340. The Maas then broke through its banks at Beegden and the Hambeek, 1 km southwest of Roermond, became a second mouth of the Roer in the Maas, thus creating a delta mouth. Other explanations, namely that "monde" would refer to a (possibly fortified) hill, a bridge or a Frankish castle are also uncertain.
A Roman sacrificial stone found in 1968 points to the habitation of
the place where Roermond is now located in the 3rd century. Later a
settlement arose on the so-called Christoffelberg or Buitenop, a
height to the west of the current St. Christopher's Cathedral. A
fortification was created between two Rudder arms, to the southeast
of it a trading post.
Ruremunde was first mentioned in
writing in 1130, and in the 12th century there was already talk of a
primitive earthen fortification. However, in 1213 the site was
destroyed by Emperor Otto IV during his battle against the
Hohenstaufen. Roermond came to belong to Opper-Gelre. Swalmen and
parts of Dalenbroek now belong to the municipality of Roermond, but
at the time were part of the neighboring duchy of Gulik. Between the
current Swalmer-, Bethlehem-, Dionisius-, Lelie- and Paredisstraat,
the reconstruction was started and the Munster Abbey was founded in
1218. In 1232 the place received city rights from Count Otto II and
the first wall was added, whereby the Christoffelberg came to lie
outside the walls. In 1342, the river bed of the Meuse was moved,
and it came closer to the city. The suburb of Sint-Jacob was created
between Maas and Roer, and two double water mills were created on a
Roerarm. A second wall was built in the mid-14th century. The
Munsterabdij, the Friars Minor Monastery founded in 1317, the
Carthusian Monastery founded in 1376 and the Begijnhof in 1388 were
all located within the walls. The Christoffelberg was excavated in
1388 because it proved difficult to defend. The Saint Christopher's
Church located there was demolished and moved inside the wall.
Roermond became the capital of Upper Gelre in 1547. Thanks to
shipping on the Maas, the city was able to become a member of the
Hanseatic League in 1441. In addition, she acquired the right to
mint in 1472. Upper Gelre fell to the Habsburg Netherlands in 1543,
at the end of the Guelders Wars. Not much later the city was hit by
the city fire of 1554. In 1559 the city was given a bishop's see.
The Holy Spirit Church, built in the 13th century, became a
cathedral. Incidentally, the St. Christopher's Church was elevated
to a cathedral in 1661, while the Holy Spirit Church was demolished
in 1821.
The city did
not take part in the Dutch Revolt. At the beginning of the Eighty
Years' War, William of Orange arrived and captured Roermond in July
1572, leaving the city in October. During this occupation, the
soldiers of William of Orange caused a massacre in the Carthusian
Monastery, see: Martelaren van Roermond. After this, the population
allowed Don Frederik to enter without resistance.
Around
1613, 64 persons accused of witchcraft were burned in Roermond. Two
witches were burned every day for a month.
The States' armies
did not invade the region after that, until the Campaign along the
Maas of 1632, in which the Republic easily took Roermond.
Stadtholder Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz was killed during the
siege when a musket shot hit him in the head while inspecting the
trenches.
A few years later, Roermond was recaptured by the
Spaniards. The city fire of 1665 again reduced most of the city to
ashes, but rebuilding soon followed. It then remained Spanish until
the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Upper Guelders was
occupied by French troops in 1702, but then fell under State
administration until 1716. Through the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and
the new Barrier tract, Roermond returned to the Southern
Netherlands, which now fell into the hands of the Archduchy of
Austria; it then became the capital of Austro-Guelders. After 1783,
under Emperor Joseph II, the monasteries were closed and the
demolition of the city walls started.
The First French Republic ruled the city for several months in
1792-1793, under Francisco de Miranda. The city was definitively
French from 1794 to 1814, when it belonged to the Nedermaas
department. The last of the many monasteries in the city were closed
during this period. The diocese was also dissolved in 1801. After
the expulsion of the French troops, Roermond was transferred to the
new United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. It then became the
capital of one of the three arrondissements of the new province of
Limburg. When the young state fell apart in 1830, Roermond (as
before the French era) remained Belgian. The Treaty of London (1839)
made Roermond a Dutch city. It also remained a member of the German
Confederation until 1867.
In 1853 the diocese of Roermond was
re-established. Roermond became an ecclesiastical center where
numerous workshops were active that produced ecclesiastical crafts.
The Venlo-Maastricht railway line of 1865, the Maas bridge of 1867
and the Iron Rhine of 1879 brought about economic growth and some
industrialization. At the end of the 19th century, the walls were
demolished, buildings were built along the canals and Hamstraat
became an important shopping street. After 1914 the residential area
Roermondse Veld, east of the station, was developed and in the 1930s
the residential area Roerzicht followed south of the old town.
In 1919 Roermond got the first Dutch female councilor, Mathilde
Haan.
By the end of the Second World War,
Roermond was in the front line for several months. The west bank of
the Maas had already been liberated on November 14, 1944 by the
capture of the lock at Panheel, and from there the city was shelled
with artillery. The population was evacuated and the tower of the
cathedral was blown up by the Germans. The city was liberated on
March 1, 1945 by soldiers of the 9th United States Army led by Major
General John B. Anderson during Operation Grenade.
After the
Second World War, the municipality was expanded to include the
territory of Maasniel and Herten. The rise of the textile industry
(including Van de Kimmenade) put a (temporary) end to the
unemployment that prevailed here after the Second World War. The
place has now grown into a medium-sized city was faced with floods
in 1993 and 1995, during which parts of the population were
evacuated.
As a result of the Second World War, about 90% of
the buildings in Roermond had been damaged. Under the general slogan
that prevailed in the Netherlands, "The Netherlands will resurrect",
the city started the restoration work. An important event was the
completion of the tunnel under the railway in 1956, connecting the
center of the city with the new, eastern neighborhoods. One of those
districts was the Roermondse Veld, and later also the Kemp
(southeast) and the residential area Roer (southwest) arose. These
large-scale neighborhoods resulted in rapid population growth, but
had the downside that the municipal land allocated to housing was
soon built up. During this period the construction of the 176-meter
high radio-TV tower was also started, which was completed in 1964
(shortened to 156 m in 2007). With the annexation of Maasniel in
1959, the city was given new land, which extended to the border with
Germany; the new municipal boundary also became the national
boundary. The fact that the rural municipality of Maasniel was added
to the urban Roermond was the first major reorganization in Dutch
Limburg in 1959. The Maasniel issue provides a glimpse of the
development of city-country relations in Central Limburg.
The
growth continued in the construction of two large industrial sites:
in the north, Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus opened the
Willem-Alexanderhaven, named after their son, in 1967, because it
was the first official act they performed after his birth. In the
southeast, the 450 ha industrial estate Heide (now better known as
Heide-Roerstreek) was constructed in collaboration with four other
Roerstreek municipalities. Because industrial development should run
parallel to housing construction, the construction of the Donderberg
was started. This district, which was built on the territory of the
former municipality of Maasniel, consisted of five large flats,
which, together with the surrounding low-rise buildings, house
13,000 residents. These flats were the first high-rise projects in
Roermond. The construction of the N280 between Roermond and Baexem
and the arrival of Hema and V&D also provided a boost in the city
With the merger of Herten in 1991, Roermond was given new
expansion options. The originally small village has grown into a
fully-fledged urban district in 15 years and will be almost fully
built up after the completion of the Oolderveste district (900
homes). The Maasplassen imposes restrictions on the city in terms of
expansion in the west and now the city is currently focusing on the
eastern area. The construction of Tegelarijeveld East (200 houses)
began, which was the first step towards such an expansion. The city
has also been looking for a long time on the Leropperveld, a
large-scale nature reserve between Roermond and Lerop, where there
is room for housing. Resistance from the municipality of Roerdalen,
nature conservation groups and political obstacles ensured that a
housing plan (maximum 3,100 homes) has been discontinued for the
time being. Furthermore, the core Asenray will get 2 additional
neighborhoods. A district with 251 houses and a (Vedic) district
with 71 houses
In the city itself, Roermond built up the
height at a number of locations: Ernst Casimirtoren (44 meters),
Kazernevoor site (45 meters), the controversial residential tower
Toerist (40 meters) and Natalini Tower (61 meters) are a few
high-rise projects that were realized until 2011. There are plans to
redesign the station area. In addition, the construction of the
residential / cultural district Roerdelta (total of 770 homes), Jazz
City, Nushvelt and Sjtadshaof has started. The major renovation of
the Laurentius hospital was completed in 2017.
The attack by
the IRA on the market in Roermond
Four Australian tourists were
attacked on May 27, 1990 at the market in Roermond, while taking
pictures of the town hall. Two of them, 24-year-old Stephen Melrose
and 28-year-old Nicholas Spanos, were killed. Later it turned out to
be a mistake. A day later the Northern Ireland liberation army IRA
declared that they were targeting British soldiers who were
stationed in Germany, near Roermond.
In the
early morning of April 13, 1992, at 03:20 AM, many Dutch people were
startled by a powerful earthquake. The epicenter was a few
kilometers southeast of Roermond in Sint Odiliënberg. The earthquake
had a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake was felt
in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France and the United
Kingdom and is, as far as is known, the strongest ever seen in the
Netherlands. In the area between Roermond, Maaseik and Heinsberg,
considerable damage was caused with an intensity of over VII on the
12-part Mercalli Scale. In the landscape, land slides, bank
subsidence and sand fountains occurred. Such phenomena are caused by
the vibrations of the water-saturated soil. The damage to buildings
was limited because the earthquake occurred approximately at a depth
of 17 kilometers.
Other (light) earthquakes near Roermond
were the quake of February 17, 2001 at 1:54 am with a magnitude of
2.7 and the quake of Tuesday November 28, 2006 at 10.15 am with a
magnitude of 2.5 on the Richter scale. The quake of September 2,
2008, occurred just before 2 a.m. and had a magnitude of 2 on the
Richter scale. The epicenter was north of the German border town of
Gangelt near Koningsbosch. The earthquake, which did not cause any
damage, took place at a depth of 15.8 kilometers in the Peelrand
Fault.
On January 20, 2013, a quake took place in Central
Limburg. This was felt in Vlodrop, Haelen and Roermond, but also in
Helden and Susteren. The quake was a few minutes before half past
seven and lasted a few seconds. The epicenter was, according to the
European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, four kilometers from
Maasbracht, at a depth of 8 kilometers. The quake had a magnitude of
3.4 on the Richter scale. The KNMI reported that the earthquake had
a magnitude of 3.1 and that the epicenter was at Sint Joost, at a
depth of more than 23 kilometers.