Woerden is a city and municipality in the west of the Dutch province of Utrecht, in the east of the Green Heart. The municipality consists of the centers of Woerden, Harmelen, Kamerik and Zegveld. The municipality of Woerden has 52,558 inhabitants (1 August 2020, source: Statistics Netherlands) and the city of Woerden has 37,930 inhabitants (1 January 2020).
Woerden dates back to Roman times, when around 41 AD
the castellum Laurium was founded on this spot, at a natural height.
This castellum was an encampment along the northern border of the
Roman Empire, which was formed by the Rhine, nowadays the Old Rhine.
Laurium has been in use until around 270. A number of Roman ships
have been found in Woerden, and a replica has been used for boat
tours since 2009.
Between 719 and 722 Boniface stayed in
Woerden to preach. Around the year 795 Woerden was called Wyrda.
During the Middle Ages, Woerden started to be more fortified
from the 12th century (a castle, ramparts, canals). Around 1160
Godfried van Rhenen, bishop of Utrecht, had a fortification built at
the settlement of Worden (sometimes also called Worthene) on the
Oude Rijn. The purpose of the reinforcement was to counteract the
expansion of the Count of Holland. The city had a wooden church,
which burned down in 1202.
The Lords of Woerden owned Woerden
and its surroundings in the period 1165 - 1304. The current coat of
arms of Woerden, a yellow plane with three black diamonds, was
recognized in 1277 as a coat of arms for Herman van Woerden.
The water in Woerden was managed by the Groot Waterschap. This
existed from 1226 and made Woerden independent of the Rhineland
Water Board. However, the city and its surroundings were completely
dependent on the water board for drainage. In 1995 the Groot
Waterschap was added to De Stichtse Rijnlanden.
On the
southwestern side of the city, a castle was founded by Count Floris
V around 1275. In the thirteenth century a stone church was also
built, which in the coming centuries was expanded further and
further to the current Petruskerk.
Woerden received city
rights from Duke Albrecht of Bavaria on 12 March 1372. The
construction of the Castle of Woerden started in 1410 and the town
hall in 1501. Later monumental buildings are the Lutheran church
(1646), the Rectory (1672), Petruskerk (1673), the windmill De
Windhond (1755), the Arsenaal (1762), the Kruijthuis (1784), the
Kazerne (1790), the Klooster (1899), the water tower (1906) and the
Saint Bonaventura Church (1892), which dominates the cityscape from
afar with its high needle point.
The Woerden priest Jan de
Bakker was the first in the Northern Netherlands to be burned at the
stake in 1525 because of his preaching deviating from Roman Catholic
church doctrine. The religious disputes in Woerden were initially
limited. However, the Catholic Duke Erik of Brunswijk, who had been
appointed Lord of Woerden by Philip II, violently suppressed
attempts to introduce Lutheran worship in the Peter Church in
September 1566. The Siege of Woerden followed in 1575-1576. During
that siege the Miracle of Woerden took place, which gave the
starving population food again. Woerden, which sided with the Revolt
in 1572, was besieged by the Spaniards: the city survives and the
Spaniards break up their siege after a year.
Around 1600, in
addition to the ramparts, enclosure and moat, the city received
additional reinforcement in the form of a raveline and four
bastions, which were largely built on the corners of the existing
city wall.
The city was twice severely affected by the
French. The first time was in the Disaster Year 1672. Woerden was
then part of the Old Dutch Waterline. The Battle of Kruipin took
place on the night of October 11 to October 12, 1672 at Fort
Kruipin. The French occupied the city for a year, during which time
they carried out a reign of terror in which many buildings were
burned, including St. Peter's Church, and archives destroyed.
A map from 1725 shows that a second canal has been constructed
around the city. There is an undeveloped defense field between the
inner and outer moats.
The second time that the city suffered
from the French was in 1813, at the end of the French Era, when the
population took the side of the Prince of Orange a little too early,
when the French soldiers were still in the city. . The French took a
gruesome revenge for this, by heavily looting the city on November
24 and murdering many civilians. In this massacre, known as the
Woerden Disaster, 28 civilians were killed and 37 injured.
In
1855 Woerden is connected to the Dutch rail network. The fortress
status of Woerden was lifted in 1874, but the Defense Island was
used by the Ministry of War until 1999. The cheese market was
established in 1885. Woerden then lost all military significance, so
that in the period 1883-1912 the ramparts and walls could be
demolished. However, the waterworks still remain in the Woerden
townscape. The Catholics come all the way back to the city and build
the Bonaventura church in 1892 and a monastery in 1899.
In 1950, three camps were set up in Woerden to receive about 600
Moluccans. This led to the "flag incident" in which civil servants
took down the Moluccan flag, which was hanging next to the Dutch
flag, which was seen as undesirable, and dragged it over the ground.
Riots loomed, but they were appeased. The Moluccans were unable to
return to Indonesia and stayed in the Netherlands. The last camp in
Woerden was demolished in 1967.
In 1960/61 the Oude Rijn was
filled in, which until then flowed through the Rijnstraat.
In
the following years the city grew and large expansions were made on
all sides, including archaeological finds. In 1978 the first of 6
Roman and medieval ships was found in Woerden. In 2003, the last
Roman cargo ship was found during the construction of a parking
garage. In 2012 a spatha was found, a Frankish sword from the 8th
century decorated with silver thread and measuring 90 cm in length.
From 1814 to 1989 Woerden was part
of the province of South Holland.
The municipality of Woerden
originated from the original city of Woerden, to which various
municipal reorganisations have been added:
in 1964 (parts of) the
municipalities of Barwoutswaarder, Rietveld and Waarder
in 1989
most of the municipality of Kamerik (created in 1857 from the
municipalities of Kamerik and de Houtdijken, Kamerik Mijzijde,
's-Gravesloot, Teckop), the municipality of Zegveld and a small part
of the municipality of Nieuwkoop. On the occasion of this
reorganization, in which Woerden also became part of the province of
Utrecht, the Woerden Redeployment Monument was erected.
in 2001
the municipality of Harmelen, with the additions of the
municipalities Indijk (1820), Gerverscop (1857) and part of
Veldhuizen (1954).
On October 29, 2009, the municipal council
of Woerden unanimously expressed a positive attitude towards joining
Kockengen with the municipality of Woerden, following a referendum
in Kockengen, in which a large part of the population voted in favor
of joining Woerden. Nevertheless, since 1 January 2011, Kockengen
has been part of the municipality of Stichtse Vecht, like the rest
of the former municipality of Breukelen. The Minister of the
Interior stated that he only wanted to talk about the division of
Kockengen when Woerden himself would also become involved in a
reorganization.
Woerden is located in the east of the Green Heart of Holland, the green zone enclosed by the Randstad. Outside the buildings, Woerden consists largely of meadows and fields. The municipality of Woerden is surrounded by the municipalities (clockwise, start north) De Ronde Venen, Stichtse Vecht, Utrecht, Montfoort, Oudewater, Bodegraven-Reeuwijk and Nieuwkoop.