On 19 March 2010, both the Coach House and the Nijenrode castle will host the 11th Prebem PhD-conference. We are looking forward to your attendance and invite you to take a tour of the beautiful Nijenrode estate to become part of its long and vibrant history.
Here is a brief insight for this beautiful place:
Nijenrode, which means ‘a new reclamation of wasteland’, was founded in 1270 by Gerard Splinter van Ruwiel, whose father lived in a castle two kilometers to the west on a little river called the Angstel. Around 1270, when the area began to experience an economic revival, it was thought prudent to build a fortified house of stone on the road and waterway leading from the old Episcopal city of Utrecht to the Zuyder Zee and the burgeoning mercantile centre of Amsterdam.
The Van Nijenrode’s and their kin settled their property on the Counts of Holland and, as a result, became frequently involved in the feuds between the Count of Holland and the Bishop of Utrecht or between the latter and the burghers of the city.
In 1392 the code of arms of Nijenrode got its final shape. The code of arms has been finalized by Gijsbrecht, who changed it from the version of Gerard Splinter van Ruwiel the first, who composed the code of arms originally. The code of arms exists of four quarters. The first and fourth quarter consist of the old ‘Ruwiel’ code of arms; the beam in a field of gold. Gijsbrecht based the second and third quarter on the code of arms of his mother, Maria van Persijn van Velsen. This code of arms exists of six ribbons of gold and azure with on the gold ribbons nine ‘Andrieskruisen’; respectively four, three and two. Since 1392, this code of arms of Nijenrode became the code of arms for the municipality of Breukelen and it has remained so until this day.
In 1481 and 1511, the castle was seized and ravaged by the citizens of Utrecht, but was rebuilt by the owner after each assault. The last of the Van Nijenrode family that ruled over Nijenrode was Josina. Her mother and father had died at an early age and the young girl, together with her sister Johanna, was abducted by a nobleman, Ridder Willem Torck. When the girls’ uncle complained to the Bishop, he received threatening letters from Torck’s associates.
Through Elizabeth Torck, the daughter born from the union of Willem Torck and Josina, the seigniorial rights of Nijenrode passed by the laws of inheritance to the baronial family Van den Bongard. Floris and Bernard, Elizabeth’s sons, were among the noblemen who, in Brussels in 1566, presented the famous petition to the Governess Margaret of Parma. This was the occasion on which Granvelle, Marageret’s adviser, remarked despairingly to his mistress: “Ce ne sont que des gueux” – “They are nothing but a pack of beggars”. It was this incident that caused the warriors who were engaged in fighting a war of liberation against Spain’s hegemony, to call themselves from then on by the proud name “Geuzen” or (in English) “the Beggars Legion”.
The third Bernhard van den Bongard modernized the castle in 1632, embellishing it so successfully that it achieved great renown as one of the most beautiful demesnes in the region. It became a favorite subject for the pencil or oil-brush of masters such as Jan van der Heijden, Storck and Van Ruysdael.
Because this third Bernard was childless, the property passed on to his sister and eventually came, via an elderly second cousin, in the hands of the Van Reede tot Saesfelt family.
In 1672, when France, England, Cologne and Münster attacked the Repulic of the United Provinces, the French used Nijenrode as their military headquarters during their attack on Amsterdam. In the summer of 1673, when Willem III launched a successful counteroffensive, the French troops laid waste to the estate, while Swiss mercenaries set fire to the castle. Possessing interest mainly in the east of the country, the Van Reede’s showed little interest in the derelict Nijenrode.
After it had been handed down for four centuries from family to family, it was sold in 1675 to Johan Ortt, a prosperous merchant from Amsterdam married to Anna Pergens, whose father was President of the Board of the West India Company. The new owner restored the castle, built spacious stables and a manage for his stud-horses (known as the Koetshuis or Coach house) and lived in style at Nijenrode.
Four Ortt squires lived at Nijenrode. When the last owner’s widow died in 1849 and Sara Ortt, a daughter out of the first marriage, left Nijenrode in 1853 the property was purchased by an industrialist by the name of De Heus. After the death of his son in 1903 the castle changed hands twice and was eventually acquired by Michiel Onnes, a coffee dealer from Amsterdam.
Michiel Onnes bought Nijenrode on 2 January 1907. He had plans to live there with his wife Jeanette Cockuyt, but the castle was in a very bad state. The previous owner only used the castle during the summer. During winters it was unprotected and was often used as a place to play by youngsters from Breukelen. Michiel Onnes planned to restore the castle to what it was during the 17th century when Bernard III, Baron van den Bongard Nijenrode, made Nijenrode renowned.
Onnes deserves considerable credit for what he did for Nijenrode. Between 1907 and 1918 he restored the castle and adjacent buildings to their former splendor. Michiel Onnes used a drawing, made by Theodorus Mathan of Haarlem in about 1640, as a basis for the restoration. In total Onnes invested 1,25 million in the restoration of the estate. For those times, this was an incredible amount of money.
In 1911 Onnes, his wife and adopted son (which he adopted three years earlier when he was one year old) moved to Nijenrode to live there. He kept restoring the different elements of the castle. The stone bridges, dating back to about 1860, were replaced by wooden drawbridges. The keep, which had suffered from extensive wear during the centuries until only a floor and a half remained, was rebuilt in medieval style on the old foundations (but a floor higher than it had ever been), the superstructure of the clock-tower - which had been destroyed by fire in 1673 - was restored, the Koetshuis (or Coach House) was extended and a new lodge or gate-house was erected on the site once occupied by the entrance gates in Old Dutch style.
From 1930 to 1950, the property belonged to Kunsthandel Goudstikker, a fine art dealer, who used the premises for exhibition purposes. Between 1935 and 1940 Nijenrode was visited by many to look at Goudstikker’s art collection. On 14 May 1940, Goudstikker managed to escape from the German invaders, but suffered an accident on board the ship taking him to safety and died.
Nijenrode emerged from the War intact. The Stichting Nederlands Opleidings Instituut Buitenland (N.O.I.B.), which bought the property in 1950 and thereby became the thirtieth owner, has occupied its hallowed halls since 1946. The Nijenrode Foundation has striven to preserve as much of the original character of the castle and surroundings as possible in order to safeguard the bridge which forms the link between past and posterity.
Posts
