Loevestein Castle
The Prison Castle on the River Waal
Loevestein Castle, located on the river Waal near Woudrichem, was built some time between 1358 and 1368 by Dirc Loef van Horne, a vassal of Albert I of Bavaria, the Count of Holland (and Zeeland, and Hainaut), who in 1372 took over the stronghold after he became annoyed with Dirc Loef for illegally charging tolls. The successive counts then used the castle to defend Holland against the dukes of Guelders, until 1543, when Guelders became part of the Habsburg Netherlands, as Holland and the other Burgundian Netherlands had in 1482. During the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), when the Spanish Netherlands’ seven northern provinces revolted against their Kings Philip II through IV, Loevestein changed hands three times, finally into those of the rebels in 1572. During the 16th through 18th centuries, the castle’s fortifications & barracks were modernized several times, the first time in 1575 at the behest of William I of Orange. Loevestein retained its military status until 1951, after which it became a museum.
After the completion of the fortifications in 1589, Loevestein was put into use as a prison for distinguished enemies of the state, such as political opponents of the Stadtholders Maurice of Orange and his nephew William II, as well as Arminian clergymen who rejected Calvinist doctrine, and
Reader Comments
Henk
Hugo Grotius, an avid book reader who supported the Arminian movement, was sentenced to life imprisonment for high treason in 1619. After almost two years, in 1621, he managed to escape, hidden in a book chest, which was carried out of the castle by unwitting soldiers and taken to Gorinchem. Once the chest had been delivered, Grotius got out and made his way to Paris, where he published a poem titled Silva ad Thuanum (1621, repr. 1635), in which he revealed that it was his wife, Maria van Reigersberch, who came up with the plan after noticing that the soldiers had stopped checking his incoming & outgoing book chests.
Arnout
Both the book chest on display at Loevestein Castle and the chest at the Rijksmuseum were long believed to be Hugo Grotius’ book chest, but this is definitely and probably, respectively, not the case. However, there is another chest, at Museum Prinsenhof Delft, that may be the actual one.
Annemarie
I liked Muiderslot Castle better.