Huis te Riviere: A Medieval Toll Castle in Schiedam, Netherlands
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Netherlands
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page16 sections
History
Huis te Riviere is a medieval castle in Schiedam, Netherlands, attributed to Aleid of Holland and dated to 1262. Founded as a donjon, or principal fortified tower, and toll castle beside the Maas, it controlled an important route for traffic moving toward Delft, Leiden, and Haarlem. The site is regarded as the oldest known rectangular castle in the County of Holland.
Foundation and the lordship of Mathenesse
Aleid purchased the lordship of Mathenesse from Dirk van Bokel in 1260 and began building the castle. The site was first mentioned in 1268 as the “House on the New Schie,” a name referring to the extension of the Schie now called the Schiedamse Schie. Its first explicit description as a castle dates from 18 March 1275, when Aleid granted city rights to the settlement that developed into Schiedam near Huis te Riviere.
The castle’s position was linked to the shifting watercourses of the Rhine and Maas system. In the medieval period, the Merwede flowed through the waterway now known as the Nieuwe Maas, whose present shore lies about 1.5 kilometres south of the castle. In 1276, Aleid granted Koningsveld Abbey the right to appoint one of its brothers to serve the castle chapel, in return for an annual payment of 10 pounds.
Political conflict and the Matenesse family
Aleid was the sister of William II, Count of Holland, and acted as regent for his son and successor, Floris V. Huis te Riviere became involved in the political conflict surrounding Aleid’s son, Florent of Hainaut. Florent fortified places and claimed lordship over other fortified sites in Holland and Zeeland. The struggle eventually forced Aleid and her son out of Holland and Zeeland.
After the Avesnes family gained political ascendancy in 1299, the castle declined in importance. Dirk of Matenesse first appears in the historical record in 1335, and in 1339 the castle was granted to him as an inheritable fief, meaning a property held from a superior lord with defined obligations and hereditary rights. After Dirk died in February 1345, the castle passed to his brother Daniël of Matenesse. In September 1346, the inheritance was extended to their siblings and children. The castle was inhabited by 1350, although work on it was probably still continuing.
Capture during the Hook and Cod Wars
The Hook and Cod Wars were a series of political and military conflicts between rival factions in medieval Holland. During these wars, the Cod alliance captured Huis te Riviere before 25 March 1351. A fifteenth-century account says that Daniël of Matenesse surrendered after a siege, although the existence of a siege remains uncertain.
The castle’s rapid capture has been associated with its importance for trade between the Cod cities of Delft and Schiedam. Its unusually large fortifications may also have been difficult to defend with only a minor lord as resident. After the capture, citizens of Schiedam demolished most of the castle. Dirk of Matenesse was left with the keep and a large quantity of rubble. Before 28 December 1351, he changed allegiance from the Hook side to the Cod side, and his lands were not confiscated. Daniël may also have changed sides.
Later medieval rebuilding
The north wing was probably added after 1351, while the southwestern part of the keep was probably built before 1400. The Matenesse family retained the castle under favorable inheritance arrangements. Willem Nagel’s forces may have plundered it in 1426. The castle was later restored to a more habitable condition, and a courtyard was established as part of that restoration.
Destruction and archaeological interpretation
The Eighty Years’ War, the long conflict in which the Dutch provinces revolted against Spanish rule, brought the final major destruction of Huis te Riviere. In 1574, Republican soldiers occupying the castle caused two fires. Schiedam’s citizens then pulled down the walls, and the upper part of the tower was demolished. The fallen wall material remained in the moats and was identified during archaeological work about four centuries later.
Excavations led by Dutch archaeologist Jaap Renaud in 1947 and 1948 established a floor plan for the tower house and part of the outer bailey, an enclosed area outside the main fortified enclosure. The work also encouraged a reassessment of the relationship between the surviving ruins and a painting made around 1574. Further archaeological research in 1962 led to the interpretation of Huis te Riviere as a large square fortress rather than simply a small castle with an outer bailey.
Later excavations by BOOR preceded the extension of Schiedam’s municipal offices across the area between the keep and the supposed outer bailey. By the 2010s, the offices visually dwarfed the ruins, and plans in 2021 included measures to make the surviving remains more visible. Huis te Riviere is protected as a Dutch national monument. An artwork called “Lady Aleida,” depicting Aleid of Holland, was placed beside the ruin in 1997.
Remains
The surviving ruin occupies an area of approximately 20 by 17.5 metres. It consists of the lower part of a tower house, or substantial residential and defensive tower, together with the foundations of walls. The site stands in central Schiedam beside the municipal offices on Broersvest. The offices approach the ruin on two sides to within a few metres, while the area between the keep and the former or supposed outer bailey has been built over.
The square castle
Enclosure and corner tower
The earliest phase may have consisted of a solitary tower surrounded by a large square enclosure around 1260. Archaeological interpretation places the beginning of a nearly square castle, approximately 45 by 50 metres, around 1265. The arrangement included a ring wall and a slightly oblique corner tower. A possibly covered footbridge connected the corner tower with the donjon.
The larger castle project was not completed. Building work, particularly on the main tower, continued between 1300 and 1304, but the project was then abandoned unfinished. Dirk of Matenesse began completing the main tower after receiving the castle in 1339, producing the form represented by the castle before its destruction in 1574.
Fortified walls and courtyard
The castle had an enceinte, a continuous fortified wall enclosing the defended site, with internal buttresses placed very close to the main tower. The same wall system was found on the western side of the area formerly interpreted as the outer bailey, and part of the wall extended into the moat beside the keep.
After the later medieval restoration, a courtyard was established. A footbridge formed the entrance between the main castle and the courtyard, an arrangement shown on a map made by the surveyor Potter and now held in the Schiedam municipal archive. The demolished walls fell into the moats in 1574, where archaeological investigation later identified them.
The tower house
Basement and foundations
The freestanding tower house stood inside the northwest corner of the square castle and was separated from the rest of the enclosure by a small internal moat. Its base measures 12 by 12 metres. The high basement was covered by a discernible barrel vault, a ceiling formed by a continuous semicircular or near-semicircular vault. Four light openings pierced the basement walls, measuring approximately 12 centimetres wide on the exterior and 95 centimetres on the interior. The basement walls were more than 3 metres thick.
The tower foundations used the largest bricks found during the 1947 and 1948 excavations. They generally measured about 28 centimetres in length and 7.5 to 8 centimetres in thickness, with some reaching 31 to 32 centimetres. Many yellowish bricks occur in the lower sections, while the brickwork above the basement is generally red, indicating a break in construction.
The basement subsided on its eastern side after completion, apparently because the heavy foundation stood above a former creek in waterlogged, peat-bearing ground. Cut bricks were laid to level the structure before construction of the ground floor continued. Part of the tower was also dismantled and rebuilt.
Ground and upper floors
Access originally passed through the northwest wall from the ground floor, which stood substantially above ground level. Direct access to the basement was created later, as was the opening that connected the tower to the northern wing at ground-floor level.
The ground-floor walls were approximately 1.40 metres thick. Stairs continued from this level to the first floor. Windows opened in the south and east walls and probably also in the west wall. The southern side contained a toilet and a niche for a red-stone lavabo, a basin used for washing. The north wall held a fireplace.
A drawing shows two windows in the east wall of the first floor. The stairs may have projected from the tower at this level, as shown in the painting of around 1574. Above the first floor was a hipped roof with merlons, the raised sections of a battlement. The upper part of the tower was demolished during the destruction of 1574, leaving the present lower ruin.
Later wings
Northern wing
The northern wing measured approximately 8 by 17.5 metres. Its small western section probably had a stepped gable. The wing was connected to the tower at ground-floor level through an opening created after the original construction of the keep.
Southwestern area
The remaining southwestern area measured approximately 12.5 by 5.5 metres. It was probably divided into two parts, each with a west-facing stepped gable. Together with the northern wing and the fortified enclosure, this area formed part of the expanded castle represented before the sixteenth-century destruction.
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