Zutphen - Jpc de Sprengen, Gelre Hospitals (Paperback)

Chapters: Jpc de Sprengen, Gelre Hospitals. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 18. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Zutphen - About 300 AD a Germanic settlement was the first permanent town on a complex of low river dunes. Whereas many such settlements were abandoned in the early Middle Ages, Zutphen on its strategic confluence of IJssel and Berkel stayed. After the incorporation of the IJssel lands in Charlemagne's Francia, Zutphen became a local center of governance under a count. The Normans raided and ravaged it about 900. Afterwards a system of walls was built to protect the budding town. In the eleventh century Zutphen was a royal residence for a number of years; a pfalz was built, together with a large chapter church, the predecessor of the present St. Walburgis. The counts of Zutphen acquired a lot of power, until the line of counts became extinct in the twelfth century. After the death of her father and her brother, Ermgard, the heiress of Zutphen married the count of Guelders; her son Henry I, Count of Guelders was the first to wear both titles. The town received city rights between 1190 and 1196, making it one of the oldest cities in the country. Only Utrecht, Groningen and Deventer preceded it in receiving city rights. Zutphen, in turn, granted city rights to several other cities, such as Arnhem, Doetinchem, Lochem and Harderwijk. It also became part of the Hanze, a group of cities with great wealth, this group of cities were the economic center in that part of Europe. The largest and oldest church of the city is the St. Walburgis (Saint Walpurga) church, which originally dates from the twelfth century. The present Gothic building contains monuments of the former counts of Zutphen, a thirteenth century candelabrum, an elaborate copper font (1527), and a modern monument to...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=58590