Haarlem history

The history of Haarlem

Tournament at the Sand, present Grote Markt

Middle Ages

The oldest mentioning of Haarlem

dates from the 10th century. The name comes from "Haarlo-heim", which means 'place, on sand covered with trees, higher than the others'. An 10th century source mentions "ene viertal boerdereien zeijden ene beecke" (Middel Dutch for "Four farms besides a brook") in a place referred to as "Harulahem". The brook was "De Beek", a stream dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal. Over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in. The location of the village was a good one: by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a fortified town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland.

1219 the knights of Haarlem were laureled by Count Willem I, because they had conquered the Egyptian port of Damietta (or Damiate in Dutch, present-day Dimyat) in the 5th crusade. Haarlem received the right to bear the Count's sword and cross in its coat of arms. On November 23, 1245 Count Willem II granted Haarlem city rights. This implied a number of privileges, among which the right for the sheriff and magistrates to administer justice, instead of the Count. This allowed for a quicker and more efficient judiciary system, more suited to the needs of the growing city.

After a siege by the Kennemer people in 1270 a defensive wall was built around the city. Most likely this was an earthen wall, with wooden gates. Originally the city started out between Spaarne, Oudegracht, Ridderstraat, Bakenessergracht and Naussaustraat. In the 14th century the city expanded, and the Burgwalbuurt, Bakenes and the area around the Oudegracht became part of the city. The old defenses proved not to be sufficiently strong for the expanded city, and at the end of the 14th century a 16½-metre high wall was built, complete with a 15-metre wide canal circling the city.

In 1304 the Flemish threatened the city, but they were defeated by Witte van Haemstede at Manpad.

All the city's buildings were made of wood, and fire was a great risk. In 1328 nearly the whole city burnt down. The Sint-Bavokerk was severely damaged, and rebuilding it would take more than 150 years. Again on June 12, 1347 there was a fire in the city. A third large fire, in 1351, destroyed many buildings including the Count's castle and the city hall. The Count did not need a castle in Haarlem anymore, because his castle in Den Haag had taken over all functions. The Count donated the ground to the city and later a new city hall was built there. The shape of the old city was square -- this was inspired by the shape of ancient Jerusalem. After every fire the city was rebuilt quickly, an indication of the wealth of the city in those years.

The Black Death came to the city in 1381. According to an estimate by a n priest from Leiden the disease killed 5,000 people, about half the population at that time.

City Hall of Haarlem on the Grote Markt. It was built in the 14th century replacing the Count's castle, after it partially burnt down. The remainders were given to the city.

In the 14th century Haarlem was a major city. It was the second largest city in historical Holland after Dordrecht and before Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda and Rotterdam. In 1429 the city gained the right to collect tolls, including ships passing the city on the Spaarne river. At the end of the Middle Ages Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries.

Around 1428 the city was put under siege by the army of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut. Haarlem had taken side with the Cods in the Hook and Cod wars, and thus against Jacoba of Bavaria. The entire Haarlemmerhout Iwood was burnt down by the enemy.

Spanish siege

Siege of Haarlem

Map of Haarlem around 1550 and a painting of the fighting women of Haarlem during the siege

The city is completely surrounded by a city wall and defensive moat. In the south-west of the city bleaching grounds can be seen. Notice the near-square shape of the city: this was based on the ancient plan of Jerusalem]]

When the city of Brielle was conquered by the Geuzen revolutionary army, the municipality of Haarlem started supporting the Geuzen. King Philip II of Spain was not pleased, and sent an army north under the command of Don Fadrique (Don Frederick in Dutch), son of the Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. On November 17, 1572 all citizens of the city of Zutphen were murdered by the Spanish army, and on December 1 the city of Naarden suffered the same fate.

On December 11, 1572 the Spanish army put Haarlem under siege. The city's defences were commanded by city-governor Wigbolt Ripperda. Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer, a very powerful woman, helped defend the city.

During the first two months of the siege, the situation was in balance. The Spanish army was digging tunnels to reach the city walls and blow them up. The defenders dug tunnels to blow up the Spanish tunnels. The situation became worse for Haarlem on March 29, 1573. The Amsterdam army, faithful to the Spanish king, controlled Haarlemmermeer lake, effectively blocking Haarlem from the outside world. Hunger in the city grew, and the situation became so tense that on May 27 many (Spanish-loyal) prisoners were taken from the prison and murdered.

Two city gates, the Kruispoort and the Janspoort collapsed during the fighting.

In the beginning of July the Prince of Orange assembled an army of 5,000 soldiers near Leiden to free Haarlem. The Spanish trapped them at the Manpad and defeated the army. After seven months the city surrendered on July 13, 1573. Many soldiers of the army that defended the city were slaughtered; many of them were drowned in the Spaarne river. Governor Ripperda and his lieutenant were beheaded. The citizens were allowed to buy freedom for themselves and the city for 240,000 guilders and the city was required to host a Spanish garrison. Don Fadrique thanked God for his victory in the Sint-Bavo Church.

Great fire

The city suffered a big fire in the night from October 22 to October 23, 1576. The fire started in brewery het Ankertje, near the weighhouse at the Spaarne, which was used by German mercenaries as a guarding place. When they were warming themselves at a fire it got out of control. The fire was spotted by farmers, who sailed their ships on the river. However, the soldiers turned down all help, saying that they would put out the fire themselves. This failed, and the fire destroyed almost 500 buildings, among them St-Gangolf's church and St-Elisabeth's hospital. Most of the mercenaries were later arrested, and one of them was hanged on the Grote Markt in front of a large audience. Maps from that era clearly show the damage done by the fire: a wide strip through the city was destroyed.

The combined result of the siege and the fire was that about a third of the city was destroyed.

Golden age

De Amsterdamse Poort is one of the few visible traces left of the old city wall.

Linen and silk

The Spanish left in 1577 and under the Agreement of Veere, Protestants and Catholics were given equal rights. A large influx of Flemish and French immigrants who were fleeing the Spanish occupation of their own cities made the city prosper again. The new citizens had a lot of expertise in linen and silk trading, and the city's population grew from 18,000 in 1573 to around 40,000 in 1622. At one point, in 1621, over 50% of the population was Flemish-born. Haarlem's linen became world famous and the city flourished, just like the rest of the country: the Golden Age in the United Provinces had started.

The Grote Markt in 1696, painting by Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde

Infrastructure

In 1632 a tow canal between Haarlem and Amsterdam, the Haarlemmertrekvaart was opened, the first tow canal in the country. The empty areas in the city caused by the fire of 1576 were filled with new houses and buildings. Even outside the city wall buildings were constructed -- in 1643 about 400 houses were counted outside the wall. Having buildings outside the city walls was not a desirable situation to the city administration. Not only because these buildings would be vulnerable in case of an attack on the city, but also because there was less control over taxes and city regulations outside the walls. Therefore a major project was initiated in 1671: expanding the city northwards. Two new canals were dug, and a new defensive wall was constructed (the current Staten en Prinsenbolwerk). Two old city gates, the Janspoort and Kruispoort, were demolished. The idea that a city had to be square-shaped was left behind.

Cultural life

Haarlem's cultural life also prospered, with famous painters like Frans Hals and Jacob van Ruisdael, the architect Lieven de Key and Jan Steen who made many paintings in Haarlem. On the Grote Markt, the central market square, there's a statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster who is allegedly the inventor of the printing press (however, most scholars agree that the scarce evidence seems to point to Johann Gutenberg as the first European inventor). In 1628 a chemist in Haarlem goes broke, and decides to join the VOC to sail to the East. His name, Jeronimus Cornelisz, will always be connected with the Batavia ship.

Beer brewing

Beer brewing was a very important industry in Haarlem. Until the 16th century the water for the beer was taken from the canals in the city. These were, through the Spaarne and the IJ, connected to seawater. However, the water in the canals was getting more and more polluted, and no longer suitable for brewing beer. A place 1,5 kilometers south-west of the city was then used to take fresh water in. However, the quality of that water was not high enough either. From the 17th century a canal (Santvaert) was used to transport water from the dunes to the city. The water was transported in barrels on ships. The location where the water was taken is called the Brouwerskolkje, and the canal to there still exists, and is now called the Brewers' Canal (Brouwersgracht).

Haarlem was a major beer producer in the Netherlands. The majority of the beer it produced was consumed in Noord-Holland. During the Spanish siege there were about 50 brewing companies in the city; while 45 years later in 1620 the city numbered in the vicinity of 100 breweries.

There was another epidemic of the Black Death in 1657, which took a heavy toll in the 6 months it ravaged the city.

From the end of the 17th century the economic situation in the city turned sour, for a long time. In 1752 there were only seven beer breweries left, and in 1820 no breweries were registered in the city anymore. In the 1990s the Stichting Haarlems Biergenootschap revived some of the old recipes under the new Jopen beer brand, that is marketed as a "Haarlem bier".

Tulip centre

In the 1630s, Haarlem was (and still is) a major trading centre for tulips, and it was the epicenter during tulip mania, when outrageous prices were paid for tulip bulbs. From the time that the Leiden-Haarlem canal Leidsevaart opened in 1656, it became popular to ride from Rotterdam to Amsterdam by passenger boat rather than coach. The canals were dug for passenger service only, and were comfortable though slow. The towpath led these passengers through the bulb fields south of Haarlem. Haarlem was an important stopover for passengers from the last half of the 17th century and through the 18th century until the building of the first rail tracks along the routes of former passenger canal systems. As Haarlem slowly expanded southwards, so did the bulb fields, and even today rail travelers between Rotterdam and Amsterdam will see beautiful blooming bulb fields on the stretch between Leiden and Haarlem in the Spring.

18th century

As the center of trade gravitated towards Amsterdam, Haarlem declined in the 18th century. The Golden age had created a large upper middle class of merchants and well-to-do small business owners. With the dependability of the barge traffic, many people had business addresses in Amsterdam and weekend homes in Haarlem. Haarlem as a bedroom community started as a result of the dense population of Amsterdam causing the canals to stink in the summer. Many well-to-do gentlemen moved their families to summer homes in the Spring and commuted between addresses. Popular places for summer homes were along the Spaarne in southern Haarlem. Pieter Teyler and Henry Hope built summer homes there, as well as many Amsterdam merchants and councilmen. In the 18th century Haarlem became the seat of a suffragan diocese of the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht.

French rule

This building was used as palace for King Louis Napoleon during the French rule, now it is used as govermentseat of the province of Noord Holland (North Holland). Haarlem is the captital of this province

At the end of the 18th century a number of anti-Orange commissions were founded.

On January 18, 1795 the "Staatse" army was defeated near Woerden. During the night preceding the 19th, the same night that stadtholder William V of Orange fled the country, the various commissions gathered and implemented a revolution. The commissions changed the city's administrators in a bloodless revolution, and the next morning the city was 'liberated' of the tyranny of the House of Orange. The revolution was peaceful and the Orange-loyal people were not harmed. The Batavian Republic was then proclaimed.

The French army entered the liberated city two days later, on the January 20. An army of 1,500 soldiers was provided with food and clothing by the citizens. The new national government was strongly centralized, and the role of the cities was reduced in the national debate.

The Batavian Republic had signed a mutual defense pact with France, and was thus automatically in war with England. The strong English presence at sea severely reduced the trading opportunities, and the Dutch economy suffered.

19th century

The textile industry, which had always been an important pillar of Haarlem's economy, was in a bad shape at the beginning of the 19th century. Strong international competition, and revolutionary new production methods based on steam engines by then in use in England, dealt a death blow to Haarlem's industry.

In 1815 the city's population was about 17,000 people, a large percentage of whom were poor. The foundation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in that year gave many hope. Many believed that under a new government the economy would mend again, and that export-oriented economic activities such as the textile industry would recover. However, this hoped turned out to be idle -- the Dutch economy remained stuck. The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM or Dutch Trade Company) was founded by King Willem I to create employment opportunities.

In Haarlem, then one of the cities in the western part of the Netherlands with the worst economical situation, cotton factories were created under the NHM-program. These cotton factories produced goods for the Dutch East Indies, and because the Dutch government levied heavy taxes on foreign cotton producers this was a good market for the NHM-factories. The programme started in the 1830s, but never managed to substantially reduce the unemployment in the city. The American Civil War in the 1860s reduced the import of raw cotton significantly, and in 1872 the protectionistic measures for the East Indian market were removed.

In the beginning of the 19th century the defense walls had lost their function, and architect Zocher Jr. planned a park on the location of the former defense line. The city walls and gates were demolished.

Haarlem became the provincial capital of Noord Holland province in the early 19th century.

In the mid 19th century the city's economy slowly started to improve. New factories were opened, and a number of large companies were founded in Haarlem. In 1911 Anthony Fokker showed his plane, de Spin to the audience in Haarlem by flying around the Sint-Bavokerk on Queen's Day.

Remake of the first locomotive in Holland, named de Arend (the Eagle) Haarlem-Amsterdam

In 1814 George Stephenson designed the first locomotive. The government of the Netherlands was relatively slow to catch up, even though the King feared competition from newly established Belgium if they would construct a train track between Antwerp and other cities. Dutch parliament baulked at the high level of investment needed, but a group of private investors started the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg Maatschappij on June 1, 1836. It took three years to build the first track, between Haarlem and Amsterdam. The track was right next to the old tow canal, and the ground there was wet and muddy. On September 20, 1839 the first train service in the Netherlands started. The train had a speed of about 40 kilometers per hour. The train service gave the economy of Haarlem a strong boost. Instead of more than 2 hours, Amsterdam was now only 30 minutes away. The tow boats were quickly taken out of service for passengers.

The creating of new land in the Haarlemmermeer made that the city could no longer refresh the water in its canals using the Spaarne. The new industry made the water quality even worse, and in 1859 de Oude Gracht, a canal, was filled in to create a new street.

In 1878 a horse tram started servicing passenger from the railway station to Haarlemmerhout woodland park, and in 1899 the first Dutch electric tram ran in Haarlem. From 1879 the population of the city almost doubled in thirty years, from 36,976 to 69,410 in 1909. Not only did the population grow, but the city was expanding rapidly too. The Leidsebuurt district was incorporated into Haarlem in the 1880s. A small part of (the now defunct) municipality of Schoten was incorporated in 1884 because the council of Haarlem wanted to have the hospital (het dolhuys) inside the municipal borders. This hospital was situated at "het bolwerk" on Schoten's territory.

20th century

Gaper on the front of "Van der Pigge", a chemist's that declined to move for Vroom & Dreesmann's new department store in the 1932.

In the beginning of the 20th century the city expanded north. As early as 1905 an official plan was presented by the Haarlem municipality for expansion. However, the surrounding municipalities did not agree, and it would take 25 years to come to an agreement. On May 1, 1927 the municipality of Schoten became part of Haarlem, as well as part of Spaarndam, Bloemendaal and Heemstede. The population increased at once with 31,184 citizens.

In 1908 a renewed railway station was openend. The station was elevated, so traffic in the city was no longer hampered by railway crossings.

Later the expansion of the city went southwards (Schalkwijk) and eastwards (Waarderpolder). In 1932 Vroom & Dreesmann, a Dutch retailer built a department store at Verwulft. Many buildings were demolished, except one small chemist's shop on the corner: "Van der Pigge", which is now encapsulated by the V&D building.

The city went through rough times during the Great Depression of 1930s.

During World War II Hannie Schaft worked for a Dutch resistance group. From September 17 to September 21, 1944, parts of Haarlem-Noord (above Jan Gijzenvaart) were evacuated by the Germans to make place for a defensive line. The stadium of HFC Haarlem, the soccer club, was demolished. Hundreds of people had to leave their houses and were forced to stay with other citizens.

From September 22 there was gas available only two hours per day. Electricity stopped on October 9. The German occupiers built a thick, black wall through the Haarlemmerhout (in the south of the city), as well as at the Jan Gijzenvaart in the evacuated area. The wall was called Mauer-muur and was meant to help defend the city.

In 1944 the family of Corrie ten Boom was arrested by the Nazis; they had been hiding Jews and Dutch resistance workers from the German occupier throughout the war.

After the war much of the large industry moved out of the city, such as the banknote printing firm of Joh. Enschedé.

In 1963 a large number of houses was built in Schalkwijk.

The history of Haarlem