17th century oak from Harderwijk

A view of the city Harderwijk around 1600. Two sea-bridges stretch into the Zuiderzee, the left one leads to the Vischpoort.

Until the 20th century, the city of Harderwijk, located in the middle of the Netherlands, was directly connected to the sea; moreover, during middle ages and and renaissance the sea (Zuiderzee) came directly to the city walls. Not surprisingly, Harderwijk was an important trade town in these days and a member of the Hanze League. Many remains from this past can still be found in the city today, and even more still remains hidden underground.   

A map of Harderwijk by Frederik de Wit, 1698, from the 'Theatrum ichnographicum omnium urbium et præcipuorum oppidorum Belgicarum XVII Provinciarum peraccurate delineatarum', Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the Hague, the Netherlands, digital edition free access.

Instead of a harbour, Harderwijk had two mooring dams or sea-bridges for the ships, the 'Grote Brug' and the 'Lage Brug'. Larger ships could not be moored at these sea-bridges as the water was too shallow. They had to anchor further away, and the goods needed to be transported by smaller ships to the city. As the current city council had some plans to change the site of the old city waterfront, the firm Econsultancy became involved to do some archaeological research at the site of the old sea-bridge/dam (de Lage brug - the low bridge) at the Vischpoort [Fishgate]. Previous archaeological digs also had reported a suspected wreck at the site. Work started in in October 2016.

 A detail of the previous map with the Fish gate (and the fish-market behind it) and the sea-bridge (called Laage Brugge).

 

Part of the wall of the sea-bridge, numbers are added to the individual wooden pieces. 

Photo copyright Archeologie Noord-Veluwe.

 

Left: the complete 'punter' excavated. Right: part of the 'punter' with three bollards of the sea-bridge. Photos copyright Archeologie Noord-Veluwe.

Indeed, a wreck of a small ship could be found.  Likely, this was a boat (called a 'punter') that was used to haul the goods from larger ships to the harbour. The sea-bridge itself was an artificially constructed dam, consisting of two rows of  wooden bollards, driven deep into the bottom of the sea, covered with planks at the sides and filled rubble and more randomly places stakes. The (remains of the) bollards were between 40 cm and 2.5 metres long. The ends that were driven into the ground were pointed or wedged and sometimes reinforced by nailed iron plating.  The wooden posts were mostly oak or pine, either squared or round, and measured around 20-25 cm. They have been dendrologically dated to the early 17th century. The width of the sea-bridge was around 3 metres, the Hoge brug had a length of 100 metres, the Lage brug was somewhat shorter. Some engravings of the city of Harderwijk of the 17th century also shows a small crane on the sea-bridge, useful for hauling the goods from the boats.

A 16th century engraving of the sea bridges at Harderwijk; the Hoge Brug (right) has a small crane visible.

Salvaging one of the 17th century mooring posts. Photo copyright Archeologie Noord Veluwe.

After the archaeologic research was finished, the city council had no interest to preserve the wooden bollards of the sea-bridge that had been dug up. And to be honest, they just look like tree stems and are only of interest because the structure they form; as individual pieces they are not special to the general public. So the bollards were cut up into smaller pieces by chainsaw and transported to the grounds of Econsultency in Doetinchem, their final destination probably being someone's hearth. However, we got notice of them and could salvage some pieces that could be useful for us.

Some excavated and cut-up parts of the sea-bridge at the grounds of Econsultancy.

 A few 17th century bollard pieces in my car.

We now have five 1.8 metre pieces of a 17th century oak tree standing in our shed, each weighing between 80 to 100 kilos, waiting to be sawn into boards. The centuries old bollards were remarkably good; only the outer few centimetres have deteriorated during their sea-bridge service and stay in the ground. It would be quite interesting for us to make some historical furniture from this historical (more) correct oak.

Left: the metal covered point of the bollard. Right: four of the bollard pieces, the archaeological ID number is still attached to one piece.

Sources: 

• Archeologie Noord-Veluwe. https://www.facebook.com/archeologie.noordveluwe/
• K. Van Campenhout. 2013. De Hoge Brug te Harderwijk: Een inventariserend veldonderzoek in de vorm van proefsleuven. ADC Archeoprojecten nr. 3534

Engelanderholt report presentation

Thursday 14 April was a big day for Bram and me: the report of the Engelanderholt project from was presented to the Geldersche Kastelen and Landschappen, Staatsbosbeheer and a group of private forest plot owners who all happened to have an area within the Engelanderholt. They were all very content with the report, for which we researched and wrote the chapter on the construction of the klaarbank.

The representative of the province Gelderland receives a report.

The report 'The hidden history of the Engelanderholt' [in Dutch] and Chapter 11 written by us. The report is available as SAGA (section archaeology of the city Apeldoorn) volume 8 (ISSN 2214-0664).

 One of the 13 prehistoric grave hills on the Engelanderholt.

A lot of volunteers helped uncovering the history and facts of this area, and perhaps the greatest compliment was that the volunteers had discovered more than professionals would have done. The klaarbank at the Herenhul was not the only historic place in the Engelanderholt. There were also some stone age grave hills, remnants of iron delving and production, a cold war watchtower, a private airfield used by the late prince Bernhard, and, quite unexpectedly, an arboretum. During the late 19th and early 20th century it had been a fashion among wealthy landowners to collect tree species in an arboretum. This arboretum was set up by Dr. Jan Ooster in the early 20th century as a testing ground and nursery for exotic tree species. A lot of the originally planted trees have disappeared, but there are still some peculiar trees left, such as the Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra), the Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata), the Oriental (Caucasus) Beech (Fagus orientalis), the Tatar Maple (Acer tataricum) and the Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata). The Gelderse Kastelen and Landschappen are now planning to restore the arboretum and eventually disclose it for the public.

Bram at the hidden arboretum.

Left: A cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata). Right: the Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis).

There was a small excursion to the Engelanderholt after the presentation. For me (Marijn) this was the first time I visited the site. We also went to the stone indication the point of the klaarbank. This is now situated directly next to the motorway A2; also in medieval (and earlier) times this was a 'highly' trafficked road.

  

 A klaarbank is at a small hill overlooking the surrounding area. Directly behind the trees is the motorway .

The megalith marking the place of the klaarbank. behind the trees you can see a truck.

The furniture at the Engelanderholt klaarbank - Part 2

The previous post on the klaarbank dealt with the benches and the ceremonial chair of the duke/stadhouder of Guelders. In this post I will continue with the remaining furniture at the klaarbank.

The table of the registrar and writer

Left: The side of  the table ; detail from the sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003).

A typical 16th century table for a writer or steward would be one where the table board is also used as a lid for a box that could hold important papers and money pouches. These tables were especially popular in Germany and called 'Kastentisch'. However, given the    size of the table used at the klaarbank (3 by 6 feet, roughly 1 by 2 meters) this is not likely. The table top would be too big and too heavy to be feasible as a lid for a box underneath.

Two writing tables (Kastentisch). Left: An opened lid showing the different boxes inside. 15th centur.y Historisches Museum Basel, Switzerland. Height 77 cm, width 79 cm, length 102 cm. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance. Right: Late 16th century oak writing table with (top) panels from linden wood and (lower) from pinewood. Height 80 cm, width 99 cm, length 106 cm. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Neuremberg, Germany. Image scanned from F. Windisch-Graetz - Mobel Europas von der Romnaik bis zum Spatgotik.

If we look closely at the rather sloppily drawn table side on the sketch, there seems to be two oblique legs that are connected to each other at the top and the bottom with a horizontal beam. This looks a bit like a fixed trestle-style table, that also was found throughout 16th century Germany. The Duchy of Guelders - with the klaarbank - is relatively close to Germany and such tables could be found here as well.

The apostle Johannes writing at a fixed trestle table.  A copperplate engraving by Johannes Wierix from 1579 from a book by Nicolaes de Clerck. Image from Rijsksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

A long fixed trestle table from the Rathaus in Goslar, Germany. The table top has a breadboard end. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance.

Left: A scribe working at a fixed trestle table ('wangentisch'), oil painting on a pine panel from the Mömpelgarder Altar, Kunsthistorisches museum, Vienna, Austria. Painted around 1536 by Heinrich Füllmaurer. Right: A simple fixed trestle table from pinewood. Burg Kreuzenstein near Vienna, Austria. 15-16th century. Height 77 cm, width 96 cm, length 106 cm. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance.

This kind of table has a simple construction, in which the two trestles are connected to each other by 1 to 4 beams with mortise and tenon joints which are fixed by wedges. The table top consists of several boards which are usually connected at both ends with a breadboard. The underside of the table top has two bars that are fixed to the table top by concealed dovetails. These bars secure the tabletop to the trestles with loose pins. Taken together, it is an easily removable and transportable table. The only limitation could be the length of such a table. Long tables with a thin tabletop have a tendency to sag in the middle, though the long table from Goslar shows a remedy for this.

The proposed table for the registrar at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

The chair of the sheriff

Left: Detail of the plan of the klaarbank 592-0001. The top shows the position of the Ducal chair and the stairs. Directly below in the middle of the row of benches the word 'drost' (sheriff) is shown with a backrest of a seat.

On closer inspection of the plan of the klaarbank, between the two sides of the first bench for the nobility, there appears to be a chair. We first mistook this as part of a row of steps leading up to the Ducal chair. The plan, however, shows a semicircular line, as with the seat of the duke. Moreover, the word 'drost' is written here, so it likely represents the seat of the sheriff of the Veluwe county.

The office of the sheriff is of lower esteem than that of the Duke, but more important than the other participants (seated on benches). Therefore, it seems more likely that the seat of the sheriff represents a simpler type of armchair, instead of a second high boxed chair. Armchairs, during the 16th century in the Netherlands, usually have a leather seat and backrest which is attached to an open frame using brass or gold plated nails. The leather of the backrest can be richly decorated, e.g. with heraldic signs. This type of chair is probably also brought from the ducal inventory, like the high chair of the duke.

Left: An early 17th century oak armchair with leather upholstery from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The armrests and the backrest have carved lions. Right:A 16th-century armchair with leather upholstery in the town hall of Lübeck, Germany. The backrest is heavily decorated with the arms of the town.

The sauvegarde

Left: The sauvegarde hanging above the Ducal high chair. Detail from 529-002.

A sauvegarde (safeguard) is a letter of protection granted by a ruler, such as the Duke/Stadholder of Guelders, that provided a group of people or an institution (such as a monastery or a place of justice) a protection from persecution and violence. A kind of sanctuary or asylum. In order to show that a building and its residents were under the protection of such a sauvegarde, a clearly recognizable sign was attached to the structure. A sauvegarde often showed the heraldic shield of the person that provided the protection. Also the klaarbank contained a sauvegarde, which was hanging above the ducal chair. 

Left: Sauvegarde of Charles V in the rectory of St. Peter's Church, Den Bosch, the Netherlands (1593). Photo copyright Stadsarchief 's-Hertogenbosch, No. 0,048,668. 8. Right: Another image of a sauvegarde found on internet.

A sauvegarde letter granted by the Duke of Leicester in 1586 to the area around Dongen, the Netherlands. 
The letter is preserved in the archive of Oosterhout, the Netherlands.

To create the sauvegarde for the klaarbank a commission was given to an artist, Mr. Johan Houten. He was also paid for drawing the design and painting of the final object. The accounts concerning the sauvegarde have been preserved. The design of the sauvegarde would have included, among others, the arms of Guelders and the Veluwe county.

Detail of one of the accounts involving the sauvegarde. Photo by E. de Jonge, Gelderland Archive, inventarisnrs. 1729 and 1743.

The furniture at the Engelanderholt 'klaarbank' - Part 1

While the outlines of the klaarbank at the Engelanderholt are more or less straightforward, the furniture within is based on much speculation and assumptions. However, keeping this in mind, Bram and I think that the furniture within the klaarbank could have looked like those presented below. We did have some clues, however, as the backside of one of the sketches made by the carpenter shows some side-views of the furniture pieces. For the rest, we looked at contemporary pieces of  furniture that might be similar to those of the klaarbank. One of the assumptions made was that the furniture pieces had to be constructed in a relatively short amount of time, and that they should easily be disassembled and stored for reuse.

A cross section of the finished klaarbank at the back of one of the sketches made by master carpenter Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003). The large chair with canopy for the Duke can be seen on the left, as well as five sets of benches. On the far right you can see a table.

The chair of the Duke (or Stadhouder)

Left: Detail of the chair from the outline sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-002).

On the sketch containing the structure of the side walls (see previous post), the seat of the Duke is shown in more detail. It is a richly ornamented chair with a high panelled backrest and armrests. The top of the back rest has a pair of ornamented pinnacles. The backrest is horizontally divided into two parts; the lower part seems to consist of a linenfold pattern, while the top part has a carved appearance. However, the cross-section (see figure above) shows the chair having a canopy.

Chairs of a ruler (like the stadhouder or the Duke) that were used for official meetings needed to be representative and impressive. During the larger part of the Middle Ages this was almost always a throne or a sella curulis (a type of folding chair) decorated with lion heads at the ends. At the end of the 14th century and early 15th century the chair type changed to a folding chair with a high backrest, which in turn in the 15th and 16th centuries was succeeded by a box- or panelled high chair. It is probably this last type of chair that was used by the Duke at the klaarbank.

This kind of chair can be equipped with a storage compartment under the seat; most of the surviving examples have such a compartment. In such cases, the chair is called a box chair or in Dutch a 'sittekist'. The photos below show several extant examples of such chairs. Basically this chair consists of a frame, where the backrest, front and sides are filled with panels. In the late Middle Ages (15th century) these were often parchment and linenfold panels, while in the 16th century more figurative carved and X-shaped panels were used. The outline of the seat of the Duke (the detail from 529-002) shows a nice transition between the two panel styles: the bottom half uses a linenfold panel and the upper half a figurative carved panel. This figurative panel could for example be the heraldic shield of the Duchy of Guelders. The components of the frame itself are joined using mortise and tenons, secured by wooden nails. For the decorations on the top of the backrest we propose (Guelders) lions. The boxed/panel high chairs could also be fitted with a balcony at the top of the backrest (see photo below).

(Left) Oak box chair (1490-1500) from Chateau Martainville, France with a large carved panel in the backrest.  Two lions can be found at the top of the backrest. Height 186 cm, 74 cm wide. (Middle) Oak box chair with an attached canopy. Height 227 cm, width 71 cm. Image scanned from J. Boccador - Le mobilier Francais du moyen age a la renaissance. (Right) Oak box chair with linenfold panels from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Photo copyright Rijksmuseum). The chair is dated around 1500. Also here two shield bearing lions are found at the backrest. Height 143 cm, width 73 cm.

Such box seats were variable in size. The width varied between 60 and 90 cm and the height between 1.13 and 2.26 meters. The seat height is generally 45 cm and depth of the seat between 45 and 59 cm. However, the space for the ducal seat in the klaarbank is limited due to the restricted surface area of ​​the plateau on which the seat stands (4 by 2 feet). For a stable placement, the chair must have been smaller than the platform; a chair with a width of 75 cm and a depth of 45 cm with a height of 1.85 meters, like the one shown below, may well have been used at the klaarbank.

High-backed panel chairs from that time are invariably made of oak. Since the construction of such a chair relatively takes a long time, and since the chair has a representative and impressive function, it is more likely that the ducal seat was taken from the ducal inventory and not constructed on site. To make such a chair, one needs a good joiner, rather than a master carpenter who also needs to put together a klaarbank. Furthermore, spruce or poplar (the wood used for the klaarbank) is inappropriate and unsuitable for such an important seat.

The proposed seat of the duke at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

The benches for the counselors, nobility, peinders and registrar

Left: The side of one of the benches; detail from the sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003).

The plan of the klaarbank shows six long forms meant for the counselors, the knighthood and the representatives of the Veluwe cities (peinders). The seventh, a much smaller stool behind a table, was intended for the registrar and the writer. The backside of the sketch of the floor plan shows the sides of the various benches, which all look similar. They consisted of (two) uprights that were connected to each other by two smaller boards (an sometimes a stretcher) where the seating board rested on top. This construction is called a 'wangenbank' or boarded stool, a type that was first seen in the 15th century and remained popular two centuries afterwards. This seating type existed in all sizes, from a single-seated stool to a bank for dozens of people, and was made in various types of wood. Examples of such banks from the 16th century can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (see below); a simple version of a boarded stool was fished out of the wreck of the Mary Rose.

The construction of a boarded form is simple and consists of five boards: the seat, two uprights (sides) and two cheeks on the length of the bench to support the seat. The boards [wangen] are fixed to the uprights with nails or could be hooked together cross-wise. The latter is most likely when the banks quickly had to be disassembled. For added reinforcement often there was also a low stretcher through a mortise and secured with  a wedge to the uprights. These banks could easily be extended by adding extra uprights and stretchers with wedges to support the longer seating. The scheme below shows a possible construction of the long forms. As mentioned previously, these benches are easy to make (by a carpenter), disassemble, transport and store, which also happened to the klaarbank.

Two 16th century oak forms originating from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. The cheeks of these forms are hooked into the uprights. (Top) Object W.78-1924: Height 45.7 cm, 1.55 m long and 26.8 cm deep (Photo copyright V & A, London; http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113387/bench/). (Bottom) Object W. 67-1921. Height 53.4 cm, length 2.36 m and depth 28 cm. Image scanned from C. Tracy - English medieval furniture and woodwork.

(Left) The elm boarded stool from the Mary Rose. The standing panels are slightly notched to accomodate the side boards. These are nailed to the uprights. Image scanned from 'Chapter 9 Plain and Functional: Furniture on the Mary Rose' by V. Chinnery in 'Before the mast: life and death aboard the Mary Rose'. (Right) The underside of an elm boarded stool dating from 1550. item no 1136. 22 inch wide, 21.5 inch height, 11.5 inch deep. Photo from Period Oak Antiques, UK. 

A boarded oak stool from 1600 joined by a stretcher and fixed with a wedge. 20.5 inch high, 21 inch wide and 13 inch deep. Item nr. 1046. Photos from Period Oak Antiques, UK.

The measurements of the benches are provided in the text on the sketch of the klaarbank [no. 592-0001] or can be deduced from these measurements. Thus, the height of the bench must be 1.5 feet or 45 cm, the same as the depth of the form. The length of all banks is given in the text:

De Bank van de Kanselier en Raden, lang 40 voeten;
Bank van de ridderschap, lang 52 voet;
Tweede bank van de ridderschap, lang in alles 40 voet;
Bank van de peindere, dr. etc. hoog 1,5 voet, lang 27 voet;
Elk van deze banken is breed 1,5 voet en staan van de andere 1,5 voet;
Bank van griffier (en) landschrijver etc. lang 8 voet.

[The Bank of the Chancellor and Council, 40 feet long;
Bank of the Knighthood, 52 feet long;
Second bank of the Knighthood, all 40 feet long;
Bank of peindere, Dr etc. 1.5 feet high, 27 feet long;
Each of these banks is 1.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet in front of the other;
Bank of the Registrar (and) writer etc. 8 feet long.]

The proposed form for the nobility at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

Only the number of uprights for the long benches are unknown. The stool for the registrar probably had two, the distance between them is little more than 2 m. The number of uprights for the long benches were probably 5 for the peinders, 11 for the second bench of the knighthood, twelve (2 x 6) for the first bench of the knighthood and eight (2 x 4) for the bank of the chancellor and council. The nobles and dignitaries had to attend the entire session of the klaarbank. You can imagine that prolonged sitting on a hard wooden bench was not very comfortable. Probably the forms also  had cushions, whether or not taken with them by the delegates.

A next post will concern the remainder of the furniture in the klaarbank at the Engelanderholt.