The little emperor

Battery De Keizer

In 1785, there were plans to establish a battery at the southern tip of the Cathelijnepolder. A battery is a site for positioning artillery (cannons). The battery was named after the nearby inn 'De Keizer'. The inn was located at a place where a foot ferry crossed the Passageule. The Passageule had served since 1672 as the main line in West Zeelandic Flanders. The Passageule line was part of the State-Spanish lines.

The State-Spanish Lines are the remnants of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century military fortifications that were constructed during the period of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) up to the French period (1794). The system of fortifications extended on both sides of the national border from Knokke-Heist in the west to Antwerp in the east. The Lines not only played an important role in determining the national borders between the Netherlands and Belgium but also in the further history of the two countries. A large part of these lines and fortifications can still be found in the landscape.

Gastvrij Zeeuws-Vlaanderen