Deventer

Deventer is one of the five oldest cities in the Netherlands and has a long history. The place is already mentioned in 9th century sources of the diocese of Utrecht. A charter from 877 mentions seven hooves in Daventre portu (the port of Deventer). In 952 Deventer is mentioned as a city in a donation charter of King Otto I. After the place had acquired more and more rights and privileges over time, it received the municipal lands from Emperor Henry V in 1123. This is considered by historians to be the moment of obtaining city rights by the inhabitants. The city has the oldest stone house, the oldest walking park and the oldest scientific library (City Archives and Athenaeum Library) in the Netherlands.

The name Deventer is etymologically attributed to a composition of two Old Saxon forms that originated in the 8th century or earlier. The name would then have originated from *deve-treo, which meant something like "tree located on a watercourse".

From the 8th century, the place where Deventer is now located has been inhabited almost continuously. The IJssel played an important role for hunters, fishermen, farmers and cattle farmers, who settled on the bank. The city was probably founded by the later canonized Anglo-Saxon missionary Lebuïnus (Liafwin), who crossed the IJssel in 768, and founded a wooden church on the spot where the Grote or Lebuïnus church named after him now stands. Deventer remained a religious center within the diocese of Utrecht and developed into the capital of the Oversticht.

Between 1000 and 1500 Deventer became a flourishing trading place, which was part of the Hanseatic League. Especially in the 11th and 12th centuries, together with Tiel, it formed a very important trading place. Deventer was also a port city. Large ships could dock at the quay. The Schipbeek used to flow on the south side of the center and formed a natural harbor. In this period, the defensive wall against Viking attacks, which the city had already started in 882, was provided with extensive fortifications to be able to defend the city even better.

From 1559-1591 the Roman Catholic diocese of Deventer was located in the city. Deventer was an important center for religious reform, especially because it is the birthplace of Brother Geert Grote, founder of the movement of Modern devotion that was of great influence on Thomas a Kempis and later on Desiderius Erasmus. Alexander Hegius, the most important pupil of Rudolf Agricola, was rector of the Latin school in Deventer from 1483 to 1493. Until about 1500, the city was the most important humanist printing center in Northern Europe.

The settlement of Deventer was founded on a river dune on the IJssel. This river has played a major role for the city over the centuries. Not only trade could take place more easily because of this waterway, but the toll that the ships had to pay to sail past Deventer earned the city a lot of money. This right, part of the katentol, had been leased to the city in 1241 by the abbey in Elten. Deventer has also had disadvantages of the IJssel, because the river often overflowed its banks. Nowadays Deventer has a flood barrier, but the Welle is still regularly flooded with high water. Due to dike breaches of the IJssel, many gullies have arisen in and around the current city, such as the Douwelerkolk and the Klinkenbeltskolk.

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