Hugo de Grootstraat

The Hugo de Grootstraat in Waalwijk is a reminder of the role the town played in Hugo's flight on 22 and 23 March 1621. In Waalwijk, Hugo set foot on 'safe' Spanish soil. According to tradition, it would have been close to this point. A panel in the street refers to this history. But there are question marks over it.
In the past, people in Waalwijk believed that Hugo arrived by boat in the harbour adjacent to this street. In the meantime, that version of the history has been deleted, because the sources indicate that he reached Waalwijk on foot.
Nowadays the story goes that he probably arrived here via the overland border with the neighboring village of Besoijen, which was in State hands. The border ran right through the Church at the Harbour. Yet even that reading is highly questionable. De Groot and his companion Jan Lambertszoon would then have had to cross the Oude Maas via the Capelse Veer. This is not obvious because of the extra risk of being arrested by the soldiers of Orange. They would have had to walk through State territory longer than necessary. The Capelse Veer itself - an unavoidable link in the important and only overland connection between the State strongholds of Gorinchem and Breda - was frequented by the troops of Orange.
It is very likely that Hugo reached the safe Waalwijk in the northern outskirts of the former Oude Maas via the Drongelse Veer.
When he arrived in Waalwijk, Hugo stayed from about 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock in the afternoon with friendly Remonstrant preachers. We don't know exactly where that was. Then a hired carter transported him by handcart in one uninterrupted night ride to Antwerp.

Historische Routes