Wow! This is the oldest document in Zoetermeer (and it dates from 1504)

Just a little bit back in time. To 1504 to be precise. No Excel, no accounting app, but old-fashioned pen and parchment. The oldest document in our city is a medieval cash book. How cool is that?

The honor of this oldest document goes to Hendrik Jacobszoon, the sexton of the then village of Zegwaart. In 1504 he kept careful track of where the village money went: income, expenditure, everything neatly written down. The book was important, because the village administrators were accountable to the sheriff — a kind of representative of the landgrave. And of course he wanted to know exactly where every coin was.

Water board tax in earlier times

“Item this book will be published in the year our Gentlemen do one script XVc and the iiii on Sinte Odulphusdach, with Henric Jacopssoen who coster and whores in that round of Zegwaert.”

This is how the cash book begins. This includes, among other things: morning money and the prayer of my gracious lord noted. Morgengeld was a water board tax per morning (about one hectare of land). And the prayer? That was just a tax for the Count of Holland. Because yes, even in 1504 the tax authorities always came by.

How old is Zoetermeer actually?

Older than you might think! Zoetermeer – or actually Soetermeeras it was then called – has been around for quite a long time. Archaeological research shows that the area was already inhabited around the year 1000. Farmers settled here because of the fertile peatland and water nearby. Zoetermeer officially became a real municipality much later, but the roots of our city go back to the early Middle Ages.

Sources: websites Municipality of Zoetermeer and Memory of Zoetermeer