Next week it’s that time again, when horse lovers from near and far will come to Drenthe for the Zuidlaardermarkt. The Zuidlaardermarkt has been a household name since the Middle Ages. It is the largest horse market in Europe and is held every year on the third Tuesday of October. In addition to the horse market on Tuesday, there is Zuidlaardernacht on Monday and from Friday there is a fair in the village.
Let’s first look at how one arrives at the generally accepted age of 822 years. In the 1950s, archival research was conducted into the origins of the market. Researchers came across a story about a market in ‘Laren’ in 1231. From this story they concluded that the market was probably already held in 1201. According to that count, we are now up to episode 822.
Later researchers revealed in 1992 that this could not be true. They concluded that the archive documents concerned a market in May, which was probably also held in Noordlaren and therefore had nothing to do with the Zuidlaardermarkt.
But how old is the market? The first mention on paper that we know for sure concerns the Zuidlaardermarkt dates from 1701, but it is suspected that the market is much older than that. Frans C. Lauxen has been researching the history of Zuidlaren for years, and has also focused on the Zuidlaardermarkt. He says he is certain that the first real Zuidlaarder market was held after the inauguration of the village church.