Today is Beverwijk’s birthday. At least, it is exactly 725 years ago that Beverwijk received city rights. But what does that actually mean? And will there be another party? The Beverwijk city rights in five questions.
City rights? What are those?
We ask Fred Schweitzer, member of the Midden-Kennemerland Historical Society. Schweitzer has been studying the history of Beverwijk for decades. “We received city rights from Jan I, the Count of Holland. This made the village on the Wijkermeer a separate administrative and jurisdictional area. The Beverwijkers more or less became bosses in their own house,” he says.
That was not only beneficial for the city. “Formally, Count Jan was the one who gave Beverwijk city rights, but because of his young age he was completely under the influence of the powerful Zeeland nobleman Wolfert van Borselen. The fines for violation of the new city rules formally went to the Count’s coffers. But in the In practice, all the money went into the wallet of Wolfert van Borselen, who was unpopular due to all kinds of political struggles at the time. He was murdered in Delft in 1299,” says Schweitzer.
What did the Beverwijkers notice?
Schweitzer: “From 1298 onwards, the city rights contributed to a flourishing Beverwijk. This status has disappeared over time in a legal sense. In an economic sense, Beverwijk is of course still a city. You no longer notice the city rights of that time, except that now you can have a party around it,” he laughs.
Are we going to have another party?
We will ask the municipality. And guess what? There’s going to be a party, but not now. Not until December 28 and 29. To celebrate 725 years of city rights, a spectacular light show will be shown on the Wijkertoren. This is accompanied with music.
Café Camille will also pay attention to the 725th anniversary on a small scale by looking back on the party 25 years ago this Saturday. Then the anniversary was commemorated in a grand manner. “There is a very nice film from when we existed for 700 years that I want to show to the guests,” says José Schuyt.
No medieval spectacle this time?
José Schuyt from café Camille was the driving force behind the big party 25 years ago. “Hundreds of people took part in a medieval historical spectacle. It was a party for two days on the square near our restaurant and on the square in front of the Kennemer Theater.”
“Everyone came to the party in medieval clothing. A pig turned on a spit and we ate with hundreds of Beverwijkers from bread dough plates for two days, as it was then. And without cutlery. Yes, we ate with our hands. I remember that the then mayor Magda Berndsen had taken a knife and fork with her in her handbag. Would I organize it on such a grand scale again? No, I’m not eighteen anymore. It takes a lot of energy. We worked on it for six months,” said Schuyt.
And this birthday, what do the Wijkers themselves think of it?
We went to Breestraat for that. You can see how that turned out in the video below: