Netherlands - Veluwe, Ellecom, Rheden, Veluwezoom National Park; N. Van Geelkercken / A. van Slichtenhorst - Veluwe, Syn Hoocheyts Wilt baen tot Dyren - 1651-1660

Veluwe, His Highness Wilt baen tot Dyren (1654)

Sparse and very detailed 17th-century map of the Wildbaan (hunting park) of Stadtholder Willem II at Dieren, as it stood around 1648. The hunting ground on the Veluwe was realized between 1648 and 1649 and is entirely enclosed by a wooden fence.

Image 25x34.5 cm, sheet 30.5x37 cm

Among the Ellecom estates of the Stadtholder were the
– Hof at Ochten, located at the foot of the present Selsweg in the meadow by the Moor swamp pines,
– the Hof at Avegoor,
– the Hof at Middeldorp near Dalstein,
– the Hof at Brouill and a few smaller parcels on the Enk, such as from the Ellecom Church.

The Hof at Ochten was at that time the most important farmstead of Ellecom, for here lay the Markerichterschap for the Mark of Ellecom. More or less the chairmanship of a council with nobles and (great) landowners as members who annually exercised jurisdiction over so-called waste lands that had no owner, and the revenues from them.

With the mentioned purchases, whereby also in Dieren and Spankeren the respective farms handed the Markerichterschap over to the Prince, he acquired a large contiguous area.

The area was then bordered by an earthen rampart, on top of which a man-high wooden enclosure was erected, extending to a length of “3½ hours’ walk.” A total length of 18 km. Large game, mainly deer, was transported from the Honselaarsdijk estate. In the year 1650 it was completed. On one of his first hunting trips in October of that year the prince took fever. He was, as he was ill, brought to The Hague where he died of the smallpox on 6 November, aged 24. Eight days later his heir was born, Prince Willem III, later king of England.

The enclosure soon fell into disrepair and was already dismantled and sold in 1660. Stadtholder-King Willem III visited the Hof te Dieren for hunting on several occasions.

As the starting point for the duck hunt, the Avegoor estate, or Overgeer, as it appeared in records at the time, was used.

Besides the purchases of the aforementioned estates, there were still some arable farmers active. Since they were not landowners in the forests, but grazed in the Schuttewaard, they avoided the purchase process. One of them, the farm Sluyterscamp, forms the basis for the article in the next issue. From this would arise the Bergstein estate around the mid-18th century.

Published by Jacob van Biesen in Arnhem in 1654. Gelderland cartographer Nicolaas Geelkercken was responsible for the maps and special city plans with profile views. His city plans were later used by Joan Blaeu and Johannes Janssonius for their Stedenboeken (City Books).

Excellent condition