A Very Old Town...

Middleburg, The Netherlands

May 2

With a history going back to the late 8th or early 9th century, Middleburg, one of the oldest towns in The Netherlands, began as a fortified city whose purpose was to protect the inhabitants from Viking raids. It was later to become a key player in commerce as one of the Dutch East India Company’s trading cities, important in the transfer of goods, especially cloth, between Flanders and England. This strategic trade center stayed prominent until the Eighty Years’ War in the 13th and 14th centuries when the Low Countries  formed their own Protestant state, The Netherlands, after achieving freedom from the Spanish Hapsburg rulers.

In the 17th century, settlers from Antwerp settled in Middleburg and the city once again attained economic prominence. This was all to end on May 17, 1940 with an attack by the Germans that heavily damaged and destroyed some of the most important buildings and streets; to be restored back to their original style and look after the war.