Mechelen

After spending several days in the occupied city of Antwerp, Samuel Kiechel departed. He planned to return to Germany, with Cologne as his destination. He and his new companions, four merchants and a messenger, travelled four miles to Mechelen.

Kiechel provides no details about Mechelen; however, it is worth noting the excellent view of the city by Anton van den Wijngaerde, available in the digital collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. As is typical of his style, van den Wijngaerde depicts the city in profile. The image appears very lifelike, especially since one of Mechelen’s gates and the activity around it are prominently featured in the foreground. The houses surrounding the gate and the traffic on the road suggest how this place might have appeared to a traveller like Samuel Kiechel. A profile view of Mechelen is also included in volume one of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

While both images provide a glimpse of how the city may have looked in the past, by the time of Kiechel’s visit, it had fallen victim to war. In 1572, Mechelen was captured and looted by a Spanish army. Eight years later, in 1580, it was taken by a combined Dutch and English force. Since this was before the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585), the English were not regular soldiers but mercenaries, and after taking control, they ransacked the city again. In July 1585, just months before Kiechel’s visit, Mechelen was retaken by a Spanish army under the command of Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545-1592), who had also captured Antwerp. Like Antwerp, discipline among the soldiers was strict, and the city was spared a third sacking.

Samuel Kiechel and his companions spent the night in Mechelen. Before they departed the following day, they inquired about the dangers on the road to Maastricht. According to our traveller, Mechelen was only four miles from Bergen op Zoom, and Dutch raiding parties frequently made incursions into this area.

Now that Kiechel was travelling through the Spanish Netherlands, he needed to be cautious of Dutch ambushes. Especially with both Antwerp and Mechelen taken by Spanish forces just months earlier, the areas surrounding both cities were dangerous, with groups of Dutch mercenaries and raiding parties waiting for an opportunity to retaliate in some manner.

By asking around, Kiechel and his companions learnt that the previous day, a merchant convoy from the German region of Hesse had arrived in Mechelen. The convoy consisted of many carts pulled by forty-eight horses. The horses pulled carts alone or in pairs. The convoy carried grain, wine and other foodstuffs. After the merchants had sold their cargo, they left Mechelen in the evening. Due to the dangerous conditions on the road, seventeen soldiers were hired to escort the convoy on the return journey. However, three miles outside of Mechelen, a group of sixty armed men were waiting in ambush. They had watched the convoy approach and opened fire immediately. Most of the escorting soldiers and four carters were killed. The others were captured and taken to Bergen.

Upon hearing this story, Samuel Kiechel and his companions were fearful that the same fate might befall them. They discussed their options. One of them, a messenger from Aachen, urged the others not to wait and argued that after the recent attack, the bandits would have left the area. The group eventually agreed to take the risk and continue their journey along the planned route.

Weapons and Travelling

Kiechel rarely mentioned his weapons. Occasionally, he stated he carried a firearm, but he never provided details. There is also no instance in the journal where he reports needing to use his weapon for self-defence. We do not know if our traveller was already armed when he left Ulm or if he acquired a weapon upon entering a dangerous region.

Leaving the Netherlands

Whatever the reason, the following morning, Kiechel and his companions left the inn very early to avoid any argument with the innkeeper over an escort. However, the quick departure was delayed because the town’s gate was still shut. The group had to wait, and eventually, none other than the innkeeper arrived with the keys. The man was in a foul mood because the travellers had ignored his advice. After he unlocked the gate, the group hurried away, worried that the governor’s mercenaries might turn up and demand to be taken as an escort. Kiechel and his companions therefore rode all day without pause and arrived in Maastricht in the evening.

According to our traveller, Maastricht was on the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Spain. It was heavily fortified, with the river Meuse dividing the city. One part of Maastricht belonged to the King of Spain, and the other, across the bridge on the opposite side of the river, to the Bishopric of Liège.

A profile view of Maastricht is in volume two, and a plan view is in volume three of the Civitates. The name “Traiectum ad Mosam” appears in both images and is the city’s Latin name.

The plan view shows the street network of Maastricht and offers a clear impression of the city’s size and fortifications. Some buildings are labelled. The profile view displays the impressive skyline of Maastricht as a visitor might have seen it. Additionally, the view includes a legend with forty-one entries for key buildings. In both images, the river Meuse is depicted, dividing the city into the two parts Kiechel mentioned.

Maastricht was captured by a Spanish army in 1579. Due to its strategic position on the Meuse River and proximity to the Holy Roman Empire’s border, the Spanish held control of the city for most of the war. In 1632, the Dutch eventually besieged and took it.

After arriving in Maastricht, our traveller and his companions had to wait at the gate for a considerable time. The guards asked for their names, places of origin, and where they had come from. They had to answer the same questions at the inn.