Travelling Around Walcheren Island

Kiechel’s ship sailed through the night and arrived in Arnemuiden the following morning. Our traveller noted that the town is in the province of Zeeland. It is small and fortified by poorly constructed walls.

In the sixteenth century, Arnemuiden was located on the southern coast of Walcheren. Today, however, it is no longer connected to the sea. In 1871, the Sloedam was constructed to link Walcheren to the mainland, and after World War II, the land surrounding the dam was reclaimed and converted into polders. The island of Walcheren became a peninsula.

After a short break, Kiechel resumed his journey, walking another mile to Middelburg. He took the road heading southwest from Veere past the lepper house (“Leprosi“) and through the village of Zanddijk (“Sanddyck“).

Jacob van Deventer’s superb map of Middelburg not only depicts the city but also the canal leading to the sea. The canal flows into the sea southwest of Arnemuiden. The two towns are fairly close, and Kiechel’s visit to Veere was either an unplanned detour or a deliberate decision since all three locations are quite near each other.

During the Eighty Years’ War, Middelburg was the last city on Walcheren held by the Spanish. Dutch rebels besieged it (1572-1574), and ultimately, the city surrendered. The damaged houses, Kiechel observed, might still have been from the siege. Middelburg recovered from the siege and became one of the wealthiest and most prominent cities in the Dutch Republic during the seventeenth century.

A bird’s-eye view in the second volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum depicts Middelburg as a fortified city with large open spaces inside the walls. This volume of the Civitates was first published in 1575, and depending on when the print was made, it may show the city before or after the siege. At the bottom of the image are Middelburg’s harbour and the canal leading to the sea. Ships are moored along the canal and within the city.

Forced Stopover

Samuel Kiechel did not intend to stay in Vlissingen; he wanted to depart for England as soon as possible. However, because the wind constantly blew from the west, he had to wait in the town from 5 August to 6 September. Despite this hold-up, our traveller kept himself busy; he made two unsuccessful attempts to continue his voyage.

The first attempt was on 27 August when the wind finally shifted. Kiechel prepared to leave and went on board a ship. But then, the wind changed course again in the evening, forcing him to return to the town.

The second attempt to leave Vlissingen soon followed. Kiechel overheard that some Frenchmen had paid the captain of a privateer ship to take them to Calais in France. Bored with waiting in Vlissingen, he decided to join them on their voyage.

As a side note, Kiechel spoke French. Later in his journal, he mentions that he had spent a few months in Paris before his journey, using that time to learn the language.

Unlike modern passports, early modern equivalents were issued only for a specific destination. The document was essentially an official letter that included the traveller’s name and, sometimes, physical features. Travellers like Samuel Kiechel often had to acquire new passports from local authorities, especially in regions affected by war or plague.

Samuel Kiechel took the passport for England as a precaution. He explained in his journal that privateers, when they stopped a ship at sea, would question the passengers about their destination. A traveller with a passport would be left in peace, but without it, he risked being robbed. Following Kiechel’s reasoning, it was essential to have a passport at sea. The destination for which the passport was issued was of lesser importance. Presumably, since sailing ships relied on the wind, there was always a chance of being blown off course — as Kiechel would later discover to his advantage.

Upon returning to the port on 1 September, all passengers had to show their passports at the gate before being allowed into the city — a routine security check to ensure no one without the proper papers had been on the ship. It did not matter that the vessel had left Vlissingen the day prior.

Now, Samuel Kiechel was very worried. While he possessed a passport, it was not issued for a journey to France, and he had just disembarked from a French ship heading for Calais. Our traveller noted that if he were caught, he would not have been permitted to enter Vlissingen again. Given that the Dutch were at war with Spain, there might have been harsher consequences. However, being denied entry to Vlissingen meant Kiechel would need to find another port to continue his journey to England.

Fortunately for him, the poor weather worked in his favour. The guard at the gate, unwilling to spend too much time in the rain, merely glanced at his document and waved him through.

England and the Dutch Revolt

During Samuel Kiechel’s time in Vlissingen, the Dutch Republic and England signed the Treaty of Nonsuch (10 August 1585). Queen Elizabeth I agreed to provide troops to lift the siege of Antwerp and to pay a yearly subsidy to support the Dutch rebellion. In return, English garrisons were stationed in the towns of Brielle and Vlissingen, as well as at Fort Rammekens, until the Dutch repaid the loan. Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was sent to command the English forces.

English support for the Dutch Republic was motivated by the threat of Spanish-controlled provinces on the opposite side of the Channel. Tensions between the two kingdoms were already running high. Philip II of Spain considered himself the defender of the Catholic faith and was hostile to Elizabeth I’s establishment of the English Protestant church. In addition, English privateers like Francis Drake were harassing Spanish treasure ships.

Seven days after the Treaty of Nonsuch was signed, Antwerp was compelled to surrender to the Spanish on 17 August 1585. The clause that an English army would relieve the siege was expanded into broader support for the Dutch independence. The Treaty and England’s backing for the Dutch Republic marked the beginning of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). Nearly exactly three years later, the Spanish Armada was defeated near Walcheren. Simultaneously, Dutch ships from Vlissingen prevented Spanish transport barges from leaving the Scheldt delta to carry an invasion force to England.

While Kiechel waited in Vlissingen, he observed ships from England arriving daily, bringing soldiers. On 29 August, the commander of the English army arrived. According to our traveller, he was called “Mylord Oxford” and was received in the city with great fanfare. Since Robert Dudley came to the Netherlands only in December, the commander, our traveller mentioned, must have been a temporary leader until Dudley’s arrival.

After waiting a month in Vlissingen, the wind finally shifted. On 6 September, Samuel Kiechel boarded a French privateer in his third and final attempt to leave the city.