Groenlo
Encyclopedia
Groenlo is a cityCity
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in the municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
of Oost Gelre
Oost Gelre
Oost Gelre is a municipality in the Achterhoek, in the eastern Netherlands. On January 1, 2005, the municipalities Groenlo and Lichtenvoorde merged and formed the new municipality Oost Gelre, which was called Groenlo until May 19, 2006.- Population centres :...
, situated in the east
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....
ern part of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
on the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
border, a region in the province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
of Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
called the Achterhoek
Achterhoek
The Achterhoek is a region in the eastern part of the Netherlands, Europe.Its name is geographically appropriate because the area lies in the Eastern-most part of Gelderland, and therefore of the Netherlands, protruding into Germany...
(literally:back corner). Groenlo was a municipality until January 1, 2005, when it merged with Lichtenvoorde
Lichtenvoorde
Lichtenvoorde is a town in the Netherlands, in the municipality of Oost Gelre.Until 1 January 2005, Lichtenvoorde was an independent municipality. It includes also four small villages: Lievelde, Zieuwent, Vragender and Harreveld. The number of inhabitants in this municipality is about 20,000.The...
. Until May 19 2006 Groenlo was the official name of Oost Gelre. As of the first of January 2006 Groenlo, including its hamlet Zwolle, counted a population of 10.067. Groenlo is known locally and historically as Grolle, Groll or Grol.
Today, Groenlo is known primarily for its beer brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
Grolsch (literal meaning: 'from Grol'), which was in business since 1615, but has been closed in 2004 when it moved to Boekelo
Boekelo
Boekelo is a Dutch village in the municipality of Enschede in the Eastern Netherlands, the population is estimated at approximately 2500. It is located just west of Usselo. The village is known for the Military Boekelo Enschede, an international equestrian event.It is also known for the salt...
. Grolsch produces many specialty beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
s (including beers for each season
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
) and its beer is exported all over the world. Groenlo's military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
history is less well known today.
History
Groenlo originates from the beginning of the 7th century. The name Groenlo refers to a green wood that lay in the neighbourhood (groen means greenGreen
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
, lo means forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
), hence the old shield of Groenlo, a green tree. Groenlo became a Guelders
Guelders
Guelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...
enclave of Borculo
Borculo
Borculo is a former municipality and a village in the eastern Netherlands, in the Province of Gelderland.On January first 2005 the municipality Borculo merged with the municipalities of Eibergen, Neede and Ruurlo into the municipality of Berkelland....
. On December 2, 1277, it received city rights from landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
Reinoud I of Zutphen. There were 6 councilors, four of which were aldermen and two mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
s. The judicial archive of Groenlo is very incomplete.
Since 1406, Groenlo has been part of the bishopric of Münster
Bishopric of Münster
The Bishopric of Münster was an ecclesiastical principality in the Holy Roman Empire, located in the northern part of today's North Rhine-Westphalia and western Lower Saxony...
. The city was an important trade center along the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
, which resulted in a rich variety of guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s. It became a strong stronghold
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
during the 16th and 17th century. The stronghold was repeatedly besieged
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
during the Eighty Years' War. The city still has a defensively
Defense (military)
Defense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...
shaped Gracht (canal)
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
and (the remains of) bulwark
Bulwark
Bulwark may refer to:*A bastion or fortifications in general*In naval terminology, an extension of a ship's sides above deck level*HMS Bulwark, any of several Royal Navy ships*USS Bulwark, any of several US Navy ships...
s stemming from this era.
In 1597 the city was conquered
Siege of Groenlo (1597)
The Siege of Groenlo was a siege of Groenlo by Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau during the Eighty Years' War. It lasted from 11 to 28 September 1597 and ended in the town's capture from its Spanish garrison. It followed an unsuccessful Dutch siege by Maurice in 1595 and formed part of Maurice's...
by Maurice of Nassau. In 1606 it was reconquered
Siege of Groenlo (1606)
The Siege of Groenlo was a siege of Groenlo or Grol in 1606 during the Dutch Revolt. It lasted from 3 to 14 August 1606 and ended in the city being captured from the United Provinces by a Spanish Empire force under Ambrosio Spinola. A few months later Prince Maurice attempted to retake the city but...
by Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
troops led by Spinola
Ambrosio Spinola, marqués de los Balbases
Don Ambrogio Spinola Doria, 1st Marquis of the Balbases was an Italian aristocrat, who, as a General in Spanish service, won a number of important battles for the Spanish crown...
. In 1627 Groenlo was besieged
Siege of Groenlo (1627)
The Siege of Grol in 1627 was a battle between the Army of the Dutch Republic commanded by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and the Spanish controlled fortified city of Grol , during the Eighty Years War in 1627. The Spanish army led by Hendrik van den Bergh came to relieve Grol, but it came too...
and conquered by Frederik Hendrik, one of Groenlo's most important historical events. This happening still has its effects in present day in the form of street names and the names of establishments in the city. Two restaurants in its historical center are appropriately named Frederik Hendrik and "Het Belegh van Grol" (The Siege of Grol). The battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
s of the Eighty Years' War are re-enacted regularly, drawing sizable crowds. As part of wider tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
attraction plan, some of Groenlo's old bulwark
Bulwark
Bulwark may refer to:*A bastion or fortifications in general*In naval terminology, an extension of a ship's sides above deck level*HMS Bulwark, any of several Royal Navy ships*USS Bulwark, any of several US Navy ships...
s have been under restoration in 2007, causing some controversy making local and even national TV, the reason being a large number of large trees that had to be cut down for the plan. Tourism is of major importance to Groenlo, with over 3500 tourists spending the night locally at given times.
Groenlo has been under Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
control for a considerable time during its violent history, which has left its marks. The majority of the local population is of Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
persuasion, an exception (together with Lichtenvoorde) in the mainly Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
region. This has resulted in several catholic traditions being celebrated locally, such as Carnaval
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
and "Kermis", as well as a relatively large number of license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
d establishment and festivities
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
.