Zutphen

Zutphen stands at the meeting of the Berkel and the IJssel, where a settlement grew on low river dunes. Once the seat of its own counts, it passed by marriage into the house of Guelders. Town rights granted in the 1190s gave it a court and a measure of self-government; Zutphen in turn became the mother town for several other Guelders communities. Its merchants joined the Hanseatic League, and the towers of Saint Walburgis and other churches rose above a prosperous river town.

The Berkel gate, built around 1320, carried the town's defences across the river. Saint Walburgis acquired a library in 1561, where books were chained to desks for readers. During the Dutch Revolt the fortifications saw repeated fighting. Sir Philip Sidney was mortally wounded at the Battle of Zutphen in 1586, and the following year an English officer surrendered a fortification to Spain. Maurice of Orange recovered the town in 1591. French forces occupied Zutphen briefly in 1672, and it again experienced occupation during the French Revolutionary Wars.