Send Gift Baskets to Schiedam, Netherlands

The city of Schiedam was established around 1230. To protect the existing polderland from the seawater of the North Sea, the river Schie was dammed by the Lord of Wassenaer and the Amtlord Dirk Bokel of the Amt Mathenesse. Her father, John I, was Count of Hainaut, and her mother, Lady Adelaide of Holland, was Lady Adelaide of Holland. The dam’s eastern part and its adjacent polder were given to her as dowry. Since goods for and from the hinterland (Delft and further away Leiden and Haarlem) had to be transported, the dam attracted many trade activities. As a result of the dam’s activities and development, a small town grew up around it. A city right was granted to Schiedam in 1275 by Lady Adelaide, the sister of William II, the reigning Count of Holland. Its name was changed to “Castle Mathenesse” (Dutch: “Huis te Riviere” or “Slot Mathenesse”) after she ordered its construction near the Schie. There are remnants of a donjon in Schiedam’s city center and near the city office, once part of the castle.

Schiedam’s young settlement soon competed with nearby towns and cities: Rotterdam and Delft were allowed to connect the Schie and Meuse in 1340. As pilgrimage centers grew around Saint Lidwina, one of the most famous Dutch saints who lived in Schiedam, Schiedam flourished from the 15th century on. Fishing for herring became the city’s primary source of income. Schiedam was devastated by a great city fire in 1428, which destroyed large portions of the wooden town.