Loevestein Castle
In the village of Poederoyen, near Brakel, on the place where the two big rivers Meuse and Waal meet each other, lies a grim, massive building: Loevestein. This castle of robber-knights was build in the first half of the fourteenth century, and is the most famous castle of the Netherlands. During the Eighty Years' War it was in turn the stake between the Spaniards and the Dutch Orangists. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century it was used as a state-prison, and the story of Hugo de Groot who escaped in a bookchest is very well-known. After the times of the Republic the was used as a keep, and was a part of the the Dutch Waterline. Nowadays the house is a museum and can be hired to give a party.
Grim and massive arises the castle from its moat.
In 1570, when the house was in the hands of the Spaniards, twelve Orangists, under guidance of one Herman de Ruyter, entered the castle by ruse. Disguised as monks they were invited by the castellan. At night they killed the castellan and the present soldiers and took over the castle. The Spaniards didn't lose a moment and soon the castle lay under siege. De Ruyter and his man were waiting for help from the prince, but that didn't came on time. De Ruyter saw that his attempt to keep the castle was in vain, so he collected a few barrels of gunpowder and brought them to a particular room. He strew some of the gunpowder around, and when the Spaniards entered the castle, he threw a burning fuse into the gunpowder. The whole room was blown up by this, and so was he. The duke of Alva convicted them all to dead, and they were hung at the gallows, but because De Ruyter was already dead, they cut of his head, put it on a stake and placed it on the walls of 's-Hertogenbosch as an example. The ghost of Herman de Ruyter is still haunting the grounds at Loevestein. He appears as a burning, headless ghost.
The backside of the house, once a prison.
