Utrecht in the year 690 – Nicolaas van der Monde, 1835

RECONSTRUCTION MAP OF MEDIEVAL UTRECHT

“Eerste Toestand van den ouden Burgt en de stad Utrecht (Trajectum) onder Dagobert I, Koning der Franken, Clodovicus en Pepijn den Ouden, in het jaar 690” [Earliest state  of the old fortress and the city of Utrecht (Trajectum) under Dagobert I, King of the Franks, Clovis IV, and Pepin the Elder, in the year 690.] Lithograph published by Nicolaas van der Monde and printed by Abrahams in Utrecht in 1835. Size: 19 x 31 cm.

This print shows an imaginative reconstruction of Utrecht as it may have looked in the year 690. It features a ground plan of the fortress of Traiectum, showing roads, the (Oude) Rijn River, and surrounding buildings in elevation. Also included are depictions of the obverse and reverse of seven coins from Dorestad (modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede) and Utrecht. The plan was likely based on a painting or drawing and subsequently developed according to the description of Utrecht by the 16th century historian Hortensius.

Reconstruction maps like this – depicting an imagined past state of a region or city – first emerged in the 16th century, a period marked by growing interest in antiquarian research.

Several such maps have been created for the city of Utrecht. The year 690, in particular, has long captivated historical imagination, as it marks a pivotal moment in the city’s early history. In that year, Willibrord – the “Apostle to the Frisians” – settled in ‘Trecht’, after the Frankish mayor of the palace, Pepin of Herstal, had defeated the Frisian king Radbod near Dorestad in 689, bringing Utrecht once more under Frankish control. Willibrord founded St. Salvator’s Church and restored the church dedicated to Saint Martin – later the Dom Church – within the Roman-built fortress on the Domplein.

Several reconstruction maps of the settlement of Trecht and its surroundings around 690 have survived. At the heart of these is an unsigned and undated map, presumably created in the 16th or 17th century. This version was later copied and further elaborated by others – among them the well-known Utrecht city historian Nicolaas van der Monde (1779–1847), who published the present map in 1835.

Van der Monde conducted extensive research into the history of Utrecht and its environs. From 1835 to 1846, he published the Journal for the History, Antiquities and Statistics of the Province and City of Utrecht. This map was included in the very first issue of that journal.

Literature: “Kaarten van Utrecht” – Donkersloot de Vrij (1989), no. 73.

Price: Euro 275,-