Bolsward ' onMouseout='HidePop("67435")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/West_Frisian_language">West Frisian
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside of the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
:
Boalsert) is a
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
and a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in the
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
of
FrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as Frisia. In order to distinguish it from the other Frisian regions, it is commonly specified as Westerlauwer Frisia, Westerlauwer Friesland, West Frisia or West Friesland...
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
.
Bolsward ' onMouseout='HidePop("67435")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/West_Frisian_language">West Frisian
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside of the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
:
Boalsert) is a
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
and a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in the
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
of
FrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as Frisia. In order to distinguish it from the other Frisian regions, it is commonly specified as Westerlauwer Frisia, Westerlauwer Friesland, West Frisia or West Friesland...
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. Bolsward is just short of a population of 10,000. The town is the only official settlement within the borders of the municipality
History
The town is founded on three
artificial dwelling hillAn artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....
s, of which the first was built some time before Christ.
Bolsward was a trading city with a port in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
. The middlesea connected the port to the
North SeaThe North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. It is more than long and wide, with an area of around...
, but this connection was lost when the middlesea was reclaimed from the sea.
As a trading city, Bolsward received
city rightsCity rights are a medieval phenomenon in the history of the Low Countries. A liegelord, usually a count, duke or similar member of high nobility, granted a settlement he owned certain town privileges that settlements without city rights did not have....
in 1455. Bolsward was also a member of the
Hanseatic leagueThe Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading cities and their guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period...
.
Notable historical figures born here include:
- Juw Juwinga
Juw Juwinga of Bolsward was a Frisian chieftain that earned great fame in the struggle against the ‘infidels’. When Albrecht of Bavaria, count of Holland, threatened Friesland in 1396, Juw was chosen as potestate of Friesland. He advised luring the enemy into the land. The Schieringers limited...
or Jonghema, 11th potestate of Friesland (14th century)
- Petrus Thaborita
Petrus Jacobi Thaborita was a Frisian monk, historian and writer. He was most famous for his writings on the Frisian freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia, and for writing down Donia's last words...
, historian (1450-1527)
- Boetius Adamsz Bolswert
Boetius à Bolswert was a renowned copper-plate engraving engraver of Friesland origin. In his time the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens called forth new endeavours by engravers to imitate or reproduce the breadth, density of mass and dynamic illumination of those works...
, engraver (c.1580-1633)
- Schelderic Adamsz Bolswert, engraver (c.1586-1659)
- Gysbert Japiks
Gysbert Japicx was a Frisian writer, poet, schoolteacher and cantor.He admired Horace and Ovid and was a defender for the memmetaal which elevated Frisian to a literature language. His poems are included in Fryske rijmlerye & Friessche tjerne ....
, poet (1603-1666)
- Frederick Philipse, American progenitor and founder (1626-1702)
- Willem Muurling
Willem Muurling was a Dutch theologian who was a native of Bolsward. He was father-in-law to theologian Abraham Kuenen .He studied theology at Utrecht, and from 1832 to 1837 served as a pastor in Stiens...
, theologian (1805-1882)
- Titus Brandsma
Blessed Titus Brandsma was a Dutch Carmelite priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many times before the Second World War....
, Carmelite philosopher (1881-1942)
Events
Bolsward is one of the eleven Frisian cities in which the
ElfstedentochtThe Elfstedentocht is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands....
, an
ice skatingIce skating is moving on ice by use of ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water such as lakes and...
marathonThe marathon is a long-distance foot race with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres that is usually run as a road race. The event is named after the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens...
, is held. This is a rare event which depends on the thickness of the ice.
Bolsward is also the host city for the yearly
road bicycle racingRoad bicycle racing is a popular bicycle racing sport held on roads , using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first at the end of the course Road bicycle racing is a popular bicycle racing...
tour, which is also called the 11-stedentocht.
External links
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