St. Elizabeth's flood (1404)
Encyclopedia
The St. Elizabeth's flood (Sint Elisabethsvloed) of 1404 occurred on or around November 19, 1404, the namesake day of St. Elizabeth
Elisabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...

. The floods were especially catastrophic in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

 and Holland.The area in Zeeland and Flanders had been flooded 29 years earlier, on October 8, 1375. As a result of the floods, the Braakman
Braakman
The Braakman was a large tidal inlet in the middle of the Dutch region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, on the south bank of the Westerschelde west of Terneuzen....

 was created or enlarged. In this new area, new parishes and villages started to appear. The flood in 1404 destroyed the area again, just as it had done in 1375. Other areas previously untouched such as the small towns of IJzendijke
IJzendijke
IJzendijke is a city in the municipality of Sluis, about 10 km east of Oostburg, in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Its population is 1,780 .The town received city rights in 1303....

 and Hugevliet were engulfed and destroyed during the flood. In the county of Flanders all the coast islands in the mouth of the Westerschelde were washed away. After this calamity John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...

 (Jan zonder Vrees) gave the command to link all the dikes already existing into one large dike which ran from the north from the county to the south. This explains why the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 coast line is so straight. Since Jan zonder Vrees was also count of Flanders
Count of Flanders
The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the position by the French revolutionaries in 1790....

, this dike is still named Graaf Jansdijk.

See also

  • St. Elizabeth's flood (1421)
    St. Elizabeth's flood (1421)
    The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was a flooding of an area in what is now the Netherlands. It takes its name from the feast day of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary which was formerly November 19....

    , a flood that occurred on the same day 17 years later.
  • Floods in the Netherlands
    Floods in the Netherlands
    This is a chronological list of floods that have occurred in the Netherlands, until 1500 most parts of the Netherlands were in Frisia.*838 December 26: A large part of the northwest of the Netherlands was flooded by a storm. Lack of good dikes was an important cause of this flood disaster...



References

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