While the French under the leadership of Louis XIV conquered more and more land from the south, the States General immediately started negotiations. The time that was elapsed with this gave Dutch regents the opportunity to realize a water line. We now know it as the Old Dutch Waterline and the Vecht was an important river in this. “Villages al Breukelen, Maarssen, Nieuwersluis and Loenen were on the wrong side of that waterline,” the writer explains. And those who lived on the wrong side of the Vecht did not have it easy. “There was robbery, looting or a fire tribute imposed.” Fire estimation is the sum that a village sometimes had to pay to the occupier to prevent it from being set on fire. Wolfert: “”Villages such as Waverveen, Breukelen and Abcoude were largely burned down.”
Disaster year in the Vecht region finally gets a face after 350 years thanks to Daan Wolfert
