Beginning in front of the
LEIDEN AMERICAN PILGRIM MUSEUM: house built ca. 1375, probably as a residence
for priests of the Hooglandsekerk. The museum is nr. 9. The museum is open
Wednesday through Saturday, 1 - 5 p.m. For further information, and group scheduling, call
071-5122413. [from America: 011-31-71-5122413]]
Walk to the
HOOGLANDSEKERK: built in the 15th century; the clock tower remains from an
earlier smaller church of the first half of the 14th century.
Turning left in front of the tower, walk one block and enter the arch with the lion on
top, to see the
BURCHT: castle of the medieval viscounts of Leiden, built ca. 1200 to replace
an earlier wooden castle on the man-made hill, which is probably from the 10th or 11th
century. A walk around the parapet gives a view out over the medieval town.
Leaving under the lion arch, turn right and walk one block to the covered bridge. In
the SHORT ROUTE you will cross the bridge.
COORNBRUG (Corn Bridge): first bridge over the Rijn River at Leiden. The
markets held here and along both sides of the river on Wednesdays and Saturdays have been
here continuously since the 13th century and are the oldest in Holland.
From the Coornbrug there is a view to the Town Hall tower, to the Visbrug, and beyond it,
to the Weigh House. This is where the city crane unloaded all the boats that brought
produce for Leiden's markets. Here, too, the passenger boats that provided regular service
two or three times a week to the other Dutch cities loaded and unloaded. The Pilgrims
landed by the city crane when they arrived from Amsterdam on May Day, 1609.
Continue one block beyond the bridge to the Breestraat and turn right for a view of the
STADHUIS (Town Hall): façade 1595; represents the attempt to revive Leiden's
importance as a commercial center after the Siege of Leiden (1573-4), when half the
population died of starvation, and after the fall of Antwerp to Catholic armies in 1585
and the closing of Antwerp's port. The money for the new town hall was arranged by the
leading banker of the Flemish and Walloon (Huguenot) refugees, Daniel van der Meulen. He
nominated the architect, Lieven de Key, also a refugee, and the sculptor, Luder van
Benthem, who altered the designs while carving the façade stones at his quarry near
Bremen in Germany. Various Pilgrim couples were married in civil ceremonies before
magistrates in Leiden's city hall - for example, William Bradford and Dorothy May's
marriage was registered here.
Walking along the front of the city hall to the far end, across the street is the
carved doorway of the
PENSHAL (Tripe Market): entry, dated 1607, to the market for cheap meat where
liver, tripe, kidneys, etc. were sold, as well as chickens and rabbits. More expensive
meat was sold in the main meat market across the street. Poorer people, such as many of
the Pilgrims, could only afford the cheaper fare available in the Tripe Market.
Beyond the Penshal at the next corner, in the middle of the Breestraat is the
BLAUWESTEEN (Blue Stone): in the center of the Breestraat, an old Roman road
that marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire; the Blue Stone was the place of
justice in early medieval Leiden. Thieves had fingers cut off; faulty products were burned
here. There was also a stone pedestal on the front of the town hall where gossips and
scolds had to stand for a set length of time to be jeered at.
Looking farther down the Breestraat, the 17th-cent. house with pillars and carving is
the "Vergulden Turk."
JAN VAN HOUT'S HOUSE (to the right of the Vergulden Turk): where William
Brewster must have gone to discuss obtaining permission for the Pilgrims to stay in
Leiden. The English poet Sir Philip Sidney Stayed here as a guest of Jan van Hout in 1586,
and Brewster probably met both Sidney and Van Hout then. Brewster was an assistant of Sir
William Davison, England's Secretary of State, who was visiting Leiden at the same time as
Sidney. (The present façade is of a later date.)
DE VERGULDEN TURK (The Gilded Turk): the mansion of a wealthy merchant. The figures
in the gable, - Neptune and Mercury, gods of the sea and of communication, and the
turbanned Turk, suggest that the merchant traded with Constantinople. The first Dutch
trader with Constantinople on a large scale was Bartholomeus van Panhuysen of Leiden. Van
Panhuysen was a family connection of van der Meulen, the merchant banker who organized the
construction of the new front of the town hall.
Farther down the Breestraat one can see the bell tower of
DE WAALSE KERK (Walloon Church): Now used by the Walloon church
(French-speaking Protestants, also called Huguenots), in Pilgrim times it was the chapel
of the St. Catharine's Hospital. Myles Standish is mentioned in a list of soldiers who
were taken care of in this hospital in 1601, although his name was misspelled as
"Myls Stansen."
Turning off the Breestraat at the intersection where the Blue Stone is, we
Enter the PIETERSKERK KOORSTEEG: the Hunkemoller building may be Leiden's
oldest complete house, perhaps dating from ca. 1300, but with a roof rebuilt in the 15th
century. You can notice the three gothic windows in the front, with their points cut off
to modernize the building in the 17th century.
The first street crossing the Pieterskerk Koorsteeg is called the
LANGE BRUG: Originally an open canal, it was vaulted over in the early
seventeenth century and then became known as the Lange Brug, or Long Bridge. Pilgrim James
Chilton and his family lived here, although exactly where is unknown. In 1619, coming home
from church, he was surrounded by stone-throwing youths. Hit by a paving stone or brick,
he was knocked unconscious. The crowd had attacked him and his daughter because it was
suspected that illegal religious gatherings of the followers of the theologian Jacobus
Arminius (called Remonstrants) were being held in Chilton's house.
Continuing in the
PIETERSKERK KOORSTEEG: The Leiden burgomaster and historian, and also book
publisher, Jan Orlers, lived here, just around the corner from William Brewster, whose
house opened onto the alley now named after him.
Turning into the little alley through the archway on the right, we walk along the
WILLIAM BREWSTERSTEEG. In the last house on the right, Brewster and his
assistant Edward Winslow printed books that were forbidden in England. Many were smuggled
into England for distribution there. Others were sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair, taken
along by Orlers. Through pressure exerted by the English ambassador, the Pilgrims'
printing activities were suppressed. Brewster was arrested along with Thomas Brewer, who
had helped finance the printing projects. Brewster was released by Leiden's sheriff, which
angered the English. Brewster went into hiding in the next village, Leiderdorp, and
escaped further pursuit by emigrating to New England in 1620 on the "Mayflower."
Only the end wall of Brewster’s house remains; the house was enlarged in the 17th
century.
Return to the Pieterskerk Koorsteeg and walk to the Pieterskerk, going around the
church on the right (north) side.
PIETERSKERK: the present church was built between 1390 and 1565; different
parts were designed by several of the most famous architects in the Low Countries. It
contains an important organ from 1637, parts of which date from the 15th and 16th
centuries. Many renowned university professors are buried here, as well as the painter Jan
Steen and the Pilgrims' minister John Robinson.
When you can visit the church, the door to the north transept is open. The inside is
well worth seeing, including the memorial to John Robinson in the octagonal baptistry
chapel in the far corner diagonally opposite the transept entrance. Continuing along the
church, you reach the:
PIETERSKERKHOF (churchyard): The theologian Jacobus Arminius lived in a house
facing the church. The white house on the corner of the Kloksteeg was where the family of
Pilgrim Thomas Rogers lived (in one room) briefly while he went with son Joseph to America
first to start a farm in 1620. Although Thomas died in the first winter, the remaining
members of his family moved to Plymouth in 1623. The tall Pieterskerk tower at the west
front of the church collapsed in 1512, but the bell was unbroken and was hung in a stubby
free-standing tower at the corner of the church yard, giving the name Bell Alley or
Kloksteeg to the street. Thomas Brewer lived in the second house to the right of the
almshouse on the opposite side of the Kloksteeg. Brewer was a friend of the Pilgrims and
provided financial support for William Brewster's printing activities. The minister of the
English Reformed Church, Hugh Goodyear, who became a friend of the Pilgrims, lived for a
while in Brewer's house.
On the far side of the churchyard is the formal entrance to the almshouse called the
JEAN PESYNHOF: built in 1683 on the spot where the Pilgrims' minister John
Robinson's house was. The Pilgrims built about a dozen small houses in the garden behind
Robinson's house. These were smaller than the dwellings that are now part of the
almshouse. It is possible to see the roof of the chapel of the Begijnhof from the
almshouse garden. The almshouse was built for members of the Walloon church, through a
legacy from Jean Pesyn and his wife Marie de la Noye, who was probably a distant relative
of Philip Delanoye, the Pilgrim ancestor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. You may push open
the large entry door and view the garden, but please respect the quiet of the residents.
From the almshouse, enter the alley leading away from the church, and walk one block to
the canal.
CORNER OF KLOKSTEEG AND RAPENBURG: In Pilgrim times this pub (Barerra) was an
English book shop operated by the publishers Thomas and Govert Basson. Although the
Bassons were friends of John Robinson, Govert Basson supported the followers of Arminius
(whom Robinson opposed) and Govert Basson published the complete writings of Arminius in
1617.
Across the bridge is the
ACADEMIEGEBOUW: Theological debates were held in the lower room on the right
end of this medieval convent chapel, which is the oldest part of the University of Leiden.
This is probably where Robinson debated with Arminius' successor Simon Episcopius. Now the
room is part of the Museum of University History. Gomarus, the strict Calvinist opponent
of Arminius, lived across the bridge in the Nonnensteeg. Pilgrim Robert Cushman lived in a
small house built in an alley off the left side of the Nonnensteeg, but the houses there
have disappeared.
Turning left without crossing the bridge, follow the Rapenburg canal and notice the
STEPS DOWN TO THE WATER: These steps were probably used by the Pilgrims to
embark on the boats that took them to Delfshaven, although scheduled boats began at the
Weigh House in the center of town.
A little farther along the curve of the canal, just past a fenced garden is an alley
leading to the
BEGIJNHOFKAPEL (Beguinage Chapel): This chapel was used by the university for
its library and anatomy theater. The Pilgrims were allowed to use a large groundfloor room
on Sundays in the last years of their stay in Leiden, when religious meetings in private
homes were made illegal. Later the same room became the English Reformed Church (the
Puritan congregation led by Hugh Goodyear). There is a garden area behind the chapel, with
a fine view to the Pieterskerk over the roofs of the area where Robinson lived.
Farther along the curving Rapenburg canal, on the opposite side is an arched bridge
over the
VLIET RIVER: The Pilgrims began their migration to America in 1620, departing
Leiden in boats that went along the Vliet River to Delfshaven, where they got on their
ship the "Speedwell." The "Speedwell" took them to England, where they
met the "Mayflower," which their agents had hired. Both ships were intended to
go to America, but the "Speedwell" was leaky, and so the ships turned back and
many "Speedwell" passengers got on the "Mayflower" which continued on
alone to America. Some passengers came back to Leiden, and joined other Leiden Pilgrims in
the later ships, "Fortune," "Anne," "Little James," and
another ship also called the "Mayflower."
A small house on the left as we continue along the Rapenburg has a carved coat-of-arms.
This is the
HOUSE OF THE VAN DUIVENBODE BROTHERS: Two brothers who kept carrier pigeons
lived here. Their pigeons were used during the Siege of Leiden in 1573-1574 to send and
bring messages between the people in Leiden and the navy of William of Orange, which
eventually was able to sail up to the city walls to relieve the siege, once they had
flooded the farmland south of town. The city granted the coat of arms seen on the house to
the brothers to commemorate their contribution to the city; and the brothers took the
surname "van Duivenbode" which means "of the carrier pigeons."
A larger house farther along the Rapenburg, identified by a stone inscription, was
JEAN LUZAC'S HOUSE: America's first ambassador, the future president John
Adams, visited Leiden's publisher Jean Luzac in the 1780's here, where the French-language
"Gazette de Leyde" was produced. That newspaper carried favorable news and
editorials about the American Revolution, distributed throughout Europe. Luzac was killed
in 1807, when a boat full of gunpowder exploded further along the canal, destroying about
eight square blocks of houses and killing 155 people.
Crossing the bridge, we enter the
VAN DER WERFF PARK: The gunpowder explosion cleared the space for this park. It
is pleasantly landscaped around a statue of Burgomaster Pieter van der Werff, the
town’s leader during the siege. (The park is best visited before July, when an annual
pop music festival turns the grass into vast reaches of unsightly mud the town does not
repair until the fall.) The Kamerlingh-Onnes laboratory, across the canal, was the center
of Leiden University's pioneering physics research into temperatures near absolute zero.
The elaborate 16th-century tower across the canal belongs to the
LODEWIJKSKERK (Church of St. Louis): Built as a hospice chapel for a stopping
place on the medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago da Compostella in Spain, the building
became a guildhall after the Reformation and was also used briefly as a food distribution
center when Leiden’s siege ended. William Bradford belonged to the cloth guild that
met here, and this was where cloth approved by the guild was sold. The chapel marks the
edge of the destruction caused by the 1807 gun powder explosion. By order of Louis
Napoleon, who had been appointed King of The Netherlands by his brother, the French
Emperor Napoleon, the building once again became a Roman Catholic church. It was renamed
after St. Louis, the patron saint of France and Louis Napoleon’s namesake. Louis
Napoleon had personally come from The Hague to help in the rescue efforts the day after
the explosion, which could be heard as far away as The Hague, Delft, and Amsterdam.
At the end of the park, a small street next to a parking lot is the beginning of the
LEVENDAAL: Somewhere on this canal, now filled in, Pilgrims Francis Cook and
Hester Mahieu lived. They were among the French-speaking Protestants (Huguenots) who
joined the English Pilgrims in Leiden. Here also is Leiden's Synagogue, whose congregation
was founded in the 18th century, although there are references to Jews in Leiden as early
as the 15th century.
To return to the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, turn left at the Synagogue,
then right at the first intersection. Walk about half a block to the Nieuwe Rijn River.
Turn left and follow the River to the footbridge you can see. This footbridge takes you to
the Beschuitsteeg, where the museum is at nr. 9.
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