Fortified cities in the Low Countries

One of the most discernible characteristic of historic cities is that they are in some way fortified. Te right to erect defenses was an important city right that also directly freed the people within that enclosure of certain feudal laws and obligations. Some cities grew up around older fortifications such as castles and hill forts. This is especially true of the hilly areas of the Low Countries. In most of the area that comprises Luxemburg, Belgium and the Netherlands cities were actively founded by the feudal lord, sometimes as a payback for a service granted by a community, but mostly to expand the economic activity within his lands. The oldest cities to be granted city rights were Namur, Thuin, Tongeren and Tournai (in Belgium) and Luxemburg City in the tenth century. The first city with a charter within the Netherlands was Stavoren on the Vlie river in Frisia in 1058. Most cities were founded during the 13th, 15th and 16th centuries.

The earliest cities especially in the low lying areas were protected by a combination of earth banks and ditches. The bank would be topped with a palisade. Only in those areas where natural stone was available -Luxemburg, the east of Belgium and the far most southeast of the Netherlands- would stone walls be constructed. The exact nature of the cities fortification would depend on the resources available, the lay of the land and the drainage situation. Cities built in a flood plain would build wide defensive moats and high earthworks rather than heavy and expensive stone walls. As military force developed stronger defenses needed to be constructed resulting in the erection of brick walls behind or on top of an embankment. In most cases an area on both sides of the city wall would be kept clear to provide for better movement for the defenders on the inside and a better view of the enemy on the outside. In a water rich location there would be a secondary ditch on the inside of the walls.

As military techniques developed the old wall became of little use to the new cannons using gunpowder. In the post-medieval period elaborate defensive schemes were developed in the Low Countries and France. The old walls became the backdrop of complex systems of fortifications with earth banks, dry moats, wet moats and brick walls. The evolution of this new style of fortification started in northern Italy and was quickly picked up by Dutch and French engineers. In the new system walls were lowered and replaced or curtained with wide earth banks. In front of the inner defenses ravelins and ramparts were constructed with ditches. The fortifications spread outward with protected batteries for cannons. The engineers placed a heavy emphasis on geometry, to allow for interlocking fields of fire, resulting in star shaped fortifications with multtiered hornworks, bastions, ravelins and bulwarks dissected by wet and dry moats. 

All important cities in the Low Countries were mantled with star shaped fortifications. The two most important designers, each having their own system, were the Flemish Simon Stevin, the Dutch Menno van Coehoorn and the French Sebastian Le Prestre de Vauban. In some cases market towns and villages would be fortified to provide a strategic stronghold. Famous examples include Couvorden, Bourtange, Stevensweert, Arcen, Den Helder, Blokzijl, Oudeschans, Nieuweschans, Willemstad, Hellevoetsluis, Fort Bath, Terneuzen, Retranchement, Zandvliet, Zevekote, Lo, Wervik, Menen, Baumont, Walcourt, Philippeville,  Mariembourg and Vitron.

Most of the medieval cities were fortified, these are shown with the orange outline. Some cities never built walls or defenses; sometimes only a wooden gate would be erected to indicate the city limits. Especially around the edges of the Low Countries star forts (shown as solid orange blocks) were developed from a village of market town.