Literature is flourishing in Utrecht. And not just since today or even yesterday. Of course, the city\u2019s current environment, so favourable for all things literary, has everything to do with the presence of its talented and inspired authors, outstanding institutions and organisations, as well as an engaged readership. But the present vitality did not appear overnight. It is rooted in a long-standing literary tradition: in fact, the longest in the Netherlands. Below is a timeline with main historical figures and events, including links to Utrecht\u2019s ten literary icons, such as the Utrecht Psalter, Belle van Zuylen and Miffy.<\/p>\n
Trajectum<\/strong> An excavated metal stylus<\/strong> The Utrecht Dom School<\/strong> Utrecht Psalter<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n Utrecht receives city charter<\/strong> Dom Church<\/strong> The first printed book of the northern Netherlands<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n Erasmus<\/strong> First female author<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n Book of Kisses<\/strong> The Union of Utrecht<\/strong> The Utrecht city library<\/strong> Ren\u00e9 Descartes<\/strong> Anna Maria van Schurman<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n Utrecht University<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n John Locke<\/strong> Treaty of Utrecht<\/strong> Kemink bookshop<\/strong> Belle van Zuylen<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n John Adams<\/strong> Thomas Jefferson<\/strong> Utrecht as capital city<\/strong> Bijleveld bookshop<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n Maarten Maartens<\/strong> Click for more info<\/a><\/p>\n A.W. Bruna publishing house<\/strong> First public library in the Netherlands<\/strong> C.C.S. Crone<\/strong> Dada evening in Utrecht<\/strong> Literary activities in bookshop Broese<\/strong> Martinus Nijhoff<\/strong> Virginia Woolf<\/strong> W.G. van de Hulst<\/strong> Gerrit Achterberg<\/strong> Hendrik Marsman<\/strong> Miffy<\/strong>
\nA Roman settlement lays the foundations for Utrecht. The Emperor Claudius decided in the year 47 that the river Rhine and Danube would form the northern border, the limes, of the Roman Empire. One of these forts was Trajectum, named after a nearby river crossing in the Rhine. The fort was built on the exact spot that is now the Dom Square.<\/p>\nEarly middle ages<\/h5>\n
Cathedral city, centre of education and trade<\/h4>\n
ca. 600<\/h2>\n
\nIn the remains of a settlement on the river Kromme Rijn, just outside Utrecht, a metal stylus was found dating back to the year 600-650: this is the oldest evidence that people in our country were writing.<\/p>\n695<\/h2>\n
\nThis early predecessor of the University of Utrecht, was established, the first educational institution in the city, enjoying a great reputation. The founding of the Dom School marks the beginning of the city\u2019s literary history and that of the Netherlands.<\/p>\nca. 830<\/h2>\n
\nThe most famous medieval manuscript in the Netherlands is created. In 2015, it was included in UNESCO\u2019s Memory of the World Register.<\/p>\nLate middle ages<\/h5>\n
Main city in the Northern Netherlands<\/h4>\n
1122<\/h2>\n
\nIn 1122, Utrecht was one of the first cities in the Northern Netherlands to be granted city rights. The first time the name of the city is mentioned can be dated back to around the year 1000 (Uut Trecht<\/em>).<\/p>\n1254<\/h2>\n
\nThe start of the construction of the cathedral of the diocese of Utrecht.<\/p>\n1473<\/h2>\n
\nIn the 1470s, the Utrecht printers Nicolaas Ketelaar and Gerard de Leempt printed the first dated book in the Northern Netherlands, the Historia scholastica<\/em> by Petrus Comestor.<\/p>\n1492<\/h2>\n
\nDesiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) is ordained a priest in the cathedral of Utrecht.<\/p>\n1516<\/h2>\n
\nSuster Bertken (1426-1514) becomes the first Dutch woman to have a poetry collection published.<\/p>\n1541<\/h2>\n
\nUtrecht printer Harmannus Borculous prints the first edition of the Basia, the Book of kisses<\/em> by Janus Secundus<\/strong> (1511-1536), a collection of poems acclaimed by Goethe, Lord Bryon and Montaigne.<\/p>\nEarly Modern period<\/h5>\n
Meeting place for freethinkers<\/h4>\n
1579<\/h2>\n
\nThe beginning of the first Dutch constitution. This treaty was the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (1588-1795). This was a confederation of provinces, largely covering what is now the Netherlands and what developed into an economic and political superpower in the seventeenth century. In the Netherlands, this period is still known as the \u2018Golden Age\u2019.<\/p>\n1584<\/h2>\n
\nPredecessor of the university library, opens in Saint John\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n1635<\/h2>\n
\nThe French philosopher works on Discours de la m\u00e9thode<\/em> (1637) in Utrecht<\/p>\n1636<\/h2>\n
\nThis Utrecht student was Europe\u2019s first female academic.<\/p>\n1636<\/h2>\n
\nFoundation of the University of Utrecht, now ranked the highest among Dutch universities in the Ranking of World Universities<\/p>\n1686<\/h2>\n
\nAnother famous Utrecht academic was the British Enlightenment thinker John Locke (1632-1704), who worked on his most famous work here: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding<\/em>.<\/p>\n1713<\/h2>\n
\nThe Treaty of Utrecht (1712-1713) made an end to two centuries of religious war and the War of the Spanish Succession. It is regarded as the birth of modern diplomacy and even as the beginning of a European way of thinking.<\/p>\n1753<\/h2>\n
\nThe predecessor of today\u2019s Broese bookshop opens its doors for the first time<\/p>\n1762<\/h2>\n
\nThe Utrecht-born author makes her debut with the novella De Edelman<\/em> (The Nobleman) and becomes one of the most prominent Dutch authors of the Enlightenment.<\/p>\n1786<\/h2>\n
\nThe future second president of America visits Utrecht. In 1786, three years before the French Revolution, the citizens of Utrecht dismissed the city council and replaced it with one they elected themselves. It was a revolutionary world first and inspired, among others, John Adams, who would later become the second president of the United States and who witnessed the event.<\/p>\n1788<\/h2>\n
\nThe future third president of America visits Utrecht and is impressed by the Dom Tower, calling it \u2018remarkable for its height\u2019.<\/p>\n1807<\/h2>\n
\nUtrecht becomes the capital city of Napoleon\u2019s newly formed Kingdom of Holland.<\/p>\nModern Times<\/h5>\n
A self-confident city<\/h4>\n
1865<\/h2>\n
\nThe oldest bookshop\/publishing house in the Netherlands that has always been independent is opened.<\/p>\n1889<\/h2>\n
\nMaartens writes the first Dutch detective story to gain international fame: The Black Box Murder<\/em>. He became the most successful Dutch writer of all time in the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n1890<\/h2>\n
\nAlbert Willem Bruna (the father of Dick Bruna) establishes a publishing house in Utrecht.<\/p>\n1892<\/h2>\n
\nIn 1892, the first public library in the Netherlands opened. 125 years after it was first established, in 2017, the Public Library now has as many as thirteen branches in all corners of the city.<\/p>\n1914<\/h2>\n
\nThis writer, who has close ties with Utrecht, is born at Oudkerkhof 26.<\/p>\n1923<\/h2>\n
\n\u201cThe highlight of the tour\u201d, according to Dada leader Kurt Schwitters.<\/p>\n1932<\/h2>\n
\nDirector Chris Leeflang starts forty years of literary evenings in his bookshop.<\/p>\n1934<\/h2>\n
\nPoet Nijhoff publishes his long poem Awater<\/em>, a masterpiece of Dutch poetry that describes a walk through Utrecht.<\/p>\n1935<\/h2>\n
\nWoolf visits Utrecht and is impressed by the books on offer in the city.<\/p>\n1936<\/h2>\n
\nIn de Soete Suikerbol<\/em>, a hit in Dutch children\u2019s literature, by W.G. van de Hulst (1879-1963) is published. In total, more than 11 million copies of his books have been sold in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n1937<\/h2>\n
\nThe most famous murder in Dutch literary history: poet Gerrit Achterberg murders his landlady.<\/p>\n1939<\/h2>\n
\nPoet and lawyer Hendrik Marsman (1899-1940) finishes his poem Tempel en kruis<\/em> (Temple and Cross). Nearly all of
\nthe stanzas in this masterpiece in Dutch literature can still be followed through the city of Utrecht.<\/p>\n1955<\/h2>\n
\nThe Utrecht-born illustrator\/author Dick Bruna (1927-2017) publishes his first Miffy book.<\/p>\n