In the sleepy Dutch town of Hoogwoud, a history of violence and political intrigue lies just beneath well-kept fields and the lounging local sheep. In this episode of Murmuring Medievalists, we meet with curator Annemarieke Willemsen from the Leiden Museum of Antiquities to discuss what the discovery of the Hoogwoud Hoard can teach us about the region of West Frisia around the year 1000. What does this finding tell us about the region’s trade? What did a fashionable set of earrings look like? And how can we place this archaeological discovery in context with the turbulent power disputes between local rulers and the Holy Roman Empire?
Special thanks to Johanna Geremia, RMA Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies, Utrecht Univesity, for sharing her experiences working on the Year 1000 exhibit internship project.
Explore
- Rijksmuseum van Oudheden’s Year 1000 exhibit and related research.
- Graaf, Ronald P. de. “Oorlog Om Holland 1000-1375.” Dissertation, Verloren, 1996.
- Kennedy, James C. A Concise History of the Netherlands. Cambridge Concise Histories. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- Schrickx, Christiaan and Ruitjer, Lorenzo. ‘De Middeleeuwse goudschat van Hoogwoud.’ Archeologie in West-Friesland, Vol. 34 (2023): 1-8.