Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13th and 14th centuries

Edwin Orsel

doi:10.37190/arc220402

Abstract

Leiden is one of the largest medieval cities in the Netherlands. Because the city has never suffered major devastation, for example caused by city fires or wars, there is a rich layered historic city centre. This article discusses the constructive development of Leiden houses in the 13th and 14th centuries and its influences. In recent years, building archaeological research has uncovered the remains of approximately 150 buildings from before or about 1400. Based on this, and in combination with archaeological data, the constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13th and 14th centuries can be outlined. Based on dendrochronologically dated examples, the origin of a typical timber-frame house with brick façades can be established, a confluence of older timber- and stone-building traditions. It is a building type that remains the popular building type in Leiden and far beyond until about 1600. This development is related to the urbanization of Leiden in the 13th century with urban densification, population growth and the emergence of guilds. The issuing of fire prevention measures by the city council and the payment of subsidies also play an important role. The development is also determined by the availability of building materials. According to dendrochronological data, construction timber has to be imported from afar, from Westphalia or Emsland (Germany). Natural stone was not available locally and had to be supplied from far away regions in Germany or Belgium, until a flourishing brick industry developed along the Rhine in the 13th century, immediately outside the city gates of Leiden. By inventively combining brick walls and a wooden supporting structure by specialized carpenters, high-quality and fire-safe houses were created, responding to the demands of the growing citizenry and the city authorities in a nascent city.

Full article view is only available on bigger screens.

2022

4(72)

Edwin Orsel*

Constructive development of the Leiden house

in the 13

and 14

centuries

Introduction

Leiden, in the province of Zuid Holland in the western

part of the Netherlands, grew from a village to a city in

around 1200, conrmed by city rights granted, in all like-

lihood, by Dutch Count William I (1203–1222) between

1213 and 1217 [1], [2]. The settlement changed dramat-

ically from a village with a more agricultural character

to a edgling market town [3]. In the 14

century and

century Leiden even developed into the largest city in

the county of Holland. Knowledge of building in Leiden’s

past has grown enormously in recent decades through the

systematic application of building archaeological research

by the city of Leiden’s building archaeological research-

ers. The work of researchers in Leiden covers the whole

spectrum from survey and value assessment to documen-

tation including the application of invasive methods, such

as stratigraphic or dendrochronological research [4], [5].

Due to this research, much more is now known about how

the city was built up [6], [7]. Leiden is fortunate in that

many historic buildings have survived because the city

has never been hit by devastation from a city re or other

catastrophes. The research has made it clear that the rich-

ly variegated and layered buildings are an unprecedented

source of knowledge about building in the past. In recent

years, the physical remains, and sometimes entire edic-

es, of nearly 150 structures from the 13

and 14

centu-

ries have been rediscovered (Fig. 1). By combining archi-

val data with archaeological and building archaeological

sources, an increasingly clear picture of the development

of Leiden is gradually emerging. In this period an inter-

esting evolution takes place from a settlement dominated

by wooden buildings to an urban living environment with

structures in stone. The constructive development of these

houses and its inuences are the subject of this article.

State of research

Dutch house research has been dominated by a typologi

cal and materialconstructional approach since the 1960s

[8, pp. 12–17], [9]. The foundation for this was laid in two

publications, Middeleeuwse stenen huizen te Utrecht (1963)

by C.L Temmink Groll and Het Nederlandse woonhuis van

1300–1800 (1969) by R. Meischke and H.J. Zantkuijl [10],

[11]. The latter outlines two parallel

developments; wooden

DOI: 10.37190/arc220402

Published in open access. CC BY NC ND license

Building archaeologist. Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken (ELO),

The Netherlands, email: e.orsel@erfgoedleiden.nl

Fig. 1. Medieval Leiden (highlighted in gray) with locations

of building remains from before approximately 1400

found during building archaeological research

(map by P.J. De Vos, ELO)

Il. 1. Średniowieczna Lejda (obszar oznaczony na szaro)

z lokalizacją pozostałości budynków sprzed 1400 r.

odnalezionych podczas badań architektonicznych

(rys. P.J. De Vos, ELO)

18 Edwin Orsel

houses with selfsupporting timber frames that gradu-

ally evolved into houses with walls of brick and stone,

houses in which a loadbearing timber frame was applied

due to thinner walls [11, p. 115]. Meischke and Zantkuijl

further developed their rst 1969 overview study into the

four-volume series entitled Huizen in Nederland, which

appeared between 1993 and 2000 [12]–[15]. In this se-

ries, the Netherlands is divided into three global regions

with dierent constructive development as a result of the

dierence in subsoil, i.e. peat, clay and sand. The regions

dened are roughly the provinces of Noord Holland and

Friesland in the northwest, Zuid Holland and Zeeland in

the southwest, and Utrecht and Noord Brabant and the

eastern provinces, but this schematic division does not

indicate sharp boundaries. Since then, as a result of de-

centralisation, building archaeological research has inten-

sied at a local level, though mainly for heritage purposes,

but this has not led to an updated overview study. A re-

cent attempt to synthesise is in Vernacular Architecture

(2017) which presents a survey of the construction and

geographical distribution of timberframed town houses

in the Netherlands before 1600 [8]. Several publications

on the constructive conguration of medieval

houses in

Leiden itself have appeared in recent years, of which those

in Dwars door de stad (2007), in Hausbau in Holland, Jahr -

buch für Hausforschung 61 (2010) and Fach werk in Euro-

pa, Jahrbuch für Hausforschung 68 (2022)

deal with vari-

ous aspects [6], [7], [16].

The construction of houses in Leiden

in the 14

century

In building archaeological research, building construc-

tions are important sources because they change over time

in execution and material. Especially the research into the

applied bricks and wood constructions has yielded a lot of

knowledge about building in Leiden in the past. By means

of dendrochronological research – a scientic dating

method based on the annual rings of wood – infor mation

about the age and origin of wooden elements can be deter-

mined [6, pp. 18–20 and 50–54]. The study reveals a rela-

tively clear picture of how Leiden buildings were erected

before about 1400 [6], [17]. The preserved examples of

many (remnants of) medieval buildings make it clear that

they have a distinctive structural design. One of the old-

est representative examples is Breestraat 113, dating from

1347 (d, signies dendrodate) (Fig. 2a)

. Behind an older

house with thick brick walls stands a rectangular building

with basement, two storeys and an attic. The basement has

a brick vault construction with a central column. Above

that, the construction consists of relatively thin brick

walls combined with a timber frame. The roof is a rafter

roof supported by trusses, which form a structural whole

with the timber frame below. A slightly later example

is Pieterskerkhof 40 (Fig. 2b). The building has an older

An even older, similar example was recently found, i.e. Nieuwe

Rijn 14 from circa 1335 (d), but this research is ongoing and is not

shown here.

brick phase to which an extension was added in 1383 (d).

This extension has two storeys with relatively thin walls

in combination with a timber frame. The attic has a raf-

ter roof supported by a roof construction with trusses,

which is again a continuation of the timber frame below.

Also Breestraat 123 from 1393 ± 6 years (d), Langebrug

55 from 1400 ± 6 years (d), Nieuwe Rijn 60 from 1404–

1416 (d) and Breestraat 95 from 1405–1411 (d) are repre-

sentative examples of this characteristic structural design

(Fig. 2c–4). This design with a loadbearing timber frame

combined with thin brick walls is the structural form of

medieval houses in Leiden, regardless of the discrepancy

between them in shape, size and number of storeys

. This

constructive concept appears to be rooted in older con-

struction principles and is a regional combination of wood

and stone construction.

An older construction principle

(up to 1300)

Leiden developed from a more agricultural to an ur-

ban settlement in the wave of urbanization in the Western

Netherlands in the 12

and especially the 13

century [17,

pp. 249–263]. Its location and shape were determined by

the course of the Rhine River and an intersection of streets

and waterways [18], [19]. Initially, the settlement was

characterized by wide and elongated plots with detached

buildings, sometimes separated by ditches [20, pp. 322–

324, 329 and 335, 336]. Early buildings are only known

from archaeological research and the ndings indicate

buildings in wood or halftimbered work. An

excavation

at the Aalmarkt from 2007 also provided important in-

sights into early construction in Leiden [20, pp. 162–171

and 321–336]. From layers of accumulation on the em-

bankments of the Rhine that were started shortly before

1200, in itself a clear indication that there was a need for

space within the early settlement, it became clear that at

the end of the 13

century the basic construction con-

sisted of posts that were anchored in the ground, but that

around 1300 this changed to brick foundations with the

supporting structure on top. Foundations on piles will

also have occurred. From the percentages of loam in the

various embankment layers it could be deduced that until

the end of the 13

century the buildings will have had

mainly wattle and daub walls and thatched roofs, and that

from the late 13

century onwards, plank façades will

have predominated. Structural elements of wooden or

timber framed buildings were also found, both from the

and 14

centuries. For the 14

century, remnants of

roof and oor tiles could be determined to be indications

of stone oors and roofs. The Leiden people apparently

rst built with locally sourced building materials, for ex-

ample loam, wood and thatch, but soon had to switch to

other building materials due to increasing urbanization,

especially from the end of the 13

century. Up to now,

Leiden also had many singlestory medieval houses, but due to

later enlargements, almost all of them, except for the building walls,

have been greatly altered and are not shown here as examples.

Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries 19

Fig. 2. Leiden, examples of stone houses with timberframe construction, plan and crosssection: a) Breestraat 113 from 1347 (d),

b) Pieterskerkhof 40 from 1383 (d), c) Breestraat 123 from 1393 ± 6 (d), d) Langebrug 55 from 1400 ± 6 (d),

e) Nieuwe Rijn 60 from 1404–1416 (d), f) Breestraat 95 from 1405–1411 (d) (drawing by E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Il. 2. Lejda, przykłady domów murowanych z konstrukcją drewnianej ramy szkieletowej, rzut i przekrój: a) Breestraat 113 z 1347 r. (d),

b) Pieterskerkhof 40 z 1383 r. (d), c) Breestraat 123 z 1393 ± 6 r. (d), d) Langebrug 55 z 1400 ± 6 r. (d), e) Nieuwe Rijn 60 z lat 1404–1416 (d),

f) Breestraat 95 z lat 1404–1411 (d) (rys. E.D. Orsel, ELO)

20 Edwin Orsel

building archaeological research has found almost no

traces or components of medieval wooden or timber

frame buildings. This can be explained on the one hand

by the regulations of the city government, especially those

aimed at limiting the danger of re in the densely builtup

city, and on the other hand by the good and ample avail-

ability of bricks and stone roong materials due to their

production in the immediate vicinity of Leiden. It is these

two inuences that have greatly accelerated the process of

building in stone in Leiden.

Regulation

The burgeoning city had an undeniable appeal and the

population continued to grow as did the city size. The

increasing population made it necessary to gradually di-

vide or subdivide the large preurban plots. Thus, at the

end of the 13

century the characteristic urban structure

of blocks of buildings surrounded by plots of land with

buildings emerged (Figs. 5a–c) [20, pp. 329 and 335, 336],

[6, p. 117], [7]. A growing, densely populated city also

meant more regulation, the task of the urban government.

The government tried to steer the daily administration in

the right direction with regulations such as municipal by

laws. Because Leiden developed in the 13

century into

a edgling city with a center function and a multitude of

economic activities, there was also room for the emer-

gence of craft guilds, for example carpenters or bricklay-

ers [18, pp. 95–97]. However, it was not until 1393 that

a law on the guilds was drawn up, including guild law,

which meant that only guild members were allowed to

practice a particular craft. This protectionist system was

intended to keep out competition from craftsmen from

outside Leiden. The city regulation books included many

rules about building in the city. Provisions on how to build

were aimed at preventing re, one of the major dangers

in a growing, densifying city. The medieval wooden or

halftimbered houses with thatched roofs were very sus-

ceptible to re [21], [22]. As early as 1292, the rst re

safety regulations are said to have been enacted by the

city [23, p. 271]. In the re safety regulations as a result

of urbanization, the transition from locally sourced, often

rehazardous, building materials, such as thatch, wood

and loam, to manufactured and imported materials, such

as bricks, roof tiles and slates, can be observed.

The oldest preserved Leiden regulation book from 1406

states that any house with walls more than 16 feet (approx.

5 m) high must have a “hard” roof of slates or tiles [22,

p. 217]. This regulation book also states that every house

without a hard roof had to be “gheliemt” (covered with

loam) within half a year. Covering the underside or top

of thatched roofs with loam reduced their vulnerability to

re. In 1444 the wall height was lowered from 16 feet to

14 feet (almost 4.40 m) and in 1447 even further to 9.5 feet

(almost 3 m) [24, pp. 39–41], [21]. In 1450 thatched roofs

were completely forbidden for new buildings or buildings

to be renovated. The city council went even further and

announced that by means of a “looting and cavelinge”

(lottery and designation) every year a number of houses

had to be replaced entirely by houses with stone façades

Fig. 3. Leiden, House Nieuwe Rijn 60 from 1404–1416 (d)

– axonometrics of a timber frame structure (drawing by E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Il. 3. Lejda, Dom Nieuwe Rijn 60 from 1404–1416 (d) – aksonometria

konstrukcji drewnianej ramy szkieletowej (rys. E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Fig. 4. Leiden, House Langebrug 55 from 1400 ± 6 (d)

– timberframe brace detail (photo by E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Il. 4. Lejda, Dom Langebrug 55 z 1400 ± 6 (d)

– detal zastrzału ramy drewnianej (fot. E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries 21

The street scene changed from wooden or timberframed

houses to stone houses with slate or tile roofs. Incidental-

ly, later stipulations by the city council show that this is

too positive a picture, as regulations and subsidies to get

thatched roofs out of the city continued to be necessary

until the early 17

century [23, pp. 270–274].

and a hard roof. Before that, in 1446, the city had begun

granting subventions to replace a weak roof with a hard

roof [24, pp. 39–41], [23, p. 270]. This makes it clear that

in Leiden from the end of the 13

century and the mid-

dle of the 15

century the process of building in wood to

building in stone was inuenced by re safety regulations.

Fig. 5. Leiden, building block,

axonometric: a) preurban,

b) in the 13

century,

c) around 1400

(drawing by C. van Hees, ELO)

Il. 5. Lejda, kwartał zabudowy,

aksonometria:

a) sprzed pojawienia się

zabudowy murowanej,

b) w XIII w.,

c) z około 1400 r.

(rys. C. van Hees, ELO)

22 Edwin Orsel

Building materials

So far, just over twenty building structures in Leiden

have been dated by dendrochronological examination be-

fore circa 1400. The oldest dated wood in a building dates to

1306 ± 6, but this unfortunately concerns reused material in

a 16

century roof of Breestraat 113. In the mid15

-cen-

tury roof of the Walloon Church, parts of a roof from

1314–1320 were reused, and in the late 16

-century roof

of Nieuwsteeg 3, parts of a roof with wooden barrel vault

from around 1325. The earliest dated complete wood struc-

ture in Leiden is the roof of the house Nieuwe Rijn 14 from

around 1335. The dendrochronological results also reveal

the region from which the wood originated. They system-

atically show that it concerns imported material, particular-

ly from the German region of Westphalia or Emsland [17,

p. 53]. The trees felled there were transported in rafts via

the rivers and came to Leiden via the Dordrecht stacking

market. Often traces of the raft transport can still be seen in

the structural components, such as raftholes and markings.

Brick and masonry are also sources of information for

the building archaeologist. Brick seems to have developed

as a building material in Holland in around 1200 [25].

It was a locally manufactured product that was a good al-

ternative to the expensive natural stone that had to be im-

ported from elsewhere. The location of Leiden was bene-

cial, because right outside the city Leiden good, suitable

clay as raw material and peat as fuel was available along

the Rhine and the river could be used as a transport route.

Moreover, the brickmaker could rely on the growing pop-

ulation in Leiden to have sucient employees [26, p. 37].

Soon brickyards were established that began to produce

bricks, roof tiles and pavers on a large, industrial scale

that were used locally in Leiden but were also exported. As

early as 1283 a “steenplaats” (stone place) near Boshuizen,

just west of Leiden, was mentioned [26, p. 14]. Brick yards

were not owned by the city, as they often were elsewhere,

but were private commercial enterprises of the urban

bourgeoisie [26, pp. 26–48].

Based on the size of the brick and the masonry bond,

building walls can be dated, albeit with some caution. By

combining building archaeological research including den-

drochronological research with archaeological and histor-

ical sources, it has become possible to establish a relative

brick chronology of the brick used in Leiden. In short, the

larger the brick, the older it is. While around the 13

cen-

tury handformed bricks had a size of 30 × 15 × 7.5/8 cm,

in around 1400 the brick has already been reduced to

about 22 × 11 × 4.5 cm [27], [6, pp. 125–128]. Smaller

bricks could be produced more quickly and cheaply, had

a higher quality, were more convenient for the mason and

better suited to the thin walls of houses [6, p. 125]. It were

the private brickmakers who determined the format and

although the city council tried to inuence the quality

and format of product, this had little eect, possibly even

because the brickmakers belonged to the urban elite who

were also represented on the city council. The industrial

production and the large supply of bricks may even have

made it more accessible for the builders in Leiden than

wood that had to be brought in from far away.

The rst buildings to be built with brick masonry were the

important ones. Early buildings with brick in Leiden are the

Gravensteen from 1183–1199 and the Burcht from the 13

century [25]. Shortly thereafter, citizens also applied brick

to their homes, as in the oldest, presumably 13

-century

construction phase of Breestraat 113 and Pie ters kerk hof 40

(Figs. 2a, b and 6b). Early brick houses are found mainly in

the oldest parts of the city center. They are often imposing

twostorey houses, but stone buildings also stood in the pe-

riphery, often more modest with one storey, such as Haar-

lemmerstraat 254 and Molensteeg 2a [28], [6]. Building in

stone thus seems to have become more common around the

time that the 1450 regulation book required stone façades,

although wooden, thatched houses were still prevalent un-

til the early 17

century. The estimate of the total number

of houses in Leiden around 1400 is about 1000. Building

archaeological research has shown that at least 150 struc-

tures were already built with brick. Leiden therefore had

an early process of building in wood to building in stone.

The earliest wooden houses had walls and roofs made

of natural materials such as wood, loam and thatch, and

a structure of dugin timber frame trusses (Fig. 6a). Be-

cause of the availability of construction timber, the width

of these buildings was around a pragmatic 6 m, with maxi

mums up to about 9 m [29, p. 341]. Between the wooden

houses, a socalled “osendrup”, a narrow corridor, was

present to prevent the spread of re, but also because

thatched roofs do not have gutters and therefore need to

be at some distance [29, p. 347], [6, p. 119]. The process

of urbanization in the 13

century also resulted in the

emergence of local craft specializations, which allowed

skilled carpenters to improve truss construction and tran-

sition from trusses with dugin posts to stable woodframe

trusses without dugin posts. The simplest singleaisle

wood-frame houses will not yet have had a full ceiling

[22, p. 216]. The smoke from the open re of the socalled

“vrije haard” (free standing hearth) could be drawn away

into the roof. In Leiden, at the Steenschuur, a house with

a “vrije haard” dating from the period 1350–1425 has been

excavated [30, pp. 90–92]. The Leiden regulations book

of 1446 mentions that a replace that one “ommegaen

mach” (can go around) was permitted [6, pp. 118–120].

This is unchanged in the regulation books of 1508 and

1545 and the simple house type with the “ vrije haard” oc-

curred in Leiden well into the 16

century. Indications for

early timber frame buildings are known in Leiden mainly

from archaeological research, in building archaeological

research only a few indications of this have been found.

A new construction principle

During urbanization in the 13

century, craftsmen com-

bined the wood building and stone building traditions to cre-

ate the socalled stone house with timber frame (Figs. 6a–c).

From the wood building tradition, the timber frame re-

tained its primary loadbearing function, and the brick

cladding initially needed only to prop itself up. The stone

houses with timber frame generally had walls of one or

one and a half brick thickness [27]. The buildings had

a distinctive modular structural composition in bays, with

Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries 23

timber frame trusses spaced about two to three feet apart.

The wall or truss posts of the timberframed house and

those of the stone house with timberframed are distinct

from each other. The timber frame house was construct-

ed with fairly square posts. The stone house with timber

frame, with its cohesive construction, had thin wall posts.

These rectangular posts were usually only partially incor-

porated into the thickness of the wall or stood against it.

The combination of timber frame construction with the

stone walls from the stone building tradition had the ad-

vantage that the timber frame braced the house in a trans-

verse direction, while the brick sidewalls absorbed the

longitudinal stability. The big advantage was that it was

possible to build in a resafe manner, but with much

thinner walls of one or oneandonehalf brick thickness,

whereby the loadbearing timber frame provided a struc-

turally stable building [17, pp. 249–263]. This also meant

a saving on brick. An additional benet resulting from the

sturdier supporting structure seems to be the greater load

capacity of the oor(s). Due to re safety regulations, in-

cluding subsidy schemes, the houses were given “hard”

stone roofs as much as possible. The stone roofs were

much heavier than thatched roofs, and a supporting roof

truss structure became necessary and was introduced as an

innovation by carpenters for this purpose. The construc-

tion with transverse roof trusses was a continuation of the

timber frame and was also structurally related to it. An ad-

vantage of the stone roong was the possibility of making

gutters. This eliminated the need for the “osendrup” re-

quired with thatched roofs and allowed the use of joint

stone walls between the houses. The result was a practi-

cal use of the entire plot width, an economic advantage

in the densely builtup city. The construction method of

the stone house with timber frame ourished in Leiden

between about 1300 and 1600 [6].

The development of construction methods outlined is

not limited to Leiden, but is representative of a much

larger Dutch region that extends broadly across the cur-

rent provinces of Zuid Holland and Zeeland, and into the

neighbouring provinces of Noord Holland, Utrecht and

Noord Brabant [14, pp. 8–41], [9].

Conclusion

Based on building archaeological research it can be

established that from about 1300 in the growing city of

Leiden a new construction principle emerges from the old-

er wood and stone building traditions. With the construc-

tive combination of the stone build house with the timber

frame build house, the socalled stone house with timber

frame emerges. With this new construction principle with

relatively thin brick walls, timber framing and roof truss,

the craftsmen, inuenced by the available building ma-

terials, respond inventively to both the demand of the

growing bourgeoisie and that of the city administration

for quality and resafe buildings in a nascent city. In

around 1400, Leiden residents who could aord it lived in

a stone house with a structural timber frame, with the city

government subsidizing the stone roong in the pursuit

of a resafe city. Through his house, the Leiden citizen

Fig. 6. Types of house construction, axonometry:

a) timberframed house, b) stone house,

c) stone house with timberframe (drawing by E.D. Orsel, ELO)

Il. 6. Rodzaje konstrukcji domów, aksonometria:

a) dom o drewnianej konstrukcji szkieletowej,

b) kamienny dom murowany,

c) dom o konstrukcji murowanej z drewnianą ramą szkieletową

(rys. E.D. Orsel, ELO)

24 Edwin Orsel

expresses his status and living wishes according to his

ability. Many houses had only the 1

oor and an attic,

but there were also houses with an upper oor and a large

storage cellar

. The houses stand in a row on the street, in

a city whose street pattern has been preserved to this day.

They no longer show in the present street scene, but this

medieval Leiden is still present in the current inner city,

hidden behind younger façades [6], [4].

Summary

As one of the largest medieval cities in the Netherlands,

Leiden is an important source for building archaeological

research. Because the city has never suered major de-

struction, caused by city res or wars for example, there

is a richly layered historic city centre. During structural

building archaeological research by the municipal build-

ing archaeologists of Erfgoed Leiden, the remains of ap-

proximately 150 buildings from before 1400 have been

documented. In combination with dendrochronological,

archaeological and historical data, it can be established

that from around 1300 onwards, a new construction prin-

ciple emerged that evolved from the older timber and

stone building traditions. The constructive combination of

the stone house with the timber frame build house with

its characteristic timberframe construction gives rise to

the socalled stone building with timberframe. This de-

The imposing twostory houses in particular have been preserved

in Leiden because they were well suited to later modications in the

centuries to follow.

velopment is the result of the urbanisation of Leiden in

the 13

century with the growth of the population, urban

densication and the creation of guilds. The issuing of

re prevention measures and the payment of subsidies

by the city government aimed at reproong stone walls

and roong materials also played an important role. The

development was also determined by the availability of

building materials. According to the dendrochronolog-

ical data, construction wood had to be imported from

Westphalia or Emsland (Germany). Natural stone was

not available locally and had to be brought in from far

away, until in the 13

century a ourishing brick industry

developed along the Rhine, just outside the city gates of

Leiden. With the new architectural principle of relative-

ly thin brick walls, structural timber framing and truss-

es, the craftsmen, inuenced by the available building

materials, respond inventively to both the demand of the

growing bourgeoisie and that of the city administration

for highquality and resafe buildings in a nascent city.

The timber frame and the trusses provide the loadbearing

structure and the stone walls and roong the re safety. In

around 1400, the Leiden citizen who could aord it lived

in a stone house with a structural timber frame, with the

city council subsidising the stone roong in the pursuit of

a resafe city. Many houses had only the ground oor

and an attic, but there were also houses with an upper oor

and a large storage cellar. The houses stand in a row on the

street, in a town whose street pattern has been preserved

to this day. They are no longer visible in the street scene,

but this medieval Leiden, hidden behind younger façades,

is still present in today’s city centre as an important source

for historical research.

References

[1] Van Maanen R.C.J., Het Leidse stadsrecht in Hollandse context

[in:] R. van Maanen (red.), Leids Jaarboekje 2012, Nautilus, Leiden

2012, 30–53.

[2] Van Maanen R.C.J., Het Leidse stadsrecht voor en na 1266, [in:]

R. van Maanen (red.), Leids Jaarboekje 2017, Nautilus, Leiden

2017, 17–36.

[3] Brandenburgh C.R., Orsel E.D., Leiden, “Archaeological Journal”

2008, Vol. 165, Suppl. 1, 33–44, doi: 10.1080/00665983.2008.

11771016.

[4] Orsel E.D., Bouwhistorie ontdekt Leiden, [in:] E. Starkenburg,

C. Smit, R. van Maanen, M. Smitsloode Graa (eds.), Tastbaar

Ge heugen, 150 jaar zorg voor Leidse monumenten, Primavera Pers,

Leiden 2014, 148–164.

[5] Orsel E.D., Badania architektoniczne w Lejdzie. Zastosowanie i pro-

blemy w praktyce ochrony zabytków, [in:] M. Arszyński (red.), Ba -

dania architektoniczne, Historia i perspektywy rozwoju, Wydawnic-

two Bernardium, Toruń 2015, 399–411.

[6] Orsel E.D., Zijn er nog “veel” middeleeuwse huizen in Leiden?, [in:]

C.R. Brandenburgh (ed.), Dwars door de stad, Gemeente Lei den,

Leiden 2007, 114–134.

[7] Orsel E.D., Hausbau in Leiden, [in:] M. Goer, D.J. de Vries, B. Fur-

rer, U. Klein, H. Stiewe, A. Weidlich (Hrsg.), Hausbau in Holland,

Baugeschichte und Stadtentwicklung, Jahrbuch für Hausforschung,

Bd. 61, Jonas Verlag, Marburg 2010, 243–265.

[8] Van Tussenbroek, G., Hausbau in Holland – Eine Einführung, [in:]

M. Goer, D.J. de Vries, B. Furrer, U. Klein, H. Stiewe, A. Weidlich

(Hrsg.), Hausbau in Holland, Baugeschichte und Stadtentwicklung,

Jahrbuch für Hausforschung, Bd. 61, Jonas Verlag, Marburg 2010,

9–23.

[9] Van Tussenbroek G., Timber-framed Town Houses in the Northern

Netherlands Before 1600. Construction and Geographical Distri-

bution, “Vernacular Architecture” 2017, Vol. 48, Iss. 1, 44–62, doi:

10.1080/03055477.2017.1375843.

[10] Temminck Groll C.L., Middeleeuwse stenen huizen te Utrecht en

hun relatie met die van andere Noordwest-Europese steden, Marti-

nus Nijho, ’sGravenhage 1963.

[11] Meischke R., Zantkuijl H.J., Het Nederlandse woonhuis van 1300–

1800, Tjeenk Willink, Haarlem 1969.

[12] Meischke R., Zantkuijl H.J., Raue W., Rosenberg P.T.E.E., Huizen

in Nederland; Friesland en Noord-Holland, Architectuurhistori-

sche verkenningen aan de hand van het bezit van de Vereniging

Hendrick de Keyser, Waanders, Zwolle 1993.

[13] Meischke R., Zantkuijl H.J., Raue W., Rosenberg P.T.E.E., Huizen

in Nederland; Amsterdam, Architectuurhistorische verkenningen

aan de hand van het bezit van de Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser,

Waanders, Zwolle 1995.

[14] Meischke R., Zantkuijl H.J., Rosenberg P.T.E.E., Huizen in Neder-

land; Zeeland en Zuid-Holland, Architectuurhistorische verken-

ningen aan de hand van het bezit van de Vereniging Hendrick de

Keyser, Waanders, Zwolle 1997.

[15] Meischke R., Zantkuijl H.J., Rosenberg P.T.E.E., Huizen in Neder-

land; Utrecht, Noord-Brabant en de oostelijke provincies, Archi-

Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries 25

tectuurhistorische verkenningen aan de hand van het bezit van de

Vereniging Hendrick de Keyser, Waanders, Zwolle 2000.

[16] Orsel E.D., Fachwerkkonstruktionen in Leiden vom Mittelalter

bis zum 19. Jahrhundert, [in:] T. Eibing, H. Stiewe (Hrsg.), Fach-

werk in Europa, Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2022, 227–232.

[17] Orsel E.D., De ordinaire kap, Een bouwhistorische studie naar

kapconstructies op Leidse huizen tussen 1300 en 1800, PhD thesis,

Universiteit Leiden, Delft 2020.

[18] De geschiedenis van een Hollandse stad. Deel 1: Leiden tot 1574,

Van Maanen R.C.J. (red.), Stichting Geschiedschrijving Leiden,

Leiden 2002.

[19]

Van Oerle H.A., Leiden binnen en buiten de stadsvesten: de ge-

schiedenis van de stedebouwkundige ontwikkeling binnen het Lei-

dse rechts gebied tot aan het einde van de Gouden Eeuw, Brill, Le-

iden 1975.

[20] Leiden – Aalmarktschool, Archeologisch en bouwhistorisch onde-

rzoek naar 800 jaar bewoning langs de Oude Rijn, ter plaatse van

het voormalige St.-Catharinagasthuis, M.F.P. Dijkstra, C.R. Bran-

denburgh (red.), Gemeente Leiden, Leiden 2010.

[21] Hamaker H.G., De middeneeuwsche keurboeken van de stad Lei-

den, S.C. Van Doesburgh, Leiden 1873.

[22]

Meischke R., De gothische bouwtraditie, Bekking, Amersfoort 1988.

[23]

Dröge J.F., Bauvorschrift, Versteinerung und Subvention, Das Lei -

dener “Ontwerpkeurboek” von 1607 als Quelle für die Bau ge schich te,

[in:] G. van Tussenbroek (Hrsg.), Hausbau in Holland, Bau ge schich-

te und Stadtentwicklung,

Jahrbuch für Hausforschung, Bd. 61, Jonas

Verlag, Marburg 2010

, 267–276.

[24] De Boer D.E.H., Leiden in de middeleeuwen, [in:] J.K.S. Moes,

B.M.A. de Vries (red.), Stof uit het Leidse Verleden, zeven eeuwen

textielnijverheid, Uitgeverij Matrijs, Utrecht 1991, 32–45.

[25] Orsel E.D., Stenen van de Graaf, “Westerheem” 2011, Vol. 60(4),

184–192.

[26] Van Oosten R.M.R., De Leidse steen des aanstoots: over de bak-

steen industrie rondom Leiden en haar moeizame relatie met het

stads bestuur vanaf de veertiende eeuw tot 1574, PhD thesis, Uni-

versiteit Leiden, Leiden 2006.

[27] Orsel E.D., Brickwork in Leiden: a Survey of Sixteenth an Seven-

teenth Century Characteristics, [in:] M. Dunkeld, J. Campbell,

H. Louw, M. Tutton, B. Addis, R. Thorne (eds.), Proceedings of The

Second International Congress on Construction History, Queens’

College, Cambridge University 29

March – 2

April 2006,

Con-

struction History Society, Cambridge 2006, 2379–2394.

[28] De Vos P.J., Haarlemmerstraat 254, een boerderij in de stad, met

een enkelvoudige balklaag uit 1409, “Nieuwsbrief Stichting Bo-

uwhistorie Nederland” 2006, nr 60, 62–74.

[29] Cleijne I.J., A.M.J.H. Huijbers, A.D. Brand, R.J.W.M. Gruben,

Hui zenbouw en percelering in de late middeleeuwen en nieuwe

tijd, Van hout(skelet)bouw naar baksteenbouw in tien steden, Ne-

derlandse Archeologische Rapporten 59, Rijksdienst voor het Cul-

tureel Erfgoed, Amersfoort 2017.

[30]

Archeologisch, bouwhistorisch en archiefonderzoek naar de bewo-

ning aan het Steenschuur, ter plaatse van het voormalige Ka mer -

lingh

Onnes Laboratorium, C.R. Brandenburgh (red.), Bode monder

zoek en Bouwhistorie in Leiden 2, Gemeente Leiden, Lei den 2011.

Abstract

Constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries

Leiden is one of the largest medieval cities in the Netherlands. Because the city has never suered major devastation, for example caused by city

res or wars, there is a rich layered historic city centre. This article discusses the constructive development of Leiden houses in the 13

and 14

centuries and its inuences.

In recent years, building archaeological research has uncovered the remains of approximately 150 buildings from before or about 1400. Based on

this, and in combination with archaeological data, the constructive development of the Leiden house in the 13

and 14

centuries can be outlined.

Based on dendrochronologically dated examples, the origin of a typical timberframe house with brick façades can be established, a conuence of

older timber and stonebuilding traditions. It is a building type that remains the popular building type in Leiden and far beyond until about 1600. This

development is related to the urbanization of Leiden in the 13

century with urban densication, population growth and the emergence of guilds. The

issuing of re prevention measures by the city council and the payment of subsidies also play an important role. The development is also determined

by the availability of building materials. According to dendrochronological data, construction timber has to be imported from afar, from Westphalia or

Emsland (Germany). Natural stone was not available locally and had to be supplied from far away regions in Germany or Belgium, until a ourishing

brick industry developed along the Rhine in the 13

century, immediately outside the city gates of Leiden. By inventively combining brick walls and

a wooden supporting structure by specialized carpenters, highquality and resafe houses were created, responding to the demands of the growing

citizenry and the city authorities in a nascent city.

Key words: Leiden, building archaeology, construction history, medieval houses

Streszczenie

Rozwój konstrukcji domów w Lejdzie w XIII i XIV w.

Lejda jest jednym z największych średniowiecznych miast w Holandii. Ze względu na to, że miasto nie doznało większych zniszczeń spowo-

dowanych przez pożary lub wojny, centrum zachowało wiele historycznych budowli. W artykule omówiono rozwój konstrukcji domów lejdejskich

w XIII i XIV w. oraz jego wpływy.

Podczas badań architektonicznych prowadzonych w ostatnich latach udokumentowano pozostałości około 150 budynków wzniesionych do około

1400 r. Na tej podstawie oraz w połączeniu z wynikami badań archeologicznych można nakreślić zarys rozwoju konstrukcji domu w Lejdzie w XIII

i XIV w. Dzięki wynikom badań dendrochronologicznych możliwe jest ustalenie pochodzenia typu domu o konstrukcji szkieletowej z murowanymi

fasadami z cegły, będącego połączeniem starszych tradycji budownictwa drewnianego i kamiennego. Ten rodzaj domu stał się popularnym typem

budynku w Lejdzie oraz poza jej granicami do około 1600 r. Rozwój tego rodzaju zabudowy związany jest z urbanizacją Lejdy w XIII w., wzrostem

liczby jej ludności i powstaniem cechów. Ważną rolę odgrywało również wydawanie przez radę miejską przepisów zapobiegających pożarom oraz

wypłacanie dotacji na ten cel. O rozwoju decydowała również dostępność materiałów budowlanych. Według danych z badań dendrochronologicznych

drewno budowlane sprowadzano z dalekiej Westfalii lub Emsland (Niemcy). Kamień naturalny nie był lokalnie dostępny i dlatego też musiał być spro-

wadzany z daleka, z regionów Niemiec lub Belgii, aż do momentu pojawienia się w XIII w. cegielni rozmieszczonych wzdłuż Renu, tuż za bramami

miasta Lejdy. Dzięki nowatorskiemu połączeniu ceglanych ścian i drewnianej konstrukcji nośnej przez wyspecjalizowanych cieśli powstały wysokiej

jakości i bezpieczne pod względem pożarowym domy, odpowiadające zapotrzebowaniu rosnącej liczby mieszkańców i władz rodzącego się miasta.

Słowa kluczowe: Lejda, archeologia budowli, historia budownictwa, domy średniowieczne