Estate De Bijvank in Beek, Montfoort municipality, is a centuries-old estate, which currently consists mainly of forest. It is known for its natural beauty, including its romantic lanes. Centrally located is a hunting lodge, which in its current form dates from around 1792. Near the hunting lodge, there is an elevation in the forest surrounded by a circular moat, popularly called ‘The Castle’ or ‘The Rondeel’. Tradition has it that this was an establishment of the Knights Templar. The Bijvanck estate is now managed by Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch National Trust) and, except for the part around the manor house, is freely accessible.
In the past, the estate was always owned by noble families. Historically, it is known from De Bijvank that the area in all probability came into the possession of the bishop of Utrecht by exchange in 1085 as part of a larger personally owned forest - a ‘foreest’ - and subsequently into the hands of the oldest lords of Bergh.
The lineage of the lords of Bergh was closely involved in the crusades. Ancestor Constantinus (ca 1075-ca 1140) was an Armenian from Cilician Armenia, on today's Turkish Mediterranean coast, through which the Crusaders passed on their way from Europe to the Holy Land. Constantinus, who held the title prince of Gargar, also took part in the First Crusade in the years 1096-1099. Constantinus' sister Arda, princess of Gargar, was married to Baudouin I, the first king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After his crusade, Constantinus travelled with the German crusader Godschalk from Tecklenburg to Melegarde/Malgarten, north of Osnabrück, Germany. In Melegarde, Constantinus married a sister of Godschalk, after which he called himself de Mellegarde. Godschalk's paternal uncle was Count Otto II of Zutphen (died in 1113). Melegarde was part of the goods that the counts of Zutphen had in fief north of Osnabrück at the time. Through this family connection, Constantinus became linked to Zutphen and eventually ended up in the area of present-day 's-Heerenberg, which was part of the Earldom of Zutphen.
Constantinus soon managed to make himself appreciated and deserving in the region as ‘advocatus’ (case officer) for the bishop of Utrecht and as marshal (army commander) for the archbishop of Cologne. This will have been related to his experience as a crusader. Partly because of his marriage to the Zutphen county family, he acquired important territory, built a castle in the region and established a dynasty. Around 1250, his great-grandson Hendrick still inhabited a fortified castle with a dwelling tower (donjon) on a low motte in the middle of a difficult marsh on the site of today's castle Huis Bergh in 's Heerenberg.
This castle Montferrand is first mentioned in the archives of Huis Bergh around 1300. Montferrand was also the name of a Crusader fortress in Syria, which in turn was named after the French town of Clermont-Ferrand, where Pope Urban's first call to the Crusade sounded in 1095. After ‘Mont’ (= mountain), the lineage called itself ‘Bergh’. The lord of Bergh owned more possessions in the region, referred to as the Land of Bergh or De Bannerij van 's-Heerenberg. It is conceivable that on the basis of a donation from the lord of Bergh, returned crusaders, possibly Templars, came into possession of part of it: the present-day estate De Bijvank in Beek.
Does the location speak in favour of a Templar settlement? There are signs, that the area of De Bijvank, with its rich clay soil, was once fertile arable land in the past. This is consistent with the Templars' practice of using agricultural labour to help finance their organisation. Furthermore, an important ‘international’ traffic route ran along Beek in the 13th and 14th centuries, partly through lonely and swampy areas. It was called ‘Karwegh’ and ‘Cologne road’. It ran from Wehl across the Beker and Eltener Heide to Elten, Emmerik, with a Templar settlement, and further along the Rhine to Cologne, etc. Elten was an important traffic hub in those days. A number of through roads from the northern Netherlands converged in Wehl, roads from Doesburg, Zutphen, Deventer and further afield. In Beek, a toll was located on the Karwegh in those centuries. In short, the location was at a central point in the road network of the time, also common for Templar settlements.
Local lore recounts that at the time of the demise of the Temple Order, the bishop of Utrecht lifted the local commanderie at Beek at the behest of the prince of Cologne. The building was demolished. About eight knights were captured and burned at the stake on a meadow near De Bijvank. Since then, there have been myths of buried treasure and ghostly apparitions of Temple knights.
The archives of nearby Huis Bergh contain five promissory notes from the years 1309 to 1311, precisely the years of the decline of the Temple Order. These are short-term loans, for which a trio of Lombards, known for their banking practices, appeared out of nowhere to put money on the table. Myths suggest that these Lombards were actually Temple knights, also known bankers, who had assumed a new identity, and somehow managed to personally appropriate the De Bijvank estate. One Berndt van der Wilten is said to have been one of them.
A fact is, in the 17th century, treasures were dug for in the forests around Beek. Court documents testify to a legal battle over ownership of valuables yet to be found. As far as we know, nothing was ever found.
In the early nineteenth century, the then owner of De Bijvanck carried out excavations near the Rondeel. Heavy foundations of a tower were found, probably a simple residential tower, a so-called ‘berchvrede’. It was dated to around 1300. The site was again covered with sand.
Surveying all the information, there are indications that may suggest that returned crusaders, perhaps Templars, did indeed have a settlement at De Bijvank. The location of De Bijvank would have occupied a strategic place in the road network of the time, a usual location for a Templar site while agricultural activities were also part of their normal repertoire. At the same time: the irrefutable proof that the Templars had a site at De Bijvanck is yet to be provided.
Find all the proven, probable and possible Templar sites defined bij Dr Brus in The Netherlands on this map.
This blog quotes, with permission, from the entry on Het Rondeel te Beek on the valuable website on the Templars in the Netherlands by Dr Brus. Additional information was derived from levenindeliemers.nl, natuurmonumenten.nl_1, natuurmonumenten.nl_2, kasteleninnederland.nl, berghapedia.nl_1, berghapedia.nl_2, berghapedia.nl_3,
absolutefacts.nl, wikipedia.org_1 en wikipedia.org_2. The illustration shows de bospoel Het Rondeel op het landgoed De Bijvanck neer the supposed Templar site, bron Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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