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32-601: From Alphen aan den Rijn , where the Gouwe begins, it flows through Boskoop and Waddinxveen to Gouda . Here it splits into the old stream (which runs through the city of Gouda) and into the Gouwekanaal  [ nl ] on the city's west side. Both branches connect with the Hollandse IJssel on the southern outskirts of Gouda. The Gouwe was formed around 1222 as a reservoir for the adjacent polders , this

64-424: A seigneur or "lord", 12th century), which gives rise to the expression "seigneurial system" to describe feudalism. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only

96-623: A Seigneur or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs existed long before baronies, and are historically part of Normandy . While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of the fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with

128-421: A commuter city. Other urban developments however did create local employment. Since the 1990s, a similar new development was built at the city's south side. In recent years, a large part of the city centre has undergone a full urban renewal. Many buildings from the 1950s and earlier have been demolished to make place for modern architecture. This "masterplan" included the addition of a new public square next to

160-598: A form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal , who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill , held in feudal land tenure : these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms . However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms . There never existed

192-485: A land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium (Latin). Later, the term feudum , or feodum , began to replace beneficium in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory

224-501: A newly built bridge flap of the under-renovation Juliana Bridge on the Oude Rijn collapsed. It was being hoisted by two cranes , different in size, floating on a pontoon that was not stabilized. It became unbalanced shortly after the lifting started, fell and collapsed onto buildings. There were no injuries and fatalities, many inhabitants having already cleared the area. In total 51 properties were damaged. Alphen aan den Rijn has

256-549: A standard feudal system, nor did there exist only one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations. In ancient Rome, a " benefice " (from the Latin noun beneficium , meaning "benefit") was a gift of land ( precaria ) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. In medieval Latin European documents,

288-437: Is first attested around 1250–1300 (Middle English); the word "fief" from around 1605–1615. In French, the term fief is found from the middle of the 13th century (Old French), derived from the 11th-century terms feu , fie . The odd appearance of the second f in the form fief may be due to influence from the verb fiever 'to grant in fee'. In French, one also finds seigneurie (land and rights possessed by

320-559: Is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd , in which *fehu means "cattle" and -ôd means "goods", implying "a moveable object of value". When land replaced currency as the primary store of value , the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium . This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century. A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis

352-518: Is that the origin of 'fief' is not feudum (or feodum ), but rather foderum , the earliest attested use being in Astronomus 's Vita Hludovici (840). In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says "annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant" , which can be translated as "(Louis forbade that) military provender which they popularly call 'fodder' (be furnished)." In

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384-574: The Aar Canal . It also functions as the main water outlet for the Rijnland region. Three striking vertical lift bridges cross the Gouwe at Alphen aan den Rijn, Boskoop, and Waddinxveen. Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑlfə(n) aːn də(n) ˈrɛin] ; English: "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in

416-405: The 10th and 11th centuries the Latin terms for 'fee' could be used either to describe dependent tenure held by a man from his lord, as the term is used now by historians, or it could mean simply "property" (the manor was, in effect, a small fief). It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, when it received formal definition from land lawyers. In English usage, the word "fee"

448-399: The 17th century, Alphen became prominent again as a hub for commerce. The Oude Rijn was used for boat traffic; there are still portions along the river where the towpath is present. The current municipality was formed in 1918 through the amalgamation of the smaller municipalities of Alphen , Aarlanderveen , and Oudshoorn . In 1964, the municipality of Zwammerdam was added as well. In 2014

480-569: The CDA is the current acting mayor. The council of mayor and alderman run the city on a day-to-day basis and report to the city council. Current (2016) aldermen in Alphen aan den Rijn are: The information and publishing company Wolters Kluwer is based in Alphen aan den Rijn. Fiefdom List of forms of government A fief ( / f iː f / ; Latin : feudum ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of

512-658: The Oude Rijn. Alphen was therefore an important commercial site in the area until Germanic raids ended that in 240 AD. After recurring problems with flooding, especially in Utrecht and Leiden, the Oude Rijn was dammed at Wijk bij Duurstede in 1122, thereby making the Lek River the main branch of the Rhine. The Oude Rijn has not flooded since. During the Middle Ages, Alphen was a fiefdom called Alphen en Rietveld. In

544-572: The Roman era, the Oude Rijn was the main branch of the Rhine River and formed the north border of the Roman Empire . Since the rule of Emperor Claudius (41–54 AD), divisions of the Roman army were stationed here. Consequently, several Roman fortifications were located along the Oude Rijn, including castellum Albanianae in the centre of Alphen. The Romans had also built the first bridge over

576-640: The communities of Aarlanderveen , Zwammerdam , and Boskoop . The city is located in what is called the ' Green Heart ' of the Netherlands, which is a somewhat less densely populated centre area of the Randstad . The name "Alphen" is probably derived from the name of the Roman fort Albaniana , meaning "settlement at the white water". Its remains still lie underneath the city centre. The area around Alphen aan den Rijn has been inhabited for 2000 years. In

608-417: The documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation. By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a " relief " for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property). Historically,

640-600: The fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the Loire , local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and

672-416: The following attractions: The town is served by Alphen aan den Rijn railway station . It is just south east of the town centre. The bus station is located near the railway station. Trains which head towards Alphen aan den Rijn railway station are notorious for not always opening their doors to passengers. In total, there are 11 parties in the city council that consists of 35 councillors. Liesbeth Spies of

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704-646: The municipalities of Boskoop and Rijnwoude were amalgamated as well, doubling the land area and increasing the population to over 100,000. During the Second World War, the majority of Jews from Alphen were deported and subsequently murdered; only a few survived. After the war, the Jewish congregation was disbanded and merged with the one in Leiden. A Jewish cemetery on the Aarkade was founded in 1802, but it

736-478: The right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals. The privilege of minting official coins developed into the concept of seigniorage . In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments ( feudal incidents ). However, knight service in war

768-505: The riverbank, the construction of a performing arts theatre/ cinema , an upgrade of local shops and the creation of pedestrian streets . As of 2006, all of these projects on the left riverbank Hoge Zijde have been finished and a new similar masterplan for the right riverbank Lage Zijde has been developed and is being executed now. On 9 April 2011, a gunman opened fire at a shopping centre in Alphen aan den Rijn, killing six people and subsequently taking his own life. On 3 August 2015,

800-554: The service of mercenaries . A list of several hundred such fees held in chief between 1198 and 1292, along with their holders' names and form of tenure, was published in three volumes between 1920 and 1931 and is known as The Book of Fees ; it was developed from the 1302 Testa de Nevill . The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a group of several of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency . Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has

832-460: The south with Haarlem and - later on - with Amsterdam to the north. These cities, together with the Counts of Holland who collected tolls at Gouda and at Spaarndam , maintained this arrangement - to the dissatisfaction of the cities of Delft and Leiden , which this route bypassed. Today the Gouwe remains an important shipping-route. At the Oude Rijn, river travel can be continued north over

864-413: The use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In Francia , Charles Martel was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a beneficatium or " benefice " in

896-400: The western Netherlands , in the province of South Holland . The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the river Gouwe branches off. The municipality had a population of 112,587 in 2021, and covers an area of 132.50 km (51.16 sq mi) of which 6.27 km (2.42 sq mi) is water. The municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn also includes

928-455: Was abandoned and razed in the 1960s, with the remains re-interred in Katwijk ; in 2012, after fifteen years of community activism by local historian Anke Bakker and CDA council member Alice Besseling , a monument was installed and the area turned into a city park. Since the 1950s, the city began to grow rapidly. A large new neighbourhood was built on the north side and Alphen became mostly

960-400: Was far less common than: A lord in late 12th-century England and France could also claim the right of: In northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, military service for fiefs was limited for offensive campaigns to 40 days for a knight. By the 12th century, English and French kings and barons began to commute military service for cash payments ( scutages ), with which they could purchase

992-538: Was needed as peat excavation lead to a stream of peat going southward towards the Hollandse IJssel . A second part was then dug towards the Oude Rijn . With time the river also became important for shipping. This made Gouda an important city for shipping and one of the most affluent in Holland. The Gouwe was historically part of the primary (and prescribed) shipping-route in Holland, connecting Dordrecht in

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1024-479: Was still going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215. Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes,

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