Iconoclasm “Beeldenstorm”. As I walked through the underground corridors, I realized once again what an impact the presence of a garrison in Maastricht must have had on the city. A garrison is a military term for an undetermined number of soldiers or military units stationed at a specific location. A garrison town is a town of military importance, where one or more regiments (military units) are located. Maastricht was such a city of military importance. Until 1567, the city defended itself against enemies with the help of markman’s guilds and the citizenry that was divided into crafts. In 1566, Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands destroyed statues of saints and other religious Catholic objects on a large scale. We know this destruction as iconociasm “Beeldenstorm”. The iconociasm (Beeldenstorm) also raged in Maastricht. In response to the iconociasm (Beeldenstorm) fury, governor Margaret of Parma, half-sister of the Spanish king Philip II, decided in 1567 to station a garrison in Maastricht. From that moment on, Maastricht would be a garrison city, with a military governor, in concrete terms, this meant that a large number of soldiers were housed in Maastricht to protect the city against the enemy.

Convent of the Faliezusters (Nuns monastery) Stationing of a garrison in a city, or expanding the existing garrison in the event of a threat of war, could lead to a complete new society within a city. It was not only soldiers who moved to that city. Some soldiers were married and accompanied by wives and children. Soldiers could also find love in the city where they were garrisoned, after which a family was founded. Such a new society within a city also had disadvantages, of course. For example, on 27 July 1761, the sisters of the Maastricht Faliezustersklooster complained to the city council about the fact that thirteen years earlier, during the siege of 1748, their convent had been overrun by no fewer than five hundred soldiers with their wives and horses, after they had been transferred from the barracks in the Boschstraat to the Faliezustersklooster. Doors and other wooden objects among other things, were burned during that period. But other destruction was also caused by the presence of the soldiers and their entourage in the monastery. Since then, the monastery has been very ruinous and dilapidated, according to the sisters' complaint. André Rieu Although the Maastricht garrison was a great burden for the inhabitants of Maastricht, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were often three to six thousand soldiers in the city, the presence of a garrison also provided many economic advantages for the inhabitants of Maastricht. For example, soldiers were frequent visitors to inns and coffee and wineries in the city, and beer brewers and bakers amongst others also benefited from this. For example, a notarial deed, drawn up on 7 November 1755 by notary Peter Frederix, shows that the Maastricht baker Nicolaes Gudi during the war had delivered loaves of bread to Elisabeth van der Stegen, the wife of Dominicus Overenbergh, a trumpeter in the army, during the war of 1747-1748. During that war Elisabeth had run an ‘auberge’ (inn) in Maastricht. The constant presence of a soldier population also ensured that the city was teeming with prostitutes. The girls of pleasure came from far and wide to offer their services to the soldiers in Maastricht, both on the streets and in the numerous (illegal) brothels. The notarial deeds of Maastricht notaries show that the various regiments which were garrisoned in Maastricht purchased their supplies, including clothing, from local entrepreneurs. The city became increasingly economically dependent on the Maastricht garrison.

You can quickly make the comparison with a person like André Rieu. Last week, “De Limburger” reported that in 2019 it was calculated that Rieu yields Maastricht more than thirty million euros annually. That amount has only increased due to his winter performances in the MECC. Reporter Joos Philippens wrote in his article in De Limburger: ‘Maastricht without André Rieu? It seems unthinkable, but even the world-famous violinist does not have eternal life. If he stops, the Vrijthof and its surroundings are in danger of becoming quiet in the summer. No more tourists, no more full hotels and restaurants. The peace and quiet will be a relief for some Maastricht residents, but economically that is a different story.' In past centuries, many Maastricht residents will often have longed for a city without soldiers, but the economic importance of the presence of all those soldiers should not be underestimated for Maastricht.

casemates

View of Maastricht 1642. Image: Public Domain, wikimedia commons.