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History of Tilburg


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Little is known about the earliest history of Tilburg. Documents from the year 709 show the name Tilburg for the first time. After that, sources remain silent for some centuries. In the later Middle Ages, Tilburg was more of a local 'region' than a village or city, although a couple of small hamlets provided its population centers, one of which was known as 'Eastern Tilburg' (Oost-Tilburg), which was later reflected in the name of Oisterwijk ('Eastern Quarter'). This village centered around a small (probably wooden) castle or 'Motteburcht' on an equally small hill, which became derelict and was torn down after a few centuries at most. Of this first 'Tilburg Castle', nothing remained c. 2000, save a few remnants of its moat in the suburbs of Oisterwijk. In the 14th century, Tilburg was proclaimed a manor. Together with Goirle, it acquired the title of "The Manor of Tilburg and Goirle".

Successively, the manorial rights fell into the hands of several lords of noble lineage. They derived their income from taxes, fines and interest paid by the villagers.

In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. "That stone chamber at Hasselt" is mentioned in several historical documents. In 1858, however, the castle had to make way for a factory. It lives on, however, in the city arms and logo. A replica of the fundaments of the castle was restored in ca. 1995 on its original location, after the factory was demolished. In 1803, Goirle was separated from Tilburg and on 18 April 1809, Tilburg was granted city status. In that year, it had about 9,000 inhabitants. Tilburg hosted several festivities in 2009 in celebration of 200 years' status as a city.

Herd places"

Tilburg grew around one of the so-called "herd places", three-cornered plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met. These herd places were collective pasturelands for flocks of sheep. Their triangular
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