Puzzling Places: The Broadcasting of local News in Dutch Newspapers

News from Pferumbt, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 01.06.1622 (Dahl No 100)

News from Pferumbt, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 01.06.1622 (Dahl No 100)

Unlike the last post, this one is going to be a more puzzling than revealing. After starting to go deeper into the coverage of Dutch newspapers for the last three weeks, I found a number of reports that I could not make sense of. Sometimes the lack of context information makes the news hard to understand. However, in a number of cases the place name of the news present difficulties. As someone who is more familiar (and comfortable) with reading today´s Dutch, the written language of the seventeenth century seems to differ in a number of cases that make a simple google search for a place name redundant. In the hope, that perhaps some of the readers can make sense of the place names, I have collected and displayed here all the news that I cannot make any sense of in terms localizing the individual places. I decided to turn to follower power on these cases: if you can help out with any of these place please get in contact via the comments section or at jh230@st-andrews.ac.uk

Neder-Creyts

News from Neder-Creyts, detail. Taken from:  Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 06.11.1623 (Dahl No 119).

News from Neder-Creyts, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 06.11.1623 (Dahl No 119).

Reporting from the march of the Fürstenberg troops into the city of Würzburg, this report from Neder-Creyts found his way into the newspaper. A place in Austria called Kreuzstetten, in the nineteenth century we find even a mention of Niederkreutzstetten. But can this report refer to this place?

 

Etsdorp

News from Etsdorp, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 02.05.1620 (Dahl No 58).

News from Etsdorp, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 02.05.1620 (Dahl No 58).

From Etsdorp where the Kaiser had his camp came the news of 600 reported casualties after a battle. Could this be a part of the Grafenegg municipality in Austria? This place was named Etsdorf-Haitzendorf before. The other possibility (according to the laws of phonetic sound change) is the German town of Betzdorf. However, one wonders where the B is coming from.

 

Iors-dorp

News from Iors-dorp, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 27.07.1624 (Dahl No 125).

News from Iors-dorp, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 27.07.1624 (Dahl No 125).

in Iorps-dorp, the jew Menasse is accused of murder. As easy as it may seem (the Silesia region is named in the title of this news), it is still hard to locate Iors-dorp. Today, we find a particular Jonsdorf in the outer western parts of what in those days was the Silesia region. But can it be it? Once again, how do we explain the change from r to n in the town´s name?

 

 

Ips

News from Ips, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 25.01.1621 (Dahl No 61)

News from Ips, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 25.01.1621 (Dahl No 61)

What may sound like a fancy product name of recent marketing geniuses, was in fact a place name in the seventeenth century. From Ips, the report reads about woolen goods being produced in brining, yet I have no idea where this could be.

 

Bundten

News from Bundten, detail. Taken From: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amserdam: 26.06.1621 (Dahl No 80).

News from Bundten, detail. Taken From: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amserdam: 26.06.1621 (Dahl No 80).

While all other place names occur only once, this is particular puzzling as one finds around 15 reports from this place in total. Many of these news reports talk about the military fortune of a certain Monsieur Montalon and the context of the news seem to originate from Switzerland. A vague guess would be the canton Graubünden, the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland.

 

 

 

 

 

Huysberghen
News from Huysberghen, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 01.06.1622 (Dahl No 100)
According to the information that I received from a friend, there is a castle with the name Huys Bergen, near the Dutch village Gramsbergen. However, I slightly have the feeling that this place could be in Flanders.

 

 

Pferumbt

News from Pferumbt, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 01.06.1622 (Dahl No 100)

News from Pferumbt, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 01.06.1622 (Dahl No 100) 

 

Pferumbt is the source for one military report of a siege and a looting. Even from the sound of the name it seems hard at least to tell in what region this place could be. A closer look tells us from the escape of the inferior party from the Austrian Dachstein region towards Alsace. Could this be a hint?

 

 

 

Turnigou

News from Turnigou, detai. Taken from:  Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 17.09.1622 (Dahl No 106).

News from Turnigou, detail. Taken from: Broer Jansz. Tijdinghen uyt verscheyde Quartieren, Amsterdam: 17.09.1622 (Dahl No 106).

Here, the Brandenburg region as well as the Saxonian towns of Dresden and Leipzig are mentioned so one is inclined to think that this place is nowadays known under a Slavic name.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Jan Hillgaertner (October 2, 2013). Puzzling Places: The Broadcasting of local News in Dutch Newspapers. newspaperhistory. Retrieved April 27, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/sbqc


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.