Gronsveld () is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is part of the municipality of

Eijsden-Margraten Eijsden-Margraten (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the very south of the Netherlands. There it is located in the southeastern part of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. ...

and situated southeast of the municipality of

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

, to which it is bordering. Gronsveld was a separate municipality until 1982, when it was merged with

Eijsden Eijsden (; ) is a village situated in the very south of the European country the Netherlands. It is located in the southwestern part of the province of Limburg. Until 1 January 2011, Eijsden was the main village in a municipality with the sa ...

. The municipality also included Rijckholt, Eckelrade, Heugem (now part of

) and Honthem. The derivation of the name is uncertain, although it is commonly accepted to be quite literally referring to its evergreen pastures, and indeed the village is favourably situated at the foot of the Margraten Plateau which retains water in its bedrock. This provides for a constant gentle irrigation, and the lush clay soil carried here by the river

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

is excellent for growing fruit trees.

History

Gronsveld used to be an autonomous county until the end of the ancienne regime at the closing of the 18th century and was part of the imperial circle of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

. Its first and most famous count was Jost Maximilian von Bronckhorst-Gronsfeld (1598-1652) who fought in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

and invented the Gronsfeld cipher, a

substitution cipher In cryptography, a substitution cipher is a method of encrypting in which units of plaintext are replaced with the ciphertext, in a defined manner, with the help of a key; the "units" may be single letters (the most common), pairs of letters, t ...

. The

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

s and

Counts Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

of Gronsfeld-Diepenbroick had, due to their

Imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

, the right to mint their own coins which were frequently banned from circulation elsewhere because of their insufficient weight and/or alloy.https://genealogy.euweb.cz/titles/g.html

Folklore

Gronsveld has a rich tradition when it comes to folklore. The local marching band Koninklijke Harmonie van Gronsveld est. 1835 and the Koninklijke Schutterij St. Sebastianus (= historic 'army') est. 1619 are the most well known parts of this. Also, every year the village celebrates the traditional bronck, which dates back to the Middle Ages when the people of the village would honour God in order to get a good harvest. The village is then ruled by a king and his queen. Every four years (most recent occurrence 2004) this position is 'battled' for. Who will be king is determined on

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

Monday by a contest where the candidates take turns shooting a wooden bird atop a long pole on the church square. Whoever manages to shoot the bird down will be king. Two weeks after Pentecost the actual celebrations start. During these three days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) the king and his army make their way through the whole village clearing road blocks (put there as a reminder of the problems they ran into in the old days) along the way. On Sunday there is also a mass and procession through the village. Two weeks after these celebrations, the king and queen treat the whole village to a so-called 'koffietafel' (literally: coffee table). Which includes drinks and the traditional limburgish pastry

vlaai Limburgse vlaai (Limburgish: ''vlaai'', ''vlaoj'', ''vla'' or ''flaai'', ''vlaaien'')Koene, A. Food Shopper's Guide to Holland: A Comprehensive Review of the Finest Local and International Food Products in the Dutch Marketplace' (2006). Eburon U ...

Sights

Historic buildings in Gronsveld include the castle and the church built in the 18th century. Another landmark of the village is the Savelsbos, a protected hillside forest.

References

Gallery

Image:grenedeer.jpg, 'The Grenedeer' statue Image:Gronsveld, kerk foto3 2010-07-11 12.47.JPG, Gronsveld church File:Savelsbosch-Vuursteenmijn (3).JPG, Above-ground relic of flintstone mine in forest near Gronsveld {{Authority control Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands) Former municipalities of Limburg (Netherlands) Eijsden-Margraten