Sjaerdemaslot was a Frisian castle, a so-called "

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

", in

Franeker Franeker (; ) is one of the eleven historical City rights in the Low Countries, cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about west of Leeuwarden. As of 2023, it had 13,0 ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 1446 the construction of the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

was started and the state was demolished in 1727. Famous residents include the

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Albert of Saxony Albert of Saxony may refer to: * Albert, King of Saxony (1828–1902) * Albert I, Duke of Saxony (ca. 1175–1260) * Albert II, Duke of Saxony (ca. 1250–1298) * Albert III, Duke of Saxony (1443–1500) * Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen ...

The structure

The

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

ed castle was built into the main canal of the Frisian city

and turned into a

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

. When the moat was completed, the state was only accessible by a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

. It had two storeys above a

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. Besides the main building it had two wings and a large round

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

. A smaller

was on the west side of the final.

History

The first inhabitants were Douwe Aylva and Edwert Sjaerdema. Later it was ceded to duke

. Eventually the family got the state back after Albert of Saxony had lived there for several years. Later the castle belonged to Carel van Sternsee who was married to Cammingha Luts. Then Ruurd van Juckema inherited the castle. In the summer of 1629 he rented it to French philosopher

. The latter came to Franeker because of the

local university Local colleges and universities (LCUs) are higher educational institutions that are being run by Administrative divisions of the Philippines, local government units in the Philippines. A local government unit (LGU) maybe a barangay, a municipalit ...

. The castle was passed from father to son and eventually to Eduarda Lucia Juckema who was married to Martena Duca. The grandson of this couple later sold the state in 1725, only to be demolished that same year.

Literature

References

{{Reflist Stins in Friesland Waadhoeke