Beautiful Netherlands: Staverden Castle. by Jaap van den Berg

Beautiful Netherlands: Staverden Castle.

Staverden Castle is located in Staverden (municipality of Ermelo), in Gelderland. The house and the park near it are owned by Geldersch Landschap and Kasteelen and are open to the public.

The current castle, now the fourth, was built partly in 1853 and partly in the year 1905 and contains seventeenth-century elements and was built on the foundations of the previous castle, from the eighteenth century. The halls on the ground floor are decorated with art nouveau motifs. No remains of the medieval castle are visible above ground level.

Count Reinald I of Gelre built the castle and several houses around 1300. His intention was for Staverden to grow into a town. However, it never became more than a castle with some farms.

The castle was used by the dukes of Gelre as a hunting lodge. Fief men lived at Staverden, whose job it was to keep and defend the castle for the count. In 1400, Gaedert van Staverden is mentioned as such. The feudal lords had the obligation to keep white peacocks. The feathers of these peacocks were used to decorate the count's helmets. Therefore, Staverden Castle is also called the 'White Peacock Castle'.