Netherlands · Ruin
Castle Brederode
Brederode Castle is a medieval brick castle founded in the 13th century near Santpoort-Zuid in the Netherlands. It was rebuilt in the mid-14th century and later damaged in the 15th–16th centuries; the surviving structure today is a conserved ruin and national monument.
First raised
1300
Its prime
1400
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1400
The shape it held in its prime.
A compact medieval castle of red brick set within a water-filled moat and low earthen outer bank. The composition centres on a tall rectangular multi-storey keep with vertical window openings and a battlemented parapet, attached to ranges of brick curtain walls and shorter tower-like buttresses. A narrow wooden bridge on piles leads from the outer bank to a gateway in the curtain. Surrounded by low trees and grass, walls show regular courses of brick and openings at multiple levels.
Its story
The story of Castle Brederode.
Brederode Castle was founded in the second half of the 13th century by William I van Brederode (1215–1285), a descendant of the lords van Teylingen, kin to the counts of Holland. The high lordship of Brederode had been given in loan to the lords of Brederode by the count of Holland; the name recalls the Brede Roede, the "broad wood" cleared for its building. At first no more than a tower, it was pulled down around 1300 by Dirk II van Brederode and replaced with a proper castle.
During the Hook and Cod wars the Brederodes stayed loyal to Margaret of Bavaria, and the castle was besieged in 1351. By treaty the Lord of Brederode made his peace with Count William, receiving a yearly allowance of 350 pounds while his lands lay under sequester; after the reconciliation of 1354 the castle was rebuilt, though the family had by then moved its main seat to Batestein Castle.
In 1579 Holland loaned the lordship to a side branch of the van Brederodes, and when Wolfert van Brederode, last lord of Brederode, died in 1679, the ruins passed to the States of Holland and the Dutch Republic. Damaged in the 15th and 16th centuries, the brick castle survives near Santpoort-Zuid as a conserved ruin and national monument.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1400.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Castle Brederode — including 1 interior: gatehouse entrance passage. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Castle Brederode with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1400 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Castle Brederode.
The families that held Castle Brederode for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Brederode
Held by the lords van Brederode from the castle's 13th-century founding until Wolfert van Brederode, last lord of Brederode, died in 1679.
