Assen - History

History

The history of the capital of Drenthe can be traced back to at least 1258, when a new location had to be found for the Maria in Campis monastery, which was originally built near Coevorden as a penalty for the slaughter in 1227 of the army of the Bishop of Utrecht at the hands of Drenthe's peasants, in what has come to be known as the Battle of Ane. A battle, incidentally, in which the Bishop was killed. His successor ordered the monastery to be built as a penalty. As this monastery was located in a barren peat area, which also happened to flood from time to time, a better location had to be found. A better and especially dryer spot for the Cistercian monastery was found in an area known as Witten, where at the time only a few farms were located. Around it were village communities like Deurze, Witten en Peelo. The latter has a history which goes back to the times from when Dolmens were built, but is presently situated between two new districts of Assen. The "relocated" monastery probably was erected in the 1260s, and over the centuries Assen developed around it.