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Ommen

Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the Vecht valley of the Salland region in Overijssel. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248. The municipality had a population of 0 in and covers an area of undefined km2.

Population centres
Besides the city of Ommen (population: 8,710) and the town of Lemele (population: 570), the municipality consists of the following hamlets and villages: • Archem

• Arriën

• Arriërveld

• Beerze

• Beerzerveld

• Besthmen

• Eerde

• Giethmen

• Junne

• Ommerschans

• Stegeren

• Stegerveld

• Varsen

• Vilsteren

• Vinkenbuurt

• Witharen

• Zeesse

The emergence of Ommen
The first inhabitants of the area around Ommen were probably semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers. Flint from the Mesolithic period found in between Ommen and Mariënberg indicates the presence of humans around 9,000 BCE, but there seems to have been hardly any cultivation or permanent settlement during this period.

The Vecht (sometimes called the Overijsselse Vecht, to avoid confusion with its namesake in Utrecht) and Regge rivers determined the first settlements in the area that is now the municipality of Ommen. Most of the Salland region was marshy but the higher banks along the Vecht and Regge provided fertile soil for agriculture. Moreover, good roads were rare, so for trade, transport and travel the rivers provided a vital infrastructure. The first sporadic agricultural settlements in Salland therefore arose along the riverbanks of the Vecht and the Regge around 5,000 BCE. Indeed, all early population centres in the current municipality of Ommen were originally built on riverbanks — with the exception of the town of Lemele, which was situated on the lower slopes of the Lemelerberg, free from flooding by the Regge.

The location of Ommen itself proved particularly suitable for settlement — not only because of the fertile river soil and the higher ground of the river dune (even today the church square is visibly higher than the streets to its east and south), but also because of the ford in the Vecht facilitating trade routes between the Frisian north and Twente to the south. Archeological discoveries indicate that the first settlement in Ommen itself emerged during the 8th century CE, and by the end of the 11th century a veritable town had developed — among the first in Overijssel. The first permanent settlers in Ommen were mixed crop-livestock farmers who also engaged in river trade and innkeeping. Most of these first settlers were probably of Saxon origin, though the Salians who dominated the banks of the IJssel also influenced the region economically, politically and religiously. The first houses in Ommen were hutkommen: wooden houses of which the ground floor was typically around half a meter below the ground. A church was built at the heart of Ommen around 1150 and was soon after replaced by a stone church, indicating further growth of the settlement. Written records first mention Ommen as de Vmme in 1133 and as Ummen in 1227.

This gradual growth, however, did not mean Ommen could also dominate the surrounding area politically, as there were many other powers in the land. Above all, the Prince-Bishop of Utrecht, who had obtained dominion over all of Oversticht from Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1010, repeatedly attempted to increase and centralise his authority over the towns and estates of Salland. The burghers of nearby cities — especially Zwolle — were also known to interfere in the region. More locally, farming communities in the eastern Netherlands organised themselves into markes (autonomous areas) where a buurschap (rule by neighbours) formed a unique kind of grassroots local government. Last but not least, havezates (or castles) arose in the area surrounding Ommen — especially at strategic points such as the banks of the Vecht (the Arendshorst on the northern bank and Beerze on the southern bank), the banks of the Regge (most notably at Eerde) or both banks ('t Laer) — from which robber barons dominated the surrounding area and could levy tolls on river commerce in defiance of the authority of the bishop. These robber barons and the buurschappen formed a check on the influence of Ommen on the surrounding region — yet it was ironically due to one such robber baron that Ommen grew to become an outright city.

Development into a city

On 25 August 1248, Ommen received city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Prince-Bishop of Utrecht, after the town was pillaged by local robber baron Rudolf of Coevorden and his militia of freemen in both 1215 and in the aftermath of the Battle of Ane of 1227. Ommen's location at the confluence of two rivers at the heart of the region made it the bishop's strategic and logistic basis in the defence of his domain Oversticht against the rebellious Drents. Ommen thus became the 4th-oldest officially recognised city in Overijssel, after Deventer (956 A.D.), Zwolle and Rijssen.

A wall was soon erected around Ommen, including three gates: the Vechtpoort or Voorbruggenpoort (on the bank of the Vecht), the Varsenerpoort (on the western wall for traffic with Varsen) and the Arriërpoort (on the northern wall for traffic with Arriën). Even to this day, the two bells in the church's belltower, named Maria and Salvator and cast in 1517 by Hendrick de Tremonia of Dordrecht, are rung every evening at nine o'clock. These so-called Ave-Maria peals form a custom which traces its origin to the tradition of ringing the bell at the closing of the gates. Ommen never received a moat, even though it was permitted one.

Ommen soon became a regional port and market for agricultural products. Due to this commercial growth and strategic commercial position, Ommen eventually joined the Hanseatic League as a smaller port, so most of its trade was not directly with the Baltic Sea region, but with fellow Hanseatic cities Zwolle, Kampen, Zutphen and especially Deventer, of which it was a subsidiary city. A toll bridge across the Vecht (first built in 1492) further increased its wealth and commercial importance, even though the toll bridge across the Vecht was destroyed by ice floes three times through the centuries. The toll levy was usually auctioned off to private tax collectors, who resided in the toll house (built in 1531) next to the bridge. A bridge toll would be levied until 1925.

For centuries during the Middle Ages, the Estates of Oversticht, a diet or feudal parliament representing the quarters of Salland, Twenthe and Vollenhove (and until 1527 also Drenthe) and the cities of Zwolle, Deventer and Kampen, convened just outside the city of Ommen at Nieuwebrug (or New Bridge), named after the bridge over the Regge on the road between Ommen and Hellendoorn. Following a feud between Kampen and Zwolle in 1519, however, a gathering of the Estates was attacked by citizens of neighbouring Zwolle, who abducted three noblemen and pillaged nearby Eerde castle. During the years that followed, conflict escalated in Overijssel.

War and disaster

In 1522, citizens of Zwolle attacked and pillaged Ommen with the aid of Duke Charles of Guelders who thus conquered the city from Utrecht. Only the church and women's home de Heilige Geest (the Holy Spirit) survived the pillage and fire. Ommen remained part of Guelders until 1528, when emperor Charles V inherited authority over the entire Duchy of Guelders, including Overijssel. A new city hall was built in 1531 in between the church and the Vrijthof square. The city was pillaged again in 1568 by Spanish troops under the 'Iron' Duke of Alba, fighting for Charles's successor, Philip II of Spain. This time, the pillage was not as devastating: Ommen's church, city hall and several other main buildings were spared. In 1581, the Estates of Overijssel convened outside Ommen to depose Philip and proclaim the independence of the Netherlands.

Though a 'Golden Age' for the young Dutch Republic, the 17th century proved rather devastating for Ommen. A great fire in 1624 inflicted serious damage on the church, of which only the foundations and a few walls remained. To control traffic and to prevent military invasions from the north, the fortification of Ommerschans was constructed. In 1672, one of the most severe fires in Ommen's history raged through the entire city, destroying everything but the church. In that same year, the aptly named 'Rampjaar' (disaster year), the Franco-Dutch War broke out, and until 1674 foreign troops (especially from Münster) frequently marched through Ommen, demanding passage, payment, food and lodging. It was not until 1753 that Ommen had sufficiently recovered to afford a new city hall, built at the Vrijthof square, on the same location as the previous building.

During the so-called 'periwig era' of decline in the Netherlands, discontent with oligarchical rule also increased in Ommen. In 1732, the citizens of Ommen rose up against the city council. A petition was handed to the Magistrate on May 31, in which a large share of the citizenry rejected its authority and asked it to resign. The council refused and severe riots ensued, but eventually order was restored. In 1762, a night guard was installed to maintain public order, but the unrest would remain until the Batavian Revolution of 1795.

Ommen in modern times

On March 2, 1809, the municipal authorities prepared a welcome for the visit of Lodewijk Napoleon, king of the short-lived Kingdom of Holland. They were disappointed when they found out the king had already passed Ommen the day before. The three burgomasters quickly pursued the king and met with his party near Gramsbergen, still receiving a gift of 1000 Dutch guilders for the well-intended preparations for his visit.

When his brother Napoleon Bonaparte annexed the Kingdom of Holland into the French Empire in 1810, he had all local government radically reformed to become compatible with French structures. Ommen too was affected: the separate jurisdictions of Stad Ommen (composed of the city of Ommen and the Ommerschans) and Ambt Ommen (which comprised most of the rest of the current municipality, Avereest and Den Ham as well) were merged into one Mairie Ommen (though Den Ham became a separate municipality). This caused much controversy and discontent locally because the marke communities thus lost their ancient rights of self-governance. In 1818, shortly after Dutch independence, Mairie Ommen was once more decentralised into the municipalities Stad Ommen, Ambt Ommen and Avereest. To ensure good coordination, one burgomaster was appointed over both Stad and Ambt from 1851 onwards.

To safeguard the eastern borders of the newly established Kingdom of the Netherlands, plans were drawn by order of Baron Krayenhoff in 1819 to convert Ommen into a city with fortifications. However, these radical plans (Ontwerp ter bevestiging van Ommen 1819) were not carried out in the end, as the IJssel river to the west was considered a more natural line of defence.

Although renovated and expanded in 1758, the toll house next to the bridge (also called the bridge master's house) was torn down in 1827 to be replaced by a new city hall, designed by the architect J.P. Orentzburg. This new building, situated on the bank of the Vecht, housed all offices of the municipal authorities — including the city council, the court, the tax and toll office, the Gentlemen's Society and the home of the burgomaster. The court moved to a new building in 1882. The burgomaster and the Gentlemen's Society moved soon afterwards. The city hall was renovated and expanded in 1925 and again in 1955. The municipal authorities left the building in 1982. It has since been converted into a museum and a restaurant.

In 1923, the municipalities of Stad Ommen and Ambt Ommen were once again merged. The borders of the municipality have remained unchanged since, with the exception of the eastern part of Lemelerveld which came under the municipality of Dalfsen in 1997.

On the night of 6 February 1972, a Palestine terrorist organisation named Black September attempted to blow up a natural gas pipeline at a distribution hub near Ommen, but not all explosives were detonated. A blue bag filled with explosives was found after the explosion, next to a 3 m crater. During the same night there were also attacks in Hamburg and the Dutch village of Ravenstein — and later that year, Black September also caused the Munich Massacre.

Eerde

About four kilometres (4 km) south-east of Ommen and adjacent to the hamlet of Eerde lies the castle Eerde, a castle in the Dutch-classical style from 1715, surrounded by a 1,667 hectare estate in the Baroque style managed by the Natuurmonumenten foundation since 1965.

The name "Eerde" is a Saxon word meaning "earth". The first castle on this site was built in the 14th century, but was soon destroyed by the bishop's men in 1380 — along with the fortifications of the town of Ommen. In the centuries since, the Van Twickelo, Van Renesse and Van Pallandt families have lived in castles on this site. The castle was used by the famous philosopher and spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, of whom Baron Philip van Pallandt was an avid follower, from about 1924 to just before the start of the Second World War. Van Pallandt granted Krishnamurti a territory at the Besthemerberg, north of Eerde. There Krishnamurti held his Order of the Star in the East lectures and meetings in front of audiences of thousands of people from dozens of countries.

During the Second World War, a Nazi concentration camp, Kamp Erika, was situated at the Besthemerberg. Only eight Jews were detained here; the camp was designated mostly for Dutchmen convicted of black market trade or resistance to the occupational authorities. The camp was notorious for the brutal behaviour of its personnel, leading Dutch judges to refuse to send convicts there in 1943. The camp was turned into an Arbeitserziehungslager mostly for those refusing to do forced labour, but in the fall of 1944 it once again became a penal camp. The camp was liberated on 11 April 1945. From 1945 to 1946, the camp was instead used to detain Dutchmen who had collaborated with the German occupiers. Their treatment was not much better.

Nowadays the castle houses the private international boarding school Eerde, which offers the IB programme.

Ommerschans
About ten kilometres (10 km) due north of Ommen lies the former Ommerschans fortification. The Ommerschans was a fortress built in 1628 as part of a defence line to defend the northern provinces of Groningen and Friesland from the marauding count Hendrik van den Bergh (in Spanish service) after the expiration of the Twelve Years' Truce. Hendrik, a nephew of William of Orange, then defected to the Dutch Republic in 1633.

The defences of the Ommerschans were restrengthened in the middle of the 17th century to deter and halt a possible invasion from the German states. Despite these new fortifications, the Ommerschans was captured without any resistance when Prince-Bishop Bernhard von Galen of Münster and Archbishop-Elector Maximilian Henry of Cologne invaded in 1672, the so-called rampjaar (or disaster year) that started the Franco-Dutch War. The 146 musketeers and 55 pikemen stationed at the Ommerschans fled north, only to return later that year when the bishops retreated after their failed siege of the northern city of Groningen.

Under pressure from the citizens of Ommen and after the Peace of Utrecht of 1713, the fortress was closed down in 1715, only to be reinstated as a fortified arsenal in 1740 when war reignited in Continental Europe. During the Patriot Revolt of 1787, militias from Zwolle, Kampen and Vollenhove conquered and pillaged the Ommerschans, stealing all its weaponry to help them in their paramilitary struggle against the regime. The Ommerschans fortification became abandoned and would never again be used for military purposes.

In the early 19th century, the Dutch government changed it into a resocialisation institution and labour camp for beggars, prostitutes and alcoholics from Amsterdam and other western cities. They were supposed to learn farming and morals by experience so they could reintegrate into society. In reality the beggars were used for semi-forced and all-but-unpaid labour to reclaim the wetlands surrounding Ommerschans, eventually reclaiming an area of 4 by $2 1/2$ kilometres. Politician and novelist Jacob van Lennep visited Ommerschans during his walking tour with Dirk van Hogendorp across the newly independent United Kingdom of the Netherlands in the summer of 1823, and documented his shock at the conditions at the labour camp: "These hours are certainly among the saddest I have lived through."

When the institution went bankrupt in 1859 the Dutch government managed the labour camp until 1889, when it was finally closed down. During its years in operation, between several hundred and two thousand workers would live at Ommerschans at any one time, and an estimated 5448 workers died whilst interned there.

Location, economy and infrastructure

Ommen lies 20 km east of the provincial capital of Zwolle and 35 km north-east of fellow Hanseatic city Deventer. It lies on the north bank of the Vecht river, not far from where the Regge river merges with this stream. Only smaller ships and yachts can use these waterways.

Because Ommen is a rural municipality, tourism and agriculture are the pillars of the local economy. The forests and hilly heathlands of Ommen attract many nature-seeking visitors. The city of Ommen has several hotels and in the surrounding area there are fifteen campgrounds. Gilwell Ada's Hoeve on the left bank of the Vecht was the first Scouting campground in the Netherlands. Ommen also has a small marina.

Since 15 January 1903, Ommen has had a railway station designed by Eduard Cuypers. It is situated one kilometre (1 km) from the centre on the opposite side of the Vecht. The station is on the (minor) Zwolle-Emmen line and trains stop roughly twice an hour. Ommen also used to have direct railway links to Stadskanaal and to Deventer via Raalte, which were abandoned when they lost their importance due to the emergence of the automobile. Early plans to establish railway lines from Ommen to Hoogeveen and to Hellendoorn were abandoned for that same reason.

An important infrastructural problem is the N34 road from Zwolle via Emmen to Groningen, which crosses the city of Ommen. One of its main crossroads, near the Vecht bridge is a bottleneck that causes frequent traffic congestion. The government is rerouting the N34 road north of the city, in order to reduce crosstown traffic.

Local politics
The current mayor of Ommen is Hans Vroomen. He started his tenure on December 18, 2017

The last municipal elections were in March 2022. The seventeen seats in Ommen's municipal council are divided as follows: • Local Party Ommen (LPO): 4 seats

• CDA: 4 seats

• People's party Ommen Forward (VOV): 3 seats

• ChristianUnion: 3 seats

• PvdA: 1 seat

• D66: 1 seat

• VVD: 1 seat

Twin towns — Sister cities
Ommen is twinned with:

Bissing

Ommen is famous for its Bissing fair and markets. These yearly markets have been organised on the second Tuesday of July since at least 1557. The Bissing lasted three days from Monday till Wednesday. Its success was based on the wide array of products on offer and a relaxation of excises and regulation on alcoholic consumption, attracting merchants and consumers to Ommen from far and wide. In the 19th century it became one of the main markets in the province of Overijssel, and there would often be brawls and riots. In 1918, the council of Dutch Reformed Church asked the town council to end the public events surrounding the Bissing for moral reasons. The town council complied and the Bissing activities were suspended until 1958, although the market continued.

Nowadays the Bissing has become a major tourist attraction, lasting for five consecutive Wednesdays after the initial market and comprising a wide array of ceremonies, fairs, concerts, funfairs and activities.

The etymology of the word Bissing is widely discussed. Some believe it is derived from 'Bishop's day', in recognition of the granting of Ommen's town rights, whilst others believe the Low-Saxon word is related to the English word business.

Language

Most inhabitants of Ommen speak Dutch, but many will also speak Low Saxon or Plat — an ancient language related to Low German and Old English which is indigenous to the north-east of the Netherlands. The dialect of Plat spoken in Ommen is Sallands. Although both the national government and the European Union recognise Plat as a regional language, it is considered by many to be a mere dialect of Dutch, and its popularity is waning rapidly, even compared to Twents.

The poet Johanna van Buren died in Ommen in 1962. Her Plat poetry in the Salland and Twents dialect is still popular throughout Overijssel. The Johanna van Buren Cultural Prize is awarded once every three years to a person who contributed to the regional culture of the Eastern Netherlands.

Religion
Ommen has a reasonable mix of Christian churches, with sizable Roman Catholic, Dutch Protestant and Liberated Reformed (Gereformeerd Vrijgemaakt) congregations.

Ommen was built around the old church at its centre, built around 1150, first mentioned in 1238 and severely damaged by fires in 1330 and 1624. The church was converted to Calvinism during the Reformation of the 16th century, and it was not until the constitutional reforms of 1853 that the Roman Catholicism was once again openly practiced in Ommen and not until 1860 that a new Roman Catholic church was founded in the centre of Ommen. The village of Vilsteren to the west of Ommen, however, had remained entirely Roman Catholic throughout the centuries.

The famous preacher and dissenter Albertus van Raalte lived and worked in Ommen between 1839 and 1844, before he and his congregation moved to America to found the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the city of Holland, Michigan.

Jews in the Ommen area often were small-scale butchers. Most of Ommen's Jewish community was murdered during the Holocaust or left soon after the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The synagogue building was demolished in 1956. Jewish graveyards still exist.

Sights

 * The church in the centre, built in 1150 but rebuilt and renovated regularly, is by far the oldest building in Ommen.
 * The National Tin Figurine Museum in the former Town Hall has over 200,000 figurines and panoramas, including four panoramas of the Battle of Ane.
 * Ommen has five windmills, of which three are in the town itself: the Lelie (1846, still in full operation), Den Oordt (1842, operates weekly) and the Konijnenbelt (1806, out of commission). Vilsteren has its own windmill (1858, recently recommissioned), as does the hamlet of Besthem (1862, recently renovated). The Besthemermolen also houses the Nature Information Centre with expositions about Ommen's diverse landscape and ecosystems.
 * The small Regional Museum in Ommen explains Ommen's customs and history.
 * The estates of the Vilsteren and Eerde castles are open to the public.
 * The Pieterpad rambling trail (the most popular trail in the Netherlands) passes through Ommen.

Notable inhabitants of Ommen

 * Albertus van Raalte (1811 in Wanneperveen – 1876) preacher and founder of Holland, Michigan
 * Dirk Van Raalte (1844 in Ommen – 1901) American Union soldier and politician
 * August van Groeningen (1866 in Ommen – 1894) writer
 * Johanna van Buren (1881 in Hellendoorn – 1981) poet
 * Gerrit Bouwhuis (1888 in Ommen – 1957) a Dutch sports shooter, competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics
 * Philip baron van Pallandt (1889–1979), pioneer of Dutch Scouting
 * J. H. A. Lokin (born 1945 in Ommen) jurist and academic
 * Edward Top (born 1972 in Ommen), composer
 * Malik Azmani (born 1976 in Heerenveen) is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament

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Raalte

Raalte is a municipality and a town in the heart of the region of Salland in the Dutch province of Overijssel.

Population centres
The municipality consists of the following towns and villages. Raalte is the main place of the municipality, with over 20,000 mostly Roman Catholic inhabitants. It is a regional market, education and shopping centre.

Transport
Raalte railway station and Heino railway stations are located along the minor railroad Zwolle – Enschede. Frequency: mostly twice per hour.

An important road for motorists is the N348 Deventer – Wesepe (mun. Olst-Wijhe – Raalte – Lemelerveld – Ommen ( in northeasterly direction from Deventer). In Raalte it crosses a road (N35) from Zwolle going south-east over Heino, Raalte, Mariënheem and Nijverdal to Wierden, where it continues as a highway (A35) to Almelo and Enschede.

Economy
Raalte has a lot of small industrial enterprises, many of them processing agricultural products. For the local economy, trade, agriculture (especially breeding cattle) and tourism are more important.

Sights and events

 * In Raalte there are two major festivals every year: Stöppelhaene and Ribs & Blues. Stöppelhaene is a Harvest Festival that has been celebrated in the last weekend (Wednesday through Sunday) of August since 1951. The highlight is the Harvest Parade on Thursday. Ribs & Blues is a music festival including blues music that has been held on the Whitsun weekend since '97.
 * Luttenberg is known for its motorcycle races every summer.
 * Luttenberg is also known for its Lourdes Cave, an artificial cave with a statue of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes, situated at the centre of the village opposing the parish church.
 * South-west of Heino, just across the railroad and the border to the municipality Olst-Wijhe, stands the castle Nijenhuis. It hosts an important art museum ( Constant Permeke, Van Gogh et al.). Around the castle is a sculpture garden (Ossip Zadkine et al.).
 * Near Luttenberg there is a small hill (Luttenberg) covered with heath and forest, where nice walks can be made.
 * The Roman Catholic basilica "Kruisverheffing" (Exaltation of the Holy Cross) in Raalte. This Neo-Gothic church, designed by Alfred Tepe, was built in 1892. During "Stöppelhaene" there is an exposition of mosaics made out of seeds, representing religious themes. The festival starts and ends with special Holy Masses in this church.
 * The small "Plaskerk", the oldest building in the centre of Raalte, is a Protestant church. A typical example of Dutch religious tolerance was the fact, that the Protestants were allowed to hold their Sunday services in the big Roman Catholic church, as the Plaskerk was restored in 2006.
 * Once a year there is a blues festival called "Ribs & Blues". The festival is held close to Ascension Day. Some bands and artists that have played during this festival over the last few years include: The Beach Boys, Status Quo, and Candy Dulfer.

Notable people

 * Petronella van Woensel (1785 in Raalte – 1839) a Dutch painter and a graphic artist
 * Albert Jan Maat (born 1953 in Heino) a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament
 * Stijn Jaspers (1961 in Raalte – 1984) a Dutch runner, competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics
 * Harry van Bommel (born 1962 in Helmond) a Dutch politician, anti-globalisation activist and former educator
 * Jan Smeekens (born 1987 in Raalte) a Dutch speed skater, silver medallist at the 2014 Winter Olympics

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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Rijssen-Holten

Rijssen-Holten (Sallaans: Riesn-Hooltn ) is a municipality (Dutch: gemeente) in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel.

The municipality was formed in 2001 by the joining of the municipalities of Holten and Rijssen. The area of Holten belongs to the region of Salland and the area of Rijssen to the region of Twente.

Population centres
• Beuseberg,

• De Borkeld,

• Dijkerhoek (2 km west of Holten),

• Espelo,

• Holten,

• Holterbroek,

• Lichtenberg,

• Look,

• Neerdorp (currently a part of the village Holten)

• Rijssen Only Holten and Rijssen have over 500 inhabitants.

Topography

Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Rijssen-Holten, June 2015

Accessibility
Both Holten and Rijssen are easily accessible by car; the A1 motorway (Amsterdam - Berlin) is only a few kilometres away. The distance between Amsterdam and Holten is about 110 km. Rijssen lies 7 km more to the east.

Notable people

 * Johann Geusendam (1886 in Rijssen - 1945) political activist expelled from Bremen
 * Bert Haanstra (1916 in Espelo – 1997) a Dutch director of films and documentaries
 * Jan Baan (born 1946 in Rijssen) a Dutch entrepreneur and venture capitalist
 * Wolter Wierbos (born 1957 in Holten) a Dutch jazz trombonist

Sport

 * Jan Wegereef (born 1962 in Rijssen) a Dutch & FIFA football referee
 * Eric Braamhaar (born 1966 in Rijssen) a Dutch & FIFA football referee
 * Mark Tuitert (born 1980 in Holten) a Dutch speed skater and gold medallist at the 2010 Winter Olympics

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Staphorst

Staphorst is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.

History
The villages of Staphorst and its southern neighbour Rouveen came into existence as in the 13th century monks started to bring the bogs and swamps into culture.

All the farms were built along the long road through the bog area. Thus a lengthy row of farms was built, becoming the 11 km long village of Staphorst-Rouveen. This phenomenon is called in Dutch: lintbebouwing (ribbon urbanization). In many parts of the Netherlands this type of village is quite common, e.g. Vriezenveen, the villages along river dykes in the Netherlands, the so-called moor-colonies in the provinces Drenthe and Groningen, as well as the German regions opposite the border.

According to the website goDutch.com in the section of "Excerpts from the Windmill" in the entry for "Staphorst reunion organizers eager to welcome former residents for April 2011 municipal bicentennial", Staphorst was a Dutch municipality, created through a decree by French emperor Napoleon who merged four smaller entities into a much larger one. The 1811 decree merged the villages of Rouveen, Staphorst and IJhorst along with nearby sparsely populated Hasselter schoutambt (a judicial entity) into a municipality, known since 1818 as Staphorst. Except for a few minor changes, Staphorst's borders have remained unchanged, making it an anomaly in Dutch municipal history.

A specialty for Staphorst is, that after a farmer's death, his land was often divided between his sons. The son who did not inherit his father's farm built a farm-house for his own behind the other. Therefore, many pieces of farmland are very lengthy, yet narrow (e.g. 1500 x 40 metres). Originally, each piece of land was 125 metres wide.

The farms are of the traditional Low Saxon type. They have green doors and window shutters. Most farms existing now were built between 1850 and 1910.

Society
Staphorst is still a largely orthodox Calvinist village and has one of the highest church attendancy rates of the Netherlands. In 1971, Staphorst became world news due to an outbreak of polio. 39 people (mostly children) became infected with polio. Of these, five died and a number of others became disabled. 20% of residents remain unvaccinated for religious reasons. As a result, Staphorst and other similar areas in the Netherlands are classified as risk areas by the WHO – the only such area in Europe.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Staphorst at 2.76 was 4th highest in all of Netherlands in 2003. That makes Staphorst a place with one of the highest birth rates in all of Europe.

Population centres
• Halfweg

• Hamingen

• IJhorst

• Lankhorst

• De Leijen

• Punthorst

• Rouveen

• Slingenberg

• Staphorst

Demographics
Staphorst had a sustainable birth rate until the beginning of 21st century. But during the 2000–2007 period, the birth rate dropped considerably.
 * Birth Rate: 15.79 per 1000 (down from 18.96 in 2000).
 * Death Rate: 6.98 per 1000.
 * NGR: +0.88%

The birth rate of Staphorst declined further to 14,9‰ in 2016, while the total fertility rate declined to 2,65 children per woman.

Notable people

 * Lambertus Johannes Hansen (1803 in Staphorst – 1859) Dutch painter
 * Tjerk Vermaning (1929 in Staphorst – 1986) a controversial Dutch amateur archaeologist
 * Roelof Bisschop (born 1956 in Staphorst) a Dutch historian and politician

Sport

 * Marc Houtzager (born 1971 in Rouveen) a Dutch show jumping equestrian, silver medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics
 * Bert Konterman (born 1971 in Rouveen) former professional footballer with 470 appearances for clubs in the Netherlands and Scotland.
 * Gretha Smit (born 1976 in Rouveen) a Dutch former speed skater, silver medallist in the 2002 Winter Olympics

title: Staphorst


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Steenwijkerland

Steenwijkerland (Stienwiekerlaand or Steenwiekerlaand) is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, in the eastern Netherlands. Prior to a name change in 2003, it was known as Steenwijk.

The municipality forms the entire northwesterly corner of the province. This area is called "the Head of Overijssel" (in Dutch: de Kop van Overijssel). It borders the province Friesland. The seat of the municipality, Steenwijk, with a population of about 17,100, is situated on the A32 motorway (Zwolle – Meppel – Leeuwarden) and has a railway station on the line connecting those same cities.

Economy
Steenwijk is the economic and administrative centre of the region. Many smaller trading and industrial enterprises are housed here, as well as a hospital and some secondary schools.

Vollenhove has a shipyard, where very exclusive yachts are built.

All over the area, partially being below sea level, the soil is somewhat swampy. Many Steenwijkerland farmers only raise cattle. The soil is too wet to grow corn or wheat. However, the wetlands also have an advantage: many nature- or water sports-loving tourists come to the municipality.

Population centres
The larger places are printed in bold type. • Baarlo

• Baars

• Barsbeek

• Basse

• Belt-Schutsloot

• Blauwe Hand

• Blokzijl

• De Bult

• De Klosse

• De Kolk

• De Pol

• Doosje

• Dwarsgracht – like Nederland and Muggenbeet, a small village much like Giethoorn, however more remote

• Eesveen

• Giethoorn

• Heetveld

• Kadoelen

• Kalenberg

• Kallenkote

• Kuinre

• Leeuwte

• Marijenkampen

• Moespot

• Muggenbeet

• Nederland, Overijssel

• Oldemarkt

• Onna, Overijssel

• Ossenzijl

• Paasloo

• Roekebosch

• Ronduite

• Scheerwolde

• Sint Jansklooster

• Steenwijk

• Steenwijkerwold

• Tuk – like Zuidveen now a suburb of Steenwijk

• Vollenhove

• Wanneperveen

• Wetering

• Willemsoord

• Witte Paarden

• Zuidveen

Sights

 * The city of Steenwijk can be visited for daily shopping, going to the market, etc.
 * In Steenwijk the villa "Ramswoerthe", built in 1899 in Jugendstil architecture, and its park can be visited.
 * Blokzijl has a small marina, surrounded by picturesque old brick houses from the 17th century, looking like miniatures of the Amsterdam canal houses.
 * Vollenhove has two remarkable old churches (15th and 17th century), the castle ruins of Toutenburg with a park, the estate Old Ruitenborgh (18th century; small hotel with a good restaurant) and several old houses, of which the former Latin School (17th century) is the most beautiful.
 * Giethoorn and Dwarsgracht are picturesque due to their local structure (see above); many of the old farmhouses have been transformed into "second homes" where rich Dutchmen live during their holidays. In summer, most houses of the village are lit in the evening, which enables the Tourist Board to organise romantic guided boat tours. Of course, a yacht-basin, restaurants and camping sites are there as well.
 * Between Kuinre and Steenwijk lies the National Park "De Weerribben", a very valuable wetland area  with bogs, swamps, small canals and meadows. It can be visited on guided tours. The entrance is in Ossenzijl. For information ask the VVV (Tourist Board) or the owner, the "Natuurmonumenten" organization (on their website, type under: Zoeken ( = Search)  the name of the area).
 * A similar natural reserve called "De Wieden" is situated in the southern part of the municipality. An information centre is situated in St. Jansklooster near Vollenhove. "Wieden" means: wide places, wide lakes. These lakes are suitable for sailing, windsurfing etc.

Notable people

 * Georg Schenck van Toutenburg (1480–1540) Stadhouder of Friesland (1521-1540) and Stadholder of Overijssel, Drenthe and Groningen
 * Frederik V Schenck van Toutenburg (ca.1503–1580) the first Archbishop of Utrecht 1559-1580
 * Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (1550–1616) a leading aristocrat, a courtier, soldier, minister and diplomat
 * Hildo Krop (1884–1970) a Dutch sculptor and furniture designer
 * Herman Nieweg (1932–1999) a Dutch sculptor and ceramist
 * Sophie in 't Veld (born 1963) a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament
 * Dino Bouterse (born 1972) drug smuggler

Sport

 * Wim de Bois (1896–1975) a former Dutch football manager and player
 * Kees Kist (born 1952) a retired football striker with 472 club caps
 * Marti ten Kate (born 1958) a retired long-distance runner
 * Patrick Roest (born 1995) a Dutch professional long track speed skater, silver medallist at the 2018 Winter Olympics

title: Steenwijkerland


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Tubbergen

Tubbergen (Tweants: Tubbige) is a municipality and town in the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands.

Geography
The following population centres can be found in Tubbergen:

• Albergen

• Fleringen

• Geesteren

• Haarle

• Harbrinkhoek

• Hezingen

• Langeveen

• Mander

• Manderveen

• Mariaparochie

• Reutum

• Tubbergen

• Vasse

Politics
At the 2022 municipal elections, the 19-seat municipal council of Tubbergen was composed as follows.

Society
The municipality has a high birth rate and the lowest divorce rate in the Netherlands. Politically, Tubbergen has one of the largest shares of Christian Democratic Appeal voters at 61.29% in 2018, although this dropped to 29.33% in 2022.

According to a 2009 survey by the Algemeen Dagblad, Tubbergen has the lowest crime rate of all municipalities in the Netherlands. According to the mayor, this is primarily because of a strong sense of community.

Notable people

 * Clemens Maria Franz von Bönninghausen (1785 near Fleringen – 1864) a lawyer, Dutch and Prussian civil servant, agriculturalist, botanist, physician and pioneer in the field of homeopathy
 * Herman Schaepman (1844 in Tubbergen – 1903) a Dutch priest, politician and poet
 * Gerard Bruggink (1917 in Tubbergen – 2005) a Dutch pilot of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force

Sport

 * Berny Boxem-Lenferink (1948 in Tubbergen– 2023) a Dutch middle-distance runner, competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics
 * Gerco Schröder (born 1978 in Tubbergen) a Dutch show jumping equestrian, participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics
 * Nicole Oude Luttikhuis (born 1997 in Harbrinkhoek) a Dutch volleyball player, participated in the Dutch national women's volleyball team

title: Tubbergen


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Twenterand

Twenterand (Twents: Tweanteraand) is a municipality in the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. The name means "edge of Twente" as it is situated on the northwestern fringe of the historical region of Twente.

The municipality of Twenterand also had two city halls, because of the merger between the former municipalities of Vriezenveen and Den Ham in 2001. The city hall in Vriezenveen remained. The extended municipality of Vriezenveen is called Twenterand since 2003. The former municipal area of Vriezenveen belongs to the region of Twente and the former municipal area of Den Ham partly to the region of Salland and partly to the region of Twente.

Population centres
• Bruinehaar

• De Pollen

• Den Ham

• Geerdijk

• Kloosterhaar

• Meer

• Vriezenveen

• Vroomshoop

• Weitemanslanden

• Westerhaar-Vriezenveensewijk

• Westerhoeven

Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Twenterand, June 2015

Transportation

 * Geerdijk railway station
 * Vriezenveen railway station
 * Vroomshoop railway station

Notable people

 * Louis Reijtenbagh (born 1946 in Den Ham) a Dutch businessman, investor, a retired general practitioner and art collector
 * Sabine Uitslag (born 1973 in Westerhaar-Vriezenveensewijk) a former Dutch politician
 * Manon Fokke (born 1976 in Vriezenveen) a Dutch politician
 * Sanne Nijhof (born 1987 in Den Ham) a Dutch model

Sport

 * Berend Veneberg (born 1963 in Den Ham) a former strongman and powerlifter
 * Jarno Hams (born 1974 in Hengelo) a strongman
 * Johan Kenkhuis (born 1980 in Vriezenveen) swimmer, won bronze at the 2000 Summer Olympics
 * Christian Kist (born 1986 in Mariënberg) a Dutch professional darts player
 * Maayke Heuver (born 1990 in Vriezenveen) a former Dutch footballer, 154 caps for FC Twente and 17 for NL women's team

title: Twenterand


text:
Wierden

Wierden (Tweants: Wierdn) is a town and a municipality in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel.

The municipality of Wierden also includes the following towns, villages and townships: Enter,, , Notter, Rectum, and.

The municipality has 10 primary schools and 1 secondary school. There are 2 soccer clubs, 2 tennis clubs and 1 volleyball club, this is only the top of the clubs. The village has 3 cemeteries of which, only one is currently in use. The mayor is, who is also the chair of the board of mayor and aldermen.

In midsummer, the locally known, 3-day festival "WieZo" is held. Which starts on a Thursday and ends Saturdays. Every night there are 2 musical acts on the Binnenhof. On Saturday there is also the Wiezoloop. For some years the Wiezoloop has become an independent event, separate from the Wiezo, and is held the same year about 1 month earlier.

Twin towns — sister cities
Wierden is twinned with: Since September 2010, the town council decided to stop the cooperation between the municipalities because of the high costs and too low benefit.

Notable residents

 * Johanna ter Steege (born 1961), actress
 * Loes Haverkort (born 1981), actress

Sport

 * Anton Huiskes (1928–2008), ice-skater and national team trainer, competed at the 1948 and 1952 Winter Olympics
 * Hennie Stamsnijder (born 1954) former professional cyclo-cross and road racing cyclist
 * Jos Lammertink (born 1958) retired road bicycle racer
 * Berthil ter Avest (born 1970), soccer player, 275 caps
 * Marieke van den Ham (born 1983) a water polo player, team gold medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics
 * Annefleur Kalvenhaar (1994–2014) cyclist and mountain biker
 * Tom Stamsnijder (born 1985) former professional road bicycle racer

title: Wierden


text:
Zwartewaterland

Zwartewaterland is a municipality in the province Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands.

Geography
This mainly rural municipality lies south of Steenwijkerland on the Zwarte Water (Black Water). This is a short tributary of the river IJssel from Zwolle to the Zwarte Meer (Black Lake). Before 1931 this lake was a part of the Zuiderzee. The Vecht also flows into the Zwarte Water. Hasselt lies about 5 km north of Zwolle.

Genemuiden and Zwartsluis lie 5 km further north, almost opposite one another, near the Zwarte Water. Aquatic sport tourism is important to the local economy.

Population centres
The most important places are printed in bold type.

 * Cellemuiden
 * De Velde
 * Genemuiden (population on 1 January 2007: 9,985)
 * Hasselt, Overijssel, Netherlands (pop. 6,963)
 * Kamperzeedijk-Oost
 * Kamperzeedijk-West
 * Kievitsnest
 * Mastenbroek
 * Zwartewatersklooster
 * Zwartsluis (pop. 4,810).

Hasselt and Zwartsluis have small ports with some industry. Genemuiden is the biggest of the three towns, and is home to the majority of Zwartewaterland's population and industry.

Sights

 * A small part of the wetland area and National Park "De Wieden" (see Steenwijkerland) is immediately north of Zwartsluis
 * The town hall was built between 1550 and 1615.
 * Saint Stephen's Church a Gothic church built in 1466.
 * Every year on the feast of Corpus Christi a Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Hasselt is held, with a procession. For that purpose a special church was built in 1933.

Notable people

 * Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586 in Hasselt – ca.1643) diamond and pearl merchant, co-founder of the Dutch West India Company
 * Jan de Koning (1926 in Zwartsluis – 1994) politician
 * Jaap Drupsteen (born 1942 in Hasselt) graphic designer
 * Eelco Gelling (born 1946 in Zwartsluis) blues guitarist
 * Afke Schaart (born 1973 in Zwartsluis) former politician

Sport

 * Gerard Nijboer (born 1955 in Hasselt) former long-distance runner, competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics
 * Willeke Knol (born 1991 in Hasselt) racing cyclist
 * Pascal Eenkhoorn (born 1997 in Genemuiden) cyclist

title: Zwartewaterland


text:
Dark Ages (historiography)

The Dark Ages is a term for the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th centuries), or occasionally the entire Middle Ages (c. 5th–15th centuries), in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual, and cultural decline.

The concept of a "Dark Age" as a historiographical periodization originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the "light" of classical antiquity. The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the era's supposed darkness (ignorance and error) with earlier and later periods of light (knowledge and understanding). The phrase Dark Age(s) itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 when he referred to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries. The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle Ages as a time of intellectual darkness in Europe between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, and became especially popular during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. Others, however, have used the term to denote the relative scarcity of records regarding at least the early part of the Middle Ages.

As the accomplishments of the era came to be better understood in the 19th and the 20th centuries, scholars began restricting the Dark Ages appellation to the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th century); today's scholars maintain this posture. The majority of modern scholars avoid the term altogether because of its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate. Despite this, Petrarch's pejorative meaning remains in use,  particularly in popular culture, which often simplistically views the Middle Ages as a time of violence and backwardness.

Petrarch

The idea of a Dark Age originated with the Tuscan scholar Petrarch in the 1330s. Writing of the past, he said: "Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius; no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom". Christian writers, including Petrarch himself, had long used traditional metaphors of 'light versus darkness' to describe 'good versus evil'. Petrarch was the first to give the metaphor secular meaning by reversing its application. He now saw classical antiquity, so long considered a 'dark' age for its lack of Christianity, in the 'light' of its cultural achievements, while Petrarch's own time, allegedly lacking such cultural achievements, was seen as the age of darkness.

From his perspective on the Italian peninsula, Petrarch saw the Roman period and classical antiquity as an expression of greatness. He spent much of his time traveling through Europe, rediscovering and republishing classic Latin and Greek texts. He wanted to restore the Latin language to its former purity. Renaissance humanists saw the preceding 900 years as a time of stagnation, with history unfolding not along the religious outline of Saint Augustine's Six Ages of the World, but in cultural (or secular) terms through progressive development of classical ideals, literature, and art.

Petrarch wrote that history had two periods: the classic period of Greeks and Romans, followed by a time of darkness in which he saw himself living. In around 1343, in the conclusion of his epic Africa, he wrote: "My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. This sleep of forgetfulness will not last forever. When the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance." In the 15th century, historians Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo developed a three-tier outline of history. They used Petrarch's two ages, plus a modern, 'better age', which they believed the world had entered. Later, the term 'Middle Ages' – Latin media tempestas (1469) or medium aevum (1604), was used to describe the period of supposed decline.

Reformation
During the Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants generally had a similar view to Renaissance humanists such as Petrarch, but also added an anti-Catholic perspective. They saw classical antiquity as a golden time not only because of its Latin literature but also because it witnessed the beginnings of Christianity. They promoted the idea that the 'Middle Age' was a time of darkness also because of corruption within the Catholic Church, such as popes ruling as kings, veneration of saints' relics, a licentious priesthood and institutionalized moral hypocrisy.

Baronius
In response to the Protestants, Catholics developed a counter-image to depict the High Middle Ages in particular as a period of social and religious harmony and not 'dark' at all. The most important Catholic reply to the Magdeburg Centuries was the Annales Ecclesiastici by Cardinal Caesar Baronius. Baronius was a trained historian who produced a work that the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1911 described as "far surpassing anything before" and that Acton regarded as "the greatest history of the Church ever written". The Annales covered the first twelve centuries of Christianity to 1198 and was published in twelve volumes between 1588 and 1607. It was in Volume X that Baronius coined the term "dark age" for the period between the end of the Carolingian Empire in 888 and the first stirrings of Gregorian Reform under Pope Clement II in 1046:

"'The new age (saeculum) that was beginning, for its harshness and barrenness of good could well be called iron, for its baseness and abounding evil leaden, and moreover for its lack of writers (inopia scriptorum) dark (obscurum)'."

Significantly, Baronius termed the age 'dark' because of the paucity of written records. The "lack of writers" he referred to may be illustrated by comparing the number of volumes in Migne's Patrologia Latina containing the work of Latin writers from the 10th century (the heart of the age he called 'dark') with the number containing the work of writers from the preceding and succeeding centuries. A minority of these writers were historians.

There is a sharp drop from 34 volumes in the 9th century to just 8 in the 10th. The 11th century, with 13, evidences a certain recovery, and the 12th century, with 40, surpasses the 9th, something that the 13th, with just 26, fails to do. There was indeed a 'dark age', in Baronius's sense of a "lack of writers", between the Carolingian Renaissance in the 9th century and the beginnings, sometime in the 11th, of what has been called the Renaissance of the 12th century. Furthermore, there was an earlier period of "lack of writers" during the 7th and 8th centuries. Therefore, in Western Europe, two 'dark ages' can be identified, separated by the brilliant but brief Carolingian Renaissance.

Baronius' 'dark age' seems to have struck historians, for it was in the 17th century that the term started to spread to various European languages, with his original Latin term saeculum obscurum being reserved for the period to which he had applied it. Some, following Baronius, used 'dark age' neutrally to refer to a dearth of written records, but others used it pejoratively and lapsed into that lack of objectivity that has discredited the term for many modern historians.

The first British historian to use the term was most likely Gilbert Burnet, in the form 'darker ages' which appears several times in his work during the later 17th century. The earliest reference seems to be in the "Epistle Dedicatory" to Volume I of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England of 1679, where he writes: "The design of the reformation was to restore Christianity to what it was at first, and to purge it of those corruptions, with which it was overrun in the later and darker ages." He uses it again in the 1682 Volume II, where he dismisses the story of "St George's fighting with the dragon" as "a legend formed in the darker ages to support the humour of chivalry". Burnet was a bishop chronicling how England became Protestant, and his use of the term is invariably pejorative.

Enlightenment
During the Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, many critical thinkers saw religion as antithetical to reason. For them the Middle Ages, or "Age of Faith", was therefore the opposite of the Age of Reason. Baruch Spinoza, Bernard Fontenelle, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Marquis De Sade and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were vocal in attacking the Middle Ages as a period of social regress dominated by religion, while Gibbon in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire expressed contempt for the "rubbish of the Dark Ages". Yet just as Petrarch, seeing himself at the cusp of a "new age", was criticising the centuries before his own time, so too were Enlightenment writers.

Consequently, an evolution had occurred in at least three ways. Petrarch's original metaphor of light versus dark has expanded over time, implicitly at least. Even if later humanists no longer saw themselves living in a dark age, their times were still not light enough for 18th-century writers who saw themselves as living in the real Age of Enlightenment, while the period to be condemned stretched to include what we now call Early Modern times. Additionally, Petrarch's metaphor of darkness, which he used mainly to deplore what he saw as a lack of secular achievement, was sharpened to take on a more explicitly anti-religious and anti-clerical meaning.

Romanticism
In the late 18th and the early 19th centuries, the Romantics reversed the negative assessment of Enlightenment critics with a vogue for medievalism. The word "Gothic" had been a term of opprobrium akin to "Vandal" until a few self-confident mid-18th-century English "Goths" like Horace Walpole initiated the Gothic Revival in the arts. This stimulated interest in the Middle Ages, which for the following generation began to take on the idyllic image of an "Age of Faith". This, reacting to a world dominated by Enlightenment rationalism, expressed a romantic view of a Golden Age of chivalry. The Middle Ages were seen with nostalgia as a period of social and environmental harmony and spiritual inspiration, in contrast to the excesses of the French Revolution and, most of all, to the environmental and social upheavals and utilitarianism of the developing Industrial Revolution. The Romantics' view is still represented in modern-day fairs and festivals celebrating the period with 'merrie' costumes and events.

Just as Petrarch had twisted the meaning of light and darkness, the Romantics had twisted the judgment of the Enlightenment. However, the period that they idealized was largely the High Middle Ages, extending into Early Modern times. In one respect, that negated the religious aspect of Petrarch's judgment, since these later centuries were those when the power and prestige of the Church were at their height. To many, the scope of the Dark Ages was becoming divorced from this period, denoting mainly the centuries immediately following the fall of Rome.

Modern scholarly use

The term was widely used by 19th-century historians. In 1860, in The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Jacob Burckhardt delineated the contrast between the medieval 'dark ages' and the more enlightened Renaissance, which had revived the cultural and intellectual achievements of antiquity. The earliest entry for a capitalized "Dark Ages" in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a reference in Henry Thomas Buckle's History of Civilization in England in 1857, who wrote: "During these, which are rightly called the Dark Ages, the clergy were supreme." The OED in 1894 defined an uncapitalised "dark ages" as "a term sometimes applied to the period of the Middle Ages to mark the intellectual darkness characteristic of the time". Since the Late Middle Ages significantly overlap with the Renaissance, the term 'Dark Ages' became restricted to distinct times and places in medieval Europe. Thus the 5th and 6th centuries in Britain, at the height of the Saxon invasions, have been called "the darkest of the Dark Ages".

The term "Dark Ages" was increasingly questioned from the mid-twentieth century as archaeological, historical and literary studies led to greater understanding of the period, In 1977, the historian Denys Hay spoke ironically of "the lively centuries which we call dark". More forcefully, a book about the history of German literature published in 2007 describes "the dark ages" as "a popular if uninformed manner of speaking".

Most modern historians do not use the term "dark ages" and prefer terms such as Early Middle Ages. However, when used by some historians today, the term "Dark Ages" is meant to describe the economic, political and cultural problems of the era. For others, the term Dark Ages is intended to be neutral, expressing the idea that the events of the period seem 'dark' to us because of the paucity of the historical record. For example, Robert Sallares, commenting on the lack of sources to establish whether the plague pandemic of 541 to 750 reached Northern Europe, opines that "the epithet Dark Ages is surely still an appropriate description of this period".

However, from the later 20th century onward, other historians became critical even of this nonjudgmental use of the term for two main reasons. Firstly, it is questionable whether it is ever possible to use the term in a neutral way: scholars may intend it, but ordinary readers may not understand it so. Secondly, 20th-century scholarship had increased understanding of the history and culture of the period, to such an extent that it is no longer really 'dark' to modern viewers. To avoid the value judgment implied by the expression, many historians now avoid it altogether. It was occasionally used up to the 1990s by historians of early medieval Britain, for example in the title of the 1991 book by Ann Williams, Alfred Smyth and D. P. Kirby, A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain, England, Scotland and Wales, c.500–c.1050, and in the comment by Richard Abels in 1998 that the greatness of Alfred the Great "was the greatness of a Dark Age king". In 2020, John Blair, Stephen Rippon and Christopher Smart observed that: "The days when archaeologists and historians referred to the fifth to the tenth centuries as the 'Dark Ages' are long gone, and the material culture produced during that period demonstrates a high degree of sophistication."

Modern non-scholarly use
A 2021 lecture by Howard Williams of Chester University explored how "stereotypes and popular perceptions of the Early Middle Ages – popularly still considered the European 'Dark Ages' – plague popular culture"; and finding 'Dark Ages' is "rife outside of academic literature, including in newspaper articles and media debates." As to why it is used, according to Williams, legends and racial misunderstandings have been revitalized by modern nationalists, colonialists and imperialists around present-day concepts of identity, faith and origin myths i.e. appropriating historical myths for modern political ends.

In a book about medievalisms in popular culture by Andrew B. R. Elliott (2017), he found "by far" the most common use of 'Dark Ages' is to "signify a general sense of backwardness or lack of technological sophistication", in particular noting how it has become entrenched in daily and political discourse. Reasons for use, according to Elliott, are often "banal medievalisms", which are "characterized mainly by being unconscious, unwitting and by having little or no intention to refer to the Middle Ages"; for example, referring to an insurance industry still reliant on paper instead of computers as being in the 'Dark Ages'. These banal uses are little more than tropes that inherently contain a criticism about lack of progress. Elliott connects 'Dark Ages' to the "Myth of Progress", also observed by Joseph Tainter, who says, "There is genuine bias against so-called 'Dark Ages'" because of a modern belief that society normally traverses from lesser to greater complexity, and when complexity is reduced during a collapse, this is perceived as out of the ordinary and thus undesirable; he counters that complexity is rare in human history, a costly mode of organization that must be constantly maintained, and periods of less complexity are common and to be expected as part of the overall progression towards greater complexity.

In Peter S. Wells's 2008 book, Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered, he writes, "I have tried to show that far from being a period of cultural bleakness and unmitigated violence, the centuries (5th - 9th) known popularly as the Dark Ages were a time of dynamic development, cultural creativity, and long-distance networking". He writes that our "popular understanding" of these centuries "depends largely on the picture of barbarian invaders that Edward Gibbon presented more than two hundred years ago," and that this view has been accepted "by many who have read and admire Gibbon's work."

David C. Lindberg, a science and religion historian, says the 'Dark Ages' are "according to wide-spread popular belief" portrayed as "a time of ignorance, barbarism and superstition", for which he asserts "blame is most often laid at the feet of the Christian church". Medieval historian Matthew Gabriele echoes this view as a myth of popular culture. Andrew B. R. Elliott notes the extent to which "Middle Ages/Dark Ages have come to be synonymous with religious persecution, witch hunts and scientific ignorance".

title: Dark Ages (historiography)


text:
Vinoba Bhave

Vinayak Narahari Bhave, also known as Vinoba Bhave (11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called Acharya (Teacher in Sanskrit), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is considered as National Teacher of India and the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi. He was an eminent philosopher. The Gita has been translated into the Marathi language by him with the title Geetai (meaning 'Mother Gīta' in Marathi).

Early life and background
Vinayak Narahari Bhave was born on 11 September 1895 in a small village called Gagoji (present-day Gagode Budruk) in Kolaba in the Konkan region of what is now Maharashtra. Vinayaka was the eldest son of Narahari Shambhu Rao and Rukmani Devi. The couple had five children; four sons named Vinayaka (affectionately called Vinya), Balakrishna, Shivaji and Dattatreya, and one daughter. His father was a trained weaver with a modern rationalist outlook and worked in Baroda. Vinayaka was brought up by his grandfather, Shamburao Bhave and was greatly influenced by his mother Rukmini Devi, a religious woman from Karnataka. Vinayaka was highly inspired after reading the Bhagavad Gita, at a very young age.

A report in the newspapers about Gandhi's speech at the newly founded Banaras Hindu University attracted Bhave's attention. In 1916, after reading a newspaper piece by Mahatma Gandhi, Bhave threw his school and college certificates into a fire on his way to Bombay to appear for the intermediate examination. He wrote a letter to Gandhi and after an exchange of letters, Gandhi advised Bhave to come for a personal meeting at Kochrab Ashram in Ahmedabad. Bhave met Gandhi on 7 June 1916 and subsequently abandoned his studies. Bhave participated with a keen interest in the activities at Gandhi's ashram, like teaching, studying, spinning and improving the lives of the community. His involvement with Gandhi's constructive programmes related to Khadi, village industries, new education (Nai Talim), sanitation and hygiene also kept on increasing.

Bhave went to Wardha on 8 April 1921 to take charge of the Ashram as desired by Gandhi. In 1923, he brought out Maharashtra Dharma, a Marathi monthly which had his essays on the Upanishads. Later on, this monthly became a weekly and continued for three years. In 1925, Gandhi sent him to Vaikom, Kerala to supervise the entry of the Harijans to the temple.

Bhave was arrested several times during the 1920s and 1930s and served a five-year jail sentence in the 1940s for leading non-violent resistance to British rule. The jails for Bhave had become the places of reading and writing. He wrote Ishavasyavritti and Sthitaprajna Darshan in jail. He also learnt four South Indian languages and created the script of Lok Nagari at Vellore jail. In the jails, he gave a series of talks on the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi, to his fellow prisoners. Bhave participated in the nationwide civil disobedience periodically conducted against the British and was imprisoned with other nationalists. Despite these many activities, he was not well known to the public. He gained national prominence when Gandhi chose him as the first participant in a new nonviolent campaign in 1940. All were calling him by his short name, Vinoba. Bhave's younger brother Balkrishna was also a Gandhian. Gandhi entrusted him and Manibhai Desai to set up a nature therapy ashram at Urali Kanchan where Balkrishna spent all his life.

Freedom struggle
He was associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian independence movement. He stayed for some time at Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram in a cottage that was named after him, 'Vinoba Kutir'. He gave talks on the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi to his fellow ashramites. These were later published in book form, as Talks on the Gita, and it has been translated into many languages both in India and elsewhere. Bhave felt that the source of these talks was something from above and he believed that its influence would endure even if his other works were forgotten.

In the year 1940, he was chosen by Gandhi to be the first individual Satyagrahi (an individual standing up for Truth instead of a collective action) against the British rule. It is said that Gandhi envied and respected Bhave's celibacy, a vow he made in his adolescence, in fitting with his belief in the Brahmacharya principle. Bhave also participated in the Quit India Movement.

Religious and social work
Bhave's religious outlook was very broad and it synthesized the truths of many religions. This can be seen in one of his hymns "Om Tat Sat" which contains symbols of many religions. His slogan "जय जगत्" (Jay Jagat) i.e. "victory to the world" finds reflection in his views about the world as a whole.

Bhave observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his Sarvodaya movement. Another example of this is the Bhoodan (land gift) movement started at Pochampally on 18 April 1951, after interacting with 80 Harijan families. He walked all across India asking people with land to consider him one of their sons and so gave him one-sixth of their land which he then distributed to the landless poor. Non-violence and compassion is a hallmarks of his philosophy, he also campaigned against the slaughtering of cows.

Bhave said, "I have walked all over India for 13 years. In the backdrop of the enduring perpetuity of my life's work, I have established 6 ashrams."

Brahma Vidya Mandir (BVM)
The Brahma Vidya Mandir was founded in 1959 in Paunar, Maharashtra and is one of the ashrams established by Bhave. It was created for women to become self-sufficient and practice non-violence within the community. They used Gandhi's beliefs, which was heavily influenced by the Bhagavad-Gita, to aid in agricultural practices that were non-violent and produce sustainable food. The community performed prayers as a group every day, reciting from the Isha Upanishad at dawn, the Vishnu Sahasranama at mid-morning, and the Bhagavad-Gita in the evening. As of today, there are around 25 women who are members of the community and several men have also been allowed to join the community.

BVM's existence demonstrates how a self sufficient community can apply non-violence and radical democracy to their own social and geographic context in food production. One mainstream narrative is that large-scale agriculture is "inevitable, necessary, and the sole possibility of feeding the world" and relies on expensive technology. However, BVM rejects this narrative and continues to use Gandhian principles in agriculture such as nonviolence. It is a small community in India and does not hold much influence to promote its beliefs and practices in the mainstream. Most agricultural practices in India has adopted US-style consumerism. BMV is still important as its ideals can help shape agriculture for the better and focus less on profit.

Literary career
Vinoba Bhave was a scholar, thinker, and writer who produced numerous books. He was a translator who made Sanskrit texts accessible to the common man. He was also an orator and linguist with an excellent command of several languages (Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, English, and Sanskrit).

Bhave was an innovative social reformer. He called "Kannada" script the "Queen of World Scripts" (Vishwa Lipigala Raani). He wrote brief introductions to, and criticisms of, several religious and philosophical works like the Bhagavad Gita, works of Adi Shankaracharya, the Bible and the Quran. His views of Dnyaneshwar's poetry and works by other Marathi saints are pretty brilliant and a testimony to the breadth of his intellect.

Bhave had translated the Bhagavad Gita into Marathi. He was deeply influenced by the Gita and attempted to imbibe its teachings into his life, often stating that "The Gita is my life's breath".

Vinoba Bhave University, located in Hazaribagh district in the state of Jharkhand, is named after him.

Vinoba Bhave and Land Donation Movement
On 18 April 1951, Bhave started his land donation movement at Pochampally of Nalgonda district Telangana, the Bhoodan Movement. He took donated land from landowner Indians and gave it away to the poor and landless, for them to cultivate. Then after 1954, he started to ask for donations from whole villages in a programme he called Gramdan. He got more than 1000 villages by way of donations. Out of these, he obtained 175 donated villages in Tamil Nadu alone. Noted Gandhian and an atheist Lavanam was the interpreter for Bhave during his land reform movement in Andhra Pradesh and parts of Orissa.

Later life and death
Bhave spent the later part of his life at his Brahma Vidya Mandir ashram in Paunar in Wardha district of Maharashtra. He died on 15 November 1982 after refusing food and medicine for a few days by accepting "Samadhi Maran" / "Santhara" as described in Jainism. Then the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, who was visiting Moscow to attend the funeral of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, cut short her visit to be at the Bhave's funeral.

Criticism
V.S. Naipaul has scathingly criticised Bhave in his collection of essays citing his lack of connection with rationality and excessive imitation of Gandhi. Even some of his admirers find fault with the extent of his devotion to Gandhi. Much more controversial was his support, ranging from covert to open, to the Congress Party's government under Indira Gandhi, which was fast becoming unpopular. He controversially backed the Indian Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling it Anushasana Parva (Time for Discipline). Jayaprakash Narayan in his prison diary during the emergency sarcastically wrote about the meaning of Anushasan Parva. Congress party opponents at that time had coined the derogatory term "Sarkari Sant (Government Saint)" to describe him. Noted Marathi writer Pra Ke Atre publicly criticised him and mocked him by writing an article titled "Vanaroba" which is a disambiguation of the name "Vinoba" and means monkey.

Awards and recognition
In 1958 Bhave was the first recipient of the international Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1983.

Vinoba Bhave, The Man, a documentary film on the social-reformer directed by Vishram Bedekar was released in 1963. It was produced by the Government of India's Films Division. Indian film director Sarvottam Badami had earlier made another documentary on him, Vinoba Bhave, in 1951.

title: Vinoba Bhave


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Lyke Wake Walk

The Lyke Wake Walk is a 40 mi challenge walk across the highest and widest part of the North York Moors National Park in North Yorkshire, England. The route remembers the many corpses carried over the moors on old coffin routes and the ancient burial mounds encountered on the way; the name derives from a lyke, the corpse and the wake - watching over the deceased. Its associated club has a social structure, culture and rituals based on the walk and Christian and folklore traditions from the area through which it passes.

History
The idea of a walk originated from an article in the Dalesman magazine in August 1955. Its author, Bill Cowley, described a 40 mi walk across the North York Moors from east to west (or vice versa) on heather all the way except for when crossing one or two roads. Given the remoteness of the area, a lone walker might not encounter another during the one to two day journey. Cowley issued a challenge to see if anyone could walk from Scarth Wood Moor at the western extremity of the moors to Ravenscar on the coast, keeping on or close to the main watershed of the moorland, in a twenty-four-hour period. The first crossing was completed shortly afterwards on 1 and 2 October 1955. Cowley was in the party that made the crossing in 23 hours and he wrote a book, Lyke Wake Walk, which he kept up to date by frequent revision. The book ran to twelve editions in the author's lifetime and sold many thousands of copies. It was revised in 2001 by Paul Sherwood.

Cowley's idea developed over the years before he issued the challenge in 1955. He wrote a poem in 1935/6, Storming Along, describing traversing the moors and mentions a number of the walk's landmarks. His early contributions to the Dalesman, appear in retrospect, to hint at the idea of the walk drawing on his appreciation of the works of the archaeologist Frank Elgee, antiquarian and folklore expert Canon John Christopher Atkinson and author and rambler Alfred J. Brown.

Route
The walk is usually done from west to east although it can be done in either direction. A successful crossing must be completed within 24 hours. There is no exact route but the Lyke Wake Club and its successor have rules regarding what can be considered a successful crossing. For record purposes the walk starts at its original departure point, the Ordnance Survey Trig point on Scarth Wood Moor, near Osmotherley, (NGR: SE 459 997) and finishes in the bar of the Raven Hall Hotel in Ravenscar. (NGR: NZ 981 018). For practical purposes the acceptable end points are the Lyke Wake Stone adjacent to Sheep Wash car park at Osmotherley Reservoir at the western end and Beacon Howes car park where there is a second Lyke Wake Stone at the eastern end. Successful crossings must stick to the moorland summits as far as practicable and walkers straying into Eskdale are disqualified. The route crosses the Stokesley-Helmsley road (B1257) between Point 842 (Clay Bank Top) and Point 503 (Orterley Lane end), the Whitby-Pickering road (A169) between Point 945 (Sil Howe) and Point 701 (near Saltergate) and the Scarborough-Whitby road (A171) between Point 538 (Evan Howe) and Point 579 (Falcon Inn). Point numbers are the height in feet above sea level as given on the one inch Ordnance Survey Tourist Map of the North York Moors (1970 edition); the metric equivalents are identified on the Landranger and Explorer Series maps.

The original route began at Scarth Wood Moor trig point, followed the Alum/Jet Miners Track from Live Moor to Hasty Bank, then to Smuggler's Trod, Bloworth, Ironstone Railway, Esklets, White Cross (Fat Betty), Shunner Howe, Hamer, Blue Man-i'-th'-Moss, Wheeldale Stepping Stones, Fen House, Tom Cross Rigg, Snod Hill, Lilla Howe, Jugger Howe ravine, Helwath, Pye Howe Rigg, to Ravenscar (Raven Hall Hotel). This route is no longer possible as a section is within the Ministry of Defence controlled area at RAF Fylingdales Early Warning Radar Station.

Most crossings now follow the classic route, a variation of the original. It begins at Scarth Wood Moor trig point or the western Lyke Wake Stone in Sheepwash car park, follows the summit track from Live Moor over Carlton Moor, Cringle Moor, Cold Moor and Hasty Bank, Smuggler's Trod, Bloworth, Ironstone Railway, Esklets or South Flat Howe or Lion Inn, White Cross (Fat Betty), Shunner Howe, Hamer, Blue Man-i'-th'-Moss, Wheeldale Stepping Stones, Fen Bogs, Eller Beck, Lilla Howe, Jugger Howe ravine, Stony Marl Moor, to the eastern Lyke Wake Stone at Beacon Howes or Ravenscar. A summary description of the classic route with photographs is described by Richard Gilbert in his book, The Big Walks and a guidebook is available. A detailed illustrated description of the western half of the walk is given in Alfred Wainwright's  A Coast to Coast Walk.

Most crossings are done west to east. The original challenge, crossing towards the sea in an easterly direction is thought to be easier because of the prevailing wind from the west making it easier to walk with the wind on one's back and with the heather lying away from the walker. On a west to east crossing, the major ascents and descents occur in the first ten miles when the walker is relatively fresh. A traverse of the Lyke Wake Walk route is referred to as a crossing and the act of participating in the walk is known as dirging.

In the first few years, the walk followed a difficult route requiring endeavour and physical endurance as there was no track over most of its length. From the mid-1970s the walk was re-thought because the numbers of people attempting it had, in places, eroded the ground surface,  and disturbance to game birds, sheep and wildlife by walkers and their support parties at all times of day and night, particularly in Osmotherley, Ravenscar and at remote farms. Footpath erosion was compounded by the walk sharing long stretches of its route with the Cleveland Way and Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk. Other users, some legal, some illegal, including mountain bikes, motor cycles, quad bikes and agricultural and moorland management vehicles exacerbated the problem. Alternative routes are possible and the walk club works with the National Park authority to try to limit environmental damage.

The Ordnance Survey no longer marks the walk route on maps at the recommendation of the National Park Authority, as a measure to discourage large numbers undertaking a crossing and the walk was not mentioned in National Park Authority publication for a number of years.

Other long-distance walks in the area
Alternative challenge walks and trails include the Hambleton Hobble, the Shepherd's Round, the White Rose Walk, the Lyke Wake Way, the Monk's Trod, the Rail Trail, Hambleton Drove Road, the Crosses Walk and the long distance trails. A walk from west to east across the North York Moors around ten miles south of the Lyke Wake Walk from Gormire Lake to Cloughton Wyke termed, in a play on words, the Lake Wyke Walk has been suggested.

The Lyke Wake Way is a non-challenge alternative from Osmotherley to Ravenscar on public rights of way via locations where accommodation and other facilities are available. It entails 50 to 60 mi of walking depending on the route taken and can be completed over two or three days.

Alfred Wainwright suggested the walk could form an acceptable finish to his Coast to Coast Walk but did not specify if he recommends doing the 40 mi in a single push. There is no record of Wainwright completing the walk. There are no constraints on doing the walk in a more leisurely manner and a guide to doing the walk over four days has been published.

Lyke Wake Clubs
The first Lyke Wake Club was formed immediately on completion of the first crossing. Those completing the first crossing were its foundation members.

The walk takes its name from the "Lyke-Wake Dirge", probably Yorkshire's oldest surviving dialect verse, which is about watching over the wake of the corpse (lyke). Cowley proposed linking the walk and the dirge before the first crossing had been completed. The song tells of the soul's passage through the afterlife. The walk does not follow a corpse road, although it has been suggested it does,   though there is no historical or archaeological evidence for it. The physical challenge, possibility of bad weather and difficult conditions make the dirge an appropriate club song.

The club established its own culture and developed traditions based around the dirge, aspects of Cleveland history, superstitions and folklore, and rituals associated with suffering, death, funerals and the after-life that are broadly Yorkshire, northern English and Christian in character, with an acknowledgement of local folklore and the pagan forebears who originally inhabited the moorlands. Club meetings were termed "wakes" and the club badge was coffin shaped and decorated with the Ordnance Survey symbol for a tumulus (burial mound), many of which are found along the route. Its culture is of solemnity regarding issues of ritual, folklore and mortality but with light-hearted aspects relating to the self-inflicted suffering of participants undertaking the 40 mi walk. Club membership was/is granted on submission of a written report of a successful crossing and entitles successful walkers to a membership card in the form of a black-edged condolence card bearing the club crest, a black coffin. Many crossing reports are humorous and in various forms including prose, poetry, maps, post-mortem reports, last wills and testaments, plays, etc., some of which are quoted in the many editions of Cowley's Lyke Wake Walk book and in a separate volume devoted to literature and artwork contributed by members. Female members are termed "Witches", males are "Dirgers".

The walk emerged when outdoor challenges and sponsored fund-raising events were becoming a feature of national life. It became popular and was considered a "rite of passage" for outdoor enthusiasts in Yorkshire in particular and across the north of England. It became a challenge for fundraisers for good causes. Reliable estimates, based on club records, put the number of people having completed a crossing at more than 250,000. Possibly more than 30,000 made more than one crossing, a significant number have completed it more than ten times and a handful have made more than a hundred. One estimate put the total number of crossings up to 1994 at one million, but this is not supported by records. The club celebrates walkers who have undertaken multiple crossings with awards called degrees acknowledging knowledge the route, the moorland and its culture. The club designated Cowley as "Chief Dirger" and other officers included a Melancholy Mace Bearer, Harassed Archivists, Melodious Minstrels, a Cheerless Chaplain, a Horrible Horn-blower and an Anxious Almoner. Degrees conferred include Master/Mistress of Misery, Doctor of Dolefulness and Past Master/Mistress. Walkers who completed more than one hundred crossings are referred to as Senile Centenarians and as of March 2016, four people have achieved this landmark. ) The requirements for degrees are:

The New Lyke Wake Club has instituted the degree of "Purveyor of Purgatory" for leaders who have successfully, and without mishap, conducted three (or more) parties on the walk. It can be awarded in absentia but the other degrees are only awarded when the recipient is in attendance at a wake.

The walk's popularity owes much to Cowley's book which gives insights into the history, archaeology, geography, natural history, and folklore of the moors. The book describes the club and its culture in a tongue-in-cheek humorous style. Its first edition contained a list of the successful crossings up to October 1958. The possibility of inclusion in future editions together with the use of quotes from some crossing reports became an incentive to those taking on the challenge and inspired correspondents to be inventive and "attain literary heights".

Cowley died on 14 August 1994. The Lyke Wake Club, he founded, closed in October 2005, the walk's 50th anniversary. A new club has been established – not without controversy – to preserve the traditions established by Cowley and take over the old club's functions of recording crossings, holding wakes and liaising with public authorities. The New Lyke Wake Club's activities have included donating funds to the North York Moors National Park young explorers conservation group, Cleveland Search and Rescue Team, and a short story competition for schools within the National Park. The new club maintains up-to-date route information on its website, funds footpath repairs and removes litter along the route, and gives grants to young club members for educational and outdoor pursuits purposes.

Both the original and new clubs' criterion for membership is the completion of a crossing within 24 hours, and there are no honorary, associate or corporate members. A concession is that anyone can claim an extra 12 hours for every five years over the age of 65 but, although there have been crossings by older walkers, some over eighty years old, there is no record of any of them claiming the concession. In earlier years signing in/out books were kept at the Queen Catherine Hotel in Osmotherley and at Pollard Cafe in Ravenscar. The Lyke Wake Clubs have not monitored individual crossings for compliance with the rules, as Cowley stated "No one who is going to do this Walk is going to cheat, the satisfactions of crossing successfully are entirely for the individual".

Lyke Wake Race
Once the route became established as a clear track, the Lyke Wake Club considered the possibility of holding a race. The first Lyke Wake Race was held in 1964 and was held annually on the nearest Saturday to 10 July (except 2001 when it was cancelled because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease) until 2014, its 50th anniversary when the organisers ceased to be involved. In 2015, the race continued with the organisation undertaken by the Quakers Running Club. It has been held every July since, until the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming in 2022.

The first race was organised to coincide with the Osmotherley Summer Games. It started at Beacon Howes with the finishing line in Osmotherley. Both events were organised on the same date for a number of years. In the early years the Puckrin brothers, Arthur, Philip and Richard, were prominent amongst the leading runners with the first two brothers winning nine of the first ten races between them. Other winners have included prominent athletes/fell runners such as Joss Naylor. A history of the race up to 1981 has been given by Bill Smith. Since the Quakers took over the race, it has been held in an eastern direction, starting at Sheepwash and finishing in Ravenscar.

The tradition of the Lyke Wake Walk and Lyke Wake Race is that crossing times are rounded to next whole minute; seconds are not recorded.

The race is held under a handicap basis, with runners estimating their time beforehand and being given a different starting time on the estimation that all runners finish at the same time. Prizes are awarded for first male and female finishers and fastest male and female runners.

The race was first held in 1964, running from Ravenscar Beacon to Osmotherley. In 1976, due to moorland fires, the race was run out-and-back, starting in Osmotherley and taking in the first half of the traditional route. By 1998, the race was run from Sheepwash to Ravenscar, and in 2001 was cancelled entirely due to foot-and-mouth disease.

Additional information
The walk has attracted media interest with television coverage, radio programmes and print articles. In its 60th anniversary year, 2015, the BBC Radio 4 feature Ramblings, hosted by Clare Balding, dedicated an episode to the Lyke Wake Walk with broadcast dates 4 June and 6 June 2015.

The archives, records and artefacts of the original Lyke Wake Club have been deposited in the North Yorkshire County Archives in Northallerton and Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole.

The Lyke Wake Dirge has been set to music. One notable setting is part of the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten.

title: Lyke Wake Walk