Breda Castle

Breda Castle is a castle in the city of Breda, in the Netherlands.

In the 12th century, a fortress was located at Breda. The city of Breda came into existence near the fortress. In 1353, the Duke of Brabant sold Breda to Jan II of Polanen (Baron of Breda). He reinforced the castle with four towers and a channel. His daughter Johanna of Polanen married in 1403 the German count Engelbert I of Nassau. Their son John IV of Nassau enlarged the castle.

Henry III of Nassau-Breda changed the castle into a Renaissance palace in 1536. He died in 1538 and his son René of Châlon finished the castle and built a chapel in 1540. René of Châlon died without any children and the castle became property of his German cousin, William I of Orange, during his battle with the Spanish, it had a military function again (Dutch revolt).

In 1667 the Treaty of Breda was signed by England, France and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. This ended the second English-Dutch war.

The Stadtholder - later King William III of England - built on the castle between 1686 and 1695, but he and his successors spent little time there. During the period of French occupation in the 18th century, the castle was a military barracks and military hospital. William I of the Netherlands placed it at the disposal of the Royal Military Academy in 1826. Thomas Vincidor built three wings and later King William II of the Netherlands built the fourth wing. The entrance gate is from the 16th century.

Between 1746 and 1748 it was the site of the Breda Peace Talks between Britain and France during the War of the Austrian Succession. The talks formed the foundation for the eventual peace settlement at Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Text adapted from “Breda Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Breda Castle ranks #3,316 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #31 of the 201 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1540, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,118 times in the last 60 days, more than 68% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Breda, 1 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗