Twice ToldMathias Balen, Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht (1677): the cradle and the cat
- Language
- Dutch
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 15 October 2026
Balen’s book is a year-by-year history of Dordrecht, followed by the genealogies of its old families. Under 1421 he tells the flood, then the Spuipoort verse, then the child in the cradle, who becomes the ancestor of several families; the Roerom family entry repeats it. The passages are given in the order of the book. Long s is printed as s here.
In ‘t zelve Iaar, op S. Elisabeths nacht, en is niet alleen Dordrecht van het vaste Land gerukt, maar ook by na geheel Zuyd-Holland ondergevloeyd, den Grooten Waard, hebbende schoon vruchtbaar Wey-Land, daar wel 72. Karspel-Kerken, en eenige Ridder-Hoffteden in waren, vernield, veel duyzend Menschen zijn verdronken; die ‘t ontkwamen raakten in armoede. Eenige willen dat dit besteld zy door een nijdigen Boer, die, om zijn Buren te bederven, het Water hadde ingelaten. Andere, door grooten Storm, die den Dijk tusschen Geertruydenberg, en Dordrecht, by grooten Vloed van een scheurde.
Tot welkers droeve gedagtenisse, op de Zuyd-zijde van de Spoey-Poort is te lezen: ‘t Land en Water dat men hier ziet, Waren 72. Parochyen, na Kronijks bediet: Geïnundeert door ‘t Water krachtig, In ‘t Iaar 1421. waarachtig.
In ‘t Onder-gaan van dien Grooten Waard, kwam aandrijven een Kind in een Wiege, hebbende tot gezelschap een Kat, en raakte eyndeling te Dordrecht, werdende ‘t voorsz. Kind Beatrix, (dat is, Baete, Baetken, Bate, en by verder toegeving, Gelukkige) genoemd; en zijnde gekomen ten Jare, Troude Jakob Roerom. Van welken Stamme, ‘t zy uyt de Manlijke of Vrouwlijke Linie, vele Aanzienlijke Geslachten, en andere binnen Dordrecht, en elders, haar Afkomste rekenen.
In ‘t Jaar ons Heeren 1421. na ‘t deerlijk Overvloeyen van den Grooten-Waard, en ‘t ellendig Verdrenkken van 72. Dorpen, (Villæ) vast leggende aan Dordrecht: Kwam aan drijven een Kind in een Wiege, (daar ook een Kat was op zittende;) welk Kind, ‘t zy om ‘t Ongemeen, en Gelukkig Voorval, of dat ‘t naderhand is gebleken, wierde genoemd BEATRIX: zie hier van ook boven fol. 769.
Translation
In the same year [1421], on St Elizabeth’s night, not only was Dordrecht torn from the mainland, but nearly all of South Holland was flooded. The Great Waard, which had fine fertile pasture and no fewer than 72 parish churches and some knights’ manors, was destroyed, and many thousands of people drowned; those who escaped fell into poverty. Some say a spiteful farmer caused it, who let the water in to ruin his neighbours. Others say it was a great storm that tore open the dike between Geertruidenberg and Dordrecht in a great flood.
In sad memory of this, the following can be read on the south side of the Spuipoort: The land and water you see here were 72 parishes, as the chronicle says, mightily flooded by the water in the year 1421, truly.
As the Great Waard went under, a child came drifting in a cradle, with a cat for company, and finally reached Dordrecht. The child was named Beatrix (that is, Baete, Baetken, Bate, and, going further, “the lucky one”), and when she came of age she married Jakob Roerom. Many distinguished families, and others besides, in Dordrecht and elsewhere, trace their descent from this line, through the male or the female side.
In the year of Our Lord 1421, after the pitiful flooding of the Great Waard and the wretched drowning of 72 villages lying next to Dordrecht, a child came drifting in a cradle (with a cat sitting on it as well). Whether because of that unusual and lucky event, or because it afterwards came out [either that the name suited her or that it became known later; the sentence is ambiguous], the child was named Beatrix. See also above, fol. 769.
Notes
The first passage is on p. 769, right column; the second and third are on p. 770, left column; the last is in the Roerom family entry on p. 1205. Balen’s own pointer from p. 1205 says “boven fol. 769”, while the cradle passage is on p. 770; p. 769 holds the flood itself. The explanations for the breach are given side by side with no choice made; the third on p. 769, a charter of Duke William, leads into a printed charter about a sluice at Wieldrecht, which we did not transcribe. The name Beatrix is explained as meaning “happy”; the reason for the name is given as two alternatives and the second (“dat ‘t naderhand is gebleken”) is ambiguous (“‘t zy om … of dat …”). “Hebbende tot gezelschap een Kat” on p. 770 says only that the cat kept the child company; “daar ook een Kat was op zittende” on p. 1205 has it sitting on the cradle. Neither says it kept the cradle level. The name Kinderdijk does not appear on any of the three pages. A folding plate between pp. 768 and 769 (not transcribed here) shows the flood and lists the child in the cradle as “saved” in its key.