The 1421 St.Elisabeth flooding ‘event’ and the loss of “De Groote Waard”, the Netherlands

According to legend, a very severe storm in November 1421 caused catastrophic flooding and overnight loss of the larger part of “De Groote Waard”, a prosperous polder area in medieval The Netherlands. Allegedly, more than 25 villages were lost and thousands of people were killed. But what had really happened? De Groote Waard had become a flood-protected polder area after construction of dikes and damming of smaller rivers was completed in 1283. By 1421, the land surface of most of this area had lowered to below Mean Sea Level, owing to subsidence due to ditch-drainage for agriculture and peat... Mehr ...