04-06-2025

Servaas Bridge collapsed: 400 people drowned in river Maas

 

Researcher Geertrui van Synghel of the Huygens Institute is unlocking and digitising all Limburg charters for an online scientific edition. Charters are medieval legal documents that often provide unique insights into the past. In a report by L1 TV, she talks about surprising discoveries in these sources.

One of these is the account of one of the greatest disasters in the history of Limburg: the collapse of the Servaas Bridge 750 years ago. Four hundred people drowned in the River Maas, as detailed in a charter that remained unread in the archives for centuries.

Watch the report here.