Martenahuis

The Martenahuis in Franeker, Netherlands, is a late-medieval Frisian stins, built in 1502 by the Frisian chieftain Hessel van Martena. Erected at the end of the Middle Ages with Gothic interior features, the house was created during the factional struggles of Friesland and functioned as a noble stronghold and residence for an important local leader, linking it to the political and military conflicts of its time.

Hessel van Martena commissioned the new estate after his earlier fortified house in Bitgum had suffered two looting attacks during the civil war between the Schieringers and the Vetkopers; the second attack destroyed that dwelling and levelled its defensive earthworks. Hessel built the Franeker house while defending the city on behalf of Albert of Saxony, at a moment when Franeker was controlled by the Schieringer faction.

When Hessel died in 1517 his widow, Both van Hottinga, continued to live at the property until 1541. Ownership then passed to Lucia van Martena, who married the German nobleman Frits van Grombach; through later marriages the estate entered the Vervou family. In March 1584, during Amelia van Grombach’s ownership, twenty houses were let on the site as part of Franeker’s urban expansion.

In 1671 Abel Coenders van Vervou inherited the house but probably did not live there himself; he let the property to tenants, among them the priest Campegius Vitringa and the scholar Anna Maria van Schurman. The house was sold at public auction in 1694 to Suffridus Westerhuis, who ordered a thorough rebuilding around 1700 and commissioned a formal garden laid out in the style of André Le Nôtre, complete with parterres, mirror hedges, and an orangery.

Throughout the nineteenth century the estate passed among private owners, including Maria van Ranouw, Elisabeth Telting, and members of the Telting and Deketh families. In 1826 Albartus Deketh inherited the house and sold it to Albartus Telting for 5,000 guilders; the conveyance names tenants Walraven Willem Noodt and cellar occupants Sjoerd Faber and Koenraad Ysbrandi. The municipality of Franekeradeel acquired the property in 1895 and after a restoration in 1971–1972 the building served as that town hall. The Franekeradeel municipality then underwent a reorganization in 1984 that merged the old rural district, the city of Franeker, and most of Barradeel into a new municipality of the same name; the house ceased to be the town hall in 1984, continued to hold municipal offices for some years, and later stood empty.

A decision was made to install the city museum in the former residence. The museum opened in the building on 8 July 2006 under the name Museum Martena. Since then the house has housed the municipal historical collection, the former University of Franeker’s holdings, and the largest assembly of material connected with the scholar Anna Maria van Schurman.