ST-MICHIELSGESTEL
N Brabant, Netherlands.
Many Roman remains have come to light in the hamlet of Halder near St-Michielsgestel: coins, pottery, glass,
tiles, and slag, indicating that some kind of settlement
existed here ca. A.D. 50-270. No traces of houses have
been found as yet, but seven wells with wooden casings
(oak and pitchpine) have been discovered. One well had
a double square casing of ingenious construction. Iron
slag and fragments of a crucible and of molds indicate
that iron was smelted here, from the bog ore found in
the vicinity. A square pit, lined with stakes and filled
with loam, suggests the existence of a local pottery industry. As yet only one grave has been found: a square
wooden chest, about 1.5 x 1.5 m, probably originally
covered by a little tumulus of sods like the rich graves
of Esch, a few km to the W. The grave dates from ca.
A.D. 150. Much of the stamped pottery is of Flavian date
and coins of Domitian are frequent. The end came in
the second half of the 3d c.
Perhaps there is a connection with the treasure of
some 4800 coins discovered at Vught, a little W of
Halder, and hidden ca. A.D. 275. In the hamlet of Ruimel,
St-Michielsgestel, two inscriptions were found in 1679,
one a tombstone (now lost), the other a dedication to
Hercules Magusanus by Flaus, son of Vihirmas, summus
magistratus civitatis Batavorum (now in the Leiden museum). This does not prove that Ruimel belonged to the
civitas Batavorum, as that civitas did not extend S of
the Meuse, but there may have been a sanctuary of
Hercules Magusanus at Ruimel. The Halder finds are in
the Institute for the Deaf at St-Michielsgestel, and the
Vught treasure in the Noordbrabants Museum at 's-Hertogenbosch.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. W. Byvanck,
Excerpta Romana II
(1935) 97-99; III (1947) 80-81; B. H. Stolte, “Hercules
in Noord-Brabant. Verering te Ruimel (?) en Diessen,”
Brabantia 3 (1954) 50-53; J. E. Bogaers, “Civitas en
stad van de Bataven en Canninefaten,”
Ber. Rijksdienst
Oud. Bod. 10-11 (1960-61) 263-317 (English summary);
id.,
Niewsbull. Kon. Ned. Oud. Bond (1962) 174-76;
(1965) 53-56; (1966) 93-94; (1967) 57; (1968) 65-66;
H. J. Kanters, “De Romeinse muntschat van Vught (Valerianus-Aurelianus),”
Jb. v. Munt- en Penningkunde 52-53 (1965-66) 73-126.
B. H. STOLTE
