Utrecht

Netherlands

Utrecht, in the central Netherlands, grew from a Roman fort built around 50 CE and has been central to Dutch Christianity since the eighth century, when Willibrord established its bishopric. It is today the seat of a Catholic archdiocese and, since 1723, the centre of the Old Catholic Church. Adrian Florensz, who became Pope Adrian VI in 1522, was born there in 1459. The Union of Utrecht of 1579 is seen as the start of the Dutch Republic, and the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 ended the War of the Spanish Succession. Utrecht University, founded in 1636, is now the largest in the Netherlands. The theologian Jacobus Arminius, born at nearby Oudewater, was probably schooled in the city.