With my family still living in Zutphen, the Netherlands, I visit there quite often. Zutphen's history goes back over 1700 years. It started out as a Germanic town on on the right bank of the IJssel at the influx of the river Berkel during Roman times and received city rights in 1190 or 1196 and is therefore one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. During the Dutch Revolt, or Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), on 17 November 1572 the town was taken by the Spaniards and so many men were killed that the river IJssel turned red of the blood as tradition recalls it.
