Editing Ommen (section)

===Development into a city===
[[File:Slag bij Ane Frederik Zurcher.JPG|thumb|upright|The death of Otto II of Lippe during the Battle of Ane near Ommen (Frederik Zürcher, 1825–1876)]]

On 25 August 1248, Ommen received [[city rights in the Netherlands|city rights]] and [[defensive wall|fortification rights]] from Otto III, the Prince-Bishop of Utrecht, after the town was [[pillage]]d by local robber baron Rudolf of [[Coevorden]] and his militia of freemen in both 1215 and in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Ane]] of 1227. Ommen's location at the confluence of two rivers at the heart of the region made it the bishop's strategic and logistic basis in the defence of his domain [[Oversticht]] against the rebellious [[Drenthe|Drents]].<ref>Unknown author, ''[[Quaedam narracio|Quedam narracio de Groninghe de Trentis de Covordia et diversis alliis sub episcopis Traiectensibis]]'' (a.k.a. ''Narracio''), published by Vereniging Herdenking Slag bij Ane (2000), folder.</ref> Ommen thus became the 4th-oldest officially recognised city in Overijssel, after [[Deventer]] (956 A.D.), [[Zwolle]] and [[Rijssen]].

A wall was soon erected around Ommen, including three [[town gate|gates]]: the ''Vechtpoort'' or ''Voorbruggenpoort'' (on the bank of the Vecht), the ''Varsenerpoort'' (on the western wall for traffic with [[Varsen]]) and the ''Arriërpoort'' (on the northern wall for traffic with [[Arriën]]). Even to this day, the two [[church bell|bell]]s in the church's belltower, named ''Maria'' and ''Salvator'' and cast in 1517 by Hendrick de Tremonia of [[Dordrecht]], are rung every evening at nine o'clock. These so-called ''Ave-Maria peals'' form a custom which traces its origin to the tradition of ringing the bell at the closing of the gates. Ommen never received a [[moat]], even though it was permitted one.

Ommen soon became a regional port and market for agricultural products. Due to this commercial growth and strategic commercial position, Ommen eventually joined the [[Hanseatic League]] as a smaller port, so most of its trade was not directly with the [[Baltic Sea]] region, but with fellow Hanseatic cities [[Zwolle]], [[Kampen (Overijssel)|Kampen]], [[Zutphen]] and especially [[Deventer]], of which it was a subsidiary city. A [[toll bridge]] across the Vecht (first built in 1492) further increased its wealth and commercial importance, even though the toll bridge across the Vecht was destroyed by ice floes three times through the centuries. The [[Toll bridge|toll]] levy was usually auctioned off to private tax collectors, who resided in the toll house (built in 1531) next to the bridge. A bridge toll would be levied until 1925.<ref>The historical sources about Ommen differ on many of the dates before the 17th century. Usually the difference is only one or two years, but sometimes as much as a decade. The most commonly quoted dates are used on this page.</ref>

For centuries during the Middle Ages, the ''[[Estates of the Realm|Estates]] of Oversticht'', a [[diet (assembly)|diet]] or [[feudalism|feudal]] [[parliament]] representing the quarters of [[Salland]], [[Twente|Twenthe]] and [[Vollenhove]] (and until 1527 also Drenthe) and the cities of Zwolle, Deventer and Kampen, convened just outside the city of Ommen at [[Nieuwebrug (Overijssel)|Nieuwebrug]] (or New Bridge), named after the bridge over the [[Regge River|Regge]] on the road between Ommen and [[Hellendoorn]]. Following a feud between Kampen and Zwolle in 1519, however, a gathering of the Estates was attacked by citizens of neighbouring Zwolle, who abducted three [[nobility|noblemen]] and pillaged nearby [[Ommen#Eerde|Eerde]] castle. During the years that followed, [[Guelders Wars|conflict]] escalated in Overijssel.<ref>Dieks Horsman, "Nieuwebrug, geen echte buurtschap... en toch een gezellige buurt" in ''De Darde Klokke'', No. 117, page 28 (in Dutch)</ref>