Reynard the Fox · Willem, 1260
Is Hulsterlo a real place?
Realname · place guessed
Hulsterlo is a real name, but where exactly it was is still argued about. The treasure Reynaert says is buried there never existed.
At the gallows Reynaert says King Ermeric's treasure is buried at Kriekeputte, a pit or pool by the wood of Hulsterlo, a wild wood in the east of Flanders. The king has never heard of it. Cuwaert the hare, trembling, says Kriekeputte exists, and that's enough to set Reynaert free.
The wood and the pit are real names, but nobody knows for sure where they were. Most researchers look for them in the north of the Waasland, round Hulst, Nieuw-Namen and Kieldrecht, and that's where this map puts them: about 25 km from the court, a long day's walk. Both pins are guesses.
Nearby is Absdale, a real hamlet near Hulst, just over the Dutch border today. It's one of the small Waasland names the poet drops into the story. The treasure, though, is made up from start to finish.
See Kriekeputte by Hulsterlo