Iets over Gorcum’s Ouder­dom en eer­ste Stadrecht

W.A. van der Donk's 1930 booklet challenges the then-current view that Gorinchem was founded as a city around 1230, an assumption based primarily on the work of H.A. van Goch. Van der Donk demonstrates that the evidence for this "foundation" is weak and ambiguous: the purchase of Wolferen and the walling of the village of Gorinchem by the Arkels before 1217 cannot be unequivocally established, and even then, one likely speaks of a small artisanal settlement, not a city in the modern sense. The author warns against celebrating an uncertain and insignificant event, as no real urban development or city rights from this period have been recorded.