Pagadders — the Little Soldiers of Hulst

As early as 1180, Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders, granted the settlement on the Scheldt its town charter. Hulst grew into an important harbour town in the north of the County of Flanders, where merchants from Bruges and Ghent shipped their goods towards the North Sea.

For centuries the town flourished as a Flemish fortress. Its ramparts, its churches, its market square — everything breathes the atmosphere of old Flanders. The Sint-Willibrordus Basilica rose as a beacon of pride, visible far across the polders.

But the fate of Hulst would be decided by war. And in that war, small men would play a great part.

When the Eighty Years’ War tore the land apart, Hulst became a Spanish stronghold. Almost uninterrupted — from 1596 to 1645 — the Spanish flag flew above the fortress walls. Soldiers from Castile and Aragon bivouacked in the streets.

Among those hardened warriors moved smaller figures. Too young or too small for the battlefield, yet indispensable to the army. They were the pagadores — the paymasters. Their task was to distribute wages, deliver messages and keep the garrison’s administration running.

In the mouths of the people of Hulst, the Spanish word became something of their own: Pagadder. A word that would survive for centuries. In 1645, Frederick Henry conquered the town. The Spaniards withdrew, but their pagadders remained — not as people, but as memory.

In November 2018 they appeared: thirteen small bronze figurines scattered across the old town of Hulst. By the Ghent Gate, along the town walls, near the basilica — everywhere the Pagadders popped up, each no bigger than a forearm.

Every Pagadder was given its own name and character. Celebro, the thinker, hand on forehead. Biblio, the reader, absorbed in a book. Felicia, who brings happiness. Mira, who gazes at the world in wonder. Picaro, the rogue. Thirteen little personalities telling the story of Hulst together.

But ten days after the unveiling, disaster struck. Six figurines were destroyed or stolen. The outrage was immense. The remaining twelve were temporarily removed. In 2019 they returned, more firmly anchored and with renewed determination. New Pagadders joined the ranks — the army grew to eighteen figures, and the youngest, Campéon, became the symbol of sport and resilience.

Today the Pagadders form a heritage trail through the heart of the fortress town. With a map or the dedicated Pagadder app, families set off on a treasure hunt, from bastion to gate, from church to rampart.

The trail connects the walker with four hundred years of Flemish and Spanish history, with tales of soldiers and paymasters, of sieges and liberations. Every Pagadder is an anchor in time.

As the evening sun slides across the ramparts and the shadows of the Pagadders stretch long across the pavement, they seem to whisper. Of little soldiers in great times. Of a Flemish fortress town that does not forget its past but cherishes it — in bronze, in story, in heart.