JOURNAL: Pro Memorie. Bijdragen tot de Rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden XXVII (2025), nr. 2 (Dec)

(Image source: Amsterdam University Press)

Redactioneel (Kaat Cappelle & Joke Verfaillie)

Heerlijkheden van graafschap naar gewest. Ontwikkelingen in de spreiding van heerlijkheden en heerlijke rechten in Holland 1433-1795 (Maarten J. Prins)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.002.PRIN

Abstract: 

Early modern Holland consisted of hundreds of lordships, most of them owned by nobles. This article argues that the most extensive developments regarding the formation and distribution of lordship occurred before the acquisition of the county by the Duke of Burgundy (1433). By the mid-fifteenth century, an administrative and legal landscape had emerged that would change little in the centuries that followed. As a successor to the counts, the States of Holland did not implement any major reorganization of the feudal system and refrained from altering the framework of local government controlled by lords. The provincial authorities did not actively strengthen the position of the lords but certainly did not undermine their authority. As some benchmark court rulings indicate, bodies such as the Hoge Raad (Supreme Court), Hof van Holland (Court of Appeal), and the States of Holland upheld and confirmed the rights of lords vis-à-vis regional bailiffs and towns.

Data collected about 2,000 rights found throughout the county between the years 1300 and 1795 shows that significant differences existed between the various regions. Holland’s lordships can be characterized by the clustering of rights around the appointment of a shout (sheriff); rights with a dominial origin were rarely found. Holland’s lords typically appointed a schout, secretary and beadle, held tithes, and levied taxes (cijns and thijns).

The rights of lords differed considerably between the Northern and the Southern parts, particularly pertaining to land ownership, ferry rights, wind rights, and rights to nominate priests or pastors, as well as the appointment of lower officials and officials of waterboards. Lords in the Southern parts more often held these rights, though the difference is less pronounced than suggested by earlier research.

Heerlijke reacties in het graafschap Vlaanderen na de hoge middeleeuwen (circa 1350 – circa 1795) (Tom De Waele)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.003.WAEL

Abstract:

‘The seigneurial reaction’ is a concept originally conceived as one of the major causes for the French Revolution: lords who fiercely reimposed long forgotten dues from the 1750s onward. Historians of old regime lordships throughout Western Europe however discern similar ‘seigneurial reactions’ as early as the fourteenth century. The county of Flanders saw such reactions by lords from 1350 onward. The incentive for such measures was however oftenmost not financial gain, but the protection or reinstatement of social status and symbolic capital.

Heren zonder grenzen. De heerlijkheid Edingen tussen Brabant en Henegouwen (twaalfde–zestiende eeuw) (Margreet Brandsma & Sieben Feys)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.004.BRAN

Abstract:

In this article we explore the complex feudal status and territorial scope of the prominent lordship of Enghien (Dutch: Edingen) in the border region between the Duchy of Brabant and the County of Hainaut. From the High Middle Ages onwards, Enghien’s lords and ladies cultivated their dual status by actively maintaining feudal and political ties with both Count and Duke. By combining source material from both principalities and creating GIS-maps we were able to visualise the impressive scope of the territory that the successive lords were able to acquire on both sides of the border. Taken together, Enghien had the size of a small principality. Due to strategic importance of the border region and its relative distance from princely administrative centres, both princes mostly supported the creation and perpetuation of this enormous power base, thus effectively recognizing the essential role of the lords of Enghien in maintaining the territorial status quo in the Hainaut-Brabant border region.

Heerlijke karweien in het graafschap Vlaanderen tijdens de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw (Thijs Lambrecht & Joke Verfaillie)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.005.LAMB

Abstract:

This article examines practical aspects associated with the enforcement and execution of servile works in the County of Flanders during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a feudal right that required peasants to perform labour for their lord. Although this ‘corvée’ labour largely fell into disuse from the late Middle Ages onwards, archival sources from Poeke and Boelare show that the system was still actively applied locally. Analysis of corvée records reveals remarkable flexibility in implementation, differentiation according to socio-economic status and a gradual transition to optional redemption systems – all of which mainly benefited the peasantries. The administration of servile works was therefore complex and reflected demographic changes within the seigneuries. The downside was a particularly high administrative burden for the lord, raising the question of whether this indirect cost was not one of the causes of the system’s decline. Finally, this study nuances the image of early modern corvée labour as inherently conflictual as most subjects of the lords executed their labour duties without clear signs of protest or contention.

De voorgeboden en keuren van Sint-Annaland uit 1569: een inkijk in het zestiende-eeuwse dorpsleven in het graafschap Zeeland (Kaat Cappelle)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.006.CAPP

Abstract:

From the late Middle Ages onwards, many seigneuries in the Low Countries began compiling local law. One notable example is the compilation (Dutch: voorgeboden en keuren) of Sint-Annaland from 1569, a small village in the county of Zeeland. This contribution provides an edition and an analysis of these rules, preserved in three manuscripts. These rules offer valuable insights into the socio-economic daily life of this village in Zeeland. When integrated into a broader corpus from several seigneuries, such texts can illustrate aspects of late medieval and early modern village life in the Low Countries, an area of research that remains relatively underexplored by both legal scholars and historians.

Herzele (1444-1502): de heerlijkheid als ruimte van onderhandeling (Erwin Van der Hoeven)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.007.HOEV

Abstract:

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of seigneuries by examining the nature of social relations within the lay seigneurie of Herzele between 1444 and 1502. Drawing on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of domain and bailiff accounts, the research is structured around four case studies: the ‘beste kateil’, the ‘wandelkoop’, a financial assessment, and criminal justice. Across all these domains, a consistent pattern emerges: while the rules were applied uniformly, they were interpreted with a sensitivity to context. A structural space for negotiation was typically embedded in the system, allowing compromises to be reached between those who were entitled to receive—the lord and his officials—and those who were expected to give—the local inhabitants. When punishments were imposed, it was ensured they were enforceable. After all, all parties had a shared interest in the smooth functioning of the seigneurie.

Heerlijke rechtspraak en de plattelandsbevolking in Oost-Nederland (circa 1480-1570) (Reinder Klinkhamer)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.008.KLIN

Abstract:

This article studies the impact of seigneurial lordship on rural communities through an analysis of the litigants active in a seigneurial court of the lords of Bergh (van Bergh) in the eastern Netherlands. The results show that the rural population barely made use of the court but was often charged before it. Meanwhile, inhabitants of the small town of ‘s-Heerenberg figure prominently among the plaintiffs. This finding fits within the development of the court, being both permanently located within the town and dominated by its inhabitants. Given the wide variety of options for conflict resolution mechanisms open to the rural inhabitants of premodern Europe, these results suggest that the seigneurial court in this case did not serve the interests of the rural population, but rather those of the citizens of ‘s-Heerenberg. This conclusion is surprising in light of recent research and testifies to the widely different effects seigneurial lordship could have on rural societies within the Netherlands.

Slotbeschouwing (Frederik Buylaert)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.009.BUYL

Book reviews

• Heerlijkheden in Vlaanderen (Wim Blockmans)
• Heerlijkheid Ruinen (Paul Brood)

More information can be found here.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Law and Governance of a Global City: 17th-century Amsterdam (Amsterdam, June 2020) (DEADLINE: 1 July 2019)

(Source: Wikipedia)

We learned of a call for papers for a symposium on law and governance in 17^th century Amsterdam. Here the call:

Four hundred years ago, like today, globalisation and urbanisation impacted the world’s cities. In seventeenth-century Amsterdam, the afflux of trade and migrants prompted rapid economic and demographic growth, resulting in dynamic multicultural urban life and leading to complex questions of governance. The foreign merchants and newcomers were governed by the city administrators, who pursued policies of commercial and religious freedom. The governance of the city was both local and global. The Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company was the most affluent and had a large say in the Company’s policies.

The communities of foreign merchants and often well-skilled newcomers were very well connected to their home regions and cities contributing to the constitution of Amsterdam at the center of global trade networks. It was the city where the first ‘modern’ stock exchange was established and the availability of capital pushed the Amsterdam and Dutch economy into a new phase of capitalism. The Dutch hegemony in the global slave trade soon made a significant contribution to the wealth of the city. The Burgerzaal of the seventeenth-century City Hall visualised the city’s bold ambition: Amsterdam as the center of a global (commercial)empire – the center of the universe.  From 1500 to 1700 Amsterdam grew from 12.000 to 200.000 inhabitants, mostly due to massive immigration. The city’s relatively tolerant intellectual climate contributed to an influx of – sometimes very wealthy – religious refugees as well as progressive/radical thinkers.Economics and politics were highly intertwinned. Economic interests and ambitions went hand in hand with political interests and ambitions. The public and the private were very much intertwined. How to govern such a rapidly expanding and very diverse city well? How did this impact existing local government practices? How to approach global trade and commercial activities stemming from and coming through Amsterdam? How did law and government support and contribute to the Amsterdam economy, and vice versa? How did the city governors deal with the risks, tensions and complications of a city and its people catapulted into a global existence? How did the city government approach Amsterdam’s immigration and diversity? What were the legal and institutional responses to the local and global challenges that came with globalisation and urbanisation in this 17th century city? The revolt against Spain ended ultimately in a quest for independence. But how to organise and govern a leading city of this emerging state? Where should sovereignty be vested? How did Amsterdam contribute to the position of The Dutch Republic on the international stage? The Dutch Republic developed into a (con)federalised state with powerful towns and Holland as the most urbanised province. Amsterdam – the rising metropolis of a rapidly expanding colonial Empire - was a city in need of new ideas, policies and institutions to govern at home and abroad. The global role of cities and city-based companies contributed to a normative discourse, which drew on different bodies of law, including (Dutch-)Roman law and the emerging law of nations and nature, ius gentium et naturale.   Slavery, trade, war, as well as discussions of religious toleration, justice and good government triggered legal questions and debates.

Against this background, this Call for Papers invites submissions engaging with the aforementioned questions and issues related to three themes:  I.  City of commerce and tradeII. City of immigration and diversity III. City of Innovative governance and law

Call for papers:

We call on scholars from legal history, history and theory of international law, urban history, as well as scholars from related disciplines, such as political philosophy, economic history, social history, history of ideas and intellectual history, history of slavery and empire, and migration studies, to send an abstract of circa 500-700 words setting out the prospective paper they would like to submit for inclusion in the symposium dealing with one of thethemes identified within the overarching topic of law and governance of Amsterdam in the 17th-century. 

PLEASE SUBMIT PAPER PROPOSALS TO LGAMSTERDAM@ASSER.NLDeadline

Abstracts July1st, 2019

On the basis of the Abstracts we will select authors by September 1st, 2019.

Deadline First Draft March1st, 2020 Selected Authors’deadline for first draft.

Symposium June2020

In June 2020, a symposium will take place in Amsterdam to bring together the selected authors.

Co-donors / co-organisers: ERC-Project led by Dave De ruysscher (Tilburg University), ‘Coherence in Law Through Legal Scholarship’ (http://www.clls.eu/ ).Gieskes Strijbis-project led by Janne Nijman (Asser Institute/University of Amsterdam), ‘The Global City: Trust, Challenges, and the Role of Law’ ( http://www.asser.nl/Global-City ). VIDI-Project led by Bram van Hofstraeten (Maastricht University), ‘What's in a Name? Challenging Early Modern Ideal-Types of Private Partnerships in the Low Countries (17th-18th Centuries)’ (http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/privatepartnerships )

All info can be found here