C. Dekker, H. Soly, J. H. Van Stuijvenberg, A. Th. Van Deursen, M. Müller, E. Witte, P. W. Klein,...

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CT HISTORI E NEERL NDIC E

STUDIES ON THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERL NDS


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EDITORIAL BOARD:

I. Schaffer Leiden); Johanna A. Kossmann Groningen); H. Balthazar Ghent); A. Th. van

Deursen Amsterdam); W. Prevenier Ghent); J. J. Woltjer Leiden).

EDITORIAL ADDRESS:

Alexander Numankade

199

Utrecht, The Netherlands.


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CT HISTORI ENEERL NDIC E

STUDIES ON THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS

VIII

MARTINUS NUHOFF THE HAGUE 1975


4/207

975 y

Martinus Nijhoff The Hague Netherlands.

ll

rights reserved including the right to translate or

to reproduce this book or parts thereof

in

any form.

Softcoverreprintof the hardcover st edition 1975

ISBN 13:978 94 011 5953 1

DOl: 10.1007/978 94 011 5951 7

e ISBN 13 :978 94 011 5951 7


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Table

of

Contents

Preface VII

C.

DEKKER

The Representation

of

the Freeholders in the Drainage

Districts

of

Zeeland West

of

the ScheIdt during the Middle Ages 1

H. SOLY The Betrayal

of

the Sixteenth-Century Bourgeoisie: A Myth?

Some Considerations

of

the Behaviour Pattern

of

the Merchants

of

Antwerp in the Sixteenth Century

31

J. H. V N

STUDVENBERG

The Weber Thesis: An Attempt t Interpreta-

tion 50

A.

TH. V N

DEURSEN History and Prognostication 67

M. MULLER Ten years

of

Guerilla-Warfare and Slave Rebellions in

Surinam, 1750-1759 85

E. WITTE

Political Power Struggle in and around the Main Belgian Cities,

1830-1848 103

P.

W.

KLEIN

Depression and Policy in the Thirties

123

ALICE C. CARTER ed., Survey of Recent Historical Works on Belgium and

the Netherlands Published in Dutch

159


6/207

Preface

Volume VIII

of cta Historiae eerlandicae

again presents studies on the history

of

the Low Countries which it is hoped will be

of

interest to foreign scholars.

The intention has been to deal with a fairly long period, and many differing aspects,

of

the subject. So institutional, political, economic, social and cultural history

all receive a fair share

of

attention, and together the studies cover a considerable

number of centuries.

t

is, however, striking to note how even this restricted number of studies

reflects prevailing viewpoints among today s Low Countries historians. Clearly

there is considerable stress on economic and social questions. Traditional studies

such as those

of

former Belgian historians on medieval history, or those of the

Dutch on the seventeenth century, are now giving way to works that are problem

directed. Power structures, the position

of

the bourgeoisie, reactions

of

the intelli

gentsia and theologians to societal problems, have now more attraction for

scholars than the glories

of

late medieval wealth in Flanders or Holland s Golden

Age. Terms such as Guerilla warfare, Struggle, Depression, typify today s critical

approach to society in general.

e

this as it may, it can be argued that the Survey published in this volume,

of

recent Dutch-language historical pUblications in Belgium and the Netherlands,

prepared as heretofore by a team

of

English scholars with the assistance

of

Belgian

colleagues, cannot as yet be said to give cause for alarm. A glance t overall

production in the

field

of

historical studies reveals that further emphasis on social

and economic history is not harmful but helps to rectify earlier overemphasis

on political and cultural history. Moreover long-term publication programmes

of

existing institutes and research centres promise to make good any balance

that may seem to be lacking because of variations in individual interests and more

or less fashionable trends. There is also the likelihood that research plans, some

projected and some even now getting under way, will help to counteract any over

emphasis

of

particular aspects.

The editorial borard

of

these

cta

presents these studies and this survey in

the hope that they will prove that historical research and writing in the Low

Countries is not only alive but also full of life.

I. Scheffer


7/207

The Representation

of

the Freeholders in the Drainage Districts

of Zeeland West of the ScheIdt during the Middle Ages

c

EKKER

THE ZEELAND AMBACHTSHERENl

What makes the study

of

regional history so interesting

is

the discovery

of

peculiarities specific to a particular region as compared with neighbouring regions.

Even though these prove in most instances after further study to be only variations

on a general theme, they nevertheless compel the historian to dig deeper in order

to find the origins

of

the local form and to explain it in the historical context.

One of the most striking phenomena of the mediaeval history of Zeeland is

the great power

of

the ambachtsheren (lords), which

is

obviously reflected first

in the political, administrative and legal spheres, but also to an almost equal

degree in the ecclesiastical sphere and in the administration of dikes and drainage.

This power largely determined socio-economic relationships outside the small

number of towns and was even felt in the cultural and literary spheres. The

ambachtsheren

themselves were not peculiar to Zeeland, but the great power

which they possessed collectively, and often individually as well was peculiar

to that province.

Ambachtsheren

were also to be found

in

the neighbouring terri

tories of Flanders and Holland and,

if

one overlooks the term

ambacht

(district

held in fief by an ambachtsheer , local lords were to be found everywhere, invested

with the authority of government and possessing lower judicial powers. Nowhere,

however, far and wide was their power as great as in Zeeland, nowhere else did

they constitute at certain times a real threat to the count s authority, nowhere

was the ruler so dependent in his actions upon the co-operation of the local

lords.

The legal basis from which the Zeeland lords operated was not unusually

great. As local executive officials of the count they occupied a position of impor

tance in the judicial organization of Zeeland, a position which increased greatly

in significance during the last quarter of the twelfth century because

of

the institu-

1.

Ambachtsheer (hereafter translated as lord): hereditary holder

of

the office

of

local judge,

with responsibility for the dikes etc. in his district. Ambacht: district held in fief by an ambachts

heer. Cf. below.

For

the characteristics

of

the Zeeland ambachten

and

ambachtsheren, C.

Dekker, Zuid-Beveland. De historische geografie en de instellingen v n een Zeeuws eiland in de

middeleeuwen (Assen, 1971) 386-97 and the literature quoted there.

1


8/207

C.

DEKKER

tion oflocal courts

of

justice, presided over by the lords. In addition, they function-

ed as receivers

of

the county taxes. The strong position which they succeeded

in obtaining can

be

explained only against the background

of

the political situa-

tion in Zeeland from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. Politically, Zeeland

was an area that offered great opportunities to local worthies because

of the lack

or shortcomings

of

effective higher authority. This

was

already the situation

during the tenth century when the area was ruled directly by the German king,

whose seat

of

government was

at

a great distance from Zeeland and who never

visited the province himself. t remained the situation in the eleventh century

when Zeeland East

of

the Scheldt

2

found itself within the sphere

of

influence

of

the count

of

Holland, who incidentally had the greatest difficulty in maintaining

his authority effectively, even in Holland itself, while Zeeland West

of

the Scheldta

formed part

of

the county

of

Flanders from 1012 as a separate castelry with its

own burghgrave and its own court of echevins. The latter, however, could function

only with the presence of local executive officials, which meant that the count

of

Flanders had to call upon the local notables. These, in their turn, used their

involvement in the count s administrative machine to extend their power. They

succeeded in extending the state of dependence to which, as landed proprietors,

they had brought the people living on their land, over the district within which

they exercised their legal powers. They dealt with the district itself, the

ambacht

as they dealt with their own land, i.e. they divided it on inheritance, sold it or

alienated it in other ways. Although the relationship between the count and the

lords had been conceived as a feudal tie, the count had to tolerate the districts

within which his authority was exercised being fragmented contrary to the original

feudal principle.

The Flemish count probably had no choice, because his authority in Zeeland

West

of

the ScheIdt had not been strong enough to prevent a rising

of

the Zee-

landers in about

1067.

This revolt, which took the form of refusing to pay the

count s taxes and also involved the abbey of Echternach, which had large interests

in Zeeland, was crushed by the Flemings, but Zeeland remained politically unreli-

able. When, as a result of the crisis in the Flemish authority, caused by the murder

of

Count Charles the Good in 1127 the count of Holland gained a firm footing

in Zeeland West

of

the ScheIdt and had to win the support

of

the local notables

in this hitherto Flemish territory, the possibilities for local consolidation

of

power

only increased. This was even more the case when the Flemings returned in

1167

2. Consisting

of

the islands

of

Schouwen, Duiveland and the western

part

of

the, later, island

of

Tholen.

3. Consisting

of

the islands

of

Walcheren, South Beveland, orth Beveland, Wolfaartsdijk,

Borsele, Baarland and Rilland. The latter three islands were already endiked during the Middle

Ages and brought within the dike surrounding South Beveland.

2


9/207

THE FREEHOLDERS

N

THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS

OF

ZEELAND

to

share the authority over Zeeland West of the ScheIdt with the Hollanders

under the Treaty of Bruges.

4

This meant in fact that the area remained a bone

of

contention between Flanders and Holland for more than a century.

As late as the second half

of the thirteenth century the count of Holland was

compelled, in order to gain the lords political allegiance, to grant them a privilege

in respect of the collection

of

the

schot

(ground-tax), which amounted to their

being able to pocket a large part of the proceeds and so secure a firm economic

basis for the future.

5

Even in about 1290, when the authority

of

Holland seemed

to be established, the lords still tried to get their way with the count of Holland

by offering their services

en masse

to the count of Flanders. Although the count

of

Holland was able to put down this rebellion, he still had to take the lords into

account in the fourteenth century in all internal measures, not only in the former

Flemish part of Zeeland, viz. Zeeland West of the ScheIdt, but also,

to

a lesser

extent, in Zeeland East

of

the ScheIdt.

Apart from the political field, the lords in the fourteenth century also made

their influence felt particularly in ecclesiastical affairs and in matters concerned

with the administration

of

dikes and drainage. They believed their powers greatly

threatened, both as a result of the exercise

of

the advowson and in respect to the

maintenance of the dikes and drainage system, but they succeeded, not without

great difficulty sometimes, in consolidating their position.

Before continuing, a little more should be said in explanation of the term

ambachtsheren (lords). We use the word in its general sense and, for convenience,

without qualification. Yet, in reality, those belonging to the class of lords did

not form a monolithic block; there was, in fact, a certain degree of stratification.

The majority of the many hundreds of lords had only very small areas of jurisdic

tion as a result of a centuries-long process of subdivision

of

their ambachten and

they individually counted for very little, even locally. On the other hand, there

were also the big lords who had succeeded in acquiring a steadily growing number

of

ambachten through inheritance, marriage and, particularly, purchase. Although

disagreements between the big and small lords were not uncommon, they usually

acted in common, particularly in relation to the count, with the

potentes

giving

the lead. The show of force that the lords were repeatedly able to muster was

principally the power of the

potentes

but it was

all

the stronger because the lesser

lords lined up behind them and were not trying to form a counterweight, which

would have caused a breach in the ranks of the lords. The small lords filled a

4. A. C. F. Koch,

Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland

t t

1299, I (The Hague,

1970)

no.

160

1167 March

7).

5. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland

462, 463.

6.

The struggle for the possession

of

the advowsons

of

the Zeeland churches was directed

mainly against the Abbey

of

Our Lady

at

Middelburg and the chapter

of

Saint Saviour

at

Utrecht

and usually resulted in a divided advowson, ibidem 362-81.

3


10/207

C. DEKKER

role in the politics

of

Zeeland,

but

a role under the leadership

of

the big lords.

We shall limit ourselves here to their function in the water management.

INDEPENDENCE AND CO-OPERATION OF THE LORDS IN THE SPHERE OF ADMINISTRATION

OF DIKES AND DRAINAGE

The organization

of

water administration in Zeeland was closely related

to

that of

the

ambachten.

The establishment

of

local courts

of

justice was partly

and, perhaps mainly, stimulated by the need for a quick and expert prosecution

of

water control offenders, for in Zeeland the administration

of

dikes and drainage

had long been the task

of

the local authorities,

i.e.

the lords.

7

The freeholders

were compelled

to

contribute to the maintenance

of

dikes, roads and watercourses

in proportion to the size

of

their land holding. The lord carried

out

the inspection

of

the dikes and, where neglect was established, fined the culprit after sentence

had been passed by the echevins. In order to escape the sharp control

of

the lords

in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Cistercian abbeys struggled

to obtain and succeeded (against their rule) in obtaining for themselves the feudal

rights over their lands.

S

As lords they could act almost autonomously in water

management matters, because the count s supervision

of

the lords was as poorly

organized as the lords supervision

of

the freeholders, under the Zeeland ordi

nances, was well regulated.

We do

not

find reference in the sources

to

a direct intervention by the count

in matters affecting the dikes and drainage before the thirteenth century and then

only by exception

at

first. This

is

undoubtedly partly a result

of

the scarcity

of

sources, however, since it

is

unlikely that the systematic embanking

of

the Zeeland

islands, which took place during the middle and second half

of

the twelfth century,

was exclusively the work

of

the lords and their dependants. With works

of

such

great importance and such magnitude, which were also being carried out simulta

neously on different islands in both Zeeland and Holland, the counts may be

imagined giving encouragement in the background.

9

t

is perhaps significant in

this connection

that

clear evidence does exist

of

the role played by the count

of

Flanders, Philip

of

Alsace, and Count Florence III

of

Holland in the arrival

of

the Cistercians from Ten Duinen and Ter Doest on the islands

of

South Beveland

and Rilland during the 1180 s to complete the difficult work

of

closing the dikes,

7 Ibidem, 506-12. Concerning the law in relation to the administration

of

dikes and polders

in Zeeland and the neighbouring areas, see P. H. Galle,

Beveiligd bestaan. Grondtrekken van her

middeleeuwse waterstaatsrecht in Z W.-Nederland en hoofdlijnen van de geschiedenis van her

dijksbeheer in dit gebied

J

200-1963 (Delft, 1963).

8 Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 147, 148.

9

Ibidem, 98-133, 522

4


11/207

THE

FREEHOLDERS

IN THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS OF ZEELAND

a task that the lords were evidently unable to perform.

10

However, once the Zee

land islands had been safeguarded by dikes and their surplus water was being dis

charged through the numerous sluices in the dikes, while the lords supervised

the maintenance of the dikes and watercourses, there were evidently few problems,

for the time being, which made intervention from above necessary or desirable.

Nevertheless, there were problems. Soon the drainage

of

the pool lands, situated

inland, must have caused difficulties. The lords and freeholders of these lands

were dependent for their drainage upon the co-operation of those with lands

on the outer side

of

the islands, while the costs

of

maintaining the sluices fell

precisely upon the latter, because they were situated in their

ambachten.

Co

operation was necessary. Accordingly, the landholders, represented by their

lords, combined to manage jointly the drainage

of

their lands and to maintain

the necessary works at joint expense. These drainage corporations, which were

formed on a communal basis and without the intervention of the ruler, were

called wateringen in Flanders and Zeeland West

of

the Scheldt.

The common

designation and its absence in Zeeland East of the ScheIdt indicate that this institu

tion must have come into existence during the period when the Flemish influence

was still strong in Zeeland West

of

the ScheIdt. The Vijf Ambachten drainage

district, later called the Noordwatering of Walcheren,

is

probably the oldest

in Zeeland. Although it

is

not mentioned until

1273,

as Quinque

Officia 12

its extent

indicates a much greater age. t must have originated when the twelve

ambachten

(parishes)

of

which it later consisted still formed only five

ambachten

(parishes),

a stage in the splitting ofparishes that can be dated to the end of the twelfth century.

We do not have such clear evidence

of

dating for the other drainage districts on

the island

of

Walcheren-the Oostwatering, the Heyensluus drainage district,

the Zuidwatering and the Westwatering,-but just

as

the Vijf Ambachten was

completely bounded on one side by dunes so also was the Westwatering, and its

drainage problems will therefore not have occurred much later than in the Vijf

Ambachten. The two large drainage districts of the island of South Beveland,

those of Bewesten and Beoosten Yerseke, were probably also formed before the

mid-thirteenth century.

The drainage districts were larger than the ambachten but they were based

on them. There was no separate administration and the great independence which

the lords showed in water management affairs was limited to only a small extent

by the creation of drainage corporations. Henceforth, the lords who participated

10. Ibidem 143, 144.

11.

Ibidem

512-20. Hereafter

watering

will be translated as drainage district,

and

the more

general

waterschap

as dike district.

12. De hevina terre et dimidia iacentis in Quinque Officiis ac in officio de Brigdamme , L. P. c.

van den Bergh,

Oorkondenboek van Holland

en

Zeeland

(2 vols.; Amsterdam-The Hague, 1867-

1873)

II, no. 257

1273

Aug. 29).

5


12/207

C. DEKKER

in them had to make jointly certain decisions that they would otherwise have been

able to take individually and each according to his own lights. The drainage

districts came into existence on a voluntary basis and could have arbitrary boun

daries, as on South Beveland, because it was by no means necessary for all the

lords to participate in them. The joint drainage districts, therefore, did not extend

over the whole

of

the territory; some

ambachten

remained outside them.

Within the territory of the count of Holland the drainage associations in

Zeeland West of the ScheIdt had their own special features and a different name,

but they were otherwise certainly not unique. The whole

of

the alluvial zone of

the Netherlands was sooner or later faced with the task, after the embanking

or

reclamation in the eleventh, twelfth

or

thirteenth centuries,

of

ridding itself

in an efficient manner of the surplus precipitation, and everywhere people disco

vered sooner or later, according to the degree of urgency, that the discharge of

water could be effectively controlled only by means of co-operation between com

munities. Fockema Andreae has referred to the early associations of interest

in the reclamation areas of the Nedersticht (approximately the present province

of

Utrecht) and Central Holland.

I

Their form

of

administration was more highly

developed than that

of

the Zeeland drainage districts and they functioned as

separate bodies for the implementation of water management matters, divorced

from the ordinary administrative organization and with their own governing

body and laws. Because, however, in large parts of Holland, as in Zeeland, the

task of water control was carried out by the ordinary, local administration,

i.e.

within the framework of the

ambacht,

there also appeared drainage associations

in the form

of

groupings

of ambachten

such

as

the Zeven Ambachten in what

later became Delfland,14 No matter what form the associations took, in Holland

or Zeeland, they shared the common feature

of

having arisen independently

of

the count. The latter recognized them, but did not interfere with them initially,

undoubtedly because they functioned

well.

ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES TAKEN BY THE COUNTS AND THE LORDS RESISTANCE

TO

THEM

t may indeed be assumed that the drainage associations functioned well.

t

would be wrong to suppose that the counts

of

Holland had no interest in water

management affairs or that they neglected this part of their administrative task.

13.

S.

J. Fockema Andreae, Studien over waterschapsgeschiedenis, IV, et Nedersticht (Leiden,

1950 2-7; VIII,

Overzicht

(Leiden,

1952

2-4.

14. J. P. Winsemius, De Zeven Ambachten en het hoogheemraadschap van De/jland Delft, 1962).

Outside Holland see, for example, for Groningen and East Friesland, Fockema Andreae, Studien,

VI, Oostelijk Groningen (Leiden, 1950 6-13; for Friesland, M. P. van Buijtenen, De Leppa,

een rechtshistorisch-waterstaatkundige bijdrage

(Dokkum, 1944).

6


13/207

THE FREEHOLDERS IN THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS

OF

ZEELAND

After Count Florence

III

dammed off the Old Rhine before 1165 by means

of

the

Zwammer

Dam

I

in order to protect Holland from flooding from the side of

Utrecht, his thirteenth-century successors repeatedly intervened in the water

economy

of

the area with the same aim in

view.

16

In other places, too, they left

their traces behind. The number of water control works attributed by Fockema

Andreae to Count William I (1203-1222)

is

considerable,l? even though this author

has over-emphasized William s role somewhat and detailed research may reduce

the number of his achievements. t is clear, however, that the counts did intervene

where necessary, although, with one exception, without infringing upon the

existing forms

of

administration.

This single exception concerns the Great or South Holland Waard (an area

east

of

Dordrecht that was largely submerged in 1421 and subsequently only

incompletely reclaimed), which was probably the first example

of

intervention

by the count in the administrative sphere. In 1230 probably some fifteen years

after the completion of the ring dike a high regional college with power of inspec

tion was in operation there, under the chairmanship

of

the count himself as magi

strate.

IS

It is highly doubtful whether this was also already the situation in Rijn

land.

It

did possess a college

of

scrutatores 19

of

communis terre consiliarii qui

hemenrade vuigariter

nuncupantur 20 but

this was probably the administration

of

a water management body functioning on a communal basis. There is no refe

rence to the count himself or one

of

his representatives as chairman.

21

Not

until

15.

About half-way between Leiden

and

Woerden, north of Gouda.

16. S.

J.

Fockema Andreae, Het

hoogheemraadschap

van

Rijnland zijn recht en zijn bestuur

van den vroegsten tijd tot

1857 (Leiden, 1934) 27

ff S.

J. Fockema Andreae,

Willem I en de Hol-

landse hoogheemraadschappen

(Wormerveer, 1954) 7, 8 21, 25-30. See also, by the same author,

Waterschapsorganisatie

in

Nederland en

in

den vreemde ,

Mededelingen van de Koninklijke

Nederlandse Akademie

v.

Wetenschappen A/d. Letteren.

Nieuwe Reeks,

IX

(Amsterdam, 1951)

309-30.

17. Idem Willem 1 61.

18. Van den Bergh,

Oorkondenboek

I, no. 322 (1230 May 7). Cf. Fockema Andreae,

Studien

III De Grote 0 Zuidhollandse Waard

(Leiden, 1950) 14 15.

19.

K.

Heeringa,

Oorkondenboek van het sticht Utrecht II

(The Hague, 1940), no. 740 (1226

Jan. 26).

20. Van den Bergh,

Oorkondenboek II,

no. 621 (1255 Oct. 11).

21. Fockema Andreae s view

of

the nature

of

the administrative body functioning in Rijnland

in the 13th century is not completely clear. He assumed at first that the hoogheemraadschappen

were institutions

of

the central government and he referred

at

that time to the 13th century dike

reeves

in

Rijnland as a comital college,

Rijnland

37. Later he emphasized more strongly the com

munal aspects

and also made reference

in Studien

IV, Het

Nedersticht 5 in

respect

of

Rijnland,

to a communal origin, although a little further on, on p. 14 he considers again the probable

existence

in

about 1230

of

a college appointed by the central government. Although we have

found no evidence for the latter in respect of Rijnland, we otherwise share the supposition of

this author,

ibidem

14 that in Utrecht, from about 1230,

an

episcopal,

i.e.

centrally appointed,

dike administration carried out the inspection

of

the Lek dike above the dam. M. van Vliet,

Het

hoogheemraadschap

van

de Lekdijk Bovendams

(Assen, 1961) 65, even accepts this as certainty.

7


14/207

C.

DEKKER

18th February

1286

did Count Florence V 1256-1296) establish a dike admini

stration in Rijnland under central control by placing his bailiff

of

Rijnland

at

the head

of

the existing college

of

heemraden

dike

reeves).22

He had to inspect the

dikes and act as magistrate and law enforcement officer in the whole territory

of

the dike district. A number of general and local calamities also gave Florence V

repeated occasion to act in matters ofdike administration. Sometimes his measures

related only to the law in respect of the administration of dikes and drainage,

but he often took advantage of the opportunity to subject the existing regional

dike district administrations to his control and, elsewhere, to introduce new admi

nistrations under direct central control. The aim he had in

view

was undoubtedly

the realization

of

an efficient control

of

the administration

of

dikes and drainage,

although he probably had,

at

the same time, the concealed intention of tightening

his grip on the local aristocracy, who usually had their own way in the dike

districts. To achieve his aims, he made use of his bailiffs. Apart from the example

of Rijnland in 1286,

we

see a bailiff presiding over a dike college in 1270 in the

Great

Waard,23

but, as we have seen, there

was

already an administration there

under central control in 1230. We may assume the same for Schieland in 1273,24

for Kennemerland in 1288 and for the Riederwaard in 1292.

5

A particularly

clear example is the institution of a dike administration under central government

control in

1277

in the Alblasserwaard, presided over by the bailiff

of

South Holland,

for which an agreement was necessary with a number ofmanors outside Holland.

6

It

was now only a short step to the separation

of

dike and drainage administration

matters from the office of bailiff and the appointment of a separate official under

the count to enforce the dike laws in a particular area of jurisdiction. This official

was the

dijkgraaf dike

bailiff). It

is

again the Great Waard where he

is

first encoun

tered, in 1275,27 and the ordinance of Count John II of 9th June 1303 already

takes as its starting point the common occurrence of this functionary: Item in

each

waard

there shall be a dike bailiff, whose real estate inside the

waard

is

22.

Van den Bergh,

Oorkondenboek,

II, no.

583 1286

Febr.

18,

Style of Easter).

23. Ibidem, II, no. 208 1270 Dec. 21).

24. Ibidem, II, no. 250 1273 May 14). See on this: S. Muller Hz., Over

de

oudste geschiedenis

v n Schieland.

Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letteren,

Nieuwe Reeks,

III

Amsterdam,

1914) 55-7.

25. Ibidem, II, nos.

641

1288 Aug. 16) and 814 1292 March 18).

26. Ibidem,

no.

331 1277

April

1).

27. He is called pro

visor

magnae insulae dictae Groet Wart, ibidem, no. 300 1275 Dec. 22).

The

first information about the dike bailiffs outside Holland, in Utrecht and the Betuwe, dates

from about the same period:

iudex seu visitator aggerum

Lek dike below the dam), F. Ketner,

Oorkondenboek v n het sticht Utrecht tot 1301, IV The Hague, 1954) no. 1837 1272 Nov.);

iudex et visitator aggerum

Betuwe),

ibidem,

no.

1905 1276

June

28); dikgrave

Lek dike above

the dam),

ibidem,

no.

1938 1277

May

23).

8


15/207

THE FREEHOLDERS IN THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS OF ZEELAND

valued at three hundred pounds or more, of the lord s money.28 Elsewhere,

where the dike district and the area

of

the bailiff s jurisdiction were wholly or

largely coincident geographically, as in Rijnland, the double function was retained

for a considerable time longer.

In

contrast to Holland, Florence V did not concern himself with the administra

tion

of

dikes and drainage in Zeeland with the one exception

of

the island

of

Schouwen, i e East of the ScheIdt. There he twice appointed, after the flood of

1288

and again in

1291,

a temporary college of sworn men to apportion the burden

of the repair and maintenance of the dikes.

29

On the same island of Schouwen

an earlier count, we do not know which, had already instituted a division of the

territory into

six

parts in order to make the maintenance

of

the dikes more effec

tive.

3

At that time the lords had retained their full authority, but now their far

reaching autonomy in matters of dike and drainage administration

was

temporarily

curtailed by the sworn men

of

Florence V. This

was

a clear difference from Zeeland

West of the ScheIdt. The drainage districts there, although created for drainage

purposes, must also on occasion have functioned as an appropriate framework

for dike maintenance, while, conversely, the sixths of Schouwen may also have

regulated the drainage, but the great difference is that the drainage districts were

a creation

of

the lords, while the sixths had been created by the intervention

of

the count. Zeeland West

of

the ScheIdt also suffered badly from the flood

of

1288, but Florence V did not interfere with the existing structure there, even tempo

rarily.

At

a time when the quarrel between Flanders and Holland for the control

of Zeeland West of the ScheIdt had risen to fever pitch and a large proportion

of the lords had taken the side ofCount Guy ofFlanders, it is indeed inconceivable

that he could have done so.

The lords, however, were defeated and Florence V was successful in establishing

the authority

of

Holland definitively and effectively in Zeeland West of the ScheIdt.

The introduction

of

a dike administration under central government control

on the model of Holland occupied an important place among the measures which

he and his successors took after the victory

of

Holland. t

was

important particu

larly because the count did not have any regional bailiffs in Zeeland as he did

in Holland, so that

he

considered that he could at least partly make good this

deficiency by appointing dike bailiffs answerable to the central government. The

dike bailiff would be able to control the lords in the sphere where they had until

now been able to act quasi-autonomously,

i.e.

in the administration of dikes and

drainage. By giving the new official additional powers in matters not concerned

with the dikes and drainage, such as the nomination

of

echevins

when the lords

28. F. van Mieris, Groot charterboek der graven van Holland en Zeeland en heeren van Friesland

(4 vols; Leiden, 1753-1756) II, 31.

29. Van den Bergh, Oorkondenboek II, no.

762

1291 Feb. 26).

30. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland 523, 524.

9


16/207

C. DEKKER

could

not

agree and the prosecution

of

debtors, he would also be able to strengthen

the authority of central government

generally.31

The count wanted his Zeeland

dike bailiffs

to

be more than just officials in matters concerned with the dikes.

They were also intended as a means by which he could control and chasten the

lords, in their striving for autonomy, in a wider

field

than that ofdike and drainage

administration.

We do not know exactly when the new measure was introduced, nor whether

it was already introduced

by

Florence

V,

but from about

1317 we

find in the Zee

land texts references to dike bailiffs answerable to the central government, each

enforcing the dike laws in a particular area

of

jurisdiction with a college

of

sworn

men.

3S

Remarkably enough, the first references

to

dike bailiffs also occur

at

this

time in West Friesland.

This area had also been completely subdued under

Florence V and here, too, the central dike administration was evidently one of he

measures considered by the count to be effective for bringing the territory under

control. The term heemraad (dike reeve), which was native to the lowland

of

Holland and the bishopric

of

Utrecht as a designation

of

both local and regional

officials concerned with dike and drainage administration, was introduced into

West Friesland,

but

not into Zeeland West

of

the ScheIdt. The count

was

evidently

afraid

of

resistance there

to

this term with its strong overtones

of

Holland and

for psychological reasons he chose the neutral appellation, sworn man

(iuratus).

The institution

of

dijkgraajschappen (dike bailiwicks) meant that the admini

stration

of

dikes and drainage, the checking

of

the payments to be made by the

freeholders in money and kind and the prosecution ofthose who failed to meet their

obligations were transferred from the administrations at the ambacht level

of

lord

(scultetus)

and

echevins to

the regional administrations

of

dike bailiff and

sworn men.

In

Holland, too, the lords had been confronted with this loss

of

their

powers, sometimes at a very early date through the institution

of

administrations

in the voluntarily formed dike districts and, elsewhere, through the establishment

of dike administrations under central government control. Nowhere, however,

was the administration

of

dikes and drainage so concentrated that the ambachten

no longer had a part

to playas

districts. Taxation and payments in kind for the

maintenance of the dikes almost always continued to be regulated within the

framework

of

the ambachten, with certain powers reserved for the lords or their

sculteti.

4

The lords also often succeeded in retaining certain powers concerned

31. R. Fruin, De keuren van Zeeland (The Hague, 1920 118,

119

(1328 April

7 .

32. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland.

524-27.

33. A. de Vries Az., Het dijks-en molenbestuur in Holland s Noorderkwartier onder degrafelijke

regeering en gedurende de Republiek (Amsterdam,

1876 29.

34. As examples, see: Fockema Andreae, Studien, III, De Grote of Zuidhollandse Waard,

8;

idem, Rijnland, 95-112; Th. F. J. A. Dolk, Geschiedenis van het hoogheemraadschap Delfland

10


17/207

THE FREEHOLDERS

IN

THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS OF ZEELAND

with the inspection

of

the dikes, such as preliminary inspection, a delegated

inspection, or

ajoint

inspection with the centrally controlled dike administration.

s

In

Zeeland the traditional position

of

the lords was a guarantee that they would

not let themselves be ousted without a fight. They were also able to integrate

the old situation into the new and, what is more, after having recovered from the

blows suffered after 1290, they even succeeded in getting rid of the dike admini

strations instituted by the central government.

In Holland, the count had made

use

of the existing associations of interests

in establishing the centrally controlled dike administrations, but in Zeeland he

did that only in part. There he thought initially in wider terms than the drainage

districts.

For

example, he appointed dike bailiffs for the whole

of

Walcheren,

the whole

of

North Beveland, probably for the whole

of

Schouwen, and only

on the large island

of

South Beveland were two dike bailiffs appointed, one for

Bewesten Yerseke and one for Beoosten Yerseke. In the latter instance, the boun

dary between the drainage districts was indeed chosen as the boundary between

the two areas of jurisdiction.

As

early as the 1320 s the count rejected these large

units and began to split the areas under the control

of

the dike bailiffs. From

1323 three dike bailiffs were operative on Walcheren: one for the northern part

of

Walcheren (Oostwatering and Heyensluus drainage district); one for the

southern part

of

Walcheren (Westwatering, Zuidwatering and a

few

parishes

not included in a drainage district) and one for the Vijf Ambachten (drainage

district of the same name). In 1323 a separate dike bailiwick was also established

in the south-eastern part

of

South Beveland, where there was no previously exist

ing drainage district.

t was

known as the dike bailiwick

of

Between Honte and

Hinkele. In 1328 North Beveland was divided into two dike bailiwicks, Bewesten

and Beoosten Wijtvliet while, at the same time, the dike bailiwick

of

Schouwen

must have been split into three: the northern and southern part

of

Schouwen

and the Quaalambacht of Zierikzee. In 1357 the dike bailiwick of the southern

part

of

Walcheren was further divided into a dike bailiwick

of

the Zuidwatering

and one

of

the Westwatering.

36

The conclusion to be drawn from all this is clear:

the count had gradually to adjust his centrally controlled dike organization,

against his original intention, to fall wholly in line with the existing drainage

districts, which had been created by the lords.

fhe Hague, 1939) 48-57; A. A. Beekman, et

dijk- en waterschapsrecht in Nederland voor

1795

2

vols.;

The

Hague, 1905, 1907)

n vocibus ambacht

and

ambachtsheer.

35. Preliminary inspection in the Alblasserwaard: Van den Bergh,

Oorkondenboek

II, no.

331

(1277 April 1); Van Mieris,

Groot charterboek

III,

308

(1375 April 26); IV,

243

1413 July 26).

In

the Great Waard:

ibidem

II,

139

(1395 Jan. 20). In the Krimpenerwaard:

ibidem

IV,

658

(1422 Sept. 20). Delegated inspection in Delfland: Dolk,

Geschiedenis De/j/and

83. Joint inspection

of the Doeswatering in Rijnland by dike bailiff and chief dike reeves and the administrations

of 24 ambachten:

Fockema Andreae,

Rijnland

29, 59.

36. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland

527, 528.


18/207

C. DEKKER

This emerges even more clearly if

we

also take into account the

ambachten

which had remained outside the drainage districts in the late twelfth century and

the thirteenth century.

t

appears unambiguously from a number

of

texts from

the first half

of

the fourteenth century that they had been included in the large

dike bailiwicks. The dike bailiffs and the sworn men exercised their functions

there, but during the second half of the fourteenth or the first half of the fifteenth

century, the lords of these ambachten succeeded in forcing out the dike bailiffs and

regaining their former independence in matters relating to dike and drainage

administration. They even obtained recognition by the count of what was, in

fact, a return to the thirteenth-century situation. In the fifteenth century the

dike bailiff and the sworn men could carry out dike inspections and sit in judge

ment only in those villages which formed part of the drainage district in the thir

teenth century. The dike bailiwick

of

Between Honte and Hinkele, for example,

which extended over a number of parishes that had never previously formed a

drainage district, functioned practically only in theory during the fifteenth century.

Only in one parish, Hinkelenoord, did the centrally controlled dike administration

still possess effective authority.37

or were the lords slow to act in the drainage districts. They almost immedia

tely usurped the

office of

dike bailiff. At first the count recruited his Zeeland dike

bailiffs from his

bed

ivers (agents), who had the task

of

furthering his personal

and estate interests in the different parts

of

Zeeland.

38

Where, in Holland, he gene

rally invested the highest nobles with the

office

of dike bailiff, he found it advisable

for tactical reasons to approach for this function in Zeeland men upon whom

he

could fully rely and who would

owe

all their power and dignity to this

office

and

would not misuse it for their own interests. This meant no lords, therefore.

t

was

just

at

the period from which our earliest information about the Zeeland dike

bailiffs dates that the count began to abandon this practice.

D

The ascendancy

of

the early dike bailiffs over the lords does not seem to have been so great

s he

considered desirable. On this point, too, he had to accede to the lords, who,

where they could not get the new institution abolished, wished to exercise the

office of

dike bailiff themselves, not in order to serve the count, but in order to

avoid control by a third party. The ambition to keep the

office

of dike bailiff

within their own circle probably had a further reason, lying more in the field

of

water management. With a centralized dike regime the safety

of

the land and

its inhabitants depends largely upon the policy of the dike bailiff. The more

one had to lose, the more strongly would this dependence be felt. This is why the

great lords, who possessed the most land and so would suffer most from a bad

37. Ibidem 529-33.

38. Ibidem 534.

39. C. de Waard, Inventaris v n

de

archieven der besturen v n het eiland Walcheren 1511-1870

(Middelburg, 1914) Appendix VI, 798.

2


19/207


dike administration, aspired after the

office of

dike bailiff. On the other hand,

their self-interest was a guarantee to the count that the duties would be properly

discharged. The dike bailiffs in Zeeland appointed their own sworn

men,40

so

that the latter, too, came from the circle

of

the lords.

To sum up,

we

may say that, during the fourteenth century, after a short period

during which the count held a strong grip on the control

of

the administration

of

dikes and drainage, the lords succeeded in recovering the position they had

held in the thirteenth century. In the ambachten outside the drainage districts they

regained unlimited power. In those within the drainage districts their old position

was adapted

to

the new situation only to the extent that where, during the thir

teenth century, every lord had a share in the control

of

the administration

of

dikes and drainage, during the fourteenth century only a number

of

them carried

out the actual administration.

t

would incidentally be mistaken to believe that

the lords who did not form part

of

the centrally controlled dike administrations

permitted themselves to be excluded entirely from the control

of

the adminstration

of

dikes and drainage. On the contrary, they continued to form a factor

of

impor

tance throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which even the strongest

dike bailiff had to take duly into account.

THE ORIGINS OF THE STATES OF ZEELAND

The same can be said mutatis mutandis

of

the general political situation. The

power

of

the lords no longer reached such heights in the fourteenth century as

it did in the thirteenth century, but

by

profiting skilfully from certain changes in

society, the lords remained so important collectively and, in many instances indi

vidually that the count could not act without them. In order to be able to under

stand their position in respect

of

their dependants as

well

as in relation to the count

and this

is

important for what follows),

we

should pause a moment to consider

the three forms in which the Zeeland lords manifested themselves: as nobles,

as territorial lords and as vassals. From early times there had been two conditions

in Zeeland: noble and ignoble, nobiles and ignobiles. The lords belonged to the

nobility. To

put

it

more strongly,

if

one ignores the female element, one may even

say that the nobility and the class

of

the lords approximately coincided.

4

This

was a consequence

of

the infinite divisibility

of

the

ambachten.

The lords held

their

ambachten

in

fee

from the count and

were

therefore

homines comitis.

Here,

too, they occupied an exclusive position, since, apart from a very

few

lands in

fee and after

13IO-tithes, there were no other fiefs in Zeeland than

ambachten

40. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland 549

41.

I. H. Gosses, De rechterlijke organisatie

van

Zeeland

in

de middeleeuwen Groningen-The

Hague, 1917 73; Dekker, Zuid-Beveland 389.

13


20/207

C. DEKKER

so that the terms lord and vassal also coincided in practice.

4

In their quality of

homines comitis

the lords formed a court

of

vassals, the comital court, which,

under the presidency

of

the count himself or his oldest son, exercised the highest

judicial powers in the whole of Zeeland.

4

One of its tasks was to pass an order

in respect

of

the

schot,

an old annual tax, levied on the land, paid by the freeholders,

collected by the lords and benefitting the count.44 No permission was required

from the interested parties for this

levy

(Philip

of

Leiden called the Zeeland

schot

one

of

the three hidden treasures possessed by the count ,45 only a formal order

from the comital court, legalizing the collection by the count and declaring non

payers in default. 46

Lastly, in their quality of lord scultetus, officiatus, dominus temporalis), the

Zeeland nobles not only occupied an important place in the judicial organization,

but

they also represented the ignoble inhabitants of their

ambacht

in law relative

to

the outside world. They had traditionally acted as their guardians.

47

This latter

aspect came conspicuously to the fore during the fourteenth century when the count

repeatedly appealed to his subjects to assist him financially in respect

of

the

neces

sitas terre. The count could not impose these extraordinary aids preces) without

infringing the property rights

of

his subjects. He had to obtain consent for them.

Because these extraordinary aids were levied according to the old pattern of the

schot,

the consent had to be given by the freeholders, represented by their lords.

In other words, the formality of the passing of an order by the homines comitis

in respect

of

the increasingly frequent extraordinary aids was henceforth to be

preceded by a prior deliberation by the lords (but these were the same people

as the homines comitis), which might or might not result in a consent, with or

without conditions, by means

of

which the vassals-lords placed the count in their

debt.

48

In

addition, the count also called upon the homines comitis, certainly as

early as 1318, to deliberate upon certain matters without an aid being directly invol-

42. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 438.

43. Ibidem, 400-2. A monograph has been devoted to the comital court of justice: L W. A. M.

Lasonder, Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis

v n de

hooge vierschaar

in

Zeeland (The Hague, 1909). The

view of the Middle Ages expressed there has been largely corrected by Gosses, Rechterlijke

organisatie, 205-300.

44. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 426-30.

45. Philip calls the preces mensurarum in Zeeland a iocale. The other hidden treasures are the

servitia in Zeeland and the wood

of

Mourmal in Hainaut, Philipp us de Leyden, De Cura reipubli

cae t sorte principantis, facsimile ed. by R. Feenstra (Amsterdam, 1971) cas. 43, 15 (ed. p. 176)

folio 30. Elsewhere he relates the Zeeland schot to regalia, ibidem cas. 41, 4 (ed. p. 167) folio 28v.

46. This order was originally given by the court of echevins of the castelry. When this regional

bench disappeared during the 13th century, the task passed to the court of vassals, Gosses,

Rechterlijke organisatie,

183, 184. See, further, R. Fruin,

De provincie Zeeland en hare rechterlijke

indeeling voor 1795 (Middelburg,

1933 20.

47. Gosses, Rechterlijke organisatie, 91-6; Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 387, 388.

48. Fruin, Provincie Zeeland,

19,

20; F. H. J. Lemmink, Het ontstaan

v n

de Staten

v n

Zeeland

en hun geschiedenis tot het jaar 1555

(Roosendaal, 1951) 49, 53.

4


21/207


ved,49 probably on the grounds

of

an old feudal mutual obligation for the granting

of consilium t auxilium.

A by no means negligible area

of

land was in the possession

of

the citizens

of

the towns. They had long escaped the tutelage of the lords and, to the extent

that they did regard themselves as being represented, it was certainly not by the

lords, but by their own municipal administration. t happened that the payment

of both the schot and the extraordinary aid was so arranged that the freeholders

paid the money to their lord, who paid it in his turn to the count's rentmeester

(general tax collector), retaining as

he

did so a proportion for himself, unless

otherwise stipulated in respect

of

the extraordinary aids. During the course

of

the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries certain religious institutions and citizens

of

certain towns received the privilege

of

ieveringe i.e. they were permitted to

pay the money due directly to the count's

rentmeester

so by-passing the lord

in whose ambacht their land was situated.

5 As

far as the towns were concerned,

it became the custom during the fourteenth century for the money owed by

the citizens in taxes to be paid in a lump sum from the municipal treasury as

an advance to be recovered from the taxpayers by the municipal authorities.

51

This circumstance, which was advantageous for the count, who generally wanted

to have the sum voted at his disposal as soon as possible, was one

of

the reasons

why, from the end

of

the fourteenth century, he also summoned the towns

of

Middelburg and Zierikzee to participate in the deliberations about the aids,

52

which is only a variant

of

a universal phenomenon. The rulers increasingly

needed the support of the economically prosperous towns and the latter benefitted

in their turn from a powerful administration to encourage their develop

ment. In Holland and Zeeland, particularly during the turbulent period around

1350, under the rule of Countess Margaret 1345-1354) and Count William V

(1354-1358), the towns began to play an important role. They were repeatedly

consulted in financial and, consequently, also political matters relating to the

county and they increased their strength with the privileges which they wrung

from the count in exchange for their support. t should be noted that their

influence waned as soon as the count felt more independent financially. 53

49.

Lemmink,

Ontstaan Staten van Zeeland

47, 48, 56, 57.

SO.

Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland

440-9, 457-67. During the 13th century only the citizens of Middel

burg possessed the privilege

of leveringe

during the first half

of

the 14th century the citizens

of Zierikzee also gained it, at the end of the 14th century the citizens of Reimerswale and, from

1421, those

of

Kortgene. The land-holding citizens

of

Goes never possessed the privilege.

5 . Lemmink,


49; R. Fruin, 'Schot en bede in Zeeland',

Verslag

v n

de algemeene vergadering van het Historisch Genootschap

(Utrecht, 1903) 55-95, especially 91.

52. They originally met, however, in separate assemblies, Lemmink,

Ontstaan Staten v n Zeeland

49, SO, 57, 74.

53.

J.

F. Niermeyer, 'Henegouwen, Holland en Zeeland onder het huis Wittelsbach', in:

Alge

mene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden

III (Utrecht,

1951) 19,

101 fr. and the literature quoted there.

15


22/207

c. DEKKER

While the involvement

of

the towns introduced a new element, the consultation

of the lords presented a mixture

of

old and new. A new element was the necessity

for the count to summon the lords as representatives of the ignoble freeholders

in order to obtain permission for an aid. An old element was the consultation with

the homines comitis in order to obtain the feudal consilium. The enormous number

of lords in Zeeland (in 1331,

410

on the island of South Beveland alone

54

) made

it most improbable, if not unthinkable, that they would ever appear anywhere

in full strenght either to sit in judgement or to give consent for the aids. Even

if

only a tenth

of

them were to appear, it would have been impossible to work with

such a clumsy body. We are not well informed about the number of lords who

generally attended to give consent for the aids. For his political hearings, however,

the count called upon a few potentes among the lords. There were usually less than

ten, not always the same ones and of differing geographical origin, such as the

lord of Veere from the Borsele family, members of the Brigdamme family, the

abbot

of

the Abbey

of

Our Lady at Middelburg (Walcheren), members of the

Maalstede, Kruiningen and Reimerswale families (South Beveland), members

of

the Oostende family (Borsele), the lord of Kortgene (North Beveland), members of

the Haamstede family (Schouwen), the lord

of

St. Maartensdijk (Tholen) etc.

SS

Under Count Albert (regent from

1358,

count 1389-1404 these representatives

of

the lords were called his Zeeland council, but the council did not have perma

nent members

at

that time. In their assembly they could also have delegates of

the towns beside them den raet ende steden van Zeelant the council and towns

of

Zeeland .S6

During the fifteenth century, under the Burgundian princes, there

grew from these occasional assemblies, with their varying composition, the in

creasingly rigidly defined college that came to

be

called the States of Zeeland.

The term 'States' calls to mind a representative body of the people to assist the

ruler, consisting of a number of members organized according to condition, but

that was

not

quite the case in Zeeland. Influences from elsewhere (from Hainaut

via the count and from France via Hainaut

, where the state ordered according

54. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland 472.

55. Lemmink,

Ontstaan Staten van Zeeland 67-71.

56. Ibidem

74, 75. Fruin,

Provincie Zeeland

21, considered

that

the States of Zeeland originated

in the comital court of justice. Lemmink, however, drew attention to the fact that the court

was convened at different times and perhaps with a different (in any event smaller) number of

members for giving a direction in respect of the aid than when consenting to the aid or dis

cussing political matters, and

that

the towns took part in the latter meetings,

but

did

not

attend

those of the court.

57. Lemmink,


51.

According to D. T. Enklaar,

De

opkomst van

den grafelijken raad in Holland , in: Biidragen voor de geschiedenis der Nederlanden I (The Hague,

1946) 16-30, English influences also played a role

at an

earlier stage, but this seems

to

us rather

far-fetched. Cf. also the review of Enklaar's article by P. W. A. Immink, 'Landsheerlijke

raad

en statenvergadering', ibidem I (1946) 242-8.

6


23/207


to condition was more clearly defined, certainly played a part in Zeeland, but it

is nevertheless going too far in this province to speak of the nobility , the clergy

and the towns as members

of

the States, even though this did happen later.

Each town represented only itself or, if one prefers, its citizens. There was no

question ofMiddelburg, for example, also representing Domburg and Westkapelle,

towns that were not summoned to the States Assembly. From the count s point

of view the potentes summoned from among the lords may be regarded as repre

sentatives of their fellow lords and even of the ignoble inhabitants of the ambachten.

In any event, they sat in the States as lords, not as nobles, and the abbot of

Middelburg, who was not a noble, formed one of their number as lord of a few

ambachten

on Walcheren. The other clergy in Zeeland were not lords (with

the exception of the abbot of Ter Doest, who never played a part in the poli

tics of Zeeland, since he lived outside the county) and there is nothing to show

that the abbot

of

Middelburg was considered

to

speak on their behalf as a repre

sentative of the clergy.

THE ORIGIN OF THE

STATES N

THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS

The fairly long digression on the developments in the political sphere was

necessary to give a better understanding of the parallel evolution in the sphere

of dike and drainage administration. Here, too, the lords were able to make

their influence permanently felt, but they had to acknowledge the towns as formid

able rivals for power. An important factor in the creation

of

the States

of

Zeeland

was the aid. A comparable factor in relation to dike and drainage administration

were the taxes for the maintenance of the civil engineering works, such as water

courses, sluices, dams, dikes, roads etc. Like the aid, the dike and drainage dues

were levied within the framework of the ambacht. The ordinary dike maintenance

was paid by the freeholders in kind under the responsibility

of

the lords. The

maintenance of the sluices and the carrying out of extraordinary dike works

were financed through taxation levied on the freeholders, collected by the lords

and spent by the centrally controlled dike administrations.58 The latter is applicable

only to the areas

of

jurisdiction of the administrations, i.e. to the drainage districts.

Outside the drainage districts the lords themselves attended to the spending of the

monies. The lords, therefore, occupied an important place in the financial organi

zation of the drainage districts through their responsibility for the collection of

the monies owed by their dependants. Even more than

to

their role as collectors,

however, they owed their key position

to

the circumstance that their consent was

required for the levying of extraordinary contributions. Just as the count could not

levy an extraordinary aid on his own authority without infringement

of

the

58. Dekker, Zuid-Bel eland, 579-81, 594.

17


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C. DEKKER

property rights

of

his dependants, but had to summon the lords to obtain their

consent, so did the dike bailiff have to obtain the co-operation of the freeholders,

represented by their lords, before he could impose an extraordinary levy. More

over, just as the

homines comitis

were consulted by the count in respect of political

decisions, so were the views of the ghemene manne common vassals) heard in

matters relating to dike law. t appears from two deeds of 1323, appointing dike

bailiffs in two different areas the southern part

of

Walcheren and Between Honte

and Hinkele on South Beveland that the lords possessed legislative powers in

respect of dike law. 59 Another probable prerogative of the lords was the right

of consultation in the appointment of the dike bailiff. As far as North Beveland

is concerned,

we

know that the lords there in

1328

were permitted to propose

dike bailiffs for nomination by the count and that

was

probably also the situation

elsewhere in Zeeland, although

we

have no evedence of this from before the

fifteenth or sixteenth centuries.

6

The parallelism ofthe situation in the political sphere and in that ofthe adminis

tration of dikes and drainage is also apparent in relation to the

leveringe

This

is seemingly a detail, but it is important for the relationship between the dike

administrations and the towns. Although, in contrast to the aid, the lords had

to pay the whole of the sum that they had collected from their freeholders in

drainage or dike dues

to

the dike adminstration and were not allowed to keep

anything for themselves, there also existed here the privilege of the

leveringe

for certain ecclesiastical bodies and freeholder citizens of towns.

61

They were

permitted to pay their dues directly to the dike administration, which was much

less circuitous than going through the many lords in whose

ambachten

they had

land holdings. Here, too,

we

now see the towns paying the money owed by their

citizens in a lump sum and sometimes in advance. Moreover, and we might almost

say, as a matter of course, the towns had a say in the apportioning of the dike

district charges. We unfortunately have too

few

sources to be able to study closely

the role of the lords in the first half of the fourteenth century, but the Walcheren

sources show from the middle of that century a development which exhibits

many similarities with the evolution in the political sphere.

t

is no coincidence that it is specifically the Walcheren sources which show

this development. This island, with the influential town of Middelburg and the

powerful abbot, set the tone in this respect. Here, too, it was Count William V

59. Van Mieris, Groot charterboek, II, 312

1323

March 31) and 313

1323

April 1). Cf. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland,

568.

In

the Flemish drainage districts the freeholders

probi viri, meentucht)

had

the same authority, Galle,

Beveiligd bestaan, 127-9.

60.

Van Mieris, Groot charterboek, II, 420 March 1); Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 535; A. J. F.

Fokker, et

bestuur van het waterschap Schouwen

Zierikzee, 1883) 13.

61. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland, 569.

18


25/207


who first permitted the town of Middelburg to play an important role. He gave

it

temporarily in

1355

the control

of

the dikes in the whole

of

Walcheren, because

the lords and the dike administrations could not take united action to deal with

the precarious condition of the dikes at this time.

6

From this

we

have indirect

evidence that not only the dike administrations, but also the lords were concerned

with the management

of

the dikes. Because they failed at a crucial moment through

differences of opinion, the count permitted the municipal administration to inter

vene. Although the intervention was temporary, it had consequences for the

future. Like the town, there were also among the lords in Walcheren a

few

who

had interests in all the drainage districts

of

the island. During the second half

of

the fourteenth century

we see

the magistrate maintaining constant contact

and co-operating with the most important of them, i.e. the lord of Veere and

the abbot

of

Middelburg. The joint action

of

the Walcheren

potentes

encouraged

co-ordination in matters of dike and drainage administration, which had until

then been dominated by the self-interest of the various drainage districts. Their

de facto

leadership in times of emergency was repeatedly recognized in law and

strengthened by the count. For example, in

1396

and

1406 he

placed the magistrate,

the abbot, the lord of

Veere and the

rentmeester

(general tax collector)

of

Zeeland West of the ScheIdt in supreme charge of the repair and maintenance

of

the dikes

of

the whole

of

Walcheren. In

1411

a similar authority was given to

the

rentmeester

alone. Leaving aside the

rentmeester,

there

is

a striking parallel

with the political evolution. In the political field in the second half of the fourteenth

century, there existed the comital court of justice and the lords came together to

deliberate jointly over the aids, on which occasions the towns also had a voice.

On the other hand, the count discussed occasional matters requiring a swift deci

sion with a few important representatives of the lords and the towns. In the field

of

dike and drainage administration, the lords had at the same time in Walcheren

the power to make by-laws in the drainage districts, apportioned the extraordinary

contributions and were present at the closing of the accounts, which the town

corporation

of

Middelburg also attended.

At

a time

of

emergency, however, the

count left it to a few prominent lords, including the abbot, and the town to save

the country, with or, if necessary, without the dike administrations. Although their

number was not

fixed

throughout the fifteenth century, they are to be regarded

as a representative body

of

the freeholders

of

Walcheren and they were called

the States

of

Walcheren.

A similar development can be observed in the Beoosten Yerseke drainage

district

of

South Beveland, although by comparison with Walcheren

it

began

considerably later. There is no mention

of

the town

of

Reimerswale being given

62. A. Meerkamp van Embden, Nieuwe gegevens over het bestuur van Walcheren in den lands

heerlijken tijd ,

Archie Zeeuwsch Genootschap 1933)

81-96; Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland, 570-2;

De Waard, inventaris besturen Walcheren, 51, 52.

9


26/207

C. DEKKER

a voice during the whole of the fourteenth century. When the dike administration

failed in its duties in 1419 John of Brabant charged three of the greatest lords,

i.e.

Nicholas Kervink

of

Reimerswale, Arnold

of

Kruiningen and the abbot

of

Ter Doest,

as

well

as

the magistrate of Reimerswale, with the supervision of the

dike administration, a mandate that was renewed a year later by John ofBavaria.

63

A few ordinances are known from the second and third quarters of the fifteenth

century concerning the dike laws and the extraordinary contributions in Beoosten

Yerseke, from which it appears that they were enacted with the approval of lords,

prelates and the town of Reimerswale. The draftsmen in the ducal chancellory

should not be blamed for referring separately to the prelates, but this term could

have been omitted in the Zeeland circumstances, especially since it

is

given in the

plural. Only the abbot of Ter Doest, lord of Krabbendijke and surroundings,

was a member

of

the States

of

Beoosten Yerseke, and not as a prelate, but as a

lord.

The States of Bewesten Yerseke came into existence much later again than in

Beoosten Yerseke.

6

While, in the latter drainage district in the middle of the

fifteenth century, extraordinary dike dues were determined after consultation

with the lords, including the abbot of Ter Doest and the town of Reimerswale,

in Bewesten Yerseke such a contribution was decided in 1452

at

a meeting

at

which were present, in addition to a delegate

of

the ruler and the dike administra-

tion, only the lords and the freeholders. The town corporation

of

Goes

was

present

naer ouder costume/according

to ancient custom) in

1501

at

the closing

of the account, but after that time decisions were still repeatedly taken after con-

sultation with only the lords and the freeholders. The position of the town

of

Goes differed in two respects from that of Reimerswale. In the first place, Goes

was not situated in the drainage district of Bewesten Yerseke, but had, as one of

the parishes traditionally lying outside the drainage district, its own manorial,

later municipal) system of dike management. In the second place, the citizens

of

Goes never obtained the privilege

of

the leveringe from the count, so that

they had to pay through the lords and the town had little significance financially

for the drainage district. In view of this, it

is

remarkable that constant reference

is made in connection with Bewesten Yerseke to lords and freeholders. Although

the corporation of Goes had no voice in the drainage district, a number of land-

owning citizens of Goes probably did have.

From the second decade of the sixteenth century the municipal corporation

of Goes was consulted in all financial matters. But if its location outside the drai-

nage district was evidently no longer an impediment for Goes to exercise an

63. Dekker, Zuid-Beveland, 572, 573.

64

Ibidem, 574-6.

20


27/207

THE

FREEHOLDERS

IN THE DRAINAGE DISTRICTS

OF

ZEELAND

influence on the administrative affairs of the drainage district, nor was it for Middel

burg, which also had citizens with freehold land in Bewesten Yerseke. The magi

strate

of

Middelburg also had a voice from that time.

In

addition to the lords

and the representatives of the two towns just mentioned, more clerics also gradu

ally began to take part in the closing of the drainage districts accounts. They

included the abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady

at

Middelburg, the prior of the

Crutched Friars at Goes, the abbot of Ter Doest (represented by the magister

grangie of Monsterhoek at Kattendijke) and the dean of the chapter of Our

Lady

at

Kapelle. None of these clergy was a lord in the drainage district of

Bewes-

ten Yerseke, but were they nevertheless members of the States? They need not have

been.

In

Walcheren in

1456

besides the abbot

of

Middelburg, the provost

of

the

Premonstratensians

at

Zoetendale, the commander of the Knights of St. John

of Kerkwerve and the abbess of the Cistercians of Waterlooswerve had a voice

in matters relating to dike and drainage administration, as did the towns of Dom

burg and Westkapelle in addition to the town of Middelburg.

6

• But when the

States of Walcheren were a mature institution in the sixteenth century, a well

defined college with a limited number of members, operating according to rules

laid down by the ruler, there proves to have been only one prelate and onetown.

The States ofBeoosten Yerseke were still evolving when this area was permanently

inundated by the flood

of

1532

and the States

of

Be

westen Yerseke never developed

fully. The term States was used passim in the records of the latter drainage

district which have been preserved from 1501 onwards, but there is no question

of

a closed college and one cannot say precisely who were the members. The

combination States and freeholders does occur constantly in the sixteenth

century texts. In other words, it must have been clear to contemporaries that

not everyone who had a voice was a member of the States.

Indeed, an emancipation of the freeholders is to be observed in all the drainage

districts during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

67

Where they were at first

represented by their lords and later, insofar as they lived in towns, by their muni

cipal corporation, they gradually wanted to speak for themselves. The process

began with the religious houses. In Walcheren, as appears from the quotation

above, they had already achieved this goal by 1456.

In

Bewesten Yerseke this

stage was not reached until the first half of the sixteenth century. Other, non

clerical, freeholders, however, also considered themselves no longer to be repre

sented by the lords. Times had indeed changed. The contact between the lord

and his dependants had greatly diminished. In many instances, the lord was a

member

ofthe

high nobility, who lived outside Zeeland and he was little concerned

65. Ibidem 573, 574 and note 1

66.

De

Waard, Inventaris besturen Walcheren 51 52,792-8 (Appendix VI).

67. Dekker,

Zuid-Beveland

576, 577.

21


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C. DEKKER

with the well-being of the inhabitants of his ambacht. There was no longer any

question whatever of tutelage. Moreover, there had arisen a social middle class

of

farmers whose wealth rivalled that

of

many lesser lords. Accordingly, it was

they, the very rich farmers, the main freeholders with substantial landed property,

who attended the closing of the drainage district accounts beside the lords (pre

lates) and towns and were consulted on questions

of

extraordinary dike works.

But they were not regarded as belonging to the States, because they did not

achieve their influence until a time when the meaning of the term States was

no longer susceptible to change. According to the politically influenced usage then

current, States meant nobility, clergy and towns, and the other freeholders

fell

outside this definition. This did not prevent them gaining constantly in influence,

however. They gained so much, in fact, that the distinction between States and

other freeholders diminished on South Beveland during the second half of the

sixteenth century.

In

addition, because the lords could no longer maintain their

special position during the seventeenth century, there remained in the drainage

district of Bewesten Yerseke a representation of freeholders of town and country,

in which those of the town played by far the leading part. The development was

somewhat different in Walcheren.

Not

only did the prelate disappear here with

the Reformation, but in 1574 all the lords except one were excluded from the

representation. The so-called first nobleman, in the person

of

the Prince

of

Orange

as Marquis

of

Veere, would henceforth represent all the lords. Besides the dele

gates of Middelburg, those of the towns of Veer

C. Dekker, H. Soly, J. H. Van Stuijvenberg, A. Th. Van Deursen, M. Müller, E. Witte, P. W. Klein,...

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