The Mediaeval Prestige of Dutch Cities

Chapter 10 The Mediaeval Prestige of Dutch Cities

In the Dutch Republic the mediaeval past was important not only to the nobility but also to the cities, particularly in the Province of Holland.542 Many of the cities in the former County of Holland had obtained their formal city rights in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the sealed charters attesting to these privileges were the city council’s most treasured possession. In the 17th century these city charters took on an added significance in the regular politics of the Provincial States of Holland. Following the 1581 repudiation of the authority of their Habsburg ruler, Philip II, the county of Holland was for a while a vacant title.543 After a few years, the Provincial States of Holland resolved that they would appropriate the sovereign rights of the county to themselves. The States had originally been set up as an advisory panel for the Count, composed in those days of representatives of the peerage and the province’s six major cities. Now, the political assembly took on the Count’s own authority and extend- ed the number of cities represented in it to eighteen. In the 17th century, the States of Holland was made up of representatives of each of these eighteen cities, plus one representative of the nobility. These cities thus formed part of the sovereign government and each had (in theory) equal vote. Differently than in many other European countries of the period, local government in the cities of Holland did not represent the central power but rather vice versa.544 This made the cities effective city-states with a great deal of autonomy, and above all with a pronounced sense of their individual worth and city pride. That at- titude was reflected in the architecture of urban public buildings. The representative of the nobility always had the first word in the States of Holland, so that he was able to influence the rest of the assembly despite his single vote being heavily out-represented. After him, it was the cities’ turn to speak one by one. The set order of their interventions was determined by the date at which they had been admitted to the States, and here age was a great factor, with the year of official granting of the city charter being deci- sive. Most cities in Holland had been founded in the 12th or 13th centuries, typically at the Count’s own initiative.545 In most cases, these were not new towns built from scratch but acknowledgements of the importance of existing settlements.546 It was only from the 13th century onwards that these cities in Holland began to acquire their city rights. Dordrecht counted as the oldest city in the province, with city rights dating from 1220, followed by Haarlem (1245) and Delft (1246). Fourth came Leiden (1266), followed by Amsterdam (1306) and

Gouda (1272). That is to say, although Gouda’s city rights topped Amsterdam’s for age, Gouda had been a lordship of its own for a lengthy period and only pledged to Holland. Gouda’s actual admission to the States of Holland had come later than Amsterdam’s, which is why it had sixth place. After 1585, this group grew to include Rotterdam, Gorinchem, Schiedam, Schoonhoven, Brielle, Alkmaar, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Edam, Monnickendam, Medemblik and finally Purmerend. It will be apparent that it was far from being merely a ques- tion of honour who got to speak first in the provincial assembly. It was also a matter of impact: the earlier speakers could chip in with extra points and steer the course of the debate. Later speakers could usually only endorse what had already been aired. Thus, politics was largely determined by Holland’s oldest cities, and so in this hierarchy, just as with the nobility and with the interrela- tions of royal families, age was the key to political clout. This being so, it is only understandable that numerous cities sought to show off their ancientness in their public architecture, particularly that of their town halls.

1 Town Halls

In the 17th and 18th centuries, town halls were the centre of urban power: they were the seat of the city council, chaired by a handful of burgomasters, with treasurers in charge of city finances and a panel of councillors (vroedschap) acting as advisory body. It was also where the sheriff (schout) and aldermen (schepenen) pronounced judgement on civil and criminal cases. Consequently, government and jurisprudence tend to be central themes in the iconography of the facades and interiors of town halls in Holland. Although the council met in closed session, legal cases were open to the public. For these, the sheriff and aldermen came to the aldermen’s hall (schepenzaal), where people were allowed to witness the trial. A separate solemn courtroom (vierschaar) was re- served for the handing-down of death sentences. The right to judge executable offences was regarded as the highest privilege in jurisprudence, and when a city acquired this ‘capital justice’ (halsrecht), it was typically expressed in the architecture by giving the vierschaar a prominent location and striking decor. Local government and justice were supported by town secretaries, clerks and in some cases committees charged with particular remits. Naturally, the scope of these civil service jobs depended on the size of the city. The cities did not start off with dedicated council buildings; in the early days, they met at tav- erns, cloth halls or guild lodges. However, all cities developed purpose-built city halls for their councils during the 14th and 15th centuries.