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Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic and the Case of Berkel En Rodenrijs, 1745-1812’

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Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic and the Case of Berkel En Rodenrijs, 1745-1812’ François Janse van Rensburg Student no. 5499313 ‘Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic and the Case of Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1745-1812’ Submission on 17 August 2015 Abstract: During the early modern period the poor relief systems of the Dutch Republic were the most elaborate and generous forms of poor relief found anywhere in the world. Poor relief in the Dutch Republic was provided by a myriad of different organizations including churches, civic governments, guilds, private institutions of poor relief, and semi-public administrative boards. Although civic governments played an important role in the provision of poor relief, it remained a limited role and civic governments preferred to delegate responsibility over poor relief to existing institutions. Provincial governments, aside from Friesland, and the national government of the Dutch Republic played even less of a role in the provision of poor relief. The Dutch Republic resisted most attempts at centralized control over poor relief, even as other cities and eventually countries in Europe reformed their own poor relief systems to come under state control. According to the influential theorist, Abram de Swaan, this lack of centralization should have resulted in a complete collapse of Dutch poor relief systems. However, as later scholars have argued, Dutch poor relief systems thrived and survived without coming under direct state control until the 20th century. In light of the failure of De Swaan’s model, alternative models of poor relief in the Dutch Republic have been proposed, but a universally accepted theory has not yet emerged, partially as a result of several insufficiently studied themes in poor relief in the Dutch Republic. One of these themes is the experience of poor relief in rural areas. In an attempt to contribute to the field, this thesis will conduct a case study on poor relief in the village of Berkel en Rodenrijs during the crisis period at the end of the 18th century that eventually resulted in the collapse of the Dutch Republic. Despite extreme pressure, and contrary to De Swaan’s predictions, the poor relief system of Berkel en Rodenrijs seems to have survived the chaos. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic 1.2 Models of Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic 1.3 Unanswered Questions in the Debate on Dutch Poor Relief 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Outline of Thesis Chapter 2: Theories on Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The History and Organization of Poor Relief in the Netherlands 2.3 Abram de Swaan: Poor Relief in Early Modern Europe and the United States 2.3.1 Why does poverty exist? 2.3.2 Who gives, and who is deserving? 2.3.3 The Development of Poor Relief in Europe, and the Unstable Equilibrium 2.3.4 Workhouses 2.4 Maarten Prak: s’-Hertogenbosch and the Shortcomings of De Swaan’s Model 2.4.1 The Four Phases of Development of Poor Relief in Den Bosch 2.4.2 Prak’s Continuity Thesis 2.5 Other Approaches 2.6 Conclusion Chapter 3: Poor Relief in Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1745-1812 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Batavian Revolution and the Period of French Dominance 3.3 Outline of the Case Study 3.3 Berkel en Rodenrijs: Location, Population, Economy 3.4 Poor Relief in Berkel en Rodenrijs: Stability and Crisis, 1745-1812 3.5 Conclusion Chapter 4: Conclusion Bibliography Appendix 1. Bread Distribution by the Heilige Geest of Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1752-1785 2. Registre Civique of Military Age Men in Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1811. 3. Income and Expenses of the Heilige Geest of Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1745-1812 4. Specified Expenses of the Heilige Geest of Berkel en Rodenrijs, 1745-1806 2 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic Poverty has long been a prominent feature of most human societies, and what should be done about the poor has long been a contentious political issue. In the Low Countries organized poor relief has existed since the Middle Ages (Van Leeuwen, 2013: 177). Starting with alms provided by the church, institutions providing poor relief multiplied. By the late Middle Ages, poor relief in Western Europe, including in the Low Countries, was largely decentralized and characterized by ‘...a tangled mass of charitable foundations and endowments set up by individuals, guilds, and clergy, and administered by a wide range of bodies...’ (Israel, 1995:123). Some scholars, lead by Abram de Swaan, have described the chaotic and local nature of late medieval and early modern poor relief as fragile and prone to frequent collapse. But was this always the case? For De Swaan (2004: 50-51), collapse1 of poor relief systems could only be averted by centralization of poor relief under the state. But in the Dutch Republic, itself highly decentralized, this was impossible. The Dutch Republic, established in 1581, was similarly characterized as having ‘...a weak political centre, but strong local and provincial institutions...’ (Prak, 2005: 2-4). For many scholars, the chaotic nature of the Dutch Republic was a source of weakness, a ‘constitutional monstrosity’ and argued that ‘[w]hile other countries were improving their political structure...the Netherlands was lapsing into medieval chaos.’ However, more recently some contemporary scholars view the Dutch Republic’s complex institutional framework as a source of strength by linking the Republic’s unique institutional arrangement to the extraordinary success of the Netherlands on the world stage during the early modern period. Perhaps then the same logic can apply to the equally chaotic, but arguably successful Dutch poor relief system? In the Low Countries, starting in the early 16th century, the old medieval poor relief system was swept aside by new attitudes and new approaches which lead to a fundamental reorganization of how poor relief was organized, what the aim of poor relief was, and who qualified for poor relief. First, the Reformation resulted in the confiscation of Catholic property and revenues, which left a gap in the poor relief system which was filled, by necessity, by civic governments 1 How and why poor relief systems would collapse according to De Swaan, is discussed in Chapter 2, section 2.3.3. 3 and semi-public or private institutions. Second, population growth and rapid urbanization created the burgeoning problem of mass poverty. Finally, humanist attitudes came to dominate poor relief and shifted the goal of poor relief from the provision of alms to dealing with the growing practical and moral problems of poverty, vagrancy, and idleness (Israel, 1995: 123-- 124). Following these developments, the newly established Dutch Republic developed a poor relief system that was striking both for its elaborate and complex organization (Israel, 1995: 353), and for its apparent generosity and effectiveness. While not generous by modern standards, the Dutch poor relief system was extraordinarily generous by the standards of the time. Contemporary observers were amazed. In 1673, William Temple, a visitor from England, described the Dutch by stating that ‘[c]harity seems to be very national among them’ (Prak, 2005: 147). Today, Heerma van Voss and Van Leeuwen (2012: 176) claim that ‘...nowhere in the Europe of that time, and possibly in the world, was the level of charitable expenditure as great as it was in the Netherlands.’ Could such a generous poor relief system be sustained in the long run, or in the face of crisis? 1.2 Models of Poor Relief in the Dutch Republic The ability of early modern poor relief systems to cope with crisis is a subject of intense academic debate. As discussed above, one position advocated by Abram de Swaan (2004, 40- 49) argues that poor relief systems in early modern Europe and the United States were characterized by inherent instability. Disruptions, such as disease, famine, increases in prices, or a war, even if relatively small, could give rise to large numbers of newly poor who would then overwhelm local poor relief systems causing them to collapse. One option cities had to cope with the influx of the poor was by developing methods of exclusion. These prohibitive measures include providing charity only to citizens or long term residents, shifting the burden to another community. However, by the early modern period this exclusion by cities had become problematic as rapidly growing urban economies demanded labour, but no single city could dare to allow the poor to enter or risk becoming overwhelmed (De Swaan, 1988: 14; Van Leeuwen, 2013: 174). According to De Swaan (De Swaan, 2004: 50-51), this coordination problem could only be overcome by the state. Some countries, such as England, tried to solve this problem of excluded 4 poor, by instituting poor laws, such as the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601, which sought to create a uniform poor relief system for the entire country funded by a special tax. The Dutch Republic, however, resisted this centralizing trend (Prak, 2005: 2-4), and its poor relief systems were predominantly funded by charitable donations, rather than through taxation (Heerma van Voss and Van Leeuwen, 2012: 177). Therefore, De Swaan’s model predicts that the Dutch Republic’s relatively disorganized poor relief system would have been prone to frequent collapse. However, De Swaan’s predictions do not appear to have been accurate in explaining the experience of poor relief systems in the Dutch Republic. Contrary to De Swaan’s predictions, poor relief systems in the Dutch Republic remained remarkably stable, enduring throughout the entire Dutch Republic and beyond, even in times of crisis and until the emergence of the modern welfare system in the 19th and 20th centuries (Prak, 1994: 162-165; Van Leeuwen, 2013: 173, 196-197).
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