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The will to give: charitable bequests, inter vivos gifts and community building in the Dutch Republic, c. 1600–1800

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2012

ELISE VAN NEDERVEEN MEERKERK
ELISE VAN NEDERVEEN MEERKERK
Affiliation:
International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.
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Abstract

This article explores the role of different social groups in early modern Dutch towns in organising and financing poor relief. Examining both the income structure of Dutch urban poor relief organisations and voluntary donations and bequests by citizens reveals what motivations lay behind their involvement, and how and why these changed over time. In the seventeenth century, ‘middle groups’ donated more often and higher mean amounts, reflecting their efforts to contribute to urban community building. In the eighteenth century, the elite became relatively more involved in charitable giving. Also, the urge to give to one's own religious group seems to have increased in this period.

La volonté de donner: legs caritatifs, donations entre vifs et construction communautaire dans la république hollandaise (1600–1800)

Cet article explore le rôle de groupes sociaux différents, dans les villes hollandaises de l'époque moderne, dans l'organisation et le financement de l'aide aux pauvres. L'auteur examine à la fois comment étaient structurés les revenus des institutions caritatives urbaines en Hollande, les donations et les legs individuels faits par des citoyens. Elle révèle quelles motivations étaient invoquées pour leur participation et comment et pourquoi ces motivations changèrent au fil du temps. Au dix-septième siècle, c'étaient les classes moyennes qui faisaient don le plus souvent et les dons étaient élevés, reflétant leur souci de contribuer à la construction communautaire urbaine. Au dix-huitième siècle, l'élite est devenue relativement plus impliquée dans le don aux institutions caritatives. Et aussi, dans cette période, la forte envie de donner à son propre groupe religieux semble s'être imposée de plus en plus.

Der wille zu geben: wohltätige stiftungen, geschenke unter lebenden und städtische gemeinschaftsbildung in der niederländischen republik, ca. 1600–1800

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Rolle, die verschiedene soziale Gruppen in frühneuzeitlichen Städten in den Niederlanden für die Organisation und die Finanzierung der Armenfürsorge spielten. Sieht man sich sowohl die Einkommensstruktur der städtischen Armenfürsorgeeinrichtungen als auch freiwillige Spenden und Stiftungen von Bürgern an, so erkennt man die ihnen zugrundeliegenden Motivationen, aber ebenso, inwiefern und warum sie sich im Laufe der Zeit veränderten. So stifteten im 17. Jahrhundert die,, Mittelschichten“ häufiger und höhere Beträge, was ihre Anstrengungen reflektiert, zur Bildung einer städtischen Gemeinschaft beizutragen. Im 18. Jahrhundert dagegen finden wir im Bereich der mildtätigen Spenden ein stärkeres Engagement der städtischen Elite, wobei in dieser Zeit auch das Verlangen zugenommen zu haben scheint, innerhalb der eigenen religiösen Gruppe zu spenden.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 27 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue: Giving in the Golden Age: Charity in the Dutch Republic , August 2012 , pp. 241 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

ENDNOTES

1 M. H. D. van Leeuwen, Zoeken naar zekerheid. Risico's, preventie, verzekeringen en andere zekerheidsregelingen in Nederland 1500–2000. Vol. I: De rijke Republiek: gilden, assuradeurs en armenzorg 1500–1800 (Amsterdam, 2001), 89.

2 Lindert, P., ‘Poor relief before the welfare state: Britain versus the continent, 1780–1880’, European Review of Economic History 2, 2 (1998), 106–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 M. Prak, ‘Goede buren en verre vrienden. De ontwikkeling van onderstand bij armoede in Den Bosch sedert de Middeleeuwen’, in H. Flap and M. H. D. van Leeuwen eds., Op lange termijn. Verklaringen van trends in de geschiedenis van samenlevingen (Hilversum, 1994), 147–69; van Leeuwen, M. H. D., ‘Amsterdam en de armenzorg tijdens de Republiek’, NEHA-Jaarboek 59 (1996), 132–61Google Scholar.

4 A. de Swaan, In care of the state: health care, education and welfare in Europe and in the USA in the Modern Era (New York, 1988), 23, 27; K. A. Lynch, Individuals, families, and communities in Europe, 1200–1800 (Cambridge, 2003), 109; C. H. Parker, ‘The pillars of a new community: conflicts and cooperation over poor relief in post-Reformation Holland’, in M. van der Heijden, E. van Nederveen Meerkerk, G. Vermeesch and M. van der Burg eds., Serving the urban community. The rise of public facilities in the Low Countries (Amsterdam, 2009), 155–67.

5 C. Lis, H. Soly and D. Van Damme, Op vrije voeten? Sociale politiek in West-Europa, (1450–1914) (Leuven, 1985); R. Jütte, Poverty and deviance in early modern Europe (New York and Cambridge, 1994).

6 S. Cavallo, Charity and power in early modern Italy. Benefactors and their motives in Turin, 1541–1789 (Cambridge, 1995).

7 van Leeuwen, M. H. D., ‘Logic of charity: poor relief in preindustrial Europe’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 24, 4 (1994), 589–613CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Lynch, Individuals, families, and communities, 213.

9 Parker, ‘Pillars of a new community’, 166–7.

10 McCants, A., ‘Nederlands republikanisme en de politiek van liefdadigheid’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 22, 4 (1996), 443–55Google Scholar; A. McCants, Civic charity in a Golden Age. Orphan care in early modern Amsterdam (Urbana and Chicago, 1997), 10, 201.

11 A. S. de Blécourt, Kort begrip van het oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht. Bewerkt door mr. H. F. W. D. Fischer, 6th edn (Groningen, 1969), 5–6.

12 De Blécourt, Oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht, 73–4; A. Schmidt, Overleven na de dood. Weduwen in Leiden in de Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam, 2001), 80.

13 Schmidt, Overleven na de dood, 82.

14 De Blécourt, Oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht, 341–2, 347–8. Grandparents generally died before grandchildren had any property to transfer. The next line of inheritance was, as in Holland, formed by brothers and sisters of the deceased, or their descendants.

15 De Blécourt, Oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht, 40–1.

16 Blood-related legal heirs inherited at least a third of the total estate if there were fewer than five descendants who were blood-related, and half of the total estate if there were five or more blood-related legal heirs. De Blécourt, Oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht, 362.

17 See also Schmidt, Overleven na de dood, 90–4.

18 Cavallo, Charity and power, 3–4; Van Leeuwen, ‘Liefdadige giften’.

19 For a list of the most important sources, see note 48. Apart from the wills, marriage records, census data and notary acts have been used to provide information on income and/or occupation.

20 van Leeuwen, M. H. D., ‘Liefdadige giften in Amsterdam tijdens de achttiende eeuw’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 22, 4 (1996), 430–2Google Scholar.

21 Lynch, Individuals, families and communities, 131.

22 M. Prak, ‘Armenzorg 1500–1800’, in J. van Gerwen and M. H. D. van Leeuwen eds., Studies over zekerheidsarrangementen. Risico's risicobestrijding en verzekeringen in Nederland vanaf de Middeleeuwen (Amsterdam and The Hague,1998), 49–53.

23 M. Vovelle, Piété baroque et déchristianisation en Provence au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1978), 37.

24 Nevertheless, in his work on Amsterdam testators, Van Leeuwen has shown that even the labouring poor occasionally left legacies to charity, M. H. D. van Leeuwen, ‘Giving in early modern history: philanthropy in Amsterdam in the Golden Age’, in this issue of Continuity and Change. The rather crude distinction between the elite, the middling groups and the working classes made by Van Leeuwen has also been used in this research for reasons of comparability. This distinction will be further elaborated in section 5. A similar approach is taken by H. Looijesteijn, ‘Funding and founding private charities: Leiden almshouses and their founders, 1450–1800’, in this issue of Continuity and Change.

25 See also D. Teeuwen, ‘Collections for the poor: monetary charitable donations in Dutch towns, c. 1600–1800’, in this issue of Continuity and Change.

26 W. K. Jordan, Philanthropy in England 1480–1660. A study of the changing pattern of English social aspirations (London, 1959), 32–3.

27 Van Leeuwen, ‘Liefdadige giften’, 422.

28 Bittle, W. G. and Todd Lane, R., ‘Inflation and philanthropy in England: a re-assessment of W. K. Jordan's data’, Economic History Review 29, 2 (1976), 203–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 203–5.

29 E. van Nederveen Meerkerk and G. Vermeesch, ‘Reforming outdoor relief. Changes in urban provisions for the poor in the Northern and Southern Low Countries (c. 1500–1800)’, in Van der Heijden, et al., Serving the urban community, 135–54, 140–1, 153. Outside the cities, assistance to the poor was also provided, but since these provisions were generally less formalised and less monetised, historical records reveal little about them.

30 R. Sluijter and A. Schmidt, ‘Sociale verhoudingen en maatschappelijke zorg’, in S. Groenveld and R. C. J. van Maanen eds., Leiden: de geschiedenis van een Hollandse stad. Vol. 2: 1574–1795 (Leiden, 2002), 119–20.

31 G. P. M. Pot, Arm Leiden. Levensstandaard, bedeling en bedeelden, 1750–1854 (Hilversum, 1994), 160.

32 D. E. A. Faber and R. N. J. Rommes, ‘Op weg naar stabiliteit’, in R. E. de Bruin, P. D. 't Hart, A. J. van den Hoven van Genderen, A. Pietersma and J. E. A. L. Struickeds., ‘Een paradijs vol weelde’. Geschiedenis van de stad Utrecht (Utrecht, 2000), 274–5.

33 D. Teeuwen, ‘Van de groote swaricheyt den armen deser Stadt. De reorganisatie van de armenzorg in Utrecht in comparatief perspectief 1580–1674’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, Utrecht University, 2007) 50, 53–54, 58.

34 H. van Wijngaarden, Zorg voor de kost: armenzorg, arbeid en onderlinge hulp in Zwolle 1650–1700 (Amsterdam, 2000), 52. Reformed poor did have the benefit of an extra sum of money from the diaconate if they were church members (lidmatengeld).

35 Van Nederveen Meerkerk and Vermeesch, ‘Reforming outdoor relief’, 141–5.

36 J. ten Hove, Geschiedenis van Zwolle (Zwolle, 2005), 343–6.

37 Prak, ‘Armenzorg 1500–1800’, 68.

38 Again, the exception was the Almoners' Chamber in Utrecht, where structural subsidies had already been introduced by the city government in the second half of the seventeenth century.

39 See for a recent analysis of the Dutch tax system: van Zanden, J. L. and Prak, M., ‘Towards an economic interpretation of citizenship: The Dutch Republic between medieval communes and modern nation-states’, European Review of Economic History 10 (1996), 131–2Google Scholar.

40 For censuses and other sources used for this purpose, see note 48.

41 In Leiden in 1740, Diderik Christian Piclat bequeathed a total of 14,000 guilders to several charitable institutions. Regional Archive Leiden (hereafter RAL), Old Notary Archives (hereafter ONA), inv. no. 2065, 25-11-1740. In Utrecht, in 1740, 12,000 guilders, 8,000 of which were only conditional, were bequeathed to the Reformed diaconate by the widow Sara Sibilla Verdion, and in 1802 the unmarried man Gerrit van Westhuyzen donated 14 obligations of 1,000 guilders (fl. 14,000) to the Utrecht orphanage. Utrecht Archives (hereafter HUA), Notary Archives, inv. nos. U184a7-90 and U260a13-4. The records of poor relief institutions indicate that large gifts like this were the exception rather than the rule. RAL, Stadsarchief van Leiden 1574–1816 (hereafter SA II), inv. nos. 9045–9093 and HUA, Diaconate, inv. nos. 538–551.

42 ‘[W]ort daerom seer ootmoedich gebeden, dat int uytgaen van testamenten daeromtrent enige recommendatie moge vallen, alsoo veeltijts den siecken daerop niet aen denken[.]’, Historical Centre Overijssel (hereafter HCO), City Archives Zwolle, inv. no. 729 – Rekwesten van de aalmoezeniers, c. 1680.

43 Based on series of the real value of the guilder as calculated by Jan Luiten van Zanden. For the datasets, see ‘The IISH list of datafiles of historical prices and wages’, http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/ [last accessed 20 March 2011].

44 This is not a statistical error caused by the small number of wills with charitable bequests in Zwolle in 1800. A list of legacies for the entire period 1748–1823 confirms that the number of legacies went down, while the mean donation went up in this period. HCO, City Poor Chamber, inv. no. 275.

45 Van Leeuwen, Rijke Republiek, 40–1.

46 J. De Vries and A. Van der Woude, The first modern economy. Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1550–1815 (Cambridge, 1997), 530.

47 Van Leeuwen, Rijke Republiek, 41–3.

48 The most important sources are: RAL, City Archives, SA II, inv. no. 1289, Census 1581; RAL, DTB Leiden, various marriage records; RAL, SA II, inv. nos. 161–184, Registers van de Volkstelling 1748–1749 (Population register 1749). HCO, City Archives Zwolle, Registers van de inwoners der stadswijken, met vermelding van de eigenaren der huizen, de bewoners, hun geboorteplaats, beroep, aantal kinderen en godsdienst, 1742. Met aanvullingen en veranderingen (Population register 1742); HUA, Notaries before 1906, various acts; HCO, City Archives Zwolle, inv. nos. 426–9; HCO, City Archives Zwolle, inv. no. 1023, Register van volkstelling van de gezinshoofden (Population register) 1795; HCO, City Archives, inv. nos. 420–425, Census 1812.

49 Faber and Rommes, ‘Op weg naar stabiliteit’, 299–300.

50 Of the 18 instances in which a charitable institution was mentioned as the sole heir, 9 (50 per cent) were from the middle groups, 4 (22 per cent) were from the elites and for 5 (28 per cent) the social position was unknown. Database wills.

51 Lynch, Individuals, families, and communities, 135.

52 Van Wijngaarden, Zorg voor de kost, 67–8.

53 Pot, G., ‘Tussen medelijden en spaarzaamheid. De regenten van het Leidse Huiszittenhuis 1700–1795’, Holland 20 (1988), 74Google Scholar.

54 This is consistent with the observation that even in the sixteenth century the urban elite in Utrecht tended to withdraw from community involvement, particularly social care. L. Bogaers, Aards, betrokken en zelfbewust. De verwevenheid van cultuur en religie in katholiek Utrecht, 1300–1600 (Utrecht, 2008), 580–3, 588–9.

55 RAL, ONA, inv. no. 2065, 25-11-1740.

56 McCants, Civic charity, 9–10.

57 Elites and the poor did live in close physical proximity to each other in most Dutch towns. Lesger and Van Leeuwen have recently called this ‘round the corner segregation’. Lesger, C. and van Leeuwen, M. H. D., ‘Residential segregation from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century: evidence from the Netherlands’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 43, 3 (2011), 333–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 Prak, ‘Armenzorg 1500–1800’, 49–53.

59 For an overview of determinants studied in the Giving in the Golden Age (GIGA) project, see L. H. Heerma van Voss and M. H. D. van Leeuwen, ‘Charity in the Dutch Republic: an introduction’, in this issue of Continuity and Change.

60 HCO, City Archives Zwolle, inv. no. 2118, fol. 161. For additional information on Johan van Bolten, see Haga, A., [no title], De Nederlandsche Leeuw 65 (1948), 362Google Scholar.

61 HUA, Notary Archives, inv. no. U003a014, fol. 14.

62 HUA, Notary Archives, inv. no. U267a3-131.

63 Examples taken from: HCO, City Archives Zwolle, inv. no. 2118, fol. 156 and inv. no. 2120, fol. 413.

64 Indeed, there is proof that beggars and even strangers received money from the Zwolle authorities on occasion. Van Wijngaarden, Zorg voor de kost, 63.

65 McCants, Civic charity, 201.

66 Bogaers, Aards, betrokken en zelfbewust, 566–8.

67 Teeuwen, ‘Van de groote swaricheyt’, 54–6.

68 Van Wijngaarden, Zorg voor de kost, 61, 138–9.

69 HUA, Diaconate, inv. nos. 540–551.

70 HUA, ONA, inv. no. 28, no. 72, 04-06-1600.

71 RAL, ONA, inv. no. 141, no. 36, 26-01-1623.

72 RAL, ONA, inv. no. 1930, 22-10-1740.

73 RAL, ONA, inv. no. 2397, no. 44, 24-03-1800.

74 RAL, ONA, inv. no. 1115, 28-10-1670. For a more unwilling example, see RAL, ONA, inv. no. 2065, 11-06-1740.