Everything about The Vroedschap totally explained
The
vroedschap was the name for the
city council in the
early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a
vroedman, literally a "wise man". A honorific title of the
vroedschap was the
vroede vaderen, the "wise fathers"
Most early modern Dutch cities were ruled by a government of male
burghers or
poorters (bourgeois) who were members of the regent class, the ruling elite. During late Medieval times, the regents had in all cities gradually managed to exclude men of the artisan class from membership, making themselves a sort of hereditary city nobility. In the
Dutch Republic, a city administration consisted of the magistrate and the
vroedschap. The magistrate (or city government) consisted of a number, often four, of
burgomasters assisted by a number of aldermen (
schepenen), and looked after the daily administration of the city. In most cities, the mayors were chosen for a period of four years. The previous (and usually the youngest) mayor was responsible for the
schutterij, the civil militia. The vroedschap appointed the magistrate, mostly from its own ranks; sometimes other members of the regent class were proposed. There was a complicated system of drawing lots and in many cities a shortlist was made from which the
stadtholder, the highest provincial executive official, could choose; from 1748 this became a general system for the Dutch Republic.
The vroedschap was convened on financial questions, sometimes on national politics, and always for elections for the appointment of important local posts. Thus, the vroedschap mainly served the economic interests in which its members had an important share. In contrast to magistrates,
vroedschapsleden ("members of the city council") were appointed for life. The council consisted of ten to forty citizens, that met weekly or less often. They chose one or two new mayors and representatives to the
Provincial States in January each year.
Membership was in principle a question of
uitverkiezing (
cooptation) and inheritance. Family ties were very important, but also good breeding and social status.
Vroedmannen had to satisfy two conditions: membership of the Calvinist church and the possession of a house. Although city administrations, by present standards, were more
oligarchic than
meritocratic, family ties never formed a formal legal basis for election.
In times of crisis, the stadholder sometimes appointed new
vroedschapsleden in a province, to ensure that his followers were in power, a so-called
wetsverzetting ("change of the legislative"). This happened in
1619,
1672,
1748 and
1787. There was no legal basis for such an act.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Vroedschap'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://vroedschap.totallyexplained.com">Vroedschap Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
