Showing papers in "Bmgn-The low countries historical review in 2007"

Spreken vanuit het graf. De stoffelijke resten van Willem van Oranje in hun politiek-culturele betekenis

Abstract: Voice from the Grave. The politico-cultural relevance of the mortal remains of William of Orange Balthazar Gerards’ murder of William of Orange on July 10th, 1584 is a canonical fact in Dutch history, but thus far this significant event has not yet been analysed on its own merits, i.e. in terms of the material disposition of his assassinated body. Hence, this article examines the literal and figurative - or cultural and material - handling of the physical remains of William the Silent and their subsequent iconification and deification. The historiographical background and intellectual inspiration for this article are provided by the work of Ernst Kantorowic’s pupil Ralph Giesey, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Joanna Woodward. All authors point to the increasingly lavish pomp and circumstance of monarchical funeral culture, which was imitated by Europe’s high aristocracy. The autopsy on William the Silent’s corpse was completed with a meticulous embalming. The preserved body and its subsequent lying in state amidst an extensive funerary apparatus and the full pompa of the burial ceremony contained numerous reminiscences of Charles V Brussels’ funeral, in which the Prince had played a prominent role. Also, after having examined the sculptural iconography of Hendrik de Keyser’s mausoleum in Delft’s Nieuwe Kerk, it can be concluded that the significance of William the Silent’s murdered body was much more royal and catholic than traditional historiographical views on the Dutch Republic would lead us to suspect.

K. Walle, Buurthouden. De geschiedenis van burengebruiken en buurtorganisaties in Leiden (14e-19e eeuw)

Abstract: Sinds Stadsgeschiedenis (Urban History) eind jaren zestig van de vorige eeuw als een aparte discipline van het historische veld is gedefinieerd, maakt buurtgeschiedenis daar een wezenlijk onderdeel van uit. Het aantal publicaties is niet heel erg groot, zeker niet wat Nederland betreft, maar de buurt als typisch object van stadshistorisch onderzoek is erdoor op de kaart gezet. Het gaat daarbij in het bijzonder om het kleinste type buurten, vaak gebuurten genoemd, die worden gekenmerkt door zeer geringe omvang, maar een hoge mate van op solidariteit gebaseerde rechten en plichten van de bewoners. In het boek van Walle hebben we met dit type te maken. Ook hij richtte zijn onderzoek op enerzijds de institutionele aspecten en anderzijds de sociale, waarbij gezegd moet worden dat de buurt als organisatorische eenheid de boventoon voert in zijn betoog. De achtereenvolgende hoofdstuktitels spreken wat dat betreft boekdelen: I. Ontstaan en ontwikkeling, II. Institutionalisering, III. Reorganisatie en IV. Verval en ontmanteling. Het eerste hoofdstuk behandelt de gebuurten t/m de reorganisatie van 1593. Walle wijst hierbij op de (vijftiende-eeuwse) demografische groei als katalysator voor de opkomst van gebuurten als zelforganisaties. Tevens wordt echter duidelijk dat vanaf het midden van de zestiende eeuw gebuurten werden ingeschakeld door de stedelijke overheid. Deze ontwikkeling leidde in Leiden tot een inbedding in de bestuursinrichting en een volledig gecentraliseerde opzet van de gebuurten in 1593. De gebuurte werd een geïnstitutionaliseerd orgaan om de eigen sociale cohesie te bewaken. Interessant is dat Beleg en Ontzet van Leiden in 1573-1574 niet als cesuur is gehanteerd. Het volgende hoofdstuk laat de werking van de buurtcorporaties zien tijdens het Ancien Régime. Enerzijds komen de taken op het gebied van de openbare orde en sociale controle, de bevolkingsregistratie en de sociale zorg aan de orde, anderzijds de rituelen en gebruiken. Ook hier blijkt weer dat het buurtwezen bloeide in een periode van bevolkingsexplosie en de daaruit voortvloeiende typisch stedelijke problematiek. Walle bestrijdt de mening dat de gebuurten in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw in verval zouden zijn geraakt, maar geeft wel toe dat er ten aanzien van de sociabele activiteiten een neergaande lijn was. Overigens heb ik de indruk dat de achttiende eeuw minder bestudeerd is dan de zeventiende. Dat het systeem van gebuurten nog springlevend was, bewijst het derde hoofdstuk. Dit begint met het inzetten in 1795 van de buurtcorporaties ter realisering van de democratisering van het stadsbestuur. Bovendien maakte het nieuwe stadsbestuur gretig van zijn bevoegdheden gebruik om slechts stemgerechtigde, dat wil zeggen politiek gewenste opzieners van een gebuurte te benoemen. Terecht behandelt Walle deze episode in een apart hoofdstuk, overigens een iets gewijzigde en uitgebreide versie van een reeds in 1990 WEBRECENSIE BEHORENDE BIJ BMGN CXXII (2007), AFLEVERING 3

Lumumba. De Complotten? De moord. Onderzoeksrapport of historische studie?

Abstract: Lumumba. The conspiracies? The murder. Research report or historical study? Written by four historians, ’Lumumba. The conspiracies? The murder’ is based upon the official report of the Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry in which they participated. The commission of inquiry was set up to investigate whether the then Belgian government bore any responsibility for the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo after the country gained independence from Belgium. The official report concluded that the Belgian government of that time bore a moral responsibility for the assassination. The fact that the federal Belgian parliament deemed it necessary to set up a commission of inquiry to establish the official truth suggests that the country has still not come to terms with its colonial past. The book adds little to the report, largely because the authors behaved more like judges intent on passing a verdict of guilty or innocent than independent historians who are obliged to analyse and interpret the facts without necessarily appropriating blame.

De Lumumba-commissie. Geschiedschrijving en collectieve herinnering

Abstract: L. de Vos, E. Gerard, J. Gerard-Libois, Ph. Raxhon, Lumumba. De complotten? De moord (Leuven 2004) The Lumumba Commission. Historiography and collective memory. Belgium has no political tradition with regard to setting up parliamentary inquiries into aspects of its national history. Its political culture and national consensus is often perceived as too fragile to allow an open debate on painful aspects of its past. This has not only been the case with regard to Belgium’s role during the Second World War, but also for its politics in colonial Africa. Notwithstanding the ongoing controversies over the troublesome decolonisation of the Belgian Congo, it has taken four decades for the Belgian political establishment to allow a thorough reinvestigation of this episode, which has placed a heavy strain on relations between the former motherland and its colony for such a long time. The establishment in 2000 of a special commission of inquiry to investigate the murder in 1961 of Patrice Lumumba, the former Congolese political leader, was largely made possible after the transformation of the landscape of political parties in Belgium in the late 1990s. Both the establishment and proceedings of a special parliamentary inquiry reflected the profound political and ideological schisms about Belgium’s role in the decolonization of the Congo. The commission showed that writing history is closely intertwined with a political agenda. For historians, who were involved in the commission of inquiry, it was necessary to achieve a balance between academic professionalism and the moral responsibility of revealing a painful past. Historical commissions of inquiry therefore provide a good example of the public role that historians play in a changing political context. This contribution establishes both the political and moral aspects of writing history as well as their theoretical and methodological assumptions.

Dynastieke transfer in de Republiek. De politieke en religieuze betekenis van de stadhouderlijke begrafenisstoet

Abstract: Dynastic transfer in the Dutch Republic. The political and religious meaning of the Stadholders' funeral processions This article argues that the programme of the funeral processions of the Stadholders in the Dutch Republic can be read as a response to political and religious tensions in Dutch society after the Revolt. Basing themselves partly on the burial ceremonies of the former Habsburg sovereign, the directors of these processions created a separation between the private and public identities of the deceased. This separation between identities and institutional spheres was essential since the sovereignty of the Dutch state was no longer involved in the symbolic transfer of dynastic powers to a new heir. The first division of the parade was therefore marked by heraldic symbols referring to the princely household as a private institution and to family possessions. In the second, public section of the procession members of republican institutions participated. Religiously, the funeral processions reveal a programme which was consciously a-confessional. The Stadholders’ funerals were thus used to transcend confessional divisions in Dutch society and to create a unifying bond between participants and spectators.

Dijkenbouwers of rustverstoorders? De Vlaamse graven en de strijd tegen het water in de laatmiddeleeuwse Vlaamse kustvlakte (veertiende-zestiende eeuw)

Abstract: Dike builders or disrupters of the peace? The counts of Flanders and water management in the coastal wetlands (from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries). During the late mediaeval period, water management in the coastal wetlands of the Low Countries was strongly decentralized. It remained untouched by the judicial and administrative policies pursued by Burgundian and Habsburg rulers which aimed to centralise control. In the case of Flanders, this had more to do with government indifference to the situation on the ground than with local resistance government policies. Many initiatives in the field of water management that have been traditionally attributed to the counts of Flanders, were in fact initiatives that were developed, financed and implemented locally, with only tacit support from central government. And yet in the extremely fragmented water management organisation of late medieval Flanders, a coordinating authority was vital to accommodate the divergent interests of local water boards or cities, and to overcome structural disparities in the funding of sea walls. In the absence of any obvious financial reward for themselves and constrained by the private strategies of their officials, the Flemish rulers did not dare disturb the local balances of power to overcome obvious deficiencies in coastal water management.

Paleizen van het volk. Stemmen voor de democratisering van het museumbezoek in België (1860-1914)

Abstract: Palaces of the people. Lobbying on behalf of the democratisation of museum visits in Belgium (1860-1914) In the second half of the nineteenth century Belgian museums increasingly came under fire. They were heavily criticized for having become lifeless institutions that failed to fulfil their educational role. The mundane and overcrowded manner in which they presented their collections and their failure to provide any background information for visitors concerning their exhibits resulted in them being viewed as rather boring establishments by most people. A handful of museum reformers who wanted to help museums lose their reputation for stuffiness and elitism came up with all kinds of proposals to make the process of visiting museums more democratic. This article examines those proposals. The case of the Koninklijke Museums voor Sier- en Nijverheidskunst, established in 1889 in Brussels, is used to illustrate how the museums themselves dealt with the criticism and plans for reform. In this way it is hoped that some light may be shed on a relatively unexplored area, namely the history of cultural consumption and museum attendance in Belgium in the nineteenth century.

'Geschiedenis is nu eenmaal altijd politiek.' De studie-Drooglever als symptoom van de moeizame omgang van Nederland met het koloniaal verleden en de complexe relatie met Indonesië. Discussie over Een daad van vrije keuze

Abstract: ‘History is by definition political’. The Drooglever study as a symptom of the uneasy relationship the Netherlands has with its colonial past and its complex relationship with Indonesia In December 1999, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, J.J. van Aartsen, complied with a request from parliament for an historical study into the referendum held in 1969 among the Papua population in the former Dutch New Guinea. The outcome of this ‘Act of Free Choice’ was manipulated and resulted in the territory becoming a permanent part of Indonesia, which is what Indonesia had coveted all along. The decision to carry out the study angered the Indonesian government and resulted in a deterioration of the already fragile bilateral relations between both countries. When Drooglever’s findings were published the Balkenende II (2003-2006) cabinet was confronted with a dilemma: how could it do justice to the study carried out by the historian P. J. Drooglever on the one hand, yet try to repair the political damage to its relations with Indonesia on the other. In the context of the complex Dutch-Indonesian relationship in general this article not only deals with Van Aartsen’s motives for accepting this controversial research, but also explains why Indonesia reacted as it did and outlines how the Balkenende government tried to deal with this thorny issue.

Verdelgen of verheffen? De evolutietheorie en de maakbaarheid van de mens

Abstract: To elevate or to exterminate? Evolution theory and the ‘Man’s ability to be transformed’ Around 1900, Belgian scientists from different disciplines were tempted to use the theory of evolution as a tool to make pronouncements about the ‘Man’s ability to be transformed’. Although some biologists did examine this issue, it was primarily sociologists, anthropologists, educationalists, criminologists and eugenicists who used biological language to tackle the question. In this article I argue that these commentators can be divided into two groups: the determinists and the voluntarists. The first tended to believe in an evolution that was determined by an insurmountable struggle for life. A larger group of voluntarists, however, believed human evolution could be adjusted by changing the milieu in which people lived. In spite of this difference, the two groups also had a lot in common. Both used biological terminology to argue for a new type of government, which was completely ‘objective’ and ‘scientific’. In this way, both became defenders of what can be described as a ‘depoliticization’ of politics.

Het Lumumba-onderzoek

Abstract: The Lumumba inquiry In his reply, E. Gerard, one of the experts of the parliamentary inquiry committee, comments on four aspects dealt with in the reviews of the Lumumba affair. One should distinguish between the judgment of the committee and the experts’ report as to their respective nature. The experts want their conclusions, which are the result of historical research, to be part of an ongoing scientific debate. When carrying out their research they focussed on the professional standards of their metier, not the considerations of the raison d’etat . By conducting a careful and thorough analysis of written and oral sources, they tried to bridge the gap between fact and fiction to lay a solid foundation for assessing the events around this controversial case. They put forward the concept of “moral responsibility’ to make it clear that the Belgian government, although not actually an accomplice in a murder plot, cannot be exempted from any responsibility in the developments that led to the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. In this way, they try to escape the deadlock created by a structural approach towards history.

Grondslagen van verandering. Assimilatie en differentiatie van het Antwerpse boekbedrijf in de tweede helft van de zeventiende eeuw

Abstract: The foundations of change. Integration and diversification in the Antwerp book trade during the second half of the seventeenth century War, ruthless international competition, high import and export duties on books, and unforeseeable changes in the taste of readers all posed a serious threat to the survival of the book trade in the Southern Netherlands during the late seventeenth century. Nevertheless, some Brabantine printers not only survived the crisis they even managed to prosper. This article provides additional insights into the survival strategies adopted at the time based on material from the archives of Balthazar II Moretus’ Officina Plantiniana and the medium-sized publishing house of Hieronymus III Verdussen. Although both entrepreneurs reacted to the crisis by imposing harsh reforms, restructuring, and implementing innovative techniques such as sale on approval, their actual management choices differed greatly. The Officina Plantiniana focused more on the industrial component by opting for large-scale printing. Moretus cut back deliveries to smaller markets and dealers and concentrated on the major booksellers instead as they were able to order in bulk and resell the books to their smaller colleagues which meant that he no longer had to pay for transport and marketing. Moretus also abandoned the inefficient barter system and insisted upon cash payments so that he no longer had to take on books with a limited market value. Verdussen on the other hand followed a completely different path and seemed to renounce printing. He outsourced more and more printing work to jobbing printers in Germany or the United Provinces, thereby externalizing the risk of overstocking or losing out due to a drop in demand. By cultivating a number of advantageous alliances, Verdussen was also able to drastically reduce his custom and transport costs. As the registers of their guild reveals, in order to survive the crisis the majority of publishers in Antwerp chose Verdussen’s course of commercial capitalism as opposed to the industrial approach followed by Moretus.

Een paar bedenkingen. Discussie over Een daad van vrije keuze

Abstract: Some considerations In ‘Some Considerations’ Pieter Drooglever deals with the motives that led the Institute for Netherlands History and the author himself to respond positively to a request made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2000 for a study into the events that led up to the Act of Free Choice in West New Guinea. It does so against the background of developments in Indonesia at the time and explains why the act of writing such an analytical work fitted into the research programme of the Institute. He mentions the vacillations in relations with the Ministry as a result of shifting policies in Indonesia and the Netherlands, but stresses the fact that these did not interfere in any way with the freedom in which the research was carried out or the published findings, in compliance with an agreement drawn up between both parties. In the second part of the paper, he discusses the peculiarities of working in a politicised context. He emphasizes that this caused him to refrain from jumping to conclusions and to concentrate instead on trying to understand the various aspects of a multi-facetted history on their own merits. Yet, in the end, a stance had to be taken on various issues. Evidence of this can be found within the terms of the commission and in the results of the research. Notwithstanding its limitations, the historical method of analysing a broad spectrum of information from many different sources enables one to reach definitive conclusions that pave the way for further discussion. In the third part of his paper, the author responds to some of the main criticisms levelled by his opponents.