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From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - The Prosperous Thirteenth Century - New Civic Bodies

9 important questions on From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - The Prosperous Thirteenth Century - New Civic Bodies

What does "Frisian freedom" mean?

The most striking example of the free farmers stemmed from Frisia, which in the Middle Ages prided itself on its liberties, and where the nobility were only modest property-holders.
"Frisian freedom," as it became known in the medieval period, meant being free from the rule of foreign potentates.
Until the sixteenth century the Frisians - at least those living east of the new Zuyder Zee - for the most part successfully resisted a host of invaders from all directions, including their most insistent antagonists, the counts of Holland.

What did freedom go hand in hand with? How did this apply to the Frisians?

Freedom from a strong-arm lord went hand-in-hand with greater lawlessness. The Frisians created and maintained their own body of shared law, as evidenced in their annual meeting at the Upstals, the holy oak tree near Aurich in East Frisia.
But in practice interpretation of this law was left to local landed farmers and to village communities, and laws elaborately defining punishments for killing and maiming did not halt the enduring vendettas.

What did Willem II do for watermanagement?

In response to local demands and the advice of his newly formed council, Count Willem II oversaw the completion in 1253 of an expensive and innovative sluice-gate at Spaarndam near Haarlem. This sluice altered the water level for ships passing through and enabled travel between the Zuyder Zee and ports to the south.
In the late thirteenth century water boards were formalized and given authority to address water problems, the first of which, established by Willem, was the hoogheemraadschap of the Rhineland (1255).

What was crucial to the success of waterboards?

Crucial to the success of these boards were the cooperation and support of the count, whose representative typically headed these water boards, and who had the authority of enforcement.
Just as important was the commitment of local property owners, whose own willingness to contribute to the maintenance or expansion of the water management system - typically on the basis of proportionality - was essential to the labor and funding required.

What kind of organizational structure did these water boards have?

These water boards were not democratic in the modern sense - those with the most land had the most say - but they were in the first instance the initiatives of many different residents who came to share responsibility for the common good.

What changed the political balance of power in the Netherlands?

Changing the political balance of power in the Netherlands was the strong rise of the cities in the thirteenth century.

For what reason were city rights granted? What were city rights?

Cities' rights were granted as a way of building loyalty among a town's political elite and to establish a prosperous trading center near the Maas.
A city's rights typically included the right to hold markets, to exact tolls on roads and waterways that ran through it, and to build its own defensive fortifications.

What responsibilities came with city rights?

With city rights came also, as in Flanders and elsewhere in Europe, a city's right to its own representation.
Typically, as in Flanders, this was manifested in the office of the aldermen, whose tasks included both the dispensing of justice and overseeing important public dossiers, such as the state of the city walls.
Aldermen typically stemmed from the patrician class.

Where were the guilds successful? For what reason did they exist?

In some towns many artisans and craftspeople felt that they, too, ought to have a voice. The rise of their organizations, the guilds, began to make an impact only later in the thirteenth century, though the first mention of a merchant's guild dates from 1020 in the town of Tiel.
The guilds, a wider European phenomenon, first manifested themselves and were most successful in olders towns of the Low Countries, with bakers and weavers among the first to organize in this way.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

A Concise History of the Netherlands | 9780521699174 | James C Kennedy

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From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - The Prosperous Thirteenth Century - New Civic Bodies

9 important questions on From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - The Prosperous Thirteenth Century - New Civic Bodies

What does "Frisian freedom" mean?

What did freedom go hand in hand with? How did this apply to the Frisians?

What did Willem II do for watermanagement?

What was crucial to the success of waterboards?

What kind of organizational structure did these water boards have?

What changed the political balance of power in the Netherlands?

For what reason were city rights granted? What were city rights?

What responsibilities came with city rights?

Where were the guilds successful? For what reason did they exist?

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