A heerlijkheid (a Dutch word; pl. heerlijkheden; also called heerschap; Latin: Dominium;Brabantia illustrata English: manor, seigniory and lordship;. The translation used by J.L. Price in Dutch Society 1588-1713 is "manor"; by David Nicholas in Medieval Flanders is "seigneury". German: Herrschaft) was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. It originated as a unit of lordship under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. The heerlijkheid system was the Dutch version of manorialism, that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium.The unreferrenced information in this article has been translated from the mostly unfootnoted article on "heerlijkheid" on the Dutch version of Wikipedia.Much of the unreferrenced information in this article is found at this website: Heerlijkheden van Holland (in Dutch only)
Characteristics and types A typical heerlijkheid manor consisted of a village and the surrounding lands extending out for a kilometre or so. Taking 18th-century Wassenaar as an example of a large hoge heerlijkheid, it was 3,612 morgens in size and had 297 houses. Nearby Voorschoten was 1,538 morgens in size and had 201 houses. Nootdorp was an ambachtsheerlijkheid of 196 morgens and 58 houses.Heerlijkheden van Holland (in Dutch only) There were 517 heerlijkheden in the province of Holland in the 18th century. All fell into the last three categories in the list below (except for a few for which this information is unknown).
Not all heerlijkheden were the same. They differed in size and composition.pp. 70-102 Also, a heerlijkheid should not be confused with a larger territory, like a county (graafschap) or viscounty (burggraafschap), nor with administrative regions on par with an English shire, Dutch gouw, German Gau, or Roman or Carolingian pagus. A Flemish castellany (kasselrij or burggraafschap) was larger and different from a heerlijkheid, but they were similar in some ways. pp. 47, 50, 88, 106, 159, 341
There were different kinds of heerlijkheid:
erfheerlijkheid — a specifically hereditary feudal barony. Depending on the County and era, heerlijkheiden could be hereditary or non-hereditary, and inherited either by the eldest male descendant, all male descendants in the male line in shares, or later by a female descendant where there was no son. hoge heerlijkheid — a great barony or ‘honour’, either a fief or allodium. In these large lordships, the lord had jurisdiction to appoint a bailiff (baljuw) instead of just a reeve (schout), and to administer capital punishment. Depending on the county, it was possible for a heerlijkheid to be both prescriptive (vrij) and large (hoge). The largest were actually mini-counties within the county. vrijheerlijkheid — an allod or allodium. These heerlijkheden were a subset of hoge heerlijkheiden, because of the sweeping powers held by the vrijheer, and were often found at the edges of a county. They were called 'free' (vrij) because they were allodial instead of a fief held by an overlord. ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid — a serjeanty, often located inland rather than on the borders. Serjeanties sometimes consisted of nothing more than a castle and a few hectares of land, although most were larger than this. The serjeant did not have the power of 'pit and gallows', i.e., the power to impose the death penalty. schoutsambt — a reeveland, the territory under the charge of a reeve (schout), thus equivalent to the jurisdiction of a heerlijkheid
Lord of the manor (heer)
The central figure was the lord of the heerlijkheid and effectively its owner—the manorial lord or lady. In Dutch, the lord was called heer and the lady vrouw(e). The lord was also referred to by the Latin word dominus. A rarer English alternative is seigneur. pp. 75-77, 212, 222, 429, 470-472 There were different kinds of lord and lady:
vrijheer and vrijvrouwe (literally, 'free lord' and 'free lady') — allodial lord or allodiary, tenant of an allodial lordship. erfheer and erfvrouwe (literally, 'hereditary lord' and 'hereditary lady') — feudal baron or mesne lord, tenant of a fiefdom. baanderheer (literally, ‘knight banneret’) — tenant by knight-service; some lords used this title when their noble line was ancient and therefore superior to other nobles ambachtsheer — tenant by serjeanty (ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid).
Under the feudal system, a manorial lord typically was himself the vassal of a higher-ranking tenant-in-chief, usually a highborn noble, who was in turn the crown vassal of the king or emperor. However, sometimes there was no mesne tenancy (tussenliggende heerschappij), as was the case with knight's fees held in capite (rijksonmiddellijke heerlijkheid). The heerlijkheid was ruled directly by a count (graaf), a viscount (burggraaf) or a baron (baron). Also, it was not uncommon for the lord to be ecclesiastical, e.g. a prince-bishop (prins-bisschop) or prince-abbot (vorst-abt).
Originally, heerlijkheden were held exclusively by the nobility. However, starting around the 16th century, lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and a political class known as the regents.
In addition, many were bought by boroughs (burghs). In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was not unusual for a borough to purchase the heerlijkheden around it in order to gain control and ownership of the surrounding land and the resulting economic advantages. Boroughs were themselves not part of the manorial system: the countryside and villages were governed by lords, whereas boroughs were self-governing.
Feudal origins The heerlijkheden came into being as a result of the feudal system, in particular the sovereign's delegated judicial prerogative. The crown, as lord paramount, granted the right to govern and to exercise judicial authority to a crown vassal, often a confidante or as a reward for military service or political support. The crown vassal—e.g. a count (graaf) or duke (hertog)—thus exercised all or part of the sovereign's royal authority. In turn the crown vassal granted rights to the mesne lords of the heerlijkheden.
Because a fief (leen) originated out of a bond between vassal and lord for military service, vassalage (Dutch manschap) was personal not heritable. With the advent of professional armies, the vassalage bond fell into disuse or was replaced by scutage; however, vassalage remained personal. One of the consequences of this was that, on the death of the vassal (leenman or vazal), the fief escheated to the lord (leenheer). The vassal's heir was able to retain the heerlijkheid through the commendation ceremony (leenhulde), the process of paying homage and swearing fealty officiated at the head manor court (souveraine leenhof or leenkammer). The new vassal made a symbolic payment (leenverhef) to his lord. The same ceremony was held when a heerlijkheid manor was sold. If there was no direct descendant, other blood relatives could exercise their right of laudatio parentum (Du naderschap), which grants them a right of first refusal and explains how heerlijkheden were able to be kept in the same families for centuries.
Manorial rights The tenancy of a heerlijkheid is not to be confused with land ownership. It was an estate in land, not land per se. Although lords of the manor generally owned property within a heerlijkheid (often substantial amounts), it was possible for a lord not to own any property at all within his own heerlijkheid. Also, when agricultural land was held by a lord in the Low Countries, the amount held was smaller in comparison to other countries. pp. 174, 211, 212
Lordship conferred a set of manorial rights. The word heerlijkheid denotes an estate in which these limited rights were held and could be exercised. The rights exercised varied widely, and were more extensive and survived longer in the eastern provinces. A manorial lord was able to function as a minor potentate within "his" heerlijkheid. However, his manorial rights were limited and subject to numerous restrictions. The lord was required to conduct himself in accordance with local customary law.
Appointments: One of the most important manorial rights was the right to appoint bailiffs, reeves, aldermen, magistrates, schoolmasters, dike and polder officials, and so on. A fee was paid by the recipients of these appointments. In particular, the lord was entitled to make the important appointment of the schout 'reeve'. The reeve was charged with local administrative, law enforcement, and prosecutorial duties. The lord's right to appoint this official was significant because it entailed the associated right to receive the profits from amercements collected by the reeve from sentences and fines for minor and mid-level offences. (Higher fines were paid to officials appointed by a count or duke, i.e. the sheriff, called variously hoofdschout, hoofdmeier, drossaard or amman). The lord of the manor was entitled to act as reeve himself, but most lords delegated this duty by appointing someone else to the office. Advowson: A lord might have a right to make advowsons, be they collative (collatie), presentative (gezag) or donative (agrement) when it comes to instituting a parish priest or minister. As early as the high Middle Ages there were already disputes with ecclesiastical authorities over the usurpation of this right. After the Reformation, the involvement of a lord in a minister's institution might similarly result in tension between the lord and his vassals, particularly in places where the lord was of a different faith than most of his fellow parishioners. Manor house: Most heerlijkheden had a manor house that served as the caput, or 'capital messuage', of the lord, though not necessarily his permanent residence if he held multiple manors. There were sometimes grand homes with estates or even castles. (Some of these grand homes and castles still exist.) Church: If a parochial church had been founded by a previous lord, the lord was considered to have his own church and enjoy the rights that went with that. Coat of arms: A lord had his own coat of arms, which was displayed in places like church pews and windows and carriages. Many of these became municipal coats of arms.
Income from a heerlijkheid A lord was entitled to receive feudal incidents in the form of rents, levies, and other payments from various financial and property rights associated with a heerlijkheid:
Real burdens (onroerende belastingen): Any bonded or unfree feuar (cijnsplichtige) of the manor's dependent holdings was required to pay a yearly feu-duty (cijns or cijnsgeld), which is comparable to the payment of property taxes today. The amount of the cijns was proportional to the size of the burdened land. Since the amount of the cijns was not tied to inflation, it remained negligible during most of this period. Tenurial rents (pachtgelden): The largest revenue source for the lord of the manor was usually the leasehold rents from tenant farmers working free peasant land. Entry fine (pontpenning or werfschilling): The lord of the manor was entitled to levy a fee of around 5% of the sales price when holdings or tenancies were conveyed.