Early modern towns in the Low Countries were famous for their effective urban institutions and social and economic facilities. Citizens made use of public roads and buildings, they settled their conflicts at judicial courts, and they appealed for assistance in times of need. Such early modern facilities were organized locally, in towns. A second feature is even more important: public duties were shared by town governments and churches, as well as numerous civil corporations. In the course of the early modern period urban governments became increasingly active and forceful in organizing and coordinating public services, sometimes at the expense of other providers of services. These transformations had an immediate impact on the relations between citizens and towns. This volume explores various aspects of developments in public facilities in the early modern Low Countries. The Low Countries are an excellent case study for this purpose, because of its high levels of urbanization and the relevant comparison between the north and the south of the Netherlands.

Table of Contents

serving the urban community - 2 Contents - 6 Introduction The rise of public facilities in the Low Countries, 1400-1800 - 8 Conflict and consensus The allocation of public services in the Low Countries 1500-1800 - 22 The emergence of an administrative apparatus in the Dutch towns of Haarlem and Leiden during the late medieval and early modern periods, circa 1430-1570 - 43 Towards an economic interpretation of justice? Conflict settlement, social control and civil society in urban Brabant and Mechelen during the late Middle Ages and the early modern period - 63 'To the honour of God, for concord and the common good' Developments in social care and education in Dutch towns (1300-1625) - 90 Public spending and population growth in Leiden and Utrecht during the Golden Age - 108 Reforming outdoor relief Changes in urban provisions for the poor in the northern and southern Low Countries (c. 1500-1800) - 136 The pillars of a new community Conflicts and cooperation over poor relief in post-Reformation Holland - 156 Fiscalizing solidarity (from below) Poor relief in Antwerp guilds: between community building and public service - 169 Implications of the street Entitlements, duties and conflicts in neighbourhoods in Ghent(17th-18th centuries) - 195 Law enforcement in Amsterdam Between tradition and modernization - 218 New views and new data on public services in the medieval and early modern Low Countries - 243 Bibliography - 255 On the authors - 285