Corruptie in de Nederlanden, 1400-18001
Pieter Wagenaar, Otto van der Meij en Manon van der Heijden
Corruption in the Netherlands, 1400-1800
Corruption in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period is a challenging theme for scientific researchers. The main difficulty concerns the fact that definitions of corruption are strongly context-related. The concept of corruption differs not only per period and per community, but within a particular period the perceptions on corruption were different as well. Such complexity applies to medieval and early modern research especially, because the distinctions between 'private person' and 'public office' were much more obscure in pre-modern times. In this introduction we review various concepts and approaches on corruption that are relevant for historical research. By using different approaches, the articles of this volume show that contemporaries considered reciprocity an appropriate
way of maintaining their professional associations, while at the same time the boundaries of relation maintenances were ambiguous.
Een schout in de fout?
Fred Riggs' prismatische model toegepast op de zaak Van Banchem
Pieter Wagenaar en Otto van der Meij
The prismatic model applied to the case of Johan van Banchem (1615-1694)
Accused of many crimes, Johan van Banchem, a bailiff of The Hague, was condemned to death in 1680. His crimes as a bailiff were not unlike those of many of his colleagues, but his sentence was. What explains his exceptionally harsh treatment? Application of Fred Riggs' so-called 'prismatic model' to his case helps answer that question. Van Banchem and his opponents had to conform to different value-orientations at the same time. Switching between these enabled the bailiff to abuse his power frightfully, but it also provided his political opponents the possibility of finding a stick quickly with which to beat the dog, irrespective of the bailiff's behaviour.
Patronage en corruptie
Publieke en private rollen van een stadhouder in de Republiek
Geert H. Janssen
Patronage and corruption. The public and private roles of the Stadholder in the Dutch Republic
In contrast to many monarchical states sovereignty and princely household did not come together in the Dutch Republic in one and the same person. The example of William Frederick of Nassau (1613-1664) shows that in a sense the structure of state brought about two social spheres - public and private - within which the Stadholders had to fulfill distinctive patronage roles. This article identifies the differences between these public and private roles and investigates their relevance for the moral boundaries of patronage, gift-giving and corruption in the Dutch Republic.
Corrupt of hoofs gedrag?
Geschenken en het politieke netwerk van een laatmiddeleeuwse Hollandse stad
Mario Damen
Corrupt or courtly behaviour? Gifts and the political network of a late medieval town in the county of Holland
This article shows that during the late Middle Ages bribery, one of the types of corrupt behaviour of state officials, formed part of a larger gift culture. This is demonstrated through an analysis of the accounts of the town of Leiden, one of the urban centres of the late medieval county of Holland. In the first place the distribution of gifts was intended to enlarge the town's honour or symbolical capital. However, the town was also concerned about its network of contacts, its social capital. The most important beneficiaries of the gifts were those who could provide the town access to information that was crucial for its relationship visà-vis the prince and his state-apparatus. Messengers, doorkeepers, clerks and information brokers all received different types of gifts, both incidental and structural, sometimes directly financed through the tax-system.
Turfwinning en proletarisering in Rijnland 1530-1670
Milja van Tielhof
Peat mining and proletarisation in Rijnland 1530-1670
In the Early Modern Period peat mining was an important means of existence in Rijnland, a region in the central part of Holland. How did peat mining affect the transformation of rural economy and society during the 16th and 17th centuries? Just as in other parts of Holland, the proto-industrial population of small landowners working part of their time on their own land and part of their time as wage labourers, gradually disappeared and was replaced by a population of capitalist farmers and landless wage labourers, but in the peat districts the process was extremely slow to occur. This is explained by the specific nature of peat mining. Each landowner only needed a very small plot of land to make a living, much smaller than in case the land is used for agricultural purposes. Also, peat mining was very labour intensive, which put small landowners employing the labour of their wife and (often many) children in an advantageous position compared to large capitalist landowners employing wage labourers. Around 1670 the proletarisation of labour was still far from complete, as it was in other rural parts of Holland. In the peat villages, the process was in fact slowed down by the nature of the soil and the use made of it.
Onmisbaar maar onbemind
De Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij en de Billiton Maatschappij in het onafhankelijke Indonesië (1945-1958)
J.P. van de Kerkhof
Vital but reviled. The Royal Dutch Shipping Company and the Billiton Company in independent Indonesia (1945-1958)
This article analyses the intricate relationship between newly independent Indonesia and two Dutch firms in the archipelago, the interisland shipping company Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) and the tin mining corporation Billiton Maatschappij. These firms represented commercial interests and also had major strategic and symbolic value; KPM was the glue that bound together the countless islands of the Indonesian archipelago while the Billiton Maatschappij was a foremost source of precious foreign exchange earnings. It is argued that these firms - despite their comparable position within the Indonesian economy - pursued different strategies in response to independent Indonesia's ambition to construct a 'national economy'.
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