The market for ideas and the origins of economic growth in eighteenth century europe
Joel Mokyr
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The roots of European economic growth in the nineteenth century must be seen in its intellectual background as well as in its economic environment. The closer interactions between different kinds of useful knowledge were prompted by the Enlightenment as, were institutional reforms which prevented economic growth from becoming a victim of predatory or opportunistic actions, as it had before. This leaves the emergence of the Enlightenment as the unresolved explanandum. It is argued here that the Enlightenment emerged from the fertile ground from a unique concatenation of circumstances: the political fragmentation of Europe, which made the suppression of innovators by the ruling orthodoxy and vested interests more difficult, coupled to an intellectual coherence that manifested itself in the transnational republic of letters. The resulting 'market for ideas' led to a competitive set-up in the sphere of intellectual activity, in which coherent and supportable ideas (or those that seemed that way at the time) had a fair chance to succeed, though this was never pre-ordained.

Hoe toegankelijk was de 'papieren koning'? Een informeel communicatiekanaal tussen Lamoraal van Egmont en Willem van Oranje en de Spaanse centrale besluitvorming in de jaren 1559-1564
Liesbeth Geevers
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Informal communication with the 'Paper King'. The difficult access of Lamoral of Egmont and William of Orange to the Spanish central decision-making in the years 1559-1564
In 1559, only a few years before the Dutch Revolt broke out, the Lord of the Netherlands, King Philip II of Spain, left the Low Countries to settle in Castile. The noble elite in Brussels had to find ways to overcome the challenges of distance to maintain contacts with him. In this article, I will address their efforts to create and use informal and safe channels, provided by Spanish officials stationed in the Low Countries, through which the nobles managed to vie for patronage and play out court intrigue at the heart of the monarchy.

Een crisis als uitdaging? Kleinhandelsevoluties en verbruiksveranderingen te Antwerpen (ca. 1648 – ca. 1748)
Bruno Blondé en Ilja Van Damme
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A crisis as challenge? Retail evolutions and consumption changes in Antwerp (c. 1648 – c. 1748)
In this article we argue that economic growth and urbanisation were no preconditions (as is generally argued for the English case) for the well-documented consumer and retail changes of the eighteenth century. Most likely the 'retailing revolution' was closely intertwined, perhaps even triggered by profound 'demand-side alterations'. In order to verify this hypothesis new empirical findings on both, consumer changes and retail responses have been studied for Antwerp. This city witnessed an absolute and relative deprivation in the European urban setting and – in the period under scrutiny – lost its position as a leading 'fashion maker'. Yet, this did not prevent structural consumer changes from empowering the retail sector in the urban economy. New and often imported goods, the tyranny of fashion, the diversification of consumer choice and the urge to consume novelties all contributed to the growth of the retailing business.

Genoeg voor een heel weeshuis? De voeding van kinderen in het Groene Weeshuis in Groningen, 1631-1830
Riemke Westerholt
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The diet of children in the 'Groene Weeshuis' in Groningen, 1631-1830
Due to the scarcity of source material, historical research has only been seldomly directed to the standard of living of people in the early modern period. However, archives of institutions for social care, like hospitals, orphanages and prisons, often contain source material such as yearly account books and menus over longer periods of time. These sources offer interesting opportunities for research on the standard of living of specific social groups. In this article the quantity and quality of the diet in the 'Groene Weeshuis' in the city of Groningen over a period of two hundred years has been explored. The diet of the orphans, mostly from the lower classes, has been compared systematically to the diet of orphans from the middle classes in the 'Rode Burgerweeshuis' in Groningen and the 'Amsterdamse Burgerweeshuis'. This study shows that the intake of calories in the 'Groene Weeshuis' for most of the period was sufficient (even around 1800), but that the quality (especially the intake of C-vitamin) was not. The diet in the 'Amsterdamse Burgerweeshuis' contained considerably more energy, but also lacked the C-vitamin. The diet in the burger orphanage in Groningen was much less extensive than in Amsterdam.

De Portugeestalige migranten en hun parochies in de Nederlandse katholieke kerk, 1969-2005
Charlotte Laarman
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Lusophone migrants and their parishes in the Dutch Roman Catholic church, 1969-2005
This article focuses on Roman Catholic migrant churches in the Netherlands from World War Two onwards, especially the Lusophone migrant parishes. It examines under what conditions a migrant church, that was initially started for one ethnic group can be taken over and be used as a stepping stone for another group. Due to their rising numbers and the unwillingness of the Portuguese to accept the African influences on the services and the use of Cape Verdian language in church, the Cape Verdian community could take over the Lusophone church in Rotterdam from the Portuguese. They did not start their own parish, but used the existing Portuguese parish. The opportunity structure offered by the Vatican facilitated this principle of succession. Secular organizations do not show this form of continuity.