Untitled - Monoskop

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF BOOK- PRIVILEGES
origins in Brabant'. This was issued with privilege of the Archduke Charles,
duke of Burgundy, Brabant etc., forbidding anyone to print it or to sell
copies printed elsewhere, for the next three years in Brabant and the lands
depending on Brabant, on pain of confiscation of their books and other
It seems possible that this privilege was
penalties contained in the privilege. 1
issued at Ghent, and hence escaped registration at Brussels. The printers'
concern was clearly to protect their interests in Brabant and probably
especially against competitors in Antwerp: Simon Cock afterwards in fact
transferred his business to Antwerp.
When Thierry Martens applied for a privilege from the Council of
Brabant on 8 February 1519, he had been displaying since 1515 on some of
his books a four-year privilege remarkable for being granted jointly by the
Archduke Charles (the future Emperor Charles V) and by his grandfather
the Emperor Maximilian I. This forbade copying of the book or books in
question for four years in all their dominions. 2 Maximilian's authority
extended to the hereditary Habsburg lands and to the whole of the empire,
and that of Charles to all the lands of the Burgundian Netherlands, includ-
ing Brabant which claimed independence from the empire. The privilege
thus protected Martens's publications, at least in principle, over a wide area
and against a large number of possible competitors. It was quite a reason-
able provision, in view of the long and eminent career which Martens had
conducted first in Alost, then in Antwerp and finally in Louvain. It seems
possible that his application to the Council of Brabant was prompted by the
news of the death of Maximilian at Wels on 12 January 1519, which was
known within a few days at Louvain and at Brussels. The validity of the
Maximilian-and-Charles privilege might be considered to have expired with
the emperor's death. A four-year privilege from the Council of Brabant,
which he received promptly and unconditionally, was at least an interim
measure to protect his interests.
While the Council of Brabant continued to issue privileges, the Councils
of Holland and of Flanders did likewise. The Privy Council also sometimes
took a hand. It was consulted, and so was the Regent, Margaret of Austria,
before the first privilege was granted to Willem Vorsterman. 3 It granted a
four-year privilege (Brussels, 9 October 1517), to a printer of Leiden, in
Holland, Jan Corneliszoen or Zeversoen, for the Chronicle of Holland,
Zealand and Friesland, newly compiled by C. Aurelius (the 'Divisiekro-
nieck'). 4 This was printed in full at the end of the book. An up to date chron-
1 BL
5051.3.23. Privilege-summary at end of text, on f. lix r .
a At least two examples in 1 5 1 5: W. Nijhoff and M. E. Kronenberg, Nederlandsche Bibliographic van
1500 tot 1540 (The Hague, 192342), nos. 9, 45; and one in 1516, ibid. no. 15, Charles in the
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latter being entitled king of Spain.
Verheyden, 'Drukkersoctrooien', pp. 2057.
* Die cronycke van Hollandt, Zeelandt en Vrieslant, 1517, fol. Nijhoff and Kronenberg, Nederlandsche
Bibliographie, nos. 613, 614. I have used the copy in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek at The Hague.
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