historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

Chapter 5. Times of trouble. Taking a stand
councils have ‘the right and the power to deliberate, consider, and decide
about matters that concern both the whole dominion [i.e. the province-JN]
and the town … And what has been deliberated, considered, and decided in
these town councils, is accepted by the entire common people, when all are
willing, and nobody has the power to violate or to assail their decision’. 110
In terms of age the town councils rival with the towns themselves, or, as
Boxhorn remarks, ‘at least the records that reveal their origin are forgotten’. 111
As the extant ancient statues lay down, only the best and the most wealthy
citizens can become a member of the town council. Depending on the town,
the number of people on the town council ranges from twenty to forty members.
These two features, that is, the noble background of the town councillors
and their relatively small number, and the fact that the town councillors
choose the delegates they send to the States of Holland from their mids lead
Boxhorn to conclude that the way power is administrated in each town and
the province of Holland as a whole is ‘aristocratic’. 112
Members of the town council serve for life or as long as they remain a resident
of the town where they hold a seat. If in the case of a death or migration
a seat on the town council becomes vacant, a new member is elected
from ‘the citizens themselves by the common approval of those sitting on the
town councils’. 113 Although this formulation leaves some room to speculate
about who did the actual choosing, in reality the election was in the hands of
the members of the town council, who, through a system of cooptation and
110 Ibidem, X.8, p. 152. ‘Penes haec sola Collegia deliberandi, consulendi ac decernendi de negotiis
tam totius ditionis, quam urbis jus potestasque est: quodque in iis Collegiis deliberatum, consultum &
decretum est, à toto plebe volentibus omnibus, admittitur, nec quispiam idem infringendi aut impugnandi
habet potestatem.’ The Dutch translation speaks about ‘… endt het gheene in die Collegien ghedilibereert,
beraetslaegt, ende besloten is, wort van het geheel gepeupel (alle willende) aengenomen, ende
niemant heeft macht om dat selvige te verbreecken ofte te wederstaen.’ Boxhorn, Politijck hant-boecxken,
van de Staet van ’t Nederlandt, X.8, p. 147. The original text reads slightly different. ‘These boards alone
have power to resolve upon all matters affecting the state respectively of the province and the town, and
the citizens accept their decisions as binding for they have never infringed or opposed these decisions.’
Kossmann and Mellink (eds.), Texts Concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands, p. 277.
111 Ibidem, X.7, p. 152. ‘Atque haec Collegia antiquitate cum ipsis Civitatibus certant, aut certè
monumenta ipsorum originem prodentia obliterata sunt.’ The original reads much more affirmative.
‘These boards must be as old as the towns, as no one remembers their origin.’ Kossmann and Mellink
(eds.), Texts Concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands, p. 277. Note also that Boxhorn refers explicitly to the
public records, while the original does not. The town councils emerged in the time of the Burgundian
princes. Fruin, Geschiedenis der staatsinstellingen, pp. 68-74.
112 Ibidem, X.6, p. 152. Ibidem, XI.4, p. 165. ‘Senatus Vrbanus amplissimus ille est, qui vulgò den Bredenraedt
appellatur; constat plerisque in oppidis numero, ut Leidae, 40, in nonnullis 30, praeter propter Optimatum
& ditissimorum civium. Tales enim solos ad eum admiti volunt antiquae Leges, unde apparet &
singularum Vrbium & Ordinum totius ditionis, qui constant, sicuti praecedenti capite diximus, ex equestri
ordine & Vrbanorum Magistratuum legatis, plane Aristocraticam esse administrandi Imperii rationem.’
113 Ibidem, X.7, p. 152. ‘Cooptati in eum Ordinem, eo munere quoad in vivis sunt, aut civitate
gaudent, fruuntur. In mortuorum verò aut aliò migrantium locum alii ad explendum numerum ex ipsis
civibus communi consensu Collegarum surrogantur.’
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