This thesis is about the developements within medieval poor relief in Leiden. It follows the historiographical notion that big changes in this societal branch started earlier than believed in many...Show moreThis thesis is about the developements within medieval poor relief in Leiden. It follows the historiographical notion that big changes in this societal branch started earlier than believed in many cases. It tests this theory on the late medieval situation in the Saint Catherine hospital in Leiden. The primary source used are the accounts of the 'gasthuismeesters' of the aforementioned hospital.Show less
From the twelfth century onwards, a new culture of accountability spread throughout North-western Europe. Embedded within an ever growing body of written administrations and governmental...Show moreFrom the twelfth century onwards, a new culture of accountability spread throughout North-western Europe. Embedded within an ever growing body of written administrations and governmental bureaucracies, these novel accounting techniques reshaped relations between princes and their officials. This thesis describes this development in a comparative perspective through the study of the Scottish Exchequer and the Audit Chamber of Holland between 1477 and 1515. Comparing two peripheral areas on the fringes of the English and French cultural spheres of influence allows to re-evaluate persisting views of an inefficient and archaic Scottish Exchequer, as opposed to the 'Weberian ideal' of the Burgundian bureaucracy. Recent historiography shows that Scottish institutions in this period were different rather than backward when compared to their English 'big brother'. This appears to be as true for Scotland's auditing organisation as for the rest of its government. Both institutions primarily had a fiscal goal: the controlling of accounts, written financial records produced by accountable officials on both sides of the North Sea. Archival and judicial tasks supported this auditing process. Through a study of the format of important series of these accounts as well as their marginalia, it has been revealed that the daily practices surrounding the auditing process in Scotland and Holland showed important similarities. Notwithstanding this common ground, for a long time the audits and annotations in Holland seem to have been more elaborate than their Scottish counterparts. The latter show a clear development during the reign of James IV, making this a time of rather important innovations in Scotland. At the same time, consolidation rather than innovation could be observed in Holland. Ultimately, the central goal of all these auditing proceedings was the preservation of the royal or princely domain, in order to strengthen the government's financial position. Auditors in both Scotland and Holland possessed important tasks in the management- and assignation of individual domain goods, as well as judicial capacities that allowed them to enforce their authority upon minor accountable officials throughout the country. Through their work, the new written culture of probative accountability spread out over the country, becoming a daily reality for all that worked in any governmental position in either Scotland or Holland.Show less
De eerste dagen van oktober 1470 moeten hele hectische dagen zijn geweest voor Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, stadhouder van Holland. Op vijf oktober bereikte hem onverwachts het nieuws dat koning Eduard...Show moreDe eerste dagen van oktober 1470 moeten hele hectische dagen zijn geweest voor Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, stadhouder van Holland. Op vijf oktober bereikte hem onverwachts het nieuws dat koning Eduard IV van Engeland, de rijzende zon van York (1461-1470, 1471-1483), Engeland halsoverkop had moeten verlaten en op Texel was geland. Zodra Gruuthuse dit nieuws bevestigd had gekregen, stuurde hij een bericht naar de hertog van Bourgondië, Karel de Stoute (1467-1475). De hertog wist waarschijnlijk al dat er iets ernstig fout aan het gaan was door geruchten uit Engeland. Op drie oktober had Richard Neville, bekend als de graaf van Warwick of de Kingmaker, Hendrik IV (1422-1461, 1470-1471) weer op de Engelse troon gezet. Het nieuws uit Engeland bereikte de hertog waarschijnlijk voor enig ander nieuws van Eduard zelf.1 Met de vlucht van Eduard kreeg EuropaShow less
Rentmeesters moesten elk jaar verantwoording afleggen aan de desbetreffende vorst. In het begin werden rekeningen van Holland, Zeeland en Henegouwen afgehoord door de graaf en de Raad. De graaf en...Show moreRentmeesters moesten elk jaar verantwoording afleggen aan de desbetreffende vorst. In het begin werden rekeningen van Holland, Zeeland en Henegouwen afgehoord door de graaf en de Raad. De graaf en zijn raadsleden hoorden letterlijk af, hoe de rentmeester zijn rekeningen oplas. Met de komst van de Bourgondische hertogen veranderde het afhoren van de rekening naar het intensief controleren ervan door specialisten. Dit resulteerde uiteindelijk in het ontstaan van de Rekenkamer. Dit onderzoek wordt geanalyseerd in hoeverre de cultuur van rekenschap veranderde in Zeeland in de periode van de Bourgondische hertogen?Show less
