Jaargang 2014 nr. 1

  • Andrea Bardyn
    Vermogende vrouwen. Het vastgoedbezit van vrouwen in laatmiddeleeuws Brussel op basis van cijnsregisters (1356-1460)
     
  • Sabine C.P.J. Go
    De Amsterdamse Kamer van Assurantie en Averij: de oprichting en de eerste decennia van haar bestaan (1598-1621)
     
  • Dossier: The Oxford handbook of cities in world history, Peter Clark (red.)
    • ​Jan Hein Furnée en Manon van der Heijden: Steden: een wereldgeschiedenis
    • Karel Davids: Only connect. Stedelijke ontwikkeling in de wereldgeschiedenis
    • Maarten Prak: Still Weber after all these years
    • Willem Frijhoff: Is een globale cultuurgeschiedenis van de stad mogelijk?
    • Ed Taverne: Trends in de (architectuur)geschiedenis van de stad
  • (Review) Boris Horemans: Een historische werf: de premoderne bouwsector als verwaarloosd onderzoeksdomein
     
  • (Review) Inge Bertels, Jelle Haemers, Jeannette Kamp, Maarten F. Van Dijck en Antoon Vrints: Blik op de stad. Stadsgeschiedenis in Belgische en Nederlandse historische tijdschriften (2012)
     
  • (Interview) Jelle Haemers en Antoon Vrints: Honderd jaar ’14-’18 in de stad. Interview met Sophie De Schaepdrijver en Jo Tollebeek

Abstracts

Andrea Bardyn, Propertied women. Women’s ownership of immovable property in late medieval Brussels (1356-1460)

This article examines women and their immovable property ownership in Brussels between 1356 and 1460. By using censiers (medieval estate surveys), sources which are rarely considered in studies of medieval women, it offers a new viewpoint on the major transitions in the social position of women during the Late Middle Ages. First, the paper argues that the position of female property owners in Brussels differed in several regards from the position of their European counterparts. Furthermore, the results show a decline in the share of female property owners, which supports the notion of decreasing economic opportunities for women during the Late Middle Ages. Finally, the article demonstrates that this decline was neither linear nor univocal, but was closely connected to years of crisis and to the social position of women.

Sabine C.P.J. Go, The Amsterdam Chamber of Insurance and Average: its foundation and the first decades of its existence (1598-1621)

In 1598, in the period when Amsterdam developed into a leading centre of commerce, the Amsterdam municipality instated the Chamber of Insurance and Average. The Chamber’s Commissioners were to adjudicate on marine insurance disputes: as the city’s insurance market expanded, the number and complexity of disputes between underwriters, insured and insurance brokers warranted a specialised court. During the two centuries it existed, the Chamber has influenced the development and growth of the marine insurance market in various ways. Especially during the first decades of its existence, when procedures and routines were established and its authority still had to be acknowledged, the Chamber’s rulings were of great influence on the behaviour of the various groups of actors and the overall expansion of the Amsterdam insurance industry.

Boris Horemans, A historical building yard: the pre-modern building industry as a neglected field of study

The building industry played a crucial role in economic life during the early modern period. As a sector that was good for some twenty percent of the urban economy, the industry was an important employer that touched upon many lives throughout the early modern period. Nevertheless, research concerning this important economic branch remains scarce. This historiographical review article aims at bringing together existing literature and discusses the different historiographical trends in this field of study. In doing so, it hopes to offer an interesting starting point for further research concerning construction in the pre-modern era.