Heerlijkheid
heerlijkheden; also called heerschap; Latin: Dominium)[1] was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800.
[3][4] A typical heerlijkheid manor consisted of a village and the surrounding lands extending out for a kilometre or so.
[6] Also, a heerlijkheid should not be confused with a larger territory, like a county (graafschap) or viscounty (burggraafschap), nor with administrative regions on par with an English shire, Dutch gouw, German Gau, or Roman or Carolingian pagus.
A Flemish castellany (kasselrij or burggraafschap) was larger and different from a heerlijkheid, but they were similar in some ways.
However, sometimes there was no mesne tenancy (tussenliggende heerschappij), as was the case with knight's fees held in capite (rijksonmiddellijke heerlijkheid).
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was not unusual for a borough to purchase the heerlijkheden around it in order to gain control and ownership of the surrounding land and the resulting economic advantages.
a count (graaf) or duke (hertog)—thus exercised all or part of the sovereign's royal authority.
Because a fief (leen) originated out of a bond between vassal and lord for military service, vassalage (Dutch manschap) was personal not heritable.
The vassal's heir was able to retain the heerlijkheid through the commendation ceremony (leenhulde), the process of paying homage and swearing fealty officiated at the head manor court (souveraine leenhof or leenkammer).
A lord was entitled to receive feudal incidents in the form of rents, levies, and other payments from various financial and property rights associated with a heerlijkheid: Originally heerlijkheden were in the hands of the nobility.
In addition to his primary titles, he is the Erf- en Vrijheer van Ameland, Heer van Borculo, Bredevoort, Lichtenvoorde, Het Loo, Geertruidenberg, Clundert, Zevenbergen, Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe, Naaldwijk, Polanen, Sint-Maartensdijk, Soest, Baarn, Ter Eem, Willemstad, Steenbergen, Montfort, Sankt Vith, Burgenbach, Daasburg, Niervaart, Turnhout en Besançon.
In the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium) the financial character of a heerlijkheid was accentuated by the Royal Edict of 8 May 1664.
In the southern provinces, this edict ensured the financial stability of the most prominent heerlijkheden and resulted in the rise of a new nobility based on wealth.
Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and a small and exclusive political class known as the regents.
In all the provinces the military obligations associated with a fief gradually died out so that by the 16th and 17th centuries the heerlijkheid was increasingly seen by non-nobles as a status symbol.
Successful merchants and regents from the large towns saw the heerlijkheid as a country residence and a means of giving the appearance of noble status.
In the northern provinces (modern-day Netherlands) they were declared abolished around the same time as part of the inauguration of the Batavian Republic.
Since the last heerlijkheid was seen over 200 years ago, many of the manor houses and castles have been rebuilt, or have been fully or partially demolished.
A sign erected at the remaining parts of the Slot Heemstede (now in a park) describes what happened to this particular manor.
The history and fate of this manor are typical: On this spot stood Heemstede House or Castle.
In 1620 Amsterdam merchant (and later Grand Pensionary) Adriaen Pauw purchased the heerlijkheid, including its dilapidated castle.
As the negotiator for the States of Holland, he played an important role in the 1648 Peace of Munster that ended the Eighty Year War with Spain.
