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On 16 October 2025, Cambridge University Press published a monograph by dr. Maurits den Hollander. ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต, ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ: ๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎโ๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ฆ explores how important innovations in insolvency legislation contributed to seventeenth-century Amsterdamโs economic success. Moving beyond the traditional moral condemnation of insolvents, the cityโs specialized insolvency court introduced…
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In the latest issue of BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review, an article by dr. Christian Manger and dr. Maurits den Hollander titled ‘Advisers or Decision-Makers? The Agency of Dutch Urban Administrative Officials, c. 1500-1700’ appeared. It analyses the unique position of secretaries and pensionaries in thegovernments of cities in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century NorthernNetherlands.…
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This interview was originally published on the website of Tilburg Law School: [link]. Legal historian Marco In โt Veld places a river at the center of his research. And wine. But what does the EU have to do with the Rhine, and the trade carried on it between the 14th and 17th centuries? In โt…
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๐๏ธ Palace of Commerce reveals the hidden world behind the marble walls of Amsterdamโs seventeenth-century city hall. Far from quiet grandeur, the palace once bustled with paperwork, legal specialists, and urban officials like Jacob de Vogelaer โ a wealthy urban secretary managing the flow of commerce and justice, one of 30,000 sheets at a time!…
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๐ As part of our research project on multilevel governance in medieval and early modern commercial cities, we are expanding our website with a series of short vignettes on the legal histories of key trading hubs. In each of these introductions we explore the organisation of urban governance in relation to the economy of the…
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๐๏ธ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ reveals the hidden world behind the marble floors of Amsterdamโs seventeenth-century city hall. Amsterdam’s ambitions related to hard commercial interests, but also to the weak in society. Including orphans! ๐ Watch the trailer, and join Bob Wessels and me to discover a fascinating aspect of governance in a global city. ๐…
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Dr. Marco in โt Veld (Tilburg University), dr. Bart Holterman (Forschungsstelle fรผr die Geschichte der Hanse und des Ostseeraums), and dr. Maurits den Hollander (Tilburg University) warmly invite all academics interested in medieval river trade in an urban context to submit their paper proposals for our main session (nr. 3) at the EAUH conference in…
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๐๏ธ Palace of Commerce uncovers what happened when fortunes crumbled in seventeenth-century Amsterdam โ even for Rembrandt! Behind a marble door in todayโs Royal Palace, insolvent debtors faced not shame, but a second chance. In the Chamber of Insolvent and Abandoned Estates, commissioners and their staff worked to resolve financial collapse with surprising nuance. ๐…
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Dr. Maurits den Hollander and prof. em. Bob Wessels (Leiden University) recently presented the first copy their book Palace of Commerce to Niels Breukers, Head of Public Opening & Activities Dutch Royal Palaces, in the magnificent Citizen’s Hall of Amsterdam’s Royal Palace (photo: Jan Wind). Tilburg Law School published a news item about the book…
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๐๏ธ Palace of Commerce reveals the hidden world behind the marble walls of Amsterdamโs seventeenth-century city hall. Enjoy the decorations in the Assurantiekamer, used to oversee maritime insurance, cargo damages, and average disputes. Full of iconography tied to shipping and the risks in maritime trade! ๐ Watch the trailer and sail along with Bob Wessels…