Wednesday 26 March 2025, our team, joined by dr. Niels Fieremans (Universiteit Gent), organised a panel as part of the European Social Science History Conference 2025 at Leiden University. Titled ‘Urban Professionals and Commerce in the Low Countries, c. 1400-1700’, the panel united five papers focusing on various types of urban officials in cities of commerce, from pensionaries and secretaries to toll-officials. Dr. Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz (UvA) chaired the session, which witnessed considerable interest. The room was filled by about 25 participants, who actively joined in with a lively discussion.
Panel Abstract
The late medieval and early modern Low Countries can be characterised by a combination of rapid urbanisation and a dynamic commercial landscape. Historians interested in legal and institutional developments have often reflected on these interrelated phenomena, as well as their social and economic effects. In recent decades, approaches rooted in the new institutional economics have led to rich debates on these themes. However valuable in and of itself, this type of research is at times characterised by economic determinism. This easily results in a reduced attention for historical actors as well as the daily practice of urban governance and trade in their social context. Medieval and early modern urban professionals in reality, however, often seem to have played a determining role in shaping law and policies that were crucial to the growth and success of the economy. Therefore, this panel seeks to zoom in on urban professionals in the widest sense of the word in a number of different case studies. It will enrich existing work by economic and social historians with new insights from historical practice, deepening our understanding of historical processes of law- and policy-making.
This panel seeks to unite a number of young scholars who would like to approach the broader theme of the connections between urban governance and commerce through fresh insights, rooted in archival research in late medieval and early modern Dutch and Flemish cities. Which power-relations played a determining role in developing and directing urban commerce? Who were the actors that shaped the contents of commercial law and policies on the urban level? What are the differences that can be discerned between cities focused on river- and sea-borne commerce, the Atlantic and Baltic commercial spheres? This panel does not seek to provide definitive answers, but rather intends to reach out to all (urban) historians interested in this broader subject to join our discussion to open up new possibilities for cooperation and innovative research.
Contributions
- Dr. Maurits den Hollander (Tilburg University) – ‘Urban Professionals and Commerce in early modern Amsterdam’.
- Dr. Christian Manger (Tilburg University) – ‘Urban Professionals in Dutch Hanseatic Cities’.
- Dr. Niels Fieremans (Ghent University) – ‘Urban Professionals and Commercial Law in late medieval Brabant’.
- Dr. Ester Zoomer (UvA) – ‘Hanseatic Professionals in late medieval Bruges’.
- Dr. Marco in ’t Veld (Tilburg University) – ‘Urban Professionals and River Trade in Dordrecht’.