A heerlijkheid (a Dutch word; pl. heerlijkheden; also called heerschap; Latin: Dominium; English: manor, seigniory and lordship; German: Herrschaft) was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. It originated as a unit of lordship under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. The heerlijkheid system was the Dutch version of manorialism, that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium.
Characteristics and types A typical heerlijkheid manor consisted of a village and the surrounding lands extending out for a kilometre or so. Taking 18th-century Wassenaar as an example of a large hoge heerlijkheid, it was 3,612 morgens in size and had 297 houses. Nearby Voorschoten was 1,538 morgens in size and had 201 houses. Nootdorp was an ambachtsheerlijkheid of 196 morgens and 58 houses. There were 517 heerlijkheden in the province of Holland in the 18th century. All fell into the last three categories in the list below (except for a few for which this information is unknown). Not all heerlijkheden were the same. They differed in size and composition. 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. There were different kinds of heerlijkheid:
erfheerlijkheid — a specifically hereditary feudal barony. Depending on the County and era, heerlijkheiden could be hereditary or non-hereditary, and inherited either by the eldest male descendant, all male descendants in the male line in shares, or later by a female descendant where there was no son. hoge heerlijkheid — a great barony or ‘honour’, either a fief or allodium. In these large lordships, the lord had jurisdiction to appoint a bailiff (baljuw) instead of just a reeve (schout), and to administer capital punishment. Depending on the county, it was possible for a heerlijkheid to be both prescriptive (vrij) and large (hoge). The largest were actually mini-counties within the county. vrijheerlijkheid — an allod or allodium. These heerlijkheden were a subset of hoge heerlijkheiden, because of the sweeping powers held by the vrijheer, and were often found at the edges of a county. They were called 'free' (vrij) because they were allodial instead of a fief held by an overlord. ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid — a serjeanty, often located inland rather than on the borders. Serjeanties sometimes consisted of nothing more than a castle and a few hectares of land, although most were larger than this. The serjeant did not have the power of 'pit and gallows', i.e., the power to impose the death penalty. schoutsambt — a reeveland, the territory under the charge of a reeve (schout), thus equivalent to the jurisdiction of a heerlijkheid
Lord of the manor (heer)
The central figure was the lord of the heerlijkheid and effectively its owner—the manorial lord or lady. In Dutch, the lord was called heer and the lady vrouw(e). The lord was also referred to by the Latin word dominus. A rarer English alternative is seigneur. There were different kinds of lord and lady:
vrijheer and vrijvrouwe (literally, 'free lord' and 'free lady') — allodial lord or allodiary, tenant of an allodial lordship. erfheer and erfvrouwe (literally, 'hereditary lord' and 'hereditary lady') — feudal baron or mesne lord, tenant of a fiefdom. baanderheer (literally, ‘knight banneret’) — tenant by knight-service; some lords used this title when their noble line was ancient and therefore superior to other nobles ambachtsheer — tenant by serjeanty (ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid). Under the feudal system, a manorial lord typically was himself the vassal of a higher-ranking tenant-in-chief, usually a highborn noble, who was in turn the crown vassal of the king or emperor. However, sometimes there was no mesne tenancy (tussenliggende heerschappij), as was the case with knight's fees held in capite (rijksonmiddellijke heerlijkheid). The heerlijkheid was ruled directly by a count (graaf), a viscount (burggraaf) or a baron (baron). Also, it was not uncommon for the lord to be ecclesiastical, e.g. a prince-bishop (prins-bisschop) or prince-abbot (vorst-abt). Originally, heerlijkheden were held exclusively by the nobility. However, starting around the 16th century, lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and a political class known as the regents. In addition, many were bought by boroughs (burghs). 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. Boroughs were themselves not part of the manorial system: the countryside and villages were governed by lords, whereas boroughs were self-governing.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
