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Ports et littoraux de l'Europe atlantique

 | 
Michel Bochaca
, 
Jean-Luc Sarrazin

Troisième partie. Ports et littoraux de la Flandre et des anciens Pays-Bas

The Lastage : the maritime quarter of late medieval Amsterdam

Jeroen Van der Vliet

Entrées d'index

Géographique :

France

Texte intégral

1Most historical research on the port of Amsterdam has been focused on the period when the port was at its height during the 17th century, concentrating on its role as the staple market of the Western world. Equally important is how Amsterdam, still a humble village of fishermen and farmers for much of the 13th century, managed to establish itself as the main port of Europe.

  • 1 For a more detailed discussion of the changing economic structure of Holland around 1400 : Israel (...)

2The answer to that question can, for a large part at least, be found in the changing economic structure of the County of Holland around 1400. Although the causes lie outside the scope of this article1, it was the loss of arable land caused by floods and rising water levels, the subsequent urbanisation and specialisation of labour in these towns, that made Holland grow more dependent on the import of grain. Most grain was shipped from Germany and the Baltic. Thanks to its position on the edges of the Zuiderzee and in close proximity of the most important rivers that connected the sea with the hinterland—the rivers Vecht, IJ, Amstel and Spaarne—Amsterdam could play a pivotal role in the import and distribution of grain, becoming the northern “gateway to Holland” and later to Zeeland, Brabant and Flanders as well. These grain imports were the foundations on which 14th century Amsterdam trade was firmly established and by which it could flourish in the next four hundred years.

The rise of Amsterdam as an intra-regional port

3Today, not many people would consider Amsterdam to be a sea-port. The process of major land reclamation and the building of sea defences like the Afsluitdijk during much of the 20th century, changed all that. The building of the Afsluitdijk, the dam that connects the northern part of Holland with Friesland, cut off the Zuiderzee from the sea and turned it into a large fresh water lake, known as the IJsselmeer. With the Afsluitdijk in place, the character of the whole region, once focused on fishing and shipping, but now cut off from the sea, started to change and soon every trace of this once maritime region faded away completely. Although Amsterdam still remains the second largest port of the Netherlands it is connected to the North Sea only by a long canal.

  • 2 Gawronski J. and Veerkamp J., “Ambachten aan de Nieuwendijk”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), Geschiedenis v (...)
  • 3 There is still some debate over the date of the first dam in the River Amstel. It is very likely t (...)

4The Zuiderzee had been formed by great floods, which destroyed large parts of the northern coastline between Holland and Friesland, in the last quarter of the 12th century. It is around the same time that archaeological evidence suggests2, the first people started to settle on the western bank of the River Amstel that flows into the south-western corner of the Zuiderzee. To protect their houses and their lands against the sea, the people built a dike and placed a dam in the River Amstel3.

5The dam in the Amstel proved a serious obstacle for ships coming down the river or entering it from the Zuiderzee. While smaller boats could still be towed over the dam, the cargo of bigger vessels had to be unloaded on the sea-side of the dam and trans-shipped into smaller river barges on the other side. How uncomfortable and even illogical this may seem, it meant more work for those living near the dam and soon attracted more business to the small river town.

6No accurate numbers of river trade during the late 12th and 13th century exist, but it is known that the more time-consuming river passage was preferred over the hazards of sailing the open sea or even hugging the coastline. The North Sea was plagued by winter storms, pirates and privateers ; neutral ships were not safe during wars. That is why much of the trade in the Low Countries was river trade ; this so-called inland or “binnen dunen” passage included rivers like the IJssel in the east and the Vecht, IJ, Amstel and Spaarne to the west. Not only was this route chosen by many local ships, it was the preferred and most important link for the Hanseatic League between the bustling Flemish towns like Bruges and Antwerp in the south and the German ports of Hamburg and Lübeck in the north.

  • 4 Brugmans H., Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Van den oorsprong af tot heden, Amsterdam, 1930, p. 88-89

7The Counts of Holland envied the much more frequented route over the River Vecht, through the lands of their rival, the Bishop of Utrecht, and tried with all kinds of tax incentives to lure ships and commerce away to the western rivers Spaarne and Amstel, which were controlled by Holland4. Although at the time Amsterdam wasn’t even part of Holland (but was part of Utrecht) Count Floris V of Holland provided Amsterdam with a landmark incentive in 1275 : from then on the people of the small village were exempt from paying taxes for shipping their goods through Holland.

  • 5 Voorthuysen W., Koopman Amsterdam. Beknopte economische geschiedenis van Amsterdam 1200-1795, Amst (...)
  • 6 Kaptein H., “Poort van Holland. De economische ontwikkeling 1200-1578”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), op. (...)

8In 1317 Amsterdam officially became part of Holland and its new masters increased their eff orts to promote the town as their northern seaport. Grain, on which the towns of Holland grew increasingly dependent, German beer5 and other goods were shipped to Amsterdam en route to the market towns of Holland and Flanders. At first Amsterdam itself had virtually no part in the grain or beer trade that went through its port, it was firmly in the hands of the Hanseatic merchants. With the steady rise of the river trade, however, more ships from Amsterdam started to enter this trade, and in the 14th century they began to outnumber the Hanseatic ships on the inland passage. Most of the river barge captains from Amsterdam were working for Hanseatic merchants as carriers, but by the second half of the 14th century ships from Amsterdam could also be found in many ports in the Baltic and on both sides of the North Sea, no longer solely as the carriers for others, but actively trading as merchants6.

9The rise of Amsterdam as a commercial port of intra-regional importance during the 14th century, and with a growing merchant fleet to maintain, demand grew for shipyards, warehouses, ropewalks, sail makers and outfitters. Many of these maritime utilities and their suppliers in late medieval Amsterdam were concentrated in an area known as the “Lastage”.

The development of the Lastage

10The “image” of the medieval Lastage is largely based on a painting by Cornelis Anthonisz, commissioned by the town council in 1538, which was also sold as an engraving from 1544 onwards (fig. 1).

11The city has been portrayed by Anthonisz facing south with the River IJ in the front of the picture, as sailors would see Amsterdam when they entered the roadstead in front of the city. The roadstead, where the bigger, sea-going ships are anchored, stretches along the full width of the city. Their cargo being loaded onto small river barges and taken into the harbour, known as the Damrak, the stretch of water north of the dam in the River Amstel. The eastern side of the Damrak is lined with warehouses, their backs reaching to the waterfront so that goods are being carried straight from the barges into the warehouses. In the lower left corner of Cornelis Anthonisz’s panorama of Amsterdam, outside the city walls and the dike, a neighbourhood is depicted consisting entirely of shipyards, ropewalks and other industrial buildings (fig. 2). This is the Lastage, the maritime quarter of Amsterdam. With an eye for even the tiniest detail, Anthonisz illustrated the hustle and bustle that took place on the waterfront. Ships are pulled on their side for careening and even the large, smoking kettles filled with hot tar and pitch can be seen. All along the river-front shipbuilders construct all sorts of ships. In the water in front of the shipyards a dozen or so ships are moored. This part of the port and even the outer canals were being used as a winter harbour. A long row of stakes fenced of this part of the roadstead and protected the ships against the effects of the tides and winter ice.

Fig. 1. – Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.

Fig. 1. – Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.

Fig. 2. – The Lastage, detail from Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.

Fig. 2. – The Lastage, detail from Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.
  • 7 Van Breen J., “De grenzen van de vrijheid en van de omwalling der stad Amsterdam in de xive en xve (...)
  • 8 Ter Gouw J., Geschiedenis van Amsterdam, I, Amsterdam, 1879, p. 306.
  • 9 Ibid., p. 7-10, 93-98 ; ’t Hooft C.G., “De wording van Amsterdam als zeehaven”, Jaarboek Amsteloda (...)
  • 10 Ter Gouw J., op cit., I, p. 95 ; Handvesten der stad Amsterdam, I, Noordkerk H. and Farret J.P. (e (...)
  • 11 Brugmans H., op cit., p. 83-84.
  • 12 Smit H.J., De opkomst van den handel van Amsterdam. Onderzoekingen naar de economische ontwikkelin (...)

12The natural inlet in the River IJ where the Lastage is situated, is called the Oudezijds Waal or Old Waal. According to some historians the Old Waal resulted from the All Saints’ Flood of 1170, although others believe it was formed by a breach in a dike between 1377 and 13837, though when it came first in to use as part of the port of Amsterdam remains unclear. The first indication that the Old Waal was used as an anchorage dates from 1344. From a countly record comes the description the Old Waal “van der cogghen te lastaedzen” or to “unload the cogs8”. The name “lastage” or “lastaigie” has probably been derived from this. In the Hanseatic towns of Dantzig and Stettin we also find a Lastage (or Lastadie). These too were the medieval maritime quarters. The question remains as to what exactly the word “lastaedzen” means. Most likely it refers to the cogs being anchored here and that “lastaedzen” means their cargo was then loaded into smaller barges and taken into the city. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there was some infrastructure on the river-front like shipyards, ropewalks, warehouses or cranes of the sort. Both J. ter Gouw and C.G. ’t Hooft speculated on the existence of a Lastage in the 13th century9. According to a much cited seizure of a cog from Amstelland by mariners from the city of Lübeck in 1247 and the toll privilege given by the Archbishop of Riga in 1277, Amsterdam would already have had a lively trade with the Baltic by the 13th century10. Therefore, Ter Gouw and ’t Hooft reasoned that Amsterdam must have had a maritime quarter to accomodate this Baltic trade. Where else could this quarter have been than in the Old Waal ? In his Geschiedenis van Amsterdam H. Brugmans already made an end to these speculations11. According to Brugmans, Amsterdam wasn’t economically that important in the 13th century and first half of the 14th century. The merchants and sailors from Amsterdam, according to H.J. Smit, still had to commission their bigger sea-going ships on the shipyards of Dordrecht12. To conclude, both historical and archaeological evidence for a 13th century or early 14th century maritime quarter at the edge of the Old Waal, does not exist.

  • 13 Oorkondenboek van Amsterdam tot 1400, Van der Laan P.H.J. (ed.), Amsterdam, 1975, p. 305306, no. 4 (...)
  • 14 Handvesten der stad Amsterdam, I, op. cit., p. 11-12.
  • 15 Van Breen J., “De grenzen van de vrijheid en van de omwalling der stad Amsterdam in de xive en xve (...)
  • 16 De Fremery W.H.F., “De opkomst der Amsterdamsche haven”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 22, 1925, p. 30.

13It is more likely the Lastage developed no earlier than the end of the 14th century. Until 1387 it was strictly forbidden to build outside the town’s defences. However, it was in that year the jurisdiction of Amsterdam was enlarged and for the first time included the area of the later Lastage13. With this enlargement also came the decision to allow people to build outside the walled city14. In 1404 this resolution was reconfirmed and Ysbrant Pietersz received permission from the town council to settle with his family in the Lastage and to build a ropewalk there15. It is quite likely Pietersz was the first citizen to settle in the Lastage. The shipwrights and ropemakers will have moved to the Lastage between 1479 and 1503, when two town ordinances forbade the use of pitch and tar for ropemaking and careening inside the city16, and thus effectively banned all fire hazardous activities to the land outside the town walls.

The Lastage as a danger to the city

14A detailed account of the Lastage can only be constructed from the 16th century onwards, thanks to the documented problems the area faced. In 1482, when Amsterdam received its stone walls, the Lastage was left out and became a quarter outside the walls. This was not without danger, as was proved during the wars between the Burgundian Netherlands and the Duchy of Guelders during the first half of the 16th century (1504-1515 and 1518-1543). The Dukes of Burgundy, to whom Holland belonged after 1433, in previous decades had drastically increased their lands and influence in a northern direction. They had set their eyes and minds on both Utrecht and Guelders which would make fine additions to their vast landholdings. During the following wars with Utrecht and Guelders, although only the latter will be discussed in this essay, Amsterdam became a frontier town.

  • 17 Resoluties van de vroedschap van Amsterdam, 1490-1550, Iterson P.D.J. and Van der Laan P.H.J. (eds (...)
  • 18 Informacie up den staet, faculteyt ende gelegentheyt van de steden ende dorpen van Hollant ende Vr (...)

15Enemy forces could move against the city both by land and sea. It was clear to the town council that the Lastage, with its wooden buildings, dozens of ships and great stocks of wood, tar, pitch and hemp, would make an attractive target for the enemy with which the whole city could be smoked out. Worse still, from the east enemy forces could come right under the town walls and lay siege to it, using the buildings of the Lastage as their cover. The town council took measures to reduce the damage to a minimum. If a siege was imminent, ships had to be moved to the other side of the roadstead, with both their flammable tackle and cargo removed. The town council could also decide to evacuate the Lastage without being held responsible for the costs to the inhabitants17. As a last resort the long row of stakes around the roadstead could be turned into a stockade. However, these stakes were the only defence on the sea-side of the city. Although Amsterdam had had stone walls since 1482 its defences to the sea lay entirely open, apart from the stakes on the roadstead. There had been plans to build a stone river-front wall too as these plans were still mentioned in 151418, but they never materialized.

  • 19 Resoluties van de vroedschap van Amsterdam, p. 29 (“Roerende de Lastaige”).
  • 20 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 36.
  • 21 Resoluties van de vroedschap, p. 30 (“Roerende de tymmeraigen ende thuynen rontomme der stede”).

16When word came in May 1508 that troops from Guelders were marching on Amsterdam, the town council hastily pulled down all buildings on the Lastage and set fire to the remains. Eventually, the troops were brought to a halt and defeated on the Diemer Dike, some miles away from the city. Nevertheless, it had been a close call. The town council decided a year later to improve the city’s defences by widening the moat outside the city walls with more than 20 metres19. This measure could not prevent a surprise attack in December 1512 which caught the city completely off guard : the Lastage went up in flames, many ships anchored in the Old Waal for the winter season were either taken or destroyed. The total damage was estimated at 50,000 guilders20. The attack proved how weak the defences on the east-side of the city really were. In the short term the town council issued new building regulations about building outside the city’s walls in 151321. The area that should remain free of buildings was enlarged to almost 50 metres. The owners of properties that came within this zone, were given five months to remove their houses and buildings. The sides of the ropewalks that bordered the city walls had to remain open. The people of the Lastage were allowed though to have small allotments in the “nobuildings area” to grow their vegetables, but the fences around their gardens had to be kept at least 33 metres away from the city walls and be no higher than five or six feet.

  • 22 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 37.
  • 23 Resoluties van de vroedschap, p. 32 (“Hoe nae men der stede muren rontomme der stede mooch tymmere (...)

17During a truce with Guelders, which lasted from 1515 to 1518, the town council agreed to a more extensive package of measures to bolster the defences on the east-side of the city. In 1516 a moat was constructed around the Lastage along which two blockhouses were built. At the north eastern corner of this moat and the Old Waal, a large defensive tower, the Montelbaantoren, was erected. The people living and working in the Lastage paid a large sum of money towards the construction of these new defences, as it seems under the apprehension that their houses and buildings would soon be brought within the city’s new walls22. In 1517 the distance between the walls and the buildings was increased to almost 60 metres23. With these measures, albeit provisional, the town council had used the truce with Guelders to improve its defences around the Lastage, providing some protection to this quarter by turning it into a sort of bailey.

  • 24 Ibid., p. 37-38 (“Roerende de tymmeraige buyten op den Lastaige”).

18In 1530 when a great fire reduced the whole quarter to ashes and also threatened the walled city itself, the town council came up with an ambiguous plan24. From now on all houses and ropewalks on the Lastage had to be built of stone and with solid roofs. Large stocks of highly flammable pitch and tar no longer may be kept under a shelter. Logical as these measures may seem regarding fire prevention, it created a new problem whenever the city were to come under a new attack. The stone buildings on the Lastage would provide the enemy an even better cover during a siege !

  • 25 Ibid., p. 57 (“All dat II mannen dragen moghen binnen der stede te brengen”).
  • 26 Ibid., p. 57-58 (“Roerende de Laistaige”).

19In Spring 1542 a new attack by troops from Guelders threatened the city. In June that same year the town council decided all flammable materials and stocks of pitch, tar and wood had to taken outside the city. Since it was no longer possible to demolish the Lastage in time, the town council provided the people outside the town gates with powder and lead to protect themselves and their properties25. A month later the town council ordered that houses on the Lastage had to be partly torn down, i.e. their chimneys taken off, to provide a better view and firing solution from the city walls. In order to defend the Lastage, the people were ordered to hire 300 to 400 soldiers, the costs being split between the inhabitants and the town council26. If these soldiers would “turn their heads”, in other words would abandon their posts, the town council considered itself fully in its right to evacuate and demolish the entire the Lastage as a last resort.

The Lastage rebels

  • 27 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 38-63.
  • 28 Ter Gouw J., op. cit., IV, p. 416-431.
  • 29 Brugmans H., op. cit., p. 185-186.

20The history of the Lastage after 1538 can be characterized by continuous, elongated judicial haggling between the inhabitants of the Lastage and the town council. W.H.M. de Fremery made a very detailed description of this judicial struggle in his book ‘De opkomst der Amsterdamsche haven’27, so the following is only based on the salient points. It is, however, important to study the historical interpretation of this civil conflict. Ter Gouw saw it as an conflict between the progressive inhabitants of the Lastage and the conservative town council28. That would be too favourable for the inhabitants perhaps. Brugmans on the other hand called the inhabitants a “some what lawless people” that acted as if “no government existed29.” Today we might make a milder judgment, accustomed as we are today with public town hall meetings and petitions.

21The inhabitants of the Lastage were frustrated with the evacuations and clearings of the Lastage. They wanted the safety that only stone town walls could provide. As long as the war with Guelders went on, it was highly unlikely that would happen. After 1530 the people faced yet another problem. After the great fire of that same year, people had to build their homes from stone. But these stone buildings were much heavier ann gradually sinking into the marshy ground they had been built on, so people started raising their lands in order to keep the water out of their homes. The town council had always considered the marshy surroundings as one of the strongest defences of the city. Amsterdam could only be reached by three dikes. A large army would become stuck in the mud before it could reach the city walls. The Lastage had already proved to be one of the weakest links in the city’s defences, but by raising the ground the Lastage was built on made it even easier for enemy forces to reach the city unhindered as they already had done in 1512.

  • 30 Resoluties van de vroedschap, 58-59 (“Den huysen van Burchman Wouterss. cum sociis off te breeken”)
  • 31 Ibid., 66 (“Roerende taffbrecken van den huysen, staende buyten deser stede”).

22A second problem facing the Lastage was its provisional moat. Although it provided the quarter some protection it also enclosed the area, and from the 1530s onwards, space became a problem within the Lastage, especially because the port of Amsterdam was growing and the Lastage, as its maritime quarter, had to develop accordingly. This led to illegal building activities inside the field of fire. In 1542 for example it turned out that Burchman Woutersz had extended his home into this forbidden zone. Although his home clearly was in violation with building regulations, the town council at first tried to be considerate and offered to pay for the damages of demolishing Woutersz’s home30. But after a year nothing had happened and the council stepped up its demands to remove the illegal building and claimed it would “punish and severely correct, to the example of others, those who resisted or wanted to resist the demolition31” of this house.

  • 32 Ibid., 73 (“Roerende de timmeraige van den nyewe muere bij St. Anthoenispoort”).
  • 33 Gemeentearchief Amsterdam (GAA), Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris (arch. no. 5039), stukken L (...)
  • 34 Ibid.

23In 1543 a peace agreement was reached at Venlo between the Netherlands and Guelders, now under Habsburg rule. The town council of Amsterdam thought now was the time for the long needed repairs, renovation and improvement of the city walls and wanted to start at the eastern section of the walls first32. Although the outlook for a long lasting peace was quite favourable, the council saw no need to loosen its reins on the matter of the building regulations on the Lastage. The inhabitants on the other hand saw the chance to get their neighbourhood united with the city within the safety of its new walls. They even drew up a plan for building a new wall around the Lastage and offered to pay the building costs of an estimated 162,000 guilders themselves33. The town council rejected the plan arguing it would draw business away from other parts of the city, especially from the westside, and by including the Lastage, the flammable shipyards and ropewalks would re-enter the city. A proposal to construct a lock in St. Anthony’s Dike on the upper side of the Lastage for better control of the water levels in the Lastage was also rejected because it would drain the water in the city’s canals34. What happened next was key to the whole conflict : the people of the Lastage appealed to Regent Mary of Hungary in Brussels and asked her to forbid the council to renovate the city walls until their proposal had been more closely examined. Naturally, the town council was much upset by this flagrant act of their own citizens which did not make things easier for the inhabitants of the Lastage.

  • 35 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 15 september 1545).

24The Regent dismissed the proposal. Worse still, she demanded that the building regulations were better looked after, that the inhabitants should not raise their lands, that too many buildings were standing to close to the city walls and that they had to be removed at the owners’ expense and the new buildings should not be made from stone, but from wood again. Only, if that would provide the inhabitants of the Lastage some comfort, she agreed to the building of a lock in St. Anthony’s Dike35.

25The appeal had the adverse effect. It had focused the attention of the government too much on the crowded and flammable neighbourhood right outside one of Holland’s most important cities. As already noted, it also worsened the relationship with the town council of what, for a large part, was a local issue and this relationship had already been under stress. In the wake of a bloody rebellion by Anabaptists that had shocked Amsterdam in 1535, the political scene had shifted from moderate and tolerant towards Protestants to oppressive and in 1538 a new town council was elected formed by the so-called “sincere Catholic party”. Leader of this faction was Mayor Hendrik Dirksz. From what we know of this man, Dirksz was a real hard-liner. He could not accept that the inhabitants of the Lastage disobeyed the building regulations and did it so openly.

  • 36 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage ; Bomhof J.W. and Kolvenbach F. M., Am (...)

26Maybe the town council had hoped that with the ruling from the Regent herself in 1545 the whole issue was concluded. They were proven wrong. Despite of severe warnings and threats with banishment from the city, the inhabitants went on raising their lands. When a point was reached that the town council had no other option than to intervene and to reenforce the building regulations, the people of the Lastage appealed to the Court of Holland, the Great Council in Mechelen and the Secret Council in Brussels36. All these lawsuits and appeals meant that it would take years before the city could start to enforce the rulings by the regent from 1545. In the meantime, only more lawsuits were filed by the inhabitants.

  • 37 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 50.

27The first lawsuit was against Cornelis Boom, owner of one of the largest ropewalks in the Lastage. In 1537 Boom had been allowed to dig a ditch along his property to carry materials to and from his ropewalk. Many other inhabitants used this ditch, which carried the name of its creator, the Cornelis Boomensloot, but in special cases the town council could close the ditch. This happened in 1538, but Boom re-opened the ditch by 1543. The town council did not agree because the people of the Lastage used this ditch to carry mud on barges for raising their lands. The ditch was closed again and remained closed. Another lawsuit was filed against Olfert in den Fuyck, like Boom an owner of a ropewalk, and a illegal raiser of his lands. The town council wanted to punish In den Fuyck and his men by banishing them from the city. In total, five similiar lawsuits were filed against inhabitants of the Lastage for illegal raising of their lands or for building too close to the city walls37.

  • 38 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Verbael bij den heere van Assendelft (...)
  • 39 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 31 oktober 1552).

28In 1551 the last case was decided in favour of the town council, and so it wanted to finally begin with the preparations already laid out six years before. The president of the Court of Holland, Gerrit van Assendelft, was commissioned to carry out the decision of the Regent of 1545 and he paid a visit to the Lastage in September 1551 and held talks with both the town council and the inhabitants of the Lastage. During his tour through the Lastage, he had noted already that the illegal raising of the lands was difficult to prove after six years without some decent level or mark. He wrote “probatio difficilis” in the left margin of his report38. The inhabitants of the Lastage showed Van Assendelft the subsidence of their houses and insisted they at least got some sort of mark to which level they were allowed to raise their lands. The town council however remained unmoved by the pleas of the inhabitants, every raising of land was against the building regulations and therefore illegal. However, nobody knew what the level of the lands was in 1545. Van Assendelft could only conclude that more research had to be done before a final decision in this matter could be made. That study was made a year later and so the Regent for the second time ruled in this case in October 155239.

  • 40 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 55.

29With this second ruling, the Regent hoped to bring an end to all cases and if more judicial hearings were needed, to refer these cases to a lower court like the Court of Holland. The building regulations remained like they already were in 1545. From now on no building was allowed closer than some metres from the city walls. Any buildings within this zone had to be removed within six weeks. The regent also demanded that the enforcement of the building regulations was stepped up. In practice not much changed, the people were quite unmoved by all these strong words and continued raising their lands40.

  • 41 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 11 mei 1555).

30The news that the people continued with their illegal actions grew so prevalent over the following years, that in 1554 a new committee was sent by the Court of Holland to the Lastage to find out what was going on. Obviously, this was not the case, and a second committee was installed to establish a level to which the lands were allowed to be raised41.

  • 42 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Verbael van seckere opdracht gedaen o (...)

31With the help of a surveyor’s rod, Commissioner Sasbout of the Court of Holland established several marks in 1556. He also had the foundations of every building dug out that stood too close to the city walls42. Only after this did peace return in the Lastage.

The Grievance of 1564

  • 43 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 59.

32In the 1560s new reports came in that the people of the Lastage were raising their lands even higher than the official level set by Sasbout in 1555, or were building too close to the city walls. As a reprimand the Boomensloot was closed again by the town council. It was a case of bad timing, due to renovation works the lock in St. Anthony’s Dike being closed and a temporary dam being laid in the Singel canal ; effectively cutting off the Lastage from the rest of the city over water43. While Mayor Dirksz in 1564 went to Brussels to receive permission to act against the off ending inhabitants, the most prominent citizens of Amsterdam filed a grievance called the “Doleantie” to Regent Margaret of Parma.

  • 44 Brouwer Ancher A.J.M. and Breen J.C., “De Doleantie van een deel der burgerij van Amsterdam tegen (...)
  • 45 For a more detailed description of the conflict between mayor Dirksz and sheriff Bardes : Tracy J. (...)
  • 46 Brouwer Ancher A.J.M. and Breen J.C., op. cit., 60.

33The grievance was aimed at the town council, a family clique according to the grievers, that kept the best jobs for themselves and neglected trade in the city. With Amsterdam by now being the most important merchant port of the northern provinces, this was a serious complaint44. There is no doubt that the people of the Lastage were involved in writing this grievance or at least were consulted about the contents of it. The question remains why the people of the Lastage, for a second time, wanted to be involved in sending such a grievance after their bad experience only twenty years ago. The probable reason is that it was not their own initiative but someone else’s and they must have thought they could only gain from it ; a situation worse than this simply was not conceivable. The initiator of the grievance against the town council was Sheriff Bardes who went head-to-head in a conflict with Mayor Dirksz45. At the surface this conflict was a row over the termination of Bardes’ office as Sheriff but deep down it also was a feud between the ruling classes of Amsterdam soon joined by everyone who had a problem with the town council46.

  • 47 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie provisioneel bij den hertog (...)

34Regent Margaret of Parma ordered the stadholder (governor) of Holland, William of Orange, to go to Amsterdam to find out what was going on and whether or not the claims in the grievance had some ground. He did so in May 1565 and in the Autumn of that same year she came with a verdict. She too was convinced that the Lastage had become a safety issue and that the people living and working there had to abide to the building regulations47. Nevertheless she also tackled the problem of the town council in September, although for the people of the Lastage much remained the same.

35However, not much of Margaret’s plan was realized. A year later, in 1566, religious troubles reached a boiling point culmanating in a iconoclastic fury called the “Beeldenstorm” which soon grew became a serious revolt against the central government of the Low Countries.

All’s well, that ends well ?

  • 48 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Resolutie bij de 36 Raden genomen in (...)

36In 1578 Amsterdam switched sides in what is considered as a bloodless coup against the town council of Mayor Dirksz known as the “Alteration”. This Catholic council was replaced by a Protestant council. In it were many familiar names, like Boom and Bardes. They were “the sons of”. This new town council decided in 1579 to fortify and unite the Lastage with the city48.

37It would make a “happy ending” to this story. The sons finished the work their fathers had begun. However, much more had changed in Amsterdam than only a change of a town council. There was a war going on against the Habsburg rulers who had governed the Low Countries for so long. Many refugees had fled to Amsterdam. Others had come to the city because its trade and commerce were growing fast. Especially after the sacking of Antwerp, at the time still the main metropole of the Low Countries, by Spanish troops in 1585, newcomers poured into the “boomtown” at the borders of the River IJ. The bustling city had outgrown its medieval walls that had curtailed further growth. The port had become so important and the ships which came to Amsterdam were so numerous, that more space was needed to house all these newcomers, trade and commerce. The Lastage had simply become too small to stay the city’s maritime quarter.

  • 49 For a more detailed description of the four consequetive enlargements of Amsterdam from the 1590s (...)

38The new town council faced two urgent issues : a bigger port was needed and more houses were needed. The Lastage, which already had a moat around it which could protect the east-side of the town while a section of the old stone walls was being demolished and a new and modern defensive system was being constructed, and its land that by the illegal raisings from the past decades was ready to be built on, provided the best option for the first enlargement of Amsterdam49. The Lastage, once Amsterdam’s maritime quarter now became its first new housing estate.

Notes

1 For a more detailed discussion of the changing economic structure of Holland around 1400 : Israel J. I., The Dutch Republic. Its rise, greatness, and fall, 1477-1806, Oxford, 1998, p. 9-20.

2 Gawronski J. and Veerkamp J., “Ambachten aan de Nieuwendijk”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Deel 1 : een stad uit het niets ; tot 1578, Amsterdam, 2004, p. 35-38.

3 There is still some debate over the date of the first dam in the River Amstel. It is very likely the first dam was built around the beginning of the 13th century at the same time the first settlers came to this area. Written evidence, however, suggests the dam was built between 1265 and 1275. The first dam may well have replaced by a second one between 1265 and 1275 some metres further upstream and consequently creating a small harbour (the Damrak) in front of it. The route of some of the older streets in Amsterdam still follow the course of the first dike and dam. Oldewelt W F. H., “De limieten van Amsterdam’s rechtsgebied sedert 1342”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 30, 1933 ; De Boer M G., “Amsterdams ligging ten opzichte van de S. Anthoniedijk”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 26, 1929 ; Speet B., “Een kleine nederzetting in het veen”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), op. cit., p. 60.

4 Brugmans H., Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Van den oorsprong af tot heden, Amsterdam, 1930, p. 88-89.

5 Voorthuysen W., Koopman Amsterdam. Beknopte economische geschiedenis van Amsterdam 1200-1795, Amsterdam, 2001, p. 13. Around 1375 half of Hamburg’s annual beer production was exported to Amsterdam.

6 Kaptein H., “Poort van Holland. De economische ontwikkeling 1200-1578”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), op. cit., p. 119.

7 Van Breen J., “De grenzen van de vrijheid en van de omwalling der stad Amsterdam in de xive en xve eeuw”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 45, 1953, p. 33 ; Speet B., “Verstening, verdichting en vergroting”, Carasso-Kok M. (ed.), op. cit., p. 97.

8 Ter Gouw J., Geschiedenis van Amsterdam, I, Amsterdam, 1879, p. 306.

9 Ibid., p. 7-10, 93-98 ; ’t Hooft C.G., “De wording van Amsterdam als zeehaven”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 27, 1930, p. 4.

10 Ter Gouw J., op cit., I, p. 95 ; Handvesten der stad Amsterdam, I, Noordkerk H. and Farret J.P. (eds.), Amsterdam, 1748, p. 63-65.

11 Brugmans H., op cit., p. 83-84.

12 Smit H.J., De opkomst van den handel van Amsterdam. Onderzoekingen naar de economische ontwikkeling der stad tot 1441, Amsterdam, 1914, p. 73.

13 Oorkondenboek van Amsterdam tot 1400, Van der Laan P.H.J. (ed.), Amsterdam, 1975, p. 305306, no. 468.

14 Handvesten der stad Amsterdam, I, op. cit., p. 11-12.

15 Van Breen J., “De grenzen van de vrijheid en van de omwalling der stad Amsterdam in de xive en xve eeuw”, op. cit., p. 33.

16 De Fremery W.H.F., “De opkomst der Amsterdamsche haven”, Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 22, 1925, p. 30.

17 Resoluties van de vroedschap van Amsterdam, 1490-1550, Iterson P.D.J. and Van der Laan P.H.J. (eds.), Amsterdam, 1986, p. 29-30 (“Confirmatie opt tvoergaende”).

18 Informacie up den staet, faculteyt ende gelegentheyt van de steden ende dorpen van Hollant ende Vrieslant om daernae te reguleren de nyeuwe schiltaele, gedaen in den jaere MDXIV, Fruin R.J. (ed.), Leiden, 1866, p. 174.

19 Resoluties van de vroedschap van Amsterdam, p. 29 (“Roerende de Lastaige”).

20 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 36.

21 Resoluties van de vroedschap, p. 30 (“Roerende de tymmeraigen ende thuynen rontomme der stede”).

22 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 37.

23 Resoluties van de vroedschap, p. 32 (“Hoe nae men der stede muren rontomme der stede mooch tymmeren”).

24 Ibid., p. 37-38 (“Roerende de tymmeraige buyten op den Lastaige”).

25 Ibid., p. 57 (“All dat II mannen dragen moghen binnen der stede te brengen”).

26 Ibid., p. 57-58 (“Roerende de Laistaige”).

27 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 38-63.

28 Ter Gouw J., op. cit., IV, p. 416-431.

29 Brugmans H., op. cit., p. 185-186.

30 Resoluties van de vroedschap, 58-59 (“Den huysen van Burchman Wouterss. cum sociis off te breeken”).

31 Ibid., 66 (“Roerende taffbrecken van den huysen, staende buyten deser stede”).

32 Ibid., 73 (“Roerende de timmeraige van den nyewe muere bij St. Anthoenispoort”).

33 Gemeentearchief Amsterdam (GAA), Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris (arch. no. 5039), stukken Lastage, inv. no. 219 (Memorie van zekere motiven in der materie van der Lastaige dienende van keijzerswegen der steede gemaect).

34 Ibid.

35 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 15 september 1545).

36 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage ; Bomhof J.W. and Kolvenbach F. M., Amsterdammers voor de Grote Raad (1465-1580). Procesbundels en vonnissen uit het archief van de Grote Raad (Algemeen Rijksarchief Brussel) met betrekking tot inwoners en instellingen van Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1977, p. 24-25, 68, no. 125.

37 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 50.

38 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Verbael bij den heere van Assendelft gehouden in september 1551 aengaende die verhoeginge van de Lastaige).

39 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 31 oktober 1552).

40 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 55.

41 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie 11 mei 1555).

42 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Verbael van seckere opdracht gedaen op die Lastagie beroerende dopneminge der fundamenten ende stelle van een peijl daerna men hoechgen mach).

43 De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 59.

44 Brouwer Ancher A.J.M. and Breen J.C., “De Doleantie van een deel der burgerij van Amsterdam tegen de magistraat dier stad in 1564 en 1565”, Bijdragen en mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 24, 1903, p. 60-61.

45 For a more detailed description of the conflict between mayor Dirksz and sheriff Bardes : Tracy J. D., “Habsburg grain policy and Amsterdam politics : the career of sheriff Willem Dirkszoon Baerdes, 1542-1566”, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 14, 1983, p. 293-319 ; Woltjens J.J., “Het conflict tussen Willem Bardes en Hendrick Dirckszoon”, Bijdragen en mededelingen betreffende de geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 86, 1971, p. 178-199 ; Ter Gouw J., op. cit., IV, p. 431-448.

46 Brouwer Ancher A.J.M. and Breen J.C., op. cit., 60.

47 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Sententie provisioneel bij den hertoginne van Parma verclaert den 6 Augusto 1565 beroerende den openinge van Boemensloot op de Lastagie deser stede) ; De Fremery W.H.F., op. cit., p. 62.

48 GAA, Archief van de Thesaurieren Ordinaris, stukken Lastage (Resolutie bij de 36 Raden genomen in de jaeren 1579 en 1580 opt fortifieren van de Lastaige en de tverhoegen van de Wale etc.).

49 For a more detailed description of the four consequetive enlargements of Amsterdam from the 1590s onwards : Bakker B., “De zichtbare stad 1578-1813”, Frijhoff W. and Prak M. (eds.), Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Deel II-1 : centrum van de wereld, 1578-1650, Amsterdam, 2004, p. 17-47.

Table des illustrations

Titre Fig. 1. – Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.
URL http://books.openedition.org/pur/docannexe/image/6495/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 3,7M
Titre Fig. 2. – The Lastage, detail from Panorama of Amsterdam by Anthonis Cornelisz, 1544.
URL http://books.openedition.org/pur/docannexe/image/6495/img-2.png
Fichier image/png, 3,0M

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