How the nation of Portuguese merchants in Antwerp “made” its privileged customary law (xvi-xviii c.)
p. 99-120
Remerciements
The author thanks Amber Gardeyn and Flávio Miranda for their valuable comments, suggestions and corrections.
Texte intégral
I. Introduction
1Commercial relations between the Low Countries, particularly the county of Flanders, and Portugal have been attested since the Portuguese Kingdom was founded in the twelfth century.1 Just as a Flemish nation of merchants settled in Lisbon,2 a group of Portuguese salesmen lived in the Low Countries, first in Bruges and later in Antwerp.3 They called themselves a nation and were well organized, electing new consuls every year. The competences of the consulates of various nations of merchants in European cities are similar but vary from place to place, and they are the result of historically granted or conquered privileges and customary evolution.4 In this contribution, the competences and activities of the Portuguese consuls in Antwerp will be briefly described, and light will be shed on the many privileges they managed to acquire and defend for their nation.
2The Antwerp consulate, indeed, has a quite particular history, differing from many others. Although only constituting a rather small group, the Portuguese managed to acquire important privileges and tax exemptions. Based on archival sources in Antwerp and Lisbon,5 this contribution focuses on some interesting legal aspects within the nation’s history. In some sense, the Portuguese consuls managed to “make their own customary law”, and have it recognized by the city and State authorities.
3After a sketch of the Portuguese presence in Bruges and their move to Antwerp around 1500 (II), the institutional organization of the nation will be described in paragraph III. Next, a brief overview is given of the many privileges the Portuguese enjoyed (IV). The municipal and central-governmental privileges form some kind of constitution for the consulate. The list of privileges elucidates that the Portuguese nation enjoyed more autonomy and exemptions than any other nation. In the fifth paragraph (V), we look for possible reasons explaining the Portuguese privileged status. In fact, it will become clear that the legal and customary status of the nation and its members was the result of consular diligence and active policy. The final paragraph (VI) draws some conclusions on what the Antwerp case teaches us about the interaction between trade, judicial and diplomatic protection of privileges, and customary law.
II. Portuguese merchants in Flanders and Brabant
4In the Middle Ages, both Flanders and Portugal were maritime countries, with ships travelling between them, not only for commercial objectives. Flemish knights, for instance, on their way to the Holy Land, helped conquer Lisbon and other cities,6 and consequently dynastic bonds between the young Kingdom and the wealthy county were established.7 Portuguese merchants had representatives in Bruges at least since the twelfth century.8 Bruges was at that moment one of the most lively ports in the world.9 As early as the thirteenth century, Flemish drapery was a luxurious good for the Portuguese happy few;10 a Lisbon insurance fund for merchants sailing to Flanders was established by King Dinis (1279-1325) in 129311 and in 1308 one of Bruges’ streets was already known as “Portuguese Street”.12 In 1410 the city magistrate officially put a chapel at the disposal of the Portuguese. Later, in the fifteenth century, they also had an own nation house.13
5Very likely, the Bruges city magistrate as well as the count of Flanders had granted earlier privileges, but texts have only been preserved from the end of the fourteenth century onwards.14 A fundamental text for the Portuguese nation’s further existence is the privilege granted by John the Fearless (1371-1419), 26 December 1411,15 establishing the jurisdiction of the consuls.16 In its preamble, the privilege explicitly states that it is given “à la prière et contemplacion de messire Alvaro Goncalves Cantinho, chevalier du dit royaume, pour les bons notables et agréables services qu’il a fais par sa grant vaillance ou service de monseigneur le Roy en armes ceste presente année a Paris et a Saint Cloud alencontre de celui qui se dit duc d’Orliens et autres ses aliez et adherens rebelles et ennemis de mon dit seigneur le Roy et de nous”. Earlier that same year, the city itself had also borrowed money from several Portuguese merchants to finance an expedition to Montdidier.17 There is no such thing as a free lunch: both the city’s and the prince’s privileges were thus given as some kind of compensation or recognition of friendship or moral debt.
6Just a few years later in the fifteenth century, after the marriage of Burgundian duke (and count of Flanders) Philip the Good (1396-1467) to the Portuguese infante Isabel (1397-1471) in 1429 (with their festive arrival in 1430, accompanied by the establishment of the Order of the Golden Fleece),18 privileges were confirmed, and expanded upon, by the count of Flanders.19 In reciprocity, similar privileges were granted to the Flemish merchants in Lisbon.20 Apart from tax exemptions, the most important aspect of the granted privileges related to the personal freedom of the merchants and their goods, including their right to be judged by their compatriots and according to their own “national” law. The nation’s consular jurisdiction has been well analysed and described for the fifteenth century.21
7The Portuguese consulate in the Low Countries moved from Bruges to Antwerp around 1500.22 Much has been written on the transition period between the heyday of medieval commerce concentrated in Bruges and the rise and success of Antwerp as the centre of commerce and industry in the Early Modern Era. Not only because of the hydrographic problems of the Bruges harbour, but more generally because Antwerp seems to have been much more lenient towards foreign merchants and capital, most nations moved from Bruges to Antwerp, among them also the Portuguese.23 On a political level, the rebellion of Bruges and other Flemish cities against Emperor Maximilian (1459-1519),24 and, on a more local level, the envy of local merchants regarding the privileges granted to foreigners, surely help explain the change. From a legal point of view, it is most important to stress at this point that, at this moment, the heart of international commerce left the county of Flanders to settle in the duchy of Brabant, without changing sovereign. As far as jurisdiction is concerned, this meant that an appeal against a local magistrate’s decision was no longer brought before the Council of Flanders25 and/or the Parliament/Great Council of Malines26, but before the Council of Brabant.27
8Among the sixteenth century new settlers in the Netherlands were also many Jewish or New Christians.28 When most29 of the Portuguese moved from Bruges to Antwerp, first the factor (feitor, head of the feitoria)30 relocated in 1498, followed by the nation, represented by its consuls, in 1510.31 When describing the activities of the Portuguese in Bruges and Antwerp, historiography usually pays most attention to the commercial importance of the group as such, and, more than to the consuls, to the royally appointed factor. It has to be stressed, however, that the feitoria and the consulado were two different institutions. The factor was appointed by the Portuguese crown and he was a royal representative in the Low Countries. He had diplomatic duties and held control over some royal monopolies. As a private merchant he bought and sold a lot of goods, but he was also an important buyer of luxury goods for the crown. He pertained to the highest social ranks.32 A consul, on the other hand, was just one of the – be it normally more important – locally residing Portuguese merchants. Additionally, there were normally two of them. The consulate existed until the end of the Ancien Régime, the Portuguese being the only surviving nation in Antwerp, formally recognized by the city magistrate,33 whereas the last feitor’s mandate ended in 1549.34
III. The nation and its consuls: organisation and competences
A. The nation’s regulation
9Whereas the feitoria ended halfway the sixteenth century, the nation itself and its institutional framework, particularly the consulado, continued its activity up until the end of the eighteenth century, when the French made tabula rasa of the old local institutions in the Low Countries. During these three centuries, the Portuguese privileges were not uncontested (see IV), but their organization – of a combined privilege-based and customarily-evolved nature – seems to have remained rather stable. Within the large group of all “Portuguese” (the actual subjects of the nation) were men, women and children. Who exactly the privileged Portuguese were, and to what lengths their privileges extended, was often heavily debated. By 1600 already, but particularly in the eighteenth century, many “Portuguese” in Antwerp did have Portuguese ancestors, but were Antwerp born, spoke Dutch and were city residents. Nevertheless, they continued claiming privileges, such as tax exemptions and their own jurisdiction. The rich sources of the Consulado de Antuérpia, preserved at the Portuguese Torre do Tombo archives, on the one hand, and the documents of the Antwerp city magistrate related to the Portuguese nation, assembled and inventoried in the nineteenth century as “Privilegiekamer: Natie van Portugal”, on the other hand, give testimony of the tensions between the nation, the city and the central government. In these, the consuls played a central role. To get to know them better, let’s have a look at the Portuguese institutional organization.
10The regulatory basis for the nation’s Antwerp organization is a city ordinance of 20 November 1511.35 It repeated all the privileges given to the Portuguese in Bruges one hundred years before, and confirmed more particularly their own jurisdiction by two elected consuls, as granted by the Duke of Burgundy in 1438.36 In case of appeal to the city magistrate, a swift procedure was promised. But the privileges were also expanded upon. Like before, the Portuguese enjoyed exemptions from wine and beer taxes on a limited amount of tons,37 but, most importantly, they from then on enjoyed the clause of most favoured nation.38 The Portuguese nation house, known as Huis van Poortugael/Casa de Portugal (situated in Kipdorp Street), was bought by the city and put at the disposal of the Portuguese for free (for, in principle, only as long as the factor and the consuls would stay in town).39 The nation used it until the very end of the Ancien Régime and even reclaimed it after it was confiscated by the French occupants.40
11Later city and princely acts confirmed the nation’s rights and exemptions. More elaborate regulations (for instance the 75 article 1614 ordinance) probably only confirmed what had evolved customarily.41 What do these ordinances teach us on the nation’s structure?
B. The general assembly and the elected functionaries
12Each year, on Epiphany Day, a general assembly of all Portuguese men was held, at the nation’s house. Participation was compulsory and the archives indeed hold summons, through which unwilling members of the nation were compelled to appear.42 From a 1570 municipal ordinance on, an earlier implicit difference was made explicit: only the “mais interessados” were really obliged to attend the general assembly.43 These most interested were the actually residing merchants, ship owners, guild members, shopkeepers, bankers etc. The others, the “menos interessados”, were the Portuguese with less financial interests, like plain hand workers and mariners.
13Jesuit priests opened and closed the assembly with prayers. The gathering’s main objective, apart from checking the financial balance, was the election of the nation’s functionaries. Annually two consuls were elected (see C). The nation was entirely free in choosing its consuls (whereas, for instance, English consuls needed royal approval). While in the sixteenth century the complete annual renovation brought two new consuls year after year (some were, however, very often re-elected after a period out of office), from the seventeenth century onwards it regularly occurred that the same consuls continued their function for years, and various documents make us presume that at the end of the eighteenth century de facto just one man held the consulate, often for several years.
14Other functionaries to be (re)elected at the general assembly were the secretary, the treasurer and six deputies. Whereas the role of the man holding the pen and the man doing the bookkeeping are obvious, very few documents inform us on the role of the deputies, to be (re)elected every three years. They should probably be seen as some kind of board of administration, that convened whenever needed (which does not seem to have been the case regularly).
C. The consuls’ competences
15The competences of the consuls can be described as political, administrative and judicial.44 Although least explicitly documented by regulations, it is obvious that the consuls (certainly after the feitor left Antwerp) were the representatives of the nation, the spokesmen in regards to the city magistrate, the Prince, other nations and entities. Being (re)elected yearly, they enjoyed quite some democratic legitimation, and were able to attend public meetings or festivities in the name of the nation. They were particularly engaged in safeguarding the most favoured nation clause. When, for instance, in 1610 an exemption from a city consumption tax (assise) was given to the Hansa merchants, the consuls immediately addressed a request to the Archdukes, who consequently sent an order to the city magistrate to apply the same exemption to the Portuguese.45
16Their most important administrative competences concern, in the first place, the management of the nation’s house,46 but also of the other (rented) Portuguese warehouses. The consuls were the ones responsible for the levy of the age-old single Portuguese tax (of 1 grosz per tonelada).47 All “Portuguese” goods, therefor, were marked with “NP” (natio portucalensis), the seal the consuls guarded. The nation had the right to distribute yearly a certain number of tax-free tons of beer and wine for the personal consumption of the nation members, which was a job for the consuls. The consuls also organized events, were responsible for the decoration and the religious services in the nation’s chapel, and signed all letters to external recipients (for which they once in a while asked a jurist to help them48). On the occasion of Joyous Entries and other festivities, the consuls commanded artworks, flowers, food and drinks.
17As far as their judicial competences are concerned, the consuls could decide all cases between members (and their family) of the nation. Ratione personae et loci not only those residing in Antwerp, but also the Portuguese living elsewhere in the Low Countries could call on the consuls.49 When a minor lost his father, for instance, the consuls appointed a tutor.
18Ratione materiae, maritime, civil and disciplinary competences can be distinguished. In maritime matters, the most important role was the assessing of damages, known in Portuguese as avarias.50 Any discussion between Portuguese ship owners, chargers, captains, boatmen… was decided by the consuls. Goods were considered to be falling under the consuls’ competence when they were either from Portuguese origin, or when they were shipped by Portuguese owners, or when they were transported in Portuguese ships.
19Under the civil competences not only resort the already mentioned tutelage, but any quarrel between (family) members of the nation, be it on family and succession matters, on neighbour nuisance, or on commercial debts.51
20What can be called the disciplinary competence, finally, was the consuls’ ability to fine the Portuguese for having disrespected the nation’s regulations, or for having insulted or lightly injured fellow patriots. The consuls, however, had no real criminal competence, since crimes were prosecuted and sentenced by the city prosecutors and magistrate.
21If one of the parties did not appear voluntarily, they could be officially served by the nation’s secretary, who also acted as a court clerk. For more complicated cases, however, a notary public was called to assist the sessions and to draw up the procès-verbal.52 Parties appeared in person, or represented by a compatriot, but normally not by a professional proctor.53 There is no evidence of any assistance by advocates.
D. The nation as a locally embedded institution
22Just like in Bruges, appeal against the consuls’ decisions was possible in Antwerp. In second instance, the case was brought before the city magistrate (which meant that often Portuguese documents had to be translated). A third instance was possible before the Council of Brabant.
23If no appeal was lodged, the consuls’ decisions were seen as executory decisions of a local institution, not needing any further recognition by a city organ, and to be executed by one of the city’s functionaries responsible for judicial execution.54 The nation and its members also called upon court ushers and city messengers to intervene in internal and external proceedings. In other words, the Portuguese nation’s consulate was seen as a local official institution, completely embedded in Antwerp’s public law. This was explicitly recognized in the 1582 customary law codification (see IV).
IV. A minority well protected by privileges
24At first sight, it is surely not the huge number of Portuguese in Antwerp that made special treatments needed or desirable. One should speak of a minority,55 be it a very well protected minority enjoying several privileges. Apart from having officially recognized organs, whose decisions had executory power, and the Portuguese enjoying the right to rule themselves through their own regulations, applying Portuguese law in their mutual family and commercial relations, several other privileges were granted.
25As far as customs and taxes are concerned, the exemptions formerly given in Bruges (both by the city, e.g. in 1463, and by the count of Flanders, e.g. in 1386, 1411, 1421, 1438 and 146956) were continued in Antwerp. Not only did the city confirm and expand the Portuguese privileges, the Prince did so as well. The free entrance of persons and goods, and the saufconduit clause that no Portuguese, nor his goods, could be arrested due to debts has always been crucial. After this principal liberty followed some fiscal dispositions. On all Portuguese import one overall tax to the nation had to be paid. The nation enjoyed exemption from beer and wine taxes for a limited number of tons, destined for personal consumption, but not for sale.
26In the tumultuous sixteenth century, Antwerp repeated its original 1511 privileges in 1539, 1542, 1545, 1554 and 1564.57 The duke of Brabant confirmed the rights of the Portuguese in 1512, 1518, 1519, 1520, 1527, 1529, 1541, 1560, 1566 and 1567,58 and thus also during the period of religious quarrels and persecutions, iconoclasm and political revolt. The Portuguese were so diligent, that when the Northern Provinces controlled Antwerp, they asked the Estates General to confirm their privileges (in 1577 and 1581).59 The same was done by the Estates of Hollande and Zeeland in 1584 and 1587. Most important is the fact that, during the Calvinist period, when a new codification of Antwerp’s customary law was made, the nation’s consulate was explicitly recognized as an institution. Antwerp never had a homologated codification (turning the text into legislation), but of the four private codifications (Antiquissimae 1548, Antiquae 1570, Impressae 1582, Compilatae 1608), the Impressae of 1582, containing a title on the Portuguese consuls,60 were the most influential for local practice until the end of the Ancien Régime.61 During the more peaceful period under Albert and Elisabeth (1598-1621), the Archdukes gave a new general confirmation of the privileges on 17 April 1600.62
27When new taxes or duties were installed by the city magistrate, time after time the consuls claimed the nation’s exemption.63 In 1580, for instance, a Council of Brabant proceeding ended with the exemption from the communal guard duty.64 In 1619 and 1623, exemption was confirmed from the consumption tax on soap. After the farmer of the soap tax had claimed the taxation from some Portuguese, the consuls started a proceeding at the town court. The city magistrate explicitly sentenced that the Portuguese had rightfully defended their privilege of exemption.65 In exceptional circumstances, however, the nation agreed on contributing to the financial needs of the city. In 1625, for instance, because of the plague, the consuls accepted to pay the new tax on white beers.66 In a Council of Brabant procedure on horse tax (karosgeld) in 1645, tax collectors witnessed how other privileged persons, such as the bishop or noblemen, did pay the tax due for their horses, whereas the Portuguese still relied on their exemption.67
28The city magistrate seemed to become sick of the Portuguese stubbornness, however, and in 1648, referring to the fact that the number of Portuguese merchants had grown too small, burgomaster and aldermen addressed the Council of Brabant: the Portuguese nation house had to be closed down and returned to the city, and the 1511 privileges had to be withdrawn; no tax exemption would be allowed any longer. It constituted the start of a more than ten years lasting proceeding before the central Council. Arguments produced by the city held, for instance, declarations of citizens, heads of district (wijkmeesters), guild members etc. stating that the Portuguese were no longer the mighty entrepreneurs they once were, and that their many privileges were no longer “deserved” or reasonable.68 Nevertheless, the Brabant Council once again confirmed the most favoured nation clause and the Portuguese right to rely on the granted exemptions.69
29In the eighteenth century more confirmations of the exemptions followed, for instance regarding the municipal duty of housing troops (1708), the municipal guard (1724),70 the chaplain duty (1757)71… Indeed, the privileges the Portuguese enjoyed were not only financial exemptions. When, for instance, in 1642, a new ordinance on the guild of the brokers was promulgated, the Portuguese reacted. From that moment on, only Antwerp citizens (poorters) would be allowed to be a broker, while several Portuguese, not being local citizens, had already been working as a broker for quite some time. At the consuls’ request, the city magistrate, on the 6th of June 1643, exempted the Portuguese brokers from the legal condition.72
V. Securing privileges and making customary law
30That the Portuguese nation was a privileged minority (V) with officially recognized organs (IV) was not simply the logic result of a mere factual, or customary, development. It was something the Portuguese consuls had to fight for time after time again. That the Portuguese nation was the best protected one in Antwerp was surely the result of many factors, economic, political, social, cultural and legal (both textual and contextual). There among, the following ten elements stand out:
A. The nation mentioned in the codified customary law
31The main legal strength is of course that the Portuguese nation was recognized by the 1582, printed, codification as being part and parcel of the Antwerp city institutions. Although not officially homologated as State legislation, the Impressae de facto played the role of a code, that, once it had been recognized as the applicable customary law, it was never changed again throughout the Ancien Régime. The rules on the Portuguese consular jurisdiction clearly did not fall in desuetudo.
B. Defending the clause of most favoured nation
32Next to the codified “customary” – actually, privilege based – rules, the absolute best legal guarantee for large and repeated liberties and exemptions was the insertion of the most favoured nation clause in the Portuguese privileges. The Portuguese consuls actively defended it, launching various proceedings to enjoy any possible exemption (given to another nation, or even not). In the years 1545-1563, for instance, the Portuguese claimed the rights granted to the German Hansa (Oosterlingen). In this discussion, the concept of première résidence was of capital importance. Since the Portuguese had officially settled in Antwerp before the (re)arrival of the Hansa, when the latter was given a new exemption, it had to be attributed to the Portuguese as well.
C. Having the old privileges confirmed by every new sovereign
33A next legal tool the Portuguese frequently used, was asking each new sovereign for the explicit confirmation of the ancient privileges.73 This became particularly clear in the tumultuous period of the Dutch Revolt, when sovereignty switched sides and the Portuguese were vigilant and diligent enough to ask confirmation by the “sovereign” Dutch Estates as well. When making a request to the Prince, the consuls repeatedly insisted on the fact that their privileges dated back to times immemorial, “de toute ancienneté”. Who would dare to change such an age-old “customary” law?
34When new sovereigns confirmed the age-old privileges of their ancestors, they did so after having received a request by the consuls. It is hard to know how thorough the Prince’s services and councils dug into the nation’s history, to understand the old privileges in their original context. Did they do any historical research at all? Did they wonder whether the Netherlandish merchants enjoyed the same rights in Portugal? It is nevertheless clear that, whereas the fifteenth century privileges did mention it,74 later confirmations did not once refer to any reciprocity. We know from historical research that some of the original privileges were given against the backdrop of a concrete economic and political context, where Flanders (in the fifteenth century) or Brabant/the Low Countries (in the sixteenth) financially profited from upholding good bonds with the Portuguese. That “do ut des” context seems to be completely forgotten later on.
D. Judicial proceedings claiming their rights
35The consuls defended their rights actively, by explicitly claiming their exemptions from each tax collector, and when needed by bringing the case to court, locally or at the central Brabant level. The nation, represented by its consuls, lodged proceedings against the Antwerp Magistrate as a whole, against individual functionaries, but also against citizens for not respecting the Portuguese rights.
E. Legal advice
36When going to court, the Portuguese nation was not afraid of spending some money on good advice from the best scholars. The Torre de Tombo archive, for instance, holds a consilium by Leuven professors Elbertus Leoninus (Elbert de Leeuw, 1519-1598) and Joannes Wamesius (Jean Wamèse, 1524-1590).75
F. Extreme diligence for the archives
37The fact that documents, such as the procedural acts of the many judicial procedures, the mentioned consilium, correspondence between Lisbon and Antwerp, and particularly the many privileges and their reiterated confirmations are well preserved in the Torre do Tombo archive, means that for approximately four centuries the consuls, in reality being private merchants, have exceptionally cared for their archives. What is now preserved in Lisbon, was brought there at the start of the nineteenth century, straight from Antwerp.
38Indeed, on several occasions marginal notes in the registers and bundles reveal that they were, being kept at the nation’s house, handed down from one consul to another. In 1773, for instance, the outgoing consul made a detailed inventory, and in 1782 a list of the big nation dates (privileges, positive sentences, acquisition of the nation house) was drawn up.76
G. The importance of dynastic bonds
39It has already been pointed out above how as early as the twelfth century, the young Portuguese kingdom established dynastic bonds with Flanders, but mainly the periods of two Portuguese Isabels are of paramount importance: the one of Henry the Navigator’s sister with Philip the Good in the fifteenth century, and the one of illustrious King Manuel’s daughter in the sixteenth with the Emperor Charles V, shortly after Portugal discovered Brazil. The presence of the feitor as a royal representative was particularly important for keeping in touch with the court. During several centuries high court officials were Portuguese or of Portuguese descent. Between 1580 and 1640 (except for the short Calvinist period in the beginning) both the (Southern) Low Countries and Portugal shared the same King, Philip II. Archduke Albert was viceroy in Portugal before marrying Elisabeth and becoming sovereign of the Southern Netherlands. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries no new dynastic bonds were established, but the nation kept on paying respect to the royal family as can be derived from the fact that the nation’s inventory mentions seventeen painted portraits of royals.
40In 1643, Estremoz (Portugal) born governor-general Francisco de Melo (1597-1651) intervened in the discussion between the Portuguese nation and the guild of the brokers,77 but when a new governor (Manuel de Castel Rodrigo) was installed in 1644, the city magistrate hasted to argue in the ongoing discussion that de Melo’s intervention did not fall within his competences.78
H. The presence of a nation house
41Like many other nations, in Bruges as well as in Antwerp, the Portuguese nation had its own house at their disposal, the Huis van Portugal, where also their privileges were kept.79 The fact that a building, in the neighbourhood of the Exchange, was called “Portuguese” by all passers-by made this locus a lieu de mémoire, which reminded the local community that a group of Portuguese merchants was active in the city.
42Similarly, the beautifully decorated, well maintained and regularly used chapel of the Portuguese in the Franciscan church kept the idea of the Portuguese presence alive.
I. The other nations left Antwerp after 1648 and the Portuguese shrank
43Due to the Dutch revolt, from 1585 onwards Antwerp suffered an enormous brain, skills and capital drain to the North, particularly to Amsterdam, where not only various other foreign groups of merchants settled, but also many Portuguese, with among them many Jewish or “New Christians”. In fact, the Portuguese nation was the last to officially keep its “residence” in Antwerp. However, in the seventeenth and eighteenth century the number of Portuguese residents diminished. Most of them were second, third, fourth or further generation descendants of Portugal born parents. Several archival documents suggest that pregnant women often travelled back to Portugal to deliver their baby, in order to warrant for them both the ius sanguinis and the ius soli. However, in the eighteenth century, for instance, long term consuls Rilaer (active in the diamond sector)80 and Reijmers were born in Luxemburg. A rather comic example is that an Antwerp born man from a local family became the door keeper of the nation’s house, which gave him the right to enjoy the Portuguese exemptions.81
44It is clear that, by the eighteenth century, the Portuguese merchants no longer were the illustrious nation they once had been. Maybe they had become too small and irrelevant to make it worth changing their privileges?
VI. Conclusion
45What the history of the Antwerp resident nation of Portuguese merchants makes clear, is that legal protection and privileges are no eternal guarantees. The nation very actively fought for the recognition and confirmation of its rights. At the very beginning of its history, economic and political interests mingled (Portuguese royal monopolies on certain goods, the feitor as the King’s representative, dynastic bonds, Southern fruits and wines exchanged for Northern luxury goods…) and tax exemptions were some kind of legally established remuneration for political and financial support to the Portuguese crown. It was also a two-way relation, as reciprocity was guaranteed to the (Southern-)Netherlandish merchants in Portugal.
46Legal documents were repeated generation after generation (the originals being well preserved in the nation’s house, the consuls asked for confirmation to every new sovereign) and started an “own” (textual) life, while the factual, political and economic, (contextual) circumstances changed. Especially the most favoured nation clause proved to be an excellent legal weapon, notwithstanding the changing contexts. It was invoked over and over in (protest) letters to the Prince, the city, public functionaries and private persons. Several judicial proceedings were even lodged (and won!) to guarantee it.
47If the Portuguese nation, at the end of the Ancien Régime, still enjoyed its age-old rights, much less than this being a result of a peaceful customary evolution (non-officially codified in 1582 and explicitly recognized by several sovereigns), it was the result of an active struggle by various generations of Portuguese consuls.
Notes de bas de page
1F. Miranda, “Commerce, conflits et justice : les marchands portugais en Flandre à la fin du Moyen Âge”, Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l’Ouest, vol. 117, 2010, pp. 193-208 ; F. Miranda, Portugal and the Medieval Atlantic. Commercial Diplomacy, Merchants, and Trade, 1143-1488, doctoral dissertation in History, Universidade do Porto, Porto, 2012, particularly 8-9, 72-79, 135-145, 162-175, 216-223 and 241 ; J. Paviot, “Les Portugais à Bruges”, Arquivos do Centro Cultural Calouste Gulbenkian, vol. 38, Paris, 1999, pp. 1-122; J. Paviot, “Les Portugais à Bruges au xve siècle”, International Trade in the Low Countries (14th-16th Centuries). Merchants, organisation, infrastructure. Proceedings of the International Conference Ghent-Antwerp, 12th-13th January 1997, ed. P. Stabel, B. Blondé and A. Greve, Leuven, Garant, 2000, pp. 55-74; L. Sicking, “Los grupos de intereses marítimos de la Península Ibérica en la ciudad de Amberes: la gestión de riesgos y la navegación en el siglo xvi”, Gentes de Mar en la Ciudad Atlántica Medieval, ed. J.Á. Solórzano Telechea, M. Bochaca and A. Aguiar Andrade, Logroño, Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, 2012, pp. 167-200; J.A. Van Houtte, “Portugal en de Brugse handel tijdens de middeleeuwen”, Vlaanderen en Portugal. Op de golfslag van twee culturen, ed. J. Everaert and E. Stols, Antwerp, Mercatorfonds, 1991, pp. 33-52; A. Vandewalle, “De vreemde naties in Brugge”, Hanzekooplui en Medicibankiers. Brugge, wisselmarkt van Europese culturen, ed. A. Vandewalle, Oostkamp, Stichting Kunstboek, 2002, pp. 27-42.
2J. Denucé, Privilèges commerciaux accordés par les rois de Portugal aux Flamands et aux Allemands (xve et xvie siècles), Lisbon, Of. Tip., 1909; E. Stols, “De Vlaamse natie te Lissabon (15de-17de eeuw)”, Vlaanderen en Portugal. Op de golfslag van twee culturen, ed. J. Everaert and E. Eddy, Antwerp, Mercatorfonds, 1991, pp. 119-142; R.M. Mesquita Mendes, “Comunidade flamenga e holandesa em Lisboa (séculos xv a xviii): algumas notas históricas e patrimoniais”, AMMENTU. Bollettino Storico e Archivistico del Mediterraneo e delle Americhe, nr. 7, 2015, pp. 57-90; E. Stols, “Lisboa: Um Portal do Mundo para a Nação Flamenga”, Lisboa em 1514. O Relato de Jan Taccoen van Zillebeke, ed. E. Stols, J. Fonseca and S. Manhaeghe, Lisbon, Centro de História da Cultura da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2014, pp. 7-76.
3As a minority in Antwerp, the Portuguese called themselves a “natie” and organized themselves accordingly, as they had done in Bruges. In contrast, neither the Italian nor the Spanish used the term in this city, according to H. Pohl, Die Portugiesen in Antwerpen (1567-1648). Zur geschichte einer Minderheit, Wiesbaden, Steiner, 1977, p. viii. On the use of the term “nation” in the Low Countries in the sixteenth century, see J.A. Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales (Portugais, Espagnols, Italiens) à Anvers de 1488 à 1567. Contribution à l’histoire des débuts du capitalisme moderne, Louvain, 1925, 32; according to Goris the Portuguese nation was the best organized one, ibidem, 33. Goris (for the period from the fifteenth century to 1567) and Pohl (1567-1648) wrote the most elaborate studies on the Portuguese nation in Antwerp. Goris (the Christian name of the literary author known by the name of Marnix Gijsen) has studied more particularly the Antwerp period up until the governance of the Duke of Alba; Pohl examined the following period, until the Treaties of Westphalia. Pohl ends his study in 1648 as, in his opinion, around that time most Portuguese had moved from Antwerp to Amsterdam and Hamburg. Most relevant still for the earlier period is A. Braamcamp Freire, “Maria Brandoa. A do Crisfal”, Arquivo historico portugués, vol. 6, Lisbon, 1908, pp. 293-442, documented with the edition of several privileges. Maria Brandoa was the daughter of feitor (infra) João Brandão; especially the second part of Braamcamp’s study is interesting: “II. A feitoria de Flandres” (vol. 6, pp. 322-442, continued in vol. 7, 1909, pp. 53-79, 123-133, 196-208 and 320-326, and vol. 8, 1910, pp. 23-33). See also A. De Burbure de Wesembeek, La casa de Portugal d’Anvers. Histoire de trois siècles d’activité, Brussels, Chambre de commerce belgo-portugaise, 1953; A. Quatart and F. Wille, Portugal & Antwerpen, 1498-1648. Sporen van de Portugese aanwezigheid in Antwerpen. Traces de la présence portuguaise à Anvers. Traços da presença dos portugueses em Antuérpia, Brussels, Orfeu, 2011; G. Martyn, “De Portugese Natie in Antwerpen. Drie eeuwen kwaliteitsbewaking van privileges en gewoonterecht”, De Achterkant van Minerva. Opstellen aangeboden aan prof. Kees Cappon ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid van de Universiteit van Amsterdam, ed. J.G.P. Van Nifterik, J. De Vries and M. De Wilde, Amsterdam, Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid Uva, 2019, pp. 74-87. Whereas this last article, written in Dutch, mainly used archival sources from Lisbon, the present contribution mainly stems from Antwerp sources.
4A. Bartolomei, G. Calafat, M. Grenet and J. Ulbert (dir.), De l’utilité commerciale des consuls. L’institution consulaire et les marchands dans le monde méditerranéen (xviie-xxe siècle), Rome, École française de Rome, 2017; F. Miranda, “Conflict management in western Europe: the case of the Portuguese merchants in England, Flanders and Normandy, 1250-1500”, Continuity and Change, vol. 32.1, 2017, pp. 11-36.
5Antwerp, Felixarchief (FA), Privilegiekamer (PK), nrs. 1070-1073 (these are four registers, formerly known as Natie van Portugal, I-IV); Lisbon, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (TT), Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros: Feitoria portuguesa de Antuérpia (MNE-FPA): here both boxes of lose documents (some original sealed privileges) and registers can be found, but everything has been microfilmed.
6M. Pinheiro, Biografia de Lisboa, Lisbon, Esfera dos Livros, 2015, pp. 42-44.
7Portuguese infanta Teresa (in Flanders known as Mathilde, 1151-1218), daughter of Portugal’s first King Afonso Henriques (1110-1185), married Philip of Alsace (1143-1191), count of Flanders, in 1184; her nephew Ferdinand (1188-1233) married countess, and heiress, Joan of Constantinople (1199-1244) in 1212, J.A. Van Houtte, “De politieke en dynastieke banden tussen Portugal en België”, Vlaanderen en Portugal. Op de golfslag van twee culturen, ed. J. Everaert and E. Stols, Antwerp, Mercatorfonds, 1991, pp. 11-32.
8J. Everaert, “De Portugese factorijen in Vlaanderen”, Feitorias. Kunst in Portugal ten tijde van de Grote Ontdekkingen (einde 14de eeuw tot 1548), ed. H. Pauwels, Brussels, Europalia, 1991, 42; Van Houtte, “Portugal en de Brugse handel”, op. cit.
9L. Gilliodts-Van Severen (ed.), Cartulaire de l’ancienne estaple d’Espagne à Bruges, vol. I, Bruges, De Plancke, 1904, nr. 14: “Dou royaume de Portigal vient miel, peleterie, cire, cuir, grainne, oint, oile, figues, raisins, balai” (1200). Many other documents on taxes, procurations, debts etc., reported by Gilliodts-Van Severen, bear witness of the Portuguese-Flemish commerce.
10Pinheiro, Biografia, op. cit., 71 and 103.
11Braamcamp Freire, “Brandoa”, op.cit., passim.
12Miranda, Portugal and the Medieval Atlantic, op.cit.,150.
13A. Vandewalle, “Het natiehuis van de Portugezen te Brugge op het einde der 15de eeuw”, Getuigen in polderklei. Huldeboek Dr. Hist. Godgaf Dalle, ed. J. Herregat et al., Veurne, De Rode Bles, 1990, 171-180; Braamcamp Freire, “Brandoa”, op.cit., passim.
14Bruges, City Archive, Politieke charters, Eerste reeks, nr. 663 (free trade is guaranteed to the Portuguese on 11/07/1384 by count Philip the Bold); ibidem, Cartularium 4: Oude Wittenboek (1089-1546), fol. 48v and 49v (first a temporal, on 15/01/1387 (n.s.), and later a permanent promise of saufconduit on 29/07/1387 by count Philip the Bold; at that moment containing the explicit condition of not trading with England, a condition that was not repeated later on; moreover, this renewed and now permanent freedom for the Portuguese was asked for by the Four Members of Flanders, the political representation of the county, explicitly referring in their request to the Portuguese ships stopping in Zeeland, whereas letting them into Flanders would be great for the local economy); see also A. Muhaj, Quando todos os caminhos levavam a Portugal. Impacto da Guerra dos Cem Anos na vida económica e política de Portugal (Séculos xiv-xv), doctoral dissertation in Medieval History, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, 2013, p. 125.
15Bruges, City Archive, Cartularium 4: Oude Wittenboek, fol. 94-95, edited by several authors, e.g. Braamcamp Freire, “Brandoa”, vol. 4, 339 and doc. 3 on p. 417-422; Gilliodts-Van Severen, Cartulaire estaple, op.cit., vol. I, 482-491; E. Vanden Bussche, Flandre et Portugal. Mémoires sur les relations qui existèrent autrefois entre les Flamands de Flandre – particulièrement ceux de Bruges – et les Portugais, Bruges, 1874, pp. 173-187.
16While jurisdiction by own consuls was already permitted in principle in 1411, only in 1438 another privilege would explicitly mention the yearly election of two consuls, infra.
17Bruges, City archive, Stadsrekeningen, 1411-1412, fol. 122v.
18Isabel of Portugal brought many Portuguese servants with her to her new homestead, see e.g. E. Bousmar and M. Sommé, “Femmes et espaces féminins à la cour de Bourgogne au temps d’Isabelle de Portugal (1430-1471)”, Das Frauenzimmer. Die Frau bei Hofe in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit, ed. J. Hirschbiegel and W. Paravicini, Stuttgart, Jan Thorbecke, 2000, pp. 47-78; Miranda, Portugal and the Medieval Atlantic, op.cit., pp.131-132; F. Parisoto, D. Isabel de Portugal, Ínclita Duquesa da Borgonha (1430-1471), Diplomata Europeia do Século xv. Contributo para uma bibliografia crítica, mestrado thesis in History, University of Coimbra, 2011; S. Viterbo, “D. Isabel de Portugal, duquesa de Borgonha. Notas documentaes para a sua biographia e para a historia das relações entre Portugal e a corte de Borgonha”, Arquivo historico portugués, vol. III, 1905, pp. 81-106.
19Bruges, City Archive, Cartularium 4: Ouden Wittenboek, fol. 98v-99r (“Eene lettre van ampliacie bezeghelt metten zeghele van hertoghe Philips ghesonsenteirt die vanden nacie van Portugal boven de previlegien hemlieden tanderen tijden verleent”, 02/11/1438), edited by Gilliodts-Van Severen, Cartulaire estaple, op.cit., vol. I, nr. 753.
20Denucé, Privilèges commerciaux op.cit.; E. Stols, “De Vlaamse natie te Lissabon” op.cit.
21A.H. De Oliveira Marques, Notas para a história da Feitoria Portuguesa na Flandres, no século xv, Milan, 1962.
22Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales, op.cit., 35 and 38.
23J. Marechal, “Le départ de Bruges des marchands étrangers (xve et xvie siècles)”, Handelingen Genootschap voor Geschiedenis te Brugge, vol. 88, 1951, pp. 26-74; J. Puttevils, P. Stabel and B. Verbist, “Een eenduidig pad van modernisering van het handelsverkeer: van het liberale Brugge naar het gereguleerde Antwerpen?”, Overheid en economie: geschiedenissen van een spanningsveld, ed. B. Blondé, Antwerp, University Press Antwerp, 2014, pp. 39-54.
24Already in 1488, the Emperor made the promise to the Florentines, the Portuguese and other nations that they would enjoy, in Antwerp, the same rights they had in Bruges, and that they could freely trade in Brabant, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 5, nr. 25; copies in FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 139-140; nr. 1071, fol. 7 and 43; nr. 1072, fol. 336v (30/06/1488).
25In the beginning of the fifteenth century various Portuguese are involved in cases of privateering. Decisions from the same century are, for instance, Ghent, State Archives, Council of Flanders (Raad van Vlaanderen), Akten en sententiën, nr. 2397, fol. 177v (a case of renvoy to the Bruges magistrate) or ibidem, nr. 2407, fol. 145r.
26R. Van Answaarden, Les Portugais devant le Grand Conseil des Pays-Bas (1460-1580), Paris, Centre d’études portugaises, 1991.
27Most promising on this point is the ACCESS-project, recently launched by Klaas van Gelder, Harald Decuelaer and Wouter Ryckbosch at the Brussels State Archives. “ACCESS to court files and access to justice. The Council of Brabant during the early modern era” will further disclose the registers of sentences and the preserved court files, in order to be used more frequently by historians as primary sources. Both the Antwerp and Lisbon archives on the Portuguese nation make clear that a lot of proceedings involving the Portuguese should be able to be found in the Brabant Council’s archive. Moreover, the complete 584 registers of sentences were scanned and are freely searchable online, http://www.arch.be/.
28A. di Leone Leoni, The Hebrew Portuguese Nations in Antwerp and London at the time of Charles V and Henry VIII. New documents and interpretations, Jersey (NJ), KTAV Publishing, 2005. With a Spanish declaration of 10 March 1541, Emperor Charles V allowed Portuguese “New Christians” to have their residence in Antwerp, explicitly warning the judicial institutions competent for heresy not to disturb them and to let them enjoy their privilege peacefully, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 5, nr. 5. When in 1610, Simon Marcado, an Amsterdam based Portuguese, was arrested in Antwerp for heresy, both the Estates General in The Hague (19/10/1610) and the Amsterdam city magistrate (23/10/1610) wrote to the Archdukes respectively the Antwerp city magistrate to release the man, referring to the religious freedom granted to the Portuguese in the Netherlands, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 186-187 resp. fol. 181-183.
29The “last” Portuguese would only leave Bruges in 1518. That year, Lopes de Calves wrote to the city magistrate that, since the nation had left Bruges, he had been appointed to take care of the Holy Mass, instituted by countess Isabel of Portugal for the soul of her servant Moor Gonçalves and to be celebrated yearly in the chapel of the Dominicans. Having become too old, Lopes asked to be exempted from this duty: “Or, dit et declaire oultre ledit seigneur Loupes qu’il estoit seul portugalois resident en ceste dicte ville, et quil avoit longuement porté lesdis soing et cure”.
30Legally, one should not confound consulate and feitoria, even though it did occur that the factor was also consul of the Portuguese nation, I. Elbl, “Nation, bolsa, and factory: three institutions of late-medieval Portuguese trade with Flanders”, International History Review, vol. 14.1, 1992, pp. 1-22; Miranda, Portugal and the Medieval Atlantic, 150 and 179-198. Most interesting are the cartas de quitação, a final financial balance at the end of the factor’s term, of which several are edited by Braamcamp Freire, “Brandoa”, op. cit., pp. 293-442.
31Already on 8 December 1509, King Manuel sent a letter to Antwerp to thank its magistrate for the present received, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 57 and 132v.
32J.A. Goris, “Les facteurs portugais”, Bulletin de la Casa de Portugal, vol. 3.2, pp. 5-9, and vol. 3.3, pp. 5-10.
33Nations, attested in Bruges from the fourteenth century onwards, lost importance in the sixteenth century in Antwerp, and would not play any role anymore in Amsterdam, B.J.P. van Bavel, Manors and Markets. Economy and Society in the Low Countries, 500-1600, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 225.
34Everaert, “De Portugese factorijen in Vlaanderen”. Both in the Antwerp City Archive (Felixarchief) and in Torre do Tombo most preserved documents relate to the nation and the consuls, but they have been mingled with documents on or from the feitoria.
35Several copies are preserved in the Torre do Tombo archives, as well as in Antwerp, e.g. FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 61-64 and 133-135; nr. 1071, fol. 2 sq. and 47 sq.
36Privilege given in Brussels on 2 November 1438 by Philip the Good, several copies preserved both in Torre do Tombo as in Bruges (City Archive, Cartularium 4: Ouden Wittenboek, fol. 98v-99r) and Antwerp (FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 7-8, edited in Gilliodts-Van Severen, Cartulaire estaple, op. cit., vol. I, nr. 753).
37Whereas originally, in Bruges, the nation, for enjoying tax exemption on wines and beer for personal consumption, had to pay a yearly fixed sum (“Que doresenavant jlz seront quites des vins quilz mectront en leurs hostelz pour leur boire, […] parmy payant xv soulz a l’avenant de chacun tonnel”, 01/02/1462, Bruges, City Archives, Cartularia, Groenenboek, fol. 138v), Antwerp exemptions seem to have been completely for free. In 1560, the number is fixed at twenty tons of wine and forty of beer, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 2, nr. 9; FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 90-91.
38In 1545 and 1563 expressed in these terms: “Item encoires s’il advenoit que aulcunes nations venissent en ceste ville pour y de nouveau tenir leur résidence, et que aulcuns nouveaux privilèges leur fussent accordez que en ce cas lesdits de Portugal ioÿront de semblables privilèges”. A first step in that direction had already been taken in Bruges in 1487, when, after the insolvency of an important local exchange agent, several foreign merchants, in the first place Portuguese, had suffered losses. At that moment the Portuguese claimed to have the same rights and privileges as the Hansa and the Castilian nation, to which request the city magistrate responded positively, Bruges, City Archives, Sententies civiele, 1487-88, fol. 52v. Important to underline at this point is that the Portuguese payed for their new privileges, whereas later confirmations of the privileges would normally not be compensated through financial means.
39In a letter dated 16 January 1524, King John III (1502-1557) thanks the city for having restored, at its own expenses, the nation house, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 59-60 and 69-70 (Latin).
40FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 3 (Revolutionary year IV). In 1600, the Portuguese feared losing their house, as the city had used it as a pledge for several debts. The city magistrate promised to pay its debts, and even pre-financed some necessary repairs, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 116r (letter of the city magistrate dated 19/04/1600) and fol. 116v (first reimbursement of the pre-financed costs). A new agreement between nation and city on reparation costs is made on the 24 May 1610, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 192-193.
41FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 246 (27/08/1614); TT, MNE-FPA, nr. 2/6, f° 414 sq.
42In a context of internal quarrels among the Portuguese, the city magistrate, on the last day of 1610, called upon all Portuguese to attend the general assembly, and to decide there by majority. When members of the Ximenes family were personally summoned to appear at the assembly, the town officer (with the “corte roede”) took note of various arguments and insults, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 196-197 (05/01/1611: attestation by the officer) and nr. 1071, fol. 184 (list of the Portuguese summoned). As the Ximenes brothers finally did not appear, the city magistrate sent a letter to the Archdukes, asking to punish them (ibidem, fol. 187). The Council of Brabant, however, sent the case back to the city magistrate (ibidem, fol. 163, 16/02/1611). The case would last quite some time and finally the brothers Ximenes were ordered to close down their brewery. The Portuguese privileges could not protect them from the fact that no one was allowed to brew within the city walls, as the influence on the quality of the water could cause a danger for public health, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 226 (27/10/1612). There was no way of escaping that local rule!
Another similar list of Portuguese summoned to appear at the general assembly is dated 05/01/1619, FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 394.
43FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 98-99 and 100-101 (24/05/1570).
44Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales, op. cit., p. 41 ff.
45FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 176 (request dated 02/06/1610) and fol. 190-191 (answer dated 07/06/1610).
46After creditors had arrested the nation house for debts, the city magistrate explicitly acknowledged, on 4 June 1554, that the building restauration costs would be paid for by the city and that the Portuguese would continue to freely enjoy the casa forever, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 84-89r.
47Confirmed by various Portuguese kings, e.g. by Manuel I on 21 June 1518, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 4, nr. 3 and nr. 5.
48Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales, op. cit., p. 42; e.g. FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 32.
49The consuls were only competent for discussions among the Portuguese, not between the Portuguese and locals or other foreigners. For instance, in 1446, Portuguese consuls Luís Vicente and Gil Dames handled a case between the Portuguese Gonçalvo Afonso and Bruges citizen Reis Massado (a name maybe pointing at a Portuguese origin). The city magistrate “evocated” the case, as the consuls had no competence: “Want naer tinhouden van haren previlegien zy gheene kennesse en hadden dan van zaken tusschen Portugaloisen ende op gheene poorters noch andere vremde vander voorseide natie”, Bruges, City Archives, Cartularia: Groenenbouc A, fol. 295v, nr. 2, edited by Gilliodts-Van Severen, Cartulaire estaple, op. cit., vol. I, nr. 834.
50“Les consuls de la nation de Portugal remonstrant qu’ils sont en notoire anchienne et paisible possession de faire rolle des avaries tant grosses que communes de toutes les navires portugais arrivées en ceste ville avec marchandises des royaumes de Portugal soit que les plus grands chargeurs d’icelles soient estrangers ou portugais”, Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales, op. cit., p. 42, n. 1, citing FA, PK, Requestboek 1566-1567, fol. 148.
51E.g., in 1695, the consuls decided that Diego de Almeida had to pay alimentation for his parents Manuel Lopes de Almeida and Isabela da Pena, FA, PK, nr. 1072, fol. 678-688.
52Also individual Portuguese, like other merchants and foreigners, made use of the services of local notaries. Especially Gillis van den Bossche (active 1596-1627) seems to have been well visited by the Portuguese. His files are preserved at the Antwerp Felixarchief.
53I thank Niels Fieremans (Ghent University) for informing me on the activity of the Bruges magistrate in cases of international commerce in the fifteenth century. The only procurations used then, are when one merchant is represented by another one. For the Portuguese nation, Niels Fieremans found 17 appeal cases handled by the Bruges magistrate in the fifteenth century. In almost all cases the original consular decision was confirmed, which can either mean that the magistrate had great confidence in the consuls’ competences, or that the city magistrate did not want to spend too much time on these kinds of affairs.
54Normally this was the amman. An example is the 04/08/1539 declaration by the Antwerp magistrate, stating that, since no appeal was lodged against the decision of the consuls against Sebastião Pinto, the sentence was to be executed by the amman, FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 59 and 115.
55Whereas in fifteenth century Bruges the nation constituted 25 to 30 individuals (some of them having their family in Flanders as well), in Antwerp, at the height of their power, around the middle and the second half of the sixteenth century, eighty (in 1545) to 150 men (in 1553) are counted, in 1571 85 households and 17 unmarried men. Some lists of in Antwerp residing Portuguese are preserved both in Lisbon and Antwerp (e.g. FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 103-104 (12/06/1571) and 118-121 (03/11/1572), nr. 1071, fol. 133 (23/02/1591), nr. 1072, fol. 117 (19/01/1655, after the 1654 sentence, infra), nr. 1073, fol. 81 (18/04/1719)). On the most successful period of the Portuguese, see K. Degryse, “The hey-day of Portuguese trade and finance in the Southern Netherlands (16th-17th century)”, Handelingen Emulatie Brugge, vol. 132, 1995, pp. 337-344. Portuguese merchants played an important role in the spice trade, see S. Halikowski Smith, Portugal and the European spice trade, 1480-1580, doctoral dissertation, European University Institute, Florence, 2001, pp. 71-86, pp. 112-127 and pp. 375-380.
56FA, FK, nr. 1070, fol. 11-32 and 33-50; Pohl, Die Portugiesen, 24.
57FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 59, 115 and 153 (04/08/1539); TT, MNE-FPA, box 3, bundle 3, nr. 5; copies in FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 79-80 and 115 (05.01.1545); TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 5, nr. 1 (09/02/1545); box 4, bundle 5, nr. 35; copy in FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 59 (04/06/1554); nr. 1070, fol. 82-83 (08/10/1554).
58TT, MNE-FPA, box 1, bundle 1, nr. 3 and box 3, nr. 14 (19/11/1519); box 3, nr. 18 (05/01/1520); box 3, nr. 1 (14/06/1527); box 1, bundle 1, nr. 2 (18/01/1529); box 3, bundle A, nrs. 2 and 3 (14/09/1560); box 2, bundle 1, nr. 2 (11/02/1567); FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 6v° and 446.
59FA, PK, nr. 1072, fol. 612 (21/10/1577) and 614 (09/12/1581).
60Title XI of the Impressae holds only three articles: 1. The Portuguese consuls have jurisdiction in civil matters on disputes between members of the nation; 2. Appeal can be lodged against these sentences before the City Magistrate (Burgemeester en Schepenen); 3. Unappealed consul sentences are to be executed by the city functionary (amman, cf. title III of the Impressae) after sommatie, as is the case for the city magistrate’s decisions, see G. deLongé (ed.), Coutumes du Pays et Duché de Brabant. Quartier d’Anvers, vol. 2: Coutumes de la ville d’Anvers, Brussels, Ministry of Justice, 1871, 36. The Portuguese nation is the only one explicitly mentioned in the codification. Title XI immediately follows after the titles on the own town institutions.
61M. Gotzen, “De costumiere bronnen voor de studie van het Oud-Antwerpsch burgerlijk recht”, Rechtskundig tijdschrift voor België, vol. 39, 1949, pp. 3-16, pp. 105-124 and pp. 191-208.
62FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 3-6 and TT, MNE-FPA, nr. 2/7 (17/04/1600). The ordinance does not only confirm the former privileges, but, at the request of the nation’s consuls, it is also decided that consular decisions up to fifty pounds of value are executory notwithstanding appeal.
63In 1521, for instance, the consuls asked the city magistrate to be exempted from the “centième denier”, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 1, nr. 3 (12.05.1521). In 1586, after the Catholic Restoration, it is about the “fifth penny” and the “twentieth penny”, FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 123. In 1594, a new tax is set on pearls and precious stones, TT, MNE-FPA, box 4, bundle 3, nr. 5 (01/07/1594).
64FA, PK, nr. 1072, fol. 500-502. Because of the exceptional needs, in 1623, the nation and the city agreed on the fact that guard money would be paid, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 304 (06/02/1623). The discussion continued, however, throughout 1624, with regards to how much each Portuguese should pay, until, after the intervention of the Council of Brabant, an agreement was reached that the entire nation would pay the lump sum of one thousand pounds, FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 419 (magistrate decision of 28/06/1624). Because of the decreasing number of Portuguese present, the sum was reduced in 1630, FA, PK, nr. 1072, fol. 512 (22/04/1630).
65FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 403 and 405 (07/06/1619). A few years later the discussion was reopened by the soap tax farmer (FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 413 and 415, 12/05/1623), but again the exemption was confirmed by the city (FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 7-8, 22/12/1623).
66FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 427 (17/09/1625). In 1640 the consuls requested the Council of Brabant to abolish the tax again, which was immediately accepted by the Antwerp magistrate, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 370 and nr. 1071, fol. 439 (07/03/1640).
67FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 378-455 sq. (16/11/1645-16/02/1646).
68FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 496-564.
69FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 836 and nr. 1072, fol. 23 (30/04/1654), fol. 363 (11/01/1658) and fol. 664 (25/01/1661).
70FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 296.
71All in Antwerp residing chaplains (aalmoezeniers) were obliged to take their turn to freely administer some public religious services. H.A. Mendietta, the Portuguese chaplain, however, claimed to be exempt. In a first decision, the Council of Brabant ordered him to accept the public charge (FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 366, 05/03/1755), but the procedure between the Antwerp chaplains and Mendietta continued (FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 399-401, 1756), until, in 1757, Mendietta was at the end of his term in office and, cessante causa cessat effectus, he lost his right to the exemption anyhow, TT, MNE-FPA, box 2, register 1; box 2, bundle 4, nrs. 14 and 18-19.
72FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 487.
73This is, for instance, already the case in 1421 (n.s.), when Philip the Good, on 20 February confirms the privilege given in 1411 by his father, FA, PK, nr. 1070, fol. 361, edited by J. Braekevelt, Un prince de justice. Vorstelijke wetgeving, soevereiniteit en staatsvorming in het graafschap Vlaanderen tijdens de regering van Filips de Goede (1419-1467), doctoral dissertation in History, Ghent University, 2013, Bijlagen, 87-88, nr. 75.
74Goris, Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales op. cit., p. 37. Moreover, rules to be applied in Flanders and imposed by the Flemish Prince, were often corroborated by Portuguese royal rules. In 1459, for instance, the Portuguese King stipulated that foreigners carrying goods in Portuguese ships had to pay the customary tax for the Bruges nation, TT, MNE-FPA, bundle 4, nr. 2 (23.02.1459). King Manuel delivered a similar letter on 8 May 1512 (ibidem, box 4, bundle 4, nr. 4) and John III on 21/10/1528 (ibidem). Similar “parallel” legislation is absent in the later sixteenth to eighteenth century preserved documents. In 1512, for instance, the Portuguese merchants ask for the exact same provision from Charles V in the Netherlands, and no longer from their own King, ibidem, box 4, bundle 2, nr. 4 (16/09/1512).
75TT, MNE-FPA, box 2, bundle 1, nr. 10.
76What is preserved in the end are four boxes with some 350 lose documents (with among them some original, sealed, privileges), three registers of the annual elections (very incomplete, covering the period 1552-1788), two registers of (copies of) privileges, two registers with “róis de avaria” on damaged goods and ships and one register holding financial balances.
77FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 610.
78Ibidem, fol. 641.
79See the transaction of 08/10/1554.
80The guild of diamond cutters counted several Portuguese members, as is attested, for instance for 1609 and 1626, when there were four Portuguese master cutters, FA, PK, nr. 1071, fol. 146.
81FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 220 (nomination of Jan de Doncker, 01/05/1723) and 272 (list of members of the nation, including de Doncker, 1724). By decision of the Council of Brabant (05/09/1724) he was exempted from being district head (wijkmeester), FA, PK, nr. 1073, fol. 310; TT, MNE-FPA, box 2, bundle 4, nr. 32.
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