TSEG - The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History

Privacy and Social Spaces

2021-09-10T14:06:16+02:00

In this introductory text to the special issue Regulating Access: Privacy and the Private in Early Modern Dutch Contexts, Natália da Silva Perez argues that privacy can be a productive analytical lens to examine the social history of the Dutch Republic. She starts by providing an overview of theoretical definitions of privacy and of the ‘private versus public’ dichotomy, highlighting their implications for the study of society. Next, she discusses the modern view of privacy as a legally protected right, explaining that we must adjust expectations when applying the concept to historical examination: in the early modern period, privacy was not yet fully incorporated within a legal framework, and yet, it was a widespread need across different echelons of society. She provides a historical overview of this widespread need for privacy through instances where people attempted to regulate access to their material and immaterial resources. Finally, she describes how the four articles in this special issue contribute to our understanding of the role of privacy in early modern Dutch life.

Detecting the function of finance through history.

2021-09-24T15:22:39+02:00

This special review article profiles the work of Joost Jonker, who is retiring from his chair at the University of Amsterdam in 2021. We situate Joost’s work in the international literature on the financing of governments, businesses, and households, showing how his contributions to the field of financial history influence and mirror wider trends. We focus on Joost’s preferred methodology (the analytic narrative) and his preferred theoretical lens (the functional perspective). We conclude with a discussion of possible future developments in the field of financial history. Our intention is for this article to become a useful resource for new scholars entering the field of financial history, particularly on topics relating to the Low Countries.

Spaces of Privacy in Early Modern Dutch Egodocuments

2021-09-10T14:19:52+02:00

While the word 'privacy' itself only started to appear in the Dutch language in the newspapers of the nineteenth-century, Michaël Green argues that the idea underlying it was already developing in the early seventeenth century in Dutch contexts. In his article, Green examines, first, transformations that occurred in the seventeenth century in architectural idealizations of the family house, where plans for corridors started to appear alongside locks and separate rooms. Then, based on several examples of egodocuments - among them the diaries of the schoolmaster David Beck and an autobiographical piece by Maria de Neufville - he focuses on how members of the middling and elite classes wrote about their own practical experiences of spatial and emotional privacy.

An Extraterritorial Privacy Zone?

2021-09-10T14:56:19+02:00

The Protestant Reformation led to a radical redrawing of the map of Europe, severely affecting international relations. An important consequence of Protestantism was the emphasis on the private dimension of religious practices, as it did away with clerical intermediaries and instead put the focus on the direct relationship between God and the believer. In this context, to facilitate diplomatic traffic between Catholic and Protestant countries, ambassadors came to enjoy the so-called Right of Chapel, allowing them to create a private place of worship and have a private chaplain at their ambassadorial residences. This right was explicitly included in two treaties that the Kingdom of Portugal and the Dutch Republic concluded with each other in the mid-seventeenth century. However, the two parties to the treaties had starkly different understandings of what was meant by ‘private’. Both of these treaties granted Dutch citizens in Portugal freedom of conscience in their own houses, but the contrasting interpretations of what ‘private’ actually meant for the Dutch and for the Portuguese resulted in serious disagreement about the exact scope of these religious rights.

Gender, Space, and Religious Privacy in Amsterdam

2021-09-10T15:23:55+02:00

Silva Perez and Kristensen examine the intersection of gender and religious traditions for the use of space for two distinct religious groups: the Amsterdam beguines, a Catholic community, and the Portuguese Nation, a Jewish community. In the religiously diverse environment of seventeenth century Amsterdam, only the Dutch Reformed Church was officially authorized to have visible places of worship. Unsanctioned religious groups such as the beguines and the Portuguese Nation had to make arrangements to regulate visibility and access to their spaces of worship. Using privacy as an analytical lens, the authors discuss how strategies employed by the two groups changed over the course of the century.

Spaces on Ships

2021-09-10T15:40:56+02:00

Djoeke van Netten examines the interplay between privacy and secrecy in the ships of the Dutch East India Companies (1595-1799). Space aboard a ship was scarce and privacy a rare privilege. Netten starts with a discussion of the sources available as well as those lost to history. She then continues by examining what can be known about the protection of and access to (secret) information and (private) belongings aboard ships. Cases where privacy was violated and secrets revealed emerge as some of the most informative historical events to be examined in this context. As she confronts her historical examples with relevant theoretical and historiographical concepts, she concludes by raising important questions for further research on privacy and secrecy aboard ships.

B. Blondé, S. Geens, H. Greefs, W. Ryckbosch, T. Soens, P. Stabel (red.), Inequality and the City in the Low Countries (1200-2020)

2021-09-27T14:25:57+02:00

Monica Black, A Demon-Haunted Land. Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany

2021-09-28T13:28:57+02:00

Joyce Goggin en Frans de Bruyn (red.), Comedy and Crisis. Pieter Langendijk, the Dutch, and the Speculative Bubbles of 1720

2021-09-27T14:36:00+02:00

Elwin Hofman (red.), De eeuw van Jan de Lichte. Misdaad, verraad en revolutie in de 18de eeuw

2021-09-27T15:02:25+02:00

David Barnouw, Dirk Mulder, Guus Veenendaal, De Nederlandse Spoorwegen in oorlogstijd 1939-1945. Rijden voor vaderland en vijand

2021-09-27T15:11:15+02:00

Anne-Maria van Egmond, Materiële representatie opgetekend aan het Haagse hof 1345-1425

2021-09-28T14:34:56+02:00

Hildo van Engen, Han Nijdam en Kaj van Vliet (red.), Macht, bezit en ruimte. Opstellen over de noordelijke Nederlanden in de middeleeuwen

2021-10-07T15:02:43+02:00

Fabiola van Dam, Het middeleeuwse openbare badhuis. Fenomeen, metafoor, schouwtoneel

2021-10-07T14:59:26+02:00

Gijs Mom, Globalizing Automobilism. Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900-1980

2021-10-07T14:52:26+02:00