The Great Privilege was an instrument signed by
Mary of Burgundy
Mary (french: Marie; nl, Maria; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of ...
on 11 February 1477, which reconfirmed a number of privileges to the
States General of the Netherlands
The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague.
The State ...
. Under this agreement, the provinces and towns of
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
,
Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
,
Hainaut, and
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
recovered all the local and communal rights which had been abolished by the decrees of the preceding dukes of Burgundy
Charles the Bold
Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...
and
Philip the Good
Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
in their efforts to create a centralised state on the French model out of their separate holdings in the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
.
Background
As Charles the Bold died unexpectedly on 5 January 1477, during the
battle of Nancy
The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, against René II, Duke of Lorraine, and the Swiss Confederacy.
René's ...
, his daughter Mary of Burgundy became Duchess of Burgundy at the age of nineteen. At the time, her marriage to
Maximilian I had not yet been solemnized, so she stood alone for the heavy task of defending the succession states against the various rulers of neighbouring countries. Mary's position was weak.
Louis XI of France
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII.
Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...
had taken
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...
and
Franche Comté and had also invaded
Artois
Artois ( ; ; nl, Artesië; English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: ''Atrecht'') ...
and
Picardy
Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France.
Hist ...
following the death of Mary's father Charles the Bold. Among her own citizens there was great discontent, which did not make Mary's situation any easier. The
Duchy of Guelders
The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.
Geography
The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...
and the
principality of Liège
A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
had already declared independence. On 3 February 1477, an urgent meeting of the
States General was therefore convened. It appeared that the States were prepared to recognise and support Mary of Burgundy as their sovereign with financial resources, but only with the granting of various concessions.
The Great Privilege granted by Mary met a large part of the demands and complaints of the States. These came down to dissatisfaction with the centralised administration of the Burgundian Netherlands. The power of the central government had to be curtailed by a series of provisions while the power of the individual provinces had to be increased. After the enactment of the Grand Privilege the authority of Mary seemed restored. It appeared that during her trip through all the States of the Netherlands that each principality itself still had considerable needs. These individual needs were also met by Mary and became known as the land privileges.
Provisions
The main provisions were:
* The
Parliament of Mechelen and the General Accounting Office were abolished
* A Great Council of 24 members was established to help Mary in the administration
* The particular customs of each of the regions were secured, so that the identity of the private law remained guaranteed.
* The duchess was not allowed to marry, to declare war or levy taxes without consent of the States
* Only residents of the own province may hold offices in the region, not outsiders
* Suspects may only in their own province come to court, no foreign judges
* The States may, at their own will be in session, anywhere and any time
* In the Dutch speaking provinces government letters had to be written in Dutch and not in French
* Restoration of the Accounting Office in The Hague
End
Many aspects of the Great Privilege were ignored as Mary's position strengthened. After the death of Mary in 1482, her husband
Maximilian I, acting as guardian of her son
Philip the Handsome, abolished the treaty. The Flemish cities
revolted to maintain their autonomy, but ultimately failed in their attempts.
References
* , L'histoire parlementaire dans les Pays-Bas, XIIe-XVIIe siècles, in (ed.), ''Las Cortes de Castilla y León 1188-1988'', II, Valladolid, 1990, pp
171-192.
* , ''1477 Het algemene en de gewestelijke privilegien van Maria van Bourgondie voor de Nederlanden'' (''Standen en Landen'', LXXX), Kortrijk - Heule, 1985.
* , The formation and constitution of the Burgundian State (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), in ''American historical review'' 14 (1909), pp
477-502.* , The great Privilege (1477) as “Code of Dutch Freedom”: the political role of privileges in the Dutch Revolt and after, in (edd.), ''Das Privileg im europäischen Vergleich'', Frankfurt am-Mainz, 1997, pp. 233–247.
External links
* {{Commonscat-inline, Groot Privilege van Maria van Bourgondië, the Great Privilege
Legal history of the Netherlands
15th century in the Netherlands
Treaties of the Burgundian Netherlands
Succession acts