No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Captured with malicious intent? The opportunities and limits of debt imprisonment in late medieval Bruges
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2023
Abstract
Debt imprisonment was one of the tools a creditor had to enforce a debt. When creditors believed that their debtors were defaulting, they could imprison debtors to ensure they would not disappear and debts would be settled. As a practice, debt imprisonment was never fundamentally challenged in the Middle Ages though the way it was executed did come under scrutiny. In the city of Bruges, the city magistrate regulated the practice. As debt imprisonment was an essential part of the commercial framework in Bruges, the city tried to avoid princely interference. However, merchants could also complain to princely courts about their imprisonment. If the city hesitated to address unjust practices in the existing framework, it risked losing these cases to princely courts. As princely institutions increased their control over debt imprisonment, the city government kept the mechanism of debt imprisonment while, for example, Antwerp sought alternative tools for creditors. The adaptations that did happen in Bruges were not the result of the requests of merchants, but a means of rather safeguarding its own jurisdictions from princely courts.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
1 In the fifteenth century, the count of Flanders is commonly denominated as duke of Burgundy. The sources refer to ‘our revered lord’, sometimes in combination with the title of duke of Burgundy. His authority in legal matters derived from the fact that he was count of Flanders. City Archive Bruges, Old Archive (CAB) 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fol. 3r–v. ‘Captured with malicious intent’ reads in the original Flemish language: ‘met quade cause gevangen’, CAB, 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1465–69, fol. 41r.
2 H. Deneweth, J. D'hondt and L. Vandamme, De oude steen. Bouw- en bewoningsgeschiedenis van huis nummer 29 aan de Wollestraat in Brugge (Zellik, 1997), 20–1.
3 G. Geltner, ‘La prison urbaine. Pratiques civiques, discours religieux et enjeu social’, in I. Heullant-Donat, J. Claustre and E. Lusset (eds.), Enfermements, vol. I: Le cloître et la prison (VIe–XVIIIe siècle) (Paris, 2011), 330; G. Geltner, ‘Medieval prisons: between myth and reality, hell and purgatory’, History Compass, 4 (2006), 262, 265.
4 For the fifteenth century, debt imprisonment was common in Antwerp, and there are many parallels between the two cities. D. De ruysschere, ‘Why we need a history of collateral rights. The example of Antwerp’, in L. Brunori, S. Dauchy, O. Descamps and X. Prévost (eds.), Le droit face à l’économie sans travail (Paris, 2018), 305; D. De ruysschere, ‘Crafting the hierarchy of debts: the example of Antwerp (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries)’, in L. Kolb and G. Oppitz-Trotman (eds.), Early Modern Debts 1550–1700 (New York, 2020), 149.
5 J. Puttevils, P. Stabel and B. Verbist, ‘Een eenduidig pad van modernisering van het handelsverkeer: van het liberale Brugge naar het gereguleerde Antwerpen?’, in M. Van Ginderachter, H. De Smedt, B. Blondé, H. Greefs and I. Van Damme (eds.), Overheid en economie: geschiedenissen van een spanningsveld (Brussels, 2014), 41–3.
6 For what Smail calls ‘predation’, see D. Smail, Legal Plunder. Households and Debt Collection in Late Medieval Europe (London, 2016), 29, 139–44; D. Smail, ‘Violence and predation in late medieval Mediterranean Europe’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 54 (2012), 11–13; D. Smail, ‘Les dettes et les saissies de biens dans la région de Lucques au XIV siècle’, in M. Dejoux and D. Chamboduc de Saint Pulgent (eds.), La fabrique des sociétes médievales méditerranéennes (Paris, 2018), 181–4.
7 J. Claustre, ‘La dette, la haine et la force: les débuts de la prison pour dette à la fin du Moyen Âge’, Revue Historique, 309 (2003), 798; J. Claustre, Dans les geoles du roi: l'emprisonnement pour dette à Paris à la fin du Moyen Âge (Paris, 2007), 313.
8 There are some problems in counting these ‘nations’. The Hanseatic, Scottish, Castilian, Aragonese, English and Portuguese had acknowledged consulates (though they were not always working properly). The Florentine, Venetian and Genoese identified themselves as ‘nations’, but did not have charters acknowledging their judicial power in the city of Bruges.
9 Douglas North described transactions costs as ‘the costs involved in capturing the gains from trade’: D.C. North, ‘Transaction costs in history’, Journal of European Economic History, 14 (1985), 558; J.P. Masschaele, ‘Economic takeoff and the rise of markets’, in C. Lansing and E.D. English (eds.), A Companion to the Medieval World (Oxford, 2009), 90; O.E. Williamson, ‘Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations’, Pledge, 22 (1979), 233–61.
10 O. Gelderblom, Cities of Commerce. The Institutional Foundations of International Trade in the Low Countries, 1250–1650 (Princeton, 2013), 74–5.
11 Ibid., 51.
12 Gelderblom mainly looked to the normative sources edited in the (selective) works of L. Gilliodts-Van Severen, Inventaire des archives de la ville de Bruges, 7 vols. (Bruges, 1871–85).
13 J. Dumolyn and B. Lambert, ‘Cities of commerce, cities of constraints. International trade, government institutions and the law of commerce in later medieval Bruges and the Burgundian state’, TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, 11 (2014), 99; W. Prevenier and W. Blockmans, The Promised Lands. The Low Countries under Burgundian Rule, 1359–1530 (Philadelphia, 1999).
14 CAB 96, Groenenboek A, fol. 186r.
15 CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1445–46, fol. 41r–v; CAB 165, Chamber, 1474–75, fol. 9r–v.
16 On the difference between an ‘reformatie’ and ‘appel’, see J. Monballyu, ‘Van appellatien ende reformatien: de ontwikkeling van het hoger beroep bij de Audientie, de camere vanden rade en de raad van Vlaanderen (ca. 1370 – ca. 1550)’, Tijdschrift voor rechtsgeschiedenis, 61 (1993), 248; F.L. Ganshof, ‘Étude sur le faussement de jugement dans le droit flamand des XIIe et XIIIe siècles’, Bulletin de la commission royale des anciennes lois et ordonnances, 15 (1935), 115–40.
17 See J.R. Strayer, Medieval Statecraft and the Perspectives of History (Princeton, 1971), 345.
18 The procedure ‘in camera’ was one of the two official procedures the aldermen had. The other ‘in vierschaar’ was mainly used for criminal law and the citizens of the city. Foreign merchants could only appear before the ‘chamber’ who held a session daily and mainly occupied themselves with debt enforcement cases. On this difference, see N. Fieremans, ‘Brugse schepenen, internationale handelaren en ingewikkelde conflicten. Handelsconflicten voor de Brugse schepenbank in de vijftiende eeuw’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis, 159 (2022), 82–96.
19 On Wielant and his career, see A.J.M. Kerckhoffs-De Hey, De Grote Raad en zijn functionarissen 1477–1531. Biografieën van raadsheren (Amsterdam 1980), 157–61; J. Buntinx, ‘Wielant, Philips’, Biographie nationale, 27 (1938), 279–98; J. Monballyu, ‘Philips Wielant, Pracktijcke civile, 1508–1519’, in G. Martyn, L. Berkvens and P. Brood (eds.), Pro Memorie. Juristen die schreven en bleven. Nederlandstalige rechtsgeleerde klassiekers (Hilversum, 2020), 22.
20 F. Wielant, Briève instruction en causes civiles, ed. L. Sicking and C.H. van Rhee (Brussels, 2009), cap. 54, 4–9, 71–2.
21 Ibid., cap. 54, 71.
22 E. Lecuppre-Desjardin, Le royaume inachevé des ducs de Bourgogne (XIVe–XVe siècles) (Paris, 2016), 331–44.
23 Julie Claustre only saw the coming of debt imprisonment from the fifteenth century on: Claustre, Dans les geoles, 317; CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 148; fifteenth-century copy in CAB 96, Gheluwenboek, fol. 16r–v.
24 M. Boone, ‘“Charter van Senlis” (November 1301) voor de stad Gent: een stedelijke constitutie in het spanningsveld tussen vorst en stad (met uitgaven van de tekst)’, Handelingen der Maatschappij voor geschiedenis en oudheidkunde te Gent, 57 (2004), 8–9.
25 Despite the financial bribes Philip VI paid to the craft guilds: J.F. Verbruggen, ‘De getalsterkte van de ambachten in het Brugse gemeenteleger (1297–1340)’, Belgische tijdschrift voor Militaire Geschiedenis, 25 (1984), 461.
26 CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 201; L. Gilliodts-Van Severen, Coutume de la ville de Bruges, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1874–75), vol. I, 307–23; M. Speecke, ‘Het eerste “democratische” regime van Brugge (1302–1310). Een herziening’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis, 154 (2017), 238–9; D. Van den Auwele, ‘Een fragmentaire tekstgetuige van het Brugse “groot privilegie” (1304)’, Het Brugse Ommeland, 16 (1976), 135–42; CAB 96, Rudenboek, fols. 17r–20r.
27 CAB 96, Rudenboek, fol. 96r; and CAB 96, Gheluwenboek, fol. 51r.
28 Claustre, Dans les geoles, 24–5; J. Cohen, ‘The history of imprisonment for debt and its relation to the development of discharge in bankruptcy’, Journal of Legal History, 3 (1982), 153–71.
29 Clauses 3–6 determine that there should be no more than 12 legal captors, that they are recognizable and not dressed as citizens of Bruges, swear an oath, and they cannot be born in Bruges: CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 201.
30 A. Kosto, Hostages in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 2012), 147.
31 As this procedure happened in the private sphere, evidence is very scarce. As Godding mentioned, most written documents are city ordinances limiting this practice and its abuses: P. Godding, Le droit privé dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux du 12e au 18e siècle (Brussels, 1991), 511.
32 Something the city did not resist but encouraged and even did in the name of the merchant's communities. However, the point of departure is important. The prince gave – possibly at the city's request – charters to the merchants.
33 For example, the Scottish were granted in 1394 the right to first be brought before the aldermen bench if they were apprehended for debt to assure its validity and be put on trial immediately. If the aldermen were not in session, individuals would be brought into the prison and could still be released on bail. CAB 96, Ouden Wittenboek, fol. 44r; P. Bonenfant, J. Bartier and A. Van Nieuwenhuysen, Ordonnances de Philippe le Hardi et de Marguerite de Male du 17 janvier 1394 au 25 février 1405 (Brussels, 1974), 53.
34 The scadebeletters formed a rudimentary police force that aimed to keep the peace in the city of Bruges. They were paid by the city and were under the supervision of the burgomaster of the municipality. The burgomaster aimed at safeguarding the ‘common good’ of the city, was an influential magistrate member and was often present in political decisions: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1469–70, fol. 61r. A lot of research still needs to be done on the scadebeletters. For an introduction, see J. Dumolyn, G. Dupont, J. Haemers and A. Ramandt, ‘Political power and social groups, c. 1300 – c. 1500’, in J. Dumolyn and A. Brown (eds.), Medieval Bruges (Oxford, 2018), 273–4; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1469–70, fol. 52r; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1476–77, fols. 25v and 34r; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1485–86, fol. 163r. Sheerencnapen were under the supervision of the city bailiff of Bruges (also known as schout or éscoutete) and acted as his ‘servants’. They could not come from the city of Bruges but also received compensation from the city; CAB 96, Rudenboek, fols. 4v–5r; for the oath they had to take, see CAB 96, Rudenboek, fol. 230r.
35 See, for example, CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fol. 137v.
36 L. de Carbonnières, ‘Prison ouverte, prison fermée. Les règles procédurales de la détention préventive sous les premiers Valois devant la chambre criminelle du Parlement de Paris’, in Heullant-Donat, Claustre and Lusset (eds.), Enfermements, 185–6.
37 Although they were members of the same guild, there is a difference between hostellers (owners of a hostel) and brokers. The last group could also work for a hosteller; CAB, Makelaars, Cartularium, fol. 1r–v; J. A. Van Houtte, ‘Les courtiers au Moyen-Âge. Origine et caractéristiques d'une institution commerciale en Europe occidentale’, Revue historique de droit français, 15 (1936), 105; J. Murray, Bruges, Cradle of Capitalism 1280–1390 (Cambridge, 2005), 187.
38 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1469–71, fol. 180r.
39 Sometimes there were even pledges assuring this: CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fol. 321r.
40 Nevertheless, this was something that still happened in the form of lettres de marque. Someone who was wronged could try to demand compensation from the wrongdoer or his compatriots. The merchant nations always vehemently complained when these were issued by the prince; M.-C. Chavarot, ‘La pratique des lettres de marque d'après les arrêts du parlement (XIIIe – début XVe siècle)’, Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes, 149 (1991), 53.
41 This rule was not always observed; CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fols. 30v–31r.
42 Luciano Spinola was part of the powerful Genoese Spinola family. John Pickering was an important English mercer who would later become the governor of the English nation. Paolo Strozzi represented an important Florentine firm, CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fols. 61r, 77v, 312r; CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 223v; on John Pickering, see A.F. Sutton, The Mercery of London. Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578 (London, 2019), 262.
43 ‘ende omme zinen persoon ute vanghenesse te houdene, hij hem absenteirde vanden voorscreven stede van Brugghe’: CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1465–69, fol. 146r.
44 Sometimes the sources give a glimpse into these conditions. The Flemish sailor Jehan Lamsin was arrested by the water bailiff for his crimes in Lisbon and imprisoned in ‘grand pauvreté’ for eight months; Archives Départementales du Nord, série B (ADNB), 6087, Accounts of the Water Bailiff, fol. 2r.
45 See for comparison with the prisons in Normandy: L. Gandeboeuf, ‘Prisonniers et prisons royales en Normandie à la fin du Moyen Âge (XIVe – XVe)’, Paris IV Ph.D. thesis, 1995, 675, 743.
46 R. Muchembled, Le temps des supplices. De l'obéissance sous les rois absolus (Xvé–XVIIIé siècles) (Paris, 1992), 42.
47 See in comparison the case in the Conciergerie, the prison below the parliament of Paris: C. Dégez, ‘Les conditions de vie en prison à l’époque moderne. L'exemple de la conciergerie’, in Heullant-Donat, Claustre and Lusset (eds.), Enfermements, 200–1.
48 CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1454–55, fol. 48r.
49 CAB 96, Ouden Wittenboek, fol. 115v.
50 P. Prétou, ‘La prise de corps à la fin du Moyen Âge: pistes et remarques sur l'interaction avec la foule’, in F. Chauvaud and P. Prétou (eds.), L'arrestation. Interpellations, prises de corps et captures depuis le Moyen Âge (Rennes, 2015), 36.
51 Smail, Legal Plunder, 205.
52 C. Muldrew, The Economy of Obligation. The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England (New York, 1998), 181–2.
53 See, for example, François Pimenes, Antonio Francisci and Asselin Spinola; CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fols. 83v and 324v; CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 36v.
54 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1447–53, fol. 128v.
55 N. Fieremans, ‘“In the hope to have judged a good sentence as merchants.” Arbitration as a litigation strategy in late medieval Bruges’, Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 74 (2021), 24–5.
56 ‘Ghevanghenen worden ontslanghen van vanghenesse zo wanneer de beveildere drie of vier waerf ontboden zijnde ende compareirt om heesch te maeckene’: CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fols. 41v and 78v.
57 In 1491, there were 14 days between each session: CAB 120, Register van de Hallegeboden van Brugge, 1490–99, fols. 58v–59v.
58 CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 59r.
59 The exception to this seems to have been the water bailiff. He penalized people who arrested each other maliciously; ADNB, 6097, Accounts of the Water Bailiff, fol. 1r.
60 In some years, there were exceptions to this, and they did fine a couple of merchants 3 lib. gr.: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1446–47, fols. 8v, 9r. The fine for arresting someone while you were not a ‘legal captor’ was 20 lib. gr. in 1450: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1449–50, fol. 12v.
61 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1465–69, fol. 26r–v.
62 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 212r.
63 Each prisoner could only be imprisoned for one debt at a time. Other creditors had to wait until the release of the debtor.
64 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fols. 105v and 107v.
65 For the Strozzi in Bruges, see A. Crabb, The Strozzi of Florence. Widowhood and Family Solidarity in the Renaissance (Ann Arbor, 2000), 115–16. CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fols. 157v and 167v.
66 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 248v.
67 ‘qui avoit aussi fait arrester…par maniere de contreprinse’: CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1465–69, fol. 170r.
68 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 370v.
69 Ibid., fol. 379r.
70 See, for example, ibid., fol. 41r.
71 ‘mids der hartheit van den vorseide Oosterlinc dat hime emmer in den steen doen wilde’: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1399–1400, fol. 90r. My special thanks to Mathijs Speecke for noticing this event.
72 Unfortunately for Veckinchusen, he was also arrested after 1422 and had to stay in prison for an incredibly long period, until 1425, resulting in a loss of his network and the ruin of his enterprise. A. Lorenz-Ridderbecks, Krisenhandel und Ruin des Hansekaufmanns Hildebrand Veckinchusen im späten Mittelalter. Untersuchung des Briefwechsel (1417–1428) (Hamburg, 2014), 59, 109–10; J.H.A. Beuken, De Hanze en Vlaanderen (Maastricht, 1950), 44; J. Mertens, ‘Hildebrand Veckinhusen te Brugge: de activiteit van een Hanzatisch koopman in de eerste decennia van de vijftiende eeuw’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis, 133 (1996), 60.
73 CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1446–47, fols. 8v and 9r; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1449–50, fol. 12v; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1450–51, fol. 15v; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1479–80, fol. 37r.
74 ‘Steenwaerder ghecoren burchmeester vande courpse ende mits dat beede officien niet en zijn compatible was ontsleghen van officie van steenwaerderscepe’: CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 280v.
75 See CAB 96, Groenenboek A, fol. 372v; CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 44v; CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 131r.
76 CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fols. 57r–v, 91r.
77 Ibid., fol. 60r.
78 Ibid., fol. 60r.
79 This was also a measure to free the city from any additional costs. Some countries had acquired privileges that if a debtor escaped, the creditor could seek compensation from the city. CAB 96, Oude Wittenboek, fol. 18r.
80 CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 119v.
81 Tommaso Portinari, Baptiste de Scracy, Franscique Totaldi and Borromeo Salmari had to stand surety, and the lord of Gruuthuuze was the pledge of Pieter Baervoet; Gilliodts-Van Severen, Coutume de Bruges, vol. II, 166.
82 CAB 96, Groenenboek A, fol. 372r–v.
83 Ibid., fol. 372r–v.
84 CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 76v.
85 See J. Haemers, De Gentse opstand (1449–1453): de strijd tussen rivaliserende nerwerken om het stedelijke kapitaal (Kortrijk, 2004).
86 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1453–61, fol. 11r.
87 CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1467–68, fol. 76v; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1468–69, fol. 106r; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1469–70, fol. 51r.
88 J. Dumolyn, De Brugse opstand van 1436–1438 (Heule, 1997).
89 A part of the tasks of the Council of Flanders was publishing princely decrees. It was, however, unusual to publish them in the sentence registers; State Archive Ghent (SAG) 2374, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Apr.–Aug. 1456, fol. 448r; SAG 2375, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1456–57, fol. 1r.
90 SAG 2369, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1453–54, fol. 128r; SAG 2383, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1461–62, fol. 273r; SAG 2384, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1462–63, fol. 183v.
91 SAG 2369, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1453–54, fol. 460v.
92 Because they believed that imprisonment fell within their jurisdiction, they often requested a ‘renvoy’ from the council. If the council agreed, the case would be brought back before the aldermen court; SAG 2375, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1457–58, fol. 77v; SAG 2385, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1462–63, fol. 230v.
93 SAG 2411, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Apr.–Nov. 1480, fol. 265r; SAG 2412, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1480–81, fol. 525r; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 43r; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 62r; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 73r; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 106r–v; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 143v; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 150v; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fol. 177v.
94 ‘ende hoewel de heesschere zo vele niet schuldich en was nietmin uut vreesen van vanghenessen hadde te vrede gheweest hemliede de voorscreven somme te betalene’: SAG 7512, Council of Flanders, Sentences interlocutoires, 1483–85, fol. 84r.
95 ‘ende wijst tselve hof bij hemlieden quelic ende ondeuchdelic ghewijst zijnde ende hier vonnesse corrigierende ordonneert den voorseiden heeschere van vanghenessen ontsleghen’: SAG 7512, Council of Flanders, Sentences interlocutoires, 1483–85, fol. 86r.
96 Although it would prove to be a long and strenuous trail. SAG 7512, Council of Flanders, Sentences interlocutoires, 1483–85, fol. 16r; SAG 2414, Council of Flanders, Sentences, Jun.–Sep. 1483, fols. 143v, 150v, 177v; SAG 2415, Council of Flanders, Sentences, 1483–84, fols. 3v, 85r, 116r, 132v, 170v.
97 See, for example, an order to release a prisoner from the city prison by the Council of Flanders: CAB 96, Groenenboek Ongecotteerd, fol. 284r.
98 The legal captor is also important in the symbolic image. He represented the higher authority (city or duke) entitled to make the arrests: D. Roussel, ‘La légitimité de la contrainte à l’épreuve de la rue: les sergents et la prise de corps à Paris au début de l’époque moderne’, in Chauvaud and Prétou (eds.), L'arrestation, 47, 52–3.
99 CAB 157, Civiele Sententiën, 1469–71, fol. 61v; CAB 165, Chamber, 1479–80, fols. 9v, 19r; the fine of a capture ‘without commission’ was 50 lib. gr. in 1479: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1479–80, fol. 37r.
100 The prison below the actual prison of the city was held by a Joos van Varsenare, the bailiff of Bruges, as a fief from the count of Flanders. For the dispensation, see CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 1180; for the transfer, see CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 1182; CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1480–81, fol. 182r.
101 ‘Omme te beterne ende vermeerderne de vangnesse van de stede van Brughe’: CAB, Politieke Charters, 1st ser., no. 1180. Nevertheless, it seems the city of Bruges rented the place: CAB 216, Stadsrekeningen, 1492–93, fol. 7r.
102 CAB 96, Rodenboek, fol. 112r. This was an enlargement from an earlier – also undated – prison charter that already fixed some remunerations and regulated the prison governor. CAB 96, Ouden Wittenboek, fols. 115v–116r.
103 Although he was not to hold a monopoly on these goods if prisoners wanted beer from the market, they ought to have been able to get it: CAB 96, Rodenboek, fol. 112r.
104 ‘dat ghevanghene boven noch beneden dansighe houden zullen moghen nichtemeer met pypen, muselen, tamboeren dan anders, by daghe of by nachte in eenegher manieren, noch eenich spel met teerlinghen’: CAB 96, Rodenboek, fol. 112r.
105 De ruysscher, ‘Why we need a history of collateral rights’, 303–4.
106 This is suggested by some samples from the sixteenth-century sources: CAB 165, Chamber, 1521–22, fols. 35v–36r; CAB 165, Chamber, 1540–41, fols. 31v–32r; CAB 165, Chamber, 1569–70, fol. 35r.