Het kapittel van Sint-Jan in ’s-Hertogenbosch en zijn rechten als pastoor, 1412-1559

Samenvatting

The Chapter of Saint John’s Church in ’s‑Hertogenbosch and its Parish Rights

The church of Saint John in ’s-Hertogenbosch was built around the middle of the thirteenth century as the new parish church of that equally new and expanding city. The church belonged to the parish Orthen, as the new city was founded by the Duke of Brabant on his estate Orthen. Consequently, the pastor of Orthen also held the parish rights of Saint John’s (Sint Jan) church in ’s-Hertogenbosch. In 1270, the patronage rights of the two churches – then in the possession of the duke as a founder of the church of Orthen – were given, after the Premonstratensian abbey of Berne, to the monastery of Dominican nuns in Oudergem near Brussels.

In 1366, a chapter of thirty canons was established in Saint John’s church. Unlike the older neighbouring chapters, it was not founded by a local lord in a sacred place of holiness. Presumably, the Duke of Brabant initiated the chapter to strengthen his power in the north of the duchy and increase the status of ’s-Hertogenbosch as a rising administrative centre. We suppose that, in the first half of the century, he had therefore the right to assign stalls and places in the chapter, provide the canon with a prebend, and had only to respect the rights of the pope. The foundation of this relatively large chapter (thirty stalls) would have been positively received by the ruling elite of the city during this time of increasing writing. The church building, from this point on, was shared by the parish priest and the chapter.

In the fifteenth century, the chapter introduced a politics of expansion by incorporating parish churches into the ‘mensa’ of the chapter to increase its income: an attractive concept because of the tithes. These provided the owner with non-inflationary income in kind. Besides the tithes, the chapter grew due to the expanding agricultural area and improved agricultural production methods. On the one hand, the greater wealth of the city played a role in this; on the other hand, the Duke of Brabant wanted more power in the city and his duchy, which meant that the prebends must rise to a higher level. The incorporation of parishes permanently made the chapter the official pastor. As such, the chapter focused on parish churches in the immediate vicinity and on those of which it already had patronage rights.

Because the chapter did not possess the parish rights in its own chapter church, the canons wanted first to incorporate Saint-John’s, together with the Orthen mother church. Supported by the duke, in 1412-1413, they finally succeeded. From that time on, but possibly already earlier, the prebends were bestowed by the chapter itself as well as by the duke, apart from papal provision. Other neighbouring parishes soon followed Orthen-’s-Hertogenbosch: Nuland and Geffen (1419), Heesch and Dinther (1441), and Rosmalen (1451). The chapter already held the patronage rights of the first three, which made the incorporation easier (the parish Dinther bordered on Heesch). Together with Rosmalen, the incorporated parishes formed a contiguous area, acquired in four decades. The last parish that was incorporated was that of the Grand Beguinage in ’s-Hertogenbosch. It was separated from the Orthen parish in 1274 and retrieved by the chapter in 1517. With its incorporation, the abbey of Oudergem lost the last patronage rights in the city.

These incentives provoked resistance, both among the former holders of the patronage rights and the sitting pastors. In addition, there were tensions with the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the city, who had previously taken part in the field of religious care for parishioners. Others, such as the Rich Clares’ Convent, managed to safeguard their interests in time. The fifteenth century saw a monastic development that had a great impact on the chapter as pastor(age). With most monasteries, the chapter was able to make agreements on burying, preaching, confessing and the celebrating of first masses and other kinds of income generating activities. In addition to annual assignments, the chapter in many cases gained control of the benefices in the monastic churches and chapels and the confessors in the sister monasteries. In the case of the Cellite Sisters, the interference of the chapter was experienced as a very unfair contract. Shortly after 1450 however, it was only the great community of sisters (and brothers) of Orthen who went into a legal battle with the chapter before they agreed.