Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg

Het 'Maastrichtse Vrijthofboek'

Eric Wetzels — 2019-06-01

In 2017 Theuws and Kars published an important book on the excavations on the Vrijthof-square in Maastricht, carried out in 1969- 1970. Although the conditions were harsh, the almost 50-year old

documentation still offers a lot of information.
Over 450 graves of originally perhaps 1.500 graves have been

documented (excluding the ca. 1.000 graves of the Saint-Servatius- complex-excavation in the fifties and eighties) as well as several settle- ment-traces, all dating from the period of 400-1000 AD. Most of the graves belonged to Merovingian and Carolingian graveyards. The graves were part of at least six different graveyards. Besides graveyards isolated burials existed as well. These were not only documented on the Vrijthof- square, but also elsewhere in Maastricht.

Theuws and Kars think that the different graveyards belonged to different groups or clans and that the control over these graveyards coincided with the control over early medieval Maastricht (or parts of it). During the early medieval period the first church was built around 560 AD (magnum templum), immediately adjacent to the Vrijthof- square, almost on top of the presumed grave of Saint Servatius, the supposed first bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht. Servatius lived, according to the legends, in the late fourth or fifth century. Although the proof of the existence of this bishop is scarce, the worshiping of Servatius was a continuous factor in the development of medieval Maastricht since the second half of the sixth century. Today the church of Servatius still stands on the same slope where its predecessor was built 1450 years ago.

Het historisch dossier van de heilige Amandus

Régis de la Haye — 2019-06-01

Amandus was one of many seventh-century missionaries from the Hiberno-Scottish tradition, who traversed Europe in order to preach the faith. As it turns out, he is the best documented saint of that era, as not only a vita survives for him, but he also appears in other historical sources.

He travelled the continent, founded monasteries and remained in contact with many bishops from Gaul and officials at the court of the Frankish kings throughout his life. He played an important role in the Church of Gaul.

For a period of about three years, Amandus was bishop of Maastricht. During his Maastricht tenure he received a letter from Pope Martin I and was involved in the foundation of the abbey of Nivelles.

As a saint, he is remembered in many parts of Europe, even in countries he never visited. Notably, as is demonstrated by liturgical sources and chronicles, his fame does not lie in his activities as missionary and founder of monasteries, but mainly in his role as bishop of Maastricht, even though this was only an intermittent period in his life.

Fossa Eugeniana

Roel Zijlmans — 2019-06-01

In the sixteenth century, South Brabant cities had already developed plans for canals between the Scheldt and Maas rivers as an alternative to the onerous northern Maas route. When the Republic seceded the Spanish Netherlands, the project attracted high political and military interest. The intense economic warfare around 1626 provided further impetus to continue investigations for Scheldt-Maas-Rhine canals in the South. Originally, the Southern government intended to execute existing Brabantine and Guelders plans. However, its engineers discovered more suitable routes from Neuss to Venlo and from Maastricht to Antwerp. The possibility of diverting the river Rhine, in part or in whole, into the river Maas also became apparent. The deviation could cause great damage in the North but also in the lands between Rhine and Maas. These plans brought about fierce political resistance in the Land of Liège and the Rhine-Maas region. The German emperor, Liège, Electoral Cologne and Jülich wanted to stay out of the struggle in the Netherlands as much as possible. When the military forces of the German Catholic League defeated a Protestant army without Spanish assistance, Spain lost its most important asset and was obliged to give in. The Southern government set aside plans to divert the Rhine and agreed to pursue canal routes much further north.

Charles Guillon (1811-1873)

Gerard Venner — 2019-06-01

Charles Guilon was a well-known collector of archaeological findings, archives, coins, books and paintings in Roermond. Important parts of his collections are gathered in the National Archive of Limburg in Maastricht and the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. This article does not focus on his collections and historical interest, but on his acquaintances: his family, profession and offices, and his family- in-law. Since the 17th century, Guillon’s ancestors were settled in Arcy- sur-Cure near Auxerre. His father, (Charles) François Guillon, was born in Mailly-la-Ville, also in the vicinity of Auxerre. Due to the French annexation of 1795, (Charles) François Guillon moved to Limburg. He was mayor of Stramproy till 1814 and later became solicitor at the Roermond court. He married Maria Aldegonda Bongaerts, a daughter of a Roermond innkeeper, and they had several sons together, who eventually became lawyers and (junior) notaries.

One of their sons was Charles Guillon, who became a notary in 1843. He was a member of the Roermond local council and of the Provincial States and roughly since 1860 he joined the liberal councilmembers. Although his role in the revolutionary year of 1848 is disputed, there are no signs of his involvement in any political activities. Charles Guillon was very interested in primary and secondary education in his town. His marriage with Maria Elisabeth Engels brought him in the tradition of the Engels family in Helden-Panningen, who had contributed much to the change of the chapel of Panningen into a parish church. The famous prehistorical ornamental disk of Helden originated from this Engels family.

Provinciaal bestuur van het ongedeelde Limburg (1815-1830)

Kees Schaapveld — 2019-06-01

After the end of French rule, the Northern and Southern Netherlands were united into a single state in 1815. A new constitution was submitted to a vote by representatives of the Southern population. Only by manipulating the results of this plebiscite was King William I able to declare the constitution accepted. Contrary to most provinces, the representatives of the province of Limburg (the former French département de la Meuse-Inférieure) approved the constitution by a large majority.

According to the articles on provincial administration in the new constitution, the King appointed a governor for the province of Limburg. He also appointed the sixty members of the ‘Provinciale Staten’ (Provincial Council), consisting of twenty representatives from three groups: the nobility, the towns and the rural communities. The Provincial Council met only once a year for a period of 1-2 weeks. It chose nine of its members as ‘Gedeputeerde Staten’ for the day-to-day administration of the province. The whole set-up of the new provincial administration was a mixture of pre-French, French and new elements.

After two years of putting the model into practice, the first election of members of the Provincial Council by all male adult citizens by census suffrage took place in June 1818. Since then, annual elections were held for part of the seats. Gradually, anti-government opposition arose among a growing number of members for various reasons, but the system continued to function well until August 1830, when an uprising in the Southern Netherlands arose, inspired by the French July Revolution of 1830. The Provincial Council had already completed its annual meetings in July, and a nonplussed governor and ‘Gedeputeerde Staten’ tried to cope with the situation. Within months, however, the new Belgian government took over the whole province of Limburg, except the capital of Maastricht which was held by a garrison loyal to the King. Through international arbitration, Limburg was split into a Belgian section and a Dutch section in 1839. After a transition period, the Dutch part of Limburg established the same model of provincial administration as in 1815-1830.

Het 'Limburger Volkslied'

Piet Orbons — 2019-06-01

The Limburg Anthem, an 1848 resistance song from Sittard, was a final attempt to liberate Limburg from the pinching Dutch ‘annexation’. The melody of this originally Polish resistance song was widely known and the text was a call for the struggle for ‘freedom’ and ‘fatherland’.

After a couple of failed attempts to undo the Belgian separation (1839), Limburg tried it again in 1848 through the German Confederation of which Limburg became a member in 1839. In the Frankfurt parliament the members of the Confederation gathered in 1848 to further the unification of a German state. The initial enthusiasm faded away due to a lack of results.

The Limburg Anthem did not have longevity. Zealous military police confiscated nearly the complete edition and the author Jozef Crijns ran away. The county governor Van Meeuwen feared civil unrest and asked advise to the Minister of Justice Donker Curtius. The Minister prohibited arresting the songwriter and decided not to prosecute similar ‘jour- nalistic offenses’. The minister thus prejudged the 1848 Constitution where the freedom of press was clearly formulated. The Limburg Anthem was a marginal phenomenon but might have played a catalytical role in the political formulating of the freedom of press.

'Met een schone lei beginnen ...'

Annemieke Klijn — 2019-06-01

On 9 January 1976 the State University of Limburg, today Maastricht University, officially came into being, with the start of a medical faculty. It was expected to promote innovation within Dutch higher education by developing experimental degree programmes – which explains ‘the Maastricht experiment’. Nowadays the university counts six Faculties and more than 16,000 students, over half of whom are from outside the Netherlands. The fact that Maastricht University was established ex nihilo seemed to be advantage, because it could start with a clean slate. In this article two questions are addressed. What was the rationale behind the foundation of Maastricht University and how did Maastricht University stress its distinct features while it was expanding? In this article is shown that the start with a clean slate was in fact impossible. Moreover, the expansion is analysed based on six phases. Maastricht University found a distinctive character in the Dutch univer- sity system with problem-based learning and internationalization, while pragmatism was an important ruiling guide during its expansion.

Voorwoord

Redactie — 2019-06-01

Voorwoord van de redactie.

Over de auteurs

Redactie — 2019-06-01

Over de auteurs.