‘Eendracht doet cleyne saecken bloeyen’

De Waterlandse Unie en de verkoop van de heerlijkheid Waterland in 1731

Samenvatting

In the seventeenth century various collaborations emerged between villages in Holland in order to protect their interests from the politics of the regional government, the States of Holland, and local rulers. One of these collaborations was the Waterlandse Unie, a collaboration with a more permanent character than others. In 1731 the States decided to sell the right to rule the villages, also named the ambachtsheerlijkheden. The members of the Unie decided to collectively buy them to prevent the selling of the Waterland region to a third party. The purchase was successful. It was the first and only purchase of multiple ambachtsheerlijkheden by a collective of villages. The Waterlandse Unie had played a decisive role in all of this. The case study of the Waterlandse Unie shows the political culture of village councils in the early modern Republic. In addition, it demonstrates the importance of collaboration for the political culture of the Republic.