Failure of corporation: notaries public in medieval Bruges

Abstract

The puzzling absence of guilds of notaries public in northern Europe has long taxed the explanatory powers of historians. Differences in social and economic conditions between the south and north seem insufficient explanations, particularly in fourteenth-century Bruges, a commercial center quite analogous to southern European cities. Using two Bruges notaries as case studies, it is clear that differences in the nature of notarial work were also important in the failure of notarial corporation. Notaries drew upon a wide clientele including both church and state institutions, and by the very breadth of their activities, notaries in Bruges guaranteed their individual independence.