The Use of Perpetual Annuities in Rural Brabant in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the use of perpetual annuities in the duchy of Brabant. Data concerning the seigneurie of Kruikenburg near Brussels for the period between 1405 and 1553 are compared to existing case studies concerning other parts of Brabant. The study shows that the land and credit markets were already well established around 1400 in all parts of Brabant. During the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries, activity in these markets increased quite strongly. In all areas we can identify a strong local upper class, consisting of a small number of inter-related families. They were active as buyers and sellers of land and of annuities on a large scale. In the surroundings of Antwerp and Brussels, the closeness of a big urban centre had a strong impact on the credit market. Urban elites were active on the rural land market. The effects of the credit market on local property relations differed clearly between the different areas. While in the areas around Antwerp and Brussels the sixteenth century was characterized by an increasing concentration of landed property, the more remote Campine region rather maintained its egalitarian character.