Exercitiegenootschap

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An exercise company in 1783

An exercitiegenootschap (Dutch pronunciation:

Orangist schutterijen
.

Cause and context

Exercitiegenootschappen were set up after the Scottish, American and Swiss examples of musket-armed citizens. The expenses of a standing army, the attracting of foreign officers into the

Patriots tried to seek a solution during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
, at the cheapest possible cost. Immediately the war (which had begun badly) developed disastrously, a wave of deprivation spreading through the country, and this result of the attempted reform was widely felt as a matter of national shame, with the harrowing contrast between the famous past and the miserable present becoming clear to everyone.

Organisation and structure

The first exercitiegenootschappen were set up in the beginning of 1783 in

Utrecht
. Further in Leiden, Edam, Woerden, Enkhuizen, Gouda, Hoogkarspel, Amsterdam, Weesp, Rotterdam, Schiedam, Heusden, Westzaan.

vrijcorpsen) signed the Acte van Verbintenis (Act of Agreement), in which they promised to come to the aid of each other as the Patriots saw necessary. This Act especially stimulated the exercitiegenootschappen and vrijcorpsen in the small cities to confidence and action. Gerrit Paape
set himself the task of being a historian of these local societies.

Many people wanted to become a member, with Catholics and

François Adriaans van der Kemp, reported for duty. They exercised at least once a week, mostly on Sundays after the religious service or, in bad weather, actually inside the church. (There were almost no chairs, but a few benches for the nobility and members of the vroedschap). Members never needed to be wealthy enough to buy their own weapon, unlike in the schutterijen. Non-attendance earned a fine of a few stuivers
.

Exercitiegenootschappen had the preference above free corps, being completely independent of the existing schutterij. "Vrijcorpsen" arose mainly in the countryside, because there was no schutterij for their area. After the Rotterdam exercitiegenootschap in 1784 was forbidden, more and more so-called "genootschappen in de wapenhandel" (societies for weapons training) sprang up, as in Bolsward, and they were very progressive for their time and would speak out regularly.

  • In 1784: Purmerend, Huizen, Alblasserdam, Buiksloot, Hoorn, Rijnsburg, Schoonhoven, Alkmaar.
  • In 1785: Papendrecht, Delft, Rotterdam, Gouderak en Nieuwland.
  • in 1786: Boskoop, Den Haag, Giessen, Gorinchem, Haastrecht, Oudewater, Hellevoetsluis, Hillegom, Oud-Beyerland, Vianen, Vlaardingen, Voorburg, Maassluis, Bodegraven en Wormerveer.

In 1787 about 25 new freecorps or "societies in weapon training" were erected, but also the orangists organized themselves better.[1]

Escalation

An incident with the Austrian emperor

Friesland
, causing a wave of new exercitiegenootschappen and free-corps that spring. The Provincial States reached an understanding in their regulations. In the regulations of the exercitiegenootschappen, their underlying aim of bringing the people republican principles and petitioning for and demanding their participation in choosing the composition of the city administration had never been taken up.

Initial support, however, turned into a discouraging administration in the summer of 1785, with the aristocrats moving more and more towards the prince. At the beginning of August 1786 in Utrecht, the exercitiegenootschappen gathered together to commemorate the Battle of Dogger Bank, with 20,000 men marching through the city. At that meeting, a radical decision was taken: sixteen democratically chosen Patriots were appointed to the council. This was a unique event in Europe. A few weeks later Herman Willem Daendels, captain of the local exercitiegenootschap, was inspired to take action in Hattem, upon which all exercitiegenootschappen meetings and mutual support were banned in Friesland and Gelderland. Freedom of assembly had reached its limits. Moreover, it was a war in propaganda.

In May 1787, the professors and students in

Orange restoration became established, with its superior force of 20.000 soldiers. Stadholder William V was returned to his position. All the officers of the exercitiegenootschappen who had not already escaped to northern France (Pas-de-Calais
) were captured and condemned, if they had been involved in an exercitiegenootschap or defense commission.

References

  1. ^ https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Database-Politieke-Sociabiliteit-1781-1798.xlsx

Bibliography

  • Klein, S.R.E. (1995) Patriots Republikanisme. Politieke cultuur in Nederland (1766-1787).
  • Verweij, G. (1996) Geschiedenis van Nederland. Levensverhaal van zijn bevolking.

External links

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