Joyous Entry of 1356
The
Background
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In 1354, Duke John III summoned representatives of the cities of the duchy to Leuven to announce the marriage of his oldest daughter and heiress Joanna to Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg, and offered them liberal concessions so as to secure their assent to the change of dynasty. John's death in 1355 sparked a succession crisis. In January 1356, Wenceslaus and Joanna signed the charter that had been drawn up and solemnly swore to uphold its provisions.
Content
The charter had not been completely new. A custom of "landcharters" originating in Brabant during the previous century, had already produced the Charter of Kortenberg, granted by John II in 1312 and also considered a Brabantian Constitution, or the "Walloon Charter" of 1314. The six specific freedoms or "privileges" detailed powers granted to the church, the towns and some nobles, by means of which Duchess Joanna and Duke Wenceslaus could collect taxes.
With the instrument, the dukes of Brabant undertook to maintain the indivisibility of the duchy, and not to wage war, make treaties, or impose taxes without the consent of their subjects, as represented by the municipalities. All members of the duke's council were to be native-born Brabanters.
Aftermath
On 5 April, Wenceslaus' half-brother Charles IV became Holy Roman Emperor; he presided at the Imperial Diet which decreed the Golden Bull of 1356, fixing an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire, mainly restricting the freedoms of cities and civilians.
The following February, when Charles, Joanna and Wenceslaus, and representatives of the Brabantian towns all met at
The Joyous Entry of 1356 has been viewed an equivalent to the
Annually the Dukes of Brabant pledged to adhere to the text in the document by making a ceremonial entry into the main cities of Brabant. In the midst of the
This Joyous Entry charter was declared null and void when the Revolutionary French forces took possession of the
See also
References
- ^ Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire. 47:2: 399–424.
- ^ "Brussel wordt een ommuurde stad" (in Dutch). Flemish Community Commission. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
- ^ The Project Gutenberg EBook History of the United Netherlands, 1584 by John Lothrop Motley, released January, 2004
- ^ The Project Gutenberg EBook Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1560-61, by John Lothrop Motley
- ^ 'The metropolis and the state. The autonomy of Amsterdam and Antwerp in a comparative perspective' (ca. 1530-1830), paper by Michael Limberger and Marjolein ’t Hart Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (pdf file)
- ^ presentation of a university conference, see: LA Williams Andrews Clark Library Conference The political culture of the revolt of the Netherlands, 1566-1648, October 7-8 2005 (draft) by Marc Boone (University of Ghent)
- ^ (in Dutch) Nieuwsbank interactief Nederlands persbureau
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Joyeuse Entrée". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 529.
