A heerlijkheid was the basic administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

-speaking lands before 1800. It originated in the feudal subdivision of government authority in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. The closest English equivalents of the word are "seigniory" (or "seigneury") and "manor". The heerlijkheid system was the version of seigneurialism or manorialism

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands

Municipalities of the Netherlands

|All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities , together 418 , excl. the 3 "special municipalities" of the Caribbean Netherlands.Among the municipalities we can distinguish:...

 and in the Flemish region of Belgium.

Characteristics and types

Speaking generally, a heerlijkheid was essentially made up of a village and the land extending around it for a kilometre or so. Taking 18th century Wassenaar

Wassenaar

Wassenaar is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region...

 as an example of a large hoge heerlijkheid, it was 3,612 morgen

Morgen

A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...

s in size and had 297 houses. Nearby Voorschoten

Voorschoten

Voorschoten is a village and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a smaller town in the Randstad, enclosed by the cities of Leiden and The Hague. The municipality covers an area of 11.59 km²...

 was 1,538 morgens in size and had 201 houses. Nootdorp

Nootdorp

Nootdorp is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located approx. 2 km to the east of Delft and about 6 km southeast of the centre of The Hague, in the municipality of Pijnacker-Nootdorp....

 was an ambachtsheerlijkheid of 196 morgens and 58 houses. There were 517 heerlijkheden in the province of Holland in the 18th century. All fell into the last three categories in the list below (except for a few for which this information is unknown).

Not all heerlijkheden were the same. They differed in size and composition. Also, a heerlijkheid should not be confused with a larger unit like a county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 (graafschap), a viscounty (burggraafschap), an English county shire

Shire

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...

, a Germanic gau, or a Roman or Carolingian pagus

Pagus

In the later Western Roman Empire, following the reorganization of Diocletian, a pagus became the smallest administrative district of a province....

. A Flemish castellany

Castellany

A castellany was a district administered by a castellan.Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision....

 (kasselrij or burggraafschap) was larger and different than a heerlijkheid, but they were similar in some ways.

There were different kinds of heerlijkheid:

• vrijheerlijkheid - defined as a baronie (barony). These "free heerlijkheden" were found usually at the edges of a county and were called "free" (vrij) because they were allodial and not granted as a fief by a higher lord.

• hoge heerlijkheid - a large or important or high-level heerlijkheid, either a fief or allodial. In these "high" heerlijkheden there was jurisdiction to appoint a bailiff (baljuw) instead of just a schout, and to administer capital punishment. It was possible for a heerlijkheid to be both "free" and "high". The very largest were effectively counties within the county.

• ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid - a smaller low-level heerlijkheid granted as a fief and often found in heart of the county. This was sometimes nothing more than a castle and a few hectares of land, although most were larger than this. In these there was no jurisdiction to administer capital punishment.

• schoutsambt - the jurisdiction of a schout
  Schout
  In Dutch-speaking areas, a schout was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period.- Functions:...
  
  , thus indicating the jurisdiction of a heerlijkheid

The heer

The central figure was the holder of the rights to the heerlijkheid and effectively its owner: the lord

Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...

 or lady

Lady

The word lady is a polite term for a woman, specifically the female equivalent to, or spouse of, a lord or gentleman, and in many contexts a term for any adult woman...

. In Dutch, the lord was referred to as the heer (Lord) and the lady was referred to as the vrouwe or vrouw (Lady). The lord was also referred to by the Latin word for "lord" (Dominus

Dominus

Dominus may refer to:* Christus Dominus, the Second Vatican Council's "Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops".* Dominus Flevit Church, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem* Dominus , a title of sovereignty, clergy and other uses...

). Less-used English alternatives are "seigneur

Seigneur

Seigneur may refer to:* The possessor of a seigneurie in medieval feudal or manorial systems.* The Seigneurial system of New France* The hereditary feudal ruler of the island of Sark, see also List of Seigneurs of Sark...

" or "lord of the manor

Lord of the Manor

The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...

". There were different kinds of lord and lady:

• vrijheer and vrijvrouwe (literally, the "free lord" and "free lady") - Essentially the same as a baron (baron
  Baron
  Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
  
  ) and barones (baroness).

• erfheer and erfvrouwe (literally, the "hereditary lord" and "hereditary lady")

• baanderheer (literally, the "banner lord", but the term in English is "knight banneret
  Knight banneret
  A knight banneret, sometimes known simply as banneret, was a Medieval knight who led a company of troops during time of war under his own banner and were eligible to bear supporters in English heraldry.The military rank of a knight banneret was...
  
  " or "banneret") - Some lords used this title when their noble line was ancient and therefore superior to other nobles

• ambachtsheer - The lord of an ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid

In the feudal system, a lord was usually himself the vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

 of a lord of a higher rank, usually someone of high nobility, who was in turn the vassal of a king

King

- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...

 or emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

. However, sometimes there was no intermediary low-level lord. The heerlijkheid was ruled directly by a count (graaf), a viscount (burggraaf) or a baron. Also, it was not uncommon for the lord to be ecclesiastical.

Originally, heerlijkheden were in the hands of the nobility. However, starting around the 16th century lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and a political class known as the regents

Regenten

In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...

.

In addition, many were in the hands of the towns. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was not unusual for a town to purchase the heerlijkheden around it in order to gain control and ownership of the surrounding land and the economic advantages that went with that. The large towns were themselves not effectively part of the heerlijkheid system. The countryside and villages were governed by lords; the towns governed themselves.

Feudal origins

The heerlijkheden came into being as a result of the feudal system, in particular the sovereign's grant of judicial authority. The sovereign granted the right to govern and to exercise judicial authority to a vassal, often as a reward for military service or political support, or to a confidante of the ruler. The vassal—for example, a count

Count

A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...

 (graaf) or duke

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

 (hertog) -- thus exercised all or part of the sovereign's royal authority. In turn the count or duke granted rights to the lords of the heerlijkheden.

Because a fief (leen) originated in a contract for military service (:nl:manschap) between a vassal and his suzerain, the vassalage was personal. After the emergence of a professional army, the manschap contract fell into disuse or was replaced by a war tax, but the vassalage remained personal. One of the consequences of this was that on the death of the vassal (leenman or vazal) the fief in principle returned to the liege lord (leenheer). The heir was able to retain the heerlijkheid by the process of paying feudal homage (leenhulde), which was a commendation ceremony

Commendation ceremony

A commendation ceremony is a formal ceremony that evolved during the Early Medieval period to create a bond between a lord and his fighting man, called his vassal . The first recorded ceremony of commendatio was in 7th century France, but the relationship of vassalage was older, and predated even...

 carried out at the sovereign feudal court (souveraine leenhof). The new vassal made a symbolic payment (leenverhef) to his liege lord. The same ceremony was held when a heerlijkheid was sold. If there was no direct descendant, other relatives could exercise their rights as the nearest blood relatives (recht van naderschap), which explains why heerlijkheden remained anchored in the same families for centuries.

Heerlijkheid rights

The possession of a heerlijkheid is not to be confused with the possession of land. It was a jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

, not land per se. Although lords generally owned property within a heerlijkheid (often substantial amounts), it was possible for a lord not to own any property at all within his own
heerlijkheid. Also, when agricultural land was held by a lord in the Low Countries, the amount held was smaller in comparison to other countries.

Lordship conferred a set of seigneurial rights. The word "heerlijkheid" indicates a jurisdiction in which these limited rights were held and could be exercised. The rights exercised varied from place to place, and were more extensive and survived longer in the eastern provinces. A lord was able to function as a minor potentate within "his" heerlijkheid. However, the rights were limited and subject to numerous restrictions. The lord was required to conduct himself in accordance with local customary law.

• Appointments: One of the most important seigneurial rights was the right to appoint administrators, law enforcement and judicial officials, schoolmasters, dike and polder officials, and so on. A fee was paid by the recipients of these appointments. In particular, the lord was entitled to make the important appointment of the schout
  Schout
  In Dutch-speaking areas, a schout was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period.- Functions:...
  
  (or a similar office). This official was charged with local administrative, law enforcement and criminal prosecutorial duties. The lord's right to appoint this official was significant because it entailed the associated right to receive the income collected by the official from sentences and fines for minor and middle-level offences. (Higher fines and punishments came within the jurisdiction of the officials appointed by a count or duke, i.e. the hoofdschout, hoofdmeier, drossaard or amman). The lord was entitled to act as schout
  Schout
  In Dutch-speaking areas, a schout was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period.- Functions:...
  
  himself, but most lords appointed someone to fill the office as his representative.

• Ecclesiastical appointments: A lord might have a right of collation (collatie), presentment (gezag) or appointment (agreement) relating to the appointment of a parish priest or minister. As early as the high Middle Ages there were already disputes with ecclesiastical authorities over the usurpation of these rights. After the Reformation
  Protestant Reformation
  The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
  
  , the involvement of a lord in the selection of the minister might similarly result in tension between the lord and his subjects, particularly in places where the lord was of a different faith than the majority of the worshippers.

• Manor: Most heerlijkheden had a manor house
  Manor house
  A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
  
   that served as the official seat of the lord, if not always the permanent residence. There were sometimes grand homes with estates or even castles. (Some of these grand homes and castles still exist.)

• Church: If a parochial church had been founded by a previous lord, the lord was considered to have his own church and enjoy the rights that went with that.

• Coat of arms: A lord had his own coat of arms
  Coat of arms
  A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
  
  , which was displayed in places like church pews and windows and carriages. Many of these became municipal coats of arms.

Income from a heerlijkheid

A lord was entitled to receive taxes and other payments from various financial and property rights associated with a heerlijkheid:

• Property taxes (onroerende belastingen): The usufructuary of a parcel of land in a heerlijkheid (cijnsplichtige) was required to pay an annual ground rent, called cens, cijns or cijnsgeld in Dutch, which is comparable to the payment of property taxes today. The amount of the cijns was proportional to the size of the parcel of land. Since the amount of the cijns was not tied to inflation, it remained negligible during most of this period.

• Rent (pachtgelden): The most important source of income for the lord in a heerlijkheid was usually the rent charged on the parcels of arable land in the heerlijkheid.

• Transaction charges (transactietaksen or pontpenningen): The lord was entitled to a transaction charge of around 5% of the sales price when a parcel of land was sold within the heerlijkheid.

• Inheritance tax (heffing op nalatenschappen): Usually the lord was entitled to collect an inheritance tax
  Inheritance tax
  An inheritance tax or estate tax is a levy paid by a person who inherits money or property or a tax on the estate of a person who has died...
  
  , which was sometimes referred to in Dutch as the "right of the dead hand" (recht van de dode hand). This was a tax on the estate of a deceased resident. The amount was usually in the order of 5% of the value of the immovable property. Sometimes the lord also had the right to take the best piece out of the personal possessions of the deceased. Depending on the region, this was referred to as the "best head right" (beste kateil/katell or beste hoofd, referring to the best head in the herd) or the "grand chair right" (hoogstoel, meaning the nicest piece of furniture in the household effects). Often there was also a special inheritance tax on the estate of a foreigner, someone not born in the heerlijkheid (inwijkeling) and illegitimate children.

• Tolls (tolgelden): Tolls
  Road toll
  Road toll is the term used in some countries for the number of deaths caused annually by road accidents.The term is in common and official use in Australia and New Zealand.-Australia:In Australia the road toll is reported at a state level...
  
   were charged to cross the borders of very many heerlijkheden. This was a kind of road toll (wegentol), but it also took the form of a charge on the transport of specific commodities (e.g. salt) or people.

• Banalities (banrechten): The residents were required to make use of the infrastructure (mill, smith, oven, etc.) that was operated by the lord more or less as a business. A typical example of these banalities was the "lord's mill" (banmolen). Grain could only be ground at the lord's water mill or windmill. For this service, payment was required to the lord (or the miller who leased the mill from the lord).

• Royal privileges (vorstelijke rechten): Royal privileges included game rights, hunting rights, wind rights
  Wind rights
  Wind rights are rights relating to windmills, wind turbines and wind power. Historically in the Low Countries wind rights were manorial rights and obligations relating to the operation and profitability of windmills...
  
   (windrecht), fishing rights (visrecht), and market rights (marktrecht). These traditional rights were usually granted in fief to a vassal lord, who continued to maintain them.

• Ecclesiastical privileges (kerkelijke rechten): In some heerlijkheden certain privileges that were in principle held by the church were absorbed by the heerlijkheid. Tithes might accrue to the feudal estate.

• Fines (described in the previous part in the section on the appointment of the schout)

• Release from service fee (dienstgeld)

• Appointment fee (referred to by Schama as the leenrecht): "The perquisite paid on appointment to office."

• Marriage and death duties: Marriage required the payment of a fee, the consent of the lord, merchet
  Merchet
  A merchet was a fine paid on a marriage during the Middle Ages in England. The word derives from the plural form of daughter, merched, in old Welsh. A peasant would pay a merchet to his lord upon the marriage of a woman. The justification for this was that when a woman married, her lord was losing...
  
  , etc. In some places in later years the lord would receive gifts on St Walburga's Day in lieu. On death a tax also had to be paid.

Heerlijkheden and the nobility

Originally heerlijkheden were in the hands of the nobility. Much of the wealth of a noble family came from their ownership. Many members of the nobiilty were heavily dependent on this source of power, income and status. Because the surnames of noble families were often derived from a heerlijkheid (e.g. "van Wassenaer

Wassenaar

Wassenaar is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region...

"), it was important for the prestige of the family to maintain ownership over it. However, the economic benefits of a heerlijkheid were not always certain, finances were not always well arranged, and some nobles were poor.

In the province of Holland, possession of a heerlijkheid was a prerequisite for admission to the ridderschap (literally, the "knighthood"), the college of nobles that represented rural areas in the States of Holland. A seat in the ridderschap provided access to various financially interesting honorary positions and offices.

It was not unusual for a noble to amass a number of heerlijkheden. Queen Beatrix is a modern-day example of a noblewoman who holds the titles to many heerlijkheden. In addition to her primary titles, she is the Erfvrouwe and Vrijvrouwe of Ameland and the Vrouwe of Baarn, Besançon, Borculo, Bredevoort, Bütgenbach, Daasburg, Geertruidenberg, Heiloo, Upper and Lower Zwaluwe, Klundert, Lichtenvoorde, Loo, Montfort, Naaldwijk, Niervaart, Polanen, Steenbergen, Sint Maartensdijk, Sint Vith, Soest, Ter Eem, Turnhout, Willemstad and Zevenbergen.

Starting around 1500, nobles began selling the rights to heerlijkheden to non-nobles; however, losing a heerlijkheid did not result in loss of noble status. The nobility were recognised by all as having a special status not attached to wealth or ownership of a heerlijkheid.

Heerlijkheden and the rise of a new nobility

In the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

) the financial character of a heerlijkheid was accentuated by the Royal Edict of 8 May 1664. From then on, a noble title was granted only if the following minimum payment was obtained from the income of the feudal estate.

• for a barony (baronie): 6,000 guilders;
• for a county
  County
  A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
  
   (graafschap) or marquisate (markizaat): 12,000 guilders;
• for a duchy
  Duchy
  A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...
  
   (hertogdom) or principality (prinsdom): 24,000 guilders.

In the southern provinces, this edict ensured the financial stability of the most prominent heerlijkheden and resulted in the rise of a new nobility based on wealth.

Starting around the 16th century lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and a small and exclusive political class known as the regents

Regenten

In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...

. In all the provinces the military obligations associated with a fief gradually died out so that by the 16th and 17th centuries the heerlijkheid was increasingly seen by non-nobles as a status symbol.

Successful merchants and regents from the large towns saw the heerlijkheid as a country residence and a means of giving the appearance of noble status. It often came with large tracts of land and a castle or manor house. In noble fashion, they then added the name of their heerlijkheid to their own surname, resulting in surnames like Deutz van Assendelft, Six van Oterleek, Pompe van Meerdervoort and Beelaerts van Blokland). (The word "van

Van (Dutch)

Van is a preposition in the Dutch and Afrikaans languages, meaning "of" or "from". It is also a common prefix in Dutch surnames , as in Vincent van Gogh or Marco van Basten...

" in the surname meant "of". However, very few Dutch surnames with "van" have their origins in the ownership of a heerlijkheid.) They became what J.L. Price refers to as a "quasi-nobility". A heerlijkheid was also a source of income and an investment, but they were usually acquired for other reasons.

In the Netherlands, acquiring the rights to heerlijkheden did not confer noble status. The regent families who purchased heerlijkheden were not a true nobility, but by the early 19th century the ranks of the nobility had become so depleted that the Dutch king elevated certain members of the former regent class to noble status.)

Abolition

In the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

) heerlijkheden and the associated rights were abolished after the French invasion of 1795. In the northern provinces (modern-day Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

) they were declared abolished around the same time as part of the inauguration of the Batavian Republic

Batavian Republic

The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....

. This was formalised in the 1798 Batavian Constitution (Bataafsche Staatsregeling). A distinction was made between the feudal rights of appointment and patronage, which were completely abolished, and the income-related rights, which were more complicated. Some of these were feudal in nature and abolished. Others were similar to contractual or property rights and therefore their loss was compensable. Lordly claims for reparations flooded in. Some heerlijkheid rights were maintained or later restored as property rights.

The overwhelming majority of the remaining rights disappeared in Belgium on the introduction of the 1830 constitution and in the Netherlands with the 1848 constitutional amendments. Most of the administrative functions of a heerlijkheid were transferred to the municipality

Municipalities of the Netherlands

|All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities , together 418 , excl. the 3 "special municipalities" of the Caribbean Netherlands.Among the municipalities we can distinguish:...

 and fell under the new Municipality Act (Gemeentewet). Responsibility for the courts and judicial system were taken over by the national government. The formal end of the heerlijkheid came in 1923, because in that year the Game Act abolished the last remaining property rights that had their origin in the heeriljkheid system.

After this, the use of the title "Lord of..." was based on the ownership of a castle or manor. Strictly speaking, they were simply the owners of a castle or manor (kasteeleigenaar) and thus "lords of the manor" (kasteelheer). Unlike in the U.K., there is no trade today in "lord of the manor" titles.

Heerlijkheid manors

What remains of the heerlijkheid system are many of the manors and castles. Most of them are now parts of estates, museums, parks, hotels, etc. Since the last heerlijkheid was seen over 200 years ago, many of the manor houses and castles have been rebuilt, or have been fully or partially demolished.

A sign erected at the remaining parts of the Slot Heemstede

Slot Heemstede

Slot Heemstede is the site of the old castle of Heemstede. The property is situated at the site of the former castle 'Heerlijkheid Heemstede', or 'Huis te Heemstede', at a strategic position on mouth of the Spaarne river on the Haarlem lake .-History:The castle was first built in 1280 by Dirk van...

(now in a park) describes what happened to this particular manor. The history and fate of this manor are typical:

External links

• Heerlijkheden van Holland Site with lists and detailed information about heerlijkheden in 18th c. Holland and their owners.
• Dutch Civic Heraldry Site with images and information about the coats of arms of municipalities and heerlijkheden that never became municipalities.