which was well under way and in part because they were designed to keep
Flushing brewing from disastrous contraction.
Amersfoort beer threatened brewers, especially since the beer entered Hol
land and Zeeland free of duty, that is on the payment of an annual lump sum
to the count under an early fifteenth century agreement. Amersfoort feared
their beer might be taxed as heavily as were German imports, a level of taxa
tion which lower quality Amersfoort beer could not sustain. In 1531. for ex
ample. Amersfoort got from Charles V a ruling that their beer was not to be
treated like that from the Baltic but rather like that from any town in Holland.
The ordinance, to which the States of Holland and of Zeeland agreed, was a
repetition of a ruling of 152347 and suggested that Amersfoort had to be vigi
lant to maintain its privilege.
While counts might be willing to make exceptions on imports if it meant
some improvement in their incomes, town were more likely to be strictly
protectionist. The count did on at least one occasion try to counteract that
tendency when in 1411 William VI of Bavaria, the count of Holland and of
Zeeland, ordered that no town in either county could levy any tax on imports
from Delft over and above what they charged their own citizens. Beer was
specifically the largetJs. The rule seemed to address an established problem
and had only partial success. The grant would be a bone of contention and a
precedent for exporting towns up to the Dutch Revolt and the change of gov
ernment in the 1570s. The Count wanted to prevent prejudicial taxes being
charged, ones directed especially at Delft beer. William's successors in the
late fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth centuries, Maximilian of Haps-
burg and Charles V, renewed the law a number of times. Delft was a most
vigorous defender of that legislation, and often complained to the count or
went to court to have excise taxes changed. In 1502 and 1503 Delft gathered
evidence from her own merchants and from Gouda, Rotterdam and Schiedam
that they paid an extra charge at Arncmuiden, a tax that beer in nearby Mid
delburg did not have to sustain. In 1536 suppliants, of which presumably
Delft was one, approached the States of Zeeland to try to get the small town
of Veere to drop direct and indirect taxes on imported beer, charges which
were higher than on domestically brewed beer49. The discussions, negotia
tions and court fights were lengthy, time consuming and presumably expen
sive but Delft did win some of the battles so the struggles could pay off. In
1554 and again in 1556 certain Delft brewers got agreements with Middel
burg that their beer would enter the town at fixed prices and fixed excise. The
Delftenaars did make some concessions on the types of beer and quantities to
be shipped. The arrangement was not without trouble. Both consumers in
Arnemuiden in 1563 and Delft brewers in 1569 asked to be freed from some
of the restrictions in the agreements, such as the maximum price that could
47. GAA. inv.nr. 733.
48. D. van Bleyswijck. Beschryvinge der stadt Delftbetreffende des self's situatie, oorsprong en
ouderdom, opkomst en voortgangh, vermeerderinge van vryheydt en jurisdtictie, domeynen en heerli-
jckheden (Delft 1667) 697-699.
49. GADe. Eerste Afdeling: inv.nr. 1921: GAVe. inv.nr. 311: lol. 98r: Unger, Bronnen, vol.3. nr.
409.210. nr. 2.
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