Schutterij
Schutterij refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces within the city, near the city walls and they are mostly grouped according to their district and to the weapon that they used, crossbow or gun. Together, its members are called a Schuttersgilde, which could be translated as a shooters guild. It is now a title applied to ceremonial shooting clubs and to the countrys Olympic rifle team, the schutterij, civic guard, or town watch, was a defensive military support system for the local civic authority. Its officers were wealthy citizens of the town, appointed by the city magistrates and its captain was usually a wealthy inhabitant of the district, and the groups ensign was a wealthy young bachelor. Joining as an officer for a couple of years was often a stepping-stone to other important posts within the city council, the members were expected to buy their own equipment, this entailed the purchase of a weapon and uniform.
Each night two men guarded their district in two shifts, from 10,00 p. m. until 2,00 a. m. at a set time each month, the schutters would parade under the command of an officer. The ideal was that, for every hundred inhabitants, three would belong to the schutterij, the Dutch Mennonites were excluded from a position in the schutterij in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and paid a double tax in lieu of service. Roman Catholics were permitted in the lower regions, persons in the service of the city, and the citys Jews, did not need to serve. The beer and peat bearers had to serve as the towns firefighters instead, the schutters or cloveniers met at target practice grounds called Doelen. These fields were generally adjoining a building where they met indoors for gymnastic exercises. It was in great halls where the large group portraits hung for centuries. These locations were not the place the schutters met each other. These guilds kept altars in churches, where they met for religious reasons. Most schutterij guilds had as patron saints Saint Sebastian, Saint Anthony, Saint George and these religious duties were a significant part of the guild membership since that is where they paid their dues.
After the Protestant Reformation, all the altars were disbanded in the Dutch Reformed churches in the Northern Netherlands, and membership dues were no longer paid in church, but at the city hall. After 1581, the schutterij were officially prohibited from influencing city politics, but since the ruling regenten were all members of these guilds, once a year they held a banquet, with beer and a roasted ox. Whenever a changeover of the leading officers occurred, a painter was invited to paint the members
Warmoesstraat
Warmoesstraat is one of the oldest streets in Amsterdam, running parallel to the river Amstel from Amsterdam Centraal railway station to Dam Square. Its origins are in the 13th century, in the 16th and 17th century it was the shopping street. The poet Joost van den Vondel sold silk stockings here, the busy Warmoesstraat has a variety shops, restaurants, cheap hotels, coffee shops and sex boutiques. The Prostitution Information Center and the artist run W139 art space are located on this street. It is located adjacent to the Red light district, the Warmoesstraat-area is known as the Leather area. There are many cruise and fetish bars and bars with darkrooms, the popular Zeedijk is close by, as well as the area around the NZ Kolk and Spuistraat where more and more gay life is opening up
Virtual International Authority File
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization.
The city is the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V.
This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
Integrated Authority File
The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
Dutch East India Company
It is often considered to be the worlds first truly transnational corporation and the first company in history to actually issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company of the world, the company was considered by many to be the very first major and the greatest corporation in history. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in international trade for almost 200 years of existence. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the city of Jayakarta. Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory and it remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years.
Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the Dutch East India Company, the name ‘Dutch East India Company’ is used to make a distinction with the East India Company and other East Indian companies. The abbreviation VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the VOC monogram was possibly the first globally-recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital V with an O on the left and it appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the conducting the operation was placed on top. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, the flag of the company was orange and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a centre in northern Europe. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to supply to satisfy growing demand.
Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a rise in pepper prices. These three factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the secret Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. The stage was set for Houtmans 1595 four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java. Houtmans expedition sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu, half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit
Bourges
Bourges is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and was the capital of the province of Berry. The name of the city derives either from the Bituriges, the name of the inhabitants, or from the Germanic Burg. The Celts called it Avaricon, Latin-speakers, following the siege of Avaricum in the winter of 52 BC, Julius Caesars forces destroyed the city and killed all but 800 of its inhabitants. Rome reconstructed Avaricum as a Roman city, with a gate, thermae. The massive walls surrounding the late Roman city, enclosing 40 hectares, were built in part with stone re-used from earlier public buildings, the third-century AD Saint Ursinus, known as Saint Ursin, is considered the first bishop of the city. Bourges is the seat of an archbishopric, during the 8th century Bourges lay on the northern fringes of the Duchy of Aquitaine and was therefore the first town to come under Frankish attacks when the Franks crossed the Loire. The Frankish Charles Martel captured the town in 731, but Duke Odo the Great of Aquitaine immediately re-took it, the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Etienne, begun at the end of the twelfth century, ranks as a World Heritage Site.
It is considered as one of the earliest examples of the High Gothic style of the thirteenth century, during the Middle Ages, Bourges served as the capital of the Viscounty of Bourges until 1101. In the fourteenth century it became the capital of the Duchy of Berry, the future king of France, Charles VII, sought refuge there in the 1420s during the Hundred Years War. His son, Louis XI, was there in 1423. In 1438, Charles VII decreed the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, during this period, Bourges was a major capital of alchemy. The city has a tradition of art and history. Apart from the cathedral, other sites of importance include the 15th-century Palace of Jacques Cœur, Bourges sits at the river junction where the Auron flows into the Yèvre. The disused Canal de Berry follows alongside the course of the Auron through Bourges, the A71 motorway connects Bourges with Orléans and Clermont-Ferrand. Bourges Airport is a regional airport. Bourges principal football team are Bourges Football 18 and it is home to the womens basketball club CJM Bourges Basket, which has won multiple titles in domestic and European basketball.
Bourges XV is the rugby team in the region, currently playing in French National Division
Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
The 800-year-old Oude Kerk is Amsterdam’s oldest building and oldest parish church, founded ca.1213 and consecrated in 1306 by the bishop of Utrecht with Saint Nicolas as its patron saint. After the Reformation in 1578 it became a Calvinist church, which it remains today and it stands in De Wallen, now Amsterdams main red-light district. The square surrounding the church is the Oudekerksplein, by around 1213, a wooden chapel had been erected at the location of todays Oude Kerk. Over time, this structure was replaced by a church that was consecrated in 1306. The church has seen a number of performed by 15 generations of Amsterdam citizens. The church stood for only a half-century before the first alterations were made, not long after the turn of the 15th century and south transepts were added to the church creating a cross formation. Work on these renovations was completed in 1460, though it is likely that progress was interrupted by the great fires that besieged the city in 1421 and 1452. Before the Alteratie, or Reformation in Amsterdam of 1578, the Oude Kerk was Roman Catholic, following William the Silent’s defeat of the Spanish in the Dutch Revolt, the church was taken over by the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church.
Only the paintings on the ceiling, which were unreachable, were spared, locals would gather in the church to gossip, peddlers sold their goods, and beggars sought shelter. This was not tolerated by the Calvinists and the homeless were expelled, in 1681, the choir was closed-off with screen of oak. Above the screen is the text, The prolonged misuse of Gods church, were here undone again in the year seventy-eight, in that same year, the Oude Kerk became home to the registry of marriages. It was used as the city archives, the most important documents were locked in a chest covered with iron plates, the chest was kept safe in the iron chapel. The bust of famous organist and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck celebrates the lifetime he spent playing in the church and his early career began at the age of fifteen when he succeeded his deceased father Pieter Swybertszoon as the Oude Kerk’s organist. He went on to music for all 150 Psalms and secured an international reputation as a leading Dutch composer.
His music would be played over the city from the bell tower. He is buried in the church, Rembrandt was a frequent visitor to the Oude Kerk and his children were all christened here. It is the building in Amsterdam that remains in its original state since Rembrandt walked its halls. In the Holy Sepulchre is a small Rembrandt exhibition, a shrine to his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh who was buried here in 1642, each year on 9 March, at 8,39 am, the early morning sun briefly illuminates her tomb
The Night Watch
It is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum but is prominently displayed in the Rijksmuseum as the best known painting in its collection. The Night Watch is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings and is window 16 in the Canon of Amsterdam, the painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age. It depicts the eponymous company moving out, led by Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, behind them, the companys colours are carried by the ensign, Jan Visscher Cornelissen. Rembrandt has displayed the emblem of the arquebusiers in a natural way. She is a kind of mascot herself, the claws of a chicken on her belt represent the clauweniers. The man in front of her is wearing a helmet with an oak leaf, the dead chicken is meant to represent a defeated adversary. The colour yellow is associated with victory. Another interpretation proposes that Rembrandt designed this painting with several layers of meaning, the Night Watch is symmetrically divided, firstly to illustrate the union between the Dutch Protestants and the Dutch Catholics, and secondly to evoke the war effort against the Spaniards.
For instance, according to Rembrandts multilayered design, the taller captain symbolizes the Dutch Protestant leadership, all characters of this painting were conceived to present double readings. One of the most important aspects of the Night Watch is that the figures are nearly human size, Rembrandt gives the illusion that the characters jump off the canvas and into real space. For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish and this varnish was removed only in the 1940s. In 1715, upon its removal from the Kloveniersdoelen to the Amsterdam Town Hall and this was done, presumably, to fit the painting between two columns and was a common practice before the 19th century. This alteration resulted in the loss of two characters on the side of the painting, the top of the arch, the balustrade. This balustrade and step were key visual tools used by Rembrandt to give the painting a forward motion, a 17th-century copy of the painting by Gerrit Lundens at the National Gallery, London shows the original composition.
The painting was commissioned by Captain Banning Cocq and seventeen members of his Kloveniers, eighteen names appear on a shield, painted circa 1715, in the centre right background, as the hired drummer was added to the painting for free. A total of 34 characters appear in the painting, Rembrandt was paid 1,600 guilders for the painting, a large sum at the time. This was one of a series of seven paintings of the militiamen commissioned during that time from various artists. The painting was commissioned to hang in the hall of the newly built Kloveniersdoelen in Amsterdam
Amsterdam Museum
The Amsterdam Museum, until 2011 called the Amsterdams Historisch Museum, is a museum about the history of Amsterdam. Since 1975, it is located in the old city orphanage between Kalverstraat and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, the museum opened in 1926 in the Waag, one of Amsterdams 15th-century city gates. It has been located since 1975 in a building that was constructed in 1580 as Amsterdams municipal orphanage. The building was extended by Hendrick and his son Pieter de Keyser, the orphanage operated in this building until 1960. The museum exhibits items related to the history of Amsterdam. As of 2011, the museum manages 70,000 objects kept in various buildings, of those, approximately 25,000 have been photographed and are available to the public online. This includes all objects that were already free of copyright. The museum has on display paintings, archeological findings, but less likely items such as a carillon, a Witkar
Bartholomeus van der Helst
Bartholomeus van der Helst was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter. His first dated picture, a portrait of the regents of the Walloon Orphanage. It is unknown from whom he learned to paint, but in Haarlem he must have at least known the work of Frans Hals, who like him, never traveled to Italy and specialized in portraiture. As the son of an innkeeper with ever-increasing trekschuit patrons, van der Helst would have immediately the importance of this. In any case, he moved to Amsterdam and in 1639 he won his own commission, The company of Captain Roelof Bicker. In Amsterdam he may well have trained with Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy, in Amsterdam Van der Helst was a contemporary of Rembrandt. Some of Rembrandts pupils, including Ferdinand Bol and Govaert Flinck and his large group portrait, Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster, was painted in 1648, and exhibited to popular acclaim. It was this painting that sealed his fame for future generations, according to Arnold Houbraken, although the damage this time was mostly to the varnish layer, some parts of the original paint and cloth were afflicted as well as the frame.
He was the teacher of his son Lodewijk van der Helst who followed his style and he died at Amsterdam in 1670. Along with the portraits for which he is most famous, Van der Helst painted a few historical and mythological scenes. Today van der Helsts most famous portrait is his portrayal of Gerard Andriesz Bicker, the son of Andries Bicker, the mayor of Amsterdam. This portrait is often used to depict obesity as a symbol of wealth of the Amsterdam merchants of the Dutch Golden Age in Amsterdam and it was probably painted in 1639, the same year as the first schutterstuk where Roelof Bicker is the central figure. At that time Gerard Andriesz Bicker was 17 years old, and held the titles Lord of Engelenburg and it was quite common for artists to win whole family portrait commissions from members of the schutterij after painting group portraits. This is why the competition in schutterstukken became so fierce, led by Rembrandts Nightwatch, paintings Collection of works and literature on Bartholomeus van der Helst Bartholomeus van der Helst
Media related to Frans Banning Cocq at Wikimedia Commons
