Abstract
Reviewed by: Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, Ghent University, Belgium
Antwerp was the most vibrant city of the Habsburg Empire in the first half of the sixteenth century. Merchants from all corners of the world traded in spices, metals and other precious goods. A large number of printers and publishers produced books in Latin and many other languages. Rederijkers staged plays and wrote poetry in the vernacular Dutch. It is no wonder that in this cosmopolitan and open atmosphere heterodox religious views found fertile ground. Lutheranism was introduced early by German merchants and by Augustinian monks who had studied with Luther himself. The printing press assured a swift proliferation of his writings and of wider heterodox thought. The amateur rederijkers absorbed many of these ideas in their literary productions. Not surprisingly, the Habsburg authorities were horrified. During the reign of Charles V (1515–1555) increasingly strict anti-heresy legislation was introduced and, whenever possible, put into practice.
It may seem strange, therefore, that this book about a number of heresy trials in Antwerp is titled Pragmatic Toleration. Victoria Christman, however, borrows the perspective of Antwerp’s civic leaders – who had the legal power to judge their own citizens – and analyses their attempts to soften, circumvent and often plainly sabotage the Habsburg anti-heresy legislation. The central question is what drove these urban magistrates. Christman’s argument is clear: the urban practice of toleration was pragmatic. More particularly, the city council had two motives. First, the economy was primordial. Burghers or foreign merchants who had economic value had to be left unbothered as much as possible, whatever their religious convictions were. Second, the city’s privileges – including the extended juridical rights of the citizens – were guarded jealously. The development of the Habsburg anti-heresy legislation coincided therefore with a prolonged legal battle between the central authorities and the Netherlandish cities, Antwerp most prominently.
Christman develops her argument in five case studies. The first is that of the conventicle around the former Antwerp priest Claes vander Elst that was dismantled in 1527. The case was brought to court in Brussels, but many members of the group were prominent artists who had strong ties with Antwerp. At this early stage the punishments were relatively light. To counterbalance this case and underline the fact that the toleration practised by urban authorities was pragmatic rather than ideological, Christman introduces the Anabaptists in her second case study. Especially after the Munster debacle (1534–1535), the Antwerp city fathers feared that the Anabaptists would cause political unrest. Moreover, they were of low social status and thus had relatively little economic value. As a result, 75 Anabaptists were tried and executed in Antwerp before 1555. This contrasts starkly with the lenient attitude towards printers and book traders who contravened the imperial edicts. In her third case study Christman points out that there were remarkably few persecutions. One printer – Jacob van Liesvelt – was executed (in 1545), but only after the governess-general Mary of Hungary forced the magistracy to do so. In a fourth case study Christman argues that the same was true for the rederijkers. Trials were rare and only one rederijker was executed before 1555, again at the regent’s instigation. The final case study explores the affair of the Portuguese New Christians, who were accused of being Judaizers. Since some of them belonged to the absolute commercial elite of the city, at first the emperor supported Antwerp’s endeavours to protect them. But gradually the aldermen lost the battle, causing them for the first time to voice moral arguments to justify their pragmatic toleration.
Christman’s book is rich and tightly argued, but has one flaw. As she admits, we know very little about the Antwerp political elite. The aldermen belonged to a small group of patrician families; they were not merchants themselves. While it is entirely plausible that their motives were both economic and political, it remains unclear how their pragmatic toleration actually worked. Did the magistracy think as one group or were there factions with diverging opinions? And what about the agency of the persecuted groups? Did they actively lobby or even bribe the city council? It becomes clear, for example, that the foreign merchants loudly voiced their displeasure about the proceedings in the case of the New Christians. So to reconstruct urban practices of toleration, much research remains to be done about formal and informal petitioning and influencing by the different civic bodies and groups. Victoria Christman does not claim, however, to have told the final story about Antwerp’s short experimentation with religious toleration. She invites us to further explore the early sixteenth century to understand more about how toleration worked in practice. Not because the roots of Western tolerance can be traced back to that time (or place): on the contrary, this book contributes to a non-linear narrative about how very mundane concerns sometimes lead to worthy deeds.