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Country
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BE
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Name of institution (English)
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FelixArchief (Antwerp City Archives)
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Language of name of institution
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dut
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Contact information: postal address
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Oudeleeuwenrui 29, 2000 Antwerp
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Contact information: phone number
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0032 33389411
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Contact information: email
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city archive@antwerp.be
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Reference number
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BE SA 95
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Notary's office
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Title (official language of the state)
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Notariaat
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Language of title
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dut
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Creator / accumulator
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Notaries
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Date(s)
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1480/1987
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Language(s)
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dut
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Extent
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Deeds of 475 notaries
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Notariaat fonds comprises notarial records from 1480 to 1987, resulting from the activity of 475 notaries. The notarial deeds include different types of documents, such as wills, transactions of goods and properties, peace agreements, and inventories of inheritances for minors or absent heirs, among others.
As Antwerp was the home of numerous Portuguese New Christian merchants, especially in the second half of the 16th century, the notarial deeds provide extensive information regarding their activity. Some examples are the following:
Gilles van der Bossche, no. 3568, fols. 204-206: notarial deed involving Alexandre Reinel, alias Isaac Abendanam, dating from 1596, when he was 52 years old. Alexandre Reinel was a member of the Sephardic community of Ferrara and was later persecuted by the Inquisition of Lisbon in 1577 (Frade 2006, 220-224).
Gilles van der Bossche, no. 3568, fols. 215-217v.: power of attorney from Diogo Mendes to Fernão Dias dated from 1590, giving him powers to manage his business and collect incomes, goods and debts (Frade 2006, 241-242).
Gilles van der Bossche, no. 3619, fols. 132-132v and 489-489: deed regarding the consignment of pearls and a large tapestry sent from Antwerp to Manuel Lopes Pereira, while he was in Seville. Manuel Lopes Pereira's brothers, Antonio Lopes Pereira (alias Joseph Israel Pereira) and Francisco Lopes Pereira lived as professing Jews in Amsterdam. Manuel Lopes Pereira later became an advisor to the Count of Olivares, becoming an influential agent in the Spanish Court (Israel 1990, 248-255).
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Archival history
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In 1565, the city of Antwerp requested the delivery of the protocols of deceased notaries to the Town Hall. The protocols were kept there; nonetheless, interested parties could obtain copies of them, which were then handed over by the chair clerks. Notwithstanding, if the heir of the deceased notary himself also exercised the office of notary, he could obtain permission to preserve the protocols.
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(source: FelixArchief website)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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Public notary was introduced in the Netherlands between 1250 and 1350. Two elements played an important role in this development. Firstly, there were the itinerant notaries from Southern Europe, some of whom operated independently, while others worked in the papal legates' retinues. Secondly, there were the notaries who worked for ecclesiastical judges and officials. Although these notaries worked for imperial, ecclesiastical, and papal authorities, they were also authorised to provide independent services.
Until the 16th century, town magistrates, the "schepenen" (aldermen), had the power to grant legal value to deeds and contracts. However, the unification of the Netherlands under the Burgundian and later the Habsburg regime brought significant changes to the register of public acts and contracts. In the 1530s, Emperor Carlos V's ordinances raised the practice of drafting formal legal documents into public offices. Then, contracts produced by notaries obtained the same legal status as those made by aldermen. From then on, notaries were entitled to provide legal services and ensure the liability of a wide range of contracts, including property and assets transactions, shipping and loan contracts, business partnerships, last wills and testaments, marriage contracts, etc. Then, the public registration of contracts and deeds gradually shifted from the aldermen to the notaries. In the specific case of private loan contracts drafted in Antwerp, this replacement only became apparent in the 18th century. In Antwerp, notaries were required to take turns as clerks at the City Hall, but the registers resulting from this task were kept separate from those of their own practice.
During the French period (1795-1813), the proposal for the abolition of the public notary never gained serious consideration. Actually, the revolutionaries found the notary indispensable as a provider of legal services to the people and a guardian of legal certainty. However, certain changes did ensue from the Revolution, in particular, as a result of the Ventôse Laws of 1803. On March 1, 1811, the Ventôse Law entered into effect in the Netherlands, introducing uniformity into the notarial legislation and extending the notary office to territories that were as yet unacquainted with it.
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Sources:
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Cappon, Kees. 2011. “Dutch Notaries: Do They Have a Future? How the Historical Foundations of the Civil Law Can Help Survive a Modern Crisis.” Journal of Civil Law Studies 4 (2): 569–90.
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Gelderblom, Oscar, Mark Hup, and Joost Jonker. 2018. “Public Functions, Private Markets: Credit Registration by Aldermen and Notaries in the Low Countries, 1500–1800.” In Financing in Europe, Marcella Lorenzini, Cinzia Lorandini and D’Maris Coffman, 163–94. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58493-5_7.
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System of arrangement
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On the first level, notarial records are divided by cities. On the second level, they are organised alphabetically, by the surname of each notary. On the third level, the books of each notary are divided into typologies of documents and organised chronologically.
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Author of the description
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Kevin Soares, 2022
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Bibliography
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Frade, Florbela Veiga. 2006. “As Relações Económicas e Sociais Das Comunidades Sefarditas Portuguesas. O Trato e a Família: 1532-1632.” PhD dissertation, Lisbon: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.
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Goris, Jan Albert. Étude sur les colonies marchandes méridionales: (portugais, espagnols, italiens) à Anvers de 1488 à 1567. Louvain: Librairie Universitaire, 1925.
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Israel, Jonathan. 1990. Empires and Entrepots: The Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy, and the Jews, 1585-1713. London; Roncevert: Hambledon Press.
