Wijkboeken
Item
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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 Antwerpen
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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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stadsarchief@antwerpen.be
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Reference number
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BE SA 176948
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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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District Books
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Title (official language of the state)
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Wijkboeken
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Language of title
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dut
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Creator / accumulator
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Schepenenbank (Court of Aldermen)
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Date(s)
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1601/1797
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Language(s)
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dut
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spa
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Extent
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113 storage units
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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 Wijkboeken collection is part of the Vrijwillige rechtspraak: archief van de schepenbank (Voluntary justice: archives of the aldermen's court) fonds and it comprises documentation concerning transactions of real estate within the city of Antwerp. These documents were produced by the Schepenbank (Court of Aldermen), a court with judicial and administrative jurisdiction over the transaction and shipping of properties.
In the 16th century, Antwerp was the home of an important community of New Christian merchants involved in maritime trade and shipping activities. Based on this collection, Florbela Veiga Frade (2006, 383-386) published a list of real estate properties pertaining to Portuguese merchants in Antwerp, which included information regarding the respective owners, the type of building, and the street where it was located. Among the 120 properties owned by Sephardic families, there were, for instance, many that belonged to the Ximenes family (Duarte, Manuel, Gonçalo, and Fernando Ximenes) or a list of seventeen properties owned by Fernando Rodrigues de Almada in different streets of Antwerp.
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Archival history
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In the 13th century, the city of Antwerp kept its documents in the Town Hal, in a chest about two meters long, named "privilegiekom". The chest had 13 locks, whose keys were distributed among the city officials, and it could only be opened with the 13 keys. The development of the city and the growing complexity of its administration resulted in an increase in the number of documents. Therefore, the "privilegiekom" became too small to store all records.
Prior to the French Revolution, the various city institutions headquartered in the Town Hall had the responsibility of keeping their own documents. However, in 1796, a city archivist was appointed to preserve and manage the archives. The city archive remained in the Town Hall until the first half of the 20th century. After that, the archive was moved to several different locations. During World War II, the most valuable documents were secured in a castle near Rochefort. In 1953, the archive was temporarily accommodated at Meirbrug. At last, on December 15, 1956, a new place in Venusstraat was inaugurated, and the city archives remained there for about 50 years. In 2006, the archive moved to the Sint-Felixpakhuis. Since then, it has been called the FelixArchief.
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(source: FelixArchief website)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The Schepenbank (Court of the Aldermen) was a court usually composed of seven members appointed by the "heer" (lord), under the chairmanship of the "schout" (sheriff), "drossaard" (landdrost) or "meier" (mayor), as the lord's representative. In some cities, as Antwerp, there were "dubbelheerlijkheden" (double lordships), whereby the lordship was divided between two lords, who often jointly appointed the members of the Schepenbank.
The presence of all "schepenen" (aldermen) was only required when pronouncing sentences in criminal cases. For other court hearings, the presence of five or two "schepenen" was sufficient.
That was the case of the Vrijwillige Rechtspraak (Voluntary Justice), which only demanded the presence of two "schepenen". It consisted of matters such as the registration of transfers of ownership, interest transactions, inheritances, etc. The "schepenen" also acted as guardians of orphans, and of mentally disabled or incapacitated people, and acted as protectors of their heritage and interests. They were also responsible for collecting the "belasting" (tax). For this specific task, they were assisted by "bedezetters" (tax officials) and "burgemeesters" (burgomasters).
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(source: Houtman, Erik. 2006. Overzicht van de Archieven En Verzamelingen van Het Rijksarchief Te Antwerpen. Vol. I (Overheidsarchieven). Brussels: Algemeen Rijksarchief.)
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System of arrangement
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Records are arranged chronologically.
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Author of the description
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Kevin Soares, 2022
