Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

to the original charter gave the chief investors a direct say in company management and
effectively expanded the ranks of the Heren XIX to twenty-one members.
It also provided a new landscape on which the negotiations in Zeeland could advance.
This can be seen in the compromise finally reached by the cities of Middelburg, Vlissingen, and
Veere in August 1623 and a pair of formal agreements signed at the beginning of the following
year. 70 These agreements, negotiated with assistance from the Amsterdam directors Samuel
Blommaert (1583-1651), Jan van de Merct, and Albert Wifferinck, spelled out how the chamber
would be organized and who would be represented at the meetings of the Heren XIX. 71 The first
agreement—between Middelburg on the one side, and Vlissingen and Veere on the other—made
Middelburg the chamber’s headquarters and divided the timmeragie and equipagie (provisioning
of ships) into thirds. Middelburg received 2/3 and Vlissingen and Veere together, 1/3. The
second agreement—between Vlissingen and Veere—broke this final third into thirds again, so
that Vlissingen received 2/3 and Veere, 1/3. The division of directorships proceeded along
roughly similar lines: of the sixteen positions, Middelburg received ten and Vlissingen and Veere
together, six.
The formula for selecting delegates to attend the meetings of the Heren XIX was
considerably more complex:
All the deputies to the meeting of the XIX shall be chosen as follows, namely that two Directors
shall be chosen by Middelburg, and one by Vlissingen or Veere, and the Investor-Director shall
for two years be from Middelburg, with the Assessor for two years from either Vlissingen or
70 A provisional version of this agreement is cited by the Zeeland delegation to the Heren XIX on October 10, 1623.
See NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1. The final agreements are in NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 19 and NA 1.01.04 inv.nr. 5751A.
See also the draft dated November 12, 1622 in the papers of J. Boreel, Secretary of the city of Middelburg.
Zeeuwsarchief 2.1 inv.nr. 3184.
71 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 19. NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 39, entry for January 17, 1624. The first two named were from
the Amsterdam Chamber. Wifferink was a councilman from the new chamber in Groningen.
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