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which gives an idea of how many paper mills there were in
this period, 1363 to 1411, in Fabriano and its vicinity.
As already mentioned, the paper from Fabriano was a
success not only at nearby markets, but also further away,
as in Genoa, Bologna, Venice, etc., and it was even found
on the other side of the Alps. It is known, for instance, that
the papal court in Avignon regularly purchased paper from
Fabriano, which was shipped there from Talamone by way
of the port of Aigues-Mortes.
Paper export made Fabriano famous, but also another
phenomenon was clearly linked to the name of this town
and its product: the export of the new papermaking
process to all of Europe through the migration of papermakers.
Why papermakers were forced to leave the Apennines
can be easily explained: in very few years the number
of paper mills increased so quickly that the competition became
too great. Probably in order to avert bankruptcy many
craftsmen (mastri) decided to try their luck elsewhere, since
they had mastered the techniques and the markets were interested
in paper of Fabriano quality. The know-how first
spread to the area surrounding Fabriano (Foligno, Urbino,
Ascoli Piceno, etc.), but later spread beyond the Apennines
and the Alps. Thus papermakers from Fabriano could be
found everywhere that paper was produced: in the Abruzzi
and Campania, in Bologna as well as in Treviso.
Evidence of how the paper from Fabriano had developed
into a standard of quality can be seen by the fact that when
concluding contracts it was often clearly stated that the paper
be made in the Fabriano method (facere cartam ad
usum fabrianensem).
F.M. / G.P. (C.P.-K.)
Dutch Paper Making
The beginning
The use of paper was known in the Netherlands in the 14 th
century (Ill. 5). The oldest paper in the archives has been
dated 1346 and is preserved in the Royal Library in The
Hague. In the Middle Ages most paper used in the Netherlands
was bought in Brugge, Keulen en Antwerpen and
was coming from Troyes in France and on a smaller scale
from Lombardy in Italy and from southern Germany.
The first paper mill was built in 1428 in Gennep, Limburg.
Founder was Willem Boije, member of a prosperous family
of merchants in Nijmegen. But in fact this was such an exception
that in general Dutch paper industry is considered
to have been started in 1586. In that year Hans van Aelst
and Jean Lupaert founded a paper mill in Zwijndrecht, near
Dordrecht, in South-Holland. Probably this has to do with
the fall of Antwerp to the Spaniards a year earlier. Due to
this fall the Netherlands was cut off from the traditional
sources of supply in Antwerp – at that time the centre of
the paper trade – and the production centres in Germany
and Liège. A paper shortage was the result. Moreover,
many southern people emigrated to the northern Netherlands
for religious and political reasons, among them many
paper-makers including van Aelst en Lupaert mentioned
above. The combination of paper shortage and the availability
of knowledge concerning papermaking implied the
16
Ill. 5: Unicorn watermark, printer: Johann Veldener, Utrecht, 1480
(WM I 00063, KB)
beginning of the Dutch paper industry. In addition to Zwijndrecht
other mills were founded – most of them by southern
immigrants – in e.g. Arnhem, Alkmaar, Schiedam (Ill. 6)
and Middelburg. Most of them were short-lived enterprises.
Early in the 17 th century Dutch paper industry concentrated
in that part of Guelderland called the Veluwe, in the Zaan
region near Amsterdam, and later in Waddinxveen.
The Veluwe
Most of the paper mills in Gelderland were water-driven mills.
Only one out of every twenty were windmills. The first mill in
Gelderland was founded by Hans van Aelst, who also founded
the first Dutch paper mill as we have seen above. Thereafter,
more paper mills were built, most of them on the Veluwe. At
first it was going rather slow. The military threats that continued
to hang over the region until the Twelve Year’s Truce
(1609–21) discouraged investments. Once the truce was
signed, the industry embarked on more than a century of expansion:
25 paper mills in 1625, around 50 in 1650, 75 by
1670, 125 in 1700. The peak was in 1740 with 171 paper mills
with 188 waterwheels. Thereafter the overproduction of
white paper became a problem, and after 1740 the number of
Veluwe paper mills declined slowly but steadily to 135 in 1815.
The circumstances on the Veluwe were very attractive given
its natural endowments of pure water and the numerous
locations for water mills. The clear water was the result of a
natural filtering process by the sandy soil, which was coming
to the surface on the east of the Veluwe in the form of
springs. The water was used for both powering the waterwheels
and for cleaning the rags, the basic material for the
paper production.
Most of the brooks in the Veluwe region, where the paper
mills were located, were in fact artificial water courses.