Introduction to Part One

Summary

A VOC commander earned a high income. Back at home after the completion of a voyage to Asia, his earnings could be counted in many hundreds, but more usually in thousands, of guilders, whereas an ordinary seaman in his crew had a monthly wage of 10 or 11 guilders. Obviously, this large discrepancy meant that the commanders lived a very different life ashore than that of their crew members. The research has revealed that the vast majority of commanders lived in towns, especially the six towns in which the Chambers of the Company were established. In order to get some sense of early modern Dutch society and the place of the commanders in this society it is important to look at the social stratification in the towns of the provinces of Holland and Zealand. To get an idea of this it is necessary to draw up a list of the many outward signs of prosperity which had very real significance for people at the time.

The commanders, especially retired commanders, were among the better-off citizens of a town. Generally speaking they could be categorized as members of the bourgeoisie (brede burgerij), not the lower middle class (smalle burgerij). This is the terminology used in modern historical writing to describe social stratification during the Republic. The bourgeoisie consisted of small entrepreneurs and well-to-do shopkeepers, successful craftsmen, municipal officials and low-ranking officers in the Army or Navy. Lower-ranking administrative officials, small shopkeepers and craftsmen, schoolmasters and skippers of small boats were reckoned to belong to the lower middle class. Above the bourgeoisie was the group known as the grote burgerij (the upper middle class), composed of rich merchants and shipowners, naval captains and flag officers, high-ranking officials, and university graduates such as doctors, lawyers and ministers of religion in the town. The gentry (patriciaat) consisted of the governing families of the towns, the regents. In towns, large and small, the groups with higher social status lived in houses built along the canals and at the harbours and in the more prestigious streets and areas. The dwellings of the craftsmen, workmen and ordinary sailors were located in the narrower streets, depending on their daily or weekly wages. Those who owned no property, the masses (grauw), lived in the innumerable alleyways and back streets in single rooms, basements and hovels.