{"id":148297,"date":"1717-04-21T19:56:00","date_gmt":"1717-04-21T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/aalten-achteruit\/a-tax-history-from-the-year-1717\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:13:13","slug":"a-tax-history-from-the-year-1717","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/government\/administration-justice\/a-tax-history-from-the-year-1717\/","title":{"rendered":"A tax history from the year 1717"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Aaltensche Courant, February 28, 1941<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our attention has been drawn to the lead article in the \u201cWeekblad der Belastingen,\u201d no. 3562, titled \u201cAccountable liability from the old days,\u201d by Mr. A. A. Vreede of Arnhem. The article discusses a tax collection in the municipality of Aalten in the year 1717. We have derived an excerpt from this, omitting considerations of a theoretical and technical nature, but conversely supplementing it with details of a local nature provided to us by the author, which were of less interest to the readers of the aforementioned trade journal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A notable resident of Aalten, Peter Huijninck, farmer and lay judge (assessor on the court day), was appointed in the year 1700 by the Receiver-General of the County of Zutphen, after consultation with the \u201cHeirs,\u201d as collector (receiver) of the Verponding (land tax) for the parishes of Aalten and Dinxperloo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These parishes, along with the town of Bredevoort<\/a> and the parish of Winterswijk, belonged to the Lordship of Bredevoort. The lords of the manor of Bredevoort (since 1612 the Princes of the House of Orange-Nassau) had traditionally granted representative powers, in each parish separately, to a few of the most prominent bailiff families, and failing that, to other landowners. These persons authorized by or on behalf of the lord of the manor also held administrative functions until approximately the beginning of the 16th century; thereafter, they only oversaw the corv\u00e9e labor and the collection of certain annual revenues, which later included some liability for the receipt of the land tax. Related to this was the fact that the appointment of a receiver took place in consultation with these authorized persons, referred to above as \u201cHeirs,\u201d and that the provision of security by an appointee was required in the deeds of guarantee of that time for the benefit of the Receiver-General and for the service of the Heirs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These documents, like all other voluntary deeds as well as judicial deeds, were established by a declaration in a court session. The court, consisting of the bailiff (judge) or the Stadtholder (deputy judge), two lay judges (assessors), and a Landsschrijver (clerk), was seated in Bredevoort, but held sessions alternately in each parish where necessary. Upon the appointment of Peter Huijninck as collector, his brother Hendrik Huijninck acted as guarantor, and in the deed of guarantee, various fixed assets of both were pledged as security for the administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several years things went well, but gradually the collector became negligent with the collection, and an increasing backlog arose in the remittance of funds to the office of the County in Zutphen. At the repeated insistence of the Receiver-General, temporary improvements occurred occasionally; for instance, the lay judge Peter Huijninck, in his capacity as collector, requested on Mercury (Wednesday) April 21, 1717, at the Court Day in Aalten, to seize the real estate of Jan ten Heetbrink the Younger and of Mechtelt Brethouwer, widow of Derk Nachtegaal, due to overdue land tax, but no lasting improvement followed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was common knowledge in Aalten that this situation could not continue and that legal action against the negligent collector was inevitable. It is therefore understandable that the heirs of the since-deceased guarantor Hendrik Huijninck feared that the real estate pledged by him would also be targeted. As a result, on Venery (Friday), June 18, 1717, the collector Peter Huijninck and his spouse Geesken Locken appeared before the court, stating that the aforementioned heirs were bothering them daily by insisting on measures to keep them indemnified, and hereby pledged a one-fourth share in the estate and property Westendorp<\/a> in IJzerlo and two-thirds in the Snoejenbos<\/a>, located on the Haart, as far as Arent Snoejenbos has it under lease, so that the heirs could recover any damages from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This happened just in time, for only ten days later on Luno (Monday), June 28, 1717, a representative of the Receiver-General Hendrik van Essen appeared before the court to issue an executory summons against the collector Peter Huijninck, inviting him to settle a sum of 17,134 guilders, 1 stiver, and 10 deniers at the office of the County within ten days, as arrears for the years 1713\u20131716, and threatening a judicial sale of the fixed assets pledged in the guarantee deed. A copy of the summons was served the following day by the bailiff (court officer or bailiff), Jan Keunen, to the collector, speaking with his wife Geesken Locken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the heirs of the guarantor, who did not yet feel safe despite the deed of June 17, were truly struck with fear, for that very same day, schoolmaster Rutger Muller of Aalten, son-in-law of the deceased Hendrik Huijninck, appeared before the court on their behalf to seize the movable property of Peter Huijninck, as well as the crops and the manure rights of lands leased by him, also his peat pond and the peat standing on it in the Barlosche Veen, furthermore on Smeenk’s mowing rights, and on his men’s and women’s seats in the Aalten church<\/a>. This action by nephew Muller was finally too much for uncle Peter. Being ill himself, he had his son Adriaan file an objection on July 2, 1717, against this seizure, which he called worthless and illegal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collector was unable to comply with the summons of the Receiver-General. On August 5, 1717, the court determined that the public sale of the pledged fixed assets would take place on September 10, 1717, in Aalten at the house of the widow of the late Harmen Evers. (Probably on the west side of the Landstraat, the second building north of the Hoekstraat<\/a>).<\/em> In the presence of the Court, consisting of the Stadtholder Jacob Becquer (Becker, ed.)<\/em> and the lay judges Jan Evers senior and Jan Evers junior, the Receiver-General, assisted by two legal experts, conducted the sale on the aforementioned September 10 after reading the conditions of sale and a description of the properties. The first auction was by bidding, the second immediately thereafter by Dutch auction, and according to the bidding list, there were many interested parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n