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oa Opereren in een Grijs gebied - De rol van de ambtenaren bij het Hof van Holland bij de kettervervolging (1525-1560)
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, Volume 122, Issue 3, Sep 2009, p. 306 - 317
Abstract
In the first half of the sixteenth century the prosecution of ‘heretics’ was one of the main tasks of the officers of the prince in The Hague in Holland. Some officers have been unfairly branded as zealous prosecutors, while others are considered to have been lenient and unwilling to follow orders received from above. In this article the role of the officers is analysed by means of three different questions: What did the officers do? What did they have to do according to their orders? What did the people of Holland want them to do? It is argued that these questions can lead to different conclusions on the role of the officers, all of which need to be taken into account if one is to reach a balanced view of their activities.
© 2009 Amsterdam University Press