Girlpower. The European marriage pattern (emp) and Labour markets in the North Sea region in the late medieval and early modern period

In 1505 Janne Heyndericx, living in the Zeeland village of Kouwenkerke, 31 years of age, told a committee of inquiry into the malpractices of the local magistrates1 the following story: Eight years ago she promised to marry a young man, Adriaen Jacopsz., and he returned the promise. They slept together and continued to do so without ever officially marrying as was required by the law of the holy church, but it was postponed to more convenient times. She still lived in with her mother and stepfather, who refused to maintain her, so that she was forced to find employment elsewhere and went to earn a wage. When she came to work in Kouwenkerke she lived together with another young man, from whom she begot a child. Four or five years ago Adriaen tried to be released from his promise to marry her, although they still saw each other regularly and slept together. She still wanted to marry him, because although they had not been married for the church, they were indeed married for God. Moreover, it was also his fault that she had come so far (= got a child from another man), because he had kept her waiting for so long

Girlpower. Vrouwen en de geboorte van het kapitalisme in West Europa 1200-1500

Verhaal van Janne Heyndricks illustreert: mannen en vrouwen bepaalden zelf met wie ze trouwden (consensus). Invloed ouders beperkt. Vrouwen hadden vrij sterke positie

National Accounts of the Netherlands, 1800-1913

Reconstruction of the National Accounts of the Netherlands and the analysis of the development of the Dutch Economy in the period 1800-1940. To reconstruct national income extensive data concerning income, prices, foreign trade, production, employment and capital formation were collected and processed. The data are available via the website of National Accounts

China as a Nation

With its unification in 221 BC, China is one of the oldest states still in existence today. The features of its unification were the creation of a transport network connecting all regions of the empire; a form of legalism, later incorporated in Confucianism, in which the people were required to support the state; and an education system geared towards maintaining state rule. These ties held an otherwise fragile empire together over the subsequent millennia, and were used at the end of each dynasty by the incoming rulers to obtain support (via taxes, obedient civil servants, and a pacified population). This led to a pattern of the rising dynasty making full use of these features, before weakening over time and ceding power to market forces. Although this pattern declined from the Qing Dynasty onwards, it has continued to the present day, still combining faster economic development with dynastic change