The Dutch Read Online Free PDF Page A

already achieved a much higher status than the peasants in most European kingdoms, because their loyalty was so essential to the survival of the Duchy. Many farmers held title to the land they planted and, even on the lord’s land, the tenant farmers held contracts for their right to till that land for a modestly higher percentage of the yield than free farmers. The free men and tenant farmers paid only a fair share of each crop to the van Weirs who consistently had the courage, over the centuries, to refuse the sometimes outrageous demands of the Catholic Church for a greater share of their farmer’s labor. It was important for order and unity that the population perceive the new land, which they helped create with sweat and tears, as being fairly distributed. Lord Derick sought a formula for a fair distribution that his subjects would readily accept.
    Meanwhile, Hans Kryk had measured the entire Droger Land and convinced both lords that a map maker be hired who could better portray on paper, a representative vision of the Droger Land. Two maps would be drawn. One map would contain his measurements of each individual parcel of land ownership as it existed before the reclamation effort. Another map would show the expanded realm and the new reclaimed plots to be divided among the farmers. The surveyor found a skilled map maker in Amsterdam who created both maps. After one look at the first map drawn, Jacobus and his father knew their concern about the annual agricultural yield was justified. Both the freemen’s plots and the tenant farmer’s allocations became, over countless generations, too small for many of the farms to ever be bountiful. The original farm allocations, made by the First Lords of the Droger Land, had been divided too many times, by the right of inheritance, to provide anything more than a subsistence existence for many farm families. The medieval custom of allowing a third of available farm land to lay fallow each year, made those farm plots even smaller than indicated on the map. Derick was looking for a solution to the distribution problem when he became a bit sidetracked by a new problem whose roots could be traced to a human rather than any natural frailty.
    Baron Derick started to get reports on his beloved son’s escapades with a number of common born maidens in the town. While the Baron had enjoyed similar adventures in his youth, he wanted to avoid the scandal of having some unknown number of bastard grandchildren walking the streets of his domain or give even a hint to his people that his family was returning to days gone-by when prior lords had the right to take any common born maiden they desired. He quickly arranged to travel with Jacobus to Flanders to visit his late wife’s family, hoping they would help him find a proper partner for his son. He sent the Great Duke of Ghent, his late wife’s family’s patriarch, notice of his expected arrival. Before leaving, he assigned two bodyguards to Sir Wilhem Wind, fearing that someone might kill the barking little man, or cut out his tongue in the Baron’s absence.
    Because the streams and rivers were bloated by heavy spring rain, it took Derick and his son four days to reach Ghent. The difficulty of the trip was only compounded by leading the unruly but magnificent Frisian war horse they had brought as a special gift for his late wife’s father. He had great affection for the Grand Duke, his son’s grandfather, and willingly endured the pain and strain to his leg during the journey. The horse, a prime three year old, had been a yearling left behind by the retreating enemy after the Battle at Vroonen. Lord Derick knew the old Duke loved well bred war horse and felt strongly the gift of this stallion would please him. It had been five years since he visited his wife’s relatives, though his son had spent a great deal of time with them when he attended school in Flanders. The Duke of Ghent, now semi-retired,