Acknowledgement of Debt, 1647, Delft

Pieter Jansz(en) van Marxvelt is debtor. He worked as a baker of plateel, a type of earthenware that was decorated by a painter after the first round of pottery baking and then was baked again to fix the image - a famous example is Delft blue earthenware.

Annetge Eijsen was his 'moey', a term used to refer to an aunt (mostly a sister from the mother's side; Arijaentge Eijsen was his mother (and hence sister of Annetge). Both women were present a the event as guarantors.

Pieter has borrowed the amount of 500 guilders, which he has to pay back to the person showing this deed ('aan toonder'). He also was held to pay the interest as well as the governmental tax on financial transactions (i.e. one-sixteenth of the amount involved, 'den penninck sestien'). The deed does not mention what the debt was for.

Both Pieter and his guarantors will be held personal accountable and will use their possessions as collateral for this debt. The remainder of the act is mostly a standard formula, in which they (inter alia) authorise functionaries from both the provincial and the municipal court to take legal actions in case they fail to pay the debt.

The deed continues on a consecutive page and can be found online at https://hdl.handle.net/21.12115/NL-DtAD183520052

Dear Rene

Bedankt! Many thanks, that's really helpful, specially the information about how the debt operates.

Can I just ask have you included the 2nd page in your summary? Being new to the Forum I understand only 1 page of a document can be added to each post.

I had seen the final page but could only make out the 'signatures'- Pieter's is PJ? and his mother and aunt use different 'marks' which in itself is very interesting.

My research is about the role of women in Delft pottery business.

Have a lovely weekend.

best wishes

Anne

Dear Anne,

Thanks for your reply! I did include the contents of the second page in the summary, although it contains mainly the standard texts used in most deeds.

The initials PJ have indeed been set by Pieter Jansz(en) van Marxvelt; the text surrounding these initials mention (translated): This mark has been set by the aforementioned Pr: Jansen van Marxvelt.

The fact that his aunt and mother use different marks is not surprising: each mark should be individualised.

In case a deed contains multiple pages, the trick to us is: after posing the question with your first page as attachment, create a response to your own question, adding the second page as attachment, and so on. An alternative would be to include the url of the document in the post.

Kind regards,

René.

Thanks once again Rene.

Really useful tips about adding further information.

All your help is greatly appreciated.

best wishes

Anne