Rare second edition of the official Statutes and laws of the Dutch province of Zeeland, issued 1495 by Philips the Handsome ZEELANDT, Dit is die Kuere vanden Lande van -.

      Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten, (ca. 1520).. 4to. Nicely bound in nineteenth-century dark green morocco, blind ruling and blind-stamped centre-pieces on sides, spine ribbed and gilt. With large woodcut initial ('P', 10 ll.) at the beginning of the text. (39) lvs. (Collation: A-I4, K4-1 (the last blank lacking).. Rare second edition of the official Statutes, Ordinances and other laws (the 'Keuren', also called the Charter) of the Dutch province of Zeeland, issued and granted in 1495 by Philips the Handsome (1478-1506) and first printed by Govaert Back in Antwerp, ca. 1496/7. Other editions followed somewhat later, printed by Willem Vorsterman (NK 1286-7: no date and ca. 1520) and Jacob van Liesveld (NK 1288, ca. 1540). Around 1550 editions were printed in Antwerp by Michiel Hillen van Hoogstraten and Verdussen, and in Flushing by Tousainet le Sage.In the introduction is stated that the father of Philip the Handsome, the Emperor Maximilian I, had already promised in 1484 to issue new 'Keuren' to replace the three old ones, issued by Floris the Voogd (Florens the tutor, Count William of Bavaria and Philip of Bourgundy, which had become obsolete and often contradictory.The original charter of 1495, which is deposited in the Archives at Middelburg, was rediscovered in 1894 (see M.H. van Visvliet, 'De origineele keure van Zeeland van het jaar 1495', in: Eigen haard (1894), p. 492), and edited by the famous Dutch historian R. Fruin in 1920 who added also some later texts. The text in our 1520 edition is virtually the same. Contents :- f. 1r: Title ('Dit is die Kuere vanden Lande van Zeelandt').- f. 1r-3r: Preface.- f. 3r-11r: TEerste capittel (art. 1-58: ... hoe, waer, tot wat tijden ende bij wien men die vierschare ... houden sal mogen ... den stijl ende maniere van procederen ...).- f. 11r-20v: Tweeste capittel (art. 1-44: ... van materien possessorien van leengoeden van erfgoeden huysen houwinghen: scheydingen ende deelingen van wtersten wille; van testamenten van kustingen van vouchden ...).- f. 20v-26v: Tderde capitle (art. 1-48: ... van vrede van gijsele, van nootwere. van vechtinge boven vrede van twiste inder vierscare te maken van oplope van luiden ende van huysen van luyden wesende in node van watere. van berijden. van ballingen goet Van diversche boeten ...).- f. 26v-31v: Tvierde capitle (art. 1- 25: ... van simpelen dootslage, van geleyder lage, van moorde, van dootslage oven vrede, boven zoene, van verslage over. iii. dagen, van vrouwen cracht, van rapte ende onscake, van moort brande: straet en zeeroof, van blocken, van dieften, van valschen eede, van zeedriften, van verbande om andere te crancken, van belegginge, van stormen, van campene ...).- f. 31v-33v: Tvijfste Capittel (art. 1-10: ... van zoene, van manslachte, van leempte, van quetse ...). Dated: Brussels, August 1495.- f. 33v-35r: 'Keur' van Philips the Handsome issued by Jan van Cruyningen, Rykaert van der Capellen and Jan van Cauwenberg.- f. 35r-39v: Contents.- f. 39v: Colophon: 'Gheprint in die vermaerde Coopstadt van Antwerpen in die Camer strate Bi mi Michiel van Hoochstraten woenende in die Rape'. Good copy with some sixteenth-century annotations in the margins.- (Title and last lvs. water stained). Nijhoff-Kronenberg 1285 (4 copies: UL-Amsterdam, SB-Haarlem, UB-Utrecht, RL-Brussels); R. Fruin, De Keuren van Zeeland (1920; Werken Oud Vaderlandsch regt, 2nd ser., 20), p.I-XXII, p.191-249 (ed.); not in STC Dutch.