Articles

Beschermd en berucht. De manoeuvreerruimte van jonker Ernst Mom binnen het rechtssysteem van zestiende-eeuws Gelre

Authors

  • Lidewij Nissen

Abstract

The establishment of the provincial Court of Guelders and Zutphen in the 1540s gave rise to a fierce competition between the new court, on the one hand, and the traditional representative body of noblemen and towns, the provincial States, on the other. The final say in court cases was one of the main aspects of the dispute. This article studies how the case against the sixteenth-century nobleman Ernst Mom, who was suspected of poisoning his noble mistress’s husband, became part of the struggle between the Court and the Count of Bergh. While the Count protected his vassal Mom and prevented a sentence to demonstrate that he was the one to decide about Mom’s fate, the Court did everything to reach a conviction. For a long time, this power struggle prevented Mom’s conviction, but when his protector, the Count of Bergh, saw his power decline in the turmoil of the Dutch Revolt, Mom could no longer evade punishment.

Published

2017-12-31

Issue

Section

Articles