> > [SCHOUT is used for mayor in the rest of the text, and
BURGEMEESTER in
> > the preamble. So does STADHOUDER refer to a provincial governor?]
> >
>
> Stadhouder = eerste dinaar van de staten.
> This is the highest servent of the state. That is more than a
PROVINCIAL
> govenor.
> My little dictionary has stadtholder for stadhouder; does that make
any
> sense to you?
>
> schout = head of the police, like sherrif
> burgemeester = mayor
Schout is sherrif alright, and burgemeester mayor (I believe the
English word "burgomaster" also exists, like there is also a Dutch
word for mayor: "meier", but burgemeester = mayor is the most common
translation)
Stadhouder literally means "place-holder", i.e. lieutenant. He is
representing the lord locally. The name was used for the head of a
province during the Rep. of the Netherlands (it originally was the
representative of the Spanish king in that province). In this
meaning, the English word is "stadtholder". But in the south,
especially Brabant, it also was the representative of whoever was the
lord in a village.
Note that "schout" and "stadhouder" are used in dates before 1815.
After that, these jobs presumably didn't exist anymore. The municipal
government consisted of burgemeester and schepenen (=aldermen) then.
Later on, "schepen" became "wethouder" in the Netherlands (I didn't
know "schepen" was used at all in the north, but it seems to be so
from the text). In Belgium, the government of a municipality is still
called "Burgemeester en schepenen" ("Bourgmestre et
échevins", "Bürgermeister und Schöffen"). But in the Netherlands, it
is "Burgemeester en Wethouders".
The head of a province in the Netherlands nowadays is
called "commissaris der koningin (des konings)" (i.e. "commissar of
the queen (of the king)"). In Belgium it is called governor. In the
Dutch province of Limburg, the title is officially "commissaris der
koningin", but traditionally the man is also called "gouverneur"
(governor).
Peter S.