Introduction

Anno 1420, tensions were running high in Brabant. Duke John had fallen under the influence of a group of advisers who were mainly after their own gain. Their greatest success was to drive a wedge between Duke John and his wife Jacoba of Bavaria. On Easter (7 April) 1420, Jacoba left her husband's court after deep humiliation, never to return.

A number of feudal nobles and the city of Leuven opposed these developments. They had lost their own place in the shadow of power, and moreover the whole situation seriously threatened the day-to-day administration in Brabant. In addition, Jacoba's repudiation was a major stain on the duchy's blazon. They invoked the general interest of the Brabanders and tried to mobilise resistance against Duke John and his clique.

Of course, there were also profiteers on the sidelines. One was John of Bavaria, Jacoba's uncle, who took maximum advantage of the quarrel between his niece and John of Brabant. He thus managed to get his hands on the counties of Holland and Zeeland. Then he had to make sure that the feudal nobles and the towns accepted John IV's dubious decisions. With this letter, he called on the nobles to remain obedient to their lord.

This letter also echoes a more fundamental contradiction. John of Bavaria invokes the unbreakable nature of the oath between sovereign and subject: once a sovereign has been honoured, the bond cannot be revoked, and one must obey him unconditionally. The subjects feel that monarch must act in the interest of the community of which he is the head.

Physical Description

The copy of the charter is written in a 15th-century cursive. The text is contained in a small paper cartulary. Chain and hairlines are clearly visible. A later, (nineteenth-century?) hand has made notes in pencil. The text has been crossed out, also in pencil.