Introduction

Brussels city pensioner Peter van der Heiden (+1474) was a powerful man. As head of the Brussels administration, he was the chief spokesman for the States of Brabant, similar to the later Dutch council pensioners Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Johan de Witt. However, Van der Heiden was more than just an able administrator and a power politician, he was also a literary man. The latter role is evident in the Latinisation of his name to Petrus de Thimo (after the heather plant thyme). During his lifetime, he wrote several chronicles about the Duchy of Brabant and the city of Brussels, in both Latin and Middle Dutch.

Possibly around 1440, Peter planned to write a comprehensive history of western society. A text of this has not survived, but a draft book with all sorts of historical notes has.

The first chapter of the second or third book would have been devoted to the essential question of whether one is born an emperor (by oyrien) or elected (by coosen).

Physical Description

Gothic cursiva on paper. The text is contained in a voluminous paper codex (487 folia = 974 pages) with a meticulous description of all towns and villages in Holland.