Jacob van Zuden and the Early Fourteenth-Century Expansion of the Hospitallers in the Bishopric of Utrecht

Abstract

The principal character in this paper is Jacob van Zuden, commander of the Hospitaller chaplains convent of Utrecht in the first two decades of the 14 th century. During his administration six new dependent Hospitaller houses were founded in the bishopric of Utrecht, the most important of which was the convent of Haarlem. The question to be dealt with is how this impressive expansion was realized in a period when the military orders had come under severe criticism. The answer is sought in analyzing the role of Van Zuden in the setting up of the various preceptories. He was not a rich patron by himself, but, having been appointed papal collector and administrator of crusade money, he could make use of the crusade enthusiasm that appears to have been still vivid in the Northern Low Countries after 1291. He also seems to have gathered some capital in his additional function as auxiliary bishop of the bishop of Utrecht. More important though were his activities as councilor and creditor of three major territorial lords. He performed some administration tasks for the count of Holland and loaned him, as well as the prince-bishop of Utrecht and the count of Guelders, substantial sums of money. As he was rewarded with both interest and favors, he turned these towards his own projects, bending the situation so that all parties could be pleased.The Hospitallers are known to have founded a central convent in the northern Netherlands at an early stage, in the cathedral city of Utrecht. The Dutch scholar Johanna Maria van Winter even holds that they were already there in 1122, which would imply that the Utrecht Catharijneconvent was the oldest Hospitaller settlement north of the Alps. 2 Whether or not 1 In memory of the assiduous historian and archivist Florence Koom, who passed away at the age of 57 on 15