City rights in the Low Countries

City rights are a feature of the medieval history of the Low Countries. A liege lord, usually a count, duke or similar member of the high nobility, granted to a town or village he owned certain town privileges that places without city rights did not have.

In Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, a town, often proudly, calls itself a city if it obtained a complete package of city rights at some point in its history. Its current population is not relevant, so there are some very small cities. The smallest is Staverden in the Netherlands, with 40 inhabitants. In Belgium, Durbuy is the smallest city, whilst the smallest in Luxembourg is Vianden.

(the right to erect a defence wall around an inhabited area)

Defensive walls

(the right to hold markets and receive income from them)

Market right

(the right to store and exclusively trade particular goods, often only granted to a few cities)

Staple right

(the right to charge tolls)

Toll right

(the right to mint city coinage)

Mint right

(the right to levy taxes)

Taxation

Weighing (the right to organize official weighing: cargo, livestock, produce, building material, trading goods etc.)

Privileges

Freedoms

Governance

Town privileges

History of urban centers in the Dutch Low Countries

City status in the United Kingdom

Scottish Burgh

Cities portal

(1891). Städte und gilden der germanischen völker im mittelalter (in German). Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.