Gouda Notes by Van Abbesteech

The transcription and translation of the manuscript Van Abbesteech’s Notes has been done by volunteers of the taskforce Gouda op Schrift (Gouda in Writing), a workgroup of the Historical Association ‘Die Goude’. The manuscript has been preserved in the Streekarchief Midden-Holland (Archives of Mid-Holland) in Gouda (Collection Varia, 0200. 10500).

Theodoor van Abbesteech is the youngest of the Gouda historians from around 1700. He was probably born in 1673 and died in 1707, only 35 years old. He was a member of the city government of Gouda in the period 1702-1707 and occupied various positions.

His manuscript consists of a main text and a later added preliminary that begins with ‘Extracten uyt het Vroedschapboek der Stad Gouda’. The whole is a varied collection of texts with Gouda as subject, including: Governors, regulations and income of the ‘Oudemannenhuis’, Chronicle of Gouda, How Gouda became ‘geus’, List of names of ministers in Gouda 1573-1700and List of regents of the ‘Aalmoezeniershuis’.

For the historical part, Van Abbesteech drew from various sources and archival documents, including the so-called ‘Memorieboekje’ by Vereyck. The manuscript has 151 folios and is written in one hand; the preliminary counts 4 folia in another hand.