III. 4: Quays in the port of Middelburg in the seventeenth century. The town had a
designated beer quay, in full view of the tax collector's shed, where all imported
beer had to be landed. 7A, KZGW, Zelandia IJliistrala 11-272.
burg to take on the role of dealer or importer of beer so the idea was still en
tertained as a possibility though nothing concrete seems to have come of the
proposal.
Usually there was a house or shed where the tax collector worked. At Mid
delburg which relied so heavily on imports, vessels bringing in beer had to
dock at the quay opposite his shed so that he could see the boats and make
sure proper tax got paid on imports. Middelburg was so angry in 1558 about
the problems of beer supply that it put in place two men to run the depot for
beer with full authority over all brewers in the town, including the power to
close down breweries that did not act in what the men perceived to be the
public interest53. Middelburg, it seemed, maintained a storehouse for beer
where all imported beer had to go and even beer produced in the town it
would seem, that is unless the Middelburg beer had a buyer who had already
paid for it. The system may have been clumsy but it did insure that the town
knew the inventory of beer at all times and could judge what restrictions on
sales or shipments might be advisable. The site for imports was presumably
the Bierkaai near the Bellinkbrug, that is between the Bellinkstraat and the
Nieuwstraat. That seems to be the only mark on the map of the town left by
the beer trade. Though the name of the Lange Delft, the major thoroughfare
of central Middelburg, might suggest a place where Delft goods, which
meant beer, were brought into the town in fact the name had nothing to do
53. Unger. Bronnenvol.3, nr. 752 1558] and 817 15641.
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