Contested Space in a Contested Border Area: The Sint Jan in 's Hertogenbosch - Or: From Bosch to the Ten Commandments

This article investigates contemporary perceptions of church space in the border town of ‘s Hertogenbosch in the aftermath of the Peace of Westphalia. Through a close reading of two chorographies, the study sheds light on ways in which historians can try to grasp contemporary views on what mattered in a church interior in the contested border areas of the Generality Lands, regions in the Dutch Republic, where the Calvinist political elite remained a minority. The study alerts us to the temporality of changes to church interiors and its embeddedness in local and regional circumstances.