This was the name given to the charters in which sov ereigns granted some persons or groups of persons (for example, the citizens of a city) certain liberties, such as exemption from some taxes or the right to create their own law and government (auton omy). The kinds of privileges by which the rulers gave up parts of their power and sovereignty were many and varied. Aparticularly fa mous charter is the Great Privilege, which Mary of Burgundy granted in 1477 to the States General of the Low Countries assem bled in Ghent. In the Early Modern period, the kings of the “New Monarchies” tried step by step to regain their central power at the cost of the liberties of their subjects, who often revolted, as in the Revolt of the Netherlands against Philip II.
See also Urban statutes.
Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. EdwART. 2012.