ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a Dutch view of stepfamilies in Europe from 1400–1800 by discussing a well-known painting by Pauwels Janszoon van Schoten: 'The Riddle of Nijwegen', which provides a good example of complicated relationship structures, especially in the area of matrimonial law, but also of inheritance law. It focuses on two legal aspects that might confront stepfamilies in the late medieval and early modern Netherlands, eenkindschap or the 'one-child-phenomenon' and the continued community. In 'The Riddle of Nijmegen', a window on the left side in the large painting shows a view of the Burchtstraat and the Grote Markt or large market square with the church Sint Stevenskerk in Nijmegen. 'The Riddle of Nijmegen' of Pauwel Jansz. van Schoten is a good example of a set of complicated marriages. The Nijmegen publisher Isaac van Campen published the print with a solution to the riddle in 1765 as well as 1777.
