 Vrijcorpsen arose mainly in the countryside, because there was no schutterij for their area.After the Rotterdam exercitiegenootschap in 1784 was forbidden, more and more so-called "genootschappen in de wapenhandel" (societies for weapons training) sprang up, as in Bolsward, and they were very progressive for their time and would speak out regularly.An incident with the Austrian emperor Joseph II about the Scheldt, known as the kettle war - for two hundred years closed off by Holland and Zeeland - led to organization of the provincial armies in January 1785.