Preliminary Programme

Current historiography on the pre-modern Low Countries functions from an interpretative framework that focuses primarily on the tense interactions between highly autonomous urban networks and the burgeoning Burgundian-Habsburg state over the control of urban capital, not in the least because this tensions often gave way to civil war as exemplified in the decade-long military confrontation between the cities and Habsburg in the 1480s. A recently rediscovered source allows an unusually clear perspective on the concerns and aspirations of the Netherlandish nobility as a third party in this power play. Deeply committed as they were to both urban politics and princely government, many nobles were confronted with difficult choices in the clash between the Habsburg state and the unruly cities of the Southern Low Countries. This paper will discuss the hypothesis that the political actions of nobles during this crisis cannot be isolated from the social identity of nobles: the pursuit of office was intricately tied to the position of nobles as local lords and mediated through commemorative practices that were specific to the noble estate. (Show less)

In my paper I will explore the writings of the Antwerp family Van Halmale: a ‘tournament diary’, a genealogy and a chronicle, the Annales Antwerpienses. What was the meaning of writing ‘history’ for a family that was for several successive generations dominant in the town administration of Antwerp? They were not subordinate officers working in the urban chancellery but political officeholders: aldermen and burgomasters. The Van Halmales will serve as a case study into an omnipresent social category in the towns of the Low Countries in the late Middle Ages: patricians, members of the economic elite of the town, which consisted of landowners, cloth manufacturers and wholesalers, who dominated the town administration. They formed a power elite within the town, bound together by marriage alliances and a common lifestyle, and derived prestige (and not seldom financial benefits) from the positions they held within the town administration.
However, when we maintain the label ‘patricians’ for these men, the question remains how these patricians did perceive themselves and how their contemporaries did perceive them. A close inspection of their military and seigniorial titles, their (feudal) landed possessions and their supposed noble behaviour (vivre noblement) becomes therefore necessary. In my paper I will demonstrate the personal fascination of these patricians for the history of their family, their hometown and the duchy of Brabant. In their writings and their knightly behavior both in tournament and on the battlefield, they showed their aspirations since they lacked an ancient lineage and did not possess a prestigious lordship or castle with which they could distinguish themselves.
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Transylvania and Poland-Lithuania established constitutional safeguards for elective practices and religious toleration in the second half of the sixteenth century, which they upheld until the end of their autonomous existence (the end of the 17th century in Transylvania's case, and the end of the 18th for Poland-Lithuania). The texts which came to represent their constitutions were referred to as the 'articles', 'confederation', 'law' or 'decree of the country' and became focal points of contention as well as collective identity. A few of their key concepts--especially free elections, religious peace, and the right of resistance--were repeatedly confirmed, clarified, and invoked in public debates and written documents. Their meaning and application, however, were not uniform in space and time. A comparison between Transylvania and Polish-Lithuania (as well as other regional examples) reveals interesting differences--of essence as well as degree--in constitutional language and practices, most of which stem from social and geopolitical variations. (Show less)

During the late middle ages and the early modern period, the duchy of Brabant enjoyed a unique constitutional position in the Low Countries. From 1356 onwards, the dukes of Brabant had to conclude a written political contract with the representatives of their subjects in order to be inaugurated. These treaties were called the ‘Blijde Inkomsten’ or ‘Joyous Entries’ because they were sealed during the official entrance of the duke into the city of Leuven (the main city of the duchy). As a result of the varying power-relations within the duchy and the changing concerns and demands of the representatives, the content of the successive ‘Joyous Entries’ evolved from charter to charter. In my paper, I will compare the first four ‘Entries’, namely the texts of 1356, 1406, 1427 and of 1430, to demonstrate how the popular ideas of justice and political order had changed through time. The modifications in the content of the successive ‘Joyous Entries’ demonstrate that this constitutional tradition was adapted by the representatives in order to correspond to their interests and needs at the time of the inauguration. (Show less)