Burgundian Low Countries

The present paper will investigate pardon letters or “lettres de rémission” granted to soldiers by the Valois dukes of Burgundy from 1386 to 1482. During this period, the chancery records contain 885 remission letters by which the prince granted his pardon to individuals who committed a crime and petitioned for mercy. This large amount of documents includes more than 15 percent of pardons granted to petitioners who served or had served the dukes in their armies. In the narrative parts of their letters, these soldiers insisted on their military pasts as a good reason to be pardoned. The purpose of this paper is to study the contents of these military pardons to underline how they contributed to shape a collective military identity in the Burgundian State. Following the works of Christopher Allmand, according to whom fifteenth-century leaders undertook to transform their soldiers into professional State agents, I will argue that military pardons were used by the dukes of Burgundy as a tool of social disciplining. Because they granted a large amount of pardons to their soldiers who affirmed their military identity in their petitions, the dukes promoted the military service as a motive to be forgiven. And because they only forgave simple homicides and refused to pardon typical war crimes such as pillage, rape, or even desertion, they indicated which kind of behaviour was worthy for the good Burgundian soldier, and which one was not.

Serving the state. The regional officers of Holland and Zeeland in the Burgundian period (1425-1482).

This is a summary of my phd-thesis, a prosopographical study into the officers of the Council and Chambre des Comptes of Holland and Zeeland in the Burgundian period (1425-1482)

In de jaren 1425-1433 kreeg de Bourgondische hertog Filips de Goede via een diplomatiek en militair offensief de graafschappen Holland en Zeeland in handen. In dit boek beschrijf ik op welke manier de ambtenaren van de hoogste bestuurlijk-juridische en financiële instellingen van Holland en Zeeland, de Raad en de Rekenkamer, hebben bijgedragen aan de integratie van deze gewesten in de Bourgondische personele unie. In het eerste deel wordt onderzocht welke institutionele vernieuwingen het gewestelijk staatsapparaat onderging in de vijftiende eeuw en passeren alle ambtenaren de revue. In het tweede deel bekijk ik welke strategie de vorst volgde bij de recrutering van zijn ambtenaren en met welke middelen hij trachtte hun dienstbaarheid en loyaliteit te bevorderen. De intermediaire positie van de ambtenaren - ingeklemd tussen de belangen van de hertog en die van de onderdanen - is het onderwerp van het derde deel. In een bijlage zijn biografische notities van 170 ambtenaren opgenomen met gegevens over hun herkomst, familie, carrière en netwerk.

Europe, north of the Alps sanctioned as a threshold for the artistic pursuit of Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch. The captivating and imaginative world in Hieronymus Bosch’s oeuvre mystify and entice its spectators through his innovative artistic developments. The Garden of Earthly Delights provides a unique visionary experience through its distinct paradisiacal landscape, luscious vegetation, and sensuality juxtaposed with malignant beings, obscure objects, overt nudity, and religious figures. The triptych’s vignette of scenes and thematic ambiguity foster an array of interpretations. The Garden’s most prominent interpretation indicate that the left wing depicts the beginnings of Creation before the fall of Adam and Eve, the central panel, depicts men and women engaging in amatory pleasures and indulgence and thus, results in man’s consequences of sin serving as a moralizing message represented in the right wing. My proposed study will explore the notion of The Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I as a potential patron through a figural representation of his first wife, Mary of Burgundy, who is depicted in the central panel. I will postulate that Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights can be seen as a metamorphosis of Eve, Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary that is conveyed within Bosch’s central panel and most significantly the moralizing function it served amongst the nobility in the Brussels Palace.

Les armoriaux de l'Epinette reproduisent avec plus ou moins d'exactitude l'exemplaire présenté en janvier 1566 par Nicolas Tournemine et Jean de Villers à la gouvernance de Lille. La version la plus ancienne ayant pu servir de modèle, rédigée et peinte à la fin du XVème siècle par Gaspard Dubois, poursuivant d'armes de la ville de Lille, a disparu depuis longtemps. La mémoire des fêtes de l'Épinette, divertissements publics, joutes et tournois donnés par le patriciat lillois depuis la fin du XIIIe siècle, ainsi que le souvenir des « rois » qui y participèrent pendant deux cents ans, ont été conservés par les recueils exposant leurs armoiries. Depuis, ces armoiries décrites dans les armoriaux de l'Epinette ont servi à entretenir et diffuser bien des spéculations généalogiques. François Boniface s'est attaché à retrouver la réalité des mentions portées dans les différents recueils. Les résultats de cette enquête sont exposés dans l'ouvrage.

"La naissance d’une thalassocratie" considers the contribution of the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands to the rise of the Dutch Republic as a maritime power. In Braudelian fashion, its chapters are centred around three lines of research. The first part, focuses on the long term or ‘temps structurel’ and considers geographical and infrastructural developments of port towns. The second part on the mid term or ‘temps conjoncturel’ (social and economic developments) takes maritime commerce, fisheries and maritime risk management into account. The third part deals with the short term or ‘temps événementiel’ (political developments) and includes chapters on military transports at sea, the unstable development of admiralties and on the Dutch Revolt at sea.

Over the past twenty years Louis Sicking has given conference papers, invited lectures and guest courses in France, Belgium, Spain, the US, the UK, and Scandinavia. The resulting articles have now been integrated in one book which offers new insights in the maritime history of the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th centuries, including a maritime perspective on the Dutch Revolt. While crossing the established boundaries of Dutch and Belgian historiographies, the book not only offers an unfamiliar maritime perspective, it also proposes a new and refreshing look at the origin of the Dutch Republic.

"La Naissance d’une thalassocatie" has been published in the ‘Collection d’histoire maritime’ by the Presses de l’université Paris-Sorbonne (PUPS). Founded in 1470 it is the oldest university press in France.



Text on the cover:
L’essor maritime sans précédent de la république des Provinces-Unies au XVIIe siècle, a impressionné les contemporains et continue de fasciner aujourd’hui.
La Révolte des Pays-Bas menée par Guillaume d’Orange et la naissance, pendant ce long conflit (1568-1648), d’une république indépendante est un thème classique de l’histoire européenne et domine toujours le cadre de l’histoire nationale des Pays-Bas actuels. A contrario, la période qui a precede ce point-pivot de l’histoire des Pays-Bas n’est que rarement évoquée, alors qu’elle a pourtant fortement influence la constitution de la république des Provinces-Unies et son success sur les mers du monde.
Ce livre vise à montrer l’importance de l’histoire maritime des anciens Pays-Bas pour la Révolte et l’expansion maritime des Provinces-Unies. Commençant avec l’intégration des provinces néerlandaises aux XVe et XVIe siècles par les Bourguignons et les Habsbourg, « la naissance d’une thalassocratie » analyse les changements ou les ruptures, mais aussi les continuités de l’histoire des Pays-Bas et la mer à l’aube du siècle d’Or, afin de proposer au lecteur une nouvelle perspective qui renouvelle les cadres traditionnels des historiographies néerlandaises et belges.

This article aims to analyse how the Burgundian dukes managed to control the political process in Holland and Zeeland and get a grip on the noble elites of the counties in the period 1425-1477. During the fourteenth and fifteenth century, noble networks in Holland competed continuously for princely favours and official positions. In the Burgundian period, from 1425 onwards, some fundamental changes in this competition took place. In the Bavarian period princes normally favoured especially one of the competing networks. Moreover, the ruler was nearby and could be approached relatively easily. The Burgundian duke, however, hardly ever visited his northernmost territories. The rivalling noble networks were not integrated into the central institutions but were given material compensations and influence at a regional level in exchange for allegiance. Subsequently, in Holland and Zeeland the Burgundian court did not have a stabilising and integrating function.

A critical and performance edition of Alexander Agricola's chanson "De tous biens plaine" for three voices. The cantus firmus of the tenor is extracted from Hayne Van Ghizeghem's (c. 1445 – 1476 to 1497) eponymous chanson.

The text of the first verse is underlaid in this edition, though only the first few words actually appear in the manuscript. The complete text as found in a number of Ghizeghem's sources with a complete translation is given at the end.

It seems unlikely that the outer voices should be sung, given their continual motion, frequent awkward leaps, and extreme ambitus.  However, the inner voice certainly could be sung.

A non-barred critical transcription of Alexander Agricola's motet-chanson "Belles sur toutes - Tota pulchra es" from Florence, Bibliotea del Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini,  MS 2439 ff. 63v-64r.

For a recording of the music with a score-video see link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2N_Ru9xjuA

A pedagogical transcription of Richard Sampson's (attr.) motet in double canon, "Salve radix," written to celebrate the union of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon and the birth of their daughter, Mary.

For a video with recording accompanying the modern transcription with side-by-side animated original notated music see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wl1XqV6Nk

According to the Great Privilege of Mary of Burgundy (1477), the legal boundaries between the comital bailiffs of Flanders and the region they ministered, had to be respected. A recent study, comparing the list of bailiffs to the list of alderman, implied that this was certainly the case in the castellany of Furnes (Veurne). However, a more detailed research shows that all of the bailiffs from 1477 up to the beginning of the 16th century had connections to the region, which were established years before they were appointed: by possessions (a.o. fiefs), by marriage, by being an alderman, by military activities… Several of them were even tied by close family relations or because they took over staff and personnel. The article investigates these links and presents a completely revised list of the bailiffs of the castellany of Furnes up to 1586.

Anthonis de Roovere, poet in Bruges, rhetorician, is discussed in this article which gives an overview of former research and tries to establish his place in Burgundian Flanders and Late Medieval Bruges. In delivers an inventory of his works and the sources in which they have come down to us. This publication is followed by part 2 (Jaarboek 1997)

Futur instrument de la construction étatique, l’artillerie n’est pas (encore), au début du XVe siècle, l’apanage du prince. Outre certains seigneurs, les villes des Pays-Bas disposent de parcs d’artillerie parfois impressionnants. Dans une perspective comparative, cet article examine, à un moment où le rôle du canon sur les théâtres d’opération s’accroît sensiblement, les politiques princières vis-à-vis de l’artillerie communale dans trois principautés des Pays-Bas : la Flandre de Jean sans Peur (1405-1419), le Brabant de son frère cadet Antoine (1406-1415) et le Hainaut de leur beau-frère et allié commun Guillaume IV (1404-1417). Ces principautés sont privilégiées pour deux raisons : d’une part, le développement considérable, depuis le milieu du XIVe siècle, d’un artisanat du canon et l’émergence de formes d’organisation de l’arme dans leurs villes ; d’autre part, alors même que des liens familiaux et politiques entre les trois princes favorisaient des influences réciproques, ils devaient composer avec des réalités politiques internes différentes. Envisagées sous l’angle de la dépendance des princes vis-à-vis de l’artillerie communale ainsi que des incitants ou freins mis à son développement, les politiques princières reflètent les rapports de pouvoir entre prince et villes au sein des trois principautés.

Du XVe au XVIIe siècle, la Flandre wallonne, région située aux alentours de Lille et Douai semble avoir été un centre de production héraldique. De nombreux indices montrent l’existence d’une "culture  héraldique" locale .  On ne connaît pas l’auteur de l’armorial  Bellenville,  datant de la fin du XIVe siècle, conservé à la BnF, mais on sait qu’il a été la propriété d’Antoine de Beaulaincourt, lieutenant de la Gouvernance de Lille à partir de 1537, plus tard et jusqu’à son décès roi d’armes de l’ordre de la Toison d’or.  Le grand armorial équestre de la Toison d'or, la cour amoureuse de Charles VI, au XVe siècle, la série de recueils faits pour Alexandre Leblancq et ceux attribués à Jacques Leboucq sont également à replacer dans un contexte régional. Les archives signalent les noms de plusieurs peintres et dessinateurs lillois  impliqués au XVIe et jusqu'au début du XVIIe siècle dans la réalisation de décors ou de documents héraldiques.

Whereas tournaments of the late thirteenth century were infused with cross-channel contact, whether in reciprocity of form or in the international composition of the participants involved, by the early fifteenth century, tournament forms in England and the Netherlands had significantly diverged. As has been thoroughly explored by recent historians, English tournaments became increasingly socially exclusive, whilst retaining an international dimension in the interests of diplomacy. However, this essay demonstrates that this development was by no means typical of all late medieval tournaments. The case of the Low Countries demonstrates that the more socially inclusive style tournaments did continue into the fifteenth century, and provided an opportunity for the ducal household and noblemen to come into contact with patrician townspeople and even more diverse urban audiences.

Le Brabant monte en puissance (1106-1261): Le lent avènement du gothique; Une principauté dualiste, mais puissante (1261-1356): Les beaux-arts et l'architectuur; Le lion brabançons assoupi (1356-1430): Le développement des arts gothiques; Le coeur de Pays-Bas bourguignons et habsbourgeois (1430-1531): Le triomphe des artistes brabançons.

MS Glasgow Hunter 252 is the sole surviving manuscript copy of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. The present PhD thesis, funded by a Glasgow University Scholarship and supervised by James Simpson and Peter Davies, explores the language of this collection of bawdy tales, attributed to the court of Philippe III de Bourgogne (1396-1467). Most existing studies on the language of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles have offered a literary (e.g. stylistic, narratological) perspective, and very few have considered the document within the wider context of French historical linguistics. The present thesis aims to fill this gap by: 
- Presenting elements of linguistic interest within the document (dialectalisms, archaisms, rare features, cultural references, etc.), through a comprehensive survey of phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary. 
- Expanding and reassessing existing theories on orthographic standardisation and dialectal input in written and, more speculatively, spoken Middle French.
- Providing scriptological evidence towards the localisation of other textual resources within the online Dictionnaire du moyen français (1330-1500).
- Investigating the authenticity of the mise-en-scène of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles; reflecting on linguistic practices and note-taking at the Court of Burgundy.
- Exploring spoken language as rendered by direct speech passages, with special consideration of linguistic variation and stereotyping.
- Publishing textual databases for future analysis (tables of main spelling variants, alphabetical list of words, etc.).

A non-barred critical transcription of Alexander Agricola's contrafacta motet, "Virgo sub ethereis" (Source: Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, MS 40021 ff. 131v-132r) as derived from his "Comme femme desconfortée".

For a video of the score with a performance recording see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_nnTzNXeUY

The tournament of Ghent, June 20, 1369 - Recently discovered manuscripts, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, about this tournament show the participants with their coats of arms. The manuscripts are by Jacques le Boucq, herald and king of arms of Emperor Charles V, lord of the Netherlands, and Engelbert Flacchio, king of arms 'Luxembourg', of Philip IV of Spain and later Charles II.
The tournament was held in honor of the marriage of Philip Duke of Burgundy and Margareta Countess of Flanders. 57 participants took part in the tournament. These participants belonged to the Flemish and Brabant nobility, and the magistrate families of the cities of Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp and Mechelen.


Le tournoi de Gand, 20 juin 1369 - Des manuscrits récemment découverts, datant des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, de ce tournoi montrent les participants avec leurs blasons. Les manuscrits ont été écrits par Jacques le Boucq, héraut et roi d'armes de l'empereur Charles V, seigneur des Pays-Bas, et d'Engelbert Flacchio, roi d'armes "Luxembourg", de Philippe IV d'Espagne et plus tard de Charles II.
Le tournoi a eu lieu en l'honneur du mariage de Philippe duc de Bourgogne et Margareta comtesse de Flandre. 57 participants ont pris part au tournoi. Ces participants appartenaient à la noblesse flamande et brabançonne, et aux familles de magistrats des villes de Gand, Bruges, Bruxelles, Anvers et Malines.

Marie de Bourgogne (1457–1482), fille unique de Charles le Téméraire et de ce fait « la plus grande héritière qui fust de son temps », a jusqu’ici attiré assez peu d’attention de la part des spécialistes du XVe siècle. Une figure ambiguë, dont l’image oscille entre deux concepts opposés : une duchesse faible et inexpérimentée, qui ne joua qu'un rôle de pion dans la grande partie diplomatique entre l’Empire et la France, – ou bien une princesse résolue et indépendante qui savait ce qu'elle voulait et réussit à imposer sa volonté, Marie reste généralement dans l'ombre de ses proches parents. Il semble bien que cette attitude envers la duchesse est surtout le fait de la politique de ses descendants et successeurs, qui employaient son image dans leurs propres intérêts. Désireux de légitimer la transition du pouvoir de la Maison de Valois à celle des Habsbourg, ils ont opté pour la représentation de Marie comme héritière de Bourgogne, dame noble et pieuse dévouée à son mari et à sa famille, et non comme une femme de pouvoir. Cette image de la princesse semble être si puissante que souvent les historiens furent amenés à croire que l’oeuvre politique sous le règne de Marie était principalement l'affaire de son époux. Ils concentrèrent alors leur attention sur Maximilien, le faisant ainsi – volontairement ou non – le héros principal de l'épopée bourguignonne pendant les années de crise qui ont suivi la mort du Téméraire.
Or la réalité fut plus complexe. Jamais réellement retirée de la vie politique, ne cessant de voyager à travers ses pays afin d'assurer et affirmer l'omniprésence de l'autorité ducale, suivant de près les affaires politiques, Marie prit aussi un soin tout particulier à la création et la promotion de son image. La jeune duchesse qui, dès son accès inattendu au pouvoir en janvier 1477, dut affronter les attaques et les intrigues de Louis XI ainsi que les émeutes de ses sujets, fut de toute évidence parfaitement consciente, non seulement d’être la dernière héritière de la glorieuse maison de Bourgogne-Valois, mais encore d’être en position de faiblesse de par sa condition de femme. Elle chercha alors des réponses adéquates à ses défis – réponses militaires et diplomatiques ainsi qu’ « iconographiques ». Ses ambitions, de souligner les liens dynastiques, d’appuyer la légitimité de sa succession et de son pouvoir suo jure, d’affirmer ses droits aux pays bourguignons, ainsi que d’asseoir son autorité sur les sujets rebelles, ont influencé considérablement sa conséquente politique de représentation.
Une étude de cette politique, fondée sur le regroupement inédit d’oeuvres littéraires, historiographiques et iconographiques, et leur analyse, nous permettra d’abord de souligner la construction et l’évolution symbolique de l’image de Marie de Bourgogne en tant que femme régnante, mais aussi de reconsidérer une période de l’histoire de l’État bourguignon, celle de la transmission du pouvoir de la maison de Valois de Bourgogne à la dynastie des Habsbourg.

Scholars of medieval studies are generally aware of the legacy of Bruges, former stronghold of the Dukes of Burgundy, as a beacon of culture and a town notable not merely in Flanders, but also in late medieval Europe. Then, religion and piety were ubiquitous in public and private life, while devotion and beauty stemming from worldly wealth, were all but contradictory values.
One such wealthy family, prominent in Bruges, were the Lords of Gruuthuse, having acquired the monopoly to levy taxes on “gruut” (EN: gruit), an old-fashioned herbal mixture used as a flavouring agent for beer in place of hops. Their wealth allowed them to transform the Gruuthuse storage facility into a luxury city palace, still standing as a museum.
In 1472, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse (aka Louis de Bruges), earl of Winchester and knight of the Golden Fleece, a devout catholic, treated himself and his family to a private oratory, with a window into the presbytery of the adjoining Church of Our Lady, home to the mausoleum-like tombs of Duke Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary of Burgundy.
With a view to the chapel’s mandatory restoration, the Friends of the Bruges City Museums mounted a crowdfunding project in 2016 involving one of the local craft brewers in producing and marketing a Prestige limited edition, gruit-based beer brand, suitably called “Lodewijk van Gruuthuse”, thus – in a contemporary whim of romantic medievalism – temporarily (?) closing the circle since the medieval symbiosis between the Lords of Gruuthuse and craft beer manufacturing.

"The Patronage of Mary of Burgundy : Between Private Devotion and Political Necessity
The patronage of Mary of Burgundy is not, at first sight, an obvious subject of study : she has rarely been considered as a serious patron and when she has, she is described as a very modest one. This view would appear to be justified when we compare Mary’s commissions with those of her ancestors, the dukes of Burgundy. However, although she added very few works to the enormous cultural heritage left to her by her ancestors, it is evident that the works she did commission expressed very clear political and cultural intentions on her part. “The greatest heiress in Europe” had to deal with attacks and intrigues from Louis XI as well as rioting from her own people right from the beginning of her unexpected rise to power in 1477. Acutely aware of the fact that she was the last descendant of the glorious house of Burgundy-Valois, as well as the weakness of her position as a woman, Mary sought suitable responses to the challenges she faced – not only military and diplomatic responses but also iconographical ones. Her desire to emphasise dynastic lineage, to create an image of a female sovereign that legitimized her succession and her power suo jure in order to assert her rights to Burgundian territories, as well as to impose her power on her uncontrollable subjects, all had a considerable influence on her resulting and carefully-considered cultural politics."

The Middle Dutch ‘Chronicle of Flanders’ is a complex chronicle group consisting of various distinct manuscript versions. This chronicle group is generally divided into three separate ‘traditions’: the Chronicle of Jan van Dixmude, the Kronijk van Vlaenderen, and the Excellente Cronike van Vlaenderen. The most important question dealt with in this contribution is whether this subdivision still makes sense today. Research strategies on medieval chronicles shifted from a focus on the authority of a chronicle’s ‘author’ towards an increasing attention to its readers and audience. Searching for this (intended) audience makes it possible to underline the connections among various manuscripts. However, lately, a countermovement has renewed the interest in chronicles’ (scribal) authorship; it focuses on the self-fashioning aspect in historiographical works. This article argues that these methodologies are not so conflicting as has been thought previously. The manuscripts of the Middle Dutch ‘Chronicle of Flanders’ provide an ideal opportunity to analyse the relationship among medieval manuscripts on the one hand as a fluid, interwoven web of connections and networks, and as the self-fashioning project of one person or family on the other hand.

Based on a combination of research methods and traditions, this three-part study presents a survey of the present state of knowledge about the production and ownership of deluxe manuscripts in the late-medieval Netherlands.
Part One is based on the analysis of a corpus of about 3,700 extant illustrated manuscripts produced between 1400 and 1550 in the (northern and southern) Low Countries. The composition of this corpus made it possible to glean general information about many aspects of manuscripts production, such as chronological and geographical distribution, the various kinds of texts, dimensions, the languages used, and the relationship with the production of printed books. Substantial consideration is given to the methodological problem of the extent to which we can state that what we are discussing is also a faithful reflection of what was originally produced. The cautious conclusion is that surviving illustrated manuscripts might represent 20% of all those originally made. Compared to estimates for the survival of other objects this is an extremely high proportion.
Part Two revolves around the leading owners of illustrated manuscripts in the Netherlands – the ducal family and the noble elite. The libraries of the Burgundian dukes and those of the foremost noble families are analysed by means of inventories and surviving manuscripts. In the wake of the great bibliophile duke Philip the Good we see the appearance among members of the noble elite born between 1420 and 1435 of a sort of fashion in book ownership. The many deluxe manuscripts they commissioned were typically ‘Burgundian’ in both outward aspect and content. In this respect they differ from the books owned by the lower court functionaries – the parvenus – who often sprang from burgher stock. We see how, by the building of a certain sort of library, a small elite demonstrated a group identity. This can be interpreted in the light of the ‘Burgundianizing’ of the Netherlands: under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold the noble elites of the various principalities were gradually transformed into a supra-regional group. Cultural expressions such as the acquisition of magnificent manuscripts played a role in this process.
Part Three draw conclusions from the two former parts and enlarge the discussion. The (book owning) people as well as the manuscripts are part of society and both play their part in political, religious, social, economic and cultural life of the later medieval Low Countries.

As an appendix to this book, a database containing information on some 3700 illustrated Netherlandish manuscripts (1400-1550) is published on the web: http://www.cn-telma.fr/luxury-bound/