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Forthcoming events by Leen Bervoets

The long history of the polysemy of terms such as rebellion, revolt, resistance (and even revolut... more The long history of the polysemy of terms such as rebellion, revolt, resistance (and even revolution...) is at the crossing of the narratives about the political contract established between the people and the sovereign that marks the nation's genesis as a complete spiritual unity. In the test of time, ius resistendi has taken on an indisputable place in European legal culture, but its application – even as a rupture – did not intend to eradicate the current order, but instead to bring about its restoration. As medieval people’s experience had made clear, the abuse of power is an intrinsic reason for its apprehension in time, so the right/duty to resist was imposed as a condition of man’s historical nature. Even though this notion was banned by liberal ideas of the modern state, the questions about the validity of any lawful act of resisting tyrannical power remained.
Aware of these sensitivities, this seminar proposes a (re)encounter with the contract's historical experiences and its rupture. These two historical subjects offer a reflective value regarding open categories in the republican doctrine descending from Aristotelian Thomism and the jurists of the 12th through 17th centuries. Not by chance, these categories entice the curiosity of the public debate about the limits of the state and civil society. This seminar intends to propose a historical balance of these forms of existence in a re-encounter with the experiences from late medieval period and first modernity.
In this first edition, we have guests from different countries, specialists in medieval and modern Europe and the colonial world. These works aim to address the forms of resistance and negotiation, the elaboration of historical narratives and the genesis of constitutional vocabularies. All of this applied to the case studies on decision-making practices and contractual scopes that delimit local and general political structures that preceded modern states.

by Sandra de la Torre Gonzalo, María Viu Fandos, María Jesús García Arnal, Leen Bervoets, Nena Vandeweerdt, Carlos Crespo Amat, Antonio Belenguer González, Luis Almenar Fernández, Lledó Ruiz Domingo, Giuseppe Seche, and Angel Rozas Español

Young researchers in Economic History, Social Sciences, and Cultural Studies from Belgium, Italy,... more Young researchers in Economic History, Social Sciences, and Cultural Studies from Belgium, Italy, and Spain are presenting 20-minute papers in three strands moderated by international discussants.

Papers by Leen Bervoets

GESCHIEDENIS VAN OUDENAARDE EN OMGEVING = G|OUD, 2021

Journal of Medieval History, 2021

ABSTRACT The historiography of urban revolts in north-western Europe is abundant, yet events of t... more ABSTRACT The historiography of urban revolts in north-western Europe is abundant, yet events of thirteenth-century urban protest are mostly neglected. They are usually only mentioned briefly as forerunners of later, better documented events. Sources for thirteenth-century events of urban protest are scarce, but not absent. This article gives an overview from the first industrial action in Brabant, Flanders and northern France between 1220 and 1250, to the factional struggles between urban elites, in which craftsmen took sides, in the towns of England and the Holy Roman Empire in the 1250s and 1260s, and back to Flanders and northern France as the epicentre of violent revolts in 1275–85. These events reveal the way artisans entered the political stage, they underline regional differences and common features, and they uncover the interplay between changes in urban society and overall development in north-western Europe in this crucial period of profound transition.

Revue Du Nord, 2021

In 1287, King Philip IV of France promulgated an ordinance concerning the organisation of burgher... more In 1287, King Philip IV of France promulgated an ordinance concerning the organisation of burghership in his kingdom. The objective is not entirely clear, since this ordinance aimed both to establish a degree of uniformity in the procedures for acquiring burghership in the kingdom and to respect local customs which were already well established. The ordinance is a witness to the rise of a royal government that aimed to legislate over the entire kingdom. This article uses the ordinance as an opportunity to look at the organisation of burghership at the end of the thirteenth century in a border region of the French kingdom : the cities in the Flemish area. The strongly independent cities of Flanders and – to a lesser extent – of Artois had developed fairly elaborate procedures during the thirteenth century. This article focuses on the differences between the procedures in the cities, the influence of feudal boundaries on the development of burghership, and the impact of a royal ordinance on the different types of regions in the Flemish area.En 1287, le roi de France Philippe IV le Bel promulgua une ordonnance relative aux bourgeoisies de son royaume. L’exact objectif visé n’est pas transparent puisque l’ordonnance en question recherchait à la fois l’établissement d’un degré d’uniformité dans les procédures d’acquisition de la bourgeoisie, et le respect des usages locaux déjà bien ancrés. Le document constitue en tout cas un témoin de l’essor d’un gouvernement royal désireux de légiférer sur l’intégralité du royaume. Par le biais de cette ordonnance, nous nous pencherons sur l’organisation des bourgeoisies à la fin du xiiie siècle, dans une région frontalière du royaume de France : les villes flamandes. Les villes fortes indépendantes de la Flandre et – dans un degré moindre – de l’Artois, développèrent au cours du xiiie siècle des procédures assez élaborées pour l’acquisition de la bourgeoisie. Cet article porte sur les différences entre les procédures mises en place dans les villes, l’influence des frontières féodales sur le développement de la bourgeoisie, et l’impact d’une ordonnance royale sur les différents types de région dans l’espace flamand

From the first quarter of the thirteenth century onwards, Bruges was the leading commercial centr... more From the first quarter of the thirteenth century onwards, Bruges was the leading commercial centre of Flanders. The simultaneous expansion of the city and its population increased social polarisation and created opportunities for the nouveaux riches to accumulate capital and penetrate higher social ranks. Contemporary sources divide urban society into maiores and minores or into burgenses and communitas. This terminology is often difficult to interpret. Through a prosopographical approach to the aldermen, burghers, merchants, and craftsmen of thirteenth-century Bruges, this article tries to overcome both the problem of unstable terminology for urban groups and the scarcity of sources in order to provide a clearer picture of the urban elites in a time of profound transformations.

The Eighteenth Century, 2022

The long history of the polysemy of terms such as rebellion, revolt, resistance (and even revolut... more The long history of the polysemy of terms such as rebellion, revolt, resistance (and even revolution...) is at the crossing of the narratives about the political contract established between the people and the sovereign that marks the nation's genesis as a complete spiritual unity. In the test of time, ius resistendi has taken on an indisputable place in European legal culture, but its application – even as a rupture – did not intend to eradicate the current order, but instead to bring about its restoration. As medieval people’s experience had made clear, the abuse of power is an intrinsic reason for its apprehension in time, so the right/duty to resist was imposed as a condition of man’s historical nature. Even though this notion was banned by liberal ideas of the modern state, the questions about the validity of any lawful act of resisting tyrannical power remained.
Aware of these sensitivities, this seminar proposes a (re)encounter with the contract's historical experiences and its rupture. These two historical subjects offer a reflective value regarding open categories in the republican doctrine descending from Aristotelian Thomism and the jurists of the 12th through 17th centuries. Not by chance, these categories entice the curiosity of the public debate about the limits of the state and civil society. This seminar intends to propose a historical balance of these forms of existence in a re-encounter with the experiences from late medieval period and first modernity.
In this first edition, we have guests from different countries, specialists in medieval and modern Europe and the colonial world. These works aim to address the forms of resistance and negotiation, the elaboration of historical narratives and the genesis of constitutional vocabularies. All of this applied to the case studies on decision-making practices and contractual scopes that delimit local and general political structures that preceded modern states.

by Sandra de la Torre Gonzalo, María Viu Fandos, María Jesús García Arnal, Leen Bervoets, Nena Vandeweerdt, Carlos Crespo Amat, Antonio Belenguer González, Luis Almenar Fernández, Lledó Ruiz Domingo, Giuseppe Seche, and Angel Rozas Español

Young researchers in Economic History, Social Sciences, and Cultural Studies from Belgium, Italy,... more Young researchers in Economic History, Social Sciences, and Cultural Studies from Belgium, Italy, and Spain are presenting 20-minute papers in three strands moderated by international discussants.

GESCHIEDENIS VAN OUDENAARDE EN OMGEVING = G|OUD, 2021

Journal of Medieval History, 2021

ABSTRACT The historiography of urban revolts in north-western Europe is abundant, yet events of t... more ABSTRACT The historiography of urban revolts in north-western Europe is abundant, yet events of thirteenth-century urban protest are mostly neglected. They are usually only mentioned briefly as forerunners of later, better documented events. Sources for thirteenth-century events of urban protest are scarce, but not absent. This article gives an overview from the first industrial action in Brabant, Flanders and northern France between 1220 and 1250, to the factional struggles between urban elites, in which craftsmen took sides, in the towns of England and the Holy Roman Empire in the 1250s and 1260s, and back to Flanders and northern France as the epicentre of violent revolts in 1275–85. These events reveal the way artisans entered the political stage, they underline regional differences and common features, and they uncover the interplay between changes in urban society and overall development in north-western Europe in this crucial period of profound transition.

Revue Du Nord, 2021

In 1287, King Philip IV of France promulgated an ordinance concerning the organisation of burgher... more In 1287, King Philip IV of France promulgated an ordinance concerning the organisation of burghership in his kingdom. The objective is not entirely clear, since this ordinance aimed both to establish a degree of uniformity in the procedures for acquiring burghership in the kingdom and to respect local customs which were already well established. The ordinance is a witness to the rise of a royal government that aimed to legislate over the entire kingdom. This article uses the ordinance as an opportunity to look at the organisation of burghership at the end of the thirteenth century in a border region of the French kingdom : the cities in the Flemish area. The strongly independent cities of Flanders and – to a lesser extent – of Artois had developed fairly elaborate procedures during the thirteenth century. This article focuses on the differences between the procedures in the cities, the influence of feudal boundaries on the development of burghership, and the impact of a royal ordinance on the different types of regions in the Flemish area.En 1287, le roi de France Philippe IV le Bel promulgua une ordonnance relative aux bourgeoisies de son royaume. L’exact objectif visé n’est pas transparent puisque l’ordonnance en question recherchait à la fois l’établissement d’un degré d’uniformité dans les procédures d’acquisition de la bourgeoisie, et le respect des usages locaux déjà bien ancrés. Le document constitue en tout cas un témoin de l’essor d’un gouvernement royal désireux de légiférer sur l’intégralité du royaume. Par le biais de cette ordonnance, nous nous pencherons sur l’organisation des bourgeoisies à la fin du xiiie siècle, dans une région frontalière du royaume de France : les villes flamandes. Les villes fortes indépendantes de la Flandre et – dans un degré moindre – de l’Artois, développèrent au cours du xiiie siècle des procédures assez élaborées pour l’acquisition de la bourgeoisie. Cet article porte sur les différences entre les procédures mises en place dans les villes, l’influence des frontières féodales sur le développement de la bourgeoisie, et l’impact d’une ordonnance royale sur les différents types de région dans l’espace flamand

From the first quarter of the thirteenth century onwards, Bruges was the leading commercial centr... more From the first quarter of the thirteenth century onwards, Bruges was the leading commercial centre of Flanders. The simultaneous expansion of the city and its population increased social polarisation and created opportunities for the nouveaux riches to accumulate capital and penetrate higher social ranks. Contemporary sources divide urban society into maiores and minores or into burgenses and communitas. This terminology is often difficult to interpret. Through a prosopographical approach to the aldermen, burghers, merchants, and craftsmen of thirteenth-century Bruges, this article tries to overcome both the problem of unstable terminology for urban groups and the scarcity of sources in order to provide a clearer picture of the urban elites in a time of profound transformations.

The Eighteenth Century, 2022