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The transformation of rural elites in late medieval Flanders: oligarchy, state formation and social change in the Liberty of Bruges (c. 1350–c. 1525)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

FREDERIK BUYLAERT  and
ANDY RAMANDT
FREDERIK BUYLAERT*
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
ANDY RAMANDT
Affiliation:
Ghent University.
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Proceeding from an in-depth analysis of the Liberty of Bruges, an important rural district in the late medieval Low Countries, this contribution frames rural elite formation by means of two debates which are seldom used in combination, namely, the debates on state building and on the commercialisation of rural society. We challenge the thesis, inspired by modernisation theory, that socio-economic transformation engendered political change in pre-modern Europe as newly emerging rural bourgeoisies are alleged to have become an important political factor, shifting their allegiances between lords and peasants as they saw fit. The evidence discussed shows instead a trend towards oligarchy from the fifteenth century onwards, in which an increasingly exclusive social network came to combine hitherto separated forms of political power, largely at the expense of the growing number of wealthy rural bourgeois. It is argued that this transformation of the rural political elites is closely tied to changes in the established relations between the central government and the regional elites of the Low Countries.

La transformation des élites rurales en flandre, à la fin de l’époque médiévale: oligarchie, formation de l’état et changement social en franc de bruges (1350–1525)

Partant d'une analyse approfondie du Franc de Bruges, un district rural important des Pays-Bas de la fin du Moyen Age, cette contribution présente la formation des élites rurales dans un cadre conceptuel original, en réunissant deux débats rarement évoqués simultanément et combinés ici : le débat sur la construction de l’État et celui sur la commercialisation de la société rurale. Nous mettons en question la thèse, inspirée par la théorie de la modernisation, que la transformation socio-économique aurait engendré un changement politique en Europe pré-moderne : les bourgeoisies rurales naissantes seraient devenues un facteur politique important, déplaçant leurs allégeances entre seigneurs et paysans comme elles l'entendaient. Les éléments apportés et discutés ici montrent au contraire une tendance à l'oligarchie à partir du XVe siècle, avec un réseau social de plus en plus fermé, combinant des formes jusque-là séparées du pouvoir politique, en grande partie au détriment du nombre croissant de riches bourgeois ruraux. Nous soutenons que cette transformation des élites politiques rurales est étroitement liée à l’évolution des relations établies entre le gouvernement central et les élites régionales des Pays-Bas.

Die transformation ländlicher eliten im spätmittelalterlichen flandern: oligarchie, staatsbildung und sozialer wandel in brügge (ca. 1350–ca. 1525)

Ausgehend von einer minutiösen Analyse der Brügger Freie (Brugse Vrije), einer bedeutenden ländlichen Region in den spätmittelalterlichen Niederlanden, versucht dieser Beitrag ländliche Elitenbildung mit Hilfe zweier Debatten genauer zu fassen, die selten miteinander kombiniert werden, nämlich der Debatte über die Staatsbildung und über die Kommerzialisierung der ländlichen Gesellschaft. Wir hinterfragen die von der Modernisierungstheorie inspirierte These, sozialökonomische Transformation habe politischen Wandel nach sich gezogen, da neu entstandene ländliche Bourgeoisien angeblich zu einem wichtigen politischen Faktor geworden seien, indem sie ihre Allianzen je nach Einschätzung zwischen Grundherren und Bauern hin- und hergeschoben hätten. Demgegenüber zeigt das hier herangezogene Material vom 15. Jahrhundert an einen Trend zur Oligarchie, bei dem ein zunehmend exklusives soziales Netzwerk dazu überging, bislang getrennt gehaltene Formen der politischen Macht miteinander zu verknüpfen, und zwar hauptsächlich auf Kosten der zahlenmäßig wachsenden wohlhabenden ländlichen Bourgeoisie. Unsere These lautet, dass diese Transformation der ländlichen politischen Eliten eng mit den Veränderungen in den etablierten Beziehungen zwischen der Zentralregierung und den regionalen Eliten in den Niederlanden zusammenhängt.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , May 2015 , pp. 39 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 An important exception to the historiographical lacuna is a recent reappraisal of how city states controlled their hinterlands: Scott, T., The city-state in Europe, 1000–1600 (Oxford, 2012)Google Scholar.

2 For a detailed example of elite families in the Netherlands which provided aldermen to different councils at the same time, see the long-run case study of Schmidt, C., Om de eer van de familie. Het geslacht Teding van Berkhout 1500–1950. Een sociologische benadering (Amsterdam, 1986)Google Scholar.

3 For a useful comparative survey of the growing presence of urban elites amongst rural landowners, see Cowan, A. F., ‘Urban elites in early modern Europe: an endangered species?’, Historical Research 64, 154 (1991), 121–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 132–6.

4 The most recent historiographical survey is Buylaert, F., ‘The late medieval “crisis of the nobility” reconsidered: the case of Flanders’, Journal of Social History 45, 4 (2012), 1117–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 For a synthesis, see Zmora, H., Monarchy, aristocracy, and the state in Europe, 1300–1800 (London and New York, 2001)Google Scholar, esp. 41–2. For the concepts of centre and periphery, see Aylmer, G. E., ‘Centre and locality: the nature of power elites’, in Reinhard, W. ed., Power elites and state building (Oxford, 1996), 59–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 This thesis is developed in Masschaele, J., Jury, state, and society in medieval England (New York, 2008), 2–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 5–6, 9–12. It should be noted that Masschaele does not ignore crises in late medieval English history such as the War of the Roses, which could destabilise politics within the shires for years on end; see Carpenter, C., Locality and polity. A study of Warwickshire landed society, 1401–1499 (Cambridge, 1992), 281–596CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 See Coss, P., The origins of the English gentry (Cambridge, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The gentry comprised about 2 per cent of the population, whereas the demographic weight of the French nobility has been estimated at 0.5 percent of the French population; see Dewald, J., The European nobility, 1400–1800 (Cambridge, 1996)Google Scholar, xv, 23–5.

8 This process is charted in Prevenier, W., ‘Het Brugse Vrije en de Leden van Vlaanderen’, Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis te Brugge 96 (1959), 5–19Google Scholar. See also Prevenier, W., De Leden en Staten van Vlaanderen (1384–1405) (Brussels, 1961), 41–5Google Scholar, 103–6, 276–7; and Prevenier, W., ‘Réalité et histoire: le quatrième Membre de Flandre’, Revue du Nord 43 (1961), 5–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 10. Compare with Blockmans, W., De volksvertegenwoordiging in Vlaanderen in de overgang van Middeleeuwen naar Nieuwe Tijden (1384–1506) (Brussels, 1978), 118–19Google Scholar, 126–7.

9 The seminal publication on this topic is Menant, F. and Jessenne, J.-P., ‘Introduction’, in Menant, F. and Jessenne, J.-P. eds., Les élites rurales dans l'Europe médiévale et moderne (Actes des XXVIIes Journées Internationales d'Histoire de l'Abbaye de Flaran; 9, 10, 11 septembre 2005) (Toulouse, 2007), 7–52Google Scholar, esp. 8–10, 14–7 and 23, which also provides an extensive bibliographical survey of postwar scholarship on rural elites. See also the contributions of L. Feller, M. Kaplan and C. Picard, ‘Avant-propos’; and Cammarosano, P., ‘Introduction’, in Mélanges de l’École française de Rome – Moyen Âge: élites rurales méditerranéennes au Moyen Âge 142 (2012), esp. 1–3Google Scholar and 10, 22, 26, 28.

10 For a recent discussion, see F. Aparisi Romero and V. Royo Pérez, ‘Fractures in the community: a historiographical review’ and C. Dyer, ‘Conclusions’, both in Aparisi, F. and Royo, V. eds., Beyond lords and peasants. Rural elites and economic differentiation in pre-modern Europe (Valencia, 2014), esp. 21–36Google Scholar and 248–51.

11 See Menant and Jessenne, ‘Introduction’, 8–10; and Cammarosano, ‘Introduction’, 28. The importance of modernisation theory for postwar historiography is more generally discussed in Iggers, G., Historiography in the twentieth century. From scientific objectivity to the postmodern challenge (Middletown, 2005), 65–7Google Scholar.

12 For an incisive historiographical survey which gives special attention to modernisation theory, see Jones, P. M., ‘Georges Lefebvre and the peasant revolution: fifty years on’, French Historical Studies 16 (1990), 645–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 For a general introduction, see in particular van Bavel, B., Manors and markets. Economy and society in the Low Countries, 500–1600 (Oxford, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The specific studies for the Liberty are cited below in footnote 28.

14 For a comparative discussion of the limited importance of village institutions in coastal Flanders, see Dombrecht, K., Van Onacker, E., Masure, H., Ryckbosch, W., Soens, T. and Thoen, E., ‘The regional differences of office holding by rural elites’, in Freist, D. and Schmekel, F. eds., Hinter dem Horizont. Projection und Distinktion ländlicher Oberschichten im europaïschen Vergleich, 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert (Munster, 2013), 213–24Google Scholar.

15 Prevenier, W., ‘La démographie des villes du comté de Flandre aux XIVième et XVième siècles. État de la question. Essai d'interpretation’, Revue du Nord 65 (1983), 265–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The towns situated in the Liberty are not included in this analysis. The author assumed that every household represented on average five individuals to analyse the so-called denombrements de foyer. With a more conservative multiplication factor of four, the Liberty would have had about 75,000 inhabitants.

16 Buntinx, W., ‘De enquête van Oudenburg. Hervorming van de repartitie van de beden in het graafschap Vlaanderen (1408)’, Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis 134 (1968), 75–138Google Scholar. Prior to 1408, the fiscal importance of the Liberty was even higher.

17 The point of departure for this analysis is Bruges City Archives, Bruges, Fonds Vandewalle, nr. 519 (feudal register ‘Burg van Brugge’ dating to 1501), which has been complemented with the primary sources listed in Buylaert, F., Repertorium van de Vlaamse adel (ca. 1350–ca. 1500) (Ghent, 2011), esp. 827–37Google Scholar, as well as with the data from earlier attempts to survey the Flemish seigniories through the perusal of a wide range of sources, ranging from feudal registers and family archives to charter collections. See Van den Bussche, E., ‘Les seigneuries de la cour féodale du Bourg de Bruges’, La Flandre 16 (1885), 57–76Google Scholar; De Limburg-Stirum, H. ed., ‘Chanoine de Joigny. Manuscrit relatif aux seigneuries de Flandre’, Handelingen van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Oudenaarde 7 (1926), 305–84Google Scholar; 8 (1927), 31–96, 165–80, 245–64, 265–80; and De Ghellinck Vaernewyck, A. ed., ‘Les seigneuries de la Flandre’, Annales du Cercle Archéologique et Historique d'Audenarde 9 (1935) 71–96Google Scholar, 175–226.

18 Qualitative evidence makes clear that in late medieval Flanders, the lordship encapsulated in a seigniory was in fact a key constituent of nobility, so that the results for the survey of seigniories of 1501 are very likely to be representative of the entire medieval era. For an extensive discussion, see Buylaert, F., De Clercq, W. and Dumolyn, J., ‘Sumptuary legislation, material culture and the semiotics of “vivre noblement” in the county of Flanders (14th–16th centuries)’, Social History 36, 4 (2011), 393–417CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 406–14.

19 The marriage patterns of the Flemish nobility are discussed in Buylaert, F., Eeuwen van ambitie. De adel in laatmiddeleeuws Vlaanderen (Brussels, 2010)Google Scholar.

20 This was typical for many pre-modern elites: see Menjot, D., ‘La classe dominante des villes de l'occident méditerranéen’, in Montalvo, J. H. and Nadal, J. P. eds., 1490 en el umbral de la modernidad: el Mediterráneo europeo y las ciudades en el tránsito de los siglos XV–XVI (Valencia, 1994)Google Scholar, 186.

21 For this institution, see Inghelbrecht, L., ‘The General Assembly of the Liberty of Bruges (1505–1770)’, in Martyn, G., Vermeir, R. and Vancoppenolle, C. eds., Intermediate institutions in the county of Flanders in the late middle ages and the early modern era (Brussels, 2012), 61–7Google Scholar.

22 Gilliodts-Van Severen, L. ed., Coutumes des pays et comté de Flandre. Coutume du Franc de Bruges. Coutumes des petites villes et seigneuries enclavées II (Brussels, 1879), 74–106Google Scholar and 106–7.

23 For example, the aldermen in Ypres were renewed annually from 1209 onwards. In Ghent the annual renewal of aldermen rule was first instated in 1212, suspended in 1228 and re-established in 1301. In the city of Bruges the annual renewal of aldermen was first implemented in 1241, and in the castellany of Furnes it was introduced in 1266. The castellany of the Liberty, conversely, saw the appointment for life of the aldermen confirmed in 1230.

24 An alderman could also be dismissed for corruption, but this was an uncommon occurrence. For a more extensive discussion of the recruitment procedures, see E. Warlop, ‘Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis der vorming van het Brugse Vrije. Bronnen, gebied, instellingen’ (unpublished MA thesis, Ghent University, 1958).

25 F. Buylaert and J. Braekevelt, ‘Rural political elites and social networks in late medieval Flanders: the castellany of Furnes’, in Martyn, Vermeir and Vancoppenolle, Intermediate institutions in the county of Flanders, 97–103.

26 For reasons of space, it is not possible to provide the reader with a full survey of all the sources used to reconstruct the research population, but such a survey will be included in the forthcoming doctoral dissertation of Andy Ramandt (Ghent University). The reconstruction of the Council of aldermen of the castellany of Furnes and a source survey is published in Donche, P. A., Schepenen-keurheren van Veurne-ambacht, 1240–1586 (Berchem, 2006)Google Scholar. For Furnes, the degree of reconstruction of the lists of aldermen oscillates between 41 per cent of the number of seats that was theoretically available for 1376–1400 and 78 per cent for 1426–1500 (see Buylaert and Braekevelt, ‘Rural political elites’, 93).

27 This phrase was coined for the Liberty by Warlop, ‘Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis der vorming van het Brugse Vrije’, 137–41.

28 The shifting property relations within the Liberty are extensively discussed in Thoen, E., ‘Social agrosystems as an economic concept to explain regional differences. An essay taking the former county of Flanders as an example’, in van Bavel, B. and Hoppenbrouwers, P. eds., Landholding and land transfer in the North Sea area (late middle ages–19th century) (Turnhout, 2004), 47–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Soens, T., De spade in de dijk? Waterbeheer en rurale samenleving in de Vlaamse kustvlakte (1280–1580) (Ghent, 2009), 73–105Google Scholar.

29 See also Ramandt, A., ‘Kastelen en walsites in het Brugse Vrije tijdens de late middeleeuwen (ca. 1350–1500)’, Handelingen van het genootschap voor geschiedenis te Brugge 148 (2011), 87–138CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A more extended analysis will be included in the forthcoming doctoral dissertation of Andy Ramandt.

30 Blockmans, Volksvertegenwoordiging in Vlaanderen, 89, 132.

31 For a survey, see Prevenier, ‘Le quatrième Membre de Flandre’.

32 Gilliodts-Van Severen, Coutumes des pays et comté de Flandre. Coutume du Franc de Bruges II, 74–106 and 106–7.

33 Huys, E., ‘Kasselrij van het Brugse Vrije (ca. 1000–1795)’, in Prevenier, W. and Augustyn, B. eds., De gewestelijke en lokale overheidsinstellingen in Vlaanderen tot 1795 (Brussels, 1997), 464–7Google Scholar.

34 Buylaert, De Clercq and Dumolyn, ‘Sumptuary legislation’, 410–14.

35 From c.1500 onwards, the composition of the Flemish nobility has not been fully charted, so the estimate that 50.7 per cent of the aldermen in 1501–1525 belonged to the nobility should be taken as a minimum figure.

36 See Te Brake, W. H., A plague of insurrection. Popular politics and peasant revolt in Flanders, 1323–1328 (Philadelphia, 1993)Google Scholar; and Sabbe, J., Vlaanderen in opstand, 1323–1328 (Bruges, 1993)Google Scholar.

37 Blockmans, W., ‘The Low Countries in the middle ages’, in Bonney, R. ed., The rise of the fiscal state in Europe, ca. 1200–1815 (Oxford, 1999), 289–90Google Scholar.

38 Buylaert and Braekevelt, ‘Rural political elites’, 105.

39 The castellany of Furnes also saw a shift in property relations in which small freeholding peasants lost out to large-scale farmers. See Vandewalle, P., De geschiedenis van de landbouw in de kasselrij Veurne (Brussels, 1986), 116–17Google Scholar, 120–2, 383, 387–8.

40 This is suggested by the exceptionally well-documented case study of Dudzele: in this village, the portion of land owned by noblemen rose from 9 per cent in 1447 to 22 per cent in 1567–1577: K. Dombrecht, ‘Plattelandsgemeenschappen, lokale elites en ongelijkheid in het Vlaamse kustgebied (14de–16de eeuw). Case-study: Dudzele’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ghent University, 2014), 88–90.

41 Soens, T., ‘Polders zonder poldermodel. Een onderzoek naar de rol van inspraak en overleg in de waterstaat van de laatmiddeleeuwse Vlaamse kustvlakte (1250–1600)’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 3 (2006), 3–36Google Scholar, esp. 33.

42 For a detailed example, see Braekevelt, J., Pieter Bladelin, de Rijselse Rekenkamer en de stichting van Middelburg-in-Vlaanderen (ca. 1444–1472) (Brussels, 2012)Google Scholar.

43 Vorsterman, W. ed., Dits die excellente cronike van Vlaenderen (Antwerp, 1531)Google Scholar, fo. 180 v.

44 Cited in Priem, F. and Delepierre, O., Précis analytique des documents que renferme le dépot des archives de la Flandre Occidentale à Bruges VII (Bruges, 1840–1842/1850)Google Scholar, 160. For 1488, see Vorsterman, Dits die excellente cronike, fo. 229 v.

45 For feudal law as a constituent of elite formation, see Heirbaut, D., Over lenen en families (ca. 1000–1305). Een studie over de vroegste geschiedenis van het zakelijk leenrecht in het graafschap Vlaanderen (Brussels, 2000)Google Scholar.

46 This process is studied in detail in Van Rompaey, J., Het grafelijk baljuwsambt in Vlaanderen tijdens de Bourgondische periode (Brussels, 1967), 144–7Google Scholar, 343–4 and 386–7.

47 Brussels State Archives, Brussels, Inventaire des archives des Chambres des Comptes, nr. 42576, fo. 1 r-8 r.

48 For this example, see J. Braekevelt, ‘Un prince de justice: vorstelijke wetgeving, soevereiniteit en staatsvorming in het graafschap Vlaanderen tijdens de regering van Filips de Goede (1419–1467)’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ghent University, 2013), 1141–3.

49 In 1444, for example, the four burgomasters of the Liberty were pressed into lending the sum of 8,000 écus to the Duke (Archives Départementales du Nord, Lille, B1982, fo. 112 r.). For the political ideology of the nobility, see Schreiner, K., ‘Religiöse, historische und rechtliche Legitimation spätmittelalterlicher Adelsherrschaft’, in Oexle, O. G. and Paravicini, W. eds., Nobilitas. Funktion und Repräsentation des Adels in Alteuropa (Göttingen, 1997), 376–430Google Scholar.

50 De L'Espinoy, Ph., Recherche des antiquitez et noblesse de Flandres (Douai, 1631)Google Scholar, 119, 300; De Herckenrode, J. S. F. L. ed., R. De Vegiano. Nobiliaire des Pays-Bas et du comté de Bourgogne (Ghent, 1865–1876)Google Scholar, 444, 855; and Gilliodts-Van Severen, L. ed., Coutume des pays et comté de Flandre. Coutume du Bourg de Bruges I (Brussels, 1883)Google Scholar, 100.

51 For an introduction to conflict management among Flemish elites, see Buylaert, F., ‘Gestion de vengeances et conflits privés de l’élite de Gand à la fin du Moyen Âge’, Revue du Nord 94 (2012), 805–25Google Scholar.

52 The changing relations between the nobility and urban society are discussed more extensively in Buylaert, F., ‘Lordship, urbanization and social change in late medieval Flanders’, Past and Present 227 (2015), 1–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Devliegher, L., ‘De gebouwen van het Brugse Vrije’, in Devliegher, L. ed., De Keizer Karel-schouw van het Brugse Vrije. Kunstpatrimonium van West-Vlaanderen (Tielt, 1987)Google Scholar, 10, 15–39.

54 The surviving records are gathered in a computerised database accessible at the Bruges City Archives.

55 Wealthy citizens of the leading cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres invested in rural properties from the second half of the thirteenth century onwards. See Thoen, E., Landbouweconomie en bevolking in Vlaanderen gedurende de late Middeleeuwen en het begin van de Moderne Tijden. Testregio: de kasselrijen van Oudenaarde en Aalst (eind 13de–eerste helft 16de eeuw) (Ghent, 1988), 512–21Google Scholar.

56 The evidence will be discussed in full in the forthcoming doctoral dissertation of Andy Ramandt (Ghent University).

57 Discussed in Buylaert, F., ‘Sociale mobiliteit bij stedelijke elites in laatmiddeleeuws Vlaanderen. Een gevalstudie over de Vlaamse familie De Baenst’, Jaarboek voor Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis 8 (2005), 201–51Google Scholar.

58 See the synthetic observations in Dyer, ‘Conclusions’, 253–5.

59 A clear example is discussed in Dombrecht, ‘Plattelandsgemeenschappen’, 1–2.