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This article addresses the issue of consent in abduction and elopement cases, aiming to contribute to a better understanding of marriage formation in the fifteenth-century duchy of Brabant. It challenges the division between abduction and elopement in current historiography. Whereas some historians believe in the high frequency of elopements as means for youngsters to freely choose their own spouse, I argue that socioeconomic interests motivated most abductions. Although some women certainly succeeded in influencing marital choices themselves, the abduction/elopement was not a frequently used method to oppose social norms and arranged marriages.

AbstractThis article revalorises women's protest and popular political ideas in history. A case study focusing on three cities of the Low Countries shows that not only men, but also women were involved when it came to spreading subversive ideas, undermining the authority of urban governors, and mobilising discontent. The analysis of fifteenth-century records of repression from Antwerp, Mechelen and Leuven demonstrates that both male and female commoners permanently strove to change the governmental practices in town by using contentious speech.