Suchergebnisse

Historical Research into the Nobility during the Late Mediaeval and Early Modern Period in Belgium and the Netherlands: A SnapshotThis introduction to a special issue on the history of the nobility in the Netherlands and Belgium gives a 'snap-shot' of the subject in two different ways. On the one hand, the collected essays demonstrate the state-of-the-art in the research carried out in 2008 on the nobility, on the other, they focus on the mediaeval and early modern periods. The major themes and problems of this historiographical tradition are evoked, emerging from the study outlined in another special issue of a historical journal, the Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis of 1980, which looked at perspectives for future research. This introduction mainly examines the methods used by historians to confront inevitable questions such as: 'What exactly is the nobility?' and 'How can this historical phenomenon be situated within processes and historical movements such as economic structures and conjunctures, social mobility and political centralization and decentralization?'

The late Middle Ages witnessed the transformation of the county of Holland from a peripheral agrarian region to a highly commercialised and urbanised one. This book examines how the organisation of commodity markets contributed to this remarkable development. Comparing Holland to England and Flanders, the book shows that Holland's specific history of reclamation and settlement had given rise to a favourable balance of powers between state, nobility, towns and rural communities that reduced opportunities for rent-seeking and favoured the rise of efficient markets. This allowed burghers, peasants and fishermen to take full advantage of new opportunities presented by changing economic and ecological circumstances in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.

Provides an introduction to "Ancrene Wisse", one of the most important works in English of the thirteenth century. This book offers a fresh contextualisation which engages with the history of lay piety and vernacular spirituality in the Middle Ages. This book is innovative in that it provides an introduction to "Ancrene Wisse", one of the most important works in English of the thirteenth century. It offers a new contextualisation which engages with the history of lay piety and vernacular spirituality in the Middle Ages, thus extending analysis of the book beyond its original purpose as a guide for anchoresses. The placing of "Ancrene Wisse" within this context also allows comparisons to be made with other literature for semi-regular women, such as sermons preached to beguines - semi-religious women who formed communities in the Low Countries and France in the High Middle Ages.