The Invention of Homicide: Crime, Honor, and Spectacular Justice in Late Medieval Flanders
How people thought about homicide in fifteenth-century Flanders, and how changes in the perception of killing over time impacted judicial practice.
New Medieval Exhibition at Dutch museum to focus on the year 1000
This month, the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden) is going back in time over a thousand years with the exhibition ‘The Year 1000’. Over 400 items from the Netherlands and beyond will be on display.
The Battle of Othée (1408)
When the citizens of Liege go into revolt, they believe that they can fend off the armies of the nobles. Then they go up against John the Fearless and his professionally-trained Burgundian forces.
Siege of Tournai (1340)
After his victory at the Battle of Sluys, Edward III leads a coalition of England, Flanders, Hainaut, Brabant and the Holy Roman Empire against the French city of Tournai. In this episode of Bow & Blade, Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries tell us about a siege involving complex alliances, starvation and the money problems of a medieval ruler.
Medieval treasure trove discovered in the Netherlands
Gold jewellery and silver coins, some dating back to the 11th century, have been discovered in Hoogwoud, a town in The Netherlands. They are now on display at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden).
New Medieval Books: The Fabric of the City: A Social History of Cloth Manufacture in Medieval Ypres
This is a very interesting book if you want to know more about how business and trade worked in the Middle Ages. It covers a full range of individuals and groups involved in this industry, from the owners to the workers, including some case studies.
Old Barrels and Networks of Trade
How urban and marine archaeology allows us to dive into medieval international commerce.
The Battle of Courtrai (1302)
Also known as the Battle of the Golden Spurs, it would see the people of Flanders defeat a French army in the year 1302. In this episode of Bow and Blade, Michael and Kelly look at the battle and war behind it, and how the Flemish infantry could stand up to the French cavalry.
Commoners at War: The Flemings against medieval knights
The Flemings and their wars offer a useful case study of commoners at war.
‘The Worthiest Man’: The story of Count Philip I of Flanders
Philip I Count of Flanders was one of the most controversial nobles in twelfth-century France. His choleric temperament was equaled only by his reputation in many historical and literary works. Where he went, trouble and greatness followed.
Why did Bruges get a porpoise each year?
For about three centuries, the coastal town of Blankenberge would send to the nearby city of Bruges a porpoise. A new study examines this tradition and why it happened.
Uncovering the people who lived in medieval Ypres
Unique research into skeletons from the 13th century aims to determine health status, origin and lifestyle
213 medieval manuscripts now online, thanks to KBR
You can now browse through 213 medieval manuscripts, including Roman de Girart de Nevers, the Peterborough Psalter and the Chroniques de Hainaut, thanks to the Royal Library of Belgium, which is now known as KBR.
Filthy and indecent words: Insults, defamation, and urban politics in the southern Low Countries (1300-1550)
In 1527, the Bruges fishmonger Thomas Haghebaert shouted at the governors of his guild: ‘I will have nothing to do with you or the magistracy. I sh*t on you and on the aldermen and on all those who think they can harm me!’
Scientists discover secrets of medieval beers
The DNA analysis of these yeasts showed how these specific hybrids originated in medieval Germany and later spread across different European breweries as the pilsner beers grew more popular.
The Forgotten Battle of Bevershoutsveld, May 3, 1382: Technological Innovation and Military Significance
It may have been at Bevershoutsveld where gunpowder weapons first decided the outcome of a battle.
How the borders of the Low Countries changed in the Middle Ages
The lands of the Low Countries – today’s Belgium andThe Netherlands – would change both politically and physically during the Middle Ages. Here are six videos to explain how.
16th century ship discovered off the coast of The Netherlands
Researchers have found a shipwreck off the coast of the Netherlands from the early 16th century – the oldest find of a seafaring ship in Dutch waters ever.
The ‘Van Boschuysen Affair’ in Leyden: Conflicts between Elite Networks in Late Medieval Holland
The 1480s were a turbulent age in the city of Leyden in the county of Holland.
The town, the duke, his courtiers and their tournament: A spectacle in Brussels, 4-7 May 1439
From 4 to 7 May 1439 a massive tournament (235 participants) was organized at the Grote Markt in Brussels, in which the Burgundian duke Philip the Good himself participated.
A Murder, a Siege, and Too Many Successors: How Flanders descended into Civil War in 1127
Read the Introduction to Medieval Warfare magazine’s Issue VII:5 – The murder of Charles the Good.
“Flanders was empty and uncultivated and heavily wooded”: Historiography as Urban Resource in the Twelfth Century
This sentence tells us little about the actual beginnings of the county of Flanders but it does tell us something about the way Lambert imagined the beginnings of the county in the first part of the twelfth century.
Severity and Selectivity of the Black Death and Recurring Plague in the Southern Netherlands (1349-1450)
This paper offers a newly-compiled database of 25,610 individuals that died between 1349-1450 in the County of Hainaut to test a number of assumptions on the selectivity and severity of late medieval plague outbreaks.
Textile entrepreneurs and textile workers in the medieval city
What made the southern Low Countries in the Middle Ages unique in a European perspective was the weight of the region as an export-oriented industrial area.