Pendant la hausse et la décadence de Bruges médiéval, une extension portuaire vers la mer du Nord était enchaîné, poldérisé et flanqué avec des canaux, des digues et des avant-ports. Ainsi, on créait un paysage historique ce qui est marqué par la interaction dynamique entre l’homme et la nature. L’objective de cette contribution est de reproduire une critique sur les approches précédents et courants à propos l’évolution du port médiéval de Bruges. Premièrement, presque 150 ans d’étude étaient subdivisés en quatre phases caractéristiques afin de construire un aperçu général. Puis, deux éléments du paysage étaient examinés en détail afin d’exposer les déficits spécifiques de la recherche jusqu’à présent. Cette étude révèle que le débat sur le Zwin est obsolète parce qu’il ne tenait pas compte des tendances et des techniques modernes. En plus, il montre que l’histoire du paysage régional n’est pas interprété selon les résultats courants de la géomorphologie et d’archéologie.

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In this article we aim to make a case for a renewed attention to the structural social and political processes that influenced changes in early modern levels of inequality. We argue that early modern changes in inequality were not solely, or even primarily, determined by (exogenous) demographic trends and macro-economic growth, but by structural changes in the (political) economy of early modern society. By studying a micro-level case-study of inequality during a period of intense change in economic structure, this article aims to reconcile such traditional interpretations with the recent historiography on early modern inequality.

Metropolis and Hinterland? A Comment on the Role of Rural Economy and Society in the Urban Heart of the Medieval Low Countries 1 tim soens, eline van onacker and kristof dombrecht Urbanity was a distinguishing feature of the medieval Low Countries, but even in its most urbanised core a majority of the population continued to live outside the city walls. In his new and encompassing synthesis of the history of the Low Countries in the later Middle Ages, Wim Blockmans emphasises the fundamental intertwining of urban and rural societies in this region, but also the existing historiographical gap between urban and rural historians. This contribution pleads for a reconsideration of the impact of urbanisation and urbanity on rural society as a whole, exemplified for instance, by the role of urban demand as a driving force in the rural economy or by the spread of an 'urban-modelled' civic life beyond the city walls. Although every village community was in one way or another connected to the urban world, villages were not entirely shaped by the latter and striking regional differences in both economic development, social cohesion and political organisation persisted well beyond the medieval period. In order to explain these differences the endogenous dynamics of rural societies have to be taken into account. Introduction: the urban shadow With his recent book, Metropolen aan de Noordzee, Wim Blockmans truly has created a monument for the urban society of the Low Countries in the later Middle Ages. According to Blockmans, 'urbanity' became the dominant feature of this region. It was urban, merchant capitalism that steered its economy, always looking for higher profits and favourable market conditions.