Urban Space and Political Con ict in Late Medieval Flanders ed it o r s' in t r o d u c t io n This essay investigates political claims over space in Ghent, urban Flanders' largest city during the late Middle Ages. Distancing itself from the long tradition in which the Low Countries' urban history deciphered city life principally through market relations, it argues for the independent importance of political culture. Political contests were enacted through rituals of rulership and authority performed, rst, by members of the commune in the high Middle Ages and then by the politically enfranchised urban members and the Burgundian princes. Ritual space-iconic spaces-were not just the site of the contests but also the prizes. The goal was possession of these spaces and the symbols of power they bequeathed. The late medieval period was a key crucible for the formation of urban space. As important as economic life was to Low Country cities like Ghent, the market did not determine spatial arrangements so much as intersect with a set of political valences forged out of political contests between urban factions and the emerging composite state of the Burgundian Netherlands. U RB AN SPACE IN L AT E M EDIEVAL FL ANDERSWhen considering urban history in medieval Flanders, just as in adjoining areas such as the Duchy of Brabant and the Bishopric of Liège, it is tempting to paraphrase the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the word, and the word was Pirenne. Indeed, Henri Pirenne's scholarship on urban history has long dominated urban historiography throughout the Low Countries, and inspired a strong body of work in economic and political history. Pirenne was fascinated with questions of state formation, national identity, and the urban locus of early capitalism. Markets and the urban economy, he argued, were the engine behind urban development

A mesure que l'histoire sociale s'intéresse plus à l'étude des relations, l'exercice informel du pouvoir entre dans son champ de vision. La distribution de cadeaux et de faveurs pour rallier des individus et des groupes à un régime politique fait partie de ce système d'exercice du pouvoir. Ces pratiques étant connues en ce qui concerne les relations au bas moyen âge entre princes et dignitaires de cour d'une part et élites urbaines d'autre part, nous nous sommes penché ici sur ce phénomène à l'intérieur d'une ville, Gand. Durant la période considérée, Gand était la plus grande ville des Pays-Bas et incarnait le particularisme urbain. En moyenne 12 à 15% de ses dépenses administratives annuelles allaient à des cadeaux et vins- d'honneur. La recherche prosopographique nous a permis de déterminer à qui profitaient ces largesses : pour la plus grande part les bénéficiaires étaient les élites politiques et sociales locales, suivis dans une moindre mesure par les officiers subalternes et la piétaille de l'administration urbaine. Les présents remplissaient un rôle essentiel dans le maintien du régime des trois membres, bourgeoisie (poorterij), menus métiers et draperie (weverij), un régime politique urbain rendu possible par les compromis et la stabilité de l'ordre établi. A ce point que les tentatives du prince pour avoir prise sur le processus de décision politique à Gand au moyen des mêmes méthodes échouèrent totalement.

The political culture which came to the forefront in the Dutch Revolt, ultimately leading to the abjuration of Philip II of Spain, drew on two distinct traditions. The first was a tradition of practical critical evaluation of the prince's politics by the representatives of the great cities of the county of Flanders and of the duchy of Brabant; the second a more theoretical tradition of important texts elaborated in previous moments of political crisis and thus imbued with a 'constitutional' meaning. This awareness of an important medieval legacy of rebelliousness has helped to elaborate a political culture in which historical consciousness and the practical defence of concrete urban interests and values through both political stance and urban rituals merged, and were finally passed on to the following generations of burghers. The power of the prince was thus balanced by a set of values and principles which finally led to the abjuration of King Philip as a 'logical' outcome of the Revolt.

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