Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World, 1066–1216

Abstract

The union of Normandy and England in 1066 recast the political map of western Europe and marked the beginning of a new era in the region's international history. This book is a groundbreaking investigation of the relations and exchanges between the county of Flanders and the Anglo-Norman realm. Among other important themes, it examines Anglo-Flemish diplomatic treaties and fiefs, international aristocratic culture, the growth of overseas commerce, immigration into England and the construction of new social and national identities. The century and a half between the conquest of England by the duke of Normandy and the conquest of Normandy by the king of France witnessed major revolutions in European society, politics and culture. This study explores the history of England, northern France and southern Low Countries in relation to each other during this period, giving fresh perspectives to the historical development of north-western Europe in the Central Middle Ages.

The Central Town Square in Medieval Towns in the (Southern) Low Countries: Urban Life, Form, and Identity between Social Practice and Iconographic Identity

“…The emergence of towns in Flanders was indeed not the result of merchants that opposed feudal ties, as Henri Pirenne described it once (1925), but was, on the contrary, positively influenced by counts who made it their policy to encourage trade and urban development (Nichols 1997;Verhulst 1999;Loveluck and Tys 2006;Oksanen 2012;Tys, Deckers, and Wouters 2016). Feudal princes, and in particular the counts of Flanders, tried to benefit from the emerging early medi eval trade and craft specialization in coastal Flanders and elsewhere in order to accumulate means and wealth to invest in state formation (Tys 2005;Oksanen 2012). As a minimum, one can say that the princes in Flanders did not oppose merchant emancipation and that merchants actively used the infrastructure, in particular marshy areas at the gates of the fortresses, as the designed space to organize the assembly of traders and craftsmen.…”