From periphery to centre and back again : elite transformations in Mechelen (14th-16th centuries)

Ondertitel:From periphery to centre and back again : elite transformations in Mechelen (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries)

This article explores the social history of the political elites of Mechelen, a town that evolved from a seigneurial enclave within the duchy of Brabant to the de facto capital of the Burgundian-Habsburg Low Countries between the 1470s and 1530. Proceeding from a quantitative analysis of lists of aldermen, fiscal registers and epitaphs, the article argues that the short-lived functioning of Mechelen as a capital city had great impact on its ruling classes. Mechelen was traditionally ruled by a coalition of craft guilds and prominent citizens, but the latter reoriented their social networks to the court elite, as the latter's presence supercharged pre-existing trends towards ennoblement among the urban elite.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Closed