The Transformation of Rural Elites in Late Medieval Flanders. Oligarchy, State Formation and Social Change in the Liberty of Bruges (ca. 1350 – ca. 1525) Vrije Universiteit Brussel Universiteit Gent
Proceeding from an in-depth analysis of the Liberty of Bruges, an important rural district in the late medieval Low Countries, this contribution frames rural elite formation by means of two debates which are seldom used in combination, namely, the debates on state building and on the commercialisation of rural society. We challenge the thesis, inspired by modernisation theory, that socio-economic transformation engendered political change in ...