Urban History Writing in Northwest Europe (15th-16th centuries)

• Historiography (c. 500-1500)
• Urban history (c. 500-1500)
• Medieval European history (c. 500-1500): local & regional history
• Late Middle Ages (c. 1300-1500)

“Insgesamt gesehen handelt es sich um ein sehr anregendes Buch, das zahlreiche hochinteressante Denkanstöße gibt.” (Gisela Naegle, in Francia-Recensio, 3, 2020)

“The introduction is a tour de force that should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in medieval urban history. Altogether this book is an admirable product of effective collaboration to provide stimulating ways of thinking about the manners in which we might approach the history of cities and about the diverse motivations that prompted urban inhabitants to record the past of their cities.” (Elisabeth van Houts, in Low Countries Historical Review, 136, 2021)

“The detailed index will aid the focused reader in navigating the contents efficiently and the quality of the volume’s production is high, with quality images in several of the chapters making possible the closer analysis of civic imagery and visual culture. In the final analysis, the volume does a fine job at introducing a diverse range of sources in dialects of Middle Dutch and Early New High German (…) and brings to light important and understudied materials that will be of interest to scholars interested in historical writing and historiography, memory studies, medieval and early modern civic culture and urban life. We can hope that future research in the field follows this volume’s example, and approaches the topic with the same clarity in aim, method and presentation.” (Mark Whelan, in Urban History, 48/1, 2020, p. 184)

“Altogether, the editors should be congratulated on an incredibly coherent volume. The essays move outward from a broader rethinking of historiographical approaches to specific, examinations of texts that move in a roughly chronological fashion. Further, every article in the volume engages deeply with the manuscripts using codicology, prosopography, and other oft-neglected tools to make their argument. (…) a well-executed volume that is truly in conversation with itself across articles, and which contributes to our knowledge not only of late medieval urban historiography, but its society as well.” (Bobbi Sutherland, in The Medieval Review, 22.08.21)

Bram Caers studied English and Dutch Literature at Antwerp University, and finished his PhD research in 2015, entitled 'Rewriting history in Early Modern Mechelen (1500-1650)'. His doctoral dissertation will be published by Verloren (Hilversum). He now works for Leiden University and his research interests are Middle Dutch literature, medieval urban historiographies, and the political and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Mechelen and Brabant.

Lisa Demets studied history at Ghent University. She is a PhD fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders - FWO  stationed at Ghent University. Her doctoral research deals with the late medieval Chronicles of Flanders, particularly focusing on the Middle Dutch manuscript branch: the so-called ‘Excellente Cronicke van Vlaenderen’. Her main research interests are urban history, gender history, medieval (urban) history writing, and the political and cultural history of the medieval Low Countries.

Tineke Van Gassen studied history at Ghent Univeristy and finished her PhD research in 2017. Her doctoral research project was entitled: 'The documentary memory of a medieval city: the development and signification of the Ghent city archives.' Her research interests are urban history, the history of the craft guilds, medieval diplomatics and the political history of late medieval Ghent.