"Criers and shouters": The Discourse on Radical Urban Rebels in Late Medieval Flanders

Abstract

In the majority of the narrative sources concerning late medieval Flanders and Brabant we encounter very negative descriptions of rebels. They were often referred to as 'mutineers' or as 'the bad' or 'the evil'. Rebels were attributed the vices of irrationality, foolishness, stubbornness and pride, or they were considered as spineless followers of conspiring demagogues. The often spontaneous character of their actions was thus misjudged by the chroniclers. A rather specific discourse on urban rebels, who were often from the lowest classes of urban society, included the terms 'shouters' and 'criers'. Shouting and crying was associated with the acts of mobilization and agitation that could start a revolt. It was a repertoire used by those rebels who could not count on formal political representation to fulfill their demands.