In tbegonsel so maket si vergaderinghe. Een middeleeuws verzetsrepertoire in de klachten over en de verslagen van het grafelijk onderzoek naar de opstand in Aardenburg in 1311

Abstract

This publication sketches the characteristics of the repertoire of resistance that late medieval city dwellers had at their disposal during revolts. Based on two letters and two research reports written during and after a revolt in Aardenburg in 1311, this article examines what tactics city dwellers used for their resistance in the early fourteenth century and how urban and princely administration tried to curb that resistance. While research into revolts in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries is often based on charters of the count or narrative chronicles, the documents published here offer a unique and rare insight into the practical workings of the Aardenburg revolt. Their study shows that the rebels used well thought-out and well-known tactics for their resistance, trying to undermine the existing city government and appointing an alternative administration. Moreover, the repertoire of resistance bears great resemblance to revolts from later centuries. In short, the article shows that late medieval city dwellers had an extensive arsenal of strategies at their disposal to carry out their revolts and that some of these strategies, contrary to what is often assumed, have roots in older periods prior to the corporative period.