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C19

Wolfgang Cortjaens
Amis gothiques - Der Briefwechsel von August Reichensperger und Jean-Baptiste Bethune, 1858-1891, Brussel, 2011, xxii-239 p.
42 €
Summary

Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Bulletin de la Commission royale d’Histoire, 2011 (177), 331 p.

• Florence Close, La charte de Richer de Liège du 16 novembre 932. Une copie historique à réhabiliter, p. 5-20.

  On 16 November 932, Richer, bishop of Liège, devoted an altar to the Saint Trinity in Liège’s St. Lambert’s Cathedral and lavishly decorated it, a decision he recorded in writing. We obtained the foundation charter as an isolated historical copy, inserted into the Gesta episcoporum Tungrensium et Leodiensium from the Anselm of Liège canon. The article stresses the interest of this document as much for the history of the chancellery of Liège as for the Carolingian religious reform in the Lotharingian space. It has as an annex a new critical edition of the document, established based on a confrontation of seven copies divided into two classes according to a typology different from that of R. Koepke, editor of the Anselm chronicle for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

• Bert Verwerft, Een blauwdruk van het Bourgondische beleid in het graafschap Vlaanderen: de regentschapsinstructie van 1387, p. 21-44.

  Preoccupied with the politics at the royal court of Charles VI of France, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and count of Flanders, appointed his nephew William of Namur, lord of Bethune, as Governor of Flanders, Antwerp and Mechelen with a special commission issued on 31 August 1387. Strikingly, the chancery of Philip the Bold also included a political memorandum to William of Namur, which specified the administrative, judicial and military authority of the governor. This set of instructions is important, because it highlights the political concerns of the ducal government in Flanders. Faced with a number of urgent problems, this statement suggested strong and explicit measures against favoritism in the election of the magistrates and against fraudulent practices of princely officials. Furthermore, the document urges the governor to react against the negligence of military and civilian duties, against the pursuit of political autonomy by the Flemish subjects and to arbitrate sensitive disputes within Flemish society. As such, this document provides a valuable inside perspective from the burgeoning administration of the Burgundian Low Countries.

• Véronique Flammang & Maria Van Eeckenrode, Le Jardinet de Hainaut : essai de typologie et clés d’interprétation (XVI^e - XVIII^e siècles). Mise en scène d’un comté lors des inaugurations princières en Hainaut, p. 45-80.

  The Jardinets de Hainaut (Small Gardens of Hainault) are heraldic representations of this county that present in different forms: theatrical stagings, poems, engravings, etc. The present article intends to retrace the tradition of these «jardinets» from their beginnings in the 14^th-15^th century until the end of the Ancien Régime. The very formalised structure of this heraldic and political representation of a principality shall be analysed in order to clearly identify the reasons for which they exist and their meaning. A few characteristic examples of «jardinets» shall then be presented with particular focus on representations of the inaugurations of the counts of Hainault, backed by text editions.

• Michael Depreter, L’artillerie de Charles le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne (1467-1477). Reflets des réformes d’un prince, p. 81-154.

  Although the dukes of Burgundy kept independent accounts of their artillery-expenses since 1458, they have all but one been destroyed during the French Revolution. Nevertheless, a significant number of documents related to the daily administration of the artillery has been preserved at the Archives départementales du Nord (Lille). Particularly well represented is the reign of Charles the Bold, which probably, and at least partly, is due to the accusations of fraud and corruption his receiver had to deal with. Anyway, the documents edited here, which are only a selection from these rich archives, bear witness to the desire of this prince to modernize his artillery, as well as to some difficulties he encountered while doing so. Considered from the administrative and decisional point of view, the documents show us the prince and his staff at work and could be useful for research in different fields: economy, finance, techniques, military organization, prosopography, etc. Only a glimpse of the richness of this, mainly unstudied, source material…

• Claude Bruneel, La pratique du théâtre à Lessines et dans les campagnes du Hainaut septentrional. L’interdiction des autorités en 1786-1788, p. 155-181.

  In the Hainaut after 1760, theatrical performances organised by rural youth seemed to have won public favour. Often, they would also gain approval from local authorities. On the other hand, once they were questioned, guardians, fiscal lawyers, the provincial council and central government were just as much resolute partisans of forbidding this entertainment, with concern for security and public order regularly invoked. Superfluous spending, the risk of costly court cases, the danger to public order as servants would blackmail their masters to participate in the show are arguments considered to be pertinent. The range of objections relies on a well-anchored conviction of the uselessness of the practice. However, what has been judged harmful for people from the countryside seemed to be a necessity for city dwellers, the private council believed, to the point of suggesting that the performances continue during lent. The paradox is apparent: again, it is the notion of opportunity that inspires the decision. In a city such as Brussels, theatre imposes itself like an adequate derivative to protect turbulent youth from more dangerous temptations. It also offers the means to attract strangers, especially the English, and install them in the capital for the greater good of local commerce, while waiting for the opening of the Spa bath season.

• Michel Vermote, Achter de schermen van de Belgische Werkliedenpartij. De verslagen van Bureau en Algemene Raad 1892-1940. Historiek en duiding als bron, p. 183-260.

  This contribution gives first of all an interpretation to the consultation of the minutes (1892-1940) of the central administrative bodies of the Belgian Workers’ Party (BWP). A unique set of sources that - after digitizing - is made available on the Internet for historical research.
  The archival explanation including the study of the functioning of the Bureau and the General Council of the BWP provides an insight into the institutional development of the socialist party before World War II. An administrative history that until now has remained curiously neglected.
  The reports provide a fairly complete and incisive view on the internal functioning of the BWP. The source is at its strongest in the period before World War I and after 1933 (due to stenographic reporting). But it concerns on the whole a primary historical source for the study of a political party of the social democratic type.

• Sessions and reports 2010, p. 265-331.

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