A01=David Nicholas
Author_David Nicholas
Bruges
Category=KCZ
Category=NHD
elite family dynamics
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Flemish urbanisation economic transformation
grain trade networks
marriage
medieval economic history
rural urban interactions
Settlement
urban social structure
vendetta conflict studies
Product details
- ISBN 9780860785859
- Weight: 810g
- Dimensions: 150 x 224mm
- Publication Date: 22 Aug 1996
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Flanders, best known for its large cities and export-grade woollen cloth, is the setting for these articles. Professor Nicholas here emphasises the region's broader importance in the economy of medieval Europe as a focus of demand for grain and industrial raw materials. Imports to supply the bloated internal markets were more important in establishing the Flemish cities and creating the capital base of their elites than were cloth exports, which by the 14th century were being undercut by competitors from England and Brabant. The second part of the book looks at the turbulent domestic politics of the Flemish cities, conditioned by a network of nuclear and extended families whose personal antagonisms and heightened consciousness of honour led to decimating vendettas of a severity once associated mainly with Italy. It also examines the mix of urban and rural interests that characterised the elite, showing for instance that the famous van Arteveldes were as noteworthy in the swamps of northeastern Flanders as in the streets of Ghent.
David Nicholas, Clemson University, USA
