‎Bram Caers, Lisa Demets, Tineke Van Gassen (eds)‎
‎Urban History Writing in Northwest Europe (15th-16th centuries)‎

‎, Brepols, 2019 Hardback, 231 pages, Size:178 x 254 mm, Illustrations:20 b/w, 6 tables b/w., Language: English. ISBN 9782503583761.‎

Reference : 65965

‎Summary This volume aims at taking the first steps towards a revaluation of urban historiography in Northwest Europe, including rather than excluding texts that do not fit common definitions. It confronts examples from the Low Countries to well-studied cases abroad, in order to develop new approaches to urban historiography in general. In the authors' view, there are no fixed textual formats, social or political categories, or material forms that exclusively define 'the urban chronicle'. Urban historiography in pre-modern Western Europe came in many guises, from the dry and modest historical notes in a guild register, to the elaborate heraldic images in a luxury manuscript made on commission for a patrician family, to the legally founded political narrative of a professional scribe in an official town chronicle. The contributions in this volume attest to the diversity of the 'genre' and look more closely at these texts from a broader, comparative perspective, unrestrained by typologies and genre definitions. It is mainly because of these hybrid guises, that many examples of urban historiography from the Low Countries for instance succeeded in going unnoticed for a considerable amount of time. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Jan Dumolyn and Anne-Laure Van Bruaene [Both University of Ghent] - Urban Historiography in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe Chapter 1: Questioning genre and typologies Marco Tomaszewski [University of Freiburg] - Constructing Urban Historiography. The Edition Basler Chroniken and the Beinheim Manuscript Ina Serif [University of Freiburg] - Urban chronicles - urban consciousness? On the chronicle of Jakob Twinger von Königshofen in new codicological contexts Jenine de Vries [University of Durham] - It's not just about chronicles. The variety of forms of historical writing in late medieval towns in England and the Southern Low Countries. Paul Trio [KU Leuven] - Ypres as a historiographical breeding ground in late medieval Flanders. Origin and interconnectedness of urban and regional historiography Chapter 2: The memory of conflict: the social and political context of urban historiography Laura Crombie [University of York] - Records and rumours from Tournai; Jehan Nicolay's account of a town at war and the construction of memory Tineke Van Gassen [University of Ghent] - The Diary of Ghent: between urban politics and late medieval historiography Bram Caers and Lisa Demets [University of Antwerp/University of Utrecht; and University of Ghent] - Opposing reports on loyalty and rebellion. Urban history writing in late medieval Bruges and Mechelen Chapter 3: Materiality and mixed media Marcus Meer [University of Durham] - Heraldry, Historiography and Urban Identity in Late Medieval Augsburg. The Cronographia Augustensium and the Gossembrot Armorial Peter Bakker [VU Amsterdam] - The origin and purpose of the town chronicles of the city Kampen Louise Vermeersch [KU Leuven] - Printed Almanacs: a Popular Medium for Urban Historiography and Religious Dissent?‎