DOI Artikel:
Heirbaut, Dirk,: Feudalism in the twelfth century charters of the Low Countries
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34751#0219
218
Dirk Heirbaut
much had changed. Didier published a study of feudal law in Hainault3 and
Génicot's monumental work about Namur also took feudalism into account4, but
Flanders had not been the subject of a major study5 and Didier and Génicot's
books obscure the fact that the rest of Lotharingia also remained mostly un-
studied, at least for the High Middle Ages. Ganshof did not remedy this himself
and his examples reflect the gaps in the research. Flanders, Hainault and also
Cambrai receive more than their share of attention, whereas the principalities of
the Northern Low Countries, today's Netherlands, are remarkable by their
absence (which is understandable because there are few texts about fiefs there6).
Recent research about feudalism in Lotharingia has not made many advances,
even though there are good studies about related aspects7, but feudalism in
Flanders has been explored in several Belgian Ph. D. theses8. This means that the
following pages are, for Lotharingia, anything but final and may remain too
superficial, in part also because only the charter material has been consulted.
2. Flanders and Lotharingia: neighbours at a distance
The difference between the research about Flemish and Lotharingian feudalism is
not unique, as in general the old county of Flanders is much better studied than
its Lotharingian counterparts. Several factors may explain this, but the main one
is that Flanders was way ahead of its neighbours and this is very visible in feu-
dalism. In Flanders feudalism broke through around 10009, the Lotharingian
3 Noël Didier, Le droit des fiefs dans la coutume de Hainaut au moyen âge, Paris 1945.
4 Leopold Genicot, L'Économie rurale Namuroise au bas moyen âge, Namur 1943-1982, 3 voll.
5 Cf. François Louis Ganshof, La Flandre, in: Histoire des institutions françaises au moyen âge,
ed. FERDINAND Lot/Robert Fawtier, vol. I, Paris 1957, p. 373: »On connaît fort mal ce qui a trait
aux relations féodo-vassaliques en Flandre«.
6 See e. g. below paragraph seven. Older editions of Dutch charters are sometimes misleading,
because the editors interpreted references to tenure as being feudal. See e. g. Petrus Johannes
Blok et al., Oorkondenboek van Groningen en Drente, Groningen 1896, nr. 35, p. 25 sq. (1170),
where the use of the word tenuit leads the editors to assume that this text concerns a fief.
7 An excellent article should be mentioned here: Jean-François Nieus, Du donjon au tribunal. Les
deux âges de la pairie châtelaine en France du Nord, Flandre et Lotharingie (fin Xle-XIIIe s.), in:
Moyen Âge 113, 2006, pp. 9-41, 307-336.
8 Rik Opsommer, >Omme dat leengoed es thoochste dine van der weerelh. Het leenrecht in
Viaanderen in de 14de en 15de eeuw, Brussels 1995, 2 voll.; Dirk Heirbaut, Over heren, vazallen
en graven. Het persoonlijk leenrecht in Vlaanderen, ca. 1000-1305, Brussels 1997; Dirk Heirbaut,
Over lenen en families. Het zakelijk leenrecht in Vlaanderen, ca. 1000-1305. Een Studie over de
vroegste geschiedenis van het leenrecht in het graafschap Vlaanderen, Brussels 2000. See also
Jean-François Nieus, Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France. Saint-Pol, 1000-1300, Brussels
2005.
9 HEIRBAUT, Heren (note 8), p. 25 sq.; HEIRBAUT, Lenen (note 8), pp. 46-50.
Dirk Heirbaut
much had changed. Didier published a study of feudal law in Hainault3 and
Génicot's monumental work about Namur also took feudalism into account4, but
Flanders had not been the subject of a major study5 and Didier and Génicot's
books obscure the fact that the rest of Lotharingia also remained mostly un-
studied, at least for the High Middle Ages. Ganshof did not remedy this himself
and his examples reflect the gaps in the research. Flanders, Hainault and also
Cambrai receive more than their share of attention, whereas the principalities of
the Northern Low Countries, today's Netherlands, are remarkable by their
absence (which is understandable because there are few texts about fiefs there6).
Recent research about feudalism in Lotharingia has not made many advances,
even though there are good studies about related aspects7, but feudalism in
Flanders has been explored in several Belgian Ph. D. theses8. This means that the
following pages are, for Lotharingia, anything but final and may remain too
superficial, in part also because only the charter material has been consulted.
2. Flanders and Lotharingia: neighbours at a distance
The difference between the research about Flemish and Lotharingian feudalism is
not unique, as in general the old county of Flanders is much better studied than
its Lotharingian counterparts. Several factors may explain this, but the main one
is that Flanders was way ahead of its neighbours and this is very visible in feu-
dalism. In Flanders feudalism broke through around 10009, the Lotharingian
3 Noël Didier, Le droit des fiefs dans la coutume de Hainaut au moyen âge, Paris 1945.
4 Leopold Genicot, L'Économie rurale Namuroise au bas moyen âge, Namur 1943-1982, 3 voll.
5 Cf. François Louis Ganshof, La Flandre, in: Histoire des institutions françaises au moyen âge,
ed. FERDINAND Lot/Robert Fawtier, vol. I, Paris 1957, p. 373: »On connaît fort mal ce qui a trait
aux relations féodo-vassaliques en Flandre«.
6 See e. g. below paragraph seven. Older editions of Dutch charters are sometimes misleading,
because the editors interpreted references to tenure as being feudal. See e. g. Petrus Johannes
Blok et al., Oorkondenboek van Groningen en Drente, Groningen 1896, nr. 35, p. 25 sq. (1170),
where the use of the word tenuit leads the editors to assume that this text concerns a fief.
7 An excellent article should be mentioned here: Jean-François Nieus, Du donjon au tribunal. Les
deux âges de la pairie châtelaine en France du Nord, Flandre et Lotharingie (fin Xle-XIIIe s.), in:
Moyen Âge 113, 2006, pp. 9-41, 307-336.
8 Rik Opsommer, >Omme dat leengoed es thoochste dine van der weerelh. Het leenrecht in
Viaanderen in de 14de en 15de eeuw, Brussels 1995, 2 voll.; Dirk Heirbaut, Over heren, vazallen
en graven. Het persoonlijk leenrecht in Vlaanderen, ca. 1000-1305, Brussels 1997; Dirk Heirbaut,
Over lenen en families. Het zakelijk leenrecht in Vlaanderen, ca. 1000-1305. Een Studie over de
vroegste geschiedenis van het leenrecht in het graafschap Vlaanderen, Brussels 2000. See also
Jean-François Nieus, Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France. Saint-Pol, 1000-1300, Brussels
2005.
9 HEIRBAUT, Heren (note 8), p. 25 sq.; HEIRBAUT, Lenen (note 8), pp. 46-50.