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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1031: Twilight Zone: Party Strife, Feuding, and Private Warfare in the Late Middle Ages, I

Wednesday 11 July 2012, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden
Organiser:Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden
Moderator/Chair:Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden
Paper 1031-aFeuding in Frisian Monasteries
(Language: English)
Johannes A. Mol, Department of History, Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden / Universiteit Leiden
Index terms: Monasticism, Social History
Paper 1031-bParty Strife in a 'Feuding Society': Friesland in the Late Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Matthijs Gerrits, Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden / Universiteit Leiden
Index terms: Military History, Social History
Paper 1031-cFactionalism and Party Strife in the City of Utrecht
(Language: English)
Justine Smithuis, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden
Index terms: Military History, Social History
Abstract

During the final centuries of the Middle Ages the Low Countries were ridden by violent clashes between interest groups, called 'parties', that, on the one hand, coincided with antagonistic family networks but, on the other hand, could easily be politicized, i.e. connected with larger political issues. Exactly this ambiguous setting, in a twilight zone between a public/political and a private/familial field of action, makes party strife an attractive subject of historical research. Especially when linked to such typical phenomena of late medieval ‘politics' as feuding, bastard feudalism, and private warfare, it could contribute to a better understanding of the counterweights that were build-up against the slow but relentless rise of the modern state in Western Europe.