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• "All issues of the Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire (from 1837 to the most recent one) are freely available for consultation on the site of Persée".

Bulletin de la Commission royale d’Histoire, 187, 2021, 215 p. (issn 0001-415X).

• Falco Van der Schueren, “Sacent tout et cetera. Een vijftiende-eeuws formulierboek als unieke schriftelijke getuige van laatmiddeleeuwse vrijwillige rechtspraak in Henegouwen (U.B.G., hs. 2304)” (p. 5-64).

  Abstract - About one hundred year ago a fifteenth-century formulary was transferred from the State Archives in Mons to the University Library in Ghent, where it is now part of the rich medieval manuscript collection. Because of this transfer the manuscript was saved from the disastrous fire that would strike the archival depot of the Hainaut capital during the Second World War. Up until now, this source has not revealed much of its secrets so far and an in-depth study of it has not yet been conducted. However, the formulary offers a unique view on the late medieval organization of voluntary jurisdiction within the county of Hainaut and provides some important indications about the specific share in this of comital vassals or hommes de fief. Because of the value of this manuscript a critical text edition is required to render its content more accessible. This contribution aims to meet this need in the first place, but also tends to (1) elaborate on the facts that are already known; (2) formulate alternatives to nuance former interpretations; (3) initiate additional research to fill in the existing gaps.

  Falco Van der Schueren (born May 8, 1992) obtained a bachelor’s degree in secondary education at the Artevelde University College in 2016 and a master’s degree in history at Ghent University in 2019. For his thesis ‘Ars notariatus Hanoniensis: openbare notarissen en hommes de fief in de organisatie van vrijwillige rechtspraak binnen laatmiddeleeuws Henegouwen (1345-1467)’ he received the André Schaepdrijver Award. After his studies he worked as a freelance researcher. He is currently preparing his dissertation ‘Gedeeld belang of onderlinge wedijver? De organisatie van vrijwillige rechtspraak in de Zuidelijke Lage Landen tijdens de late middeleeuwen (1278-1433)’, for which the Ghent University Special Research Fund awarded him a doctoral scholarship.

• Christian De Borchgrave & Bert Verwerft, “Een facet van de diplomatieke cultuur: geloofs-, volmacht-, instructie- en vrijgeleidebrieven in het begin van de vijftiende eeuw” (p. 65-93).

  Abstract – The juridification and the increasing degree of writing in the Burgundian government, combined with a courtly knight culture, defined the Burgundian diplomacy. The ongoing professionalization of the diplomacy in the age of duke John the Fearless (1404-1419) encouraged the specialization and formalization of diplomatic documents. This contribution presents a range of the most commonly used types of diplomatic documents: letters of credence, procuration letters, letters of instruction and letters of safe-conduct.

  Christian De Borchgrave (°1966), PhD in history, is first advisor at the Belgian House of Representatives and voluntary researcher at the Ruusbroec Institute (University of Antwerp). He is the author of books and articles on the diplomacy under the Burgundian duke John the Fearless and on the history of the Catholic Church in Flanders in the interwar period.

  Bert Verwerft (°1985), MA in history, works as heritage expert at the municipality of Beveren. He is co-editor of the journal Het Land van Beveren and voluntary researcher at the Department of History at Ghent University. His scientific interests lie at the intersection of social and political history, with a particular focus on late medieval warfare and the sociogenesis of the
  Burgundian nobility.

• Amable Sablon Du Corail, “Quand l’État reprend ses droits. Guerre, économie rurale et enquêtes administratives en Flandre au temps de Maximilien d’Autriche (1484, 1495)” (p. 95-141).

  
  Abstract - War deeply disrupted the economy in medieval and modern times, and led to the suspension of the normal functioning of State institutions if not to their temporary collapse. The latter, however, reacted quickly by implementing complex administrative procedures aimed at restoring their grip on society. Two investigations carried out by the Chamber of Accounts of Lille in 1486 and 1495 are presented here, the first at the request of the farmer of the county estate of Ninove, the second at the request of the receiver of the Extraordinary of Flanders. Ninove’s investigation provides valuable information on the effects of war on demography, manpower and agriculture. It shows that a few months of military operations reduced the product of an entire three year cycle by a third to a half. The information requested by the receiver of the Extraordinary of Flanders, for its part, reveals the obstacles that an officer of  the Prince had to overcome in the exercise of his duties. Both documents illustrate the importance of routine in the development of the State: the discourse of “administrative rationality” carried by the Chambers of Accounts was in fact made performative by the repetition of control procedures rather than by their efficiency.

  Amable Sablon Du Corail – A former student of the Ecole nationale des Chartes, Amable Sablon Du Corail is Chief Curator at the French National Archives, where he heads the Department of the Middle Ages and the Ancien Régime. Most of his work focuses on political, financial and military history in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, in France and in the Burgundian Netherlands. He has recently published La guerre, le prince et ses sujets. Les finances des Pays-Bas bourguignons sous Marie de Bourgogne et Maximilien d’Autriche (1477-1493) (Brepols, 2019).

J 2

Józef Łaptos, en collaboration avec Idesbald Goddeeris, Thierry Grosbois, Inga Kawka, Wojciech Prażuch et Przemyslaw Szczur,

La politique polonaise à la lumière des rapports diplomatiques belges (1939-1945), Brussels, Commission royale d’Histoire, 2021, 493 p. (isbn 978-2-87044-021-6). Price : 32 € (Documents relatifs au statut international de la Belgique depuis 1830, J2).

The Author

Józef Łaptos is a Polish historian. After having obtained a PhD at the Jagiellonian University (1974), he climbed the ladder of the academic career at the Pedagogical University of Cracow. He was also a visiting professor at the Sorbonne (2001), the University of Aix-Marseille (2002-2004), the École normale supérieure de Paris (2005) and the Université libre de Bruxelles (2007). The main axes of his research are diplomatic history, European integration, the history of Belgium and humanitarian aid. Among his most important works are: Dyplomaci II Rzeczypospolitej w świetle raportów Quai d’Orsay, [Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic in the light of the Quai d’Orsay reports], Historia Belgii, (1995) [History of Belgium]; Historia małych państw (ed.) [History of small states], 2002; with M. Misztal, American Debates on Central European Union, 1942-1944 (2002); Europa marzycieli (1940-1956) [Europe of dreamers], (2012); Humanitaryzm i polityka. Pomoc UNRRA dla Polski (1943-1947) [Humanitarianism and politics. UNRRA’s aid to Poland 1943-1947], 2018. He was appointed an Officer of the Léopold Order in 2007.

Abstract

Usually, publications of the Royal Historical Commission mainly focus on Belgian security issues and its foreign policy. This volume highlights Belgian diplomacy from a European perspective. A group of Polish and Belgian historians came up with the idea of bringing together Belgian dispatches and diplomatic reports devoted to the efforts that the Poles made during the Second World War to regain the independence of their state, which had fallen victim of German and Soviet aggression. The result – 275 duly annotated documents – allows us to retrace Belgian reaction to the Polish resistance, armed struggle, and diplomatic initiatives, including the idea of a Central European federation. The attitude toward the Polish disappointment caused by the British and American concessions to the USSR as well as by the catastrophic failure leading to the sovietisation of Poland, is quite revealing: it shows the political, intellectual, even emotional framework of the Belgian circles in exile, but also the sources of Belgium’s Atlantic commitment and its tireless support for supranational groupings.

A 62

De rekeningen van de stad Brugge (1280-1319). Tweede deel (1302-1319), derde stuk, uitgegeven door C. Wyffels †, met de medewerking van A. Vandewalle. Indices door Katrien Vandewoude, met de medewerking van Maurice Vandermaesen en Stijn Meersseman, Brussels, Commission royale d'Histoire, 2020, 338 p., isbn 978-2-87044-018-6 (series in-4°, A62). Price: 40 €.

C 29

Claire Billen & Marc Boone

Bans et édits pour la ville de Tournai en temps de peste (1349-1351) – Les transcriptions retrouvées de Frédéric Hennebert, Brussels, Commission royale d'Histoire, 2021, 211 p. (series grand in-8°, C29). Price: 23 € (isbn 978-2-87044-019-3)

Abstract - The discovery among the manuscript collection of the University Library of Ghent University of the transcriptions made by the city archivist of Tournai, Frédéric Hennebert (1837-1873) has allowed the reconstruction of the thirty first pages of the register of urban ordonnances of Tournai concerning the years 1349-1351, the original document having been lost in the course of the bombardment of the city of Tournai in May 1940. The document allows reconstructing the daily legislative activity by the urban magistrate, confronted by an almost daily crisis provoked by the arrival of the Black Death in the summer of 1349.

Claire Billen (°1947). Historian and emeritus professor at the Free university of Brussels (ULB, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Research team SociAMM) where she taught social and economic history of the middle ages, comparative urban history and ecological history. She also animated several interdisciplinary research groups active in the context of the “Institute for environmental management and territorial planning” (IGEAT) at the same university.

Marc Boone (Ghent, 1955) full professor at the Ghent University, PhD in 1987, dean of the faculty of Arts and Philosophy between 2012 and 2018. Invited professor at the Université de Bourgogne (Dijon), the University of  Paris IV,  and the ‘École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales’ (Paris) and at the Università degli Studi di Milano, internal Belgian Francqui chair at ULB. Member of the Royal Flemish academy of  Belgium (KVAB) and of the Academia Europeae. President of the Pro Civitate committee (Royal academies of Belgium) and of the Society for history and archaeology of Ghent. Research fields: urban history, political and socio-economic history of the late Middle Ages, Burgundian history.

C 30

René Wilkin, Bernard Wilkin & Christian Remy

Mémoires des campagnes de Jean Gheerbrant, maréchal des logis-chef au X^e régiment de hussards (1798-1808), Brussels, Commission royale d'Histoire, 2021, 259 p. (series grand in-8°, C30). Price: 25 € (ISBN 978-2-87044-020-9)

Abstract - Jean Gheerbrant, a young Flemish from Wacken, left his native village in 1798, having been conscripted in the French republican army. He spent a year chasing anti-Revolutionary activists in Normandy before deserting his infantry unit for the 10th Hussars regiment. The next years, he travelled across France, Italy and Spain without fighting. In September 1805, he left for Germany. During his first battle, at Wertingen, Gheerbrant captured an Austrian cannon, a deed for which he was awarded the Legion of Honour. He also saw action at Ulm and took part in the capture of Vienna. Serving as aide-de-camp to Murat, Gheerbrant asked to be sent back to his regiment. He was again distinguished for his bravery during the battle of Wischau and fought at Austerlitz. Once the peace treaties signed, he was stationed in Germany. In 1806, he captured a flag at the battle of Iena. Involved in several other clashes, he was reformed in 1808. Once home, he took over the family business. He became mayor of Wakken in 1821 and died in 1871

René et Bernard Wilkin, father and son, both studied history at the University of Liege. Bernard also completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield. A retired teacher, René spends most of his time investigating the Ourthe départment during the French period. Bernard is senior archivist at the State Archives of Belgium (Liege). Together, they have written two books in English Fighting for Napoleon and Fighting the British, and one in French Lettres de Grognards, as well as several articles about the Napoleonic era in the British press.

Christian Remy was born in Machelen in 1939. He spent his youth in Bukavu, Congo. After completing a civil engineer degree at the ULv, he worked as an engineer until 2014. His mother-in-law, a direct relative of Gheerbrant, held the original memoirs and had begun the translation work, which he finished after her death.

Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 186, 2020, 197 p.

• Jean-Louis Kupper & Julien Maquet, The Church of Cologne consults the Church of Liège on a problem created by the application of the Pax Dei (1128-1137), p. 5-22

  Abstract - The present paper consists of the publication of a study bearing on the often-ignored correspondence between the cathedral chapters of Cologne and Liège; those letters comment on the implementation of the Paix de Dieu (Peace of God) in the years 1128-1137. They also shed light on the early introduction of Roman law into the Meuse country during the first half of the 12^th century.

  Jean-Louis Kupper is corresponding member of the Institut de France, member of the Académie royale de Belgique and emeritus professor of the Université de Liège. He is also deputy secretary-treasurer of the Commission royale d’histoire.

  Julien Maquet is curator of the Treasure House of the Cathedral of Liège and part-time professor at the Université de Liège. He is also secretary of the Royal Commission for the publication of Ancient Laws and Ordinances of Belgium.

• Marc Boone, Het financieel dagboek van Simon Borluut (1450-1463), p. 23-121.

  Abstract - Simon Borluut belonged to a well-established family of patricians in his place of birth, Ghent, where he occupied several political functions. In this private financial document he allows a glimpse into the way he used his personal financial means, and as such it illustrates how a prosperous man from Ghent living in the middle of the fifteenth century spent his finances. The document therefore offers a welcome addition to what we know concerning prices and wages. Simon Borluut acted as head of a numerous household that occupied a big number of diverse servants. There were of course the obvious daily expenses for food, attire and costs of living, but the strikingly numerous investments in religious activities and in the maintenance of the memory of his lineage also attract notice. ‘Big’ politics remain discreet in the background, notwithstanding the role Simon Borluut fulfilled and the inevitable impact of the war the city of Ghent waged till 1453 against its overlord, duke Philip the Good of Burgundy.

  Marc Boone (Ghent, 1955) full professor at the Ghent University, PhD in 1987, dean of the faculty of Arts and Philosophy between 2012 and 2018. Invited professor at the Université de Bourgogne (Dijon), the University of  Paris IV,  and the ‘École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales’ (Paris) and at the Università degli Studi di Milano, internal Belgian Francqui chair at ULB. Member of the Royal Flemish academy of  Belgium (KVAB) and of the Academia Europeae. President of the Pro Civitate committee (Royal academies of Belgium) and of the Society for history and archaeology of Ghent. Research fields: urban history, political and socio-economic history of the late Middle Ages, Burgundian history.

 

2019 (185), 319 p.

• Sébastien de Valeriola, Le corpus des chirographes yprois, témoin essentiel d'un réseau de crédit du XIII^e siècle, p. 5-74

  Abstract. - During the bombings of 1914, the vast majority of the medieval archives of Ypres disappeared, and with them the important collection of chirographs. However, these are not completely lost to the historian, since some of them were transcribed or analysed before their destruction. The large number of debt acknowledgements kept in these two forms makes it possible, among other things, to study the credit network of the Flemish city in the XIII^th century. With this in mind, we have compiled all the editions and summaries available today, and have entered all the information collected into the Diplomata Belgica database. This article accompanies this integration, and gives a description of the resulting corpus of acts.

  Sébastien de Valeriola, born in 1984, holds a licenciate degree in mathematics, a doctorate in science, a master's degree in actuarial science and a master's degree in history. He is a lecturer at the ICHEC Brussels Management School and pursues a joint doctorate in medieval history at the Université catholique de Louvain and the Universiteit Gent. His historical work focuses on default risk management in Flanders and northern France in the XIII^th and XIV^th centuries.

• Jelle Haemers, Étuves, bordels et maisons de bains à Louvain au XV^e siècle: une édition de contrats de location des stoven trouvés dans les registres échevinaux de la ville, p. 75-120

  Abstract. - This contribution publishes fourteen fifteenth-century lease contracts for bathhouses and brothels in the city of Leuven Brabant, Low Countries). Such contracts are very useful for historians, as they offer a unique insight into the rich material culture and the history of the so-called ‘stews’ (stoven, étuves). Some of those houses were brothels too, where prostitutes offered their services. Historians still too often see prostitution as a marginal phenomenon, but these contracts show that at least owners and managers of brothels were not living on the fringes of society. Furthermore, the publication of these contracts also demonstrates that the registers in which they can be found (the so-called schepenregisters, registers of the aldermen) are sources that contain numerous acts of voluntary jurisdiction of city dwellers, but because of their inaccessibility they are hardly consulted by historians. This edition is therefore a first step towards opening up the Leuven registers and demonstrating that, through a focus on one type of document from this source, historians still have a gold mine at their disposal to study medieval urban life.

  Jelle Haemers (1980) lectures social and political history of the Middle Ages at the KU Leuven. He is closely involved in inter-university research into urban society in the Low Countries, and has published numerous articles and books on late medieval history. His research currently focuses on political conflicts in the cities of late medieval Flanders and Brabant, and the gender history of European cities.

• Leopold Auer & André Vanrie, La correspondance entre Guillaume Des Marez et Hanns Schlitter, Bruxelles et Vienne 1900-1911, p. 121-245

  Abstract. - Guillaume Des Marez and Hanns Schlitter were historians, university professor and archivists – the former in Brussels, the latter in Vienna. They exchanged a rich correspondence spanning the first decade of the 20^th century. The present article offers a critical edition of the 83 documents (in French and in German) of which it is composed. This correspondence not only contains interesting biographical information concerning both scholars; it also sheds light on their scientific activities and on their professional and private networks. These letters vividly testify of the mutations of archival and historical sciences at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, both on the methodological and international levels. Finally, these documents also contain surprising information relating to Des Marez's and Schlitter's opinions concerning the current political and social situation and to their relationship with freemasonry.

  Leopold Auer was born in 1944 in Vienna; studies at the university of Vienna (history, classical philology) and at the Institute for Austrian Historical Research (Austrian history, auxiliary sciences, art and legal history) 1962-68; 1968 PhD, fellow of the Austrian Institute, archivist at the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (director 1999-2008). 1970 post graduate training at the Stage technique international d’archives in Paris, 1984-2000 member of governing bodies of the International Council on Archives (ICA) and of the editorial board of Archivum, since 2004 honorary member of ICA. Since 1988 honorary professor at the university of Vienna, 2007-2013 fellow of the Commission on Austrian legal history of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His main research areas are the history of international relations in the early modern period, the history of the Holy Roman Empire, and the auxiliary sciences of history. During the last fifteen years, he particularly focused on the War of the Spanish succession and on the judicial system of the Holy Roman Empire.

  André Vanrie was born in 1940. After graduating as a MA in Philosophy and Letters at the Université libre de Bruxelles (specializing in History, Art History and Archaeology, Oriental Philology and History), he started a career at the Belgian State Archives in 1962 as "candidat archiviste". When he retired in 2005, he was acting head of the department of Walloon archives. He was also curator of the Municipal Museums of Brussels (1975-1977) and (successively) secretary, treasurer (acting as editor-in-chief) and honorary treasurer of the journal Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique – Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België (1974-2013). He was also the secretary general of the Société royale d’Archéologie de Bruxelles (1977-2013) and editor-in-chief of Cahiers bruxellois – Brusselse Cahiers (2006-2019) and Archivum, the journal of the International Council of Archives (1986-2000), before becoming an honorary member of the latter.

C 28

Karim Schelkens & Dirk Claes, eds. Gerard Philips

Dagboek van twee reizen in Belgisch Congo en Ruanda-Urundi (1957 en 1959), Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, 2019, 135 p. (reeks groot in-8°, C28). 17 €, isbn 978-2-87044-017-9

Abstract - With the forelying critical edition of Gerard Philips’ travel diaries, a unique historical source becomes available to the public. Philips’ notebooks testify to the complex relationships that marked daily life in the Belgian Congo and in Ruanda-Urundi on the eve of Congolese independence. The author was at the same time a senator, an academic and a priest, a combination of capacities due to which his travel report offers a unique insight into the relationship between the political, university and ecclesiastical environments in the colonial era. Moreover, these journals cover the story of two journeys, in 1957 and in 1959, enabling the reader to closely follow the change in Belgian colonial policy as a result of the policy shift from the liberal-socialist government Van Acker IV to the Eyskens III cabinet and to witness the momentum of the Congolese struggle for emancipation in the late 1950s. The editors offer a detailed historical introduction, and in the process of annotating the source, they have made use of unpublished materials from a large number of archive collections.

Karim Schelkens (Lier, 1977) is associate professor at Tilburg University and guest professor at KU Leuven, where he obtained his PhD in 2007. He conducts research into the history of the ecumenical movement and the domain of academic biography. As an expert in the history of religions, Schelkens has published extensively on the Second Vatican Council and on reform movements in modern European Catholicism. As an author or editor, he has published some twenty academic books, including a critically annotated edition of Gerard Philips’ council journals.

Dirk Claes (Lommel, 1966) studied theology (history of Church and theology) and mediaeval history at KU Leuven, where he obtained his PhD in 2004 on a study of the Leuven theological faculty in the first half of the twentieth century. He has worked as a research fellow at the University of Groningen and KU Leuven, and published on faculty history, religious history topics from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and on late medieval encyclopedic legal texts. He is a policy officer at the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.

2018 (184), 406 p.

Claude Bruneel, Thérèse de Hemptinne & Guy Vanthemsche (eds.),

Fragments de guerre – Oorlogsfragmenten 1914-1918. Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 184, 2018, 406 p.

• Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Neuf sources, trois visages de la Belgique pendant la Grande Guerre, p. 17-26.
  
  
• Pierre Lierneux & Jean-Louis Van Belle, Le journal de Maurice Dartevelle, sous-lieutenant au Fort d’Andoy près de Namur (8 juillet-26 août 1914), p. 27-54.
  
  

  Abstract. – The study concerns the publication of a war diary (1914-1918) by Maurice Dartevelle (1890-1974). As a young artillery second lieutenant he was billeted at Fort Andoy on May 30, 1914. The fort was supposed to defend the Namur stronghold. He describes his life and the atmosphere reigning between August 4 and 24, 1914, the day on which the fort had to surrender after fierce shelling and he was made prisoner. The text is preceded by an introduction summarising the author’s life and career.
  
  Pierre Lierneux (1965), PhD in History of Catholic University of Louvain, specializing in military history at the Royal Military Academy, curator of the Royal Military and of the Armed Forces Museum, now head of the scientific institute’s museum-exhibitions department. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Archeology of Belgium
  
  Jean-Louis Van Belle (1942) has a PhD in history ; he was particularly interested in the stone industry under the Old Regime. In this context, he founded in 1974 the International Glyptographic Research Center (CIRG) devoted to the study of lapidary signs. Since 1979 he has organized twenty international symposiums across Europe, devoted to the contribution of these signs to the study of the archeology of buildings. He is also the author of numerous publications on these subjects.
  
  

• Pierre-Alain Tallier, Des premiers jours de guerre dans la région de Verviers (3-8 août 1914) relatés par le soldat Gabriel Vercken… au Service de correspondance et de documentation de Joseph de Dorlodot (1915-1919). Histoire(s) et destins croisés, p. 55-101.
  
  

  Abstract. – In the autumn of 1916 the Belgian soldier Gabriel Vercken makes contact with Joseph de Dorlodot, head of the “Service of correspondence and documentation” based in Folkestone. A native of Verviers, he relates of having closely witnessed the events that took place in his hometown and its region during the first days of the war and proposes to establish an account. The publication of this unpublished manuscript addresses three principal concerns. Firstly, Gabriel Vercken’s text, while unfinished, provides very accurate indications with regard to the events that he came to report during the first days of the war and makes an a posteriori, but undeniable contribution to testimonies that have already been published. It not only confirms a number of elements known among specialists, but also contains new information on the psychosis of the “free shooters” and the wrongdoings committed by the 14^th German infantry brigade in the region of Verviers (Verviers, Battice, Fécher, Herve, Micheroux, Soiron et Soumagne). Secondly, it is important to point out that the archives of the “Service of correspondence and documentation” contain a huge number of other manuscripts on the events that occurred in Belgian municipalities during the first days of the war, whose volume and importance compare to Gabriel Vercken’s text. Finally, one should highlight the precise nature and the extreme diversity of activities deployed by Joseph de Dorlodot’s “Service of correspondence and documentation”, the various ramifications of which have not yet been covered at present.
  
  Pierre-Alain Tallier is acting head of the “Brussels” Department and head of the section “Contemporary Archives” at the State Archives. He is doctor in History at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and author of several publications on the history of the First World War and the archives related to this subject. He has, amongst others, led science policy’s research project dedicated to the Source Guide on the history of the First World War in Belgium: Hans Vanden Bosch, Michaël Amara & Vanessa D’Hooghe, sous la direction de / onder leiding van Pierre-Alain Tallier, Guide des sources de la Première Guerre mondiale en Belgique – Archievenoverzicht betreffende de Eerste Wereldoorlog in België, Bruxelles – Brussels, AGR, 2010, 1057 p.
  
  

• Sarah Keymeulen, De eerste oorlogsweken van een jonge vrijwilliger : het dagboek van Pierre Pirenne, 4 augustus - 18 september 1914, p. 103-132.
  
  

  Abstract. – Pierre Pirenne (1895-1914) was one of the four sons of historian Henri Pirenne and his wife Jenny Vanderhaeghen. He volunteered for military service at the age of nineteen and was killed after only a few months. Although (the preserved part of) his war diary covers only the first few weeks of war, it still paints a haunting picture of a young man determined to go to battle – not only against the German enemy, but also against his reputation as a fils à papa.
  
  Sarah Keymeulen completed her PhD in History at Ghent University in 2017 with a study on Henri Pirenne: The Pirenne phenomenon. The history of a reputation. Before that, she published, with Jo Tollebeek, a synthesis on the life and work of the famous historian: Henri Pirenne, Historian: A Life in Pictures (Leuven, 2011).
  
  

• Michaël Amara & Arnaud Charon, « Non, je ne suis pas fier d’être le Premier magistrat de la “Justice Militaire” » – Le Journal de guerre de Jules Wellens (1914-1918), p. 133-197.
  
  

  Abstract. – Jules Wellens (1853-1932) was appointed to the presidency of the Military Court – the highest court of the Belgian military justice – in 1913. One year later, the outbreak of the First World War radically changed his destiny. From the first days of the war, as he began to follow the retreat of the army, the magistrate began writing a diary, a copy of which is kept in the National Archives of Belgium. For more than three years, he described his daily life marked by the suffering of a man separated from his loved ones and his fight to improve the functioning of the military justice. In permanent struggle with the Auditor General and some of the army commanders, Wellens managed, however, to profoundly change the way Belgian military Justice worked. This makes the excerpts of this rare testimony all the more interesting, since this exceptional source highlights the unfairly forgotten fight of a courageous magistrate.
  
  Michaël Amara holds a PhD in contemporary history (Université libre de Bruxelles). Specialist in the history of the First World War, he is currently head of the “Contemporary Archives” Service at the National Archives of Belgium (State Archives).
  
  Arnaud Charon is a PhD student in contemporary History at the Belgian State Archives (National Archives of Belgium) and Université libre de Bruxelles. He specializes in the history of the deportation of the Belgian population during the First World War.
  
  

• Birger Stichelbaut & Jean Bourgeois, Historische luchtfoto’s genomen tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog : bronnen en toepassingen, p. 199-221.
  
  

  Jean Bourgeois (°1955, master History and Archaeology in 1978, PhD History and Archaeology in 1985, with a thesis on a diachronological study of the Comines-Warneton area in Belgium). After his PhD, he focused his research on the Metal Ages in Western Europe. Together with prof. Jacques Nenquin and pilot Jacques Semey, he launched the aerial prospection project in Flanders (Centre for Historical and Archaeological Aerial Photography, CHAL). A more recent part of this research focuses now on historical aerial photographs, especially dating from the World War I period. In 1991 he became associate professor and is now senior full professor at the Department of Archaeology (Ghent University). He is Korrespondierende Mitglied of the Deutsche Archäologische Institut (1996), Francqui Research professor (2010-2013), Member of the Academia Europaea (2011) and Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (2011).
  
  Birger Stichelbaut (°1982) has general research interests in archaeological prospection, aerial photography for archaeology, conflict archaeology and the application of geographical information systems. In 2009 he obtained his PhD in Archaeology with the dissertation ‘World War One Aerial photographs: an Archaeological Perspective’, research funded by FWO scholarship (2005-2009). He currently works as a postdoctoral researcher and coordinator at the Centre for Historical and Archaeological Aerial Photography (Department of Archaeology) carrying out a large-scale landscape analysis of World War I sites in Belgium using historical aerial photographs (1915-1918). This is a collaboration between the In Flanders Fields Museum, the Province of West-Flanders and the University of Ghent Department of Archaeology.
  
  

• Vincent Genin, Déconstruire l’image de la Belgique « germanophile » à l’Étranger (1915-1916) – Propagande et relations internationales – Quatorze lettres et notes inédites d’Eugène Beyens, Paul Hymans et Georges Lorand, p. 223-268.
  
  

  Abstract. – The publication of this correspondence yields a better understanding of the propaganda produced by Belgium during the First World War, in order to restore its image of a country with pro-German sensibilities before 1914. This set of fourteen letters written in 1915 and 1916 and a retrospective memorandum of 1919 shed new light on the strategies developed by official Belgium in exile (Paul Hymans, Eugène Beyens and Georges Lorand) in order to restore its international image.
  
  Vincent Genin (° 1989) has a PhD in History and is assistant at the University of Liège. He is the author of several works on the history of international relations and defended his doctoral thesis in January 2017 entitled : Un « Laboratoire belge » du droit international ? Réseaux internationaux, expériences et mémoires de guerres des juristes belges (1869-1940) (2 vol., 748 p.). Contact : V.Genin@ulg.ac.be
  
  

• Emmanuel Debruyne, Mesures de lutte contre les maladies vénériennes – Les actes du colloque tenu à Bruxelles le 8 octobre 1915 à l’invitation du Gouvernement-général allemand en Belgique, p. 269-303.
  
  

  Abstract. – On 8 October 1915 a conference took place in Brussels, organised by the German occupation authorities, over the fight against venereal diseases in the occupied country. This was the result of concerns dating back to 19th century, but which were exacerbated by the mass mobilisation in a long-term war. The topic of the conference affected both the occupiers and the occupied people, and women as well as men, but the organisation and participation were nevertheless monopolized by occupying and masculine power. The presentation of the measures taken and their results was inspired by a resolutely neo-regulationist view, but left room for a real debate around issues such as the disclosure requirement, the contamination offence or the use of occupied countries as a laboratory for experimentation then exportable to Germany.
  
  Emmanuel Debruyne (°1975) is professor at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) where he teaches modern and contemporary history since 2007. His research, which benefited in 2014-2015 from a fellowship at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, focuses on military occupations during the two world wars. Researcher at CEGESOMA from 1999 to 2007, he contributed to the research mission on the attitudes of the Belgian authorities regarding the persecution of the Jews. Consequently, he is one of the authors of La Belgique docile (Luc Pire, 2007). His doctoral dissertation on the Belgian intelligence networks during World War II, defended in 2006, was published under the title La guerre secrète des espions belges (Racine, 2008). Several of his publications also focus on the military occupation of World War I, whether in terms of memory, intimate relationships between occupiers and occupied women, resistance or repression, such as in Je serai fusillé demain (Racine, 2011), written with Laurence van Ypersele. His latest book, “Femmes à Boches”. Occupation du corps féminin dans la France et la Belgique de la Grande Guerre (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2018), examines the question of sexual relations between occupying forces and occupied population during the First World War. More recently, his research led him to question the issue of bankruptcy and its impact on the individual during the 19^th century.
  
  

• Jean Houssiau & Christian Vreugde, L’instruction publique sous l’occupation durant la Première Guerre mondiale – Les procès-verbaux des conférences mensuelles de l’École no 10 à Bruxelles (1914-1917), p. 305-337.
  
  

  Abstract. – Minutes of the monthly conferences held in primary school nr. 10 in Brussels, kept for the period of the First World War, under German occupation, testify to the commitment of the Director Nicolas Smelten and his fellow teachers to maintain, despite the circumstances, a high quality teaching. Pedagogical issues are regularly raised, as well as those pertaining to discipline. Special attention is given to the well-being, health and leisure of the children, as the war continues and brings more and more deprivation.
  
  Jean Houssiau formerly was an archivist at the Belgian State Archives and the Brussels City Archives. He is currrently entrusted with the conception and realisation of transversal history projects of the Public education department of the City of Brussels. He mainly published on urban history in general, and on the history of urban public teaching in particular.
  
  Christian Vreugde serves as an archivist at the Brussels City Archives. He has inventoried most of the archival records of the Public teaching department and public schools of the City of Brussels. He has published on the history of teaching, among other subjects.
  
  

• Catherine Thomas, Poursuivre l’activité industrielle en zones de guerre ? – La politique du « moindre mal » adoptée par la Société anonyme des Verreries de Jumet (1915-1918), p. 339-404.
  
  

  Abstract. – This contribution publishes the minutes of the board of directors of the company “Verreries de Jumet” (Jumet’s Glassworks) from May 15^th 1915 to October 26^th 1918. It documents the economical and industrial history in Belgium during the First World War and shows that, in spite of the cliché of the demise the Belgian industry, many industrials pursued a policy “of lesser evil”. 
  
  Catherine Thomas is PhD in History, Art history and Archaeology of the Université catholique de Louvain. Her thesis focused on the top civil servants of the central governement of the Southern Netherlands during the Spanish regime (1598-1700). At present, she is curator of the Musée du Verre of Charleroi and studies the Art nouveau et Art déco stained-glass windows in the public space, and the attitude of the glass industry during the First World War.
  
  

C 27

José Eloy Hortal MuÑoz, África Espíldora García & Pierre-François Pirlet

El ceremonial en la Corte de Bruselas del siglo XVII. Los manuscritos de Francisco Alonso Lozano, Bruxelles, Commission royale d'Histoire, 2018, 271 p. (Collection grand in-8°, C27). ISBN 978-2-87044-016-2

Abstract
Following their incorporation into the Spanish monarchy, the Habsburg Netherlands were ruled by governors-general, who established their own Households in Brussels. However, this situation began to change in the mid-seventeenth century, as evidenced by the letters of appointment of various courtiers, who were no longer identified as members of this or that governor’s household, but rather as part of la Maison Royale de Bruxelles. We can infer, therefore, that from this moment onwards, the royal household in Brussels belonged to the territory rather than to particular people. Naturally, a theoretical justification was required to support the existence of this new household, by the way, the only one that was created in whole Europe at the seventeenth century. At the same time, it should also be remembered that during the reign of Felipe IV (1621-1665), the Etiquettes concerning the royal household were thoroughly codified in Madrid, so that the other Courts in the Monarchy could not have been oblivious to this development and became involved in the process, as was the case of Brussels. It is in this context where we must situate the elaboration of the manuscripts of Francisco Alonso Lozano that we present here. Between 1692 and 1712, he wrote two books: the first was called Plan ou Estat de la maison royale dans ces estats de flandres, in which he detailed the functions of each office, while the second, Notice de toutes les emplois de la cour et de la chapelle royale de Bruxelles, indicated the number of servants and the stipends and bouche of court that they received. No doubt, we guess that these two manuscripts represents an invaluable source to the knowledge of the seventeenth-century Court of Brussels, comparable to what represent the Etiquetas Generales de Palacio for the Court of Madrid.

José Eloy Hortal Muñoz (Madrid, 1974) graduated in Early Modern and Modern History (1997) and History of Art (1999) at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM), where he also defended his PhD thesis in September 2004 with the highest mark. He works as professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) since 2009. His major works include the monographs Las guardas reales de los Austrias hispanos (Madrid, 2013), and Los asuntos de Flandes. Las relaciones entre las Cortes de la Monarquía Hispánica y de los Países Bajos durante el siglo XVI (Saarbrücken, 2011); he also co-directed several collective works as A Constellation of Courts. The Households of Habsburg Europe, (1555-1665) (Louvain, 2014), with René Vermeir and Dries Raeymaekers; and La Casa de Borgoña: la Casa del rey de España (Louvain, 2014), with Félix Labrador Arroyo. More information on the web: www.joseeloyhortal.com.

África Espíldora García (Toledo, 1960) graduated in Geography and History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in 1993. For some years, she taught in secondary schools and worked in libraries (Museo de Santa Cruz de Toledo); then she switched to the archival world. In this field, she first worked as a senior technician at the Archivo Historico de la Nobleza de Toledo (1999-2001, 2008-2011); later on, she was in charge of the central archives of several government counsels of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha (2001-2006). Since 2011, she has dedicated her attention to research. She is currently is finishing the edition of a volume titled Francisco de Mendoza: un almirante por los caminos de Europa (1596).

Pierre-François Pirlet (Liège, 1982) holds a PhD in History, Arts and Archaeology from Liège University since 2015, and is a scientific collaborator of ULiège’s Historical Sciences Department since October 2017. He is also member of Transitions. Unité de recherches Moyen Âge & première Modernité. His research, pertaining to both Court Studies and religious history, aims at reassessing the nature and modalities of the power at the Brussels court during the 17th century. He defended a thesis dedicated to the Princely confessor in Spanish Low Countries (1598-1659). This work, written under direction of Prof. Annick Delfosse (ULiège), addresses the nature of the links between secular and religious powers within the court. It will be published soon with Leuven University Press, in the Avisos de Flandes series.

C 26

Christine Renardy

Le Livre des morts du Neufmoustier à Huy 1130-1787, Bruxelles, Commission royale d’Histoire, 2017, 270 p. (ISBN 978-2-87044-015-5) (Collection grand in-8°, C26).

The author
Christine Renardy (born 6th February 1948) received her bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Liège. She worked for three years on behalf of the Royal Historical Commission drafting the "New Potthast" (a critical guide of narrative sources relating to the Middle Ages) before taking up the post of assistant to professors Fernand Vercauteren and André Joris at the seminar of History of the Middle Ages at the University of Liège in 1972. In October 1977 she defended a doctoral thesis on "The world of university masters in the diocese of Liège up to 1350", later published in two volumes in 1979 and 1981. In April 1978 she was appointed as archivist of the City of Liège, a department that she led until 2007 when the municipal authorities entrusted her with the management of all collections relating to cultural heritage. Finally, in 2009 she was assigned to the general coordination of the Culture and Tourism Department, a post that she held until her retirement.

Summary
In the early years of the 12^th century a mixed community spontaneously established itself in an outlying area of Huy, probably in memory of a priest called ‘Peter the Hermit’. On the 21^st September 1130 the Bishop of Liège, Alexander I, consecrated the church of Neufmoustier, which had recently been built. It has been proved that from that time on the priests followed the doctrine of Saint Augustine. Fortunately the liber capitulimanuscript of this regular chapter has been preserved, but it is damaged. It was conceived around 1130 and was completed through the centuries – concerning obituaries it continues up to 1787. This death register contains significant information that not only enriches our knowledge of the urban, economic and social history in the late Middle Ages, but also of the attitudes, worship and liturgy, without forgetting the goldsmith’s trade in the Meuse valley. Text referring to non-clergy (only eight people) becomes rare and sporadic from the end of the 15^th century, as the register was in fact reserved for dignitaries and a few members of the chapter of Huy. This edition of "Livre des morts du Neufmoustier" is mainly based on the original manuscript which is preserved at the Grand Curtius Museum ; the gaps caused by the loss of some pages was largely compensated for by copies made by a chapter clerk at the end of the 17^th century kept in the State Archives of Liège (fonds du Neufmoustier).

Patricia Van den Eeckhout & Guy Vanthemsche, eds.

Sources pour l’étude de la Belgique contemporaine, 19^e-21^e siècle, Bruxelles, Commission royale d'Histoire, 2017, 2 vol., 1844 p. (ISBN: 978-2-87044-014-8; prix: 64 €).

Notre société produit un flux incessant de documents, d’images et d’autres sources. Il n’est pas facile de maîtriser cette masse croissante d’informations. Ce livre se présente comme un « guide de voyage » dans ce dédale : il offre un aperçu systématique ainsi qu’une analyse critique des sources qui ont été produites en Belgique depuis le début du 19^e siècle jusqu’à nos jours, tant par les institutions publiques que par les organisations privées. Il abord à la fois les sources d’archives et les documents imprimés et digitaux. De nombreux individus ont également produit des sources importantes ; cette production trouve également sa place dans le présent ouvrage, tout comme les sources non écrites (photographies, films, témoignages oraux, bâtiments, objets, cartes et plans).
Cet ouvrage inclut les sources les plus récentes. Il est donc un instrument de recherche indispensable, non seulement pour les historiens, les étudiants en histoire et les archivistes, mais également pour les journalistes, les documentalistes, les bibliothécaires et les chercheurs en sciences de la communication, en sociologie, en sciences politiques, en économie et en droit. 
Plus de 60 spécialistes, attachés à diverses universités et institutions de recherche et d’archives du pays ont apporté leur concours à l’élaboration de ce livre. Un index détaillé des noms de personnes, d’auteurs et de matières, établi par Stijn Meersseman, facilite l’utilisation de cet instrument de recherche.

Les éditeurs:

Patricia Van den Eeckhout enseigne l'histoire et la rhétorique politique à la Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Elle a publié sur l'historiographie de l'histoire sociale et sur l'histoire du logement social, des revenus ouvriers, de la consommation, de la publicité, du temps libre, des statistiques sociales, des contremaîtres, du commerce de détail (notamment Delhaize), du travail et des relations du travail, notamment dans l'horeca (voir entre autres "Waiters, Waitresses, and their Tips in Western Europe before World War I", in International Review of Social History, 2015, p. 349-378)

Guy Vanthemsche est professeur d’histoire contemporaine à la Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Il est un spécialiste de l’histoire sociale, économique et politique de la Belgique contemporaine. Il a consacré plusieurs ouvrages à ce sujet, notamment La Sabena et l’aviation commerciale belge 1923-2001, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2001 et Belgium and the Congo 1880-1980, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Bulletin de la Commision royale d’Histoire, 2017 (183), 254 p.

• Remco Sleiderink, De Korte Rijmkroniek van Vlaanderen (1431). Middeleeuwse geschiedenis op een affiche, p. 5-56.

  Summary - Manuscript G 13860 of Ghent University Library is a scroll of approximately 2.5 meters. In its current state, it consists of four strips of two columns each. The author of this contribution shows that its original form was a parchment poster (about 700 × 580 mm) with eight columns of text. This text is a chronicle on the history of Flanders in over eight hundred Middle Dutch verses. On the basis of this Ghent manuscript, this contribution delivers the editio princeps of this Korte rijmkroniek van Vlaanderen (short rhymed chronicle of Flanders). Attention is also paid to a fragment in the Royal Library of Belgium (ms. 2810-13, f. 1 *), which may be a witness of the same text. The chronicle pays great attention to the Ghent uprisings in the fourteenth century. It appears to have been composed in 1431. The exact position of this text within the Flemish historiography of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries deserves further investigation.

  Remco Sleiderink is professor of Medieval Dutch literature at the University of Antwerp and is also affiliated with KU Leuven in Brussels. In his research, he often focuses on the compositional contexts of Middle Dutch literature, with specific attention to the Duchy of Brabant and the dynamics between court and city. He is also highly invested in material philology, which provides an integrated approach to text and manuscript transmission. Other constant focuses in his research are literary analysis, intertextuality and multilingualism.

• Brecht Dewilde & Bram Vannieuwenhuyze, De zeventiende-eeuwse inventaris van de broederschap van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van de Zeven Weeën in Brussel, p. 57-142.

  Summary. – Founded in 1499, the confraternity of our Lady of Seven Sorrows was one the most prominent associations of medieval and early modern Brussels. The Burgundian-Habsburg court, giving way to an important art patronage, actively promoted it. The elevated position of the confraternity strongly contrasts with the scarcity of the preserved source material: almost all archival sources are missing or lost. One of the few surviving documents is a seventeenth-century inventory, which gives an overview of the art works, jewellery, real estate and obligations in possession of the confraternity at that particular moment. The inventory further contains a detailed account of the acquisitions, the donors and a description of the physical appearance of the objects. As such, it provides a unique insight into both the material culture and the history of the association. Because of the importance of this document for the history of the confraternity, and the political, religious and artistic past of the city of Brussels, it is made accessible for research through a critical edition.

  Brecht Dewilde (1982) studied history and art history. At the University of Leuven he wrote a dissertation on the functioning of formal networks in times of economic crisis, which was awarded the Prize Pro Civitate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België). Until 2017 he was a postdoctoral research fellow of the IAP-project City and Society in the Low Countries, c. 1200-c. 1850 (Belspo). Since January 2018 he has been working as an assistant curator at the Ghent City Museum (STAM).

  
  Bram Vannieuwenhuyze (1980) studied history at Ghent University, where he obtained his PhD in 2008. His research focuses on town development and urban morphology of medieval and early modern towns, historical cartography and landscape history. In 2015, he has been named professor by special appointment of Historical Cartography at the University of Amsterdam, a chair established on behalf of the Cartographiae Historicae Cathedra Foundation. He also works as an independent scholar for (www.caldenberga.be).

Bulletin de la Commision royale d'Histoire, 2016 (182), 419 p.

• Mario Damen, Prelaten, edelen en steden. De samenstelling van de Staten van Brabant in de vijftiende eeuw, p. 5-274.

  
  Summary - Who were the members of the Estates of Brabant and could receive a summons letter for an assembly in the fifteenth century ? In this study, I give an overview and an analysis of the composition of this representative institution on the basis of four undated summons lists. Given the importance of these lists for the political- institutional and social history of the Duchy of Brabant, a complete critical edition of the lists is the backbone of this study. Moreover, all listed persons are identified in brief biographical notes. New lists were composed by the ducal chancery on the occasion of major political events when the presence and participation of the (most powerful) representatives of the citizens was required. A closer examination showed that these summons lists were compiled on the occasion of the inauguration of Duke Anthony of Burgundy in 1406, the inauguration of Duke John IV in 1415 and to celebrate the peace concluded between Archduke Maximilian and the rebellious cities of Brabant in August 1489. These lists, together with the Brabantine part of the convocation list for the Estates General of 1464, offer an overview of the persons who were considered by their contemporaries as the political representatives of the three Estates: the clergy, the nobility and the Third Estate. This overview is then compared with the attendance at several important meetings of the Estates in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. To make the process of convocation yet more transparent, the lists are followed by a critical edition of some summons letters for the abbot of Park, Engelbert I of Nassau, lord of Breda, and the city of Antwerp.
  
  Mario Damen is assistant professor of medieval history at the University of Amsterdam. He is especially interested in the social, political and cultural history of the late medieval Low Countries and publishes on the nobility, tournaments, political representation, stained-glass windows and the Burgundian- Habsburg princes. Furthermore, since 2016 he directs a research programme subsidized by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) entitled Imagining a territory. Constructions and representations of late medieval Brabant.

• Sara Moens, Guibert de Gembloux's « De destructione monasterii Gemblacensis ». Literary Legacy and Issues of Authorship Against the Backdrop of the Decline of Traditional Monasticism, p. 275-301.

  
  Summary - The Benedictine Guibert of Gembloux is mostly known as the last secretary of the renowned Renish visionary Hildegard of Bingen. However, he also left behind a rich literary legacy that sheds light on the world of a traditional monk during the central Middle Ages. One of his works is De destructione monasterii Gemblacensis, preserved in MS 5535-37 of the Manuscripts Department at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. The text sheds light on Guibert’s concept of authorship, in particular of a collection of fourteen letter treatises that follow De destructione in the manuscript. By employing topoi and biblical exempla, Guibert justified his literary ambitions, placing himself within the traditional learnt discourse on authorship. In addition, De destructione offers insight into the debate on the state of traditional coenobitism during a period in which it was encountering increasing competition from other monastic groups. Guibert employed the discourse of decline of traditional monasticism partly as a literary strategy in order to justify his actions.
  
  Sara Moens (Ghent University) defended her Ph.D. “De horizonten van Guibertus van Gembloers (ca. 1124-1214). De wereld van een benedictijns briefschrijver in tijden van een verschuivend religieus landschap” [“The horizons of Guibert of Gembloux (c 1124-1214). The world of a Benedictine letter- writer from the decades after the ‘crisis’ of traditional coenobitism”] (supervisor J. Deploige) in April 2014. Since October 2014 she has been employed as a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders on her new research project on Cistercian nuns and the cura monialium in the southern Low Countries, 1150-1275.

C 25

Alain Lottin

"L'Héraclée flamen et catholicque" par Frère Jean De Le Barre, religieux du monastère de la bienheureuse Vierge Marie à Loos-Lez-Lille. Tome 1: La guerre entre la France et l'Espagne et en Europe (1636-1649), Bruxelles, Commision royale d'Histoire, 2017, 371 p. (ISBN: 978-2-87044-012-4)

Summary - L’Héraclée flamen (L’Hercule flamand): ce titre ésotérique est un hommage au comte de Bucquoy, vainqueur des protestants à Prague. Ce livre contient la transcription annotée et commentée du manuscrit 319 du fonds patrimonial de la bibliothèque municipale de Lille, intitulé l’« Héraclée flamen et catholicque », consacré essentiellement à la guerre franco-espagnole de 1636 à 1649 et à la guerre en Europe jusqu’aux traités de Westphalie (1648). Son auteur, Jean de le Barre, est un religieux cistercien de l’abbaye de Loos-lez-Lille, détaché comme père-confesseur à l’abbaye du Vivier à Wancourt près d’Arras. C’est là qu’à partir de 1636, il vit, aux avant-postes, la guerre « pépinière de tous maux », les invasions de l’Artois et la prise d’Arras (1640) par les Français. Après 1643, il se réfugie avec une partie des religieuses à Douai. Jean de le Barre, comme ses contemporains, pense que la guerre est un fléau de Dieu. La France et ses alliés hollandais, suédois, protestants allemands, conduits par la politique machiavélique de deux « monstrueux » ministres, Richelieu et Mazarin qui, pourtant cardinaux de l’Église romaine, subordonnent la religion à l’État. Pour lui Dieu ne peut avoir abandonné les Habsbourg de Madrid et de Vienne, remparts de la chrétienté contre « l’ennemi commun », les Turcs. Grande est sa déception de voir la guerre entre la France et l’Espagne continuer après la paix de Westphalie. L’auteur rapporte les combats, les terribles  violences subies par les populations civiles, pillages, rapts, viols, exécutions, incendies d’églises et de villages par des mercenaires des deux côtés. En 1645, en Artois « plus de la mitan des hommes étaient morts par la guerre et contagion. On ne voyoit que des loups ». Ce témoignage exceptionnel introduit, transcrit et annoté par le professeur Alain Lottin et doté d’un volumineux index est paru en mai 2017. En 2010, la Commission royale d’Histoire de Belgique a publié la chronique intégrale de P.I. Chavatte, ouvrier lillois au temps de Louis XIV, ouvrage qui en 2011 obtint la médaille de vermeil de l’Académie française.

L'auteur/éditeur :
Alain Lottin, docteur en Histoire, a été président de l'Université de Lille III de 1986 à 1991 puis de l'Université d'Artois de 1996 à 2000.

 

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