Galbert of Bruges and the Historiography of Medieval Flanders
Publication Year: 2012
Published by: The Catholic University of America Press
Cover
Title Page, Copyright
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pp. i-iv
Contents
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pp. v-vi
Acknowledgments
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pp. vii-viii
Abbreviations
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pp. ix-
Maps
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pp. x-xiv
Introduction
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pp. 1-10
The De multro, traditione, et occisione gloriosi Karoli comitis Flandriarum (The Murder, Betrayal and Killing of the Glorious Charles, Count of Flanders) by Galbert of Bruges is an eyewitness account of the assassination of Charles “the Good,” count of Flanders, while he was at prayer in his castral...
Part One. Galbert of Bruges at Work
1. "Wonder with Fresh Wonder": Galbert the Writer and the Genesis of the De multro
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pp. 13-36
Galbert was a resident of the town of Bruges and had served in the comital administration of Flanders for at least thirteen years by the time of the assassination of Count Charles in 1127. He was well-acquainted with Charles and many of the other actors in this drama; he was an eyewitness...
Part Two. Galbert of Bruges and the Development of Institutions
2. Galbert of Bruges and "Law is Politics"
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pp. 39-55
Galbert of Bruges’s story of the dramatic events in the county of Flanders during the years 1127 and 1128 is well known to medievalists. It has been studied for many years by, among others, legal historians, who have scanned the data on constitutional and criminal law and the law of...
3. Not European Feudalism, but Flemish Feudalism: A New Reading Galbert of Bruges’s Data on Feudalism in the Context of Early Twelfth-Century Flanders
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pp. 56-88
Galbert of Bruges’s journal is one of the best sources we have on feudalism in medieval Europe, but its popular success has overshadowed the fact that Galbert did not write about some abstract, textbook medieval feudalism, but about real relationships between lords and vassals in a specific...
4. Galbert of Bruges and the Urban Experience of Siege
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pp. 89-106
More than four centuries after Galbert of Bruges recorded the tumultuous events of 1127–28, William Shakespeare set himself the task of imagining and recreating the conditions of a medieval siege, in this case, that of Harfleur by Henry V. After costly assaults that doubtless embittered his...
Part Three. Galbert of Bruges and the Politics of Gender
5. Galbert's Hidden Women: Social Presence and Narrative Concealment
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pp. 109-125
The prose narrative known to all teachers of basic university level courses in medieval history as The Murder of Charles the Good from its beloved translation by James Bruce Ross in 1959 is, according to Jeff Rider, its most recent editor, “the only journalistic history we have from Europe in the...
6. The Language of Misogyny in Galbert of Bruges’s Account of the Murder of Charles the Good
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pp. 126-144
The Middle Ages have been both criticized for widespread misogyny and defended against claims that misogyny was paramount. These opposing views are based less on the gender of the scholars—although women seem to be more sensitive to misogyny—than on the type of text studied...
7. The Tears of Fromold: The Murder of Charles the Good, Homoeroticism, and the Ruin of the Erembalds
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pp. 145-180
Although he was a keen and critical observer of his society, Galbert of Bruges’s eyes were focused on men and largely indifferent to the affairs of women. This is not really surprising, for Galbert was part of a predominantly male world. If one looks attentively at this world, then the murder...
Part Four. The Meanings of History
8. The Devil in Flanders: Galbert of Bruges and the Eschatology of Political Crisis
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pp. 183-199
The murder of Charles “the Good,” count of Flanders, resulted from a struggle between the count himself and one of the most powerful and well-connected families in Flanders, a kin group at whose head stood Bertulf, provost of the church of Saint Donatian in Bruges and chancellor...
9. Death from a Trivial Cause: Events and Their Meanings in Galbert of Bruges’s Chronicle
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pp. 200-214
This essay reconsiders the very large problem of historical explanation in Galbert of Bruges’s chronicle by looking at some moments where Galbert reports events that have obvious symbolic significance, in fact, symbolic significance intended by their makers as part of the urban...
10. History as Fabliau and Fabliau as History: The Murder of Charles the Good and Du provost a l’aumuche
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pp. 215-239
When Charles the Good was murdered in his own chapel on the second day of March in 1127, his death sparked turbulent times in the city of Bruges and the surrounding land of Flanders, gripping the popular imagination. In his De multro, traditione, et occisione gloriosi Karoli comitis Flandriarum...
11. Chronicles of Revolt: Galbert of Bruges’s De multro and Jean Froissart’s Chronique de Flandre - Godfried Croenen
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pp. 240-260
Galbert of Bruges and Jean Froissart feature among the Low Countries’ best-known medieval historiographers, popular with the modern undergraduate student and general reader alike, although only partly for the same reasons. Both chroniclers are generally seen as key witnesses or principal sources for important...
Selected Bibliography of Editions, Translations, and Studies
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pp. 261-278
Contributors
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pp. 279-282
Index
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pp. 283-298
E-ISBN-13: 9780813217789
Print-ISBN-13: 9780813217192
Page Count: 312
Publication Year: 2012
