Jelle Haemers – författare

In theory, citizens of late medieval cities had a say in the functioning of their urban communities. But, in practice, many of them were deprived of political power through formal or established channels. In the late medieval Low Countries, however, people made themselves heard in a remarkable variety of ways. While it is commonplace in the historiography to focus on the (relatively rare) violent methods of dissent and protest, this book offers instead a comparative study of the more commonplace (and, often, effective) non-violent counterparts: insults, libels, songs, slogans, and petitions that citizens addressed to the urban authorities. Drawing on wide range of sources and methodological approaches, this book demonstrates that, across the late medieval Low Countries, contentious citizens continuously spread innovative political ideas in public. The group of people who participated in these dissenting activities was broad, including women, who were an integral part of the political community and fostered public discontent by using their voices in innovative ways. This is a rich history of the scintillating ideas, incendiary poetry, and outrageous language of late medieval urban men and women—and the ways in which they effected change through their main weapons: their voices.

In Communes and Conflict, Jan Dumolyn and Jelle Haemers explore the urban rebellions that regularly erupted in Flanders between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. They analyse not only how these rebellions were sparked and repressed, but also how they shaped the culture and identity of Flemish townspeople. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical methods and concepts, including those of discourse analysis, semiotics, speech acts, collective memory and material cultural studies, the authors return to key Marxist questions on ideology, labour and class interest to map the perspectives of the rebels, the urban patriciate and the Flemish and Burgundian nobility.

Exploring women's stories of work, protest, and power in the medieval Low CountriesThe Middle Ages—a time often cast as a dark period when violence reigned and men dominated society. Women, as the deeply rooted cliché would have it, played scarcely any part. But this book tells a different story, one in which women step forward as the main characters. In the southern Low Countries, townswomen held substantial rights, which they used to conduct business, voice their opinions, and assert their will.Urban Women presents a different and lesser-known image of the late Middle Ages, from 1250 to 1550. The authors trace the lives of women protesting, marrying, making love, working, and engaging in the daily life of Low Countries towns. In doing so, this book gives voice to wealthy businesswomen, laborers, religious women, criminals, and sex workers, spotlighting the remarkable figures who shaped a “women’s town” within a man’s world.