Anne-Laure van Bruaene

Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin

Traditionally confined to the sphere of the State and of auctoritas, the phrase the Common Good is set to conquer the cities in the late Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Early Modern period. But can we compare a kingdom like France where the cities defend their Common Good by making reference to the interest and benefit of the Kingdom with principalities like Flanders where, despite their fierce desire for autonomy, the cities use the notion with much greater reservation than their Italian counterparts? This volume traces the intellectual and theoretical roots that have led to the emergence of the notion of the Common Good in the urban world of Western Europe by analysing the practical forms of its manifestations. Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin teaches at the University of Lille 3 (IRHiS). Her research interests cover political thought and urban identity in the Burgundian Low Countries. Anne-Laure Van Bruaene teaches at the University of Ghent. Her main field of interest is urban culture in the late medieval and early modern Low Countries.

The Discourse and Practice of the Common Good in the European City (13th-16th C.)

De Bono Communi

Marc Boone

Jean-Pierre Sosson

actes du colloque international tenu à Marche-en-Famenne du 24 au 27 octobre 2001

Le verbe, l'image et les représentations de la société urbaine au Moyen Age

Whoever is curious about emotions and their expression in the Old Regime has to discover Johan Huizinga's works. From his point of view, even if it is a real challenge to comprehend the world of the mind and of the sentimental life, historians of medieval and early modern societies cannot help themselves from examining character studies to reconcile daily life and historicity. Anglo-Saxon studies have proved since the beginning of the seventies that we can give historical meaning to fierce emotions like anger and fear, to mental suffering characterized by tears and pain, or even to the sudden feeling of aesthetic pleasure, mystical ecstasy and delight all those emotions which put the breath of life into anonymous people crowded into our historical studies. Outside the debates of psycho-history, our study views the topic of emotions from the angle of social construction and civilization's process. The town reveals itself as an ideal context within which to articulate values, mentalities, customs and aesthetics. From the marketplace to the court of justice, from the procession route to the scaffold, from the theatre stage to the scene of riots, the town concentrates in its heart a public space where both delicate and strong emotions are repeatedly enacted. The purpose of this book is to develop different approaches -according to sphere, events, social categories, social relations, gender, etc.- and thus to suggest a more precise analysis of emotion as a means of communication inside the town. Three urban social " spheres " where divergent emotions were publicly expressed, manipulated, discussed and represented are put into focus : that of the urban revolt, that of the urban administration of justice and that of the staging of urban theatre and poetry. This book includes contributions from Peter Arnade, Marc Boone, Stijn Bussels, Vincent Challet, Dirk Coigneau, Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Jeroen Deploige, Jan Dumolyn, Jelle Haemers, Eve-Marie Halba, Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, Lauro Martines, Mariann Naessens, Walter Prevenier, Bart Ramakers, Laurent Smagghe, Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, Jacqueline Van Leeuwen and Valerie Wilhite.

Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin

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