Wim De Clercq

Living in times of war: waste of c. 1600 from two garderobe chutes in the castle of Middelburg-in-Flanders (Belgium)

Abstract The material remains and environmental data recovered during a rescue excavation in 2002–03 in the castle of the new town of Middelburg-in-Flanders throw light on the site, region and landscape in wartime. The paper discusses the historical context at the turn of the 16th century, the excavation of the castle, the taphonomy of the chutes, the analysis of the artefacts and ecological data recovered from two garderobe chutes in the upper court, and concludes with a synthesis focussing on the interpretation of the excavated record in the historically attested natural and socio-economic disruption caused by the Spanish-Dutch War.

“Vivre Noblement”: Material Culture and Elite Identity in Late Medieval Flanders

The example of two fifteenth-century, high-ranking officers of the Burgundian court shows how a radical transformation of the physical environment and an imitative interaction with material culture could create a powerful elite identity for those not born to nobility. A combination of evidence from archaeological, written, architectural, and art-historical sources reveals the ways in which Peter Bladelin and William Hugonet were able to parlay their newly gained social positions to achieve their ultimate goal of vivre noblement by adopting the trappings of Duke Philip the Good and other members of the Burgundian court.

The 3-D reconstruction of medieval wetland reclamation through electromagnetic induction survey

Studies of past human-landscape interactions rely upon the integration of archaeological, biological and geological information within their geographical context. However, detecting the often ephemeral traces of human activities at a landscape scale remains difficult with conventional archaeological field survey. Geophysical methods offer a solution by bridging the gap between point finds and the surrounding landscape, but these surveys often solely target archaeological features. Here we show how simultaneous mapping of multiple physical soil properties with a high resolution multi-receiver electromagnetic induction (EMI) survey permits a reconstruction of the three-dimensional layout and pedological setting of a medieval reclaimed landscape in Flanders (Belgium). Combined with limited and directed excavations, the results offer a unique insight into the way such marginal landscapes were reclaimed and occupied during the Middle Ages. This approach provides a robust foundation for unravelling complex historical landscapes and will enhance our understanding of past human-landscape interactions.

Sumptuary legislation, material culture and the semiotics of ‘vivre noblement’ in the county of Flanders (14th–16th centuries)

The question addressed in this contribution is a simple one: how was nobility structured in a society in which this particular form of social identity was not yet regulated by the princely state? Historians of the Southern Low Countries (roughly present-day Belgium) all agree that, in the later Middle Ages, being noble was still first and foremost a form of social recognition. In the kingdom of France, for example, the princely state had successfully established a monopoly to determine who was noble and who was not in the fifteenth century, but a similar system was only fully established in the Southern Low Countries at the turn of the seventeenth century. In the preceding centuries, a person was basically noble if considered as such by his contemporaries. This social judgement was also a legal one, as nobility was grounded in customary law. Those who were asked to prove their noble status did so by invoking testimonies of undisputed nobles. In 1398, for example, Guillaume de Tenremonde, a noble inhabitant of the city of Lille, had expressed his desire to join the Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem. To be admitted to this prestigious knightly order, he had to be noble. Guillaume asked six high-ranking noblemen from various regions of the Low Countries to vouch for him being kin to them and ‘extrait de noble sang et lignee’. The French prior of the Hospitallers

The current state of post-medieval archaeology in Flanders

Abstract Post-medieval archaeology in Flanders (Belgium) is a comparatively young archaeological discipline, even in an historically important region with centres such as Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent. Originating in the slipstream of Flemish urban archaeology during the 1970s, the discipline has struggled for recognition ever since. As a result of more than 40 years of fieldwork, the material record of early-modern and modern history has changed drastically. Yet post-medieval archaeology has not reached its apogee. A framework with its own methods, teaching, research questions and theoretical approaches is still under construction. This paper aims not only at historiographical analysis of the field, but chiefly at defining a clear framework for positioning post-medieval archaeology in one of the most important regions in early-modern and modern Europe.

Orthophoto mapping and digital surface modeling for archaeological excavations an image-based 3D modeling approach

We have examined image-based 3D modeling for the generation of orthophotos and digital surface models of archaeological surfaces and features. Our results suggest that image-based 3D modeling can be both a time-efficient and cost-effective as well as a scientific valuable method to document archaeological excavations. Although there are limitations, these are greatly surpassed by the possibilities. We believe that image-based 3D modeling can cause a(n) (r)evolution in archaeological excavation practice.

Heating the house. An archaeological and archaeometrical investigation into the tile-stoves of late-medieval Flanders, Belgium (14–17th centuries)

SUMMARY: Tile stoves arise in the Low Countries from the 14th century onwards. Although they have been well documented in northern and central Europe, they have remained an almost forgotten aspect of the material culture of the historic county of Flanders (Belgium). In recent years the amount of stove tiles found in archaeological excavations has increased considerably, raising questions concerning their production and origin. Micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was used to determine the elemental composition of these tiles to see if they could be divided into groups and what these groups could tell us about the distribution of workshops, resources and finished products.

Aragonese Tiles in a Flemish Castle: A Chivalric Gift-Exchange Network in Fifteenth-Century Europe

Abstract Excavation of the mid-fifteenth-century castle of Pieter Bladelin, a high-ranking Burgundian official, in the village of Middelburg-in-Flanders, near Bruges (Belgium), has unearthed a remarkable series of blue and white painted and glazed floor tiles. Post-excavation archival and heraldic inquiries into the tiles has led to a deeper understanding of the role that gift exchange of luxury objects played within the diplomatic network of Alfonso V “the Magnanimous”, King of Aragon, and Philip “the Good”, Duke of Burgundy, in shaping a shared chivalric and crusading culture between Burgundy and Aragon. The study demonstrates the added value of the integration of archaeological and historical data in studying economic, political and cultural processes for the later medieval or early modern period.

Composition and state of alteration of 18th century glass from the Cistercian nunnery of Clairefontaine (Belgium)

An extended set of 18th century glass vessels was analyzed by means of SEM-EDX (major and minor element composition) The fragmented archaeological objects were recovered from a latrine belonging to the early 18th century building phase of the nunnery of Clairefontaine, near Arlon (B). On the basis of typology and decoration, the major part of the vessels could be dated around the middle of the 18th century. Variety in color and weathering of the glass suggest differences in glassmaking recipes and in the composition and origin of raw materials. The results of the analysis show how two main compositional groups constitute about 90% of the analyzed glass set, and these are constituted by potash glass (transparent beakers) and high lime low alkali glass (green bottles). Next to these, a few potash-lime and soda glasses are also found. The type of alteration has also a clear relation with the original glass composition.

A Portuguese lifestyle in the Flemish countryside: ceramics of the Ximenez family (1595-c. 1700)

SUMMARY: In 1595, the Portuguese merchant banker Duarte Ximenez bought the Blauwhof, a castle-like estate in the Flemish countryside. An assemblage of pottery, recovered from the moat adjacent to the estate’s manor house, testifies to the status and hybrid identity of this 17th-century immigrant family. Although they were well assimilated into Antwerp’s high society, their foreign roots are still evident from particular Portuguese imports or the unconventional use of locally produced ceramics. Comparison with probate inventories shows that the two categories of Portuguese pottery serve different purposes, one in the public sphere of knowledgeable actors, and one in the intimacy of the Ximenez family.