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Punished and Corrected As an Example to All J.H. Spijkers Punished and corrected as an example to all On the treatment of rebellious nobles during and after the Flemish Revolts (1482-1492) MA (Res) Thesis, Europe 1000-1800 Institute of History, Faculty of Arts Leiden University Tutor: Dr. Robert Stein 19 December 2014 1 “Ô la belle histoire! le beau livre que l’Esprit Saint écrit présentement! Il est sous la presse, âmes saintes, il n’y a point de jour qu’on n’en arrange les lettres, que l’on n’y applique l’encre, que l’on n’en imprime les feuilles.” — Jean-Pierre de Caussade, L'abandon à la providence divine, Ch. XI. 2 Table of contents Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3 Justification......................................................................................................................................5 Method.............................................................................................................................................8 I. Background.....................................................................................................................................13 1. Historical overview....................................................................................................................13 1.1 The first Flemish revolt, 1483-1485...................................................................................13 2.2 The Second Flemish Revolt, 1488-1492.............................................................................21 2. Clashes at court..........................................................................................................................32 2.1 Permanent discontent..........................................................................................................32 2.2 A court of contenders..........................................................................................................38 3. Traditions of crime and punishment..........................................................................................46 3.1 Treason and grace in criminal law......................................................................................46 3.2 Repression of urban communities.......................................................................................49 3.3 Conflicts with noblemen.....................................................................................................55 II. Punishments and reconciliations....................................................................................................60 4. Punishment for the participation in urban revolts......................................................................60 4.2 Family members into the fold: Philip of Burgundy, lord of Beveren and Adolf of Cleves, lord of Ravenstein.....................................................................................................................63 4.3 Goods and offices: Wolfert of Borsele, lord of Veere, and Jacob of Savoy, count of Romont......................................................................................................................................65 4.4 Urban authority: Adrian Vilain, lord of Rassegem, and Louis of Bruges, lord of Gruuthuse ...................................................................................................................................................67 4.1 The test case: John of Montfort, castellan of Montfort.......................................................73 4.8 Trends and patterns.............................................................................................................75 5. Punishment in the Order of the Golden Fleece..........................................................................79 6. Punishment for the feuds of John of Montfort and Philip of Cleves.........................................86 6.1 God's friend and all the world's enemy...............................................................................87 6.2 Rivals in diplomacy............................................................................................................91 6.3 Peace...................................................................................................................................93 6.4 Epilogue..............................................................................................................................99 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................102 Sources and bibliography.................................................................................................................104 Appendix: Simplified family tree of the Burgundian dukes and regency council members............118 3 Introduction* “When the Young White King gained victory over his enemies everywhere, the Blue King was saddened, and won and bought once more, with his great wealth, a mighty captain, the greatest that the Young White King had with him, and promised him much more money, and also castles, fortresses and land; that captain would furthermore eternally have and rule the land and people of the Young White King. That captain abandoned the Young White King, and drew to himself evil people, a great number of crowds, among whom there were many great criers, and he gave that people a lot of money, and promised to make them all lords for ever. They accepted this, and they were also called the Black and Fallen White Company.”1 So goes the explanation that Maximilian of Austria (1459-1519) gives in the pseudo- autobiographical Weißkunig, of the origin of his struggle with the Netherlandish nobleman Philip of Cleves (1459-1528).2 After the death of duchess Mary of Burgundy left the four year old Philip the Handsome (1478-1506) duke of the Burgundian Netherlands, Maximilian struggled between 1482 and 1492 against a coalition of the Flemish cities and a handful of the most important noblemen for the regency, which in 1483-1485 and 1488-1492 erupted into the Flemish Revolts.3 Philip of Cleves, as presented here, was bought by the king of France with the ambition to reign in Maximilian's stead; while the king's notorious enemies, the Flemish, are presented as the Brown Company, Philip and his men are the Fallen Whites, apostates. The Weißkunig presents * I wish to thank Jelle Haemers for allowing me to read and make use of the manuscript of his latest book, De strijd om het regentschap over Filips de Schone. Wiel Dorssers, Thérèse Peeters and Vanessa Abeyawardena have helped me clear up many difficult passages and correct many errors. 1 Maximilian and Marx Treitzsaurwein, Der Weiß Kunig. Eine Erzehlung von den Thaten Kaiser Maximilian des ersten (Vienna 1775 (written ±1513)) 225: “Als der Jung Weiß kunig gegen seinen veindten allenthalben den Sig behilt, das verdroß den blaben kunig, und gewann, und erkauffet abermals, mit seinem großen gelt, ainen mechtigen hauptman, den maisten den der Jung weiß kung, bey Ime het, und versprach Ime darzu Insonnderhait, viel mer gelt, auch Purg Sloß unnd Lannd, derselb hauptman solle auch Ewiglichn haben, unnd Regiren, des Jungen weißen kunigs Lannd und leut, derselb hauptman viel von dem Jungen weißen kunig ab, unnd hennget an sich von schlechten leuten, ain grosse anzall volcks, darunder der grossen schreyer gar vill waren, und er gab denselben volckh gar vill gelts, und versprach Inen, Sy alle zu Ewigen Zeiten herren zu machn, das namen Sy also an, und wurden auch genennt, die Swartz und abgefallen weiß geselschaft[.]” 'Schreyer' or in Dutch 'roepers' and 'krijsers' were common terms to indicate a mob of foolish and spineless rebels: Jan Dumolyn, 'Marginalen of radicalen? Het vertoog over de 'roepers en krijsers' tijdens stedelijke opstanden, voornamelijk in het laatmiddeleeuwse Vlaanderen.', Tijdschrift voor sociale en economische geschiedenis, 2 (2005) 29-53. 2 The commentary of the first edition from 1775 is severely mistaken in identifying the Hauptman as Jan van Coppenhole. 3 The term 'Flemish Revolt' is from Jelle Haemers and Louis Sicking, 'De Vlaamse Opstand van Filips van Kleef en de Nederlandse Opstand van Willem van Oranje', Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis 119, 3 (2006) 328-347. I shall be referring to two of them to more easily distinguish and compare between them. 4 Maximilian's life as the struggle of a ruler beset by unrelenting misfortune as a result of being born under an unlucky constellation, yet victorious through divine grace.4 But he did not just see himself confronted with traitors; some hated him from the get-go. The Theuerdank, the other of Maximilian's writings, offers us a glimpse into the thoughts of the Burgundian nobility upon hearing of the Austrian's journey to the Netherlands to marry the duchess Mary: “Many in the country were much saddened in their hearts, thinking 'if the hero comes to our lady the queen, he will immediately take from us our rule.'”5 And so, three evil councillors of the queen attempt to thwart the noble hero — until they end up beheaded, hanged and thrown off of a balcony. The relationship between Maximilian and the nobility he found in the Netherlands was not always rosy, if these writings are any indication. But unlike Theuerdank's adversaries Fürwittig, Unfallo and Neydlhart, and in spite of rebellion being a capital crime, all but one of the members of the high nobility who opposed Maximilian died of natural causes. Some, like Louis of Gruuthuse,
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