'Joyous Entry' of Archduke Maximilian Into Antwerp (13 January 1478)

Journal of Medieval History

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The ‘joyous entry’ of Archduke Maximilian into Antwerp (13 January 1478): an analysis of a ‘most elegant and dignified’ dialogue

Kim Overlaet

To cite this article: Kim Overlaet (2018) The ‘joyous entry’ of Archduke Maximilian into Antwerp (13 January 1478): an analysis of a ‘most elegant and dignified’ dialogue, Journal of Medieval History, 44:2, 231-249, DOI: 10.1080/03044181.2018.1440622 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2018.1440622

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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rmed20 JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY, 2018 VOL. 44, NO. 2, 231–249 https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2018.1440622

The ‘joyous entry’ of Archduke Maximilian into Antwerp (13 January 1478): an analysis of a ‘most elegant and dignified’ dialogue Kim Overlaet History, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY In the historiography of ‘joyous entries’ in the medieval Low Received 30 December 2016 Countries, much attention has been paid to the ways in which the Accepted 19 March 2017 iconographic programmes of these inauguration ceremonies KEYWORDS served the dialogue between the Burgundian dukes and their Joyous entries; Low subjects on the one hand, and between urban interest groups on Countries; Maximilian of the other. Analyses of the various theatrical performances Austria; urban spaces; organised on town squares and other public urban spaces allow Antwerp us a glimpse of the balance of power and of the participants’ ambitions and strategies in a certain historical and geographical context. An in-depth analysis of a contemporary account of Maximilian’s joyous entry into Antwerp (13 January 1478) adds a new perspective to historiography by showing how the public urban spaces functioned as complex social products, which gave extra meaning to the interaction between the duke and urban groups while simultaneously mirroring the socio-economic and political structure of urban society.

On 13 January 1478, five months after his marriage to Mary of Burgundy (1457‒82), Arch- duke Maximilian of Austria (1459–1519) made his ‘joyous entry’ into the city of Antwerp. According to a remarkably detailed contemporary account,1 the city’s government offered cash payments to groups of at least 18 men to ride out to welcome the duke in ‘the most elegant and dignified’ way (sierlijckst en statelijckst).2 Following civic and courtly tradition,

CONTACT Kim Overlaet [email protected] History, Universiteit van Amsterdam – Kloveniersburgwal 48 (C1.06B), 1012CX, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1 This account forms part of a register containing diverse institutional documents drawn up in Brabant in the period 1451–9. The register was recently moved to the family archive Mercy-Argenteau, which is kept in the State Archive of Liège, Receuil des textes normatifs XVI siècle: FMA 4026. For more information about this register, see Mario Damen, ‘Prelaten, edelen en steden. De samenstelling van de Staten van Brabant in de vijftiende eeuw’, Handelingen van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis 182 (2016): 5‒274. The account is brieﬂy mentioned in Walter Pre- venier and Wim Blockmans, eds., Prinsen en poorters: beelden van de saatmiddeleeuwse samenleving in de Bourgon- dische Nederlanden, 1384–1530 (Antwerp: Mercatorfonds, 1998), 330–2; Wim Blockmans and Esther Donckers, ‘Self-Representation of Court and City in Flanders and Brabant in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries’,in Showing Status: Representations of Social Positions in the Late Middle Ages, eds. Wim Blockmans and Antheun Janse (Turnhout: Brepols, 1999), 99. An edition of the description of Maximilian’s entry by Mario Damen and myself has been submitted to BMGN ‒ Low Countries Historical Review (December 2017). 2 Prizes might also be won by the nations, guilds and companies which had shown the most beautiful and digniﬁed tableaux and had organised the most enjoyable evening entertainments. FMA 4026, f. 1. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 232 K. OVERLAET

Maximilian was met by a ceremonial parade outside the city walls.3 In his account of the ceremonies, the author carefully noted the procession’s order: first came ‘many noblemen’ (vele eelder sciltboirteghe manne)4 and the city’s aldermen, then the representatives of the Antwerp guilds and corporations, with their colourful, ‘honourable and worthy’ (eerlijck en statelijck) uniforms. The city’s canons and members of the lower clergy, monks, nuns and beguines closed the parade. Immediately after this first formal encounter with the urban community, Maximilian was escorted to the city gates, where he was invited to swear an oath to respect the local privileges. After this ritual the duke finally entered the city, where many tableaux vivants and triumphal arches had been erected along the route to the heart of Antwerp: the Great Market Square. In the historiography of joyous entries in the late medieval Low Countries, much attention has been paid to how the iconographic and theatrical programmes of these inauguration ceremonies served the dialogue between the dukes and their subjects on the one hand, and between urban interest groups on the other. It has become generally accepted that the theatrical performances organised on town squares and other urban spaces were not meant for the sole purpose of entertainment. The deliberate choice for the performance of specific Christian, ancient and urban exempla allowed the organising town coun- cils and urban interest groups to convey their own messages. Therefore joyous entries allow us a glimpse of the idealised balance of power and of the participants’ ambitions and strategies in a specific historical and geographical context.5 According to Andrew Brown and Graeme Small, a general distinction can be made between the joyous entries of new rulers and entries following an urban rebellion. Central to the first category was the swearing of oaths by the new ruler and his subjects, establishing a kind of government contract, whereas the second category of entries tried to restore, symbolically, the broken

3 Peter Arnade, Realms of Ritual: Burgundian Ceremony and Civic Life in Late Medieval Ghent (New York: Cornell University Press, 1996); Jesse Hurlbut, ‘The Duke’s First Entry: Burgundian Inauguration and Gift’,inMoving Sub- jects. Processional Performance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, eds. Kathleen Ashley and Wim Hüsken (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001), 155–87. 4 Sciltboirteghe manne were ‘men who had inherited the right to wear coats of arms’. They probably belonged to the powerful socio-economic elite, whose members traditionally occupied the most important positions in the town administration. Yet, their social positions clearly were higher than those of the aldermen who were not entitled to wear coats of arms. This confirms research by Mario Damen and Frederick Buylaert, who have both argued that political office-holders in late medieval towns in Brabant and Flanders cannot be considered as a homogenous social group, and that the use of general terms such as urban nobility or patricians should be avoided. Mario Damen, ‘Patricians, Knights, or Nobles? Historiography and Social Status in Late Medieval Antwerp’, Medieval Low Countries 1 (2014): 173–203; Frederik Buylaert, ‘Memory, Social Mobility and Historiography. Shaping Noble Identity in the Bruges Chronicle of Nicholas Despars († 1597)’, Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire 88, no. 2 (2010): 377–408. 5 See, among others, Arnade, Realms of Ritual; Wim Blockmans, ‘Le dialogue imaginaire entre princes et sujets: les joyeuses entrées en Brabant en 1494 et en 1496’, Publications du Centre Européen d’Études Bourguignonnes 4 (1994): 37–53; Andrew Brown, ‘Liturgical Memory and Civic Conflict: the Entry of Emperor Frederick III and Max- imilian, King of the Romans, into Bruges on 1 August 1486’, Publications du Centre Européen d’Études Bour- guignonnes 52 (2012): 129–48; Mario Damen, ‘Princely Entries and Gift Exchange in the Burgundian Low Countries: a Crucial Link in Late Medieval Political Culture’, Journal of Medieval History 33 (2007): 233–49; Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, La ville des cérémonies: essai sur la communication politique dans les anciens Pays-Bas bourguignons (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004); David Nicholas, ‘In the Pit of the Burgundian Theater State. Urban traditions and Princely Ambitions in Ghent, 1360–1420’,inCity and Spectacle in Medieval Europe, eds. Barbara Hana- walt and Kathryn L. Reyerson (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), 271–96; Bart Ramakers, ‘Multifaceted and Ambiguous: the Tableaux vivants in the Bruges Entry of 1440’,inThe Mediation of Symbol in Late Medieval and Early Modern Times, eds. Rudolf Suntrup, Jan R. Veenstra, and Anne Bollmann (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2005), 163–95; Hugo Soly, ‘Plechtige intochten in de steden van de suidelijke Nederlanden tijdens de overgang van middeleeuwen naar nieuwe tijd: communicatie, propaganda, spektakel’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 97 (1984): 341–61. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 233 contract between the ruler and the townspeople.6 However, by participating in these ostensibly friendly political gestures, urban groups could also engage in a dialogue with their fellow city dwellers.7 Historians currently do not consider princely entries as an expression of a united communal will, and pay more attention to possible friction between urban groups, who might find themselves in opposition to each other by advocat- ing conflicting demands.8 Remarkably, little attention has been paid to the spatial dimensions of joyous entries. Notwithstanding the immense impact of the so-called spatial turn, research on Burgun- dian and Habsburg inauguration ceremonies has hardly been influenced by the work of the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre. In the wake of his La production de l’espace (1974), recent studies of religious and secular processions and festivals in late medieval towns in the Low Countries take into account the difference between physical and lived or representational space.9 Indeed, the public urban spaces were more than a stage for events. As complex social products, they acquired meaning (were ‘produced’) through the interaction of individuals and groups; they were both ‘the geographical site of action and the social possibility for engaging in action’.10 It is now generally accepted that the late medieval city’s public spaces were inextricably connected to growing urban self-awareness in this period. Whereas town walls functioned as the physical and ritual boundaries of urban communities, central market squares, with their guild houses and town halls, were closely linked to the bonum commune, the common good: to urban rights and privileges, identity and authority.11 Inspired by these findings, this article inves- tigates the ways in which urban interest groups organising joyous entries in the late medieval Low Countries made use of significant public spaces in towns to give extra weight and meaning both to their performances and to their own positions. The contemporary account of Maximilian’s inauguration in Antwerp, with its detailed descriptions of the

6 Andrew Brown and Graeme Small, Court and Civic Society in the Burgundian Low Countries (Manchester: Manches- ter University Press, 2007), 25. The most famous examples of joyous entries of the second category took place in Bruges (1438 and 1440) and in Ghent (1453, 1458 and 1469), and have been extensively studied by Andrew Brown and Peter Arnade respectively. See, for example, Brown, ‘Liturgical Memory’; Arnade, Realms of Ritual. 7 Jesse Hurlbut, ‘Processions in Burgundy: Late-Medieval Ceremonial Entries’,inPageants and Processions: Image and Idiom as Spectacle, ed. Herman du Toit (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009), 93–104 (94). 8 Andrew Brown has shown that noble office-holders in fifteenth-century Bruges tended to identify themselves and their personal interests more closely with the princely household than with the town’s interests in general. Brown, ‘Liturgical Memory’, 129–48. See also Damen, ‘Patricians, Knights, or Nobles?’, 176; idem, ‘The Town as a Stage? Urban Space and Tournaments in Late Medieval Brussels’, Urban History 43 (2016): 47–71. 9 Henri Lefebvre, La production de l’espace (Paris: Éditions Anthropos, 1974). 10 Peter Arnade, Martha Howell, and Walter Simons, ‘Fertile Spaces: the Productivity of Urban Space in Northern Europe’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 32 (2002): 515–48 (517). 11 See, among others, P.-H. Guttonneau, ‘Petites villes et espace fluvial: pratiques sociales et conflits d’usage autour de Paris au XVe siècle’,inThe Power of Space in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The Cities of Italy, Northern France and the Low Countries, eds. Marc Boone and Martha Howell (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 57–77; Martha Howell, ‘The Spaces of Late Medieval Urbanity’,inShaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe, eds. Peter Stabel and Marc Boone (Leuven: Garant, 2000), 3–24; Jelle Haemers and Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, ‘Conquérir et reconquérir l’espace urbain. Le triomphe de la collectivité sur l’individu dans le cadre de la révolte brugeoise de 1488’, Studies in European Urban History 10 (2007): 119–42; Lecuppre-Desjardin, La ville des cérémonies; Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin and Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, eds., De bono communi: the Discourse and Practice of the Common Good in the European City (13th–16th c.) (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010); Elodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, Le royaume inachevé des ducs de Bourgogne: XIVe‒XVe siècles (Paris: Belin, 2016); Katrien Lichtert, Jan Dumolyn, and Max Martens, eds., Portraits of the City. Representing Urban Space in Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Turnhout: Brepols, 2014); Benjamin McRee, ‘Unity or Division? The Social Meaning of Guild Ceremony in Urban Communities’,inCity and Spectacle in Medieval Europe, eds. Hanawalt and Reyerson, 189‒207; Paul Stock, ed., The Uses of Space in Early Modern History (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). 234 K. OVERLAET locations of the tableaux vivants and triumphal arches, as well as the themes and subjects of performances, is an ideal source for this study. Admittedly, it is difficult to identify a single, overarching message among the potentially multiple meanings of these symbolic performances, and without information on the general expenses incurred for Maximilian’s entry it is impossible to estimate the degree of control which the Antwerp authorities exercised over the entry.12 Therefore, this article considers the performances organised by the Antwerp interest groups primarily as mirrors of their own (possibly conflicting) socio-political and economic aspirations, and of their expectations towards the new duke and their fellow city dwellers. Quotations from classical and theological literature indicate that the author of the text was well educated. His familiarity with urban and courtly traditions and social conventions likewise suggests that he belonged to the highest echelons of urban, courtly and/or clerical society. Bearing in mind the intellectual and socio- economic profile of members of the urban chambers of rhetoric on the one hand, and their involvement in the organisation of urban and courtly festivities and ceremonies on the other, it is argued that the anonymous and devout author of the Antwerp entry had a training in rhetoric.13 Regardless of his profile and allegiances, he has left us with an invaluable eyewit- ness report, carefully mentioning the organisers, locations and subjects of all the tableaux.His text therefore reveals a great deal about how the Antwerp interest groups wanted to present themselves, their interests and expectations to the duke and their fellow city dwellers, as well as how they perceived the socio-political position of the city in the duchy of Brabant.14

To converse in context Following the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy (5 January 1477), the balance of power between his young and inexperienced daughter, Mary of Burgundy, and the States of Brabant (which represented the Brabantine nobility, clergy and towns) tilted in favour of the latter. The principalities and towns of Brabant, Flanders, Hainaut and Holland had grown tired of the expensive foreign campaigns of the Burgundian dukes, and they openly rebelled against their centralising policy.15 When Mary sought

12 Unfortunately, the city accounts for this period have not survived. It is likely that the cash payments granted by the urban government to those who had organised tableaux vivants must be interpreted in the context of the growing socio-economic, political and cultural rivalry between the towns in the Low Countries, which resulted in the organisation of inter-town rhetoric and shooting competitions from the ﬁfteenth century onwards. The same eagerness to show off also had an impact on both the organisation and reception of joyous entries, as it stimulated urban authorities to produce (sometimes extensively illustrated) descriptions, which were intended for both a courtly and wider urban audience. In other words, although the account central to this study does not explicitly mention by whom the text was commissioned, nor its intended audience or by whom it was written, it is probable that the Antwerp authorities wanted to impress not only Maximilian, but also the neighbouring towns. Blockmans and Donckers, ‘Self- Representation’,90–9; Blockmans and Prevenier, Prinsen en poorters, 323–4; Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society,32–5; Graeme Small, ‘When Indiciaries Meet Rederijkers: a Contribution to the History of the Burgundian Theatre State’,inStad van koopmanschap en vrede: literatuur in Brugge tussen middeleeuwen en rederijkerstijd, ed. Johan Oosterman (Leuven: Peeters, 2005), 133–61. 13 Blockmans and Prevenier, Prinsen en poorters, 323. See, on the involvement of rhetoricians, Samuel Mareel, ‘Jan de Scheereres Triumphe ghedaen te Brugghe ter Intreye van Caerle. Teksteditie met inleiding en aantekeningen’, De Fon- teine 55 (2005): 79–143; Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, Om beters wille. Rederijkerskamers en de stedelijke cultuur in de zuidelijke Nederlanden 1400–1650 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008), 53–9; Andrew Brown, Civic Ceremony and Religion in Medieval Bruges, c.1300–1520 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 176; Small, ‘When Indiciaries Meet Rederijkers’. 14 Blockmans, ‘Le dialogue imaginaire’, 39; Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society, 25. 15 Raymond Van Uytven, ‘1477 in Brabant’,in1477. Het algemene en de gewestelijke privilegien van Maria van Bour- gondië voor de Nederlanden, ed. Wim Blockmans (Kortrijk-Heule: UGA, 1985), 253–494. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 235 formal recognition as her father’s successor, the Estates presented a long list of complaints about his administrative and fiscal rules, and considered the resolution of these grievances as the main condition of their consent.16 However, Mary’s subjects were not the only ones taking advantage of the sudden death of her father. Louis XI of France eagerly took the opportunity to invade the provinces of Burgundy, Mâcon, Picardy and Artois. In these hazardous circumstances, Mary and her councillors had no choice other than to grant major concessions. The negotiations ended in February, less than a month after Charles’ death. With the Great Privilege of Flanders and the Blijde Intrede of Brabant,17 all the principalities and cities saw their communal rights restored. The duchess was no longer able to raise taxes without the consent of the delegates of the provincial states in her realm, while the guilds were finally represented in local urban government.18 Mary’s relief was short-lived: in the early spring of 1477 uprisings broke out (again) in almost every town in the Low Countries.19 In Antwerp, the guilds apparently were not sat- isfied with the success of their claim, during the first uprising, to six of the twelve alder- manic positions. The Merchants’ (meerse) and Shipmen’s(sciplieden) guilds imprisoned important members of the urban government, among whom were the treasurers Peter van der Voort and his brother Klaas, who had been burgomaster in the year 1475. For five or six weeks, they were all held prisoner in the guilds’ houses and closely guarded by avid volunteers. Administrative and judicial sources, published by Pierre Génard, reveal how these long-time office-holders were called upon to explain suspicious deficiencies in their account books.20 According to the formal indictment drawn up against the Van der Voort brothers, both had carried out their offices with only their own benefit in mind. The desperate pleas of their fellow town magistrates were to no avail: on 4 May both were beheaded on the Great Market Square. A more favourable fate was reserved for the other suspects: most of them were released and the newly chosen urban authorities repeatedly postponed their trials.21 A ducal statement addressed directly to the city of Antwerp on 18 June 1477 makes clear that Mary of Burgundy was well aware of the perilous situation in Antwerp, most likely from information brought to her by the advisers she had sent to the city after the

16 Wim Blockmans, ‘Breuk of Continuïteit? De Vlaamse Privilegien van 1477 in het licht van het staatsvormings- proces’,inHet algemene en de gewestelijke privilegien, ed. Blockmans, 101–2; Wim Blockmans and Walter Prevenier, The Promised Lands. The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369–1530 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl- vania Press, 1988), 196. 17 Raymond Van Uytven, Wim Blockmans, and Walter Prevenier have argued that the towns of Brabant probably did not consider the terms of the Blijde Intrede of 1477 as new or revolutionary. In contrast to their Flemish counterparts, they were accustomed to the tradition of charters deﬁning the relationship between rulers and their subjects. Since the charter of Johanna, duchess of Brabant, and her husband Wenceslas of Luxemburg granted in Brussels in 1356, members of the three estates (the nobility, clergy and town dwellers) expected their rulers to respect their rights and privileges. As with most principalities of the Burgundian state, Mary had granted the Estates of Brabant a privilege ‒ the Blijde Intrede of Brabant, of 29 May 1477 ‒ that was shaped speciﬁcally for their particular case. Van Uytven, ‘1477 in Brabant’, 268; Blockmans and Prevenier, Promised Lands, 196–7. 18 Following the Great Privilege, the Antwerp community was authorised to draw up a list of candidates for the 12 positions of alderman – of which six were reserved for members of the guilds. Although the duke retained the right of appointment, the guilds were able in this way to enlarge their share of positions in urban government. René Bouman, Het Antwerps stadsbestuur voor en tijdens de Franse overheersing: bijdrage tot de ontwikkelingsgeschie- denis van de stedelijke bestuursinstellingen in de zuidelijke Nederlanden (Ghent: Rijksmuseum Gent, 1965), 12. 19 See, on the Ghent revolts, for example, J. Haemers, For the Common Good: State Power and Urban Revolts in the Reign of Mary of Burgundy (Turnhout: Brepols, 2009). 20 Pieter Génard, De gebroeders Van der Voort en de volksopstand van 1477–1478. Verhalen en ambtelijke stukken (Antwerp: Kockx, 1879), 4. 21 Génard, De gebroeders Van der Voort, 60, 63–70. 236 K. OVERLAET execution of the Van der Voort brothers. In response to the most recent uprisings, she ordered the current town officials to resolve the situation peacefully and rebuked the defiant guild members.22 Two major events determined the further course of the Antwerp rebellion: the marriage of Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, and the successes of the French army. Frightened by the French advance, the rebellious cities apparently (albeit temporarily) forgot their resentment. A month after receiving Mary’s statement, burgomaster Jan van Halmale left Antwerp in the company of 48 men to welcome the future husband of their duchess in Cologne. The towns of the Low Countries clearly counted on the armies of Maximilian of Austria, the eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, who had been officially betrothed to Mary since 1473: on the occasion of their wedding in Ghent on 19 August 1477, Maximilian was cheerfully welcomed by the city as the saviour of the country.23 At first sight, the Brabantine towns had good reasons to acclaim Maximilian’s arrival: immediately after his marriage to Mary he took care of the defence of his wife’s duchy, leading military campaigns against the French. However, with the arrival of the prince, the recently acquired urban rights and privileges in his new territory were vulnerable once again. It soon became clear that the new duke was equally concerned about the restoration of ducal authority within the Low Countries. Walter Prevenier and Wim Block- mans drew attention to the fact that Maximilian had been raised in the Habsburg imperial milieu, which possibly greatly influenced his views of the political ambitions of the towns of the Low Countries.24 We can only guess whether these towns were aware of the possible imperial threat to their long-cherished urban privileges. Still, the fact remains that it was only after the wedding that events in Antwerp took a drastic turn. Ardently trying to enhance his control over the towns and provinces of Brabant, Maximilian confirmed Mary’s earlier condemnation of the urban revolts, and on 30 November the new duke finally put his words into action: four commissioners were sent to Antwerp with the difficult task of resolving the political impasse and establishing a new urban government.25 By the end of the year most instigators of the revolts were imprisoned, fined and obliged to make a pilgrimage, while many of the previously deposed office-holders were reinstated.26 Matters had not been settled in Antwerp when Maximilian made his joyous entry on 13 January 1478. For instance, just a few days before the entry three men had been accused of spreading slander about the occasion, and of trying to win over the deans of their guilds.

22 Mary of Burgundy sent three of her councillors: Duke Adolf van Kleef, Hendrik van Hoorn (lord of Perwys) and Jaspar van Culemborg. The first two men possessed important lordships in Brabant: Damen, Prelaten, edelen en steden, nos. 729, 466 and 761; Génard, De gebroeders Van der Voort, 60 and 91 (quotation). 23 Blockmans and Prevenier, Promised Lands, 195. 24 Although Maximilian swore to respect the Great Privilege and Blijde Intrede, he soon attempted to undermine many concessions Mary had granted. Blockmans, ‘Breuk of Continuïteit?’, 116, 266–7; Blockmans and Prevenier, Promised Lands, 199. On the ambitions and self-consciousness of towns in the medieval Low Countries, Blockmans and Donckers, ‘Self-Representation’,81–113; Marc Boone, ‘Urban Space and Political Conflict in Late Medieval Flan- ders’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 32 (2002): 621–40; Stabel and Boone, eds., Shaping Urban Identity; Robert Stein, ‘Seventeen. The Multiplicity of a Unity in the Low Countries’,inThe Ideology of Burgundy. The Pro- motion of National Consciousness 1364–1565, eds. Jonathan Boulton and Jan Veenstra (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 185–223. 25 Génard, De gebroeders Van der Voort, 27, 106–7. 26 In 1520, members of the most important political families of the late fourteenth century still dominated the most important political offices in the town. See Koen Wouters, ‘De invloed van verwantschap op de machtsstrijd binnen de Antwerpse politieke elite (1520–1555)’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 28 (2002): 29–56 (38). See also Jan Van Herwaarden, Opgelegde bedevaarten. Een studie over de praktijk van opleggen van bedevaarten (met name in de stedelijke rechtspraak) in de Nederlanden gedurende de late middeleeuwen, ca.1300‒1550 (Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1978), 210‒13. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 237

The punishment for defamation and inciting rebellion was severe: they had to embark on pilgrimage, respectively, to St Andrews (Scotland), Milan (Italy) and Nicosia (Cyprus), and were banished from Antwerp for 10 years.27 The meanings of the pageants organised for the occasion must therefore be interpreted in relation not only to the larger socio- political context, but also the socio-political position of the groups involved.

Welcome to Hantwerpen Before he was allowed to enter Antwerp, Maximilian was expected to swear to respect and defend the city’s rights and privileges. As was customary, for this legally binding ceremony an ‘altar’ (outaer) was constructed outside the city walls in the vicinity of the St George Gate (Figure 1; Table 1).28 After Maximilian’s public acceptance of his sacred contract with the city of Antwerp, the town officials, noble city dwellers and members of the archery and craft guilds accompanied the duke to the city gate.29 Considering their wealth, social prestige and authority within urban society on the one hand, and the patron- age networks that linked their members with ducal officials on the other, it is not surprising both that the city’s archery guilds were responsible for the first tableaux (figuere), and that they occupied the urban spaces they were expected to guard and defend.30 Their first tableau vivant was situated just outside the St George Gate (No. 1 on Figure 1), while their second platform was erected in front of the church dedicated to their patron St George (No. 2). The judicial, socio-economic, political and symbolic meaning of these spaces – for both the urban and courtly audiences of the ceremony – cannot be underestimated.31 In the late medieval Low Countries town walls functioned as the boundaries of a spatial unit which was linked to the highly valued political, fiscal, judicial and socio-economic rights and privileges new rulers had to swear to uphold before they were allowed to enter.32 Historians have argued that the new duke’s passing through the city gates can

27 Unfortunately, the city’s bailiff did not specify the guilds to which these men belonged. Antwerp, Felix Archive, Cor- rectieboeken 1414‒1794, f. 130v. See also Van Herwaarden, Opgelegde bedevaarten, 211. 28 Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society, 25. 29 As in most cities in late medieval and early modern Brabant, the city of Antwerp had two archery guilds – a ‘youth group’ and a group for more senior participants. See Laura Crombie, Archery and Crossbow Guilds in Medieval Flan- ders (Woodbridge: the Boydell Press, 2016), chapter 2. See on the participation of the St George confraternity of Ghent when Philip the Good made his joyous entry into the city (23 April 1458), Arnade, Realms of Ritual, 65, 133–4. Not all of Antwerp’s guilds and associations participated in the procession and pageants organised on the occasion of Maximilian’s entry. The most wealthy and powerful guilds (such as the Merchants and Butchers) as well as those politically active (Tailors and Carpenters) and those known for their artistic skills (Painters) were present. We do not know why some less powerful guilds, such as the Furriers, participated, while others did not. 30 According to Peter Arnade, these voluntary military and devotional groups were ‘social bodies of privileged artisans, rich guildsmen, and merchants’. While many guild members held ofﬁce in urban government, much of these guilds’ prestige came from the membership of nobles. Laura Crombie has demonstrated that archery and crossbow guilds played a vital role in ducal–civic interactions in late medieval Flanders. By their membership of the shooting guilds in the towns of their realm, Charles the Bold and his successors bestowed on these guilds status and legitimacy, while they simultaneously could use the archery networks to bolster their urban support. Arnade, Realms of Ritual, 70; Crombie, Archery and Crossbow Guilds, chapter 4; Small, ‘When Indiciaries Meet Rederijkers’, 140–1. The archery guilds were noteworthy for the organisation of and participation in urban tournaments: Damen, ‘Town as a Stage?’,47–71. 31 Howell, ‘Spaces’,3–23; Blockmans and Prevenier, Prinsen en poorters, 324. The route of the Antwerp procession of 1478 has been reconstructed by analysis of the street names mentioned in the account: https://inventaris. onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten (Accessed 10 November 2016). See Figure 1. 32 On maps, cityscapes and paintings from this period, towns were often depicted as ‘islands of distinction in seas of nothingness or of danger’: Howell, ‘Spaces’,4‒5 (quotation at 5); Peter Stabel, ‘Social Reality and Artistic Image: the Urban Experience in Late Medieval Low Countries. Some Introductory Remarks on the Occasion of a Colloquium’, 238 K. OVERLAET

Figure 1. The route of Maximilian’s joyous entry into Antwerp (13 January 1478), superimposed on a nineteenth-century copy of a sixteenth-century map of Antwerp, by Hendrik Dierckx. The original map was ascribed to Michiel Coignet. See Table 1 for the key to the numbers, the stations on the entry. Source: © GIStorical Antwerp – Iason Jongepier /Antwerp City Archives, IB no. 2964.

Table 1. Maximilian’s joyous entry into Antwerp, 13 January 1478. No. Subject(s) of the performance Organisers 0 Maximilian swears to respect the urban privileges ‒ 1 Scenes of the life of St George Young and Old Crossbow Guild 2 Scenes of the life of St George Young and Old Crossbow Guild 3 The battle between Silvius Brabo and Druon Antigoon Tailors’ and Carpenters’ Guilds 4 Coronation of Caesar and presentation of Pompey’s head Tanners’ and Shoemakers’ Guilds 5 Mary of Burgundy, the Holy Spirit and her loyal people Bakers’ and Furriers’ Guilds 6 Murder of Caesar, avenged by his nephew Octavian Butchers’ and Fishmongers’ Guilds 7 Legend of a king, who was king for only one year Merchants’ Guild 8 Allegorical representation of the three estates of Brabant Painters of the St Lucas Guild 9 The 17 provinces Mary of Burgundy inherited Coopers’ and Cabinetmakers’ Guilds 10 a) the Evangelists, the pope and the Emperor Octavian Not specified b) the responsibilities of lay and religious princes Not specified c) the Agnus Dei, Maximilian as a shepherd Not specified d) the myth of origin of the Carolingian dynasty Not specified 11 Maximilian confirms a summary of the Blijde Intrede ‒ 12 The three estates swear loyalty to Emperor Frederick Shipmen’s Guild 13 Triumphs and downfall of Julius Caesar Chamber of rhetoric (Goudbloeme) 14 Maximilian, sent by his mighty father Frederick Chamber of rhetoric (Goudbloeme) 15 Maximilian and his loyal subjects Embroiderers’ Guild 16 Example of just government (Roman legend) Gardeners’ Guild 17 Scenes from the Grimbergen wars (1141–59) Barbers’ and Merchants’ Guilds 18 The infant Godfrey III and the count of Flanders Smiths’ and Woodcutters’ Guilds 10 Evening celebrations, in the presence of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy ‒ Source: FMA 4026, ff. 3r‒6v. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 239 be compared to the ‘liminal experience of a rite of passage’.33 By dedicating their tableaux to performances of scenes from the life of St George, the Archers probably not only wanted to highlight the devotional aspect of their guild identity, but also the quasi-religious meaning of Maximilian’s entry into Antwerp, which was inextricably linked to his sacred responsibilities as a ruler and the Blijde Intrede of 1477.34 The very next tableau further confirms the important communicative function of joyous entries in the medieval Low Countries, by proudly representing Antwerp as the setting for one of the most spectacular episodes of the legend of Brabo. Close to the Fran- ciscan convent and heading toward the old town walls, the Tailors’ and Carpenters’ Guilds had erected a platform (pointe) dedicated to the heroic battle after which Silvius Brabo, a Roman soldier, hacked off Druon Antigoon’s hand (No. 3). This mythical giant guarded a bridge over the River Scheldt at a place called Hantwerpen, and brutally severed one of the hands of everyone who tried to cross the river without paying a tax, only to ‘throw’ (werp) these hands into the river (Figure 2).35 With this cruel practice, Druon had prevented the peaceful and prosperous commerce desired by the community of Antwerp. One of the possible messages of this tableau was therefore Maximilian’s obligation to protect Antwerp’s trade.36 Moreover, by performing this episode of the legend, the urban interest groups reminded the duke of the city’s importance in the territorial as well as dynastic history of the duchy. As a reward for his heroic actions – according to the oldest known version of the legend – Brabo was appointed duke of a territory that was named after him, Brabant, while Hantwerpen would become known as the city of Antwerpen.37 Although the earliest references to the legend of Brabo date from the first decades of the fourteenth century, when Brabant still was an independent duchy, the tale remained popular after the incorporation of Brabant into the Burgundian state in 1430.38 Sjoerd Bijker explains this lasting popularity as a consequence of the fact that each version of the legend primarily explained the origin of the name of a vast territory, including the cities of Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp. The legend ‘not only linked the Brabantine

in Core and Periphery in Late Medieval Urban Society. Proceedings of the Colloquium at Ghent (22nd–23nd August 1996), eds. M. Carlier and others (Leuven: Garant, 1996), 16–17. 33 Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society, 29. See also Jesse D. Hurlbut, ‘Ceremonial Entries in Burgundy: Philip the Good and Charles the Bold (1419–1477)’ (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1990). On the symbolic importance of city gates, J. Dumolyn, ‘Une idéologie urbaine “bricolée” en Flandre médiévale: les Sept Portes de Bruges dans le manuscrit Gruuthuse (début du XVe siècle)’, Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire 88 (2010): 1039–84. 34 Arguably, the link to St George explains why the Antwerp shooting guilds had their tableaux vivants erected at the St George Gate. On the ﬁrst platform, St George survived being plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil. FMA 4026, f. 3v. 35 The name Antwerpen allegedly comes from the Dutch words for ‘hand’ and ‘to throw’. FMA 4026, f. 3v. On the link between the evolution of urban history-writing and the growth of urban self-consciousness in the medieval Low Countries, Robert Stein, Politiek en historiograﬁe: het ontstaansmilieu van Brabantse kronieken in de eerste helft van de vijftiende eeuw (Leuven: Garant, 1994); Bram Caers, Vertekend verleden. Geschiedenis herschrijven in vroeg- modern Mechelen, 1500–1650 (Amsterdam: Hilversum, 2018). 36 Mark Meadow, ‘Ritual and Civic Identity in Philip II’s 1549 Antwerp Blijde Incompst’, Netherlandish Yearbook 49, no. 1 (1998): 37–68. 37 The legend of Brabo starts near Brussels, with the birth of Emperor Julius Caesar as the son of Swane. Caesar was brought up in Nijmegen, with his younger sister, Swane junior. Years later, at Hantwerpen, Brabo fought with and defeated Druon. As a reward, he was given Swane junior in marriage and was appointed duke of a territory that was named after him. The oldest reference to the legend dates from the early decades of the fourteenth century: Sjoerd Bijker, ‘The Functions of the Late Medieval Brabantine Legend of Brabon’,inNetworks, Nations and Regions. Shaping Identities in the Low Countries, eds. Robert Stein and Judith Pollmann (Leiden, 2010), 91–109 (quote at 94). See also Remco Sleiderink, De stem van de meester. De hertogen van Brabant en hun rol in het literaire leven (1106–1430). Nederlandse literatuur en cultuur in de middeleeuwen (Amsterdam: Prometeus, 2003), 108–9. 38 Bijker, ‘Functions’,92–7; Floris Prims, Antwerpen door de eeuwen heen (Antwerp: Sikkel, 1974), 109. 240 K. OVERLAET

Figure 2. The head of Druon Antigoon: in 1534‒5, the painter-sculptor Pieter Coecke van Aelst made a gigantic papier-mâché statue of Druon Antigoon, which was used during celebratory processions, such as the joyous entry of Philip II into Antwerp in 1549: Cornelis Grapheus, De seer wonderlijcke, schoone, triumphelijcke incompst vanden … prince Philips … inde stadt van Antwerpen, anno M.CCCCC.XLIX (Antwerp: Gillis van Diest, 1550). Source: Hoofd van de reus Druon Antigoon, VM 2004.1021.002, Col- lectie Stad Antwerpen, MAS (Museum aan de Stroom, www.mas.be). © MAS. dukes to the Brabantine territory, it also made the history of the Brabantine towns part of the duchy’s history’.39 Whether he thought himself welcomed as a descendant of Brabo or not, Maximilian undoubtedly felt flattered by the following tableau, which was dedicated to another legendary and exemplary member of the dynasty linked to the Brabantine territory: Julius Caesar (No. 4). In the heart of the urban spaces where they carried out most of

39 The most influential sources for the Brabo legend are the Cronicke van Brabant (Chronicle of Brabant), by Hennen van Merchtenen (1415), and Die alder excellenste cronycke by an anonymous author, which was printed by Roland van den Dorpe in 1498 (Antwerp). Whereas the first chronicle is known for its focus on surrogatio in dominio (the history of the prince’soffice), the second focused on the devolutio dominorum (the sovereign’s dynasty). Regardless of the differences between these two approaches to the legend of Brabo, the dynastic and territorial aspects were tightly interwoven. Bijker, ‘Functions’,97–101, 109. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 241 their economic activities, De Driehoek, members of the Tanners’ and Shoemakers’ Guilds had organised a performance of two of the greatest triumphs of Julius Caesar: his coronation as emperor of Rome and the moment when Theodosius came to him with the head of Pompey.40 These guilds’ compliant attitude probably had to do with the rights and privileges they had recently gained. Politically active since the establishment of the Maandagse Raad in 1445,41 the Tailors’ and Carpenters’ Guilds had moved further centre stage in the months following the death of Charles the Bold: according to the Blijde Intrede of June 1477, they were granted the right to choose their own representatives in the college of aldermen.42 The Bakers and Furriers were even more explicit in their confirmation of loyalty to ducal authority.43 Their tableau was erected on the Meir, one of the main streets leading to the city centre, and the street on which many wealthy merchants had their residences. It showed Mary of Burgundy accompanied by her ‘female attendants’ (haren meugden).44 Guarded by the Holy Spirit, the duchess was worshipped by ‘her people’ (haer volc): all knelt down before her and swore loyalty to her rule (No. 5). The first tableaux, therefore, which were all located in the area between the outer and inner city walls, introduced the central themes of the joyous entry: welcoming the new duke as the saviour of the realm, swearing oaths of allegiance, allegorical expressions of just government and representations of the territorial and dynastic history of Brabant.45 However, even within the framework of these themes, the participating groups and guilds could communicate through the themes employed by their tableaux not only their loyalty, but also their disappointments and ambitions.

Ambiguous adversaries? Tired of the centralising policy of the Burgundian dukes on the one hand, and of the greed of the ruling urban elites on the other, the Fishmongers and Butchers had been among the most ardent protesters during the revolts following the Blijde Intrede (February 1477), and they had successfully deposed many members of Antwerp’s government.46 However, by the end of the year most office-holders had been reinstated, thanks to the direct intervention of Maximilian, and they swiftly used their regained authority to accuse the guild

40 FMA 4026, f. 3v. The Driehoek was a square between the Lange Gasthuisstraat and Huidevettersstraat. 41 The Maandagse Raad appointed the delegates who represented the third estate in the Estates of Brabant. Its members also had a vote in the college of aldermen. About half of the Antwerp guilds sent delegates to the Maan- dagse Raad. Bert De Munck, Piet Lourens, and Jan Lucassen, ‘The Establishment and Distribution of Craft Guilds in the Low Countries: 1000–1800’,inCraft Guilds in the Early Modern Low Countries: Work, Power, and Represen- tation, eds. Maarten Prak, Catharina Lis and Jan Lucassen (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 32–73 (52). See also Boumans, Het Antwerpse stadsbestuur,22–3; Floris Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen (Brussels: Kultuur en Beschaving, 1977), 185–7. 42 De Munck, Lourens, and Lucassen, ‘Craft Guilds in the Low Countries’, 52. See also Boumans, Het Antwerpse stadsbestuur,22–3. 43 It is most likely that the tableau of the Bakers’ and Furriers’ guilds gave expression to a genuine loyalty to ducal authority: both remained of little political importance in this period, and their members hardly (if ever) participated in the urban revolts following the death of Charles the Bold. Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, 161–2. 44 FMA 4026, f. 3v. 45 By the late middle ages there existed no generally accepted name for the Burgundian territories. It therefore is not surprising (nor contradictory) that the Antwerp groups referred to the territory of Brabant (one of the most important principalities) on the one hand, and to the Burgundian dynasty on the other. Stein, ‘Seventeen’, 223. 46 After the execution of the Van der Voort brothers in May, many of the remaining captive town ofﬁcials were brought to the Fishmongers’ Tower, which was located at the Burchgracht near the River Scheldt, to await trial. Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, 10. 242 K. OVERLAET members who had participated in the rebellion.47 After a year of incessant internal revolt, the Fishmongers and Butchers seemed to have lost their struggle for political authority with both the urban government and the new duke. But, the subject and location of their tableau vivant suggest that these guilds had not lost much of their power and influ- ence within the town walls, and that they confidently persisted in their defiant attitude towards Burgundian rule. First, the spectacle organised by the Butchers and Fishmongers presented Maximilian with a far less glorious performance of Julius Caesar: on their stage, the Roman emperor ‒ the symbol of imperial power ‒ was murdered. Although he was used to images of the triumphs and victorious endeavours of ancient heroes, it is likely that Maximilian had never been confronted with their fates – nor were his Burgundian predecessors in Brabant or other principalities.48 Even though Octavian avenged Caesar’s assassination on the same stage, the topic chosen by the Butchers and Fish- mongers was ambiguous to say the least. Its choice also challenges the interpretation of the Antwerp entry by Wim Blockmans, who considered all the spectacles as communicative of a ‘joyful willingness of the Antwerp subjects to acknowledge the authority of a prince whom they saw as the future emperor’.49 As expressions of just government were a central theme of the Antwerp entry, it is more likely that the Butchers and Fish- mongers wanted to remind the son and probable heir of the Holy Roman Emperor that ruling the Burgundian realm alongside Mary, while respecting the cities’ rights and privileges, was his first and preferably only responsibility. By confronting him with the murder of Julius Caesar, the guilds might warn the duke: in order to avoid a similar fate, a right- eous ruler should curb his own personal aspirations. While the heroic fight between Brabo and Antigoon had reminded all spectators of Antwerp’s vital place within the territorial as well as dynastic history of the duchy, the theme of the tableau performed by the Butchers and Fishmongers suggests that the city’s loyalty to the new duke was not complete. Secondly, the former rebels occupied one of the city’s most important spatial lieux de mémoire, as their platform was located at the gateway through the old town walls (No. 6).50 This specific site, which was ‘engraved into civic memory’ as one of the principal boundaries of the Antwerp community – and hence of the city’ rights and privileges – probably gave extra weight and meaning to the performance they had organised, as well as to the position and power of the Butchers’ and Fishmongers’ Guilds within urban society. In turn, the fact that these guilds occupied this location can be considered indicative of their continued authority (or aspirations to it).51 To add nuance to Martha Howell’s interpretation of ducal entries in the late medieval Low Countries, one could argue that Maximilian was not the only one ‘taking the city’ by entering and traversing its streets and occupying its squares.52 If the newly reinstated Antwerp authorities had

47 Génard, De Gebroeders Van der Voort, 106. 48 A survey of late medieval and early modern joyous entries in the Low Countries has yielded no mention of Caesar’s murder having ever been performed, either before or after the Antwerp entry of 1478. 49 ‘…de vreugdevolle bereidheid van de onderdanen zich onder het gezag te plaatsen van een prins in wie men reeds een toekomstige Keizer zag’. Blockmans and Prevenier, Prinsen en poorters, 332. 50 Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed 2017: Meirbrug, Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed, https://id.erfgoed.net/ erfgoedobjecten/100877 (Accessed 28 December 2016). 51 The symbolic importance of these older civic boundaries did not diminish in the course of the early modern period. When Philip II made his Blijde Incompst in Antwerp in 1549, the processional route intentionally followed the former city walls: Meadow, ‘Ritual and Civic Identity’, 52. 52 Martha Howell argued that ‘by entering the city, traversing its streets and occupying its square, the king, duke, count or emperor was, in fact, “taking” the city.’ Howell, ‘Spaces’,18–19. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 243 had the power to decide on the locations of the tableaux and the topics performed, one would have expected them to have demanded a less equivocal demonstration of loyalty to ducal rule, and also that they would have denied the Fishmongers’ and Butchers’ Guilds permission to occupy one of the most meaningful spaces in town. Indeed, although Maximilian was crossing the Meirbrug for the first time in his life, he would have recog- nised the significance of the inner city walls and gate, which functioned as the last barrier on his route to the heart of the city: the Great Market Square.53 Arguably, it is possible that the murder of Julius Caesar formed part of a more general topos on the limitations to secular power. The next tableau, which was staged by the Mer- chants’ Guild, confirms the importance of this theme, as it was dedicated to the performance of a legend – allegedly drawn from Scripture – about a king who was sent to an island filled with snakes and dragons (No. 7). According to the author of our account, this legendary king, ‘as stated in the Bible’ (also de bibel verclaert), did not rule for more than one year. The legend is untraceable and that makes it difficult to assess the meanings of the spectacle. As the Merchants’ Guild had been one of the instigators of the revolts in 1477, it seems plausible that the Merchants also wanted to remind Maximilian of the possible dangers on a king’s path. However, the question remains whether the new duke identified himself with this unfortunate king.54 Moreover, one should refrain from making too great a distinction between court and city, as both parties shared interests when it came to the defence of the realm. The steady ascendancy of the French armies provided the participating urban groups with a theme for their performances which trans- cended the city’s internal struggles. With their representation of the three estates of Brabant on an exceptionally beautiful platform, the Painters of the St Lucas Guild were the first to dedicate a tableau to the city’s longing for peace (No. 8). A priest, knight and common man knelt in front of a crucifix and a statue of Mary, praying for ‘peace and quiet’ (pays en vrede). However, this presentation of the Estates – the principal negotiating partner of the duke of Brabant – may also be understood as yet another subtle reminder of the contractually determined relationship between Maximilian and his new subjects, in accordance with the Blijde Intrede of 1477.55 Following this tableau vivant, the impressive podium of the Coopers’ and Cabinet-Makers’ Guilds showed the duke an allegorical representation of the 17 principalities Mary of Bur- gundy had inherited from her late father (No. 9).56 A tree with 17 branches symbolised the composite character of Mary’s realm – with each branch wearing a coat of arms – while an eagle offering his blood to a maiden symbolised the presence of the Holy Spirit.57 Consid- ering the traditional personification of both the duchy of Burgundy and Antwerp as a virgin, and the eagle as an armorial symbol of the Habsburg dynasty, the meaning of the tableau organised by the Coopers and Cabinet-Makers does not need much

53 On the real as well as symbolic importance of city walls in the late medieval Low Countries: Arnade, Simons, and Howell, ‘Fertiles Spaces’; Boone, ‘Urban Space’; Brown, ‘Civic Ritual’; Dumolyn, ‘Une idéologie urbaine’; Dumolyn and Haemers, ‘Patterns of Urban Rebellion’; Haemers and Lecuppre-Desjardin, ‘Conquérir et reconquérir’; Howell, ‘Spaces’; Prevenier and Blockmans, Prinsen en poorters. 54 FMA 4026, f. 3v; Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, 171. 55 Most of the terms and provisions of this charter were negotiated by the Estates. Van Uytven, ‘1477 in Brabant’. 56 From the late middle ages onwards, the mosaic of lordships and power in the Low Countries was often ‘emphasised by the use of the cardinal number 17 in relation to the multitude of principalities, lordships and towns’. Stein, ‘Seven- teen’, 224‒7 (quote at 224). 57 FMA 4026, f. 3v. 244 K. OVERLAET imagination.58 The Antwerp entry illustrates that welcoming Maximilian as a saviour could go hand-in-hand with – whether subtly or not – reminding him of the limits to his power and of his responsibilities as a ruler alongside Mary.

Matters of the heart Of all areas and landmarks in late medieval towns, the central market squares were the most closely linked to the common good, to urban authority and identity.59 Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the tableaux and triumphal arches built on the Great Market Square were not claimed by any one of the urban groups. Indeed, despite their possibly conflicting interests and opinions, they could all agree on the importance of reminding the new duke of the limitations to secular and ducal power. They did so in a way to which he was accustomed: by referring to specific biblical themes and episodes of urban and ducal memory frequently chosen in joyous entries.60 The explanatory Latin and Dutch texts attached to the four largest platforms, which were built next to the town hall, left little room for misinterpretation (No. 10).61 On the first tableau, Sibylla reminded her husband Octavian, the emperor of Rome, of the fact that Jesus would always be his superior, to illustrate that ‘the religious realm of the pope and clergy is of higher significance and authority than the earthly realm of the emperor and secular rulers.’62 On the next stage Moses, Abraham and David were represented as shep- herds of God’s people, while an angel handed a sword to the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The latter was escorted by various kings, who respectfully took off their crowns and ‘offered him their heart’ (boden hem elc haer herte). The only one refusing this was, as one might expect, the French king. On the third tableau,theAgnus Dei played a central role, while Maximilian was (for the first time) confronted with an image of himself. His alter ego on stage carried a lock of wool in one hand, and a scroll referring to his responsibilities in the other. Three guildsmen knelt in front of him, representing ‘the common people of Antwerp’ (ghemeyn volck van Andwerpen). The text attached to the stage pro- claimed that a duke should rule with a gentle hand, mercifully and graciously, and that he would be loved and obeyed by his subjects in return. The last tableau of this remarkable quartet showed one of the alleged forefathers of the Burgundian and Brabantine dynasties, Pippin’s son Charlemagne, and his conquest of Lombardy in defence of the pope’sclaimstotheselands.63 Out of gratitude, the latter granted Charles the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. After these enactments, which unam- biguously confronted the duke with his responsibilities towards his subjects and Christianity, Maximilian was once again invited to confirm the rights and privileges granted by Mary of Burgundy (No. 11). Following a public reading of a summary

58 Meadow, ‘Ritual and Civic Identity’, 47; Steven Thiry, ‘Matter(s) of State. Heraldic Display and Discourse in the Early Modern Monarchy (c.1480–1650)’ (Ph.D. diss., Antwerp University, 2014), 228–34. 59 P. Stabel, ‘The Marketplace and Civic Identity in Late Medieval Flanders’,inShaping Urban Identity, eds. Stabel and Boone, 43–64. See also Howell, ‘Spaces’. 60 See, among others, Brown, ‘Liturgical Memory’, 144. 61 For the use of text on tableaux vivants, see Hurlbut, ‘Processions in Burgundy’, 96. 62 ‘Dat den state van den paus ende van der gheestelijcheit meerder ende hooger was dan den state van den keyser ende van der weerlijcheyt’: FMA 4026, f. 4r. 63 Robert Stein, ‘Brabant en de Karolingische Dynastie. Over het ontstaan van een historiograﬁsche traditie’, BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review 110 (1995): 329–51. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 245

Figure 3. The three States of Brabant (nobility, clergy and city dwellers) pay homage to Maximilian. Detail from an illustrated choir book of Margaret of Austria (early sixteenth century, atelier of Petrus Alamire). Source: © Stadsarchief Mechelen ‒ Beeldbank Mechelen (www.beeldbankmechelen.be) of the Blijde Intrede on a platform which was erected in front of the town hall, the duke confirmed his wife’spromisesinthepresenceof‘the urban community’ (alle der ghemente)(Figure 3).64 Despite their role in the rebellion, the Shipmen’s Guild was responsible for the first pageant after this second swearing-in ceremony. The execution of four guild members in August 1477 must have been at the forefront of their minds:65 now the Shipmen

64 FMA 4026, ff. 5v–6r. 65 Génard, De gebroeders Van der Voort, 27, 106–7. 246 K. OVERLAET tried to win back Maximilian’s approbation by glorifying his father on the ‘very high’ (alte hooghe) triumphal arch they had built next to the town hall, in close proximity to their guild house on the Great Market Square (No. 12). The duke’s powerful father, Frederick III, sat on top of this arch together with the seven prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Two priests, two knights and two townsmen represented the three estates of Brabant, and they all knelt before their lord while pledging their loyalty.66 It is most likely that the duke expected a compliant attitude from his wife’s most persistent protes- tors. However, after this joyful glorification of imperial power and success, the city’s richest chamber of rhetoric, the Goudbloeme (‘golden flower’) seems to have felt the need once again to remind the duke (and urban society) of his duty to assign the highest priority to the interests of the realm. At the Corenmarkt (Corn Market), three tableaux were dedicated to the triumphs and downfall of Julius Caesar (No. 13). That most members of the Goudbloeme belonged to the upper and noble echelons of Antwerp society makes it the more striking that they performed the sequence of Caesar’s victorious conquest of Gaul, the rise of his ‘imperial majesty’ (keyserlijken maies- teyt) and his (expected?) murder in the senate of Rome.67 It is not unthinkable that these rhetoricians primarily wanted to nuance the ambiguous performance organised by the Fishmongers’ and Butchers’ Guilds by presenting the murder of Caesar as just another illustration of the limitations to secular power. Indeed, the contrast with the next and even more spectacular show, which was also organised by the Goudbloeme, is remarkable. In front of the Goudbloem’s townhouse, a representation of Frederick III sat on top of a triumphal arch, and all spectators could see how he personally had sent his son as the defender of the Burgundian territories. While Maximilian led his horse under the arch, he received a golden flower from a pelican – the symbol of Christ sacrificing himself for man (No. 14).68 It seems that the Goudbloeme wanted to reconcile two main themes of Maximilian’s joyous entry – perhaps in an effort to enhance the cohesion of urban society. The juxtaposition of these at first sight contradictory themes illustrates the delicate balance between warning a highly ambitious imperial prince and simultaneously welcoming his mighty armies: the cities in Maximilian’s new realm were well aware of the potential danger of such great military power, which might also be used to enforce greater central authority. The last tableaux vivants were erected in one of the most important economic zones of town, the area of the Hoogstraat, where wealthy and noble city dwellers had their houses. Here, all of the overarching themes of the Antwerp entry were addressed again. The platform of the Embroiderers’ Guild was built at the Vlasmarkt and showed Maximilian’s subjects offering him their obedience and loyalty (No. 15),69 while the Gardeners’ Guild had organised a performance of a well-known ancient legend illustrating ‘just government’ (rechtveerdegher justicien) (No. 16).70 In close proximity to the Pilgrimsstraat,ina

66 FMA 4026, f. 6r. 67 On the Antwerp chambers of rhetoric, Anne-Laure Van Bruaene, Repertorium van rederijkerskamers in de zuidelijke Nederlanden en Luik (Leiden: Brill, 2005); A. Keersmaekers, ‘De rederijkerskamers te Antwerpen: kanttekeningen in verband met ontstaan, samenstelling en ondergang’, Varia Historica Brabantia 6–7 (1978): 173–86; Jan Baptist van der Straelen, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche rederykkamers (Antwerpen: Buschmann, 1863). 68 FMA 4026, f. 6r. 69 FMA 4026, f. 6r. The Vlasmarkt was where Antwerp’s weekly ﬂax market took place. 70 Although the account of the joyous entry mentions a ‘Roman emperor’, inspiration was derived from Greek myth- ology. According to legend, the ﬁrst Greek lawgiver, Zaleucus (seventh century BC), punished adultery with loss of JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 247 neighbourhood which was known for its breweries and taverns, the Barbers and Mer- chants dedicated a remarkably large platform to one of the most famous feudal wars fought by the lords of Brabant: the Grimbergen Wars (1141–59). Tradition has it that the infant Godfrey III (1142–90), count of Leuven, witnessed the most decisive battle lying in a cradle hanging from a tree. In this battle Wouter Berthout, the lord of Grimber- gen and Mechelen, was defeated by Brabantine forces (No. 17). As a result of this historic triumph, Godfrey III was able to strengthen his authority over the ambitious nobles in his realm, re-establishing their feudal ties to his margravate.71 Godfrey III also played a key role in the last tableau, which was built in front of the inn where the duke lodged (No. 18).72 The infant duke, once again in his famous cradle, released his uncle Louis, the count of Flanders, from his guardianship, since it was inappropriate ‘for a duke to receive an imperial fief from the hands of a count’.73 The performance organised by the Smiths and Woodcutters completed the cycle: while the first tableaux had introduced the duke to a proud and wealthy city, well aware of and attached to its privileges and rights, the last tableaux vivants reminded all spectators of the territorial history of one of the central principalities of the Burgundian realm: Brabant. After the ducal procession, all spectators and contributors proceeded to the Great Market Square, where the town hall and guild houses were festively lit.74 When the evening fell on the first day Maximilian was finally reunited with his wife, Mary of Burgundy, and they both took their positions on a platform in front of the town hall, from which they could see the esbattement (a short comic play) organised by the chambers of rhetoric.

Conclusion The joyous entry of Maximilian into Antwerp on 13 January 1478 was unique in manyways.ItwasthefirstentryinBrabantforwhichadetailedreporthassurvived. The themes chosen for the tableaux vivants and triumphal arches all bear witness to the specific socio-economic and political context: to the insecurities surrounding the accession of Mary of Burgundy and her marriage to an ambitious imperial prince, as well as to the volatile situation within the fractured city of Antwerp.75 The sudden death of Charles the Bold had precipitated a period of external threat and internal revolt which was barely managed by his daughter Mary.76 Even the Blijde Intrede

sight. When his own son was condemned for this crime, instead of exacting the full penalty, Zaleucus submitted himself to the loss of one of his eyes. In Antwerp, in 1479, a Roman emperor faced the same dilemma when his son was accused, and decided to forfeit one of his own eyes ‘so that the Romans would not have a blind emperor’ (‘omdat de Romeynen gheenen blijnden keysere en souden hebben’). FMA 4026, f. 6r. 71 See Godfried Croenen, Familie en macht: de Familie Berthout en de Brabantse adel (Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2003). 72 The exact location of the inn is unidentiﬁed. However, there are reasons to suppose that it was in the vicinity of the Pilgrimsstraat. The Burgundian dukes did not have permanent residences in the city of Antwerp, and regularly stayed at St Michael’s Abbey, which was located at the Kloosterstraat: André Uyttebrouck, ‘Les residences des ducs de Brabant, 1355–1430’, Vorträge und Forschungen 36 (1991): 189–206 (191). 73 ‘…dat een hertoghe een keyserlijc leen ontfangen soude van enen graaf’. FMA 4026, f. 6r. 74 On the importance of lighting in the context of joyous entries in the late medieval Low Countries: Elodie Lecuppre- Desjardin, ‘Les lumières de la ville: recherche sur l’utilisation de la lumière dans les cérémonies bourgignonnes (XIVe–XVe siècles)’, Revue Historique 301 (1999): 23–43. 75 The entry ceremonies that have been most studied are the ﬁrst rulers made, or those following a city’s defeat. The entry made by Maximilian into Antwerp in 1478, however, was neither of these. Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society, 25. 76 Brown and Small, Court and Civic Society, 5; Haemers, For the Common Good. 248 K. OVERLAET of 1477 failed to bring an end to the internal chaos: the political impasse in Antwerp lasted until Maximilian’s personal intervention at the end of November.77 At first sight, it looks as if the advance of the French armies succeeded where countless meet- ings of the ducal envoys, urban office-holders and guild representatives had failed: a restoration of the troubled relationship between city and court. Many tableaux and triumphal arches praised imperial authority and military power, showing Antwerp’s gratitude, while others emphasised the city’s rightful and vital place in both the history and territory of Brabant. Urban interest groups apparently also all agreed on the importance of reminding the duke of the limitations to secular power ‒ hence the various representations of just government and oath ceremonies, and the explicit recapitulation of the Blijde Intrede of 1477 during a second official ceremony.78 However, a focus on the spatial dimensions of Maximilian’s entry confirms that the Antwerp community did not form a homogenous group. The location of the tableaux vivants and triumphal arches not only gave extra meaning to these performances, but also to the political aspirations of the urban groups which staged them. The locations occupied by specific urban groups were indicative of their relative power in the city. Remarkably enough, and perhaps contrary to what one would expect after the struggle the Fishmongers, Butchers, Shipmen and Merchants had failed to win with the ducal and urban authorities, the symbolic meaning of the spaces that these guilds occupied demon- strates that they had not lost their status in thecityentirely.Thefirsttwoguilds,for instance, successfully claimed one of the most important (and highly visible) markers of urban authority: the gateway through the inner city walls. By performing a tableau speaking to the limits of imperial power at the bounds of the town centre, the Fish- mongers and Butchers could remind both the duke and urban society of their own (continued) power and ambitions. In this way, spatial analyses of joyous entries in the late medieval Low Countries can add valuable insights to the study of the changing compo- sition and structure of urban societies. Antwerp’s urban bodies did not debate the rightful claims of Mary and Maximilian to authority in the duchy of Brabant, but the struggle for authority within the town walls was not yet decided.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Mario Damen, Arend Elias Oostindiër, Guy Geltner and Jan Burghers, as well as the readers for the Journal of Medieval History, for their stimulating and constructive comments on the first drafts of my paper.

Funding The Netherlands Organisation for Scientiﬁc Research (NWO) has funded my research for this paper, which presents ﬁndings of my postdoctoral research on late medieval representations of Brabant.

77 Génard, De Gebroeders Van der Voort. 78 See Table 1. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 249

Notes on contributor Kim Overlaet obtained her doctoral degree with a thesis on the structure and importance of kinship ties in sixteenth-century Mechelen (Antwerp University, 2015). She currently works on a research project funded by the NWO, entitled Imagining a Territory. Constructions and Representations of Late Medieval Brabant. She works in close collaboration with Dr Mario Damen and Drs Arend Elias Oostindiër to analyse how the interaction between princes, nobles and urban elites influenced the construction, perception and representation of the territory of the late medieval duchy of Brabant.