Durham E-Theses `Nothing but Mayors and Sheriefs, and the deare yeere, and the great frost.' A study of written historical culture in late medieval towns in the Low Countries and England DE-VRIES, JENNEKE,DANIELLE,ELINE How to cite: DE-VRIES, JENNEKE,DANIELLE,ELINE (2019) `Nothing but Mayors and Sheriefs, and the deare yeere, and the great frost.' A study of written historical culture in late medieval towns in the Low Countries and England , Durham theses, Durham University. 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Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ‘Nothing but Mayors and Sheriefs, and the deare yeere, and the great frost.’ A study of written historical culture in late medieval towns in the Low Countries and England Jenneke Daniëlle Eline de Vries This thesis explores urban historical texts from late medieval towns in England and the Counties of Holland and Flanders. The wealth of primary examples discussed in this thesis from England and the Low Countries disproves the conviction long held in the scholarly literature that medieval town chronicles only existed in Italy and Germany. Taking a broader view through the framework of historical culture, rather than a strict definition of (urban) chronicle, many previously ignored urban historical texts are explored. The separate chapters discuss the format, authorship, contents and function of these written examples of urban historical culture. The comparative approach identifies a remarkable level of similarities in variety of format, types of author, use of national narratives and record-keeping traditions between England, Holland and Flanders. Local differences are found in the scope of these elements, but show few fundamental differences. Moreover, when compared to the manuscripts recognised as traditional German and Italian medieval town chronicles, the similarities are also noteworthy. A main thread through the study of all aspects of these written sources is the close link there is between historical and administrative writing in towns. The main group of authors we find are town clerks or secretaries, and town registers and magistrate lists are two major categories of format that we find. The use of these texts was similarly a combination of pragmatic recording and history writing, memorialising past events as well as documents for a legal memory as much as to promote the city’s status. ‘Nothing but Mayors and Sheriefs, and the deare yeere, and the great frost.’ A study of written historical culture in late medieval towns in the Low Countries and England Jenneke Daniëlle Eline de Vries Submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy History Department Durham University January 2019 Table of Contents List of illustrations ................................................................................................................. 5 List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................. 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................11 Chapter 1: Background, traditions and framework .................................................24 What is an (urban) chronicle? ...................................................................................................... 24 Contemporary genres ..................................................................................................................... 25 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................ 28 Contemporary titles ......................................................................................................................... 31 Theoretical frameworks ................................................................................................................. 38 Historical culture .............................................................................................................................. 43 Regional Context ................................................................................................................................ 46 The political situation in Flanders ............................................................................................ 47 The Flemish historiographical tradition ................................................................................ 49 English towns and politics ............................................................................................................ 51 England’s historiographical tradition ..................................................................................... 54 Description of English sources .................................................................................................... 56 The political situation in Holland .............................................................................................. 60 Holland’s historiographical tradition ...................................................................................... 63 Changes in fifteenth-century history writing in Holland ................................................. 65 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 2: Forms and textual context ...........................................................................71 The example of London Chronicles ............................................................................................ 73 Town registers .................................................................................................................................... 76 Magistrate lists ................................................................................................................................... 83 Personal notebooks, commonplace books ............................................................................... 92 Regional chronicle traditions ........................................................................................................ 95 Other ‘chronicles’ ............................................................................................................................ 100 Verse and songs ............................................................................................................................... 103 Comparison of forms ..................................................................................................................... 106 Hybridity of forms .......................................................................................................................... 109 Administrative and historiographical sources intertwined........................................... 110 Manuscript appearance ................................................................................................................ 112 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 116 1 Chapter 3: Authorship ..................................................................................................... 119 Urban literate mentality ............................................................................................................... 120 Who were the people writing? ................................................................................................... 124 Professional writers ....................................................................................................................... 125 Town clerks ...................................................................................................................................... 126 Notaries ............................................................................................................................................. 130 Social background ........................................................................................................................ 133 Public and private writing ........................................................................................................... 136 Non-professional writers ............................................................................................................. 139 Clergy .................................................................................................................................................. 141 Chambers of rhetoric ..................................................................................................................