Realms of Ritual: Burgundian Ceremony and Civic Life in Late Medieval Ghent

by Peter Arnade

Overview

While earlier historians have seen the elaborate public rituals of the Burgundian dukes as stagnant forms held over from the chivalric world of the High Middle Ages, Peter Arnade argues that they were a vital theater of power through which the ducal court and the urban centers constantly renegotiated their relationship. This book is the first to apply the combined insights of social, political, and cultural history to an important but little-explored area of medieval and early modern Europe, the Burgundian Netherlands. Realms of Ritual traces the role of ritual in encounters between the dukes of Burgundy (later the Habsburg princes) and the townspeople of Ghent, the most important city in the county of Flanders.

Arnade analyzes city-state ceremonies through which Ghent's aldermen, patricians, guildsmen, and the city's military and drama confraternities confronted local power and the growth of the Burgundian state. In the first serious reappraisal of Johan Huizinga's classic work The Waning of the Middle Ages, Arnade confirms Huizinga's vision of a Low Country society rich in public symbols, yet reveals the city-state conflict within which such ritual thrived. He offers a dramatically new perspective on the Northern Renaissance, as well as a historical/anthropological model for the study of urban-state relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801430985
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/19/1996
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.12(d)
Lexile:	1740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter Arnade is Professor of History and Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He is the author of Beggars, Iconoclasts, and Civic Patriots: The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt and Realms of Ritual: Burgundian Ceremony and Civic Life in Late Medieval Ghent, both from Cornell.

What People are Saying About This

Walter Simons

A major contribution to the study of ritual in late medieval and early modern Europe, with considerable theoretical implications.

Editorial Reviews

Peter Arnade's superb new book offers a much-needed introduction to Ghent's heritage.... Arnade's book offers a fascinating tale of civic pride, of forced accommodation, and, ultimately, of subjugation.... Arnade skillfully uses ritual and its many manifestations to weave a compelling tale about civic identity.

Speculum

"A major contribution to the study of ritual in late medieval and early modern Europe, with considerable theoretical implications."

Walter Simons

"Peter Arnade's superb new book offers a much-needed introduction to Ghent's heritage. . . . Arnade's book offers a fascinating tale of civic pride, of forced accommodation, and, ultimately, of subjugation. . . . Arnade skillfully uses ritual and its many manifestations to weave a compelling tale about civic identity."—Speculum

"A major contribution to the study of ritual in late medieval and early modern Europe, with considerable theoretical implications." —Walter Simons, Dartmouth College

From the Publisher