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#22 – When a Miracle Turned Amsterdam into a Holy Town
22 May 2023
Before Amsterdam made an international name for itself as a port and trading town, it became known as a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. Thanks to a Eucharistic miracle.
Flemish Female Spies Watching Maximilian’s Every Move
7 December 2022
Mata Hari and Edith Cavell were not, in fact, the first, trailblazing female spies in the Low Countries. According to archival documents, they were simply following in the footsteps of some illustrious women in the late Middle Ages who were enlisted as messengers and spies to support the Flemish sta
In 16th Century Antwerp, Anything Was Possible and Everything Was Allowed
28 January 2022
As long as trade could continue unhindered, authorities in sixteenth-century Antwerp would willingly turn a blind eye. It was in this context that the city experienced an unprecedented economic and cultural boom. Michael Pye tells the story of this city on the River Scheldt with great panache, but d
The Battle of the Gravensteen
12 May 2021
The Gravensteen in Ghent has survived Viking attacks, the industrial revolution, two world wars, and a student revolt. But now the only remaining medieval castle in Flanders with a virtually intact defence system faces a new threat.
#6 – Ploughin’ Forward. An Agricultural Revolution in the Middle Ages
30 March 2021
At the end of the first millennium, for most people in the lowlands, it didn’t matter who their count or duke or emperor was. For them, life was nasty, brutish and short, and involved an overwhelming amount of backbreaking manual labour. But an agricultural revolution was about to change the lives
The Sodom of the North. Homosexuals Were Burned at the Stake in Medieval Bruges
9 April 2020
Belgium is one of the most tolerant countries when it comes to LGBTQ rights. But it hasn’t always been that way. Nowhere in Western Europe were homosexual men persecuted as much as in Bruges in the late Middle Ages. Research by historian Jonas Roelens shows that the economic crisis, the need for s
All Dutch Medieval Manuscripts on One Website
23 March 2020
Huygens ING, the Dutch research institute in the field of history and culture, will set up a new website to access and study medieval manuscripts in Dutch collections. This will be realised with a grant recently awarded by the Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
An Almost Hidden Medieval Estate in Bruges
19 March 2019
The only church under private ownership in Bruges, which once counted numerous parochial churches and abbeys within its walls, is situated in the district of Sint-Anna. The most musical of all Flemish poets, Guido Gezelle, was born and died there at the English abbey. It is an area where you still e
