Memling's Portrait of Maria Portinari15th Century Burgundian Costume

The Low Countries of the mid 15th Century

By the middle of the fifteenth century all of the region known as the low countries (modern Belgium and Netherlands) had been integrated, mostly through marriage and inheritance, into the realm of the Dukes of Burgundy. While legally a subject of the King of France, the Dukes of Burgundy came to be practically monarchs in their own right partly due to the weakness of France and England in this period. These two countries were embroiled in the Hundred Years War, and suffered through the reigns of weak Kings and then England became embroiled in the civil Wars of the Roses.

Apart from the weakness of it's neighbours, Burgundy also benefited from the flowering of wealth and culture in its lowland possessions. This flowering was largely due to the fact that the low countries had been independent from the larger European powers and their struggles and had developed a highly urbanised, mercantile society. Lowland merchants, some of whom were members of the Hanseatic League, had been able to make the most of the trade opportunities presented in the wake of the Anglo-French conflicts. Much of the goods which flowed into Europe from the North came through the Lowland ports and then travelled by water routes into Europe.

Lowland merchants travelled all over Europe but it is their Italian counterparts that seem to have had the most influence. Outside of Italy, Bruges was one of few European city to sport a bank - a branch of the Medici cartel. Apart from financial techniques, merchants brought the Renaissance to the Netherlands, and artists from the low countries rivalled their Italian counterparts. Thus the great Netherlandish flowering of the seventeenth century can be seen to have had a precursor in the fifteenth.

The Netherlands were (and still are) the most densely populated areas of Europe. A higher percentage of people lived in the towns and cities than in other European countries and this translated to a higher degree of industrialisation. However it also meant that the agricultural areas had to supply a greater number of people for each acre and in the later fifteenth century the area went through more than one period of insufficient food supplies. Apart from agricultural products (such as hops which in the late fifteenth century were exported all over Europe for brewing beer), the Netherlands were known for their wool and wool products Flemish woollen cloth was among Europe’s finest and competition between English wool merchants and Flemings was extreme. But it was the tapestries produced in such centres as Arras and Bruges which achieved international acclaim. Many of them have survived to this day to prove the skill of the Flemish masters.

Burgundian Netherlands Bibliography

Walter Prevenier and Wim Blockmans, The Burgundian Netherlands, Cambridge University Press, 1986
This is the book to check out if you are interested in this period. It covers from 1380 to 1530 and all of the area known as the low countries in all respects, social, political, economic etc. It is beautifully illustrated with pictures from the period and all in all a fantastic resource.
Walter Prevenier and Wim Blockmans, The Promised Lands, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
By the same authors as The Burgundian Netherlands, this book focuses more on classic history, that is on politics and bureaucracy.
Christine Weightman, Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, 1446-1503, St. Martin's Press, 1993.
This is a very interesting biography for anyone interested in the realities of noblewomen at this period.

Burgundian Netherlands Links

History

Art

Costume

Tournaments