Institute for History Annual Report 2010 - O - Universiteit Leiden

ondly by in depth case studies to view the precise
iconographical changes in the illustrations. Focus
points are the shift in techniques from manuscript
to print and the choices that have been made for
that, the choice of texts and images by the printers,
and the reactions of the intended reading public.
Project: Twilight zone: party strife,
factionalism, and feuding in the Northern
Low Countries.
Peter Hoppenbrouwers
During the final centuries of the Middle Ages the
Low Countries were ridden by violent clashes
between what contemporary sources called partes
(Middle Dutch: partien/pertien), a word that may be
translated as parties or factions, dependent on the
extent of their goals, recruitment and activities.
Exactly this ambiguous setting, in a twilight zone
between the supra-local and the local, as well as
between a ‘public’/political and a ‘private’/familial
field of action, makes party strife and factionalism
attractive subjects of innovative historical research,
that can contribute to a better understanding of the
often neglected counterweights that were build-up
against the slow but relentless rise of the modern
state in Western Europe during the late medieval
and early modern periods. This project’s aim is to
increase our knowledge of party strife and
factionalism substantially along two tracks: by
extending existing knowledge geographically and
thematically, and by looking for completely new
angles that join in with international research. In
this particular case the theme of party strife and
faction quarrels will be linked to four phenomena
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that are generally considered to have been typical
for dealing with political tension in later medieval
society: feuding, bastard feudalism, the creation of
bargaining networks, and popular revolts. The
project consists of three subprojects, in which three
quite different variations on the theme of party
strife and factionalism are developed for the last
three territories in the Northern Low Countries to
be formally incorporated into the Burgundian-
Habsburg empire: (prince less) Friesland West of
the Lauwers, the Prince-bishopric of Utrecht, and
the Duchy of Guelders.
Hollanders as ‘the Other’. Late medieval
perceptions of identity in Hanseatic
sources (Rubicon project)
Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz
The division between ‘us’ and ‘them’ is one of the
most common mechanisms of social interaction
and (self)perception. It also contributes to the
creation of identities, both nowadays and in the
past. In this project, Hollanders in the late Middle
Ages are viewed as ‘the Other’ through the lens of
Hanseatic sources. Hollanders were an upcoming
mercantile power in the 15th-16th centuries,
expanding to the Baltic region: a ground until then
dominated by the Hanse, a mercantile
organisation. The interaction with Hanseatic
traders ranged from rivalry to cooperation, and it
resulted in the creation of an image of Hollanders
as ‘the Other’. There are abundant sources on this
representation of Hollanders, and it is one of the
few instances when an external view on the
medieval Hollandish identity can be analysed.