Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

eneath the stone road (fi g. 6). Th e western part of the original
road was erased by later expansions for the gothic church, what
explains the actual curved route.
Other relicts of pre-urban origin in the actual town plan are
lacking. Specifi c data about the form of the parcels in the Early
Middle Ages are not known. Th e oldest traces of parcels reach
back to the 11th century. For this reason, they will be discussed
in the chapter about the urban development.
4 The urban formation process
Th e development of a pre-urban settlement into a town occurs
during a period of urban formation processes. Political, social,
economical and geographical factors are put forward by theoretical
literature as factors contributing to the origin of a
town53. Th e three poled developing model emanates from three
essential conditions: the genius loci, the interests of a lord and
the presence of enterprising people. In this chapter, this model
will be briefl y confronted with the historical and archaeological
sources, in an attempt to arrive at a coherent explanation of
the origin of Aalst.
Th e previous chapter has made clear that the local geographic
and economic circumstances (position, agricultural area, settlement,
roads, trade routes) were a favourable fi rst step in the
urban formation process. Th e political and military circumstances
of the middle of the 11th century provided a second
condition for urban development: the presence of a lord and
the creation of a castle. In 1050 the northern area between the
rivers Scheldt and Dender was conquered by the Flemish count,
named Imperial Flanders (later called the Land of Aalst)54.
Aalst became the seat of this new administrative unit, the
53 Rutte 2003, 143-146.
54 Koch 1981, 376-377.
The contribution of archaeological sources to the research of the formation of towns 255
55 Callebaut 1983a, 241-242; Van Kerrebroeck
1939-40.
Fig. 6 Carolingian bronze fi bula.
castellany (burggraafschap or kasselrij), and played an important
role in the defence of the new eastern border of the county.
For that reason a moated castle was erected on the right bank
of the Dender, opposite the Zelhof (fi g. 7: 1). Baldwin (1046-
1082), a descendant of a prominent noble family, was appointed
as castellanus and called himself de Alost, with the castellany as
seigniory55. Th e moated castle became property of the Flemish
count in 1166, when Derrick of Aalst died, the last descendant
of this family. We have no information about the evolution in
the ownership of the Zelhof. In the 13th century, the former
domain centre was in hands of the count of Flanders. It is possible
that it was given in feud to the lords of Aalst during their
castellany. But the noble family of Aalst also had several allodial
possessions in the region, which probably went back into
the hands of the Flemish count aft er the dead of Derrick of
Aalst through his mother Laurette, the daughter of count
Derrick of Alsace, and the sister of count Philip56. Th e abbey of
Lobbes probably lost the ownership of the villa Alost in favour
of the Flemish count or the lords of Aalst around 1050, when
Imperial Flanders was attached to the county.
Th e third essential condition needed for Aalst to emerge as a
town was the presence of enterprising people. Th e establishment
of a castellany and the foundation of a castle in Aalst
would have given the old, existing settlement a new, tending
function57. Because of the largeness of its arable land, gathered
in the cultura (in Dutch: kouter), the output of the old domain
centre must certainly have been suffi cient to deliver an important
(or even the main) part of the needed amount of goods
and services58. Its position, on the crossing of a main land route
(Bruges-Cologne) with the river Dender, provided a necessary
condition for acquiring trading goods. Th e presence of the castellany
was probably the stimulus needed to get an infl ow of
56 de Hemptinne 1982, 379.
57 Verhulst 1999, 78.
58 Berings 1986a, 274.