Memory, social mobility and historiography: shaping noble identity in the Bruges chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597)
(2010) REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D'HISTOIRE. 88(2). p.377-408- abstract
- This article focuses on the issue of nobility as a memorial practice in the premodern era. It challenges the popular assumption that the nobility was largely defined by a shared social memory, that is, the collective remembering of which lineages were considered to have noble blood and who had supposedly mastered the noble lifestyle since time immemorial. In this contribution, we argue that there was a structural field of tension between this noble culture of remembrance and the considerable rate of renewal in the social composition of the nobility. Noble ranks were constantly being replenished by newcomers, who had to inscribe themselves in collective consciousness as a noble lineage. The case-study of Nicholas Despars, a sixteenth-century chronicler who belonged to a recently ennobled family of Bruges spice merchants, shows that historiographical writings were often used to influence the public perception of such families. Because this functional approach of premodern elites towards their own past often included the manipulation of archival records, the memorial practices of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nobility have led to a distorted view of important aspects of late medieval society in recent historiography.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-868539
- author
- Frederik Buylaert UGent
- organization
- year
- 2010
- type
- journalArticle (original)
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keyword
- nobility, elite history, historiography, Social memory
- journal title
- REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D'HISTOIRE
- Rev. Belg. Philol. Hist.
- volume
- 88
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 377 - 408
- Web of Science type
- Article
- Web of Science id
- 000291420000009
- ISSN
- 0035-0818
- language
- English
- UGent publication?
- yes
- classification
- A1
- copyright statement
- I have transferred the copyright for this publication to the publisher
- id
- 868539
- handle
- http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-868539
- date created
- 2010-02-19 08:42:16
- date last changed
- 2016-12-19 15:46:37
@article{868539, abstract = {This article focuses on the issue of nobility as a memorial practice in the premodern era. It challenges the popular assumption that the nobility was largely defined by a shared social memory, that is, the collective remembering of which lineages were considered to have noble blood and who had supposedly mastered the noble lifestyle since time immemorial. In this contribution, we argue that there was a structural field of tension between this noble culture of remembrance and the considerable rate of renewal in the social composition of the nobility. Noble ranks were constantly being replenished by newcomers, who had to inscribe themselves in collective consciousness as a noble lineage. The case-study of Nicholas Despars, a sixteenth-century chronicler who belonged to a recently ennobled family of Bruges spice merchants, shows that historiographical writings were often used to influence the public perception of such families. Because this functional approach of premodern elites towards their own past often included the manipulation of archival records, the memorial practices of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nobility have led to a distorted view of important aspects of late medieval society in recent historiography.}, author = {Buylaert, Frederik}, issn = {0035-0818}, journal = {REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D'HISTOIRE}, keyword = {nobility,elite history,historiography,Social memory}, language = {eng}, number = {2}, pages = {377--408}, title = {Memory, social mobility and historiography: shaping noble identity in the Bruges chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597)}, volume = {88}, year = {2010}, }
- Chicago
- Buylaert, Frederik. 2010. “Memory, Social Mobility and Historiography: Shaping Noble Identity in the Bruges Chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597).” REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D’HISTOIRE 88 (2): 377–408.
- APA
- Buylaert, F. (2010). Memory, social mobility and historiography: shaping noble identity in the Bruges chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597). REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D’HISTOIRE, 88(2), 377–408.
- Vancouver
- 1.Buylaert F. Memory, social mobility and historiography: shaping noble identity in the Bruges chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597). REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D’HISTOIRE. 2010;88(2):377–408.
- MLA
- Buylaert, Frederik. “Memory, Social Mobility and Historiography: Shaping Noble Identity in the Bruges Chronicle of Nicholas Despars (dagger 1597).” REVUE BELGE DE PHILOLOGIE ET D’HISTOIRE 88.2 (2010): 377–408. Print.