‘In fide constans’? Politiek van herinnering in het Mechelse stadsbestuur

Abstract

Around 1600, the Mechelen mayor Jan van Wachtendonck wrote an urban chronicle of his town that thoroughly revised the existing chronicle dating about a century back. Wachtendonck's text presents a version in which Mechelen sides firmly with the princely authorities, notably the Burgundian dukes. This contribution shows that the revision of Mechelen's history is part of a broader policy of memory initiated by the city council after the calvinist regime (1580-1585). Through text and image, the new council aimed to reassert the city's image as a catholic and loyal capital, in accordance with its motto 'in fide constans'.