Imagining Flanders: The (De)construction of a Regional Identity in Fifteenth-Century Flanders

Abstract

This chapter examines the construction of collective historical identities in late medieval Flemish towns in the early fifteenth century. The Burgundian dukes and the Flemish elites tried to shape and ‘control’ representations of their principality, but in literary, pictorial, and historiographical sources the focus on the Flemish count gradually gave way to a focus on the largest Flemish cities. Analysing the Imago Flandriae, a Latin prophecy on the Hundred Years’ War, and the Flandria Generosa C, a Latin chronicle of Flanders, I argue that these literary sources illustrate the new influence of major Flemish towns in new regional institutions, such as the Four Members of Flanders, and on regional politics under Burgundian rule.