This article explores the significance of writing history for a late medieval Antwerp patrician family: Van Halmale. In recent historiography, families like the Van Halmales have not received the attention they deserve, in part because their social status is difficult to pin down. Although the Van Halmales had knightly titles and performed deeds of arms on the battlefield and during tournaments, their noble status was not undisputed. Both a chronicle and a tournament diary written by different members of the Van Halmale family reflect the aspirations of a dominant social category in the late medieval towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Holland. Their writings reflect how the Van Halmales perceived themselves and how they wanted their contemporaries and peers to perceive them. In that sense the writing of history was indeed a means for nobles (and would-be-nobles) to justify (or to claim) their privileged position. Their works helped them to express their identity as powerful aldermen, firmly rooted in an urban environment but with open minds for the world of princes and (inter)national politics.
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机译:本文探讨了中世纪安特卫普贵族家庭范·哈尔马勒(Van Halmale)写作历史的重要性。在最近的史学中,像Van Halmales这样的家庭没有得到应有的关注,部分原因是他们的社会地位难以确定。尽管Van Halmales拥有骑士头衔,并且在战场上和比赛期间都表现出了武功,但他们的贵族地位并非毫无争议。 Van Halmale家族的不同成员撰写的纪事和锦标赛日记都反映了中世纪晚期布拉班特,佛兰德和荷兰城镇中占主导地位的社会类别的愿望。他们的作品反映了范·哈马累人的看法,以及他们希望当代人和同龄人如何看待他们。从这个意义上讲,历史的确确实是贵族(和将来的贵族)证明(或主张)其特权地位的一种手段。他们的作品帮助他们表达了自己作为强大的al夫的身份,这些人牢牢扎根于城市环境,但对王子和(国际)政治世界持开放态度。
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