De lijst als kaart Stad en territorium in laatmiddeleeuws Brabant

This article analyses how the towns of Brabant – both the ruling elites and more ordinary people – perceived and represented the territory they were living in. It proceeds by discussing four territorial techniques, practices that relate people and power to space, which came into being through the interaction between the towns and the duke. They show a duchy that is different from what is commonly shown on maps in textbooks and that is more than simply an enclosed geographical area ruled by a central government. Two practises are geared towards the construction of territory, hearth counts and urban political associations, whereas two others are more concerned with the perception of territory in the administration (lists of towns) and in heraldry (urban seals and coats of arms). The construction and representation of the territory through fiscal, political and heraldic techniques, occurred both on the initiative of the duke and of the towns themselves and produced many different kinds of lists. These lists could represent the territory in a relative simple way, before cartography took over this function in the later sixteenth century. Undoubtedly, these techniques mutually influenced each other and were in many ways usable and applicable not only in the daily administration of the duchy but also in its iconographic representation. Heraldic signs in particular were an important visual means through which the towns could express and construct their identity. Analysis of the origin of these signs demonstrates that they were more the result of a dialogue with the duke and his court, than being of a purely urban design. Moreover, the interaction between urban and princely symbolism shows the connectedness of the towns to the dynasty, with both those of earlier generations and those from the contemporary ducal lineage, and to the duchy itself.