Fundamentals of institutional and political history : Early modern times [ LHIST1383 ]

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Oral examination related to the course and the reading and sources folder.

The course will be based on the reading folder, which will provide students with documentation on the developed issues of historical research within the course.These readings will be used as a reference for the teacher and will be a full-fledged part of the student's individual work.A folder with sources that will be commented during the course will also be used as a reference.

The introduction will analyse the main milestones in the political history of the Belgian sphere during the Early modern times. It will replace institutions in their production and development context, from the period of the Burgundians, who initiated a centralizing process, to the French annexation, which completely changed the institutional environment of the Belgian sphere. Then, institutional organization will be considered through three chapters (central institutions of the Low Countries (1), regional institutions of the Low Countries (2), institutions of the Principality of Liège (3)), according to the following plan : origin, competences, organisation and functioning. This part will provide the required framework for any heuristic approach about the Early modern times. The course will put emphasis on the continuous tension between the prince's centralizing will and the defense of local and regional particularisms, through the analysis of documents produced by institutions and through readings on the current historiographical debates related to specific topics, such as the carrying out of justice, the production of legislation or taxation.

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Powerpoint projections related to the course sessions, as well as all analysed documents, will be made available through the icampus platform on the course site.