The Wars of the Lord of Bronkhorst. Territory, Lordship, and the Proliferation of Violence in Fourteenth-Century Guelders

This article discusses the interplay of lordship, noble warfare and state formation in the late medieval duchy of Guelders and its surrounding areas. In Guelders, the emergence of a political public sphere was, paradoxically, accompanied by the multiplication of local lordships, the proliferation of noble warfare, and the continuation of personal government. Newly created public offices were pawned and appropriated by powerful noblemen. Consequently, these noblemen became the embodiment of the nascent public sphere as counsellors, stewards and bailiffs. However, they also continued to compete for castles, estates and local lordships. The so-called Guelders War (1350-1361) shows that the intermingling of private and public power produced a political setting in which noble warfare could easily increase in scale and disrupt large areas and entire territories.