The principal investigators of the Belgian Belspo BRAIN 2.0 project LORD (Lordship and State Formation in the County of Flanders, 15th – 18th C.) are looking for a PhD student for a 4-year project at Ghent University’s Department of History. LORD is a partnership project of the Department of History at Ghent University (Prof. dr. Frederik Buylaert & Prof. dr. Thijs Lambrecht) and The State Archives of Belgium (Dr. Joke Verfaillie). The project focuses on premodern processes of centralisation and state formation in the Southern Low Countries. Specific attention is given to the relation between (feudal) lordship (« Heerlijkheid ») and the central authority.

The PhD student will operate in a dynamic team that consists of the principal investigators at both insitutions, a postdoctoral researcher and one other PhD student.

In fact, LORD has two PhD sub-projects:

1. A reconstruction of the number of lordships in Flanders (late 15th century – c. 1750), based on existing data sets and new research on original source material. Focus on social background and the political-administrational activities of lords.
2. A study of the financial structures of lordships in Flanders (c. 1400 – 1800), based on accounts and juridical source material. Focus on the (fiscal / financial) relation between lordships and the fiscal policy and demands of the central government.

One PhD student has already been hired, but the projects have not yet been attributed. Candidates are invited to indicate which topic they would prefer to work on.

You can find all details of the PhD position and the LORD project in the (Dutch) job text attached. The deadline for application is 20 August 2020!

Source : UGent – Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies