Maisons patriciennes médiévales à Gand (Gent, Belgique)

The study of medieval stone houses in Ghent is a project which is linked with the urban archaeology of this Flemish town and a first series of results can now be presented. An inventory of material remains discovered in the course of archaeological interventions constitutes the basic evidence for this work. Over 170 structures have been documented ; 115 of them can be identified as private houses built in the late Middle Ages. The data have been gathered mainly in the course of restorations and renovations, as the architectural heritage in question is hardly known and enjoys no protection whatsoever. All architectural components have been analyzed in detail : plan, elevation, roof, wall-openings, interior arrangements and materials used. The documentation mus gatliered is extensive for the lower levels of the buildings (ground-floors or semi-interred rooms). Several of the cases studied allow us to complete the evidence with data related to the whole of the elevation, to the environment, to the lay-out of the plots, etc. The distribution of the houses throughout the town and a few chronological indications make it possible to identify several generations of buildings. This material heritage does not, however, constitute an isolated phenomenon. It reflects the life of a community. The study of the political and socio-economic context emphasizes the links between these buildings and an elite class of merchants who were engaged in the production and trade of textiles but who simultaneously also held the administrative and judicial powers in the community. A few indications suggest some of these houses to be associated with the grain trade. The decline of this elite was associated with changing political and socio-economic conditions and appears to be contemporaneous with the emergence of a more common brick architecture.Laleman Marie Christine, Raveschot Patrick. Maisons patriciennes médiévales à Gand (Gent, Belgique). In: Archéologie des villes dans le Nord-Ouest de l'Europe (VIIe-XIIIe siècle) Actes du IVe Congrès International d'Archéologie Médiévale (Douai, 26, 27, 28 septembre 1991) Caen : Société d'Archéologie Médiévale, 1994. pp. 201-205. (Actes des congrès de la Société d'archéologie médiévale, 4