Archery and Crossbow Guilds in Medieval Flanders, 1300-1500

To an Anglophone audience, the idea of "guilds" in civic society might conjure images of craft guilds, the organisations of butchers, bakers or brewers set up to regulate working practises. In the towns of medieval Flanders, however, a plethora of guilds existed which had little or nothing to do with the organisation of labour, including chambers of rhetoric, urban jousters and archery and crossbow guilds. This is the first full-length study of the archery and crossbow guilds. Drawing on extensive archival research, it analyses their growth, their military service, their social and cultural activities, their connections to princely courts and their important role in strengthening and rebuilding regional networks. Overall, it provides a new perspective on the strength of community within Flemish towns and the values that underlay medieval urban ideology.