In recent political and legal history, scholars seldom specify how and why they use the concept of territory. In research on state-formation processes and nation building, for instance, the term mostly designates an enclosed geographical area ruled by a central government. Inspired by ideas from political geographers, this book explores the layered and constantly changing meanings of territory in late medieval and early modern Europe before cartography and state formation turned boundaries and territories into more fixed (but still changeable) geographical entities. Its central thesis is that assessing the notion of territory in a pre-modern setting involves analysing territorial practices: practices that relate people and power to space(s). The essays in this book not only examine the construction and spatial structure of pre-modern territories but also explore their perception and representation through the use of a broad range of sources: from administrative texts to maps, from stained-glass windows to chronicles.

Contributions by: Duncan Hardy, Luca Zenobi, Marcus Meer, Rombert Stapel, Robert Stein, Lisa Demets, Marianne Ritsema Van Eck, Arend Elias Oostindiër, Bram Caers, Yannick De Meulder, Bram Van den Hoven van Genderen, Jim Meulen