Today's world is the product of the late middle ages. In what is now called 'Flanders', a new kind of man emerged. A practical man, an entrepreneur, a critical man who no longer believed what church and nobility tried to tell him. He discovers the world, creates, produces and innovates. In this book young researchers take us back to the middle ages. With attention for top works of art and unknown gems. This art book has a fresh academic point of view: the economical history of the middle ages from the viewpoint of different social groups, with surprising results on cliched thoughts such as the passive countryside, the dark middle ages and the role of women in society.