Pieter Bladelin, de Rijselse Rekenkamer en de Stichting Van Middelburg-In-Vlaanderen

The foundation of the town of Middelburg-in-Flanders (near the Zwin, on the axis Bruges-Damme-Aardenburg) by the high-ranking Burgundian courtier and functionary Pieter Bladelin (1472) has already been studied and commented on by several and diverse historians. Their attention, which goes back to the nineteenth century, has nevertheless mostly been limited to the material aspects of the creation of the town and/or the personality and career of its founder. Recently, both these approaches even have been combined in considering the foundation of the town as an extreme example of the "vivre noblement"--Aspiration; a successful one in the event, for Bladelin was ennobled around 1470. The study of the legal creation of Middelburg, as a seigniory rather than a city, has remained largely neglected however. To be sure, most of the ducal privileges relevant to the foundation of Middelburg have already been edited (if in separate publications and often based on faulty traditions).