Municipal oaths, political virtues and the centralised state: the adaptation of oaths of office in fifteenth-century Flanders

This essay explores the impact of Burgundian state formation on oaths that were taken by the various participants of Flemish municipal elections. These solemn promises were a powerful means to assert the reliability of the election. In the fifteenth century their use underwent significant changes. For the first time they were fixed in writing. The number of participants that had to swear these oaths increased and new clauses were added. Thus, oaths were employed as political instruments. Both the ruler and the towns used them to bind the participants to the balance of power that had been achieved.