Antiquarianism, Local Traditions and Urban Identity in the Early Modern Netherlands:the Controversy about the City of the Nervii

Abstract

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the study of Roman remains led to the questioning of many local traditions, as these which associated the episcopal see of Tournai with the valiant Nervii. The rediscovery of ancient Itineraries and the absence of vestiges in Tournai led scholars to question this association: they preferred to locate the city of the Nervii in Bavay. This new thesis irritated several Tournaisian authors who defended the illustrious past of their city. This scholarly polemic illustrates the new role that the material evidence played in the construction of historical discourses and local identity at that time.During the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the antiquity of a cityor a region played a considerable role in the construction of the collective identity of its inhabitants. The more ancient a community’s origin, the moreit was regarded as prestigious and admirable.1 It was particularly common for cities or regions to claim to date back to Roman times. This period was prized for two reasons: first, the idea of power and refinement associated with ancient Rome was a source of fascination during the Renaissanceera and, second, it was, in many areas, the oldest past known through writtenor material sources.</p