News

From September 2025, Daan Huysman will be part of SHOC as a TVO student. Daan started his studies in History at the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) in 2023.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the Call for Papers for the First International Conference of the Medieval Caucasus Network, entitled 'Studying Non-Elites in the Medieval Caucasus'. This will take place at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium, on March 13th-14th 2026.

SHOC member Anna Derhaeg and co-author Kaat Wils (University of Leuven) have published a new article, based on Anna's Master's thesis.

Call for Papers Questionnaires in the History of Health and Medicine International Workshop 19-20 February 2026, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Deadline for abstract submission: 15 September 2025 We are delighted to announce a call for papers for a workshop focused on the historical...

As from 1 July, SHOC has a new colleague! Reinout Vander Hulst will be working closely together with Benoît Henriet on colonial history. Welcome to the team, Reinout!

On 23 June, SHOC had the honour of attending Rose Southard's PhD defence, "Biting the hand that Feeds. Contesting the Food Guilds in 18th-century Brussels". A successful - and engaging! defence , followed by a lovely reception: the ideal recipe for the start of a new chapter!

A new article by SHOC member Anne Winter and Thijs Lambrecht was recently published in Rural History. In their publication " Conspicuous charity and agrarian capitalism: Rural poor relief in Western Flanders c.

Research group SHOC and the FORAGENCY team are proud to announce the first FORAGENCY publication by researcher Etienne Gontard, via this link.  In, “Weaving the Future: Duiker Hides Trade and the Aka in Colonial Central Africa” , Etienne Gontard studies how, between 1920 and 1950, duikers were...

How did medieval rulers and merchants use taxes and reprisals to signal resolve in trade disputes? This new article by SHOC memner Adam Hall explores conflicts involving foreign merchants in Bruges, offering insights into brinkmanship and diplomacy.

Want to know why 'Fleming' was considered an insult in late medieval England and 'Dutchman' was not? Bart Lambert and Josh Ravenhill published an article about nationality-related slurs in 15th-century London in the Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte.

Trade wars are not just a modern phenomenon. In their new article in Continuity & Change, Bart Lambert and Louis Sicking show how, between 1384 and 1430, the counts of Holland and Zeeland tried to lure merchants away from neighbouring Flanders.

More on genetic diversity and the plague in medieval Sint-Truiden, including commentary by Bart Lambert, in De Standaard ! https://www.standaard.be/.../vlaams-dna-was.../67847129.html