Pining for power, modern Belgians return to the Middle Ages
AARSCHOT, Belgium -- During the week, Ivonne Janssens, 57, is a hospital cleaner. But come the weekend, she climbs the narrow steps of a three-story medieval tower and turns into a 14th-century duchess with a faux-emerald necklace, a linen headdress, a leather satchel full of fake gold coins, and a retinue of mercenaries to fend off invading French knights...
Across this country of 10 million, a growing number of Belgians are trading in their jeans for suits of armor. They are rubbing stones together to make fire, eating their dinners out of cauldrons, re-enacting heroic battles and participating in mock hangings...
Herman Konings, a Belgian behavioral psychologist who studies national trends, attributes the medieval craze to excessive nostalgia for a more glorious past. The fad has emerged at a time when the country, divided between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, is experiencing deep anxiety about its identity.
Konings argues that little Belgium, better known for its beer than its heroic past, is fed up with being the laughingstock of Europe. This, he says, is prompting Belgians to hark back to a period when Bruges and Antwerp were trading centers that surpassed Paris and London, and Flemish "primitive" painters like Jan Van Eyck were the envy of the world.
"Throughout our history, we have been attacked by everyone, from the Romans to the Vikings to the Dutch," he says, explaining that Belgians are tired of being picked on. "The late Middle Ages was a time when we were mastering the world. So at a time of national doubt, they provide a great escape as well as a sense of security."
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Across this country of 10 million, a growing number of Belgians are trading in their jeans for suits of armor. They are rubbing stones together to make fire, eating their dinners out of cauldrons, re-enacting heroic battles and participating in mock hangings...
Herman Konings, a Belgian behavioral psychologist who studies national trends, attributes the medieval craze to excessive nostalgia for a more glorious past. The fad has emerged at a time when the country, divided between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, is experiencing deep anxiety about its identity.
Konings argues that little Belgium, better known for its beer than its heroic past, is fed up with being the laughingstock of Europe. This, he says, is prompting Belgians to hark back to a period when Bruges and Antwerp were trading centers that surpassed Paris and London, and Flemish "primitive" painters like Jan Van Eyck were the envy of the world.
"Throughout our history, we have been attacked by everyone, from the Romans to the Vikings to the Dutch," he says, explaining that Belgians are tired of being picked on. "The late Middle Ages was a time when we were mastering the world. So at a time of national doubt, they provide a great escape as well as a sense of security."