ABSTRACT
The history of prices and wages in the modern era in Belgium, or, if the name is preferred, the southern Low Countries, is still in its infancy. Practically all that Belgium has to set alongside the numerous excellent publications that have appeared in France, Germany, England, Holland and elsewhere, are the documents that were collected more than half a century ago by H. Van Houtte. They are concerned with the prices of certain agricultural products in a few markets in the county of Flanders between 1381 and 1794, 1 and there are no comments or charts. For the sixteenth century, to which the present article is devoted, M. I. Delatte's article on Hainault 2 should also be mentioned, along with references that occur in works of a more general nature by J. Lejeune and, in particular, J. Ruwet. 3 All this adds up to very little and it is not surprising that such a state of affairs appeared in the end quite unacceptable to certain Belgian historians, who quite recently asked for and obtained the support of their government in creating an Inter-university Centre for the history of prices and wages in Belgium in modern times. 4 The Centre's aim is to collect material in the style of Beveridge and Post-humus, etc. The time period to be covered stretches from the late Middle Ages to 1850. So its activity centres on the modern period but extends beyond it at both ends. So far only preparatory study has been done.
