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By tracing the medieval roots of the conjugal family in the county of Holland and especially among the ruling and social elites of the town of Leiden, the author tries to offer a modest contribution to what is sometimes called the debate on the progressive nuclearisation of the family. Arguing that the importance of lineage and clanstructures was limited and that the protective and controlling role of the « cognatio » diminished, this article tries to show that several forces undermining the traditional family, can be found in fifteenth century Leiden, favouring on the long term the rise of the conjugal family. Causes for this complicated process are not only to be found in the state formation process, the penetration of roman law or in the particular dynamic demographic and economic developments in the county of Holland, but also in specific notions of heriditary and matrimonial law that encouraged the formation of the nuclear family and even affected feodal lawcustoms.

The Battle of Othée (September 23, 1408) is undisputedly ranked amongst the most important military engagements occured in the XVth Century. In history, the sequence of events is well known : to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, were opposed the communes of Liege, insurrected against their bishop, John of Bavaria, and having thus joined with William of Bavaria, the Count of Hainault. Up to now, the majority of historians appeared to have limited their presentation to a classical description of the facts. Rarely have they attempted to elucidate the process under which this battle came to crystallize in the memory. This enduring recollection is noneless due to a great number of perceptions that can be traced back. Indeed, from a corpus of about sixty documents, different in purpose as well as in time or place (France, Netherlands, Germany), an evolution can be seen in the way those events were exposed. The obvious difficulty consists in determining what were the local or temporal circumstances that contributed to the fabric of the « historiographical memory » linked to an event or to a great figure. The divergent views entertained on whether the surname the Fearless was appended to John, Duke of Burgundy, before or after Othée afford a good illustration of that complexity.

At the beginning of the XVIth century, Loys Boulengier published a brief geographic description of France. Following his research, the author proposed a taxe reform to the King which was much more equitable and which also greatly benefited the Kind himself. Even though the reform never came into effect, it coincided with the prevailing atmosphere of reform and surge thought pursued by the great thinkers of the late XVIth and following centuries. Wishing to extend his work in fields other than in political economy, loys boulengier directed his efforts towards the editing world, map-making and astronomy. Open to scientific europe, he offered a wider picture of a provincial humanist, eager to find the recognition and fame he would never known.