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Welcome to the website of the Department of Medieval History of Ghent University.
The Department proudly traces its
history back to the History Department founded in 1891. The driving spirit behind its creation
was Henri Pirenne, a renowned medievalist who laid the foundations of the 'Ghent Historical School', with prominent members such as Paul
Fredericq, François Louis Ganshof, Hans Van Werveke, Egied Strubbe,
Jan Dhondt, Raoul C. Van Caenegem, Adriaan Verhulst, Walter Prevenier and Ludo Milis.
Initially, the principal focus was on Belgian political and social history. During the following years the scope was extended to institutional and legal history, the auxiliary sciences and to historical geography. At a later stage, new fields of interest included the history of economic development, urban history, gender history, historical anthropology, the history of education and ecological and environmental history. The research methods currently undertaken by the Department follow a cross-disciplinary approach.
