“To a dear and merciful woman”. Exploring the letter collection of Mechtild of Guelders, duchess-pretender of Guelders, 1365-1380

Abstract

184 original letters aimed at, sent by, and related to Mechtild of Guelders can nowadays be found in the archives of the Duchy of Guelders, which are part of the collection of the Gelders Archief at Arnhem; all of these letters were written between circa 1367 and 1380. Most of them stem from the First War of the Guelderian Succession (1372-1379), during which Mechtild was one of the two pretenders for the ducal throne of Guelders. This collection of 184 letters has been described before as ‘unique’ and as ‘a small treasure’ regarding its large scope as well as being an early testimony to epistolary correspondence in the vernacular languages from the Low Countries and the Rhineland. The letters are evidence of the use of vernacular languages in the late fourteenth century, but also of politics, and they show how people in this period lived, thought, and acted in their day-to-day lives. Another interesting element is that the collection shows examples of personal and intimate communication between women, as it contains letters sent to Mechtild by some of her female relatives, wives of allies, and other noblewomen. Also of interest is that the identity of many people that sent, received, or were mentioned in the letters can be traced. A large number of them belonged to the higher strata of fourteenth-century society, with dukes, counts, knights, ministeriales and clergymen present among them. Therefore, their names can often be found in other contemporary sources as well. Despite the letter collection’s potential for academics, it has rarely received attention from scholars. An effort to discuss the letter collection in its entirety, alongside an analysis of the topics and people encountered in it, has yet to be made. Therefore, this thesis will paint a general, broad overview of the letter collection to lay the groundwork for further research. This will be done through two different analyses: an analysis of the different topics presented in the letters and another of the network of people represented in the letter collection as it developed with time. This thesis consists of four chapters. The first two chapters look at the broader context of the letter collection, its history, and the political and military context in which the letters were written. In the two following chapters, the letter collection will be analysed both regarding its contents and the people mentioned in the letters. In the first chapter, a biography of Mechtild is presented, which encompasses her life before, during, and after the First War of the Guelderian Succession. The war itself, its causes and the major events that took place during the war will be highlighted, as will certain events that are relevant to certain letters. In the second chapter, the focus will be on broader developments in late medieval pragmatic literacy and epistolary culture, and how these developments are visible within Mechtild's letter collection. After these two contextualising chapters, two chapters which analyse the letter collection itself will follow. In the third chapter, topics discussed in the letters will be analysed. The letters are sorted into five categories: personal matters, politics, warfare, financial matters, and law. Each category will be discussed and illustrated with examples taken from the letters. In the fourth chapter, a network analysis of the people represented in the letters is presented. This will be done through a chronological lens: the period in which the letters were written is split into four separate ‘eras’, which are based on the information presented in the first chapter. In each of these eras, certain people with whom Mechtild maintained epistolary connections will be discussed, alongside other people occurring within the broader correspondence. These connections can be linked with Mechtild to discover smaller sub-networks within the broader netw