A specialist in urban history of the Middle Ages, Haemers (Ghent U.) looks at political ebbs and flows in Medieval Flanders. He begins with the state and the marriage of Mary and Maximilian, the war against France, Hapsburg politics, and resistance against Maximilian. Then he shifts to the nobility, going back to 1477 to look at the reaction to the death of Charles the Bald, then discussing the position of the nobility at court. His final section examines how the politics was manifest in the cities of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres. The book is reduced from his doctoral dissertation. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)