Posthumus Fellow emeritus Professor Peer Vries and Annelieke Vries-Baaijens recently published their book The rise of the modern state in Europe, 1450-1914. Whereas the current world consists of states with their own, demarcated, usually contiguous territory, and recognised authority, in the Late Middle Ages legitimacy of government authority was not based on institutionalised participation by…

Recently, Leuven University Press has issued a new edition of TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, the Dutch-Flemish academic journal on social and economic history. The latest edition contains a lot of interesting articles, some authored by Posthumus fellows, among which an article by Reinder Klinkhamer on the response of…

On 23 June 2025, Posthumus alumna Robin Rose Southard successfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Biting the hand that feeds: contesting the food guilds in 18th-century Brussels’ at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Supervisor was Professor Wouter Ryckbosch (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The N.W. Posthumus staff congratulates Robin Rose with obtaining the PhD!

On 2 June 2025, Posthumus alumna Heleen Blommers successfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Deconstructing the War on Poverty: why a failure narrative became entrenched in American political discourse, 1964–1974’ at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Supervisors were Professor Karel Davids (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Dr Dienke Hondius (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), and Professor Damian Pargas (Leiden University). Heleen’s…

On 27 and 28 May 2025, the Posthumus Conference 2025 was held in Nijmegen at Radboud University, hosted by Dr Dries Lyna and Dr Joris van den Tol and visited by c. 140 participants. This year’s conference was on the central theme ‘The People vs Structures’ with a reflection on how legal systems, institutions, and…

The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) has awarded a FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr Kristof Loockx, fellow of the N.W. Posthumus Institute and postdoctoral researcher a the University of Antwerp. This fellowship is awarded to selected researchers who have completed their PhD a few years ago to further specialise in their research discipline. With the…

The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) has awarded a FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr Charris De Smet, fellow of the N.W. Posthumus Institute and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History as well as affiliated to the Centre for Political History (PoHis) of the University of Antwerp. This fellowship is awarded to selected researchers who…

~ because of scope in Dutch only ~ Bij Uitgeverij Ertsberg is onlangs het boek Koks & Kelners 1750-1950 van emeritus professor Patricia Van den Eeckhout, fellow van het N.W. Posthumus Instituut, verschenen. Dit boek vertelt de geschiedenis van het alomtegenwoordige, maar ‘onzichtbare’ horecapersoneel. Koks waren letterlijk, maar ook het zaalpersoneel in zekere zin onzichtbaar….

~ because of scope in Dutch only ~ Op 10 oktober 2025 organiseert de werkgroep Stedengeschiedenis een bijeenkomst bij de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed onder de titel ‘Nieuw onderzoek naar Amsterdam: stedelijke ruimte, water en erfgoed’. Dagvoorzitter is dr. Roos van Oosten (universitair docent Universiteit Leiden). Bevestigde sprekers zijn dr. Clé Lesger (historicus, Universiteit…

The Centre for Urban History and the Urban Studies Institute of the University of Antwerp invite you to the public lecture of the 2025 Raymond van Uytven Chair for Urban History by Emeritus Professor Carl Nightingale, on Wednesday 2 July 2025. Carl Nightingale is Professor Emeritus of Urban History and World History at the University…