The relationships and exchanges between entities (political, economic and military) can advantageously be clarified from their actors. Flamengo Maarten Lem is a good example of this, although numerous questions remain regarding him. Its origins are little known. He came to settle in Portugal in the 1430s (?) and established himself here as a merchant, becoming Martim Leme and living in concubinage with a Lisbon woman, Leonor Rodrigues, with whom he had several children. His business appears to have flourished and he had easy access to the king who made him squire. However, after 1464 he left Lisbon and his family, having previously legitimized seven children. Returning to Bruges, he married a young woman from the big bourgeoisie and held official functions there until becoming one of its most important representatives, maintaining commercial relations with his children in Portugal and Madeira and supporting the king on his expeditions to Morocco. He died in 1485 and his affairs were then liquidated. This did not stop his Portuguese and Flemish families from continuing to prosper.

In this seminar, we will try to clarify the personality of Maarten Lem / Martim Leme and study the business and curial networks that could explain his success, whilst simultaneously providing information on the structure of relations between Portugal and Flanders.

 

Biographical note

Jacques Paviot has been professor of Middle Ages history at the University of Paris Est-Créteil since 2001. He specializes in the history of relations between Portugal and Flanders (Burgundy and Portugal in the 15th century, Paris-Lisbon , 1995), but also in the study of the courts and the nobility, as well as in the history of relations between the West and the East.

Margarida Leme, PhD. in History/Historical Archivistics, librarian-archivist, was responsible for the Documentation and Information Center of the National Press – Casa da Moeda (Lisbon) between 1980 and 2013. She is a member of the Institute of Medieval Studies at FCSH-UNL, her areas of interest are family history and historical archiving, as well as the history of books and reading.