Risings of 1303 and 1306

   In 1290, Duke John I forbade artisans from forming associations without prior approval of the aldermen and amman. Efforts by the bourgeoisie to secure admission to the cloth guild broke out into rebellion in 1303. The right was accorded by Duke John I n a privilege of 6 May 1303.

   On the vigil of Candlemas 1306, a quarrel between two city residents in which a commoner was wounded by a patrician member of a lignage led to a riot in which townhouses of the rich were torched and ducal authority was derided. Craftsmen drafted a new constitution, in which the city's seven aldermen were to be chosen by commoners, two financial assessors were to be added to the city council, and the jurors were to be reestablished. Duke John, who had been absent from the city, refused to acknowledge the new constitution. In mid-February 1306, he sided with the patricians and declared virtual war on the craftsmen. The patricians left Brussels for Vilvoorde where John had arrived shortly before with an army of knights. The city's craftsmen gave battle and were defeated on 1 May. On 12 June 1306, the duke authorized the magistrates to crush any additional outbreaks by any means believed necessary. Through enactment of successive ordinances, craftsmen were disarmed, guild meetings were prohibited, and the old city government of seven aldermen chosen by the lignages was reinstituted. Until the rising of 1421, they held the preponderance of power.