-The material translation of power in the High Medieval period.The visualisation of comital power in the landscape of town and countryside

The ambitious princely reproduction strategy of the counts of Flanders between the 10th and 12th century had an enormous impact on the contents and possibilities of the tidal environment of coastal Flanders, on its infrastructure and on the spatial conduct, landscape and identity of coastal society. They developed large private coastal estates, specialised in the production of wool, meat, etc. in the lower salt marshes of Flanders using the regalian right on waste grounds. In order to intensify the produce of their domains, a choice was made for innovation and investment, by developing a large scale program of water management in the comital estates, leading to the embankment of coastal Flanders and the employment of a whole succession of dikes, dams and sluices.