A.Verhulst

Oud en nieuw in het 'kouter'-debat

Historisch geografisch tijdschrift 19 (2001) 33 - 41.

Open dorpsakkers worden in Vlaanderen aangeduid met de term 'kouter'. De verhouding tussen de termen ''akker'' en ''kouter'' helpen ons inzicht te krijgen in de oudste ontwikkeling van deze bouwlandgebieden.

Old and new in the 'kouter'debat

The arable land of a settlement in early medieval Flanders was a complex of several fields bearing the name 'akker'. The central field, which may be compared to the central part of the 'es' in the Dutch province of Drenthe, was located close to the settlement and had an 'akker'-name composed with the name of the settlement. Further away from the settlement smaller fields could be found, bearing 'akker'-names composed with the name of a person, wind-direction, plant or tree. These fields, which were contemporary to the central field or slightly younger, were separated from the latter by waste land. While the centralfield was open, the peripheral fields were probably enclosed. After the 9th century but probably before the 12th century, the smaller fields were integrated into the central field and lost their individuality and name. In the same time the thus extended central field changed its germanic 'akker'-name for the romanic name 'kouter' composed with the name of the village. The reasons for this change are complex and not yet clear. The proximity of the germanic-romanic linguistic border may be one of them and may explain the geographical distribution of Kouter-names in southern Flanders. Some connection with the transformation of the manorial system between the 9th and the 12th century is also worth further research.