This article studies how subversive writing was used to mobilize rebels in late medievalcities. A case-study of a pamphlet, spread during the Brussels revolt against Maximilianof Austria (1488-1489), provides our point of departure for exploring the strategies whichpamphleteers had at their disposal to mobilize bystanders. The article illustrates howpamphlets were not written on the spur of the moment, and instead contained a sophisticatedand well-considered discourse. It therefore challenges the traditional view of pre-modernrevolts, which tends to emphasize the spontaneity and impulsiveness of latemedieval revolts.
