They were chosen by a college of eight electors, who were appointed by the sovereign on nomination by the citizens.

The whole city, in its collective capacity, constituted one of the four estates (Membra) of the province of Flanders.

It is obvious that so much liberty of form and of fact, added to the stormy character by which its citizens were distinguished, would be most offensive in the eyes of Charles, and that the delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors by all those quiet souls, who preferred the tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom.

The city claimed, moreover, the general provisions of the "Great Privilege" of the Lady Mary, the Magna Charta, which, according to the monarchical party, had been legally abrogated by Maximilian.

The liberties of the town had also been nominally curtailed by the "calf-skin" (Kalf Vel).