The court Overijse chose to hear its case was the Council of Brabant, highest in the duchy of Brabant. At times this court was, like most others, only too willing to encroach on the turf of Church and archbishop and hear cases that the latter considered rightly his own, for such could only strengthen the council’s authority. But at other times the council thought it better to cooperate with the Church, especially when, as in this case, it could hardly lose: the council would win the archbishop’s goodwill if it gave him a say in the decision over the Oak, and the council’s very supervision of
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