Medieval urban history

L’affermazione dei regimi popolari alla metà del duecento rappresentò un’importante cesura nell’evoluzione politico-istituzionale dei comuni dell’Italia centro-settentrionale e nel processo di formazione e consolidamento dei gruppi dirigenti cittadini. Ciò nonostante, la storiografia comunalistica della seconda metà del novecento ha avuto la tendenza a sminuire l’originalità e la carica innovativa delle esperienze popolari sottolineando piuttosto la permanente centralità politica, economica ma soprattutto culturale dell’antica aristocrazia cittadina. Questo articolo prende in considerazione alcuni importanti comuni di Popolo – Firenze, Siena, Pisa, Bologna, Perugia – cercando di dimostrare come taluni elementi tradizionalmente portati a sostegno dell’interpretazione «continuista» delle vicende tardoduecentesche si prestino anche ad una lettura alternativa che metta piuttosto in luce la novità dell’esperimento politico e culturale portato avanti dai gruppi dirigenti popolari.

New work over the last thirty years on the archaeology of Syria-Palestine in the later sixth and seventh centuries has significantly questioned the once-accepted view of an economy in decline, seen in part as a contributory factor to the supposed “easy” conquest of the region. Coinage, ceramics, and settlement profiles depict, rather, an economic resilience that successfully weathered the political and military disruptions of the seventh century. The relative soundness of the economy at the end of the seventh century gave crucial support to ʿAbd al-Malik during the succession dispute with Ibn Zubayr, and following its resolution ʿAbd al-Malik’s reforms were to ensure decades of continuing economic prosperity in Syria-Palestine. In the eighth century, a standardized coinage ensured monetary confidence, townbased industries were built up on a major scale to supply regional markets, while improvements to the infrastructure of agriculture—rather than the introduction of new crops—and the exploration of natural resources promoted settlement in the countryside. Over two centuries, the economy had changed, bringing significant shifts in urban and rural settlement patterns, but had not, to any significant extent, failed.

This paper illuminates the role played by Sicilian cities in state building in the late Middle Ages through their involvement in the intense process of negotiations between the king and his subjects. This study heads in the opposite direction of the interpretations that negate the existence of municipal freedom and allege the existence of an exclusively top-down model of power relationships between king and kingdom. The focus is on one of the main royal officials in local government—the capitaneus or captain, who was intended to be the king’s instrument of control. The captain gradually came to represent the municipal will and his role was defined by decision-making interaction between the king and local governments. The dynamics surrounding the captaincy go well beyond the local sphere and will lead us to address the positive effects of the encounter of various political traditions in the Crown of Aragon. This in turn, made the establishment of new political balances possible, which had a crucial role in government building in Sicily

"A obra que o leitor tem entre mãos pretende ser uma recolha completa de todos os trabalhos escritos de Armindo de Sousa, publicados além dos seus livros ou capítulos de livros. Porque este historiador já partiu de entre nós há cerca de quinze anos, porque os seus trabalhos estão dispersos e são, quase todos, de difícil acesso, porque uma obra reunida ganha em unidade, em coerência e em inteligibilidade. Mas, acima de tudo, porque Armindo de Sousa foi um historiador de excepção; e se, em qualquer país, seria obrigatória a disponibilização da sua obra a um público alargado, do limitado e algo pobre panorama historiográfico português é quase um crime de lesa-inteligência que as páginas que ele nos deixou andem perdidas." (Luís Miguel Duarte)

This essay explores the spread and development of the cults of Scandinavian saints in the historical region of Livonia (corresponding approximately to present-day Estonia and Latvia). The discussion focuses on the veneration and visual representations of St Olaf, St Knud (Canute), St Birgitta of Vadstena, St Henry of Finland, and others. The probable conflation of the cult of two different Knuds will be pointed out. Attention will be given to the main centres and promoters of these cults, such as St Canute’s guild, St Olaf’s guild and St Olaf’s church in Tallinn and St Olaf’s guild in Riga. The article points out how some of these saints became identity markers for particular social and ethnic groups or for the representatives of certain occupations. The visual representation of these saints is investigated, as well as the question of how they shaped the local urban environment.

The Hungarian Historical Review invites submissions for its third issue in 2022, the theme of which will be Economy, the Connecting Force in Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages The deadline for the submission of abstracts: January 31, 2022.

Los Encuentros Internacionales del Medievo de Nájera se vienen planteando como un congreso internacional en el ámbito de estudio y difusión de la Historia Medieval desde su creación en el año 2003. Debido a la pandemia del COVID’19 la edición de este año se desarrollará de forma virtual.

La ciudad atlántica, surgida en la Edad Media, se fundamentó sobre una serie de factores, tales como las condiciones geográficas, las infraestructuras y unas sociedades muy dinámicas, pero también a que, en los centros portuarios atlánticos, en su mayor parte periféricos por su ubicación, las políticas urbanas adoptaron unas características comunes y distintas de las ciudades del interior del continente, cuyas estrategias económicas nos proponemos analizar en este congreso.

Los XVII Encuentros Internacionales del Medievo de Nájera invitan a enviar propuestas (presentación oral o con póster) sobre los siguientes temas:
Eje 1: Intervención de las autoridades concejiles en la administración portuaria.
Eje 2: Navegación, construcción naval y potenciación de las flotas mercantes y de guerra.
Eje 3: Asociaciones profesionales portuarias.
Eje 4: Diplomacia económica: naciones y consulados.
Eje 5: Regulación de la actividad portuaria y marítima.
Eje 6: Políticas y estrategias financieras.
Eje 7: Las mujeres emprendedoras.
Eje 8: Los puertos en la política comercial y fiscal de la Corona.
Eje 9: El control de la jurisdicción marítima y costera. 
Eje 10: Políticas de fomento del transporte marítimo y las infraestructuras portuarias.

PROPUESTAS COMUNICACIONES
El plazo de entrega de las propuestas de comunicaciones libres finalizará el día 30 de septiembre de 2020.
Los participantes deberán enviar: resumen de la comunicación de máximo 500 caracteres, que deberá incluir objetivos, fuentes, metodología y aportación, así como un breve CV, Las comunicaciones, que sean aprobadas por los revisores, serán publicadas en 2021. Dirección de envío: neim@unican.es
Las lenguas científicas de los encuentros son el español, inglés, francés, portugués e italiano.
Los textos de los power points deberán estar en inglés.
Todas las presentaciones se realizarán por medio de plataforma virtual WEBINAR.
Cada comunicante dispondrá de 20 minutos para realizar su presentación.
La organización comunicará la aceptación de las comunicaciones, por correo electrónico, antes del 15 de octubre.

In recent years, the period between ca. 1280 and 1330 has attracted a growing interest among scholars who study Italian communes. As regards in particular the greatest popular communes, a specific attention to institutional dynamics has allowed to develop a complex model to explain the transformations of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. However, there remain some difficulties in understanding fully the nature of the political conflicts that marked that phase. Popolani and magnati, guelphs and ghibellines, popolo grasso and popolo minuto, bianchi and neri: urban communities were traversed by multiple and overlapping lines of fracture, in a process of decomposition and recomposition of political identities in which horizontal “class” solidarities, family solidarities, conflicts of interest, clientelist logics and ideological claims acted simultaneously. The article puts forward the idea that a better understanding of these conflicts, of their protagonists – groups, families, individuals – and their political and discursive strategies would improve our ability to read the institutional evolution of the popular communes between the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries.

"Cos’era Udine agli occhi di un cividalese del Quattrocento, se non una ‘neonata’ irriverente? Partendo da questa domanda provocatoria, il saggio delinea lo sviluppo e la storia di Cividale durante il Medioevo da un’angolatura diversa: quella del conflitto latente che la contrappose a Udine per la maggior parte del tempo.

Come sottolinea il titolo del saggio, si tratta di un percorso che inizia in età tardo antica, quando ‘Forum Iulii’ strappò ad Aquileia la palma di capitale, e si conclude al tramonto del Medioevo, quando quella che ormai si chiamava ‘Civitas Austriae’ cedette il primato a Udine.

Dapprima come ‘forum’ romano, quindi come ducato longobardo, e più oltre, in età carolingia, quando è attestata l’esistenza di una scuola capitolare, nei secoli centrali del Medioevo Cividale del Friuli crebbe fino a divenire la sede prediletta dei patriarchi aquileiesi. E fu proprio il rapporto con alcuni presuli – in particolare da Bertoldo di Andechs Merania in poi – a contrapporre l’antica ‘città ducale’ alla nuova ‘terra’ di Udine. Un continuo rivaleggiare che non si esaurì nemmeno con la sottomissione a Venezia (1419-21) e che, anzi, inseguì i primati già nella decorazione delle insegne che celebravano la Serenissima."

La richesse des archives judiciaires échevinales dijonnaises permet d’observer et d’analyser les comportements contestataires de ses habitants et leurs évolutions. Il s’agit ici de s’intéresser à la criminalisation de propos régulièrement qualifiés de « séditieux », en procédant à l’analyse lexicale de leur contenu, pour distinguer les affaires liées à des questions sociales de celles présentant de plus importants enjeux politiques. La procédure employée par le tribunal urbain est alors centrale dans ce qu’elle révèle de la fabrication de la norme par l’autorité urbaine en matière d’encadrement de la population.

My PhD, funded by an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award, built on my skills as a field archaeologist to develop new specialisms in the use of GIS as a research tools within medieval archaeology, building on current work in historical geography. My PhD research examined the use of the concept of neighbourhood and explored the development of urban space within which social groups developed and interacted in York between c.600-1600. Through an integrated and interdisciplinary study  the thesis explored the changing social character of urban spaces within York offering a new interpretation of the immediate post-Roman pre-urban landscape, the impact of the Norman Conquest and the changing artisanal neighbourhoods around York Minster, from the 12th to the 16th centuries.

A period in history which the Renaissance scholars pejoratively called the «Middle Ages» was marked by the emergence of Europe— the rise and development of the Western civilisation. The centuries from the fourth to the fifteenth proved essential for the moulding of today's Europe, but equally so for Croatia, as they witnessed the adoption of specific cultural values and the concentration of extraordinary creative and intellectual energy. The Middle Ages represent the foundations of the processes that followed, their proper understanding being possible only by tracing them to their medieval roots. It was then that Europe acquired its main features: the unity that was effectuated through the Christianity and culture, the opulence of differences, the schism between the East and West, deep-seated contrasts between the North and South, growth of institutions and diverse government bodies, technological and scientific advances, the value of labour and the rise of productivity, affirmation of the new.
The medieval period, however, is often erroneously described as 'dark', 'spiritually and materially backward', 'barbarian', 'a period of obscurantism and persecution', etc. On the other hand, there exists just as distorted romantic perception of the Middle Age as a period of idealism epitomised by chivalry, 'courtly love', monastic mysticism and asceticism, along with most refined human virtues. Apart from the bipolar view, some historians tend to refer to this thousand-year time span as a period of immobility. The truth lies elsewhere: it was a period of profound changes and reforms. The Middle Ages are characterised by a complexity and diversity of facets and meanings. Moreover, this period is defined through a coexistence of different identities, features and phenomena that together create a medieval world. It is more than an interesting, exotic, if obsolete, world of the past—it is a living legacy. The surviving architectural achievements, artefacts and other material remains of the Middle Ages represent the core of European identity. Equally inherent in our today's life and world is its invisible spiritual legacy

À Venise, le niveau des eaux s'élève inéluctablement, ronge les pilotis qui soutiennent les palais, érode les rives... De pharaoniques travaux sont entrepris pour empêcher que l'eau s'engouffre dans la lagune et inonde toujours plus les rues et les maisons.

Cette ville à présent fragile fut pourtant triomphante hier, et ce livre raconte l';histoire de sa construction dans un milieu hostile, sopra le acque salse, sur les eaux salées. Dans les derniers siècles du Moyen Âge, quand Venise comptait bien plus d'habitants qu'aujourd'hui, au gré de chantiers innombrables et d'un effort humain et financier considérable, sans cesse de la terre fut charriée et amassée pour conquérir toujours plus d'espace. Grâce à ce travail de création ininterrompue, accompli malgré la menace permanente de l'écosystème, la ville sur l'eau a été bâtie, ornée, pour devenir ce « miracle de pierres ». Mais Venise n'est pas qu'un décor de marbre et de briques. Retracer l'aventure de l'invention de Venise, c'est aussi faire revivre les acteurs de cette histoire collective, restituer une culture urbaine et un imaginaire civique, ou comment les Vénitiens plaçaient leur histoire sous la protection et la providence divines.

Cet ouvrage capital est la synthèse la plus aboutie et la plus complète qui existe à l'heure actuelle sur la naissance et le développement de Venise au Moyen Âge; une ville qui, à la Renaissance, deviendra la Sérénissime.

Das Chemnitzer Einnahmemanual stellt das älteste nachgewiesene Stadtbuch dar. Es wurde in den Jahren von 1426 bis 1438 geführt und ist nun im Chemnitzer Stadtarchiv verwahrt. Es handelt sich um ein Einzelstück. Ihm folgen erst später ab 1466 das Geschoss- und Memorialbuch mit gemischtem Inhalt sowie die Registratur der Einnahmen ab 1506. Das Manuskript wurde auf Papier geschrieben und mit einem Lederrücken ausgestattet. Das Buch hat das für diesen Handschriftentyp charakteristische Maß von 32 cm x 12 cm x 3 cm. Der erste Eintrag wurde am Dienstag, dem 8. Januar 1426 geschrieben. Die letzte Nachricht bezieht sich auf den 14. September 1438. Es umfasst also einen Zeitabschnitt von ungefähr 13 Jahren. Die Einträge im ältesten Chemnitzer Stadtbuch sind noch in einer weiteren Hinsicht wichtig. Wir kennen so die Namen der Bürger zu Chemnitz, die zu den Reparaturen der Stadtbefestigung im Jahre 1430 über Bußen oder ihre Äquivalente beitragen mussten, von deren Existenz in der Stadt wir sonst keine Ahnung hätten. Jekil Eberhart, Hans Tapperlink, Andreas Roseler, Steugil, Knauwer, Gersler und weitere Bürger sorgten erzwungenermaßen dafür, dass die Stadtbefestigung repariert wurde und die Stadt das nächste Mal besser gegen die Hussiten gesichert war. Die Stadtverwaltung selbst wollte keine Verantwortung für die Verbesserung der Stadtbefestigung vor der Bedrohung der Stadt durch die Hussiten übernehmen. Sie gewährte die finanziellen Mittel erst nach dem gefährlichen Ereignis. Die Stadteinnahmen und Stadtausgaben bildeten nur kleinen Teil der gemeinsamen Ausgaben der Stadt nach dem hussitischen Feldzug. Signifikant für die herrschenden Stadteliten ist die Tatsache, dass, als die Angst vor den Hussiten wieder verging, auch die Höhe der Ausgaben für die Stadtreparaturen vermindert wurde.

Städer var nykomlingar i det medeltida Skandinavien. Efterhand blev stadslivet något att eftersträva, en rikare tillvaro med en mångsidig miljö. Städer växte fram ur existerande behov och utifrån nya maktrelationer. Under lång tid hade människor inte behövt staden och det sammanträngda liv som den erbjöd. Landskapet bestod i stället av enstaka gårdar, hushåll med gemensam bebyggelse, jordagods med makt över regionen, samt mindre och större byar. Frågan är vad som definierade det nya livsmönstret? Var det mängden invånare, hur tätt de bodde, hantverkets variation eller administrativa funktioner som avgränsade den? Eller är det invånarnas handlingar som vi ska utgå ifrån, en tätare interaktion och möten med främlingar? Det nya livsmönstret, de maktrelationer och de nya behov som lågt till grund för förändringen vill jag utveckla i detta häfte.

Old maps convey messages about early spatial arrangements. In some cases, they also tell a story, and hence can be qualified as 'history maps'. The interpretation of such maps is not easy, because they are witnesses to a strong dichotomy between the static representation of the landscape and the dynamic sequence of historical events. Digital Thematic Deconstruction allows to break through the iconographic composition and to extract the visual discourse from such an image stuffed with information. In this article, the method is applied to the bird's-eye view of the siege of Ypres in 1383, engraved by Guillaume du Tielt at the beginning of the seventeenth century, in order to assess the accuracy of the mapped topography and to get at the visual narrative. The results not only help interpret the meaning of such a history map, but also offer perspectives for comparing and juxtaposing history maps and textual records.

One of the most important manuscripts surviving from thirteenth-century England, the corpus of documents known as the Hundred Rolls for Cambridge have been incomplete until the recent discovery of an additional roll.

This invaluable volume replaces the previous inaccurate transcription by the Record Commission of 1818 and provides new translations and additional appendices.

Shedding new light on important facets of business activity in thirteenth-century Cambridge, this volume makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of the early phases of capitalism.

This unique text will be of interest to anyone working in the fields of economic and business history, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and medieval studies.

A research monograph based on recently discovered historical documents, Compassionate Capitalism: Business and Community in Medieval England, by Casson et al, is also now available from Bristol University Press.

STRZYŻÓW AND CZUDEC: TWO SMALL CRAFTSMEN’S
AND TRADING URBAN CENTRES IN LESSER POLAND AGAINST
THE BACKDROP OF THE LOCATION PROCESSES AND SPATIAL
DEVELOPMENT IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

The article addresses the complex issues regarding in the growth and
development of small Lesser Polish centres engaged in craftsmanship
and commercial exchange in late medieval times. I present the “case
study” of Strzyżów and Czudec, two old rural settlements in the border
zone between the Kingdom of Poland and Halych Rus’ (the Principality
of Galicia–Volhynia) which by the 14th – 15th centuries had developed
into towns. I examine the factors which determined their transformation
into small centres for craftsmanship and commercial exchange
in this part of Lesser Poland. I have tried not to overlook the political
and socio-economic processes in the late 14th- and early 15th-century
Kingdom of Poland, as it expanded politically and its demographic and
economic power rose at a rapid rate. On the other hand, I have also made an effort not to lose sight of the local conditions and pay due attention to the role of the Strzeżowski family, hereditary lords of the Strzyżów-Czudec manor estates in the area, in the creation and furtherance of good prospects of socio-economic development for both of these towns. It was displayed by the active support of the location processes, which has resulted in a rapid spatial development of Strzyżów and Czudec in the late medieval period.

Si la charte de Huy de 1066 constitue un moment-clef dans l’histoire économique et urbaine du diocèse de Liège et de l’Empire germanique, elle n’en est pas moins également une étape essentielle dans l’histoire du droit et des institutions du diocèse de Liège. Elle peut, en effet, être considérée comme la première ordonnance épiscopale, au sens normatif du terme, qui modifie le droit en vigueur et, à ce titre, elle participe au développement de l’autorité épiscopale dans le cadre de l’Église impériale. Mais, pour en mesurer pleinement la portée, cette charte de franchises doit être lue à la lumière de la charte capitulaire arrêtée deux jours avant elle. Cette dernière atteste clairement que le rapport de force et la négociation ne concernaient pas seulement deux parties, mais trois : l’évêque et les "burgenses" hutois, bien sûr, mais aussi le chapitre collégial de Huy. C’est de cette confrontation à trois qu’est né un droit nouveau et original.

This chapter in the collection Young Medieval Women edited by Katherine Lewis, Noel James and Kim Phillips tries to understand the relative absence of evidence for regulation of prostitution in later medieval England and indeed north-western Europe more generally against the relative abundance of evidence for other parts of Continental Europe.

This paper examines the evidence for ironworking in the town of Kilkenny during the late medieval period. It takes into account both the written and archaeological sources for ironworking and is based on recently completed doctoral research into iron production in Ireland in the period from c. AD 1200 to 1600 (Rondelez 2014a). Other aspects, such as the ethnicity of the smiths, the fuel used for ironworking and the iron trade, are also discussed. inTRODucTiOn From steel blades for cutting timber, stone, textile and food to weapons for waging warfare, from humble nails to horseshoes, anchors and chains, iron played a vital part in late medieval life. As such, the blacksmith's forge, where the manufacturing and repair of these objects took place, played a central role in the medieval economy. Kilkenny is exceptional because its main forge, which for at least a century, and possibly more, had a monopoly on ironworking inside the town, is well documented, both through archival sources and excavations. The same sources suggest the introduction of coal in Kilkenny around 1400 and give insights into the connections between smithing technology and ethnicity.

En los últimos años, las ciencias sociales han utilizado la noción de consumo como un instrumento esencial para explicar la manera en que el comportamiento de los agentes económicos interviene de forma decisiva en el crecimiento. Los historiadores en particular han comprobado que la aspiración a un mejora cualitativa en el consumo introduce cambios en las actitudes y pautas culturales de amplios sectores de la población desde la Baja Edad Media. Estas transformaciones están en la base del desarrollo del comercio y de la expansión del crédito. Los siglos XIV y XV son, sin duda,
un periodo de enormes dificultades y conflictos sociales, pero en su transcurso tiene lugar un aumento de los niveles de vida de la población gracias a estos procesos económicos. Observar esta evolución en el escenario de Aragón, una de las regiones más beneficiadas por esta dinámica en el marco europeo, ofrece posibilidades de interpretación novedosas que constituyen la contribución de un colectivo de medievalistas que ha dedicado a estos problemas la última década de su investigación a través del Grupo CEMA.