This is a comparative study of the role of English and French towns in feudal society in the middle ages. In bringing together much material which dissolves old categories and simplifications in the study of medieval towns, Professor Hilton provides an important new perspective on medieval society and on the nature of feudalism. He argues that medieval towns were not, as is often thought, the harbingers of capitalism, and emphasises the way in which urban social structures fitted into, rather than challenged, feudalism.
The records of manorial courts have been used increasingly as the principal source for the reconstruction of rural and small town society in medieval England. They offer a unique source with which to investigate peasant demography, family patterns, the village community and economy, the characteristics and instruments of customary law, and the ways in which that law was perceived and exploited by landlords and tenants. The essays in this collection provide novel approaches to all of these themes and are written by many of the historians who have pioneered the use of this source category in the last two decades. In two introductory chapters, the editors review the historiography of manorial court rolls and account for their origins as a distinctive record of customary law within the broad context of medieval European society. A valuable appendix contains an inventory of the most comprehensive unprinted manorial court roll series arranged systematically on a county-to-county basis, detailing the repository in which they are located. This book will serve as an essential reference tool for any serious study of medieval English rural society.
The strengthening of ties between crown and locality in the fourteenth century is epitomised by the relationships between York and Bristol (then amongst the largest and wealthiest urban communities in England) and the crown. This book combines a detailed study of the individuals who ruled Bristol and York at the time with a close analysis of the texts which illustrate the relationship between the two cities and the king, thus offering a new perspective on relations between town and crown in late medieval England.Beginning with an analysis of the various demands, financial, political and commercial, made upon the towns by the Hundred Years War, the author argues that such pressures facilitated the development of a partnership in government between the crown and the two towns, meaning that the elite inhabitants became increasingly important in national affairs. The book goes on to explore in detail the nature of urban aspirations within the kingdom, arguing that the royal charters granting the towns their coveted county status were crucial in binding their ruling elites into the apparatus of royal government, and giving them a powerful voice in national politics.
The vast majority of castles in England, Wales, Ireland, and France have virtually no military history' of sieges or physical conflict across the whole panorama of more than five centuries'. This is quite a sobering thought.
"Though the book is primarily about medieval towns in Britain, many parallels are drawn with contemporary towns and cities all over Europe, from Ireland to Russia and from Scandinavia to Italy. It is written in the belief that medieval urban archaeology should be a Europe-wide study, as are the fields of architecture and urban history."--BOOK JACKET.
This is the first collection of translated sources on towns in medieval England. It draws on the great variety of written evidence for this significant and dynamic period of urban development, and invites students to consider for themselves the challenges and opportunities presented by a wide range of primary written sources. The introduction and editorial commentary situate the extracts within the larger context of European urban history, against a longer chronological backdrop and in relation to the most up-to-date research. Suggestions for further reading enable the student to engage critically with the materials and encourage new work in the field. Collectively, the texts and commentary provide an overview of English medieval urban history, while the emphasis throughout is on the particular character and potential of each type of written evidence, from legal and administrative records to inventories of shops, and from letters and poetry to legendary civic histories.
How workers fought for municipal socialism to make cities around the globe livable and democratic - and what the lessons are for today. For more than a century, municipal socialism has fired the imaginations of workers fighting to make cities livable and democratic. At every turn propertied elites challenged their right to govern. Prominent US labor historian, Shelton Stromquist, offers the first global account of the origins of this new trans-local socialist politics. He explains how and why cities after 1890 became crucibles for municipal socialism. Drawing on the colorful stories of local activists and their social-democratic movements in cities as diverse as Broken Hill, Christchurch, Malmö, Bradford, Stuttgart, Vienna, and Hamilton, OH, the book shows how this new urban politics arose. Long governed by propertied elites, cities in the nineteenth century were transformed by mass migration and industrialization that tore apart their physical and social fabric. Amidst massive strikes and faced with epidemic disease, fouled streets, unsafe water, decrepit housing, and with little economic security and few public amenities, urban workers invented a local politics that promised to democratize cities they might themselves govern and reclaim the wealth they created. This new politics challenged the class power of urban elites as well as the centralizing tendencies of national social-democratic movements. Municipal socialist ideas have continued to inspire activists in their fight for the right of cities to govern themselves.
