City and Society in the Low Countries, 1100-1600

✍ Scribed by Bruno Blonde; Marc Boone; Anne-Laure van Bruaene

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 324
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Low Countries was collectively one of the earliest and most heavily urbanised societies in European history. Present-day Belgium and the Netherlands still share important common features, such as comparatively low income inequalities, high levels of per capita income, a balanced political structure, and a strong 'civil society'. This book traces the origins of this specific social model in medieval patterns of urbanisation, while also searching for explanations for the historical reproduction of social inequalities. Access to cheap inland river navigation and to the sea generated a 'river delta' urbanisation that explains the persistence of a decentralised urban economic network, marked by intensive cooperation and competition and by the absence of real metropolises. Internally as well, powerful checks and balances prevented money and power from being concentrated. Ultimately, however, the utmost defining characteristic of the Low Countries' urban cultures was located in their resilient middle classes.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Endorsements
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Table of contents
List of figures
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
1 City and Society in the Low Countries: Urbanisation and Urban Historiography
Geographical and Chronological Markers
Thematic Axes
2 Economic Vitality: Urbanisation, Regional Complementarity and European Interaction
Durability and Change: The Specific Development of Urban Networks in the Low Countries
Regional Dynamics: Town and Country
Crossroads of Northern Europe? Trade and Transport in the Late Middle Ages and the Long Sixteenth Century
From Unfettered Capitalism to Regulated Labour Market? Changes in the Supply Sector...
Conclusions
3 Living Together in the City: Social Relationships Between Norm and Practice
Introduction
The Ideal of the Commune
Merchants and Landowners: The Powers That Be
The Rise of Corporate Middling Groups
An Urban Nobility?
Guild, Clan and Nuclear Family
The Horsemen of the Apocalypse Gallop from Crisis to Crisis
Economic Conversion and the Triumph of the Urban Middling Groups
A ‘Golden Age’ for the Wage-Labourer … or for the Urban Middling Groups?
Slipping Through the Net? Poverty and Discipline
4 ‘The Common Good’: Governance, Discipline and Political Culture
The Question of Discipline: Paradigms and Propositions
Textualisation and Urban Identity
Norms and Rules: The City as a Regulatory Body
Discipline in Practice: Conflict Management and Criminalisation
The Struggle for Power in the City
Sword, Flag and Pen: Resistance in the City
Political Morality as a Weapon and an Ideology
Conclusion
5 Civic Religion: Community, Identity and Religious Transformation
Civic Religion?
Urbanisation and Ecclesiastical Structures
The ‘Monasticisation’ of the City
Lay Piety in Town
Collective Religious Repertoires
Religious Transformations
Epilogue
6 Urban Space: Infrastructure, Technology and Power
More Than Just Bricks and Mortar: A History of Infrastructure and Facilities
The Construction of an Urban Site
The Development of Centres’ Roles
Demarcating Boundaries
Caritas as the Key Component of Civic Unity
Conclusion
7 At Home in the City: The Dynamics of Material Culture
Residential Styles and Cultures
At Home in the City
Innovations in Products and Processes
Design
Social Boundaries
Savoir Vivre
Material Culture and the City
8 Education and Knowledge: Theory and Practice in an Urban Context
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Teaching and Discipline
Vocational Education: Learning on the Shop Floor and the Role of Craft Guilds
Handbooks and ‘Artes-Literature’
The ‘Latin’ School: A Link Between Elementary and Higher Education
Higher Education
Interactions between Court, University and Town
Conclusion
9 Epilogue: The Legacy of the Medieval City in the Low Countries
Select Bibliography
Chapter 1
Websites
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Index