The Communal Age in Western Europe, c.1100-1800: Towns, Villages and Parishes in Pre-Modern Society

ISBN-13: 9780230536852 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 168 str.

Beat Kumin

Opis

An essential introductory survey of the towns, villages and parishes in which people lived in the medieval and early modern periods. Beat Kumin assesses the similarities, differences and the wider significance of these communities for European society prior to 1800.

Spis treści

List of Figures.- Editors' Preface.- Preface.- Notes on the Text.- Introduction.- PART I: CASE STUDIES.- 1. The Italian City.- 2. The Village in the Holy Roman Empire.- 3. The English Parish.- PART II: LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE.- 4. Communal Cultures.- 5. Interactions.- PART III: ASSESSMENT.- 6. Perceptions and Debates.- Conclusions.- Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

Beat Kumin is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Warwick, UK.

Blurb

The Communal Age in Western Europe, c. 1100-1800 offers a fresh interpretation of the significance of towns, villages and parishes in the medieval and early modern period. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources from numerous regions, Beat Kümin:

• explains how local communities empowered common people through collective agency and a degree of local autonomy
• demonstrates how communal units impacted on key historical developments, from the Reformation to state formation
• provides case studies of the Italian city, the English parish and the village in the Holy Roman Empire
• surveys communal origins, constitutions and cultural representations, as well as contested issues such as gender roles and inner tensions
• evaluates related historiographical debates on communalism and republicanism.


Informed by a genuinely comparative and integrated approach, this original volume offers an excellent introduction to European history 'from below', and to the fundamental building blocks of European society.