Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600

ISBN-13: 9780333585320 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 313 str.

E. Kouri;Tom Scott

Opis

Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600 surveys the social and economic development of the German-speaking lands from the age of the Black Death to the eve of the Thirty Years War. It outlines the political geography of the German lands, the aristocratic character of the Empire as a constitutional polity based on a society of Estates, and the changes in society and economy in the wake of the late medieval agrarian crisis. It examines in detail divergent regional and economic trends, and the widening social gulf between the West German landlordship and the new seigneurialism east of the Elbe, and gives wide coverage of urban and rural revolts.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements.- List of Maps.- List of Tables.- Note on Usage.- Introduction.- The Political Geography of Germany, 1300-1600.- Society and Hierachy.- Population and Household.- Economic Landscapes.- Commercial Networks and Urban Systems.- Lordship and Dependence.- Reform and Revolt.- Deviancy and Conformity.- Bibliography of Works in English.- Select List of Works in German.- Glossary.- Index.

O autorze

TOM SCOTT was Reader in History at the University of Liverpool until his retirement in 2003. He has been an Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation Fellow and a Leverhulme Research Fellow. He is author of 10 books and over 50 articles on town-country relations and regional systems in late medieval and early modern Germany, the German Peasants' War and the German Reformation.

Blurb

Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600 surveys the social and economic development of the German-speaking lands from the age of the Black Death to the eve of the Thirty Years War. It examines the political geography and social structure of the Holy Roman Empire as a constitutional polity in both church and state deeply etched by feudal-aristocratic values. The book questions the validity of a 'late medieval agrarian crisis', and the traditional account of the divergent social and economic development between simple landlordship in the West and a revived seigneurialism east of the Elbe. Tom Scott examines in detail patterns of regional and economic change and town-country relations, and the emergence of city-states in Germany and Switzerland. Broad coverage is given to demands for reform within the Empire, which influenced the sixteenth-century religious reformers, as well as to the many urban and rural revolts. The book concludes with reflections on Germany in the age of confessionalization and social discipline, including the rise of a witch craze. This comprehensive survey incorporates the latest research, emphasising regional analysis as the only way to comprehend Germany's diversity.