In the literature on the Dutch revolt--indeed, in the scholarship on revolution as a whole--the experience of the leading textile and trading center of Lille stands out as singular. Although affected by powerful economic, political, and religious currents that provoked rebellion in many other cities, it was renowned for adhering to the existing order. In this comprehensive study, Robert S. DuPlessis draws on a wide range of primary sources to illuminate the processes of selective adaptation that by the 1560s had endowed Lille with a structural tendency to stability.

Revised, updated and expanded, this second edition of Robert S. DuPlessis' bestselling account of European economic development from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution analyzes agrarian, industrial, and commercial structures and practices within a global context, introducing classic interpretations, current debates and new scholarship.