Urban Society
Autumn Week 5: Urban society
Discussion topics
· Were social problems more acute in towns than in the countryside?
· Why did some towns flourish in this period while others stagnated?
· In which ways was 'urban life' fundamentally different from 'rural life' in this period?
Web resources
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), 'The Wire-drawing Mill' (c. 1489) and 'The Willow Mill' (c. 1496-8) [http://www.artchive.com/artchive/D/durer.html] , illustrating the fine line between urban and rural life
The Great Fire of London: article in the 'London Gazette' (3-10 September 1666) [http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item103652.html]
Map of Amsterdam [http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/netherlands/amsterdam/amsterdam.html] and Basle [http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/switzerland/basel/maps/munster_lat_1550_402_b.jpg]
Secondary literature: comparative
A. Cowan, 'Urban Elites in Early Modern Europe: An Endangered Species?', BIHR 64 (1991)
" , Urban Europe, 1500-1700 (1998)
" (ed.), Mediterranean Urban Culture, 1400-1700 (2000)
J. Ellis, 'A steady state? Urban society in early modern Europe', Journal of Urban History 24 (1998) SRC
J. De Vries, European Urbanization, 1500-1800 (1984)
" ; A. Grafton, 'Renaissance cities', Renaissance Quarterly 42 (1989) [JStor]
R. Finlay, 'Debate: Natural Decrease in Early Modern Cities', P&P 92 (1981) [JStor]
C. R. Friedrichs, The Early Modern City, 1450-1750 (1995)
" , Urban Politics in Early Modern Europe (2000)
R. Mackenney, The City-State, 1500-1700: Republican Liberty in an Age of Princely Power (1989)
D. Nicholls, Urban Europe 1100-1700 (2003)
A. Sharlin, 'Natural Decrease in Early Modern Cities: A Reconsideration', P&P 79 (1978) [JStor]
E. A. Wrigley, 'Urban growth in early modern Europe', Scottish Economic and Social History 12 (1992) SRC
Secondary literature: case studies
J. S. Amelang, Honored Citizens of Barcelona: Patrician Culture and Class Relations, 1490-1714 (1986)
W. Beik, Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France: The Culture of Retribution (1997)
P. Benedict, Cities and Social Change in Early Modern France (1989)
" , 'Faith, fortune and social structure in 17thC Montpellier', P&P 152 (1996) [JStor]
P. Borsay, The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the Provincial Town 1660-1770 (1989)
P. Clark & P. Slack (eds), Crisis and Order in English Towns 1500-1700 (1972)
P. Clark & P. Slack, English Towns in Transition 1500-1700 (1976)
A. Cowan, The Urban Patriciate: Lübeck and Venice 1580-1700 (1986)
J. R. Farr, Hands of Honor: Artisans and their World in Dijon, 1550-1650 (1988)
C. R. Friedrichs, Urban Society in an Age of War: Nördlingen, 1580-1720 (1979)
" , 'Urban politics and urban social structure in 17thC Germany', European History Quarterly (1992)
R. A. Goldthwaite, Private Wealth in Renaissance Florence: A Study of Four Families (1968)
M. Lynch (ed.), The Early Modern Town in Scotland (1987)
R. Mackenney, Tradesmen & Traders: The World of the Guilds in Venice & Europe, c. 1250-c. 1650 (1987)
L. Martz, Poverty and Welfare in Habsburg Spain: The Example of Toledo (1983)
E. Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (1981)
K. Norberg, Rich and Poor in Grenoble, 1600-1814 (1985)
B. Pullan, Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice: The Social Institutions of a Catholic State (1971)
R.A. Schneider, Public Life in Toulouse, 1463-1789: From Municipal Republic to Cosmopolitan City (1989)
R. Tittler, Townspeople and Nation: English Urban Experiences, 1540-1640 (2001)
J. C. Wolfart, Religion, Government and Political Culture in Early Modern Germany: Lindau 1520-1628 (2002)
Religious and cultural developments
General reading [cf. 'Introductory Reading' & 'Glossary of Religious Terms']
J. Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985)
P. Collinson, The Reformation (2003)
A. G. Dickens, Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe (1966)
M. Greengrass, Longman Companion to the European Reformation (1998)
J. R. Hale, The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance (1994)
A. Johnston, The Protestant Reformation in Europe (1992)
C. Lindberg, The European Reformations (1996)
D. MacCulloch, A House Divided: A History of the European Reformation 1490-1700 (2003)
A. McGrath, Reformation Thought (1988; second edn 1992)
L. W. Spitz, The Renaissance and Reformation Movements (1971)
A. Pettegree (ed.), The Early Reformation in Europe (1992)
" , The Reformation World (2000)
R. Scribner et al. (eds), The Reformation in National Context (1994)
P. Wallace, The Long European Reformation (2003)
'Women and the Reformation': essays by Roper and Wunder in ARG (2001)
Module Forum
E-Resources
Links
Websites of Interest