Cities and Economy in Europe: Markets and Trade on the Margins from the Middle Ages to the Present

Exploring new perspectives concerning regions traditionally considered “on the margins” of Europe, this book fills a gap in current historiography through its analysis of cities, space, and economy from the High Middle Ages to the present. Markets, trade, and economy in general have formed the backbone of urban life ever since the emergence of cities and towns, but classical theorists have largely focused on developments in Western Europe. Urban research in the last few decades has advanced in many ways to supersede and correct this still influential image and to include other parts of Europe into the analytical framework. Building on these emerging methodologies, this volume pays close attention to the fringes of Europe in the East, North, West, and South. The essays discuss the development of various spaces as nodal points for the exchange and production of commodities that took place in cities and towns. The scope of this work allows for a point of comparison to frequently studied examples in Europe, encouraging readers to identify larger patterns beyond individual examples. Cities and Economy in Europe: Markets and Trade on the Margins from the Middle Ages to the Present is the perfect resource for students and researchers of economic and urban history.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction I. Markets and Marketplaces, Open and Walled 2. The Marketplace (Torg) in Medieval Novgorod as a Space of Commerce and Action 3. Seats of Power and Marketplaces in Medieval Italian Towns 4. Forms and Functions of Market Squares in Medieval Hungary 5. Trade and Sociability in the Markets and Fairs in the Romanian Principalities in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 6. The Walled Markets in Small Towns of Ukraine in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 7. Loss of Urbanity and the Threatening Death of the Viennese “Grätzl”: Vienna from 1955 to 1985 II. The Flow of Trade 8. Some Archaeological Evidence for International Trade in Irish Towns in the Middle Ages 9. The Influence of the Wool Export Trade on the Urban Network and Landscapes in the Crown of Castile from the Fifteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century 10. Trade Routes and Commercial Networks in South-Eastern Europe 11. Timber Trade, Townscapes and Urban Networks in Early Modern Norway and Northern Europe III. Production in Perspective 12. Landscapes of Paper Production and the Centres of Book Printing in Italy and West-Central Europe in the Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries 13. The Nuns and the Craftsmen: Urbanization and the Settings of Female Religious Orders in Towns of Medieval Hungary 14. Textile Industry as a Challenge: Urbanisation and Urbanity in Villages and Towns in Western Westphalia in the Late Nineteenth Century 15. Steam Milling Industry in an Urban Space, Budapest from 1841 to 2008 16. Conclusions: Economic Functions of Urban Spaces

About the Author :
Katalin Szende is a Professor of Medieval Studies at the Central European University (CEU), Budapest and Vienna. Her research concentrates on urban history, particularly medieval towns in the Carpathian Basin and Central Europe, with regard to society, demography, literacy, everyday life, and topography. Her latest monograph is Trust, Authority, and the Written Word in the Royal Towns of Medieval Hungary (2018). Erika Szívós is a Professor of History at the Department of Economic and Social History at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest. The focus of her research and teaching is Central European social, cultural, and urban history. One of her recent publications is “The Historic City and the East-West Exchange: Architecture, Urban Renewal and International Knowledge Transfers under State Socialism in Hungary” (Urban History, 29, no. 3 (2022): 523–548). Boglárka Weisz is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Medieval History Department at the Institute of History of the Research Centre for the Humanities and leader of the “Lendület” Medieval Hungarian Economic History Research Group. Her main research interests are economic and urban history in medieval Hungary. Her previous publications include Markets and Staples in the Medieval Hungarian Kingdom (2020); ed. Fontes ad rem mercatoriam regni Hungariae pertinentes I. De commerciis domesticis (2020), II. De commerciis externis (2021).