ENGLISH

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

By Beat Kumin

Book information

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Year
2013
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1760517 bytes)
Series
Studies in European History
Pages
167\167
Topic
History
Time added
2016-10-17 06:29:06

Description

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.

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