Cities: Urban life and society in Europe from the Middle Ages to Modern Times

Recommended general reading:

Hohenberg, Paul M. and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe 1000–1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. (on reserve at CEU Library)

Lilley, Keith D., Urban Life in the Middle Ages, 1000–1450. London: Palgrave, 2002. (on reserve at CEU Library)

Rodger, Richard, A consolidated bibliography of urban history. Brookfield, VT : Scolar Press, 1996. (on reserve at CEU Library)

Girouard, Mark. Cities & people: a social and architectural history. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. (on reserve at CEU Library)

Fraser, Derek and Anthony Sutcliffe, The pursuit of urban history. London : E. Arnold, c1983. (on reserve at CEU Library)

Week 1: Decline, recovery, and new beginnings: the early medieval phase

The first lecture spans over more than 600 years of urban ups and downs, from the gradual disintegration of the urban network of the Late Roman Empire through the nadir of urban life in the sixth-seventh century to new urban beginnings and the variegated urban panorama of the tenth-eleventh century. This spectrum as a starting point compels us to look for a common denominator and discuss the concept of urbanity behind its different manifestations. A second question is that of continuity or discontinuity between late Antique and Early Medieval towns and their relation to their hinterlands. The third issue to be discussed is the gradual emergence of connections between towns which eventually led to the emergence of a continent-wide network of towns.

Mandatory readings:

Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G. The Decline and Fall of the Roman City. Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Chapter 9: Decline and the Beginnings of Renewal in the East, 284-317.  [pdf]
Chapter 12: Decline and the Beginnings of Renewal in the West, 369-399. [pdf]

Optional readings:

Hodges, Richard. Dark age economics: the origins of towns and trade A.D. 500-1000. London: Duckworth, 1989, 162-184. [pdf]

Verhulst, Adriaan. The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 (on reserve at ELTE Library).

Clarke, Helen and Björn Ambrosiani. Towns in the Viking Age. London – New York, Leicester University Press, 1995 (on reserve at ELTE Library).

Week 2: Growth and institutionalizaton: the high Middle Ages

This lecture explores the formation of places with central functions from the eleventh to the fourteenth century It will explain the changes through which the “old centers” of rulers, bishops and merchants were transformed into “new towns”, that is, settlements with strong economic central functions and some extent of autonomy. The second part of the lecture will examine expansive growth, both within the individual settlements which spread beyind their old boundaries, and the expansion of urban networks to territories that had been only very sparsely provided with towns. Towns in East-Central Europe will be displayed as integral parts of the overall process of European urbanization.

Mandatory reading:

Schofield, John, and Alan Vince. Medieval Towns (The archaeology of Medieval Europe, 1100–1600). London: Continuum, 2003.Chapter 2: Topographical factors in the growth of towns, 31-78. [pdf]

Optional readings:

Reynolds, Susan. Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 6: Urban Communities, 155-218. [pdf]

Ennen, Edith. The Medieval Town. Amsterdam: North Holland, 1979. Chapter 6: The European Urban Landscapes, 137-184. [pdf]

Week 3: Family, household, population, and inheritance in medieval Europe (B. Nagy)

This lecture gives an outline of the basic structure of medieval urban population, discussing the general characteristics of medieval demographical patterns, the main trends of demographical change, and the turning points of human life (birth, marriage, and death). The participants will also discuss the main aspects of medieval urban families.

Mandatory reading:

J. C. Russell. “Population in Europe, 500–1500,” in Carlo Cipolla, ed., Fontana Economic History of Europe, vol I: Middle Ages (1972), 25-70. [pdf]

Optional readings:

Burguière, André (ed.). A History of the Family. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996 (on reserve at ELTE Library).

Mitterauer, Michael and Reinhard Sieder. The European Family: Patriarchy to Partnership from the Middle Ages to the Present. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988 (on reserve at CEU and ELTE Library).

Herlihy, David. Medieval Households. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985 (on reserve at ELTE Library).

Youngs, Deborah. The Life Cycle in Western Europe, c. 1300–c. 1500. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006 (on reserve at ELTE Library).

Week 4: Towns and hinterlands: production, trade and communication

This lecture provides an overview of interactions between towns and their hinterlands through a survey of different branches of medieval industrial (craft) and agrarian production, and the local, regional, and long distance trade of goods. Towns will be presented as concentrated sources of demand which not only increased local production, but also stimulated agrarian specialization. The significance of mining as a special aspect of industrial production will also be examined, with special regard to this activity in Eastern and Central Europe. Finally, the social implications of economic growth or decline will be discussed, including migrations and revolts.

Mandatory reading:

Hunt, Edwin S. and James M. Murray. A History of Business in Medieval Europe, 1200–1550. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Chapter 7: Business responses to the new environment, 151-177. [pdf]

Chapter 8: The fifteenth century: revolutionary results from old processes, 178-203. [pdf]

Optional readings:

Scott, Tom. Society and Economy in Germany, 1300–1600. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2002. Chapter 5: Commercial Networks and Urban Systems, 113-152. [pdf]

Epstein, Steven R. Town and Country in Europe, 1300–1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Chapter 1: Introduction. Town and Country in Europe, 1300–1800. 1-29. [pdf]

Cohn, Samuel Kline. Popular protest in late medieval Europe: Italy, France, and Flanders. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. Introduction, 1-15. [pdf]

Week 5: Crisis or prosperity: the social and cultural transformations of the Late Middle Ages

This class introduces the students to urban life from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, a period when a broader source basis supports more detailed investigation in all parts of Europe. This allows us to point out parallel processes as well as different trends between various parts of the continent, regarding for instance the uses of urban space, social topography, social stratification and the presence of ethnic and religious minorities. The role of religious institutions and feasts at the wake of the Reformation will also be discussed, as well as new developments in urban administration, civic institutions and literacy, the impact of which lasted up to the industrial revolution and beyond.

Mandatory readings:

Howell, Martha C. “The Spaces of Late Medieval Urbanity.” in Shaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe. Marc Boone and Peter Stabel, eds. Leuven – Apeldoorn: Garant, 2000. 3-23. [pdf]

Optional readings:

Lynch, Katherine A. Individuals, Families and Communities in Europe 1200-1800. The urban foundations of western society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Chapter 3: Charity, poor relief and the family in religious and civic communities. 103-135. [pdf]

Rosser, Gervase. “Urban culture and the Church 1300-1540,” in: The Cambridge Urban History of Britain: 600-1540 ed. D.M. Palliser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 335-370. [pdf]

Kozubska-Andrusiv, Olha. “‘...propter disparitatem linguae et religionis pares ipsis non esse...’ ‘Minority’ Communities in Medieval and Early Modern Lviv,” in: Segregation – Integration – Assimilation. Religious and Ethnic Groups in Medieval Towns of Central and Eastern Europe, eds. Derek Keene, Balázs Nagy and Katalin Szende. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009, 51-66.

Week 6: Maturing and consolidation: the Early Modern period

This class discusses the last phase of pre-industrial urban development in Europe, i.e. the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, which witnessed a long term maturing and consolidation. It points out the continuities and changes compared to the late medieval phase, which still served as foundation for urban services and functions. At the same time, there was an expansion of institutional regulation of the urban economy, largely determined by the needs of the absolutist state. Internationalization also had a strong impact on production, trade and consumption, due partly to colonial contacts and partly to the division of labour across the continent. The latter process also lead to the spread of new market towns in Eastern and Northern Europe.

Mandatory reading:

Hohenberg, Paul M. and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe 1000–1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. Chapter 5: Beyond Baroque Urbanism, 137-171. [pdf]

Optional:

Bácskai, Vera, “Small towns in eastern central Europe,” in: Small Towns in Early Modern Europe, ed. Peter Clark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 77-89. [pdf]

Blockmans, Wim P., “Voracious States and Obstucting Cities: An Aspect of State Formation in Preindustrial Europe,” in: Cities and the Rise of States in Europe, A.D. 1000 to 1800, eds Charles Tilly and Wim P. Blockmans, 218-250. [pdf]

Week 7: Cities of Enlightement: urban growth, planning and patronage in the eighteenth century

During the eighteenth century, two parallel processes that concern the development of cities and towns took place in Europe that arguably testify to the emergence of urban modernity. First, a combination of new Transatlantic trade routes and the industrialization process caused an unprecedented growth of Europe’s new largest city, London, which together with Paris replaced traditional royal towns in the hierarchy of Europe’s and the world’s largest urban centers, and which together with British industrial towns was first to face the horrors of modern age. Second, many Enlightened Absolutist rulers put a much more thorough effort in planning and managing their main and secondary cities and sometimes even founded new capitals, such as St. Petersburg, weakening, at the same time, traditional municipal autonomy.

Mandatory reading:

Clark, Peter and Bernard Lepetit, eds, Capital cities and their hinterlands in early modern Europe. Aldershot, Hants, England : Scolar Press, c1996, 1-25, 105-118. [pdf]

Optional:

Reinhard, Wolfgang, ed. Power elites and state building. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, 223-234. [pdf]

Friedrichs, Christopher R. Urban politics in early modern Europe. London: Routledge, 2000. [pdf]

Alexander, John T. Bubonic plague in early modern Russia: public health and urban disaster. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2003, 61-97. [pdf]

Dubin, Lois C. The port Jews of Habsburg Trieste: absolutist politics and enlightenment culture. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1999, 1-40.

Week 8: Urbanization in the nineteenth century: Industry, Railroads, State

Industrial Revolution, the development of railroad network, and the subsequent mass migration of populations into the expanding industrial centers put a major challenge to law and order in European cities in the nineteenth century. By the end of the century over a half of Europe’s population arguably lived in cities, a phenomenon of urbanization recorded for the first time in modern history. The growth of the largest capital cities, London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid was dramatic and unprecedented, due, among other factors, to various interventions of behalf of the state. The 1840s and 1850s also mark the beginning of health movement and modern urban planning which fundamentally transformed the structure and appearance of European cities following the example of Haussmann in Paris. By the end of the century, modern urban transportation put a further impetus into spatial segregation of urban social groups by fostering the development of wealthy suburbs, factory districts, and inner cities striken by crime and poverty.

Mandatory reading:

Eric E. Lampard, “The Urbanizing World,” in H.J. Dyos and Michael Wolff, eds, The Victorian City: Images and Realities (London, Henley and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973) Vol. I, 3-57. [pdf]

Optional:

Hohenberg, Paul M. and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe 1000–1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. 175-214 [pdf]; 248-289 [pdf].

Benjamin, Walter, “Paris: The Capital of the Nineteenth Century, ” in Philipp Kazinitz, Metropolis: Center and Symbol of Our Times. New York: New York University Press, 1995, 46-57. [pdf]

Robert Lee, “Demography, Urbanization and Migration”, Stefan Berger, ed., A Companion to Nineteenth-century Europe, 1789-1914. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006, 56-69. [pdf]

Helen Meller, European Cities, 1890-1930s: History, Culture, and the Built Environment. Chichester Wiley, c2001, 7-17 [pdf]; 77-117 [pdf].

Roth, Ralf and Marie-Noëlle Polino, The city and the railway in Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, xvii-xxxvi. [pdf]

Week 9: Fin de siècle and the cultural turn: Everyday life at the turn of the century

The turn of the twentieth century was a special period which is routinely referred to by its French term “fin de siècle” and has been an established term in urban history after the “cultural turn,” defining vibrant urban cultures of European metropolises of this period, especially Paris and Vienna. At the same time, state and municipal politics played an important part in those cities becoming the centers of virtue as well as centers of vice, and generally to what one may term as “becoming metropolitan.” Vienna’s Ringstrasse project was copied in other cities under different pretext and with different consequences, while various reactions to urban modernity from the garden city concept to conservation practices and revisionist urban planning approaches spread throughout the continent.

 Mandatory reading:

Hohenberg, Paul M. and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe 1000–1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. 248-289 [pdf]; 290-330. [pdf]

Optional:

Peter Hanak, The Garden and the Workshop: Essays on the Cultural History of Vienna and Budapest. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998, 3-43 [pdf], 63-97 [pdf].

Gary Cohen, "Society and Culture in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest in the late Nineteenth Century," East European Quarterly 20 (1986), 467-84. [pdf]

Nathaniel D. Wood, “Urban Self-identification in East Central Europe before the Great War: The Case of Cracow,” ECE 33 (2006)1-2, 11-31. [pdf]

Week 10: Modernity, Urban Planning and Capitalism in the West

Modernist planning, in theory rather than practice, may be dated back to the 1920s and the legacy of a French architect Le Corbusier and his followers. Utilizing recent technological innovations of the building industry, modernist planning sought to radically re-plan the cities according to a new concept that would ideally eliminate notorious nineteenth-century urban vices such as disorder, congestion and notably small scale. Instead, broad streets and strictly uniform tower blocks set within greenery were supposed to mark the modernist metropolis. In practice, however, very few of those ideas were actually implemented before the World War II, and modernist planning received its momentum in Western Europe only after the governments needed to deal with desctruction caused by the war, and hence to build a large number of cheap housing. Historic city centers continued functioning as places of turmoil and protest and an arena of various planning interventions.

Mandatory reading:

Fishman, Robert. Urban utopias in the twentieth century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1982, c1977, 182-263. [pdf]

Optional:

Diefendorf, Jeffry M. Rebuilding Europe's bombed cities. London : Macmillan, 1990, 1-152, 209-228. [pdf]

Belinda Davis, “The city as theater of protest: West Berlin and West Germany, 1962-83,” in Prakash, Gyan and Kevin M. Kruse, eds, The spaces of the modern city : imaginaries, politics, and everyday life. Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2008, 247-74. [pdf]

Week 11: Cities under Socialism

A lot of what was urban planning theory in the West was implemented in the Soviet Union at an earlier stage and on a much larger scale already in the 1930s. However, there too the main projects of radical modernist re-planning date back to the times after the World War II – which is also the time when they get introduced first in the other countries of the Eastern Bloc. Because of the state-sponsored industrialization Eastern Europe was finally to be urbanized and faced the consequences of this urbanization in a very different political and social context. Major forced population transfers often resulted in a close to total chance of the urban population’s composition in historic cities, while new cities were also planned and constructed from scratch. Large Soviet-style outer districts and satellite towns rose next to traditional regional capitals much in the spirit of Le Corbusier and company, often lacking proper infrastructure, services and transport connections. However, the experience of urban modernity significantly differed from that of the West because of a distinct conceptualization of public and private space and the state’s different handling of urban social problems.

Mandatory reading:

French R. A., Plans, pragmatism and people: the legacy of Soviet planning for today's cities. London: University of Pittsburgh Press, c1995, 97-129. [pdf]

Optional:

Crowley, David and Susan E. Reid. Eds, Socialist spaces: sites of everyday life in the Eastern Bloc. Oxford: Berg, 2002, 1-22; 207-230. [pdf]

Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Everyday Stalinism: ordinary life in extraordinary times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. New York : Oxford University Press, 1999, 40-66. [pdf]

Week 12: A postmodern challenge?

Urban crime and growing social segregation, overuse and often shortage of natural resources, environmental pollution and neverending urban sprawl. These are the problems that characterize many societies today irrespective of their exact location. Today’s is the age that is often referred to as post-modern, after the “spatial turn,” and an information society. How much of this holds true for cities and urban life? At least as early as in the early 1970s planners in the West have realized that the imposition of modernist grid and scale to urban planning does not resolve these typical urban problems, much of modernist thinking of urban design was abandoned, and more emphasis was put on sustainable management, infrastructure and funding development. After the fall of the Iron Curtain a lot of modernist theory was disqualified in Eastern Europe too. However, while in the West cheap and uniform residential blocks are no longer constructed, here and elsewhere new capitalist entrepreneurship, combined with weak municipal administration and lack of local initialive have often resulted in what may be called a reversal back to the urban problems of the early twentieth-century. So are we all living in the same age?

Mandatory reading:

Susser, Ida, ed. The Castells reader on cities and social theory. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002, 367-89. [pdf]

Gunn, Simon. “The spatial turn: changing histories of space and place” in Simon Gunn and Robert J. Morris, ed. Identities in Space, Contested Terrains in the Western City since 1850 (Ashgate: Aldershot, 2001), 1-14. [pdf]

Optional:

French R. A., Plans, pragmatism and people: the legacy of Soviet planning for today's cities. London: University of Pittsburgh Press, c1995, 195-205. [pdf]

Stanilov, Kiril. The post-socialist city: urban form and space transformations in Central and Eastern Europe after socialism. Dordrecht, The Netherlands : Springer Verlag, c2007, 3-17. [pdf]

Hartmut Häussermann, “The end of the European City?” European Review, 13 (2005) 2, 237–249. [pdf]