Les villes d'Europe centrale à la fin du Moyen Âge - article ; n°1 ; vol.43, pg 173-184

Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations - Année 1988 - Volume 43 - Numéro 1 - Pages 173-184
Central European Cities in the Late Middle Ages.
This article discusses the urban phenomenon in the transitional zone between Asiatic and European regions, to use Max Weber's classificatory schema. In the territory East of the Caroligian limes up to the Russian border, towns were created which constituted autonomous communities. The urban model in this zone differed from those of the Asiatic and European towns. It was the result of external forces inspired by territorial sovereign powers making use of Western models which were not always applicable to local conditions. The bourgeoisie, except in large cities such as Prague, Gdansk, Lubeck, and Dubrovnik, did not constitute a social force capable of counter-balancing chivalry. The cities—rather small on the whole—were socially open centers where the formation of new social groups took place up until the end of the Middle Ages. These cities had varying degrees of autonomy, and influenced professional life and their inhabitants' consciousness. Linked to the rural hinterland, these cities played a very important role in the money circulation process and, through their commercial activity, in the stimulation of rural production. It seems that almost all city dwellers simultaneously engaged in trade, crafts, usury and agricultural production. Central-Eastern Europe's great development in the 15th and 16th centuries was no doubt rendered possible by the existence of these numerous local centers.
12 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.