Publisher's Synopsis
The urban history of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period have recently kindled new interest. What structural changes did cities undergo and what were their consequences? Were the spread of rural industry and urban decline closely interrelated? Some areas in Italy and in the Low Countries urbanized at a very early date, and were important in sustaining the urban revival of Europe which had started at the beginning of the second millenium. In this volume, scholars from Italy and the Low Countries, working in different disciplines, join forces to explore as yet unexploited sources and to present new interpretations and hypotheses concerning the urbanization process. The presentation of a range of multi-disciplinary analytical studies on the two regions in a single volume breaks new ground in the comparative study of urban development and constitutes a significant step towards more systematic comparative research. The syntheses by G. Felloni on Italy and H. Van der Wee on the Low Countries are particularly valuable in that they set out stimulating new interpretations.
