Synopses & Reviews
This is a comparative study of the role of English and French towns in feudal society in the middle ages. In bringing together much material which dissolves old categories and simplifications in the study of medieval towns, Professor Hilton provides an important new perspective on medieval society and on the nature of feudalism. He argues that medieval towns were not, as is often thought, the harbingers of capitalism, and emphasises the way in which urban social structures fitted into, rather than challenged, feudalism.
Review
"This book pulls off a double: specialists will enjoy and be inspired by it, while novices will appreciate its clarity and terseness....It deserves the widest possible audience." History Workshop Journal"In this carefully balanced venture in comparative social and institutional history the author succeeds in showing that English and French towns were not simply extensions of the feudal agrarian systems nor an antagonist to them, but a constitutive part of medieval English and French society." The Historian"In six brief chapters Hilton offers the most ambitious comparative study of medieval urban life since J. Lestocquoy's Aux origines de la bourgeoisie....Hilton's emphasis on class structure and conflict offers a refreshing reminder of the inequalities in medieval towns." Choice
Synopsis
This is a comparative study of the role of English and French towns in feudal society in the middle ages. In bringing together much material which dissolves old categories and simplifications in the study of medieval towns, Professor Hilton provides an important new perspective on medieval society and on the nature of feudalism. He argues that medieval towns were not, as is often thought, the harbingers of capitalism, and emphasises the way in which urban social structures fitted into, rather than challenged, feudalism.
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction; 1. The town and feudalism: preliminary definitions; 2. The feudal presence in towns; 3. Urban social structures; 4. Urban rulers; 5. How urban society was imagined; 6. Urban communities and conflict; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.