CFP Panel on ‘Hierarchies and Inequalities in Urban Europe, 1250-1750’
ESSHC Valencia
30 March – 2 April 2016

The development of urban hierarchies in medieval and early modern Europe has been predominantly charted on the basis of demographic and fiscal data. More recently, historians have used other documentary and archeological evidence to rank cities and towns from alternative perspectives, such as consumption patterns, economic centralization and specialization, urban-rural relations, administrative and political functions, or cultural and ecclesiastical services. In this session it will be explored to what extent these different hierarchies overlapped and how the relative position of individual cities and towns developed over time. How did cities and towns within a network or system compete with and complement each other at the same time by performing different types of functions? More importantly, it will be asked how urban hierarchies (and of changes therein) shaped political and socio-economic inequalities between and within cities and towns. How did the dominance of major cities, for example, affect the political institutions and/or economic possibilities of smaller-sized towns within the same network or system? And, in what ways can changes in the ranking of individual cities and towns be related to the evolution of their internal urban political relations and socio-economic structures? Departing from functionalist theories of urban networks and systems, the session aims to broach a debate on the interrelatedness of urban hierarchies and urban inequalities in pre-modern Europe.

If you are interested in participating in this conference session, please send a short abstract (c. 200 words) to Dr Mario Damen (m.j.m.damen@uva.nl) before 14 May 2015.

For more information about ESSHC 2016: https://esshc.socialhistory.org/esshc-valencia-2016