Rural and Urban Society, 1500-1720
Rural Society Structures Problems Cyclical, and foundational. Tenure-based Heavily Regional Problems Different paces of Integration ‘incomplete markets’ Price Revolution, Rent, and Enclosure
Urban Society Structures Problems Nexus economies (Towns possess substantial ‘hinterlands’) Economic specialization, towns as ‘finishing-sites’ Again, heavily regional Problems Three P’s: Poverty, Protest, Plague. Suborned to state interests Boom/Bust + shifts in trade led to precarious existence, see: decline of Hanseatic League (Lübeck, Hamburg, Stockholm, Krakôw, et al)
Types of Urban Space Market town Commercial Entrepôt Administrative center NB: Not mutually exclusive. London was both administrative center, and increasingly successful commercial entrepôt as the period progressed. Amsterdam was an immensely successful entrepôt for the later 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing relative stagnation in the 18th.
Connections Migration Economic integration Shared pains (bad harvest, plague, war) Shared population In some countries, shared political structures.