The political narrative of late medieval English towns is often reduced to the story of the gradual intensification of oligarchy, in which power was exercised and projected by an ever smaller ruling group over an increasingly subservient urban population. Contesting the City takes its inspiration not from English historiography, but from a more dynamic continental scholarship on towns in the southern Low Countries, Germany, and France. Its premise is that scholarly debate about urban oligarchy has obscured contemporary debate about urban citizenship. It identifies from the records of English towns a tradition of urban citizenship, which did not draw upon the intellectual legacy of classical models of the 'citizen'. This was a vernacular citizenship, which was not peculiar to England, but which was present elsewhere in late medieval Europe. It was a citizenship that was defined and created through action. There were multiple, and divergent, ideas about citizenship, which encouraged townspeople to make demands, to assert rights, and to resist authority. This volume exploits the rich archival sources of the five major towns in England - Bristol, Coventry, London, Norwich, and York - in order to present a new picture of town government and urban politics over three centuries. The power of urban governors was much more precarious than historians have imagined. Urban oligarchy could never prevail - whether ideologically or in practice - when there was never a single, fixed meaning of the citizen.

About the Author
Christian D. Liddy has taught Medieval History at the University of Durham since 2002. His previous books are War, Politics and Finance in Late Medieval English Towns: Bristol, York and the Crown, 13501400 and The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages: Lordship, Community and the Cult of St Cuthbert. He was the academic curator of Magna Carta and the Changing Face of Revolt, a major exhibition that was held in Durham in 2015 on the 800th anniversary of the charter and that explored the thin line between the citizen and the rebel.

Reviews
Liddy brings to the fore a sense of the vigour and audibility of medieval civic politics [...] Overall, what we see in Liddy's insightful analysis is that beneath the attempts to present civic harmony and consensus, there were various sites where political life was contentious and where citizens could express their dissatisfaction. * James Davis, Queen's University Belfast, Reviews in History *
This is an important study for understanding both urban life in late medieval England and the theory and practice of medieval citizenship more generally.... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
In this thought-provoking book Christian Liddy draws on and expands elements from his earlier work to re-examine the nature and limiations of medieval urban oligarchy. * Elizabeth Rutledge, The Ricardian *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198705208
Author Christian D. Liddy
Format Hardback
Page Count 278
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 177mm * 23mm