No detailed comparison of the city-state in medieval Europe has been undertaken over the last century. Research has concentrated on the role of city-states and their republican polities as harbingers of the modern state, or else on their artistic and cultural achievements, above all in Italy. Much less attention has been devoted to the cities' territorial expansion: why, how, and with what consequences cities in the urban belt, stretching from central and northern Italy over the Alps to Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, succeeded (or failed) in constructing sovereign polities, with or without dependent territories. Tom Scott goes beyond the customary focus on the leading Italian city-states to include, for the first time, detailed coverage of the Swiss city-states and the imperial cities of Germany. He criticizes current typologies of the city-state in Europe advanced by political and social scientists to suggest that the city-state was not a spent force in early modern Europe, but rather survived by transformation and adaption. He puts forward instead a typology which embraces both time and space by arguing for a regional framework for analysis which does not treat city-states in isolation, but within a wider geopolitical setting.

About the Author
Before joining the Institute of Reformation Studies in St Andrews in 2004, Tom Scott was based in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. Before that he was a research fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. He has worked on town-country relations and regional identities in late medieval and early modern Germany, bringing his approach to bear upon aspects of the Reformation at the grassroots and on the German Peasants' War.

Reviews
Scott has given us an excellent, very stimulating starting point, which any future effort to examine economic and political transformation from the Middle Ages to modernity will surely want to take account of. * Dr Shami Ghosh, Reviews in History *
Rivers of ink have flowed in writings about city-states, but Tom Scotts latest work provides a distinguished contribution to that literature * Gianluca Raccagni, English Historical Review, Volume 128, Number 534 *
This welcome addition to the literature is massively documented, well written, and can be used by both scholars and non-specialists. * David Nicholas, American Historical Review *
an indispensible guide to all historians seeking to understand the ciy-state as a European political phenomenon. * Jan de Vries, Renaissance Quarterly *
stimulating, compelling, and detailed * Luca Zavagno, Economic History Review *
This is a groundbreaking attempt by a scholar of early modern German cities to provide a European-wide comparison of city-states ... excellant * Donald Leach, History *
well written and thoughtful study * Carolyn James, Parergon *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199675395
Author Tom Scott
Format Paperback
Page Count 396
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 157mm * 22mm