Revolutionary Cities: The Urban World of the Middle Ages

HIST21251 Revolutionary Cities: The Urban World of the Middle Ages 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 2 Paul Oldfield Unit coordinator Stephen Mossman Unit coordinator Georg Christ Unit coordinator History 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 This course explores a series of interconnecting developments which placed cities at the centre of power and innovation in the medieval world in the period c.1000 to c.1500. So transformative was this process that we might conceptualise these cities as revolutionary. We will explore how power was constructed within cities. In addition we will examine competing concepts of the city as an embodiment of sin or of holiness. Alongside this will we question how wealth was generated within cities and how some of the consequences of a profit economy and rising population were managed through welfare provision and charitable activity. Central to the module is the importance of landscape, and how monuments, topography, and rural hinterlands shaped urban socio-religious and political communities. Finally, we will assess how learning (especially the rise of universities) and history-writing enabled cities to position themselves as centres of knowledge, memory and identities A series of interconnecting developments placed cities at the centre of power and innovation in the medieval world in the period c.1000 to c.1500. So transformative was this process that we might conceptualise these cities as revolutionary. Population growth and migration, political upheaval, shifts in commercial practice, and changes in learning and faith, created an urban climate open to experimentation with new modes of power and the formation of distinct civic identities. In this era, cities could compete with, and challenge, empires, monarchies and the Church, for political, economic, spiritual, and cultural authority. Similarly their communities could produce alternative solutions for governing, for social welfare, for memorializing the past, and for the generation of wealth. This course seeks to explore these complex, overlapping and fundamental urban transformations.The course will examine a wide range of themes. It will be founded on the acknowledgement that the medieval city was not static and uniform, but was a malleable and constantly changing entity which differed greatly city by city. Medieval cities were composed of multiple overlapping communities, not always harmonious ones, and were shaped by vastly differing topographies and built environments. We will explore how power was constructed within cities, some of which formed into quasi royal or imperial ‘capitals’ while others supported radical discourses of liberty and established communal forms of government. The course will look at competing concepts and experiences of the city as an embodiment of sin, discord, and violence or of holiness, unity, and peace. Alongside this will we question how wealth was generated within and by cities and how some of the consequences of a profit economy and rising population were managed through welfare provision and charitable activity. Central to any understanding of the medieval city is an awareness of landscape, thus we will analyse how monuments, topography and rural hinterlands shaped urban socio-religious and political communities.Finally, we will assess how learning (in the form of urban schools and universities) and history (in the form of urban histories and panegyric) enabled cities to position themselves as centres of knowledge, memory and identities. To the modern mind perspective these cities might look simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, and we will navigate this dichotomy. In examining these varied but overlapping themes in an urban context, this course will demonstrate how an understanding of the medieval city offers a pathway to understanding the wider medieval world. - To understand how medieval cities changed over the course of the period c.1000-c.1500.- To understand the diversity and complexity of the medieval city and how this is reflected in modern historiography.- To analyse transformations in the medieval city in the light of contemporary source materials.- To prepare students for further specialization in medieval history at level 3. - To acquire knowledge of the multi-faceted nature of the medieval city.- To understand the diversity of medieval city-types.- To understand how and why the urban world is fundamental to understanding the wider medieval world. - Evaluate different historical and historiographical viewpoints.- Read, interpret, and analyse a range of primary source materials.- Know how to approach the unfamiliar in order to further understand cultural difference. - Essay writing- Formulate critically analytical interpretation- Autonomous research- Search for and retrieve information from a variety of sources- Harmonize material from different source-types and perspectives - Work collaboratively as part of a team- Work independently-  Organise and present information and interpretation clearly and concisely in written and verbal forms- Empathize with the unfamiliar and appreciate diverse cultures- Critical thinking and analysis Other Students can expect to develop an important set of skills which will be highly valued in the workplace: - Convey complex ideas concisely via written and verbal communication skills - Collaboration in team settings - Acting autonomously and take leadership and responsibility (through independent learning, seminar preparation and contribution, assessment activities) - Critical thinking and analysis - Locating, organising and interpreting large quantities of evidence. 0 Other 100% Source analysis - 30%Research essay - 70% <table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Feedback method</td> <td>Formative and Summative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Verbal feedback via Source analysis and peer review exercise </td> <td>Formative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Written feedback on coursework submission via turnitin</td> <td>Summative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Additional one-to-one feedback (during office hours or by appointment) </td> <td>Formative</td> </tr> </tbody></table>  This module is restricted to History programmes and History joint honours programmes (please check your programme structure for further details). N Benes, Carrie. E., Urban Legends. Civic Identity and the Classical Past in Northern Italy, 1250-1350 (University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011)Brasher, Sally Mayall, Hospitals and Charity: Religious culture and civic life in medieval northern Italy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017)Bruzelius, Caroline, Preaching, building, and burying: friars in the Medieval city (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2014)Clark, Peter (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)Dumolyn, Jan and Brown, Andrew, Medieval Urban Culture (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017)Geltner, Guy, Roads to Health: infrastructure and urban wellbeing in later medieval Italy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)Goodson, Caroline, Lester, Anne E. and Symes, Carol (eds), Cities, Texts and Social Networks, 400-1500. Experiences and Perceptions of Medieval Urban Space (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010)Lapidus, Ira Marvin, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1984) · Lilley, Keith D., City and Cosmos. The Medieval World in Urban Form (London: Reaktion, 2009)Oldfield, Paul, Urban Panegyric and the Transformation of the Medieval City, 1100-1300 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)Phipps, Teresa, Medieval Women and Urban Justice: commerce, crime and community in England, 1300–1500 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020).Rawcliffe, Carole, Urban Bodies. Communal health in Late Medieval English towns and cities (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2013)Scott, Tom, The City-State in Europe, 1000-1600: Hinterland – Territory – Region (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012)Wickham, Chris, Sleepwalking into a New World. The Emergence of Italian City Communes in the Twelfth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015) Lectures 11 Seminars 22 0 167