Download or read book The Communal Age in Western Europe, C.1100-1800 written by Beat Kümin and published by Red Globe Press. This book was released on 2013-05-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Communal Age in Western Europe, c. 1100-1800 offers a fresh interpretation of the significance of towns, villages and parishes in the medieval and early modern period. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources from numerous regions, Beat Kümin: • explains how local communities empowered common people through collective agency and a degree of local autonomy • demonstrates how communal units impacted on key historical developments, from the Reformation to state formation • provides case studies of the Italian city, the English parish and the village in the Holy Roman Empire • surveys communal origins, constitutions and cultural representations, as well as contested issues such as gender roles and inner tensions • evaluates related historiographical debates on communalism and republicanism. Informed by a genuinely comparative and integrated approach, this original volume offers an excellent introduction to European history 'from below', and to the fundamental building blocks of European society.