Urban Societies in East-Central Europe

Book excerpt: This book looks at urban development in East-Central Europe from the middle ages to the early modern period. Dealing primarily with Bohemia, Hungary and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and to a lesser degree with parts of Austria and Germany, this book provides an insight into a number of key issues concerning the economic, social and demographic trends in early modern East-Central European urban history. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, it examines the effects of migration, Reformation, state building and economic change on the transformation of medieval urban communities into early modern societies.