Economy, law and health issues came to define life in medieval cities and contributed to the formation of urban identities. New book presents a series of case studies outlining life in the late medieval towns and cities.

Medieval Urban Identity. Health, Economy and Regulation
Ed. by Flocel Sabaté
ISBN-13: 978-1-4438-7785-5
ISBN-10: 1-4438-7785-9
Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2015

ABSTRACT

The increasing prominence of urban life during the Middle Ages is undoubtedly one of the more transcendental and multi-faceted aspects of this era, having an effect on rules and laws, hygiene, and economic organisation. This book brings together contributions from a wide range of scholars who adopt a new approach to medieval urban life, using health, the economy, and regulations and laws as frames of reference for gaining a greater understanding of this historical period. Through these vectors, interesting insights are provided into medieval housing, cures for diseases, the work of artisans and merchants, and the relationship between the town and the wider region in which it was located.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Medieval Urban Identity: Health, Economy and Regulation. By Flocel Sabaté
• “The smell of rotting corpses infected the air”: Notes on Sanitation, Pollution and Urban Ecology in Al-Andalus. By Ieva Reklaitye
• Inventory of Arab Objects Documented in Catalan Medieval Houses (Late 13th Century—Late 15th Century). By Lluïsa Amenós
• Ecclesiastical Freedom to Crenellate: Urban Disputes and Rivalries in 13th and 14th Century England. By Audrey Thorstad
• Tuscan Merchants in Catalonia and Catalan Merchants in Tuscany: A New Double-Perspective Approach to Mercantile Relations in the Medieval Mediterranean. By Maria Elisa Soldani
• Surgeons in Late Medieval Sicily: Education, Activities, Regulation. By Daniela Santoro
• Defining “Apothecary” in the Mediaeval Crown of Aragon. By Carles Vela
• Barbers in the Process of Medicalization in the Crown of Aragon during the Late Middle Ages . By Carmel Ferragud
• Hec sunt consuetudines, privilegia ac ordinationes civitatis Balagarii: The Legal Background of Lleida as a Base for the Local Law of the City of Balaguer (13th-15th centuries). A Linguistic Approach. By Cuellas Campodarbe
• A Frontier Cartulary: The Lorca Council Cartulary in the Years 1463 and 1464 as a Source for Studying the Frontier Relationships between Murcia and Granada’s Kingdoms. By Diego Antonio Reinaldos
• Urban Political Identity in the Late Middle Ages: A Reflection on Communal Polities in Urban Castile in the 15th Century. By José Antonio Jara
• The Control of the Council Offices in the Late Middle Ages: The Notaries in Burgos. A Conflict of Authority. By Alicia Inés Montero
• Between the Council and the King: The Negotiation of the Encabezamiento of the Alcabalas of Talavera de la Reina at the End of the Middle Ages By Alicia Lozano

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

Flocel Sabaté is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. He has served as Guest Professor in such universities as Paris-1, Poitiers, Yale and Mexico, led a Research Institute in Spain (Institute for Research into Identities and Society) and held posts in university agencies in different countries, including Spain, Romania and Chile. The author of a number of research works about the Middle Ages, he has won various prizes and is doctor honoris causa of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.