Cities of Strangers
Making Lives in Medieval Europe

Explores how medieval towns and cities received newcomers, and the process by which these 'strangers' became 'neighbours' between 1000 and 1500.

Miri Rubin (Author)

9781108740531, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2020

204 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 maps
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.31 kg

'Written with insight and charm, the exposition is attractive in itself and moves beyond the political management of the cities to open up a new understanding of the variety of life in different places and different periods.' Sybil Jack, Parergon

Cities of Strangers illuminates life in European towns and cities as it was for the settled, and for the 'strangers' or newcomers who joined them between 1000 and 1500. Some city-states enjoyed considerable autonomy which allowed them to legislate on how newcomers might settle and become citizens in support of a common good. Such communities invited bankers, merchants, physicians, notaries and judges to settle and help produce good urban living. Dynastic rulers also shaped immigration, often inviting groups from afar to settle and help their cities flourish. All cities accommodated a great deal of difference - of language, religion, occupation - in shared spaces, regulated by law. But when, from around 1350, plague began regularly to occur within European cities, this benign cycle began to break down. High mortality rates led eventually to demographic crises and, as a result, less tolerant and more authoritarian attitudes emerged, resulting in violent expulsions of even long-settled groups. Tracing the development of urban institutions and using a wide range of sources from across Europe, Miri Rubin recreates a complex picture of urban life for settled and migrant communities over the course of five centuries and offers an innovative vantage point on Europe's past with insights for its present.

1. Cities and their strangers
2. Strangers into neighbours
3. Jews: familiar strangers
4. Women: sometimes strangers in their cities
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Urban communities [JFSG], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]