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Does anybody know of research papers or academic resources that study the full development and growth of medieval cities? I mean, from village stage to city stage. Or maybe cities did not develop that way. I'm trying to know what usually happened, in the most accurate and comprehensive way possible, since the "foundation" of what would be a city up to c. AD 1450. I know of course that most surviving cities c. AD 500 were old roman forts etc., but were there any cities founded in Europe in the middle ages that are chronicled?

I am also curious about population in cities and villages. I mean, I know large medieval cities had around 20,000 people, but where did they live? As far as I know, medieval houses were not that big and there weren't many of them in cities and villages.

By the way, I'm only talking Europe here.

Thanks!

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Are you curious about the process, or are you looking for lots of raw numbers for actual cities? – T.E.D.♦ Dec 30 '12 at 18:52
Actually raw numbers aren't that important. I'd like to know about the process in great detail, at least of one particular city. Then, I think, raw numbers could be interpreted more easily, and common "stages" or "sub-processes" might be identified in other cities. – Teckizt Dec 30 '12 at 18:58
Ah. In that case, I don't have an answer for you, but I'm up-voting the question because I'd like to see that too. – T.E.D.♦ Dec 30 '12 at 19:33
But you did have raw numbers? A little insight on something is never bad. – Teckizt Dec 30 '12 at 19:43
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Welcome to the site and +1 for a good question. – Felix Goldberg Dec 30 '12 at 19:51

1 Answer

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Offhand, you may want to look up Pirenne's work. His study of cities led to the powerful and controversial Pirenne Thesis, but I think that reading his original work would be valuable in itself and relevant to your question.

One point to note about the question: describing a 5-6the century cities as "old Roman forts" is a serious oversimplification.

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But are there any major medieval cities that weren't originally Roman? I can only think of Venice – mgb Dec 31 '12 at 3:52
@mgb why do you think that Venice was not Roman? – Anixx Dec 31 '12 at 9:25
@Anixx: Venice is indeed Roman in foundation, but actually it fits the "old Roman fort" label not bad at all. Its first significant development belongs to the Byzantine era. – Felix Goldberg Dec 31 '12 at 11:54
@anixx - I thought Venice was built C6 by people hiding in the swamps after Rome fell and barbarian hordes were arriving? – mgb Dec 31 '12 at 19:06
@mgb founded in 568 it was a Roman city until 726 when the citizens rebelled and killed Roman authorities (although later it was again restored in the empire). – Anixx Dec 31 '12 at 22:18
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