The Medieval City

The objective of the course is to provide the students with basic facts on the phenomena and processes related to the history of medieval urban settlements, the theoretical concepts regarding the study of the medieval cities, with special emphasis on the cities of the Croatian Middle Ages, and to discuss the possibilities of implementing the acquired knowledge in history teaching.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• use basic terminology related to urban history
• explain the characteristics and the course of the urbanisation processes from the Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages
• distinguish the categories of the medieval urban settlements with regards to their origin, physiognomy, functions, legal status, etc.
• explain the local authority structure and the characteristic secular and ecclesiastical urban institutions of the medieval towns and cities
• explain the basic characteristics of the medieval urban economy and the economic role of cities in the Middle Ages
• explain the social and demographic characteristics of the urban communities in the Middle Ages
• explain the basic characteristics of the medieval urban culture and the cultural role of cities in the Middle Ages
• create the teaching content on the topic of urban history

The scope and the content of the course; the concept of a medieval city; the remaining traces of the urbanisation in the Antiquity and the question of continuity; the urbogenesis and physiognomy of the medieval cities; the new wave of urbanisation in the High Middle Ages and colonisation; the urban law, privileges, statutes and the structure of the local government; urban economy, trade and merchant guilds; the Adriatic communes; free royal cities in the interfluve of the Drava and Sava rivers; ecclesiastical and seigneurial cities and towns; the city and the Church; social groups and urban demography; everyday life in a medieval city; urban culture.

predavanja, vježbe, obrazovanje na daljinu, terenska nastava, ostalo

Pismeni ispit, Pohađanje nastave, Praktični rad, Seminarski rad

pismeno

The students are evaluated and graded based on the following elements according to detailed criteria that students are familiarised with and that are publicly available. The students are required to meet the minimum prescribed criteria for each element. 

The share of each evaluation element in the final grade:

essay 30%

didactic task (practical work) 20%

written exam 50%

The students are required to attend classes regularly (30% of absence is allowed), study texts and perform individual tasks.

1. Irena Benyovsky Latin. „Introduction: Towns and cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: Authority and Property“. In: Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: Authority and Property. Ed. Irena Benyovsky Latin, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2016, 13-34.

2. Irena Benyovsky Latin. „Towns and cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: The Newcomers and the City (An Introductory Study)“. In: Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: The Newcomers and the City. Ed. Irena Benyovsky Latin, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2020, 11-33.

3. Pál Engel. The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary: 895-1526. London-New York: I. B. Tauris & Co, 2001. (selected chapters)

4. Damir Karbić and Marija Karbić. The Laws and Customs of Medieval Croatia and Slavonia: A Guide to the Extant Sources. London: UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 2013.

5. Norman Pounds. The Medieval City. Westport: Greendwood Press, 2005. (selected chapters)

6. Henri Pirenne. Medieval cities: their origins and the revival of trade. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. (selected chapters)

7. Max Weber. The City. Glencoe: Free Press, 1958. (selected chapters)

1. Irena Benyovsky Latin. „Topography of Power: Venice and the Eastern Adriatic Cities in the Century Following the Fourth Crusade“. The City and History 10 (2021), 1: 6-47.

2. Joseph Gies and Frances Gies. Life in a Medieval City. London: Bareker, 1969.

3. Marija Karbić, Bruno Škreblin, Tone Ravnikar and Ratko Vučetić. „Elites and Space in the Towns of Medieval Slavonia: The Cases of Gradec/Zagreb and Varaždin“. Povijesni prilozi 38 (2019): 131-155.  

4. Bariša Krekić. Dubrovnik: A Mediterranean Urban Society, 1300–1600. London: Routledge, 2018.

5. Lewis Mumford. The City in History. Sand Diego: Harcourt, 1961.

6. David Nicholas. The Growth of the Medieval City from Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century. London: Longman, 1997.

7. David Nicholas. The Later Medieval City: 1300-1500. (A History of Urban Society in Europe). London: Longman, 1997.

8. Howard Saalman. Medieval Cities. New York: George Brazilier, 1968.

9. Katalin Szende. „The birth of oppida: small towns in Hungary in the Angevin period“. Urban History 38 (2021): 1–18 (online article) Url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/birth-of-oppida-small-towns-in-hungary-in-the-angevin-period/4134B1A1D2B4EFFD83028BA01461F4E3

10. Katalin Szende. „Power and Identity: Royal privileges to the towns of medieval Hungary in the thirteenth century“. In: Urban Liberties and Civic Participation from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. Ed. Michel Pauly and Alexander Lee. Trier: Porta Alba, 2015, 27-67. 

11. Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: Authority and Property. Ed. Irena Benyovski Latin, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2016.

12. Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: The Newcomers and the City. Ed. Irena Benyovski Latin, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2020.

13. Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: Image of the Town in the Narrative Sources: Reality and/or Fiction?. Ed. Irena Benyovski Latin, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2017.

A unified university survey of student assessment of teaching at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek as laid down by the University Senate. Monitoring and assessment of the quality of teaching in accordance with the Ordinance on studying and the Ordinance on Quality Assurance at the University. Individual contact sessions.