Urban communities in Early Modern Europe (c.1400-1700): a research review
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Architecture and Civil Engineering
Abstract
This literature review identifies current approaches to ideas and practices of 'community' in European urban history between 1400 and 1700, and suggests where there is potential for new lines of enquiry. It selectively assessed the recent Anglophone literature - from roughly 2000 - with a focus on work that pushes the field forward methodologically. This desk-based research was combined with interviews with historians who work on community from various positions of expertise. This made the review a collaborative process, and one that points ahead of the published scholarship; the interviews have become a useful resource in their own right. These discussions, along with the review bibliography, are posted on a project website (www.earlymoderncommunities.com), accessed an average of seven times a day, with a total of 1,841 hits to date (April-October). The review's principal findings were to recommend further research on: the relationship between space, memory and everyday movement in the early modern city; how communities were shaped by sound and smell as much as by visual stimuli; the nature of boundaries and negotiation between majorities and faith and immigrant minorities; how digitisation and GIS holds real potential for accessing and modelling the urban/spatial dimensions of source material.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Fabrizio Nevola (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Clarke G
(2013)
Introduction: The Experience of the Street in Early Modern Italy
in I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance
Nevola F
(2018)
Review Essay: Street Life in Early Modern Europe *
in Renaissance Quarterly
Nevola F
(2013)
Surveillance and Control of the Street in Renaissance Italy
in I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance
Description | When this research review on early modern urban communities finished at the end of October 2011, the remit was to produce a brief report on the work carried out. This we submitted to the AHRC. However we also felt that it would make sense to publish our findings online, as well as gather the report, bibliography and the interviews we conducted over the review period into one PDF document. What the review does is selectively assess the recent Anglophone literature (from roughly 2000) on community between 1400 and 1700, with a focus on work that pushes the field forward methodologically. The interviews became an important part of the process, since speaking directly to historians put us ahead of the literature, which is often conceived or written years before publication. It also meant that the process became a form of collaboration, one that we feel enriched the review and helped to generate our suggestions of where there might be potential for new lines of enquiry. We recommended that further research be carried out on the relationship between space, memory and everyday movement; how communities were shaped by sound and smell as much as by visual stimuli; the nature of boundaries and negotiation between majorities and faith and immigrant minorities; the potential of digitisation and GIS for modelling the urban/spatial dimensions of source material. Between March and November 2011 this website has been hit an average of eight times a day, with a total of 2,379 hits to date. So it already appears that the interviews have become a useful research and teaching tool. By publishing them in this PDF, along with the report and the references from our wiki-bibliography site, the idea is to make the entire project as easy to access and download as possible. |
Exploitation Route | This was a discrete research review. The historical material considered may be brought further in future research projects and publications. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | http://earlymoderncommunities.com |
Description | Research review produced as part of the Connected Communities programme. Some the research fed into further funded work (e.g. Hidden Florence app project). |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | AHRC Follow-on-funding scheme |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/R008086/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | Taverns, locals and street corners: cross-chronological studies in community drinking, regulation and public space |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/J006610/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2012 |
End | 02/2013 |
Description | Taverns, locals and street corners: cross-chronological studies in community drinking, regulation and public space |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/J006610/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2012 |
End | 02/2013 |