TOM SCOTT was Reader in History at the University of Liverpool until his retirement in 2003. He has been an Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation Fellow and a Leverhulme Research Fellow. He is author of 10 books and over 50 articles on town-country relations and regional systems in late medieval and early modern Germany, the German Peasants' War and the German Reformation.

'His broad accounts of the social order, the importance of mortgaging in late medieval state formation, the increasing incidence of serfdom in both west and east, and late medieval ideals of reform, will prove of lasting value. At the same time the smooth integration of analyses of power into spatial analyses of commercial development, utilizing the tools of historical geography, provides an exemplary case for historians of other regions to follow.' - Paul Warde, University of Cambridge, The Economic History Review 'It fills a major gap, and will be welcomed both by students and their teachers. Scott has written a very learned, wide-ranging and helpful book.' - Len Scales, University of Durham 'This tough-minded but wise and up-to-date introduction is appropriate for upper-division undergraduates and above.' - J.T. Rosenthal, Choice

• AcknowledgementsList of MapsList of TablesNote on UsageIntroductionThe Political Geography of Germany, 1300-1600Society and HierachyPopulation and HouseholdEconomic LandscapesCommercial Networks and Urban SystemsLordship and DependenceReform and RevoltDeviancy and ConformityBibliography of Works in EnglishSelect List of Works in GermanGlossaryIndex.

TOM SCOTT was Reader in History at the University of Liverpool until his retirement in 2003. He has been an Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation Fellow and a Leverhulme Research Fellow. He is author of 10 books and over 50 articles on town-country relations and regional systems in late medieval and early modern Germany, the German Peasants' War and the German Reformation.

'His broad accounts of the social order, the importance of mortgaging in late medieval state formation, the increasing incidence of serfdom in both west and east, and late medieval ideals of reform, will prove of lasting value. At the same time the smooth integration of analyses of power into spatial analyses of commercial development, utilizing the tools of historical geography, provides an exemplary case for historians of other regions to follow.' - Paul Warde, University of Cambridge, The Economic History Review 'It fills a major gap, and will be welcomed both by students and their teachers. Scott has written a very learned, wide-ranging and helpful book.' - Len Scales, University of Durham 'This tough-minded but wise and up-to-date introduction is appropriate for upper-division undergraduates and above.' - J.T. Rosenthal, Choice

• AcknowledgementsList of MapsList of TablesNote on UsageIntroductionThe Political Geography of Germany, 1300-1600Society and HierachyPopulation and HouseholdEconomic LandscapesCommercial Networks and Urban SystemsLordship and DependenceReform and RevoltDeviancy and ConformityBibliography of Works in EnglishSelect List of Works in GermanGlossaryIndex.