Hans-Joachim Schmidt - Böcker

This volume examines the antagonism between tradition and innovation in the Middle Ages. There were lines of thought which presume adherence to authoritative examples, but also believe in the purposefulness of history, in that, starting from an original state, there is a succession of redemptive actions, threats of danger and promises of happiness, and at times even the expectation of an ideal final state. New processes, new skills, new knowledge, new ethical attitudes and new forms of co-existence are seen as representing progressive steps which do not cease in the present and are directed towards the promise of future happiness. This view was, however, confronted with those which bemoaned change as a deviation from past ideals and as a decline, and which held that the present and future could only be improved through recourse to tried and tested states legitimised through tradition. There was, therefore, the legitimation through tradition, but at the same time there was a commitment to innovation, which was judged to be an improvement. The image of dwarves who stand on the shoulders of giants, but are thus able to see farther, demonstrates the dichotomous attitude of the Middle Ages. The volume presents papers from a variety ofdisciplines involved in medieval studies.The papers focus on views of time and change, technological invention, the accumulation of goods and profit, reform and innovation in communities and the state, the increase in knowledge, innovation in art and literature, and the possibilities and boundaries of progress in human knowledge.

The autonomy granted to local communities (such as towns, municipalities, and city-states) by larger, central powers (such as empires, kings, lords, and central states) is a recurrent feature of European history over time, from Antiquity to the contemporary period. This volume explores the political, social, and cultural aspects of this feature in a diachronic and comparative perspective, from the Roman Empire to today’s city partnerships. To this end, it uses the concept of polycentric governance. Originally developed by political economist Vincent Ostrom in the 1960s and then expanded by the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, political scientist Elinor Ostrom, this concept characterises the interdependent system of relations between different actors involved in a process and, for that reason, it is frequently used in policy studies. This volume applies the concept of polycentric governance to historical studies as a heuristic device to analyse the multilayer systems into which cities were integrated at various points in European history, as well as the implications of the coexistence of different political structures. Fourteen chapters examine the structures, the dynamics, and the discourse of polycentric governance through various case studies from the Roman Empire, from medieval towns, from early modern Europe, and from contemporary cities. The volume suggests that for extended periods of time throughout European history, polycentric governance has played a pivotal role in the organisation and distribution of political power.

Die Studie versucht, die mittelalterliche Kirche in ihrer Gesamtheit zu erfassen und geht damit weit über die Anwendung sozialgeschichtlicher Methoden für die Geschichte einzelner kirchlicher Institutionen hinaus.