Life in a Late Medieval City

Chester was the most important medieval town in north-west England, and yet has lacked the extensive historical treatment it deserves. As a regional capital, the administrative and ecclesiastical centre of a county palatinate, a major port and market, and a garrison town, Chester's importance belied its relatively small size. Jane Laughton's book provides a new, sweeping survey of this late medieval city in an attempt to illuminate Chester's urban life in all its manifestations. The study begins with a brief foray into urban definitions, hierarchies and hinterlands, and then explores the political background of a settlement that lies near to both Wales and Ireland and was thus of significant strategic importance. This political context is vital to our understanding of Chester, and Laughton provides tantalising evidence for regular Welsh and Irish links. The subsequent sections cover topography and the built environment in a somewhat antiquarian style, detailing a myriad of references for Chester's main market, shops, streets, walls, bridge, castle, mills, fisheries, religious houses, and parish churches. The workings of urban society are then explored in a more analytical fashion through the topics of social structure, urban government, making a living, and broader commercial links

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