Assemblage Theory and Town Foundation in Medieval England

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6043894
AutoresBen Jervi (0000-0001-5295-0647, Cardiff University, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume26
Fascículo3
Páginas381-395
Data de publicação2016-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774316000159
OpenAlexW2346238321
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas24
Referências citadas33

It is proposed that our understanding of medieval town foundation is limited by a failure to appreciate that ‘town’ is a relational category. It is argued that urban character emerges from social relations, with some sets of social relationship revealing urbanity and others not, as places develop along distinctive, but related, trajectories. This argument is developed through the application of assemblage theory to the development of towns in thirteenth-century southern England. The outcome is a proposal that, by focusing on the social relations through which towns are revealed as a distinctive category of place, we can better comprehend why and how towns mattered in medieval society and develop a greater understanding of the relationship of urbanization to other social processes such as commercialization and associated changes in the countryside

Adornment · Archaeology · Civil engineering · Economic growth · Economy · Geography · Social science · Social theory · Sociology · Urban theory · Urbanity · Urbanization · Anthropology · Engineering · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Medieval Literature and History