IMC 2011: Sessions

This is the third of a five-part session series that aims at calling together scholars from the western and eastern regions of Europe working on the field of social topography and elite research in medieval urban context and conducting a small workshop on issues such as the usage of urban space with regard to social structures, the social mobility of town leaders, the circles from where they was recruited or their mobility with regard to urban space, the social networks of the ruling elite as well as the topography of crafts in order to comparatively approach these phenomena in the different regions of medieval Europe. This session focuses more on the social structures and investigates to what extent can social topography be regarded constant throughout the medieval period (on the example of Prague) and looks for new methods in order to bring the research from a neighbourhood or street level down to the households (in Antwerpen). The third paper on Basel also highlights how the close socio-topographical investigation is able to bring up new information on the different social groups and their role within the community during the 13th century.