Date/Time
Date(s) - 29 Nov 2011
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Location
Faculty House, Room 2
Category(ies) No Categories
Wim Blockmans, of Leiden University, will speak on “Cities as the agents of progress in the Middle Ages?” Max Weber revisited.
We owe to Max Weber challenging insights on the contrast between consumer cities and cities where commerce and artisanal production were concentrated. He made broad comparisons through time and space which have returned to the center of interest of global historians. Meanwhile, we have much more empirical information about the role of cities in long-distance trade in China and the Islamic Near East, as well as about the impact of these connections for the rise of cities in Europe since the tenth century. It is time to reassess concepts such as the autonomy of the European city as the distinctive criterion in contrast to the earlier developed civilizations.
PLEASE NOTE:
The talk will be followed by dinner at Faculty House. All those who wish to dine with the speaker after the talk *must make reservations* by contacting the rapporteur of the seminar, Jeffrey Wayno, either by phone or by email *no later* than one week before the talk. Dinner is a fixed buffet menu, which costs $24 per person. Payment can be made to the rapporteur by cash or check, although checks are strongly encouraged.