TY  - BOOK
AU  - Kümin,Beat A.
TI  - Imperial villages: cultures of political freedom in the German lands, c. 1300-1800 
T2  - Studies in Central European histories,
SN  - 9789004396609
AV  - JN3249 
U1  - 320.80943 23
PY  - 2019///]
CY  - Leiden, Boston
PB  - Brill
KW  - Imperial villages (Holy Roman Empire)
KW  - Political culture
KW  - Holy Roman Empire
KW  - Country life
KW  - Politics and government
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Preface -- Notes on the Text -- Figures and Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Approaches -- Polities without a Prince: an Introduction -- Origins, Evolutions and Settings -- Regimes -- Domestic Affairs: Co-Operation and Conflict -- External Relations: Protectors and Predators -- Religious Life: Heaven and Earth -- Perspectives -- Representations and Perceptions -- Conclusions -- Back Matter -- Communities Possessing, Claiming or Attributed Imperial Village Status (Pre-1803) -- Senior Officials and Clergymen in Five Imperial Villages c. 1300–1800 -- Bibliography -- Index
N2  - Hundreds of rural communities tasted political freedom in the Holy Roman Empire. For shorter or longer periods, villagers managed local affairs without subjection to territorial overlords. In this first book-length study, Beat Kümin focuses on the five case studies of Gochsheim and Sennfeld (in present-day Bavaria), Sulzbach and Soden (Hesse) and Gersau (Switzerland). Adopting a comparative perspective across the late medieval and early modern periods, the analysis of multiple sources reveals distinct extents of rural self-government, the forging of communalized confessions and an enduring attachment to the empire. Negotiating inner tensions as well as mounting centralization pressures, Reichsdörfer provide privileged insights into rural micro-political cultures while their stories resonate with resurgent desires for greater local autonomy in Europe today
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004396609
ER  -