Charles the Bald and the Church in Town and Countryside
Janet L. Nelson
‘The church in town and countryside’ is a fruitful theme. But for early medievalists it an especially challenging one. We first have to establish our right participate at all. There classic tradition of interpreting western history, the history Christianity too, terms opposition between countryside: but according exponents this tradition, from Marx Engels through Weber Troeltsch some contemporary historians, middle ages present dull, townless void antiquity eleventh or twelfth century. begin then, by affirming that there were towns ages. To justify this, we must do more than point out continuity terminology used late classical medieval writers. need show places existed which functioned as towns. Biddle has given useful archaeologist’s list functional criteria: defences, planned street-system, market, mint, legal autonomy, role central place, relatively large dense population, diversified economic base, plots houses ‘urban’ type, social differentiation, complex religious organisation, judicial centre.
Studies in Church History