Medieval Silesia

Sébastien Rossignol is associate professor of medieval European history at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and former guest researcher at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. Interested in pragmatic literacy, urbanization, and the environment in medieval Central Europe, he is the author of a study of charters and practices of reading in Silesia and Pomerania (2019).

List of Figures and Maps

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1: Silesia in the high Middle Ages (eleventh to thirteenth century)

Chapter 1: A region at crossroads

Silesia’s origins in a European context – Rulers over Silesia – Society and culture

Chapter 2: Dukes and duchesses

Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries – Silesian dukes and duchesses in the thirteenth century – Ruling the Silesian duchies

Chapter 3: Connections of courtly culture.

European aristocracy and chivalric culture – Nobility and knighthood – Literacy and the nobility – Chivalric literature – Chivalric lifestyle

Chapter 4: The Silesian church and the Jewish community

Changes in Christian society – Spiritual and secular authority – Jurisdiction over Jews – Churches and schools – Monasteries and convents – Documents and books – History writing, hagiography, and scholarship

Chapter 5: Peasant society in an age of transformation

Agricultural economy in high medieval Europe – Silesian peasants and Polish law – An era of innovation – Lords and peasants

Chapter 6: Urbanization in a changing society

Urbanization in the European high Middle Ages – Chartered towns: the law of Magdeburg – Urban population – Municipal administration – Town life and urban culture

Part 2: Silesia in the late Middle Ages (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries).

Chapter 7: Silesia and the crown of Bohemia

Late medieval crises – Silesia and the House of Luxembourg – The Hussites and Silesia – Governance in the late Middle Ages

Chapter 8: Courtly culture in Silesia and Europe

Chivalry in late medieval Europe – The courts – Late medieval chivalry

Chapter 9: Churches, monasteries, and synagogues

Crises and renewal in the late Middle Ages – The bishops of Wrocław – Religious institutions in transition – Higher education – Book culture and art

Chapter 10: Peasant society – continuity and crisis

Late medieval challenges – Lords and the land – Villagers – Peasant culture

Chapter 11: Towns in developing networks

Towns and markets in late medieval Europe – Urbanization in late medieval Silesia – Merchants and artisans – Town life – Late medieval challenges – Jews and the municipal councils – Urban culture and society

Chapter 12: Towards the modern age

An era of change – The Habsburgs – The Reformation – Jews – New forms of domination – Urbanization and trade

Conclusion

Bibliography