Medieval Cologne

In Anglophone literature the historical questions of urban, socio-economic, political, religious, and cultural development have been answered with Anglo-French, Anglo-Low Countries, and Anglo-Italian paradigms and sources, with medieval Germany left out as a peripheral and largely irrelevant anomaly. And conversely, German Rhineland scholars have remained within the civic public history and academic Landesgeschichte traditions with few exceptions, and thus rarely have they engaged with the historical questions raised in wider European circles. This volume challenges these historiographical propensities by offering a fresh look at medieval urban Germany, one that more accurately and more relevantly and more equitably integrates Cologne and the Rhineland into the wider histories of medieval Europe. This volume engages with historical questions of wider relevance across both German and European medieval histories. It invites and seeks to persuade all scholars and students of medieval Europe to make more use of Cologne as a key source for their research and writing.