Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-373) and index.
pt. 1. Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. The urban legacy of antiquity ; Suburbanisation and deurbanisation in Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul, 500-830 ; Challenge and response : the Scandinavian and Muslim attacks and the revival of urban life in the west, 830-1000 -- pt. 2. The eleventh and twelfth centuries. From seigniorial to economic urbanisation : landowning, commerce and industry in the cities of the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; Urban law and government in the eleventh and twelfth centuries -- pt. 3. The maturing of medieval urbanisation, c. 1190-c. 1270. The expansion of the cities in the thirteenth century ; The north European cities in the thirteenth century ; The commercial cities of thirteenth-century Italy under 'popular' oligarchies -- pt. 4. A half-century of crisis. Merchant as craftsman, magnate as guildsman : the transformation of the Medieval city, c. 1270-c. 1325