Burghers Flashcards
What should be notes about bonds peasants shared with echelons of society?
They had horizontal and vertical ones, although these bonds range in formality and purpose.
What must be noted about the east/west divide between peasants?
Western manorialism V Estates with serfs.
What shows that peasants were eager to protect their communal traditions?
The German Peasants War of 1525.
What were three pull factors of urbanisation?
- Security (fortifications), 2. Legality (privileges), 3. Economics (specialisation of labour).
Why did urbanisation lead to the development of burghers?
Building privileges meant profits were made on lands, population density meant a specialisation of labour thus there was a development of new trades and goods.
What can be said about the rural-urban peasant relationship?
Merchants employed rural peasants to aid them in their trade.
What affected the growth and decline of urban areas?
The introduction of the Atlantic trade, and wars.
What is an example of the ideal early-modern urban society?
Leipzig, 1632
What are the three outcomes of urbanisation?
- the creation of the printing press.
- emergence of early capitalism
- Marx’s argument of the dialectic
What is the Dialectic argument?
The thesis and the antithesis to society, as it moves towards communism
What did urban areas require?
New communities necessitated new public rules e.g. behaviour in cramped environments?
What were the requirements to become a burgher?
male, of age, member of a guild, property owner.
What did people have to do to become a burgher?
Swear an oath to the city, follow rules of privilege and duties (e.g. military participation) and consumption laws (e.g. not wearing purple)
List three opportunity structures:
Mayor, Alderman, City council (however more likely to be an oligarchy of the most powerful families)
Why were guilds created?
To protect economic interests of artisans and merchants (abolished in the 1800s)
What were confraternities?
religious organisations of laity that held celebrations and charities.
How was order kept in cities and towns?
There were no police forces, only militias, and even then not every place had them. There was a rise of stand-in armies to allow direct control. Informally people used civic rituals.
Which family can we look to in stressing the social mobility?
Fugger Family of Southern Germany 1357+
What did the Fugger family trade in?
Cotton, with Italy. Though they eventually established a banking and trading empire, branching out into metallurgy.
What percentage of the copper trade did the Fugger family own at one point?
40%
When and by whom were the Fugger family ennobled?
1511, by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I
What are the Fugger family credited with?
Bringing the Italian Renaissance to Augsburg, their hometown.
What should be stressed about access to monarchs?
It could be volatile, an entire family could fall out of favour at any time.
What were the burghers predecessors to?
The powerful bourgeoise echelon
Who stresses that although peasants, burghers could still be exploitative?
Marx
How were towns governed?
Through councils e.g. the Rat in Germany
What were the three issues dealt with by councils in towns?
- Substative issues (material). 2. Personnel issues. (who should solve no1) 3. Constitutional issues (how to fulfil 1&2).
How were town councils constrained?
Ideologically, (recognised norms) externally (overlords) and internally (constitutional disputes).
How can we characterise the middle class?
As conventional traditionalists, with consumerist values and education.
What were the two aspects of the burgher political relationship in German urban areas?
Rat und Bürgerschaft (council and citizenry)
When was the period of burgher dissatisfaction in Germany?
14-18th centuries.
What are the two ways of interpreting burgher politics in Germany?
As the citizenry and council always being antithetical, or as there being periods of normalcy and crisis.
Who suggested that German towns had regular reciprocal relations between the burghers and councils?
M. Walker.
What was politics in the early modern era?
An organised dispute over power within a community.
What type of political dispute was early modern politics centred on?
Substantive, which could turn into constitutional. When elected to a council it was expected to be for life, and one wasn’t pitted against rivals.
How can we place the burgher citizenry’s role in politics into a modern context?
We can consider burgher groups to be “interest groups”, and note that formal political power always laid with the established elite.
How did becoming elected to a council position increase an elites power and status?
Whilst already an elite in their field (e.g. guilds / merchants), becoming elected meant being an elite in all spheres.
How can we exemplify the constraints against councils?
Stettin, early 17th century.
What occurred in early 17th century Stettin?
Finances were in serious disarray, merchants pressured the creation of a 60-strong auditing committee which retailers claimed harmed THEIR interests, leading to the establishing of 2 entirely new councils.
What should be noted about the burgher citizenry?
They were not a cohesive group, but a collection of overlapping interest groups.
What is the discrepancy between guilds’ power geographically?
In some areas guilds had an established role in governance, in others they did not even have control over their internal affairs.
How can we exemplify the geographical discrepancy in guilds’ power?
1548 Augsburg weavers guild was deprived of both external and internal power, in 1575 established a “common committee” of indescript role.
How can we say that within guilds there was social tension?
If the “common committees” began favouring the richer guild members, the poorer would resort to official channels.
What can be said about the changing nature of interest groups in the early modern period?
Interest groups could also be used as religious pressure groups or as counter-governments.
Why did substantive issues often develop into constitutional ones?
Substantive issues developed into constitutional ones due to feelings of exclusion, and were often solved by external participation.
What can exemplify the move from substantive to constitutional issues?
1612 Frankfurt uprising- wanted rid of some Jews, failures of the council led to the external ridding of the council + Jews, led to their execution and the return of the old system.
How can we describe the Rat and Bürgerschaft relationship in times of constitutional crisis?
Not as Rat und Bürgerschaft, but as Rat corta Bürgerschaft.
What is the nature of interest groups during politics of normalcy and politics of crisis?
During politics of normalcy, groups are pluralistic, during times of crisis, groups are bipolar.
What are the two ways of looking at German social status in the early modern period?
Through wealth assessments (quantitative, doesn’t account for overlap of interaction) or status (qualitative)
What should be stressed about people’s social position?
People occupied more than one role or position in society, meaning that they could be members of different, sometimes opposing, interest groups.
