The medieval town in Bulgaria, thirteenth to fourteenth century

My study attempts to reevaluate the reigning historiographical concepts of pre-modern models of economic development in Southeastern Europe. It is a cross-national and cross-regional survey attempting to include the Byzantine/Bulgarian economic model in the ongoing debate about the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Through an examination of urban social structure, economy, and population growth, I demonstrate that the late medieval town in the Balkans well beyond the end of the fourteenth century followed the main trends of economic growth that are typically represented by the Italian city-states and formed thus part of a common socio-economic environment with the rest of the European Mediterranean.;In my study, the town in late medieval Bulgaria is conceptualized as an explanandum, not as an explanans, as part of the social and economic environment rather than some distinctive entity. Therefore, the rural environment is an essential component for understanding urban socio-economic development. The town and its hinterland are conceptualized as two elements of the same structure rather than two opposing and separate entities. The survey is also cross-disciplinary. It integrates written sources with archaeological data: urban and rural settlement morphology, household structuring, pottery, as well as coin production and circulation.