Medieval Town Planning

Armand Baeriswyl, Stadt, Vorstadt und Stadterweiterung im Mittelalter. Archäologische und historische Studien zum Wachstum der drei Zähringerstädte Burgdorf, Bern und Freiburg im Breisgau (Schweizer Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters 30), Basel 2003.

Rhodes boasts a great number of significant archaeological and cultural monuments. The citadel of Rhodes, built by the Knights Hospitaller, is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe and in 1988 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been occupied since the Classical period and reached the peak of its glory during medieval times. Today, most of the city is well preserved and several buildings have been reused in order to promote the cultural heritage of the island. Nevertheless, there are many monuments that remain untapped due to financial matters, lack of creativity, or simply because they have been neglected. This research will concentrate on the importance of the reuse of monuments and historical buildings in ways that enhances the cultural heritage of the island. The use of advanced models of exhibitions, the creation of new museum spaces and themes, as well the organization of events proposed through this research will help raise cultural awareness among both locals and visitors to Rhodes, increase the cultural value of the city, and improve its economy through increased tourism and historical interest.

This paper takes as its starting point a definition of islands that goes beyond geographical isolation to consider islands as social constructs insofar as they reflect feelings of isolation, separateness, distinctiveness and otherness. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of the ‘dry’ island, an island that although once surrounded by water has long since lost its physical isolation due to changes in sea level and drainage patterns. Taking the Isle of Ely in the fens of East Anglia in the United Kingdom between AD 1200-1600 as a case study, and utilising archaeological evidence for diet and for the local Ely ware pottery, it is possible to reconstruct a cognitive mappa, which describes the perception of islandness amongst the island’s medieval inhabitants.

The area of Tallinn, situated on the southern shore of the Finnish Gulf, appears for the first time in the written sources in June 1219 when King Valdemar II of Denmark began armed mission with the aim to christianise northern Estonia. To achieve this, the hill of Toompea was chosen as a first centre and soon after the landing a new castle was built to replace the old prehistoric one belonging to native Estonians. It is possible that there were simultaneous plans to begin with the building of the town but so far neither written nor archaeological data can securely confirm this. The genesis of the medieval town during the first few decades lies much in darkness. Based on the analysis of written sources it is possible to say that the urban settlement dates back at least to the 1230s and is first mentioned as civitas in 1238. The first firm date stating Tallinn as a town is from 1248 when the Danish King Eric IV gave to the local settlers the town charter. The archaeological traces of the first phase of the medieval town are scarce. It is possible to show some kind of activities from the 1220s onwards around the town area but these are too fragmented to show purposeful town planning. This is first visible around mid-13th century when the street network, properties and first churches have been created. Both dwellings as well as churches show influences coming from different regions, notably from northern Germany, less from Scandinavia. In some cases it is also possible to suggest the contribution of native Estonians, both in housing culture as well in general material culture. //published in: M. Schneider, M. Gläser (Hrsg.), Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum, X. Lübeck 2016, 537–558//

Wim Boerefijn, New towns of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries and the grid plan.
The collapse of the western Roman empire led to a long period of urban decline in western Europe. From about the 10th century onwards, however,  urban life revived.  Initially, this happened particularly in existing settlements – often in remnants of Roman cities, towns and
fortresses – that grew and were gradually promoted to towns and cities. But towns were also created anew, almost from scratch, in short periods of time. This became more and more usual as more and more landlords sought to profit from the urban boom. Unfortunately, little is known of how this was done. In the following chapter, various aspects of these new urban creations will be outlined in the perspective of the heritage of the ancient colonial city, beginning with a short introduction of the phenomenon and subsequently focusing on spatial planning and the grid plan in particular.