Boerefijn, W..

De vorm van nieuwe steden uit de 13e en 14e eeuw.

Historisch geografisch tijdschrift 31 (2013) 3 - 15.

De huidige nederzettingsstructuur van Latijns-christelijk Europa is voor een groot deel gecreëerd in de periode tussen de 11e en de 15e eeuw. Honderden nieuwe steden werden in deze periode gebouwd. Het hoogtepunt daarvan lag in de 13e en 14e eeuw. Landheren van de hoogste tot de laagste rang probeerden steden te stichten op hun land, met het doel hun economische, politieke en militaire macht te consolideren of te vergroten. Helaas zijn er erg weinig bronnen over de wijze waarop de creatie van nieuwe steden precies in zijn werk ging. In dit artikel wordt niettemin getracht te schetsen hoe de vorm van de nieuwe steden werd bepaald.

The creation of the shape of new towns of the 13th and 14th centuries

Despite a general lack of explicit sources on the subject, this article attempts to describe the shaping of new urban structures in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. Most of the newly founded towns were erected on the sites of existing settlements that were either erased or extended. Probably, there must always have been some kind of scheme, however vague, for the division of space. The founder reserved a specific piece of land for the new settlement, within which different areas had to be allotted to the various functions (streets, house lots, moats etc.) and users (settlers, ecclesiastical institutions, the founder himself). Plans of new towns vary greatly, ranging from irregular to very regular in structure. To a considerable extent, this reflects the amount of planning that was involved. However, the idea that there actually existed such a thing as urban planning at the time, has often been contested, as 'the middle ages' are generally regarded to be in contrast with the period of 'the renaissance' in which urban planning is mistakenly believed to have been 'invented'.