Die Stadt zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit am Beispiel von Florenz

The article highlights various aspects of the changes of a town in transition from the Middle Ages to Early Modern Times. Using pre-Medici Florence as an example, it is shown how economic change leads to new social and political formations. Characterized by an increasing industrialization of the manufacturing pro-cesses as well as a flourishing and expanding banking system with international capital interlocking, the new early-capitalist economic system provokes social upheavals that call for political solutions. As a conse-quence, the town and its inhabitants undergo devastating crises which are even accelerated by natural disasters and the spread of Black Death.