Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England 1413-1471

Since the mid-twentieth century political histories of late medieval England have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between the Crown and aristocratic landholders. Such studies however neglect to consider that England after the Black Death was an urbanising society. Towns not only were the residence of a rising proportion of the population but were also the stages on which power was asserted and the places where financial and military resources were concentrated. Outside London however most English towns were small compared to those found in contemporary Italy or Flanders and it has been easy for historians to under-estimate their ability to influence English politics. <p/><em>Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England 1413-1471</em> offers a new approach for evaluating the role of urban society in late medieval English politics. Rather than focusing on English towns individually it creates a model for assessing the political might that could be exerted by towns collectively as an 'urban sector'. Based on primary sources from twenty-two towns (ranging from the metropolis of London to the tiny Kentish town of Lydd) <em>Politics and the Urban Sector</em> demonstrates how fluctuations in inter-urban relationships affected the content pace and language of English politics during the tumultuous fifteenth century. In particular the volume presents a new interpretation of the Wars of the Roses in which the relative strength of the 'urban sector' determined the success of kings and their challengers and moulded the content of the political programmes they advocated.<br>