Sovereign City: The City-state Through HistoryThe city has had a rich and tumultuous history, evolving from a powerful political entity in ancient times to its modern role as a local hub of tourism and commerce. Sovereign City examines the nature of the city's ever-changing status, as Geoffrey Parker investigates the city-state as a geopolitical form and explores its distinctive niche within different types of states. This probing work analyzes the various forms of city-states throughout world history, from the Greek polis, which Plato and Aristotle considered the perfect type of state, to the Roman imperial capital, to the political role of the city in early Islamic society. Parker also considers the revival of the European city-state in late medieval and Renaissance Italy and northern Europe, which culminated in the Hanseatic League, and how the rise of the nation-state contributed to the decline of the city-state. Sovereign City is a wide-ranging and vigorous examination that seeks to understand the role of the city-state from the birth of Western civilization through its re-emergence at the dawn of the twenty-first century in the Far East and Islamic world. |
Contents
The Hellenistic Foundations | 47 |
Venice and the CityStates of | 78 |
The CityStates | 92 |
Cities and CityStates | 116 |
The German Hanse | 132 |
ΙΟ | 151 |
Moscow Novgorod | 183 |
The Globalization of the CityState | 213 |
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able Alexander Alexandria Alps Amsterdam ancient Antwerp army asserted Athens Baltic Barbarossa Baudolino became become began Bremen Brugge Byzantine capital Carthage Castile central centre Christendom Church citizen body city-states civilization coast commercial comune conquest Crusade cultural dominated Dutch Republic east eastern Mediterranean economic Emperor established European existence federal Flanders Florence foundations freedom geography geopolitical German Grand Prince Greek Hamburg Hanse Hanse cities Hellenic Hellenistic Holy Roman Holy Roman Empire Hong Kong Ibid imperial imperium important independence Italian Italy Kiev Kievan Rus kilometres land located London Lübeck maritime Medieval Mediterranean merchants monarch Mongol Moscow nation-state Netherlands northern Europe Novgorod old Hanse peninsula Persian Phoenician polis political Pope port principal provinces Pskov region remained Republic river role Roman Empire Rome Russia Russian sovereign Spain Spanish Spanish monarchy Sparta Stadtholder territorial tion took place trade urban Venetian Venice wealth whole