The relationship between towns and lords was fundamental both to the making of towns and to the making of polities in the late Middle Ages. The European literature on state growth has led historians to focus on the role of towns in historicizing narratives of state formation and national exceptionalism. These different narratives have depended on urban typologies that emphasize the importance of the self-governing town at the expense of the town that operated under conditions of lordship. Yet the relationship between towns and lords was an essential, and inescapable, aspect of urban life. The experiences of the English town of Walsall, in the historic county of Staffordshire, are set within a European context. Walsall’s small size made it typical of the majority of urban centres in late medieval Europe. In an enduring pattern, the late medieval town was a site of continuing political experimentation, and urban development necessitated lordship. The complex entanglements between towns and lords also shaped polities. The article makes a case for the comparability of local political landscapes in different parts of Europe.

中文翻译：

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城镇的形成，政体的形成：中世纪晚期欧洲的城镇和领主


城镇和领主之间的关系对于中世纪晚期城镇的形成和政体的形成都是基础。关于国家增长的欧洲文献使历史学家关注城镇在历史化国家形成和国家例外论叙事中的作用。这些不同的叙述依赖于城市类型，这些城市类型强调自治城镇的重要性，而牺牲了在领主权条件下运作的城镇。然而，城镇和领主之间的关系是城市生活中必不可少且不可避免的一个方面。位于历史悠久的斯塔福德郡 （Staffordshire） 的英国小镇沃尔索尔 （Walsall） 的体验以欧洲为背景。沃尔索尔 （Walsall） 的小规模使其成为中世纪晚期欧洲大多数城市中心的典型代表。在一个持久的模式中，这个中世纪晚期的城镇是一个持续的政治实验场所，城市发展需要领主制。城镇和领主之间的复杂纠葛也塑造了政体。这篇文章为欧洲不同地区地方政治格局的可比性提供了理由。