Networking in Late Medieval Central Europe: Friends, Families, Foes
ISBN: 9781003278511
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / Routledge
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited



Exploring the formation of networks across late medieval Central Europe, this book examines the complex interaction of merchants, students, artists and diplomats in a web of connections that linked the region. These individuals were friends in business ventures, occasionally families, and not infrequently foes. No single activity linked them, but rather their interconnectivity through matrices based in diverse modalities was key. Partnerships were not always friendship networks, art was sometimes passed between enemies, and families created for financial gain. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the chapters focus on inclusion and exclusion within intercultural networks, both interpersonal and artistic, using a wide spectrum of source materials and methodological approaches.

The concept of friends is considered broadly, as connections of mutual affection but also simply through business relationships. Families are considered in terms of how they helped or hindered local integration for foreigners and the matrimonial strategies they pursued. Networks were also deeply impacted by rivalry and hostility.


Beata Możejko (University of Gdańsk) is Professor of History specializing in medieval history and the auxiliary sciences of history. Author of other 150 papers and articles, monographs, including "Peter von Danzig, The story of Great Caravel 1462-1475" (Brill 2020). Member of the Bureau of Committee on Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2020-2023) . Member of the Committee of Gdańsk Encyklopedia (Gedanopedia)

Anna Paulina Orłowska studied history and history of arts at University in Warsaw and Christian -Albrecht-University in Kiel. In Kiel she worked on her PhD on an account book from Gdańsk written in the first half of 15th century. After defending her thesis in 2015 she went to the Institute of History Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Now she works at the Institute for Comparative Urban History in Münster, Germany, where she develops the Historical Town Atlasses based on the said ontology.

Leslie Carr-Riegel received her doctorate in Medieval Studies from the Central European University in 2021. She has historically focused waste management, medieval trade relations between Poland and Italy, and legal history, but is most dedicated to teaching the next generation of scholars. She has worked as a fellow with the Medici Archive Project, the Princeton Global History Project, and the Käte Hamburger Kolleg at the University of Münster.

hidden image for function call