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The Bronisław Geremek Prize for outstanding first book 2016 awarded to UCL History Lecturer Patrick Lantschner

22 December 2016

Patrick Lantscher Book

Patrick Lantschner has been awarded the 2016 Bronisław Geremek Prize for an outstanding first book in the History of European Civilization for his book The Logic of Political Conflict in Medieval Cities: Italy and the Southern Low Countries, 1370-1440. The prize is named in memory of the medieval historian and Polish statesman Bronisław Geremek. It is funded by the European Civilization Chair, which was established with the support of the European Parliament at the College of Europe at Natolin/Warsaw, and is awarded in cooperation with the Foundation Professor Bronisław Geremek Centre on the basis of reviews written by an international jury of experts. Patrick will travel to Warsaw to collect the prize in the spring of 2017. 

More information about the prize can be found here.

Patrick's book traces the logic of urban political conflict in late medieval Europe's most heavily urbanized regions, Italy and the Southern Low Countries. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are often associated with the increasing consolidation of states, but at the same time they also saw high levels of political conflict and revolt in cities that themselves were a lasting heritage of this period. In often radically different ways, conflict constituted a crucial part of political life in the six cities studied for this book: Bologna, Florence, and Verona, as well as Liège, Lille, and Tournai. The Logic of Political Conflict in Medieval Cities argues that such conflicts, rather than subverting ordinary political life, were essential features of the political systems that developed in cities. Conflicts were embedded in a polycentric political order characterized by multiple political units and bases of organization, ranging from guilds to external agencies. 

More information about the book can be found here