“Integrating Town and Country in Late Medieval Bavaria: Economic Exchange and Family Economy in the Market of Holzkirchen”
Clif Hubby

On the basis of an analysis of the local market town of Holzkirchen, located in southern Bavaria, I argue in this paper that such local markets played a critical role in the integration of town and country in Bavaria between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.  Like other markets, Holzkirchen acted as an intermediary between village society on the one hand, and larger towns, in this case Munich, on the other.  Such an argument is based in part upon Central Place theory, and it also follows some recent work in English medieval history.  However, it contrasts with much recent German literature on the subject, which stresses how larger urban centers aggressively extended their lordship over the coutryside.  The case of Holzkirchen suggests a more complex relationship between town and countryside.  The case of Holzkirchen suggests a more complex relationship between town and countryside in which members of village communities also played a dynamic role.  As is evident from the surviving charters and court rolls, Holzkirchen, in the first place, provided a hub for local villagers to sell agricultural products while acquiring a variety of craft goods.  Second, it created a node of interaction between merchants from the larger regional town of Munich and local merchants and consumers.  But beyond such market exchanges, Holzkirchen provided important links to the countryside through familial and property ties.  Villagers from even beyond the range of local market ties immigrated to the town for purposes of work or marriage, without severing their bonds to the villages of their origin.  Some families held property in both town and country, others who migrated retained ties to their local parishes.  This shows the existence of complex interrelationships between the village and the market, and suggests that these interrelationships were generated at least in part by the members of village society.