Towns in Decline, AD 100-1600 TOWNS IN DECLINE AD 100-1600 Edited by T.R. SLATER O Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2000 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Terry Slater and the contributors 2000 The editors and contributors have asserted their moral rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1989, to be identified as the editors/authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Catalogueing in Publication Data Slater, Terry Towns in Decline, AD 100-1600 1. Cities and Towns, Ancient - Europe 2. Cities and Towns, Medieval - Europe 3. Civilization, Ancient 4. Civilization, Medieval I. Title 307.7’6’094 US Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Towns in Decline, AD 100-1600 / edited by T.R. Slater. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Cities and towns-Europe-History-Congresses. I. Slater, T.R. HT131 .T68 2000 307.76’094-dc21 99-056585 CIP ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-0084-8 (hbk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Password, Norwich, UK. Contents List of tables and figures Notes on contributors Preface 1 What is urban decline: desolation, decay and destruction, or an opportunity? T.R. Slater and James P.P. Higgins Part I Late-Roman and Early-Medieval Urban Decline 2 Change and decline in late Romano-British towns Neil Faulkner 3 Construction and deconstruction: reconstructing the late-Roman townscape Neil Christie 4 Urban failures in late-antique Gaul S.T. Loseby 5 Wroxeter and the transformation of late-Roman urbanism Roger White 6 The decline of the Wic? R.A. Hall 1 Urban development and decline on the central Danube, 100-1600 Peter Csendes Part II Late-Medieval Urban Decline 8 Decolonization and the dynamics of urban decline in Ireland, 1300-1550 Howard B. Clarke 9 The rise and fall of the medieval town in Wales Kenneth Murphy vi Contents 10 Archaeology and the late-medieval urban decline 214 Grenville Astill 11 Decline or decay? Urban landscapes in late-medieval England 235 Keith D. Lilley 12 ‘Urban decline’ in England, 1377-1525 266 Alan Dyer 13 The political economy of urban decline in the Renaissance 289 Samuel K. Cohn Index 306 Tables and Figures Tables 4.1 Cities in Roman, late-antique and early-medieval Gaul and Germany 75 12.1 The leading eighty towns of 1377 in rank order of population 273 12.2 The leading eighty towns of 1524-5 in rank order of population 275 12.3 Urban change, 1377-1524/5 278 Figures 2.1 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Romano- British towns, by period 30 2.2 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Canterbury, by period 31 2.3 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Verulamium, by period 32 2.4 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Colchester, by period 33 2.5 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Gloucester, by period 34 2.6 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Lincoln, by period 35 2.7 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Chichester, by period 36 2.8 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Winchester, by period 37 2.9 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Dorchester, by period 38 2.10 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Exeter, by period 39 2.11 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Leicester, by period 40 2.12 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman Wroxeter, by period 41 2.13 Number of rooms occupied in private buildings in Roman London, by period 42 2.14 Construction work on different types of building in Romano- British towns, by period 44 2.15 Construction work on various classes of buildings in Romano- British towns, by period 45 3.1 Porta Savoia: third century AD town gate at Susa, north-west Italy 57 3.2 The Roman theatre at Saepinum, central Italy 61 viii Tables and Figurres 3.3 The church of Santa Maria at Assisi, created out of the Temple of Minerva 64 4.1 Cities in Roman, late-antique and early-medieval Gaul and Germany 81 5.1 Plan of Wroxeter, based on aerial photographic and excavated evidence 97 5.2 Baths basilica site; plan of phase S 99 5.3 Baths basilica site; plan of phase W 100 5.4 Putative reconstruction of the baths basilica site in phase Y 102 5.5 Baths basilica site; plan of phase Z 103 5.6 Putative reconstruction of the baths basilica in phase Z 111 7.1 Roman border on the central Danube 138 7.2 Roman and medieval cities in the middle Danube valley: a. Medieval Regensburg 140 b. Lauriacum and medieval Enns 140 c. Traismauer built over the Roman precinct 141 d. Tulin 141 7.3 Roman and early-medieval Vienna 144 8.1 Land quality in Ireland 158 8.2 The distribution of towns and market settlements in medieval Ireland 162 8.3 The layout of the twin towns of Drogheda-in-Meath and Drogheda-in-Uriel 164 8.4 Seventeenth-century plan of Ardee 165 8.5 The distribution of moated sites in medieval Ireland 172 8.6 Tower houses and cabins in sixteenth-century Carrickfergus 176 8.7 The earliest representation of an Irish city or town: Waterford, c.1370 178 9.1 Medieval towns in Wales 195 9.2 Newport; topography and location of excavations 197 9.3 Rhuddlan 199 9.4 Wiston 202 9.5 New Radnor 204 9.6 Kidwelly 206 9.7 Usk 208 11.1 A plan analysis of Coventry 239 11.2 Coventry, 1610, by John Speed 240 11.3 Coventry, 1750, by Samuel Bradford 241 11.4 Hill Street (plan-unit XVI), Coventry 242 11.5 Gosford Street (plan-unit IV), Coventry 244 11.6 Spon Street (plan-units XVII and XVIII), Coventry 246 11.7 A plan analysis of Leicester 249 12.1 English towns, 1377-1525: changes in size 283 12.2 English towns, 1377-1525: rates of change 284 Contributors Professor Grenville Astill is Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology of the University of Reading. Dr Neil Christie is Lecturer in Archaeology in the School of Archaeological Studies of the University of Leicester. Dr Howard Clarke is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in the Combined Departments of History of University College, Dublin. Professor Samuel Cohn, Jnr is Professor of History in the Department of Medieval History of the University of Glasgow. Professor Dr Peter Csendes is Deputy Director of the Vienna Municipal and Provincial Archives. Dr Alan Dyer is Senior Lecturer in the School of History and Welsh History, University of Wales, Bangor. Dr Neil Faulkner is Honorary Research Fellow in the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London.. Dr Richard Hall is Deputy Director of York Archaeological Trust. Dr Keith Lilley is Lecturer in Human Geography in the School of Geo­ Sciences of The Queen’s University of Belfast. Dr Simon Loseby is Lecturer in History in the Department of History of the University of Sheffield. Kenneth Murphy is an archaeologist with the Dyfed Archaeological Trust Ltd. Dr Terry Slater is Reader in Historical Geography in the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences of the University of Birmingham. Dr Roger White is Research Fellow in the Field Archaeology Unit in the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology of the University of Birmingham.