Nuremberg, woodcut from Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

This image via: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Nuremberga.png

“Town air makes you free” they say. Free cities, republics, imperial states, communes…. They had different names and legal arrangements, but they all represented a growing power in medieval Europe. The populations were small by today’s standards, but they punched above their weight – and then some! They were the cradles of our modern civilisation and cultural life.

Where were they? Well we’ll be taking a tour from the Low Countries to the Rhineland of Germany, and on to Switzerland, finishing in Italy. So that means Bruges and Antwerp, Nuremburg and Cologne, Basel and Geneva, Siena and Pisa. And of course there will be many other destinations en route.

The journey will not be smooth. Town air also breeds violence and exclusion. And yet it also gives rise to sublime art and architecture, as well as many of the civic ideals we still consider essential elements of Western society today.

RJW F2602 Online course (via Zoom)

10 weeks, Tuesday 13 January - Tuesday 24 March (incl., with half-term break on 17 February)

£120 (individual registration); £216 (for two people sharing one screen).