Város és folyó kapcsolata a Loire-vidéken (11. század vége – 14. század közepe)
The relation of the cities and the river in the Loire region (from the end of the 11th century until the middle of the 14th century)

Summary/Abstract: Examining the process of medieval urban development, the paper focuses on the development of the relationship between the cities and the river. All the four major cities in the lower Loire region were strongly connected to the Loire and its hydrographic network. In all four cases, the town formed at or close to the confluence of the tributary and the river (Erdre-Nantes, Maine-Angers, Thouet-Saumur, Cher-Tours). Beside the obvious considerations of urban defense, the importance of this was growing in the era, as a result of which the towns could maintain more lively relationship with the mostly agrarian hinterland. Their expansion towards the river became more marked from the 11th century onwards. It was always the counts and the church whose initiatives led to the urbanization of the territories at the river banks. However, over time we can witness the withdrawal of comital power and that of secular nobility from these areas. In the early period (11th-13th centuries), this was accompanied by the strengthening of newly founded or out-of-town church institutions in the given zone. Through the consequent assertion of the rights of landlords and the parish, their position in the balance of power of the city raised them to the level of influential municipal abbeys. Demographic growth brought an ever growing number of lay population in the river bank areas, which also contributed to this. The attachment of this mostly artisan-craftsman-trader stratum to these institutions remained lively and their association with the new foundations (primarily charitable institutions) further strengthened the character of the zone. The need to store economic goods, the appearance of warehouses, harbors and new marketplaces rearranged the economic centers of gravity within the city, adding importance and, in the property market, growing value to the waterfront and the areas near the bridges. Naturally, the growth of built-up areas brought new possibilities as well as new challenges for the city-dwellers. Defending the river bank, regulating the operation of mill bridges and dams, building and supervising bridges more and more became community tasks.

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