Abstract
Starting with a set of key questions formulated by Walter Prevenier in 1984, this article proposes an agenda for future research on urban public services in early modern European towns. The author suggests, first of all, a shift in research strategy toward a greater emphasis on actor-oriented analysis and a systematic reconstruction of underlying ideas and intentions of actors in shaping public services. Second, he points out the need for comparative research on variations in public services in different zones of state formation, urban fiscal matters, and town—country relations within Europe and on continuity and change in “repertoires” of practices in urban provisions through time. Finally, he argues that historians should also address the grand question in what respect, how, and why the long-term evolution of urban public services was affected by “great transformations” such as the Reformation, Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. The historiographies of public services in the early modern and modern periods could thus be more closely connected as well.
Published Version
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