Books by Alexander Cowan

Examining the nature and diversity of urban life during the 16th and 17th centuries, a period of considerable economic, political and social change, this text stresses the extent to which towns remained distinct from their rural hinterlands. Its wide embrace gives it the character of a history of Europe, viewed from the urban perspective

Throughout history, marriage has been used as a method of creating and strengthening bonds between elites and the societies over which they ruled. This book explores the parameters of upward social mobility, contemporary evaluations of social status and moral behaviour, and the place of marriage and concubinage within patrician society.