Medieval Towns: A Reader Edited by: Maryanne Kowaleski This exciting new collection of documents from across Europe gives a fresh perspective and sharp taste of everyday life in a medieval town. The sources range from the standard chronicles and charters to the less often viewed accounts of marriage disputes, urban women, families, the environment, the dangers of town life, and civic ritual. Deliberately wide-ranging, these sources acknowledge the contributions of other disciplines - such as archaeology, architecture, demography, law, and environmental studies - to our understanding of urban life in the Middle Ages. Towns from Spain to Germany to Russia are covered, while the focus is on the more urbanized regions of medieval Europe, particularly Italy, the Low Countries, France, and England. In all, 150 primary sources are included, 35 of which are translated for this volume from Latin, Old French, Anglo-Norman, Franco-Venetian, medieval Danish, and other languages. Maryanne Kowaleski is Joseph Fitzpatrick S.J. Distinguished Professor of Social Science and History and Director of the Center for Medical Studies at Fordham University in New York. She is also the author of Local Markets and regional Trade in Medieval Exeter (Cambridge University Press, 1995), editor of The Local Customs of the Port of Exeter, 1266-1322 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, 1993), and co-editor of Gendering the Master Narrative: Women and Power in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 2003).