Towns between Empires contains contributions regarding urban administration and governance in the historical regions that are now in Romania, and that fall under the early modern concept of good governance. Chapters give insight into the concepts and solutions applied by urban governments to political, social and economic issues that were under their care and control. The authors approach various aspects of this topic: town councils as political and economic elites of early modern towns, urban political systems as models of early modern ideas of administration, relations between towns and central authorities (the Prince), healthcare as good governance. The chapters in the volume capture the widest possible variety of political and administrative systems in the region. Transylvanian towns were structured and governed similarly to other small Central European urban centers, however significant diversity can be discerned following the Reformation. Moldavian and Wallachian towns in the 18th and 19th century are little known to international scholarship, and the chapters in this volume will fill this gap.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables List of Acronyms Introduction - Mária Pakucs-Willcocks and Julia Derzsi Part I. Respublica—Political Constructs and Governance 1. Defending the Town’s Interest: The Council of the Centumviri and the Administration of Justice in Early Modern Cluj - László Pakó 2. Urban-Rural Relationship in the Light of Political Statutes at the End of the Sixteenth Century - Julia Derzsi 3. The Main Square outside the Town Walls and the Ruling Elites of Alba Iulia at the End of the Sixteenth Century - Em.ke Gálfi Part II. Urban Elites and Nobility in Market Towns 4. A Salt-Mining Town in Transylvania: The Political Elite and Urban Governance of Dej between 1541 and 1600 - Anikó Szász 5. A Gold-Mining Town in Transylvania: The Political Elite of Baia Mare and the Structure of the Local Government in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century - Petra Mátyás-Rausch 6. Residenza de nobili: Nobility in the Administrative Structures of the Market Town of Caransebe. (Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries) - Adrian Magina Part III. Town Books and Town Statutes in Early Modern Transylvania 7. Representations of the Urban Political Order in a Written Context: The First Protocol Book of Sibiu (1522–1565) - Mária Pakucs-Willcocks 8. A Szekler Town in Transylvania: The Statutes and Town Book of Târgu Mure. in the Seventeenth Century - Árpád-Botond György Part IV. The Many Faces of the Urban Elites: Identity and Representation 9. The Saxon Patriciate of Bra.ov in the Early Modern Period - Andor Nagy 10. Medieval Urban Autonomy of Câmpulung Muscel and Its Realignment in the Modern Period - .tefan Ionescu-Berechet Part V. Public Order and Public Safety in Towns 11. Keeping the City Alive: Managing Public Health Crises in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century in Sibiu - Oana Sorescu-Iudean 12. Shaping a Phanariot Town: “Good Order” in Eighteenth-Century Bucharest - Constan.a Vintil. 13. The Role of Police in the “Good Governance” of Ia.i from the Seventeenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Century - Dan Dumitru Iacob 14. Scientific Expertise as a Tool for Urban Administration: Chemical and Bacteriological Analyses ordered by the Municipality of Bucharest, 1877–1914 - Simion Câl.ia Glossary Bibliography List of Contributors Index