Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.
The city law customary in
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
probably dates back to
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditions of the
self-administration
Self-administration is, in its Medicine, medical sense, the process of a subject administering a Pharmacology, pharmacological substance to themself. A clinical example of this is the subcutaneous "self-injection" of insulin by a Diabetes, diabetic ...
of
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
cities.
Judicially, a
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
...
(or
burgh
A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...
) was distinguished from the countryside by means of a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
from the ruling
monarch
A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
that defined its
privileges and
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
s.
Common privileges involved
trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
(marketplace, the storing of goods, etc.) and the establishment of
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
s. Some of these privileges were permanent and could imply that the town obtained the right to be called a
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
...
, hence the term "borough rights" (; ). Some degree of
self-government
Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...
, representation by
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
, and
tax-relief could also be granted.
Multiple tiers existed; for example, in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, the basic royal charter establishing a borough enabled trade, but not foreign trade, which required a higher-tier charter granting
staple right
The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch , was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to display them f ...
.
See also
*
City rights in the Low Countries
City rights are a feature of the medieval history of the Low Countries, and, more generally, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. A liege lord, usually a count, duke or similar member of the high nobility, granted to a town or village he ...
*
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the the Crown, monarch of the United Kingdom to specific centres of population, which might or might not meet the generally accepted definition of city, cities. , there are List of cities in the Un ...
*
Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis
The ''Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis'' ("Treaty with the princes of the church") was decreed on 26 April 1220 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II as a concession to the German bishops in return for their co-operation ...
*
German town law
The German town law () or German municipal concerns (''Deutsches Städtewesen'') was a set of early town privileges based on the Magdeburg rights developed by Otto I. The Magdeburg law became the inspiration for regional town charters not only i ...
*
Zipser Willkür
Zipser Willkür (i.e. ''Zipser arbitrariness''), alternatively known as Zipser Recht (i.e. ''Zipser Law'') as well, was the official German town law () of the Zipser Germans or Zipser Saxons (), an ethnic Germans, German group which settled in th ...
*
Imperial free city
*
Kulm law
Kulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (; ; ) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities in the Middle Ages and early modern period.
It was initiated on 28 December 1233 in the Monastic State o ...
*
Lübeck law
The Lübeck law () was the family of codified municipal law developed at Lübeck, which became a free imperial city in 1226 and is located in present-day Schleswig-Holstein. It was the second most prevalent form of municipal law in medieval and e ...
*
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...
*
Market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
*
Royal free cities in the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
*
Scottish Burgh
*
Town privileges in Norway
*
Town privileges in Sweden
References
Privileges
Privileges
{{Europe-law-stub