Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Maps -- Editor's preface -- Preface -- A Note on place-names -- 1 The transformation of the Roman towns -- The Meuse Valley -- The Scheldt Valley -- The North Sea coast -- Conclusion -- 2 The nadir of urban life (sixth-seventh centuries) -- The Meuse Valley -- The Scheldt Valley -- The North Sea coast -- Conclusion -- 3 New urban beginnings and the Viking raids (eighth-ninth centuries) -- The emporia on the southern North Sea and Channel coast -- The Meuse Valley -- Between North Sea and Scheldt -- The Viking raids -- Conclusion -- 4 The urbanization of the high Middle Ages (tenth-eleventh centuries) -- The Meuse Valley -- From the North Sea to the Scheldt Valley -- Ghent -- The group of ecclesiastical towns: Arras, Tournai, Cambrai -- Bruges, Saint-Omer, Douai -- The tenth-century fortresses on the River Scheldt: Antwerp, Ename, Valenciennes -- Urban development in Brabant -- Conclusion -- 5 Industrialization, commercial expansion and emancipation (eleventh-twelfth centuries) -- The urban community and its organisation, the urban population and its origins -- Merchants' guilds -- Sworn communes -- From sworn commune to aldermen's rule -- Manual workers' organisation -- Hanses -- Urban industry and commercial expansion -- The metal industry in the Meuse Valley -- The cloth industry in Flanders -- Flemish foreign trade -- Conclusion -- 6 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of cities and towns -- General index.