Social interactions and secessions in medieval cities
Résumé
This paper interprets historical studies to analyze how social interactions acted upon institutions according to whether Medieval franchises (privileges) were granted or not in pre-existing or new towns. In the first case, lords and exclusive groups of inhabitants (elites: third party) negotiated a lump sum in return for franchises, which involved a ‘downstream secession'. Consequently, Medieval franchised pre-existing towns (FPTs) were both countervailing and secessionist institutions. In contrast, in Medieval franchised new towns (FNTs), through an ‘upstream secession' and self-enforcement mechanisms (without elites), lords regulated newcomers' activities, which eventually led to mutual gains; FNTs proved to be incentive institutions.
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