Walled Towns and the Shaping of France From the Medieval to the Early Modern Era

It traces the evolution of towns across much of what is today France from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century when the walls began to come down, opening up new, ultimately revolutionary possibilities for urban life. This long-term perspective on town fortifications-how they were built, the contests to control them, and how they shaped the lives of people both inside and outside them-in the end tell us much about the making of France.