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Based on a synthesis of the empirical scholarship on England and Germany, this paper demonstrates that in both regions, rural socio-economic developments from c.1200 to c.1800 are similar: this period witnesses the rise to numerical predominance and growing economic significance of the 'sub-peasant classes', which had a growing impact on the market as a result of their increasing market dependence, and from which - towards the end of the period - a rural proletariat emerged. Against the influential theory of Robert Brenner, it is argued that the period c.1200- c.1400 cannot really be categorized as 'feudal' according to Brenner's definition; and 'agrarian capitalism' does not adequately describe the socio-economic system that obtained by the end of the sixteenth century. A genuine transition to capitalism is only evident from after c.1750, and can be found in Germany as well as in England; it is predicated both on ideological shifts and on the evolution of the rural proletariat, which is only found in large numbers by or after c.1800. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the theoretical concept that a city is always influenced by the relations it has to its hinterland and to other cities. Taylor and colleagues point out that city-city relations and city-hinterland relations can be understood as two sides of a coin. Using this conception the polycentric structure and dynamics of the German urban system can be described through: (i) metropolitan functions representing city-hinterland relations (cosmopolitanity) and (ii) a network of cities representing city-city relations (connectivity). Measuring separately the degrees of cosmopolitanity and connectivity, we look at whether the German urban system after reunification has grown together, becoming one balanced urban system, and what role Berlin - as the new capital in the overall system - now has. The results of the two perspectives are compared and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]