ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the regulating of prostitution through formal and informal control mechanisms in early modern European cities. It focuses on the varying scope of influence held by the main officials governing the city and how their concerns about morality, social and public order, infection and economic development translated into more or less active regulation of prostitution. It appears that this process was dictated by more than just the urban government: various actors from the top to the bottom of the society—the (Reformed) Church, the army/navy, but also local policemen, neighbours, customers, family members and the women themselves—played a role in its regulation. This combination of influences on legislation and prosecution led to the implementation of diverse forms of control, closely linked with the city typology. In the end, it was the peculiar socio-economic features of each city that modelled the regulation followed by the municipal government. Overall, the traditional south-north or Catholic/Protestant divide mattered only marginally when looking at the governance of urban prostitution: the economic risks for the city remained the main concern, followed by the morality of its inhabitants and, finally, their health.
