ABSTRACT
From the 15th to the 18th century a new complex of culture traits took shape in Europe, and these found physical expression in both the plan and the architecture of the newly founded town or the new section attached to an existing town. This new complex arose from the growth of mercantilist capitalism and a centralized “enlightened” despotism within the framework of the State. In the medieval era feudal lords, bishops, and kings had exercised personal supervision through their local representatives. Kings and emperors kept control through the movement of their residence and court from one place to another. The increasing complexity of government and the centralization of authority brought about the emergence of the capital city, which, at the same time, became a cultural capital, stamped in, and stamping, the national image. Here were the royal courts around which gathered the nobility, whose residences had hitherto been on the country estates. This is the era of capital cities. These grew rapidly to large proportions in the large nation-States, and developed in large numbers in the small court cities of the German Reich. The size of the capital cities in 1815 is a reflection of this development. The same feature is characteristic, in lesser degree only, of the provincial capital, where the nobility built their town residences and enjoyed the social amenities of cultured life. This was very true of the provincial capitals of France, where the Parlements were held and the nobility assembled ; of the county towns of England ; of the many small German provincial capitals like Münster, where great mansions of this period, with court, gardens and wrought-iron railings and large gates, lie in secluded Streets. Thus, “the age of free cities with their widely diffused culture and their relatively democratic modes of association, gave way to the age of absolute cities ; a few centres that grew inordinately, leaving other towns either to accept stagnation or to stultify themselves in hopeless gestures of imitation.” 1
