ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses the means by which city councils created and maintained urban peace inside the city walls. It is shown that in this respect, urban peace formed the basis for security in the city and the foundation for the most important vested interest of the citizens as well as of all inhabitants: the undisturbed and wide-ranging pursuit of their economic objectives. The author focuses on conflicts between largely autonomous towns and their town lords, who, in the last third of the fifteenth century, tried to regain control over the cities’ administrations and courts of law. He aims to show that upholding the peace was a paramount feature of urban legal culture. The paramount objective of urban councils and courts was to keep the peace within the city walls because legal peace was crucial to securing and promoting trade and craft.
