ABSTRACT
The changes taking place in tenth-century Eastern Europe had political effects, but also social and economic consequences. As trade began to intensify under the new political structures emerging in a setup that was different from past centuries and had a Byzantine or Western influence, new urban centers began to develop. Trading operations predated the tenth century and were mostly associated with Varangians seeking to create a stable link between the Baltic and the Black Sea. Political centers did of course exist in various places long before AD 900, and gathered around them small communities of merchants and craftsmen. However, it was the conversion of the Slavs to Christianity and the advent of new religious and political structures in a larger area between the Elbe and the Volga that created the right setup for towns to emerge. One faces a number of challenges when doing research on the rise and development of urban centers between the 10th and 13th centuries. Where the 10th and 11th centuries are concerned, one must rely almost exclusively on the archeological evidence, since most written sources come from outsiders with a very one-sided view. Urban history in Eastern Europe has been approached from a variety of angles, which varied through time and political context. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, national historiographies adhered to ideologically charged interpretations, as some of the countries involved were part of the Communist bloc. The tendency to look for local origins and emphasize native developments has been particularly strong in the historiography of medieval towns, but the last three decades have witnessed the serious efforts of a young generation of historians to break free from tradition, and to adopt perspectives that place urban development in a wider, regional frame of reference.
