Across the Sea: Urban Formation and New House Building Horizons in the South Baltic Realm (c. 1100–1500)

From the end of the twelfth to the fourteenth century, a second wave of towns emerged along the coasts and estuaries of the south Baltic Sea area. During this period, urban communities acquired a high degree of independence. Extensive changes to house building accompanied the development. Timber-framing and masonry emerged as new constructions and became the dominant forms of architecture. This chapter explores the connection between these two phenomena, and it argues that the changes in building culture were intertwined with the social conditions of the second urban wave. The different trajectories and impact of the constructions within towns and rural settlements are related to the power of the actors involved in house building, while the time-spatial distribution of these constructions can be understood as an outcome of the social organisation of craft.