This superb collection, curated by Mária Pakucs-Willcocks and Julia Derzsi, provides fourteen chapters that examine local administration of Transylvanian and Wallachian towns from the early modern period through the nineteenth century. Town governments were shaped, in part, by the fact that these territories were at the forefront of the struggle between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires until the eighteenth century. Yet, as contributors demonstrate, local officials were not merely reactive agents of imperial control; they had agency and purpose, and strove to administer their towns according to the best principles of good governance. The fact that these chapters prioritize the motivations and actions of local leaders is this collection's most impressive strength. Each contribution is steeped in thorough use of town records, local archives, and sources that are all too often overlooked by historians. Moreover, this collection's emphasis on a border region that is underexamined in English-language historiography only enhances its value.
In their introduction, Pakucs-Willcocks and Derzsi make clear that their goal is not only to broaden the scope of historical inquiry by collecting chapters that bridge regions and time, but also to enhance the dialogue between scholars from different regions. In doing so, they purposefully select unpublished work as well as articles that appeared in non-English journals with limited exposure. Their intention is to push existing historiography into new directions while also breaking down the linguistic and institutional barriers that hamper the study of Transylvania and Wallachia. These are ambitious goals, and the collection exceeds them.
While the editors grouped the entries thematically, the chapters are so carefully curated that they are connected by threads of inquiry that move beyond this organization. For example, most chapters demonstrate that local leaders in Transylvania and Wallachia were deeply motivated by the ideals of good governance, which not only shaped how they administered their towns but also how they imagined their role in their communities. As proof of this fact, Julia Derzsi provides an innovative analysis of the public order statutes of the Sibiu town council in the 1580s, which demonstrates that town regulations were more than local administration; they were ways of signaling that Sibiu was a well-ordered, stable, and prosperous town. In doing so, Derzsi moves beyond the traditional assumption that such regulations were an expression of local autonomy; instead, they represented a commitment to effective administration. Mária Pakucs-Willcocks builds upon these insights in a chapter examining Sibiu's protocol book, which collected the minutes of town meetings, decisions by the town council, as well as contracts, wills, and agreements of town residents. Through a close reading of this book, Pakucs-Willcocks shows that it is more than a record of town activities; it is a projection of the authority of town leaders and the legitimacy of their power.
Árpád-Botond György illustrates that Pakucs-Willcocks's insights are not limited to Sibiu. Through a similar reading of the protocol book of the royal town of the Szeklers, he argues that such records are not just legal documents but also reflections of the values and intentions of town leaders. Moreover, they were meant to enhance influence over nearby rural regions and defend the privileges won from the central government. Ştefan Ionescu-Berechet's look at the public display of these concessions in Câmpulung Muscel shows how fiercely communities protected them. Throughout this Wallachian town, the documents preserving local autonomy, resource rights, and other privileges were literally carved into stone and made into memorial spaces used for civic events.
The importance of these monuments reminds readers that the power of local leaders was always contingent on rulers respecting town autonomy. As a result, the relationship between local and central authorities is another important throughline connecting these chapters. László Pakó's chapter on Cluj's Council of the Hundred not only reinforces the fact that town leaders eagerly preserved their administrative powers, but also shows that they regularly turned to central authorities when local conflicts became unmanageable. Contrary to standard assumptions, in these times, princely representatives were hesitant to intervene, eager to avoid upsetting the balance of power. This reality was also common in the mining and market town of Dej, where, according to Anikó Szász, town leaders regularly clashed with local nobles and turned to princely courts to settle disputes.
Since Towns between Empires focuses on local administration, it is not surprising that many of its contributions analyze the individuals who were town leaders. Andor Nagy's multigenerational assessment of Braşov's elite families not only reveals the fact that they consciously imagined themselves as patricians of the town but also that the families embedded within this group shifted over time, revealing the possibility of social ascendency and decline. Understanding the fluidity of leadership is also essential to Petra Mátyás-Rausch's exploration of Baia Mare's ruling class. In this mining town, wealth did not always translate to political authority, which was shaped, in part, by the heavy presence of military authorities nearby. Adrian Magina's analysis of the leadership of the market town Caransebeş also calls attention to shifts in town leadership after the Ottoman conquest. In this case, nearby nobles relocated to the town for religious reasons and for greater security. Once there, they fully integrated into the local leadership and dominated the town council and economic institutions. Similar tension is at the heart of Emőke Gálfi's innovative exploration of the physical space of Alba Iulia's main squares. Owning the property on these squares became a way for merchants and political elites to demonstrate their influence in the town. While traditional princely and noble families dominated the inner square of the city, its merchant and local elite crafted their own space along the market square outside the town walls.
While the majority of this collection analyzes the early modern period, its final four contributions move to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as local governments attempted to modernize their institutions and town infrastructure. As in the early modern period, these reforms were directly tied to notions of good governance, though they became increasingly blended with ideas of professionalization. For example, as Dan Dumitru Iacob shows, in Iaşi, regulations from 1832 created a modern police force aimed at systematizing public order. Constanţa Vintilă's chapter demonstrates that such reforms were also taking place in Bucharest. As the capital of an increasingly independent Romania, the city was eager to project itself as a modern urban polity and reformed policies related to public safety and hygiene. These reforms eventually led to the creation of a municipal laboratory tasked with examining drinking water and food quality. Tracing the evolution of this lab is the focus of Simion Câlţia's chapter and further demonstrates the increased professionalization of urban governance. Oana Sorescu-Iudean reminds us that the desire to preserve public health using emerging scientific theories was built upon earlier efforts in the eighteenth century. Her examination of Sibiu's response to a 1738 epidemic not only shows how local officials from the Saxon population attempted to meet this public health crisis, but also how their response reflected long-standing prejudices against Jews and Romanians.
As a whole, this collection achieves the balance of having chapters that create a cohesive, thematic whole while also leaving space for authors to explore a diverse range of topics and pursue innovative lines of inquiry. It also stands at the forefront of emerging scholarship and historiography while also leaving readers eager to see how its contributors will build on the work presented. The result is a collection that easily stands on its own while also pointing to the future of the field.
