The discursive construction of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ reflects deeply rooted patterns of development that marginalize the contributions of peripheral European regions to the interdependent dynamics of culture, economy and power. Yet the binary distinction between core and periphery has been widely debated, its boundaries increasingly blurred, particularly in urban history, where the fixed structures of the urban environment offer a strong basis for comparison. As Katalin Szende and Erika Szívós note in their outstanding introductory chapter, this field ‘should by definition be comparative, in order to identify patterns beyond the individual local examples’ (p. 15). The editors frame the book using the idiom of the marginal, encompassing studies from the fringes of Europe in all cardinal directions. This approach does not imply self-marginalization; on the contrary, it seeks to challenge the deterministic and pejorative associations historically attributed to the concept of the periphery, beginning with Immanuel Wallerstein’s first volume of The Modern World-System (1974). It addresses the relationship between core and margins within the paradigm shifts brought about by the ‘cultural turn’ that emphasized the multiple agencies of individuals and groups in shaping their own socio-economic environments, regardless of their geographical position. These 13 studies compare market- and trade-related case studies from Europe’s geographical fringes, challenge negative connotations associated with the concept of the ‘rim’ and uncover commonalities that offer deeper insights. The chapters address marginality not solely in geographic terms but also through the lens of power dynamics and the liminal (opened or walled) spaces of urban environments. They present urban markets and marketplaces as centres of social interactions, places of negotiations for political and religious presence or market mechanisms of trade. Here one finds marginal towns, groups or merchandises playing core roles.

The contributions are organized into two sections. The first cluster of seven chapters examines urban markets, exploring trading facilities and the reciprocal relationship between spatial organization and economic activity, as well as the role of town authorities in shaping this interplay. First, Rosa Smurra surveys the role of central/local power and ecclesiastical institutions in the development and control of marketplaces in high medieval Italian communes from the two poles of the Italian peninsula. Pavel Lukin’s chapter on medieval Novgorod offers a fascinating new perspective on the marketplace’s topography as a multi-faceted functional construct, drawing on an extraordinary archaeological discovery – letters inscribed on birchbark. Through case studies from medieval Hungary, Boglárka Weisz uses topographical and morphological analyses to build a compelling argument for the networked nature of marketplaces. Likewise, Anna Paulina Orłowska and Patrycja Szwedo-Kiełczewska, drawing on several examples from early modern Poland, demonstrate how inadequate infrastructure could hinder the network capacity of trade. Dan Dumitru Iacob examines the impact of marketplaces by comparing the social characteristics of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fairs in Wallachia and Moldavia. In the closing chapter of this section Jiří Pešek offers a thought-provoking analysis of the economic issues facing Prague’s suburbs and the resistance they developed to unification and city expansion in the late nineteenth century.

The second group of chapters focuses on the networks underpinning trade and the urban economy, offering diverse examples of the interdependence between merchants, artisans and entrepreneurs within an ever-changing landscape of competition and market opportunities. It opens with Michael Potterton’s study of medieval Irish towns and their long-distance trading networks, revealed through archaeological discoveries. His findings challenge long-held assumptions about marginality, suggesting that what was once considered peripheral may, in fact, be a relative concept. Franz Irsigler’s study of the paper trade in Italian, German and, especially, French towns may not fit neatly into the discourse of marginality, yet it vividly illustrates how seemingly small-scale but essential commodities like paper depended primarily on a town’s production capacity rather than its geographical location or overall economic power. Máximo Diago Hernando’s chapter demonstrates this by referring to another seemingly usual yet expensive and capital-demanding product of transhumant activity in nineteenth-century Castile: merino wool. Finn-Einar Eliassen supports the assertion of relative marginality by analysing timber production in small urban centres of early modern Norway and its overseas reach to important metropolises such as London or Amsterdam. Mária Pakucs-Wilcocks brings the cross-cultural dimension to the forefront in her article on the so-called Greek merchants who operated within the Ottoman Empire, conducting trade through the Balkans and Eastern Europe. By contrast, Peter Eigner’s chapter shifts the focus to the more recent past, examining Vienna’s local retail market – a consumption-driven network of small shops and pubs that have endured various challenges over time and are now undergoing an adaptive revival, with the prospect of once again serving as vibrant hubs of neighbourhood social life. It serves as an invitation to continue exploring the topic of consumption patterns, tracing their transformations throughout history and bringing the discussion into the present.

This is a book of outstanding contributions to the field of economic history, skilfully bound together by a sophisticated and well-conceived set of editorial principles. Together these studies bridge what has traditionally been seen as the core and the periphery, thereby offering a more powerful challenge to this dichotomy than any single argument could achieve.