Period

Administration

A place, an object, an everyday problem. Find a small story that opens up a bigger picture.

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Who Ruled Bruges? Guilds, Merchants and Burgundian Power

When: Late Middle Ages
Where: Flanders

Examine Bruges’ civic rights, inequalities within its organised crafts and the confrontation with Maximilian in 1488.

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Organization

The Hanseatic Merchants of Bruges

When: Early Modern Period
Where: Flanders

Explore the Hanse’s Bruges trading community through privileges, surviving charters and a dispute involving an extraordinary cargo.

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Explanation

How Trade Worked in Medieval Bruges

When: High Middle Ages
Where: Flanders

Follow the practical links between hostellers, moneychangers, local markets and merchant privileges that made trade possible in medieval Bruges.

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Change

The Fall of Ur III: How Cities Outlived a Kingdom

When: Bronze Age
Where: Southern Mesopotamia

A kingdom could lose its provinces and capital without ending the history of its cities. Follow the fall of Ur III through clay records, remembered disaster and a later house at Ur.

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Innovation

How Mesopotamia Turned Counting into Writing

When: Uruk Period
Where: Southern Mesopotamia

Writing in Mesopotamia began with practical records. Follow the changes that let clay tablets identify goods, organise information and eventually represent speech.

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Place

Uruk: How One of the First Cities Came to Life

When: Uruk Period
Where: Southern Mesopotamia

A decorated wall leads into a much larger story: how water, materials, skilled work and records came together in ancient Uruk.

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