RHN 13/2026 | Event
Organisers: Daniel Menning (Universität Tübingen) and Jon Stobart (Manchester Metropolitan University)
16 – 18 March 2026, Hegelbau, Wilhelmstr. 36, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Rural Retailing and Global Goods in Early Modern Europe
Changes in retailing have been accepted as a key component of the emergence of modern consumer societies. Yet, the history of the transformation of retailing between 1600 and 1850 has been predominantly written as one of either urban shops or peddlers, mostly neglecting the existence and development of village shopkeepers as well as the interplay between the different actors and forms in retailing which also included weekly markets or more occasional fairs. Moreover, much of the research on early modern retailing has focused on Britain, the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands. The number of studies on other European regions is very limited, whilst robust international comparisons are practically non-existent. In addition, the integration of new global goods into everyday life has been closely connected with an urban public sphere, with imperialism and with contemporaries’ interpretations of their Empires. These ideas require critical appraisal and leave unanswered how such goods were accessed and consumed in the countryside, and interpreted by people in countries without colonies. This conference seeks to address these questions.
Programm
Monday, March 16th:
13.30-14.00: Arrival/coffee
14.00-14.15: Daniel Menning (Tübingen)/Jon Stobart (Manchester): Introduction
14.15-15.00: Jane Whittle (Exeter): The work of retailing in rural and small-town England, 1600-1700.
15.00-15.45: Daniel Muñoz-Navarro (Valencia): Beyond the city. Supply networks and rural retailing in the Kingdom of Valencia during the long eighteenth century.
15.45-16.15: Coffee break
16.15-17.00: Aurian Meunier (Perpignan): Supplying the countryside in the Crown of Aragon in the 17th Century.
18.30: Dinner
Tuesday, March 17th:
9.00-9.45: Göran Ulväng/Sofia Murhem (Uppsala): Marketplaces and fairs in Sweden 1700–1900 – a prerequisite for the consumption revolution?
9.45-10.30: Astrid Wendel-Hansen/Erki Russow: Pulling at threads? Exploring global trade through textile imports and trade networks in early modern Estonia.
10.30-11.00: Coffee break
11.00-11.45: Henning Bovenkerk (Münster/Marburg): Buying Westphalian Coffee from post commissioner Schmidt – advertisers and advertisements of rural areas in Northwestern Germany, late 18th to early 19th century
11.45-12.30: Jon Stobart (Manchester): Placenames and provenance: geographical imaginaries of goods in English and German village shops, 1650-1800.
12.30-14.00: Lunch
14.00-14.45: Christine Fertig (Münster): Glocal remedies in rural areas. Cinchona bark, rhubarb, and tea in local trade and country houses.
14.45-15.30: Daniel Menning (Tübingen): Sweet delights: Biscuits, candy, and confections in German and English rural shops (1650-1830).
15.30-16.00: Coffee break
16.00-16.45: Riccardo Rossi (Vienna): Dealing the world in the Alps: The integration of retail structures in the Three Leagues into transregional and global trade, 17th–18th centuries.
16.45-17.30: Nicholas O’Neill (Tempe): Selling Limoges porcelain in the French countryside.
18.30: Dinner
Wednesday, March 18th:
9.00-9.45: Leigh Shaw-Taylor (Cambridge): Retailing in England and Wales 1415-1911.
9.45-10.30: Julien Villain (Paris): Rural merchants and rural retailing in Île de France and Lorraine in the 1740s–1790s. A comparative approach.
10.30-11.00: Coffee break
11.00-12.00: Conclusion and moving forward.
Further information can be found here.
Source: H-Soz-Kult