Pre-modern commercialisation and a long-term decrease in transaction costs are not only
mirrored in the expansion of goods markets but notably in the development of factor markets.
Medieval markets for rural land and credit have been addressed systematically with a focus on
Western Europe but to a far lesser extent for Central European regions. The contributions in
this volume examine tenure and circulation of rural properties in Central Europe with a focus
on the 15th and 16th centuries combining an in-depth analysis of selected case studies north
and south of the Alps and a discussion within the broader picture of the research on pre-modern
land markets. The comparison between four Austrian one Czech one South-Tyrolian and one
Italian case study aims to determine the elements which prove relevant decisive or
obstructive to the tenant's agency and the development of flexible land markets. The case
studies address different methodological issues and specific regional features and in summary
reveal active rural land markets in Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The mobility
of rural properties thrived in an institutional framework that in economic history research has
mostly been associated with stability and a lack of dynamism.
