This book is an outgrowth of the Dutch-Flemish research project ‘Circulation of knowledge in the Low Countries. Flows of technical knowledge in the western core-area of the Low Countries between c. 1400 and 1700’ which was co-funded by the Dutch and Flemish Research councils (NWO and FWO-Flanders). In September 2010, the initiators and supervisors of this project, Karel Davids (VU University Amsterdam) and Bert De Munck (University of Antwerp), together with Marco Belfanti (University of Brescia), organized a session at the 10th International Conference on Urban History in Ghent, with a view to placing the findings of the project in a broader comparative perspective. The participants were invited to discuss case studies from Italy and the Low Countries that addressed technological innovation in Late Medieval and Early Modern cities from the perspective of regulation. Key questions were: how did urban authorities and craft guilds cope with the need for innovative entrepreneurs and skilled workmen? What measures were implemented and what results did they have? Was technological innovation the effect of a deliberate policy or rather the unintended result of regulations with other aims in view? What exactly, if at all, was the connection between regulatory mechanisms and institutions and the supply of technical knowledge and human capital in ancien régime cities? Subsequently, a workshop was held in Rome at the Academia Belgica (2–3 September 2011), at which revised versions of the papers were presented and discussed alongside a number of additional case studies. Maarten Prak (University of Utrecht) and Reinhold Reith (University of Salzburg) were invited as referees and discussants.
We are grateful to all participants in these meetings for their critical and valuable contributions. In addition, we thank the co-promoters of the project, Bruno Blondé (University of Antwerp), Ria Fabri (Artesis High School Antwerp), Leo De Ren (Catholic University of Leuven), Koen Goudriaan (VU University Amsterdam), Natalie Ortega (Artesis High School Antwerp), Peter Stabel (University of Antwerp) and Petra van Dam (VU University Amsterdam). Thanks are also due to the staff and personnel of the Academia Belgica for their hospitality and support during our stay in Rome, to Dr Vivien Collingwood for carefully proofreading the texts and to Margot Cattersel for patiently editing and preparing the manuscript.