Mateusz Goliński, History of Prague Towns until the Early 15th Century, trans. Joanna Golińska-Moneta. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, 92. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2024, xii, 439 pp.; 5 color maps, 1 b/w ill. and 4 tables.

Mateusz Goliński is professor of Medieval History at the University of Wrocław in Poland. His work, reflected in this large and detailed book, is without antecedent or peer and confirms him as a leading expert on the history of east-central European cities. History of Prague Towns builds upon well-researched studies of Wrocław and Świdnica which appeared between 1991 and 2004. His work on Silesian cities is monumental and essential. What Goliński achieves in this first monograph written in Polish on the subject is a narrative that is extensive, multi-disciplinary, and based on a wide range of sources. The Polish edition appeared in 2018 and is now available to a wider audience thanks to its inclusion in one of Brill’s series. The book spans the period between the 900s and 1409 and deals with the four towns of Prague: Old Town, New Town, Lesser Town, and Hradčany; though the complex at Vyšehrad (castle) also comes into focus as do settlements and suburbs of the said towns (i.e., Újezd). From the twelfth century, the name “Prague” came to signify not just the castle but the sprawling suburbium.