In spite of the continuing influence of the medieval tradition, the two centuries between 1400 and 1600 display a constant process of change both in wider and more localised cultural settings. This dynamics, to which also the Reformation made an essential contribution, particularly manifests itself in the complex organisation of urban life in the transition to the early modern era. The contributions from Dutch and German studies, from history and church history collected in this volume, address the question how cultural life in the city in this period can be studied through the influence of the chanceries as central organs of urban administration. Chanceries and the people who worked in them are of great importance since much of the cultural and economic life of a city was recorded by city or council scribes or other urban functionaries in their ‘official’ documents and public communications.