This text deals with the evolution of urban and rural communities in Provence and Langeudoc in the high and late Middle Ages. Contributions by 13 French, American and Canadian scholars address latter-1990s insights in historical research and suggest directions for future investigation. The urban and rural worlds are treated separately in studies of the growth of communities in their political, topographical, social and economic dimensions. Then the intersection of these worlds is explored through the intricate interrelations of town and country in these regions. Notarial registers are particularly rich sources of evidence for these scholars who are mindful of the southern French tradition of Roman and written law which underpinned both urban and rural institutions as they emerged in the course of the medieval period.