歐洲中古城市研究作為歷史學獨立的研究主題，起源於啟蒙時代。伏爾泰（Voltaire, 1694-1778）認為，「城市」是抵抗中古封建勢力之主力，因此也是中古人民重新獲得「自由」的場域。在這個學術思想傳統裡，瑞士史家布克哈特（Jacob Burckhardt, 1818-1897）於1843年出版了個人第一本歷史學專書《科隆大主教孔拉德》（Conrad von Hochstaden, Erzbischof von Kölln, 1238-1261）。整體而言，孔拉德一書過去主要在兩個脈絡下被闡釋：第一，布氏早年史學研究思想與其師蘭克（Leopold von Ranke）的關係；第二，學生時代受浪漫主義影響的布氏。然而，上述兩種討論方向都忽略了布氏想透過「中古城市史」研究，來思考瑞士史如何書寫，以及德意志長期以來缺乏國家最高統治實體的歷史問題。本文指出，布氏對中古城市史的高度興趣，一方面源於他認為，在政教之爭夾擊下，城市是新興的第三種政權力量，而其本質卻與傳統封建勢力、教會勢力截然不同，因此可以提供中古文化多元發展的另一種可能，避免「基督教的西歐」走上定於一尊的道路。另一方面，布氏也認為，十三世紀中葉德意志興起的「城市同盟」，可以提供十九世紀的瑞士與德意志許多歷史借鏡。在對中古科隆（Köln）城市史的闡述上，布氏透過對大主教與科隆市政自治執行體之間的權力爭鬥，剖析中古「城市自由」的真實情況，並以此跳脫伏爾泰以降，對中古城市史研究比較關注市民如何爭取政治與經濟「自由」的詮釋觀點。布氏轉而探討的問題是：城市追求各階層、各社群和平共處的「人文思考」基礎如何建立？透過《科隆大主教孔拉德》一書的寫作，布氏開始嘗試將文化史研究與人文思考關懷結合在一起。在這個層次上，他也超越了自己對「文化史」原本的認知。布氏亦藉由對城市文化史不斷地進行思考與論述，終而對歐洲文化史書寫產生深具里程碑意義的啟發。

This paper investigates the reasons why Burckhardt turned from the political notion of Ranke’s Prussian School of Historicism to his Swiss perspective, and how Burckhardt broke through the late eighteenth century thinking about cultural history as study of the encompassing “background” of history by opening his own way of dealing with cultural history with more emphasis on humanistic reflections.In 1843, Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) published his historical monograph Conrad von Hochstaden, Erzbischof von Kölln, 1238-1261, in which he examined the conflicts between the Cologne archbishop Konrad of Hochstaden and the ruling patrician burghers—the so-called “die Richerzeche” —of the city. By revealing the fact that the archbishop Konrad’s incontinent desire to manipulate German politics in the mid-thirteenth century was engendered, on the one hand, by the exacerbating power struggle between the Holy Roman emperor and the Pope and, on the other hand, by the long-term absence of Frederick II from Germany, Burckhardt argued that the lack of the actual sovereignty in Germany at that time gave the city of Cologne a wonderful opportunity to create its own cultural golden age with diversity and abundance. Burckhardt’s notion of the autonomous development of urban culture against the political strife between emperors and Popes is strengthened by his highlighting of the impartial role Albertus Magnus (c. 1208-1280) played in mediating the power struggles between archbishop Konrad and burghers in the city of Cologne. Thus, he opened the way to establish the basic discourse pattern of his later cultural-historical writing to discuss the very significance of autonomy of culture in the politically troubled time.