An extensive body of criminological research has shown that criminal and violent behaviour manifests time patterns in terms of daily, weekly and annual cycles. This is consistent with criminological routine activities theory. Can we generalize these patterns to historical periods?In this article, we draw on a recently created unique dataset, covering the years 1608 to 1699 in three Nordic regions, to explore time cycles of offending in the early modern period. Examining daily, weekly and annual cycles, we find that lethal violence manifested strong time patterns in the early modern period. The role of public holidays was central especially in the period lasting from Christmas to Midsummer. Probing the role of key routines, we disaggregated the composition of homicide cycles by alcohol use and place of occurrence. The findings indicated that early modern homicide time cycles were associated with alcohol use and activities in private places. We conclude by discussing the strengths and limitations of our data and by suggesting further research in the promising frontier of standardized long duration homicide research.
Th is article examines how, in the early modern towns of Stockholm and Åbo, royal interests, town planning, street building and maintenance, and street behavior related to ideas and ideals of urban order. Town laws and ordinances, royal letters and some town court records are employed to tell a story of royal interest in well-ordered, impressive, successful towns; various street plans for the capital and the smaller provincial towns; and the varying execution of renewal plans. It is evident that the capital was to refl ect the royal person and the state and that streets and street behaviour were important in this regard. But in towns outside the capital, especially in concrete street maintenance, the centrality of streets does not clearly emerge. Th e burghers in towns operated as individuals-there was no bottomup or top-down plan or supervision.
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