Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
Communalism is a term used by the German historian Peter Blickle for a form of representative government in Europe before 1800. The concept is mainly based on Germany of the Holy Roman Empire where it describes the widespread communal institutionalization in villages and towns between the 14th and 16th centuries. Being a concept of historical research developed since the 1970s, it should not be confused with anarchist or communist ideas about society.
Peter Blickle:Gemeindereformation. Die Menschen des 16. Jahrhunderts auf dem Weg zum Heil, München 1987.
Peter Blickle:Unruhen in der ständischen Gesellschaft, in Lothar Gall (ed.), Enzyklopädie Deutscher Geschichte Band 1), München, 1988.
Peter Blickle:Die Reformation im Reich, Stuttgart, 1992.
Bernd Moeller:Reichsstadt und Reformation, Berlin, 1987.
Randolph C. Head. Demokratie im frühneuzeitlichen Graubünden. Gesellschaftsordnung und politische Sprache in einem alpinen Staatswesen, 1470-1620. Zürich 2001. ISBN3-0340-0529-6