Transcript Chapter 26

Chapter 26 The Rise of Towns
Words, Terms and People to Know
•
•
•
•
•
•
Wares
Master
Burg
Journeyman
Charters
Guild
•
•
•
•
Fairs
Burghers
Communes
Dante’s Divine
Comedy
• Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales
Chapter 26
• Rise of Trade and
Towns
• 500 A.D.—1400 A.D.
Section one: discusses
how the growth of
trade led to the rise of
towns in the Middle
Ages, focusing on
Venice and
Flanders.
Why The Crusades Matter
(as a graphic organizer!)
Turks gain control of Palestine
(the Holy Land) and threaten
Constantinople. Why those
guys!!!! WE oughta….
BOOM! The Feudal
And they DO …as the
emperor asks the Pope
for help. Urban II
says “You BET YA!”
order starts to unravel
and Europe emerges
from the Dark Ages.
Thousands of Europeans (many
of them serfs) take up the cause
and are exposed to new areas,
ideas, and commodities- sparking
a new interest in trade and town
life. AND…
Pope Urban asks European
lords- and everyone else-to
free the Holy Lands from the
Turks. Offering freedom from
church taxes and a free ticket
to heaven the people begin to
move!
The Revival of Trade
Three functions of money
1. Money
serves as
a convenient
medium
of exchange.
2. Money
serves
as
a
measure
of
value
Italian ships brought
People can
trade
money
for
goods
and
services
goods back
3. Money
serves
a s from
store of
value—
• BOOM!
Asia and Venice
which means
that
people can hold
prospers.
Vikingtheir
ships brought
You’ve
got…
Asian
goods to
The Crusades
wealth in the form of money until
they
northern Europe.
stimulated trade.
are ready to use it.
Revival of Trade
Well,…at least, places to buy things
Flanders became
to buy-- Which means
Theyou
Hanseatic
a meetingand
centerthings
of
League set up
different trade routes. The
need
money!
trading posts.
next thing you know…
Medieval Demographics
•The population levels of
Europe during the Middle
Ages can be roughly
categorized:
•400-1000: stable at a low level.
•1000-1250: population boom
and expansion.
(end of foreign invasion and good weather)
Medieval Demographics
• 1250-1350: stable at very high level.
• 1350-1420 steep decline
• 1420-1470: stable at a low level
• 1470-onward: slow expansion gaining
momentum in the early 16th century.
Town or City?
• Technically speaking, during the
middle ages the difference was not one
Using the definitions here—a town!
of size but rather one of- did a bishop
have
his
seat
there?
A
City
had
a
Dalton. A town or a city?
bishop and a cathedral with its
dependent population.
• A “town” was an urban center
without a bishop.
1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket
was murdered in the Cathedral
What makesDalton.
a place A
a town?
"town"?
• Some scholars say that to have a town
you need a market, a charter (a legal
document granting rights or privileges)
Using the definitions here— probably not as it
and a jury of 12. Others will say that
lacks a wall--or defenses.
you need burghers and a mayor instead
of a reeve (English official elected annually
by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord a
reeve looked after the affairs in the
medieval village), and defenses, such
as a town wall.
What
makes
a
place
a
"town"?
Some elements shared by many medieval towns in
Depends upon the where and the when it is located.
•
excerpt
(UN)
definitions
of metropolitan
areas were
first issued
in 1949 by the then Bureau of the
England
(other
areas had different
elements
in common):
“Standard
(U.S.)
Budget (predecessor of OMB), under the designation "standard metropolitan area" (SMA). The
term was changed to "standard metropolitan statistical area" (SMSA) in 1959, and to
"metropolitan statistical area" (MSA) in 1983. The term "metropolitan area" (MA) was adopted
in 1990 and referred collectively to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), consolidated
metropolitan statistical areas (CMSAs), and primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs).
The term "core based statistical area" (CBSA) became effective in 2000 and refers collectively
to metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas.
•
•
•
•
•
Defenses—most medieval cities are walled & have Street grid
Markets and fairs
Mint (where you make coins)
OMB has been responsible for the official metropolitan areas since they were first defined,
A
Charter
allowing
a marketofor
except
for the periodfrom
1977 tothe
1981,king,
when they
were the responsibility
the fair
Office of Federal
Statistical Policy and Standards, Department of Commerce. The standards for defining
Religious
organization
monastery,
metropolitan areas were
modified in 1958, 1971,(cathedral,
1975, 1980, 1990,
and 2000.
•
•
•
•
The 2000 standards provide that each CBSA must contain at least one urban area of 10,000 or
Population
(you couldn’t have a town with 20 people)
more population. Each metropolitan statistical area must have at least one urbanized area of
50,000 or more inhabitants. Each micropolitan statistical area must have at least one urban
Judicial
(law
cluster of at leastCenter
10,000 but less
than court)
50,000 population…”
Housing
Thank you for clarifying what’s a town, …or a MSA
Statistical
Area)…
Shops(Micropolitan
and production
of goods
(craftCensus
people Bureau!!!
organized into
churches…)
Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas
guilds) defines a town as “a place that supported a wide range
of professions” Professor C. Dyer University of Leicester
The Growth of Towns
Town Growth Helped by Decline of Serfdom caused by:
Serfs could now leave for towns
(during periods of surplus Population they were encouraged to leave for towns.
Serfs could earn money by
selling crops to townspeople.
Changing agricultural methods pushed
them off the land.
The Black Death killed many people in Europe
so the demand for workers increased.
Maritime Republics of Venice, Genoa, and a handful of others developed
their own "empires" in the Mediterranean shores. From the 8th until the
15th century, they held the monopoly of European trade with the Middle
East. Venedig is German for Venice as is Genua for Genoa
I. Trading Centers
•
A. located on important sea routes connecting
Europe with Mediterranean Sea, Russia And
Scandinavia
B. Venice
•
•
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Places to Locate: Venice , Flanders
1. founded in 500s by people fleeing Germans
2. Venetians had to depend on sea for living
3. fished, produced salt from seawater in exchange for
wheat, wine, and slaves to Byzantines for fabrics and
spices.
4. During 1100s Venice a leading port city
5. Venice’s prosperity spreads to other parts of Italy
6. The navies of Italian trading towns drove the
Muslims from the Mediterranean
7. Opened the Near East to Europeans
8. Italian trading towns quarreled and lost much trade
to towns along Europe’s Atlantic coast.
Run Time: [03:21]
Explains how the Venetian ship and merchant industry provided for a link between Europe and the Orient,
mentioning the travels of Marco Polo, and the impact of the link on the Renaissance and the Crusades
Law Merchant: the body of customary rules and principles relating to
merchants and mercantile transactions and adopted by traders themselves for
the purpose of regulating their dealings. Initially, it was administered for the
most part in special quasi-judicial courts, such as those of the guilds in Italy
and, later, regularly constituted courts in England
Compiègne—meeting city of trade
•
I. continued
• Prior to the rise of
League: mercantile
league of medieval German towns. It was
•Hanseatic
C.
Flanders
Flanders
the
amorphous in character; its origin cannot be dated exactly. Originally a Hansa
a1.
company
of merchants
trading
with foreign lands. A major impetus to the
Hanseatic
League
•was
Today
part
of
Belgium
league's development was the lack of a powerful German national government to
of
themutualwool
provide
for trade.
Inmost
order
obtain
security,
– security
2.controlled
raised
sheep
andtoproduced
for exclusive
weavingtrading
rights, and, wherever possible, trade monopoly, the towns drew closer together.
trade
along
Northern
industry
The Hanseatic
League
declined
because it lacked any centralized power with
which
the new
and more
powerful
nation-states forming on its
– to withstand
3.Europe.
earliest
Atlantic
trading
center
borders. The Dutch (Flanders) were growing in mercantile and industrial
– 4.
harbors
their
met traders from
strength,
andbuild
in the 15th
centurywhere
they were
able rivers
to oust German
Dutch domestic markets and the North Sea region as a whole. By the mid-16th
– 5. by 1300 the most important trading partner was
century, Dutch ships had even won control of the carrying trade from the Baltic
London
to the west,
dealing a serious blow to Lübeck. The league died slowly as England
contested with the Netherlands for dominance in northern European commerce
• a.) relied on English shepherds to supply wool
and Sweden emerged as the chief commercial power in the Baltic Sea region. The
whichdiet
they
into
Hanseatic League’s
metturned
for the last
timecloth
in 1669.which they sold back to
England
Section Two: tells how merchants became an important part
With
the increased
economic
activity
of was
the Middle
Ages,
was
a growing
for
money
Theof
Latin
world
“feria”life
meaning
day
the origin
ofthere
the
word
“fair.” need
Each
feria
was a
European
andholy
development
and
contributed
to
the
exchange
and
the
conversion
of
coins.
Money
changers
were
soon
holding
and
transferring
day when large numbers of people would assemble for worship. The commerce and trade of
growth
of meant
burgs.
large sums
moneymoney.
and extending
loans totook
merchants.
As the
demand
increased,fairs
so didon
thefeast
the Medieval
fairs of
The church
an active
part
in sponsoring
number of services. Common financial activities came to include granting loans, investing, as
days, andwell
as as
a result,
fairs came to be an important source of revenue for the church.
most of the deposit, credit and transfer functions of a modern bank. (The Money
Commerce,
by way
of Wife
the Medieval
fairs and religion became closely entwined.
Lender
and his
1514)
• II. Merchants
• A. Merchants became an important part of
European life
• B. First merchants were adventurers who traveled
in groups for protection
• C. Fairs
– 1. fairs were sponsored by nobles who collected taxes on
sales
– 2. held once a year for a few weeks at selected places
– 3. precious metals begin to replace bartering
– 4. coins of different countries were tested on benches to
determine their value. Banc, or bench comes the
English word bank
Times and Locations
• Trade fairs usually held once a year, specific locations
• Some trade fairs lasted for months
• Schedule staggered so merchants could travel from one to
another
• Some merchants spent most of time on road
Market
• Trade fairs not attended by average person
• Generally places for sales between merchants
• For everyday needs, people visited local markets
• Local markets sold locally-produced goods
II. continued
•
D. The Growth of towns
–
–
–
–
1. Merchants chose places where they can permanently
store their goods (wares)
2. chose places along trade routes or road crossings
3. settle close to a castle or monastery
4. surrounded settlements with high stake fences and
moats
–
5. Germans called castle burgs. Towns came to be
–
6. Once a week, nobles and peasants sold food for goods
they could not make
7. artisans came to find work and bring their families an
towns become place people live and not just work or sell
–
called burgs because they were often located near
castles.
Section Three: describes the living conditions in
medieval towns
before and after
the changes
brought
LIFE EXPECTANCY
IN MEDIEVAL
TOWNS
residents,
whether rich or poor, faced the same general
aboutAllby
burghers.
environmental conditions and threats, including the constant
fear of sickness and life-threatening diseases. Average life
expectancy for all groups was low. Archaeological evidence
• III. Living Conditions
– A.
By 1200s towns replace fences with walls and
shows an average adult life expectancy of thirty-five
towers
for males and thirty-one for females.
England’s infant mortality rate was extremely high.
– B.
Crowded unhealthy places with open sewers
The plague was to visit England at least thirty times between
and
streets
1348,narrow
the year of
the Black Death, and 1485. Other
common
urban
– C.
1300s rats
camediseases
to Europeincluded
on trading ships
tuberculosis, dysentry and smallpox. As an
from
the middle east
example, Dartford England’s residents faced famine in 1391
due to an acute shortage of corn. Townspeople were forced to
– D.
Black death kills millions (roughly 1/3rd of
make bread from fern roots; their survival depended on an
emergency
diet of nuts and apples. All sections of Dartford’s
the
total
population)
community were economically inter-dependent. If trade
slumped or crops failed everybody was affected.
– E.
People flee to the countryside
Ebgate Lane
Seriously BOOM
It was a mess!
My college room mate
was a real PIG!
BOOM
BOOM!
I
And…the
hated thatnext
GUY!
BOOM you have
my old college dorm room
thing you know-
Sorry
I had some left
over explosives I
needed to get rid
of.
Daily Life in Cities
Stocks are
used instandards,
the medieval timesthe
as a form
of physical
According
todevices
today’s
cities
thatpunishment
grew up in Europe and the
involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they
Middle
were
and
At times,
in these cities could
wereAges
often exposed
in asmall
public place
such crowded.
as the site of a market
to the scornlife
of those
who passed by. Since the purpose was to punish offenders against the standards of
be very
unpleasant.
conduct
of the time, anybody could assault, revile or aim filth at the victim.
Streets
• Were narrow,
winding
The Gibbet
• Shops, houses
Fire and Crime
• Made medieval
cities dangerous
• Air
hazy
with
Gibbeting was common law punishment,
which
a judge
could
both
sides This practice
smoke
impose inlined
addition
to execution.
was from
regularized
in England
by the
Murder Act 1752, which
empowered
judges
cooking,
tanneries
• High
buildings
to impose this for murder. It was most often used for traitors,
blocked
sunlight
Most buildings
murderers,
highwaymen,
pirates, and •sheep-stealers,
and was
intended
to discouragewith
others from committing
made similar
of wood,
• Crowded
offences. The structures were therefore often
placed
next to
straw
roofs
people,
animals
public highways (frequently at crossroads) and waterways.
There are
many places named
in England.
Violence
common
• Sanitation
bad Gibbet •Hill
Some Benefits
• Churches, eating
halls, markets
• Guilds provided
plays, public
entertainment,
and festivals
• Sports common
• Guilds competed
against each
other
Late Medieval Town Dwellings
Marketplace of
Tubingen, Germany
Village houses in
Kellerei, Germany
A timber-framed house is one whose substantial
timbers are joined to form an open rigid frame which
supports the roof. With box frame construction there
are additional posts and rails that form the frame of
the wall, the intervening spaces (infilling) being filled
with (often light-weight) material to provide weatherproofing.
Medieval Homes
• Medieval city homes between the rich and poor differed little
from the outside, each being made of the same stone brought
in from nearby quarries. But the inside accommodations were
far more telling. A poor family might be cramped into one
room, faring little better than peasants in the country, while
rich "burger" families might occupy four floors, from cellar to
attic, complete with servant quarters.
• Comfort was not always easy to find, even in the wealthiest of
households. Heating was always a problem with stone floors,
ceiling and walls. Little light came in from narrow windows,
and oil and fat-based candles often produced a pungent aroma.
Furniture consisted of wooden benches, long tables,
cupboards and pantries. Linen, when afforded, might be glued
or nailed to benches to provide some comfort. Beds, though
made of the softest materials, were often rife with bedbugs,
lice and other biting insects. Some tried to counter this by
tucking in sheets at nighttime in hopes of smothering the
pests, while others rubbed oily liniments on their skin before
retiring.
The Medieval Game of Life
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/Permanent/medieval/Games/Apprentice.htm
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Explore-online/Games/GamesIntroductions/The+Medieval+Game+of+Life+Introduction.htm
Medieval School—London
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/London-Wall/Whats-on/Galleries/medieval/Games/Game+1.htm
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/London-Wall/Whats-on/Galleries/medieval/Games/Game+2.htm
• Could you stand
the beatings?
Shopping Spree?
Although generally not aristocrats or nobles, medieval burghers
enjoyed a special legal and economic status because they were
citizens of a particular town. To become a citizen in many medieval
III. Continued
•towns,
F. aBurgher
Lifeto be male or born into a citizen family,
person had
reside
citymerchants,
a certain artisans
numberand
of years,
engaged
a were all
– in
1. the
at first
workersbe
who
lived in in
towns
respectable
a the
substantial
entry
have
calledbusiness,
burghers. pay
Later
title burgher
wasfee,
usedand
to refer
toother
the rich
citizensmerchants
vouch for his character. By no means was every resident of
a medieval city a citizen, and the exact percentage varied from place
–
2.Moreover,
day startsalthough
with prayers
at status
dawn might not be documented
to place.
their
officially,
often
a special class of citizen. Generally
–
3. burghers
meets withwere
business
partners
the most prosperous, prestigious, and politically influential citizens,
–
4. burgher’s wife kept house, managed servants and cared for children
urban burghers dominated their towns, becoming almost urban lords.
–
•
5. two large meals a day
G. Changing Ways
–
–
–
–
1. Under feudal system land was owned by kings and nobles who taxed
the people in the towns
2. Nobles viewed the rise of towns as a threat to their power and the
people of the towns resented the many feudal laws
3. Church against towns as they feared profit making would take
people away from religion
4. Burghers had wealth and power and depend less on nobles and
bishops
•
a.) work together to build schools, hospitals and churches
I, William, by the grace of God, Count of Flanders, not wishing to reject the petition
III. continued
of the citizens of St. Omer---especially as they have willingly received my petition
Siena.
about the consulate of Flanders, and because they have always been honest and
faithful to me---grant them the laws written below, and command that those laws
remain inviolate.
•
H.
Communes
and
Charters
1. First that to every man I will show peace, and I will protect and defend them with
good
as I do my
other men.
And I grant that
justice
be done
to all of them
– will1.just1100s
towns
in northern
Italy
form
political
by my bailiffs, and I wish that they do justice to me also. I grant liberty to my
groups
called
communes
(examplesVenice,
bailiffs such
as my other
bailiffs
have. 26 items followed
Milan, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Siena)
– a.)
purpose to work against nobles and church to gain
William Clito, Count
of Flanders:
Charter for Townself-government
of St. Omer, 1127
–
–
–
2. Some kings and nobles gave towns people
charters charter allowing them to run their
own affairs.
3. elect officials to run their towns
4. set up courts and punish criminals
Section Four: focuses on the rise of craft guilds, explaining
why they were formed and why they were later opposed
• IV. The Rise of Guilds
• A. 1100s , merchants artisans and workers form
guilds to make sure their members were treated
fairly
• B. Craft guilds controlled the work of artisans.
• C. Guild members were not allowed to compete or
advertise.
– 1. worked same hours, hire same number of workers
A baker caught trying to cheat customers is punished by
and paid same wages
being dragged around the community on a sleigh with
– 2. Guilds controlled all business
and
trade
inaround
a town
the offending
loaf of
bread tied
his neck.
– 3. decided fair price for a product or service
– 4. guild members who sold a substandard good could
be fined
– 5. Guilds provided food to members who became too ill
to work and provided other services. The main interest
of the medieval guild was to protect their members!
Crest of a Cooper’s Guild
Medieval Trade
IV. Cont.
• D. Job Training
– 1. Apprentice for two to seven years
– 2. taught by masters
– 3. journeyman was paid daily wages and
worked under a master
– 4. created a masterpiece and passed a test
to become a master
– 5. by 1400 many merchants and artisans
begin to challenge the guilds.
TheSection
Divine Comedy
is composed
over 14,000
lines that
divided
Five: discusses
theofcultural
changes
thatare
took
placeinto
to European
three parts— Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso
civilization during the 1400s, focusing on advances in education, art, and literature
(Paradise) — each consisting of 33 cantos.
The poem is written in the first person, and tells of Dante's journey
through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good
Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman
poet
guides himChanges
through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's
• Virgil
V. Cultural
ideal woman, guides him through Heaven. Beatrice was a Florentine
– A. he
During
thein1400s
merchants,
artisans
woman whom
had met
childhood
and admired
fromand
afarbankers
in the became more
than they
hadlove
been
in thewhich
past and
their growing
power led to the
mode of theimportant
then-fashionable
courtly
tradition
is highlighted
in
The
Canterbury
TalesofLa
isfeudalism
aVita
collection
decline
Dante's
earlier
work
Nuova.of stories written in Middle-English by
Geoffrey– Chaucer
at the
end of
the 14th
century.
tales
told as part
B. Many
towns
people
were
richerThe
than
theare
nobles
of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a
– holding
C. Townspeople
more
leisurenext
time
money to
Dante shown
a copy of thehad
Divine
Comedy,
to and
the entrance
to spend
journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at
of
Dante
Alighieri
?
Hell,Death
the seven
terraces
ofprivate
Mount
Purgatory
and the city of Florence,
–mask
D.
Hired
teachers
Canterbury
Cathedral.
It is a towering
achievement of Western culture. He
with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelino's fresco.
uses the–tales
E.and
Sons
thewent
descriptions
to universities
of the characters
to studytolaw,
paint
religion
an ironic
and
and
medicine.
critical portrait
of English
society atused
the time,
and particularly
of theFrench and English
– F. Most
townspeople
languages
like German,
Church.
– G. Dante writes the Divine Comedy in Italian
– H. Geoffrey Chaucer writes the Canterbury Tales in English
– I. Townspeople begin to think they should be free to
develop their talents and improve their way of life.
– J. Want a strong central government to provide leadership
and protection
– Fini! (Adjective finished; through; at an end)
– Origin: Fr
And so… to Summarize Medieval Towns:
• 1. Town life was distinct from country life;
the two were separate, though
interdependent, worlds. There were many
manifestations of rural life in the city:
gardens, herds of livestock, even farms
within the city walls. Yet townsmen saw
themselves as distinct from country folk,
and country folk viewed the cities with
suspicion and envy.
• 2. Towns were much smaller than what we're
used to in industrialized societies. Most towns
were only a few thousand people. Even the
big cities can be measured in the tens of
thousands, while a mere handful reached one
or two hundred thousand. Paris, Milan,
Naples, Venice, and not much more, and even
then only in the 1200s and 1300s. After 1350,
the plague greatly reduced the size of the big
cities. The largest city on the continent of
Europe was Constantinople, with about
400,000.
• 3. A town could be, and often was,
defined legally in the Middle Ages.
From around 1100 or so, towns started
to get charters from a bishop, a great
lord, or a king. The charters varied
greatly, but commonly authorized the
town to form its own city council and to
regulate certain aspects of city life.
Thus the towns after that period had a
legal identity within society and before
the law, much the same way a modern
corporation does.
• Citizenship
• 4. Those who were citizens formed perhaps
half the population, though sometimes they
were as little as 10 or 15 percent. The citizenry
were the skilled tradesmen and the merchants,
the economic lifeblood of the city. Citizenship
was generally only inherited, but it could be
granted to individuals or to families, usually as
a recognition for some extraordinary service to
the city. By the later Middle Ages, guild
membership and citizenship went hand in
hand. In Florence, for example, membership in
a guild was a requirement of citizenship.
• 5. Everyone knew who the citizens
were, for they annually swore an oath of
loyalty to the city. They would gather in
one of the city plazas, often in front of
the town hall, and there repeat the oath
out loud, for everyone to see. This
served the double purpose of binding
the citizens and of letting everyone else
see who were recognized as citizens.
• 6. Citizenship brought privileges but also
brought obligations. They were required to
serve in fire brigades and street patrols. In
times of war they manned the walls and
served in the city militia. Only citizens had to
pay taxes. On the other hand, they were
legally protected and often could only be tried
in the town courts.
• 7. The citizens were the real caretakers of
the city's prestige and reputation, ethics and
the common weal.
• Outsiders
• 8. Among those who were usually not
citizens were the clergy. Though they
were still privileged and prestigious
members of the community. The
nobility were sometimes allowed to be
citizens, sometimes were required (in
Italy) to be citizens, and sometimes
were forbidden citizenship.
• 9. Others who were not allowed
to be citizens were the Jews.
They were tolerated usually,
persecuted sometimes, but the
Jewish communities often
fulfilled necessary functions.
• 10. And then there were, the people
without honor. These included the
hangman, gravediggers, and
prostitutes. These were all
recognized and legitimate
professions, but they were socially
repugnant and these people were
never allowed to be citizens.
Rights and Privileges
• 11. Personal freedom was vitally
important to anyone who lived in a
town and was widely regarded as an
essential element of town life. A
townsman had to be free from the
obligations that bound a peasant, and
must be free also from the arbitrary
taxation to which a peasant was
subject. A merchant, moreover, must
be free to move from place to place,
while a villein had no right to leave his
lord's land.
• 12. The city itself, as a
corporation, had freedom too.
The city flourished best when
free from feudal lords, though
some cities were ruled by
bishops or barons. Even so,
cities needed to manage their
own legal affairs and their own
fiscal affairs.
• 13. The political history of many
cities in the 1100s and 1200s is
dominated by their struggles with
their feudal overlords, bishop or
baron. The final product was often
a charter of liberties that spelled
out the exemptions and rights the
city, and its citizens, would enjoy.
• 14. Cities often bought their
freedom by paying their lord for a
charter of liberties. Later, as the
profits of urban centers became
apparent, lords encouraged the
founding of cities by granting
privileges to some settlement
whose growth he hoped to
encourage.
• 15. The charter usually stipulated that
everyone living in the town would be
free. A widespread custom was that
anyone who lived in the town for a year
and a day would become free. The
Germans had a saying: Stadtluft macht
frei: "city air makes one free", a saying
that illustrates the role played by towns
in this regard.
• 16. Other elements of city charters might
include: Landholding was to be by lease and
rent, not by feudal tenure. Freedom from
taxation was achieved by fixing limits to what
the lord would levy. Freedom from tolls on
bridges in the lord's lands; freedom from sales
taxes levied by the lord on his other subjects;
freedom from the lord's courts -- a burger
could be tried only in the courts of his home
town; right to their own merchant courts
(these were commercial courts, but were
sometimes given jurisdiction over low justice).
• 17.
There was a bewildering variety to
town governments, yet there were
common elements. Most had some
sort of chief executive. His powers
might vary widely, but some such
office as Mayor (from the Latin maior
which simply means "greater") existed
in nearly every town. The Mayor—by
whatever title—might be elected or
appointed, but it was unusual to find
no such office at all.
• 18. There was normally one or
more councils, and these were
vital. A Mayor might be a
powerful figure or merely a
figurehead (as the Doge was in
Venice) but real power always
lay with the city councils.
• 19. Cities tended to have multiple councils,
but most commonly you would find a Great
Council and a Small Council. The Great
Council might consist of hundreds of
members, met rarely as an entire body, and
really served as a kind of pool from which
were drawn the members of the Small
Council plus members of a myriad of
standing committees that actually got most
of the work done. The Small Council
comprised of only a few members (six or ten
or so). This Council made many of the tough
decisions, including deciding matters of
alliances, treaties, war, and so on.
• 20. Much of the day to day
administration of a town was done
by committee. Medieval towns
tended to spawn committees for
just about everything, and much of
the detailed politics of a town
centered around control of these.
• 21. One of the more unexpected
aspects of medieval town government
was their election process. Many
elections were by lot: candidates had
their names put in a hat (the mechanics
of this varied) and six names or fifty
names or whatever were drawn from it.
Elections were very rarely run the way
we mean, with the citizens stating their
choice; and they were never done in
secret ballot, which is a modern
invention.
• 22. Terms of office were extremely
short: a year, six months, even two
months. Since the election of a new
council was a matter of picking
names by lot, it could be done
quickly. The idea was to leave no
one person in power for too long.
Medieval towns were obsessed by a
fear of demagogues.
Essay Question Chapter 26
• During the 1000s and 1100s in western
Europe, there were more births than
deaths. Why was this an important
development at that time? In the world
today, there are also more births than
deaths. Is this still a positive pattern?
Why or why not?