the rise of towns & cities•people all lived and worked inside the strong walls. •town square...

The Rise of Towns & Cities Social Studies 8 – Unit 5

Introduction

• In Western Europe, before the Crusades, there were only a few large towns. Everything still centered on manors and castles.

• Many Roman cities in ruins due to Barbarian invasions.

• Few exceptions were: Constantinople, Damascus, Baghdad.

Introduction

• Cities need business to survive. Towns form where trade forms.

• Feudalism = little trade. People got what they needed on the manors.

• Few luxuries. Little international trade.

• This all changed after the Crusades.

Beginnings of Towns and Cities

• For many years Alexandria, Baghdad and Constantinople carried on good trade with China, India, and modern-day Indonesia.

• Goods followed one of three main routes.

1. China.. Gobi Desert.. Along Caspian Sea.. Black Sea.. Constantinople

2. Indonesia/India.. Persian Gulf.. Tigris River.. Baghdad.. Camel to Damascus/Antioch.

3. East.. Red Sea.. Seaport at Mecca.. Alexandria

• Through all this, the West received very little wealth.


Introduction

• Crusades strengthened King’s power and weakened Nobles.

• Kings control Nobles = less internal fighting, burning, pillaging.

▫ Can get down to farming and improving crops

▫ Surplus begins to show up... now there’s extra to sell.

▫ Merchants take on the role.


Introduction

• Crusades showed people what the East had to offer. Sugar/Spices totally new experience.

• Crusaders brought back items from East.

• Soon people all over wanted the spices, wool, steel, etc.

• Barter System used. Very little money, so you’d trade what you had for it


Kyle MacDonald

Bartering in Action

Starts with a single red paperclip

Trades it for a fish-shaped pen

Trades the pen for a hand-sculpted doorknob

Trades doorknob for a Coleman camping stove

Trades the stove for a portable generator

Trades the generator for a beer keg with lights.

Trades beer keg for a skidoo.

Trades the skidoo for a cube van

Trades the cube van for a recording contract opportunity and album production

Trades recording contract opportunity for a year’s free rent in a house in Arizona

Trades year of free rent for an afternoon with rocker Alice Cooper

Trades afternoon with Alice Cooper for a motorized KISS snow globe.

Trades snow globe to actor/director Corbin Bernsen for a role in a movie he’s directing. Corbin has a massive snow globe collection.

Trades movie role for a house. Throws housewarming party for everyone involved in his trades.

From red paperclip

to a house…. 0$

Introduction

• Trading took place at key spots. Towns often started here.

▫ Crossroads, harbour, river point, etc.

• Castle nearby gave protection.

• Towns followed castle model and used walls and/or moat.

• Kings occasionally dictated spots for towns

How Towns Began

Introduction How Towns Began

Introduction

• Serfs were not able to leave their land. Were sometimes abused and beaten.

• People in Towns could come and go as they wished. Much more freedom.

• A serf might flee to a town and hide out. If he’s not caught after a year and a day, he’s a free man.

How Towns Began

FREE!

Introduction

• Early years were hard for towns. Lord whose castle protected the town could control and tax the people inside it.

• Rules often very harsh.

• People rebelled and demanded a Charter (written statement of rights and privileges).

• Other towns saw and copied this method.

Getting Rights and Freedoms

Introduction

• Movement towards rights for towns also a result of the Crusades.

• Lords and Knights on the way would stop at towns for food/rest.

• Needed help from business people in the town.

• Townspeople agreed... If lords would agree to support certain rights:


Introduction

1. Right to sell property when they wished.

2. Have their own law courts.

3. Elect own mayor and council.

4. Fish in the lord’s pond.

5. Have own baking oven without fees

6. Pay fixed rent once a year.

7. Military service only when attacked.


Introduction

• Lords would agree to this list of rights... and go off on Crusade.

• When they returned, they often ignored promises.

▫ More taxes / Fees for oven

• Townspeople armed themselves and hid inside city walls. Sieges.

• Many died against Lord and professional knights... But they didn’t give in.


Introduction

• By 1300 AD, most cities had their rights secured, and a charter.

• Loyalty tied people to their hometown. Some of that today still (ie: Vancouver vs. Toronto).

• Love and loyalty to a country came much later.


Introduction

• People all lived and worked inside the strong walls.

• Town square in the center

▫ Meetings, plays, executions

• Guild House, Town Hall, Church.. All faced the square.

• City well in the square also.

▫ Women met to draw water and gossip. News of the day.

• Streets very narrow

Features of Medieval Towns

Introduction Features of Medieval Towns

Introduction

• Houses also narrow and usually 2-3 stories

▫ Bottom story of stone. Others of wood

▫ Top floors jutted out over the street. Could shake hands with neighbour across. First floor = shop

▫ Upper = storage / living

• Streets were crooked and sometimes paved with stones.


• No lights on the street after dark. Could be a very dangerous place. Crime high.

• As town grew, walls torn down and moved further outwards.

▫ Old wall’s path became a new street... So many today show an odd shape.


• No lights on the street after dark. Could be a very dangerous place. Crime high.

• As town grew, walls torn down and moved further outwards.

▫ Old wall’s path became a new street... So many today show an odd shape…

Introduction

• Sample of streets and growth patterns….


Introduction

• Buildings were better than dirt floors and huts of serfs, but still not great.

• No drains or underground pipes to carry water/waste away.

• Streets often full of water, mud, garbage, human waste.

• Sun barely penetrated due to overhanging upper floors.


Introduction

• Garbage brought hordes of flies = carry disease

• Every city had thousands of rats running around.

• Epidemics were frequent, and many children and old people died from disease.

▫ Modern medicine was still pretty basic


Introduction

• The growth of towns, the reliance on smaller numbers of farmers, and the poor medical and technological fields led to a dramatic population decline in many parts of Europe during the 1300s.

• The two greatest causes were FAMINE and PLAGUE.

Problems and Decline

Introduction

• Major famines occurred in 1315, 1316, and 1317.

• Writers of the time speak of constant rainfall that rotted crops in the fields.

• People died from starvation, literally dropping dead in city streets and country lanes

• Writers also speak of cannibalism and murder.


Introduction

• In 1339 and 1340, another brutal series of famines struck Southern Europe.

• People ate their reserves of grain and their seed stocks as well.

• No social services to help people.

• Monasteries tried, but used up all their stores and seed as well.

• King imported grain, but pirates seized ships before port.


• So, why the problem?

▫ Population boom.

▫ Crowding in many cities and towns.

▫ Less working the land.

▫ Less warfare = live longer

▫ Money = more kids lived

▫ Millions needed to be fed without use of fertilizers and modern farming tools.

▫ Stretched thin during even the good years.

Bad years disastrous.

Famine

Famine

• Some numbers:

▫ Southern France pop. of 400,000 dropped by ½.

▫ Italian city of Pistoia dropped from 43,000 to 14,000.

▫ England’s 3.7 million in 1347 was down to 2.2 million by 1377. (1.5 million dead in 30 years... not counting new babies that died)

▫ Some places took 200 years to get numbers up again.

• The great plague of the 14th Century was known as the Black Death.

• Plague is endemic (always present) in some parts of the

world. - Ie: South-West USA

• Can spread and become an epidemic and pandemic.

• In 1300s it spread along trade routes of Asia and into Black Sea ports.

Plague

• Europe’s new trade activity gave it an easy route into most population centers.

▫ In 1347, a trade ship from Caffa in the Crimea came to Messina in Sicily... With rats on board carrying the plague fleas.

▫ Plague broke out in Messina, and spread from there throughout Europe. (See map on next page)

▫

Plague

STARTS HERE

Plague – The Disease

• Most common form is the bubonic form.

• Pathogenic agent (discovered in 1800’s) is Bacillus Pestis, a rodent disease.

• Spreads to humans via fleas that live on rats, then bite humans.

• Incubation period is 2-10 days, then symptoms break out.


• Symptoms:

▫ Chills, Fever, Headache

▫ Vomiting

▫ Swellings (bubos) in lymph nodes

▫ Clotting of blood under the skin (black spots)

▫ Lung Infection, Pneumonia

▫ Death in 90% of cases


• Spread among humans by coughing and mucus.

• Spread rapidly in the wet years (more damp = cough more and stay inside more)

• Poor food supplies = bad immune system

• Struck everyone – young/old, rich/poor, urban/rural.

• Many refused to treat patients. If you did = likely dead as well.


• With so many dying, clearly the disposal of bodies became a problem.

• The church forbade the burning of bodies. Needed a proper Christian burial. Couldn’t keep up though.

• Pope responded by consecrating the Rhine River as a holy burial site.

• Bodies tossed into river.

• Floated downstream. Polluted the water.


• People didn’t know the cause.

▫ Blamed Jews for poisoning the wells. Ran out of town, killed, burned alive.

▫ Others saw wrath of God. Flagellants beat themselves as punishment... Open sores = infection = more likely to die.

▫ Eventually cities formed a contagion theory and sealed their city gates.

Plague – Cycles & Effects

• Plague struck more than once.

▫ Some cities or areas had a new version almost every year.

▫ Ran in England until 1665... More than 300 years.

• Plague decimated population... Among serfs as well.

• Less to work land = could demand wages. Many got their freedom and new rights

Other Problems

• Walking down the streets could be risky.

▫ Garbage and waste tossed from above.

▫ Hogs / rats ran loose.

▫ No police force in towns

▫ Fires happened often and could spread easily (homes so close)

Great London Fire in 1666 burned down 13,200 houses, 87 churches, guild halls, and more.

Merchant & Craft Guilds • Initially there were 2

classes of people

▫ Nobles / Clergy

▫ Serfs and Workers

• Rise of new class of people, called the “Middle Class.”

▫ Merchants, Business People.

▫ Hard working and inventive

▫ Revived the progress that had been dead for so long.

Merchant & Craft Guilds

• Guilds formed in many towns, and were like our modern labour unions

• Trade outside one’s own city was dangerous.

▫ Robbers... Often Knights who hated middle class.

▫ Robbed on the road or demanded large fees to enter a city with your goods.

• Guild members called each other “brother,” and protected common interests.


• Fixed prices, so competition wouldn’t drive them out of business (illegal today…in theory).

• Kept out foreign competition or demanded a special tax.

• Contributed to a fund that helped the sick or widows among their members.

• Kept each other honest. If expelled from guild, it could be disastrous.


• Eventually became rich and powerful.

▫ Controlled city governments

▫ Bought rights from kings and nobles

▫ Hired their own knights... Or even whole armies.

▫ Groups of guilds formed into leagues.

Hanseatic League the most famous... had 100 member cities, eliminated piracy, coined its own money.

Banking and Business

• Today we all use banks, borrowing, cheques.

• In early years, people carried and paid for things in gold.

▫ Inconvenient / dangerous

▫ Could not buy large amounts of things at a time.

• Changed as rich people lent money to honest merchants to grow business.

• Church said interest was sin, so Jews lent money. Later all.

Craft Guilds

• Second group to organize was the craft guilds.

• Each trade had their own (baker’s guild, bricklayer’s...)

• Worked for benefit of members.

• Had to get permission to join a trade / guild. High standards on work quality.

• Helped set fair wages, rates, hours, etc.

Craft Guilds

• To become a master in a trade, a person went through three stages:

▫ Apprentice – A boy around 10 would leave home, live with a master craftsman, and work 7 years without pay.

▫ Was fed and clothed.

▫ Opened shop, ran errands, learned the trade, kept place clean, etc.

▫ Could be punished, beaten. Worked long, hard hours.

Craft Guilds

▫ Journeyman – After his apprenticeship, a young man could work (for pay) with any master willing to hire him.

▫ If smart, he saved wages to open his own shop.

▫ Before being admitted into the guild, the man would have to submit an item for inspection. If it was excellent, he could have his own place.

▫ Master Craftsman – Could run a store, take an apprentice.

Craft Guilds

• As towns grew, each guild had a sign to represent it. Travellers would know what to look for.

• Organized similar businesses on streets.

▫ Saddlemaker’s street, etc.

• Women also worked in these trades, with their husbands.

• Could also join a guild, but not be an apprentice. Women founded several guilds.

Craft Guilds • Guilds had 2 main aims:

▫ 1. Provide work for all members.

Limited admission to guild

Only allowed outstanding Journeymen to become Masters.

▫ 2. Produce work of the highest quality.

No working at night by candle

No working on Sat/Sun/Holidays

Fairs and Plays

• Guilds increased, money grew, and people wanted a break from the monotony of daily work (like today).

• Fairs were developed for specials days or in memory of special people.

• Could be a day to a month long.

• Merchants and farmers set up booths to showcase their work and sell.

Fairs and Plays

• Foreign merchants came and set up as well.

• Nobility rode through. Servants bought.

• Weights and Measures first used here to make a standard. Came from Troyes, France (called Troy Weights)

• Minstrels played, Acrobats and jugglers performed.

• Carnival atmosphere.

Fairs and Plays • Few could read, but plays were popular.

• Two main Kinds - Mystery Plays and Miracle Plays.

▫ Mystery Plays:

▫ Showed a story of the bible from start to end.

▫ Done in a series of stages (often on wagons), each showing a different act.

▫ Guilds co-operated in overall production.

Fairs and Plays

▫ Miracle Plays:

▫ Showed scenes from the lives of saints who had performed miracles.

• Both sets of plays are religious in nature and form

• The purely entertainment plays would come later... During the time of Shakespeare and similar writers.

Why so

Serious…?

Universities

• Besides the early Muslim empire, learning in Western Europe was kept alive only in monasteries

• Crusaders brought back manuscripts however, and an interest in learning rekindled.

• Constantinople remained the center of ancient learning.

Universities

• Towns of the middle ages had no colleges or formal schools.

• Teachers met with students in bare rooms or on the banks of a river. They spoke fast and students wrote down whatever they could remember.

• Conditions weren’t ideal for either teacher or students

• Early universities were just rooms where more than one teacher met with students.

Universities

• University students lived under a special code of laws set by the king. Were judged under authority of the school.

• Students carried daggers and fights were common.

• Students often had special privilege.... Which makes sense when you consider most students were from rich families or nobility.

Universities

• Gradually universities began to specialize.

▫ Theology was taught in Paris

▫ Medicine in Salerno, Italy

▫ Law in Bologna, Italy

• Better facilities were built, geared specifically to teaching.

• The university was born, and our modern ones have many similarities to these early ones.

Churches • Romanesque

▫ Structure of early churches was copied from Roman basilicas (courts of justice)

▫ Rectangular and flat

▫ Under Christian influence, a wing was added to each side to give it the look of a cross laying on the ground.

▫ Doors were deep set and ornate.

▫ Walls very thick. Windows very small. All needed to

support the heavy roof.

Churches

Churches • Gothic

▫ Invented by Christians in Northern Europe, but named by Italians.

Were jealous and called it “Gothic,” meaning “Like the uncivilized Goths.”

▫ Used a pointed arch instead of rounded.

▫ Ribs of pointed roof rested on thinner walls and supports called flying buttresses.

▫ Fancy stained glass windows.

Churches • Gothic cont.

▫ Began to be called Cathedrals.

▫ Had long and thin Spires that pointed upwards to Heaven.

• Most medieval churches took years.. or centuries to build.

▫ The one in Cologne started in 1248, but finished in 1880 ... over 600 years later.

▫ Full of beautiful artwork, statue, etc. Could be “Read” by the laity (common folk)

Churches • Problems...

▫ The churches were massively expensive.

▫ Paid for by the common people, and the church found new ways to separate people from their money. Greatly damaged their religious mandate.

▫ These abuses (and many others) led to the Reformation.

Up next:

Four Nations: England, France, Spain and Italy …

… and a lot more bloodshed.

the rise of towns & cities•people all lived and worked inside the strong walls. •town square...

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