, Naples, Amalfi, etc.), as well as in the south of France (Marseille, Arles, Narbonne and Montpellier). Their development was facilitated by the trade relations of Italy and Southern France with Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate.

As for the cities in northern France, the Netherlands, England, southwestern Germany, along the Rhine and along the Danube, their heyday occurred in the X-XII centuries.

The appearance of cities

In many old cities Western Europe Jewish communities have existed since the Roman era. Jews lived in special quarters (ghettos), more or less clearly separated from the rest of the city. They were usually subject to a number of restrictions.

The struggle of cities for independence

Medieval cities always arose on the land of a feudal lord, who was interested in the emergence of a city on his own land, since crafts and trade brought him additional income. But the desire of the feudal lords to get as much income from the city as possible inevitably led to a struggle between the city and its lord. Often, cities managed to obtain the rights of self-government by paying a large sum of money to the lord. In Italy, cities achieved great independence already in the 11th-12th centuries. Many cities of Northern and Central Italy subjugated significant surrounding areas and became city-states (Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Milan, etc.)

Sometimes big cities, especially located on royal land, did not receive the rights of self-government, but enjoyed a number of privileges and liberties, including the right to have elected bodies of city government. However, such bodies acted jointly with the representative of the seigneur. Such incomplete self-government rights had Paris and many other cities in France, such as Orleans, Bourges, Loris, Lyon, Nantes, Chartres, and in England - Lincoln, Ipswich, Oxford, Cambridge, Gloucester. But some cities, especially small ones, remained entirely under the control of the seigneurial administration.

City government

Self-governing cities (communes) had their own court, military militia, and the right to levy taxes. In France and in England, the head of the city council was called mayor, and in Germany, burgomaster. The obligations of commune cities towards their feudal lord were usually limited only to the annual payment of a certain, relatively low amount of money and sending a small military detachment to help the lord in case of war.

The municipal government of urban communes in Italy consisted of three main elements: the authorities National Assembly, the authorities of the council and the authorities of the consuls (later - podestas).

Civil rights in cities Northern Italy used by adult male homeowners with taxable property. According to the historian Lauro Martinez, only 2% to 12% of the inhabitants of the northern Italian communes had the right to vote. According to other estimates, such as those given in Robert Putnam's book Democracy in Action, 20% of the city's population had civil rights in Florence.

The popular assembly (“concio publica”, “parlamentum”) met on the most important occasions, for example, to elect consuls. The consuls were elected for a year and were accountable to the assembly. All citizens were divided into constituencies (“contrada”). They elected members of the Great Council (up to several hundred people) by lot. Usually the term of office of members of the Council was also limited to one year. The council was called "credentia" because its members ("sapientes" or "prudentes" - wise) originally took an oath to trust the consuls. In many cities, consuls could not make important decisions without the consent of the Council.

After an attempt to subjugate Milan (1158) and some other cities of Lombardy, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa introduced in the cities new position podesta-mayor. Being a representative of the imperial power (regardless of whether he was appointed or approved by the monarch), the podesta received the power that previously belonged to the consuls. He was usually from another city so that local interests would not influence him. In March 1167, an alliance of Lombard cities arose against the emperor, known as the Lombard League. As a result, the political control of the emperor over the Italian cities was effectively eliminated and the podestas were now elected by the townspeople.

Usually, a special electoral college, formed from members of the Grand Council, was created to elect the podest. She had to nominate three people who are worthy to govern the Council and the city. The final decision on this issue was taken by the members of the Council, who elected the podestas for a period of one year. After the end of the term of office of the podest, he could not apply for a seat on the Council for three years.

Notes

Links

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See what "Medieval City" is in other dictionaries:

Tana (medieval city)- This term has other meanings, see Tana. This term has other meanings, see Tang. Tana is a medieval city on the left bank of the Don, in the area of ​​the modern city of Azov (Rostov region of the Russian Federation). Existed in XII XV ... ... Wikipedia

french medieval town- Paris, XV century The French medieval city was a settlement inhabited for the most part by artisans and merchants, at the same time it had its own elected administration, bureaucracy (usually appointed by the king or lord, ... ... Wikipedia

Almalyk (medieval town)- This term has other meanings, see Almalyk (meanings). Almalyk (Chinese 阿力麻里, Alimali) is a Central Asian city that served in the 13th-14th centuries as the capital of the Chagatai ulus and Mogolistan. It was located in the valley of the Ili River, about 300 km to ... ... Wikipedia

City- This term has other meanings, see City (meanings). Ronda, Spain ... Wikipedia

City- large locality, whose inhabitants are mainly employed in industry and trade, as well as in the areas of service, management, science, and culture. G. is usually the administrative and cultural center of the surrounding area. The main ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• • Subject of historical geography
    • The subject of historical geography - page 2
  • The history of the emergence and development of historical geography
  • Geographical environment and development of society in the feudal era
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  • Physical-geographical zoning of Western Europe
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• Population geography and political geography
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  • Political geography of Western Europe in the period of developed feudalism
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  • social geography
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  • Population size, composition and distribution
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  • Types rural settlements
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  • Ecclesiastical Geography of Medieval Europe
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Medieval cities of Western Europe

The emergence of the city is a phenomenon of the era of developed feudalism. Indeed, if in the early Middle Ages in Europe there were only a few dozen (at best, several hundred) more or less large settlements of the urban, or rather, pre-urban type, then by the end of the 15th century. on the territory of the continent there were approximately 10 thousand different cities. The medieval city arose as a result of the process of separation of craft from agriculture. We will not dwell here on all aspects of this problem, but will consider only its geographical aspect.

Part of the medieval cities was territorially connected with the former Roman cities; this applies to Italian, French, Spanish, partly English and German cities. The motives for choosing their location were very diverse: geographical factors played a role here (for example, many northern Italian cities - Verona, Brescia, Vicenza, etc. - arose in places where mountain valleys merged with the plain; others - in convenient places on the sea coast or along rivers - Naples, Pavia, etc.), military considerations (this is how most of the Roman centers of Rhine Germany and Northeast Gaul arose); many cities were based on the sites of former settlements of the tribes conquered by Rome (Nantes - Nam-nets, Angers - Adekava, Poitiers - Pictons, Autun - Aedui, etc.).

However, the confinement of the medieval city to the location of the former Roman center was by no means always direct. Many Roman cities that flourished in antiquity later fell into decay, if not ceased to exist altogether; on the contrary, many insignificant settlements of antiquity in the Middle Ages turned into large urban centers. Often a medieval city did not grow up on the site of a Roman settlement, but in its neighborhood or even at some distance from it.

Such, for example, was the fate of St. Albany (Roman Verulamium) in England, the French Autun, Clermont-Ferrand, Beaucaire, Metz, Verdun, Narbonne and many other cities. Even in Italy itself, medieval cities sometimes did not coincide geographically with ancient ones (Ravenna, for example). In some cases, the very name of the Roman center in the Middle Ages changed to a new one - Lutetia turned into Paris, Argentorata - into Strasbourg, Augustobona became Troyes, etc.

As a rule, these topographic shifts were based on the political events of the transitional era from antiquity, pogroms and the destruction of barbarian conquests. But, perhaps even more important, the cities lost their former economic role and acquired new functions, becoming church and monastic centers, residences of large magnates and kings, etc.; this could not but affect their topography.

Therefore, even though they retained a territorial connection with the city of the Roman era, the settlements of the early Middle Ages actually ceased to be cities. So, in the Carolingian era in France, the cities - the residences of the archbishops (Lyon, Reims, Tours, etc.) had the greatest weight and importance; of 120 German cities in the 11th century. 40 were episcopal, 20 were located near large monasteries, and the remaining 60 were the centers of large feudal estates (including 12 of them - royal residences).

The process of the emergence of a feudal city as a center of crafts and trade in the mass dates back to the era of the developed Middle Ages, although in some places cities arose several centuries earlier - these are the Mediterranean ports of Amalfi, Gaeta, Bari, Genoa, Venice, Palermo, Marseille and some others, successfully used in the IX-X centuries. weakening of Arab and Byzantine influence in the southern trading region. Some trade and craft centers that are not associated with maritime trade are also rising; such a city in the X century. Pavia became in northern Italy, located at the confluence of the Ticino and the Po and at the crossroads from the Alps to the Apennines; a significant role in its rise was played by the fact that it was the traditional capital of the Lombard kingdom. big city was Ravenna - the center of Byzantine rule in Italy.

In the XI-XII centuries. cities of North-East France, Rhenish Germany, Flanders, Central, East and South England, Central and Northern Italy are created and receive certain political rights; somewhat later, cities arose in other regions of the continent. In Germany, for example (later - the Empire), the territorial picture of the emergence of cities looked as follows. Until the 13th century almost all the cities of the country were located west of the Elbe and along the Upper Danube, practically without crossing the Lübeck-Vienna line. The bulk of the cities that arose in the 13th century were already in the interfluve of the Elbe and Oder; separate groups of them were concentrated in Northern Bohemia, Silesia, in the upper and lower reaches of the Vistula. And only in the XIV century. cities filled almost the entire territory of Central Europe, to the west of the Koenigsberg-Krakow line. In the 15th century, only separate cities were founded between the Elbe and the Vistula (several dozen in total), the vast majority of them already existed by that time. In other countries, this process was completed even earlier: in England, for example, the vast majority of medieval urban centers have been known since the 13th century.

When cities arose on the site of former villages, this was often reflected in their names; such cities in Germany were cities with “rural” endings in “ingen”, “heim”, “dorf”, “hausen” (Tübingen, Waldorf, Mühlhausen, etc.). The factors that contributed to the transformation of the former settlement into a city or the emergence of a new urban center were very diverse .. Both military and political circumstances (the need for a fortress, patronage from the local lord), and socio-economic motives (for example, the existence traditional market, transshipment point of goods, etc.).

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During the Middle Ages, the vast majority of the population lived in countryside. There were few townspeople, but their role in society far exceeded their numbers. During the Great Migration of Nations, many cities were destroyed. In the few remaining fortress cities lived kings, dukes, bishops with close associates and servants. The townspeople were engaged agriculture in the vicinity of the city, and sometimes inside it.

Around the 10th century big changes are taking place. In cities, craft and trade become the main occupation of the inhabitants. Cities preserved from Roman times are growing rapidly. New cities are emerging. By the XIV century. there were so many cities that from almost any place in Europe it was possible to get to the nearest city within one day. The townspeople by that time differed from the peasants not only in their occupations. They had special rights and obligations, wore special clothes, and so on. The class of workers was divided into two parts - peasants and townspeople.

The emergence of cities as centers of trade and crafts.

The folding of cities as centers of crafts and trade was caused by the progressive development of society. As the population grew, so did its needs. So, the feudal lords were increasingly in need of things that merchants brought from Byzantium and eastern countries.

The first cities of a new type developed as settlements of merchants who traded with these distant countries. In Italy, in the south of France, in Spain since the end of the 9th century. some Roman cities were revived, new ones were built. The cities of Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, Marseille, Barcelona, ​​Venice became especially large. Some merchants from these cities sailed on ships in the Mediterranean, others transported the goods they delivered to all corners of Western Europe. There were places of exchange of goods - trade fairs(annual markets). There were especially many of them in the county of Champagne in France.

Later, in the 12th-13th centuries, trading cities such as Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Danzig and others also appeared in the north of Europe. Here, merchants transported goods across the North and Baltic Seas. Their ships often fell prey to the elements, and even more often to pirates. On land, in addition to bad roads, merchants had to deal with robbers, often played by knights. Therefore, trading cities united to protect sea and land caravans. The union of cities in Northern Europe was called the Hansa. Not only individual feudal lords, but also the rulers of entire states were forced to reckon with the Hansa.

There were merchants in all cities, but in most of them the main occupation of the population was not trade, but craft. Initially, artisans lived in the villages and castles of the feudal lords. However, it is difficult to live by handicraft in the countryside. Here, few people bought handicrafts, because subsistence farming dominated. Therefore, artisans sought to move to where they could sell their products. These were areas of fairs, crossroads of trade routes, river crossings, etc. In such places, there was usually a castle of a feudal lord or a monastery. Craftsmen built dwellings around a castle or a monastery, later such settlements turned into cities.

The feudal lords were also interested in these settlements. After all, they could get a big quitrent. Seniors themselves sometimes brought artisans from their feud to one place, and even lured them from their neighbors. However, most of the inhabitants came to the cities on their own. Often serf artisans and peasants fled from their lords to the cities.

The earliest cities - craft centers - arose in the county of Flanders (modern Belgium). In such of them as Bruges, Ghent, Ypres, woolen fabrics were made. In these places, breeds of sheep with thick wool were bred and convenient looms were created. From the 11th century cities grew especially rapidly. A large city in the Middle Ages was considered a city with a population of 5-10 thousand inhabitants. The largest cities in Europe were Paris, London, Florence, Milan, Venice, Seville, Cordoba.

Cities and seniors.

All cities arose on the land of feudal lords. Many townspeople were in personal dependence on the lord. The feudal lords, with the help of servants, ruled the cities. Settlers from the villages brought to the cities the habit of living in the community. Very soon, the townspeople began to gather together to discuss issues of city government, they elected the head of the city (mayor or burgomaster), and gathered militia to protect themselves from enemies.

People of the same profession usually settled together, went to the same church, closely communicated with each other. They created their unions - craft workshops And trade guilds. The guilds monitored the quality of handicrafts, established the order of work in the workshops, guarded the property of their members, fought with competitors represented by non-guild artisans, peasants, etc. Guilds and guilds, in order to protect their interests, sought to participate in the management of the city. They fielded their detachments in the city militia.

As the wealth of the townspeople grew, the feudal lords increased the exactions from them. Urban communities - communes over time, they began to resist such actions of the feudal lords. Some lords for a solid ransom expanded the rights of cities. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a stubborn struggle unfolded between the feudal lords and the communes. It sometimes lasted for many decades and was accompanied by hostilities.

The outcome of the struggle depended on the balance of forces of the parties. The rich cities of Italy not only freed themselves from the power of the feudal lords, but also took away all their lands from them. Their castles were destroyed, and the lords were forcibly relocated to the cities, where they began to serve the communes. The surrounding peasants became dependent on the cities. Many cities (Florence, Genoa, Venice, Milan) became the centers of small states-republics.

In other countries, the success of cities was not so impressive. However, almost everywhere the townspeople freed themselves from the power of the feudal lords and became free. Moreover, any serf who fled to the city was made free if the lord could not find him there and return him within one year and one day. “City air makes a person free,” said a medieval saying. A number of cities have achieved full self-government.

Some small towns remained under the rule of seniors. Failed to become independent and a number of major cities where kings and other powerful rulers lived. The inhabitants of Paris and London received freedom and many rights, but along with city councils, these cities were also ruled by royal officials.

Chain organizations.

The main body of the workshop management was the general meeting of all members of the workshop, which was attended by only independent members of the workshop - masters. The craftsmen were the owners of the tools of labor, the handicraft workshop.

As demand increased, it became difficult for the master to work alone. So there were students, Then apprentices. The apprentice took an oath not to leave the master until the end of the training; the master was obliged to teach him honestly his craft and fully support him. But the position of the students was, as a rule, not easy: they were overwhelmed with overwork, kept starving, beaten for the slightest offense.

Gradually, the student became an assistant to the master - an apprentice. His position improved, but he remained a part-time worker. To become a master, an apprentice had to fulfill two conditions: after learning to wander to improve the craft, and then pass the exam, which consisted in making an exemplary work (masterpiece).

At the end of the Middle Ages, workshops become in many ways a brake on the development of crafts. Masters made it difficult for apprentices to join the guild. There were benefits for the sons of masters.

Contradictions within urban communities.

In the struggle against the seigneurs, all the townspeople were united. However, the leading position in the cities was occupied by large merchants, owners of urban land and houses (patriciate). All of them were often relatives and firmly held the city government in their hands. In many cities, only such people could participate in the elections of the mayor and members of the city council. In other cities, one vote of a rich man was equal to several votes of ordinary citizens.

When distributing taxes, when recruiting into the militia, in the courts, the patriciate acted in his own interests. This situation aroused the resistance of the rest of the inhabitants. Particularly dissatisfied were the craft workshops, which brought the city the greatest income. In a number of cities the guilds rebelled against the patriciate. Sometimes the rebels overthrew the old rulers and established more just laws, chose rulers from among themselves.

Significance of medieval cities.

The townspeople lived much better than most peasants. They were free people, fully owned their property, had the right to fight in the ranks of the militia with weapons in their hands, they could only be punished by a court decision. Such orders contributed to the successful development of cities and medieval society as a whole. Cities ceased to be centers of technological progress and culture. In a number of countries, the townspeople became allies of the kings in their struggle for centralization. Thanks to the activities of the townspeople, the commodity-money relations, in which feudal lords and peasants are involved. The growth of commodity-money relations eventually led to the liberation of the peasants from personal dependence on the feudal lords.

Distances between cities were small.
In densely populated areas, the distance between neighboring cities did not exceed 1-2 days of horse riding (30-50 km).

Let's flash our imagination hundreds of centuries ago and imagine that we are approaching a medieval city.

City

Cities in medieval Europe were quite small.

Our usual scales of the "megalopolis" do not apply to them at all.

There are discrepancies in the assessment of the population of medieval cities, due to the fact that in the documents of that time, as a rule, not the entire population was indicated, but only adults, and sometimes only adult men.

The city gates were locked at sunset and unlocked at dawn.

City gate on a miniature of the 15th century. France.

Medieval gate in the English city of Canterbury, in the county of Kent. This symbol of the city attracts many tourists to the city.

The 60-foot gate is the largest surviving city gate in England.

The West Gate at Canterbury was built of sandstone in 1379 and is still in excellent condition, being an important tourist symbol of the city.

The road still passes through the arches of these gates, so they still retain their main original function.

Image of the city on a miniature of the 15th century.

Walking around a medieval city, you would look in vain on the houses for what seems to us so necessary, to which we are so accustomed - numbers.

Numbering

The numbering of houses and signboards with street names, the whole system that we understand today, was established only in the 18th century.

Until then, the location of a house on the street could be determined by signs - painted or carved on the wall, painted on a hanging board, but in the Middle Ages they were not on every house, and we do not know exactly how such images were selected.

Most researchers believe that the owners installed and changed signs quite freely; however, rare evidence shows that the seigneur could intervene here and allow or prohibit the change of the sign, started by the new owner to please his own taste or to reflect his activities.

But the change could also cause confusion, because the house would not be recognizable under the new sign, or because such an image already existed on this street.

Despite attempts at control by the lords and an increase in the number of identifying images towards the end of the Middle Ages, such a system did not give full coverage of the houses in the entire city.
The streets became more picturesque, but it did not make it any more convenient, since they had the same signboards on them.

The exact address is both progress and loss of freedom, for judges, tax collectors and other authorities can recognize and find you.
Even in the 18th century, street nameplates were torn down so often at night that they decided to carve the names in stone.

Music is coming from the square.
That's right, jugglers, minstrels, and spinners have always hung around the cities, trying to make a living with their talents.

layout

Many cities had approximately the same type of layout.
In the center is the main square, on which the most important buildings were located: the central cathedral, the town hall or meeting room, the house (or castle) of the ruler.

Streets radiated from the square. They were not straight, they twisted, intersected, forming small squares, they were connected by lanes and passages.
All this formed a real labyrinth in which it is not difficult for a visitor to get lost.

The streets of the city ... The sun rarely penetrates here.

The obstacle for him is primarily the narrowness of the streets, as well as quite far, sometimes several feet, protruding above the lower floors of the upper floors.

Very many houses, in addition, are equipped with retractable floors. The insufficient width of the streets and these ledge floors leave little space for the inhabitants.

The city, not being able to expand in width, successfully grows upwards.
Shops, sheds, cellars are located in the lower floors of the houses.

But until recently, despite its impressive walls, the city was a huge village with small thatched houses.

Village and city

And for a long time the city dweller did not part with his rural habits.
It used to be that pigs and all sorts of livestock roamed all the streets.

The streets themselves were far from clean. Pavement at first appeared only in front of the houses of noble and wealthy citizens.

People, going out into the street, put on wooden shoes, put on directly on their shoes.
These "shoes" played the role of modern galoshes.
Actually, these additional shoes were not shoes at all, although they were called so: they were simply wooden soles,
fastened with straps to a regular shoe.

It looked like this

Street dirt increased also because, despite the strict resolutions and requirements of the city council, the inhabitants of the city could not part with their habits: everything superfluous, everything unnecessary, without a twinge of conscience, was thrown out into the street by them.

This is how the city is described by Hans Sachs (1530) in his work "Eulogy to the city of Nuremberg"

“There are exactly six gates,
Moreover, there are two more small entrances;
Dozens of markets for the people.
The shelves are not empty:
Though there are more than enough grains, cabbages,
Fruit and fat and wine;
Every product has its own price
Abundant bargaining - wherever you look!
There are also thirteen baths
Eight public and temples,
Where we praise God.
The river runs through the city
Turns seven dozen millstones...
Here they work under every roof;
Others are engaged in trade,
And they are doing well!
And most of the craft
Gets your income
And happily lives.
And how many crafts are in the city -
I was about to count, but gave up "

Retail space

City of Nuremberg on a medieval miniature

Closer to the center of the city were rich houses, further - houses and workshops of artisans, completely on the outskirts - slums.
Not far from the city gates there were merchants' farmsteads, where passing merchants stopped. There were warehouses there as well.

The custom of exhibiting their goods outside the doors of shops, on the street itself, was very common among the merchants of the medieval city.
To this end, many shops have sheds over the part of the street adjacent to the shop.

IN big city there may have been several retail spaces.
Some of them were "specialized" places of trade in certain goods and bore the corresponding names (Fish, Iron, Grain, Pottery, etc.).

There was also trade on the craft streets. The craftsman's house was both his workshop and a shop where goods were sold.

Citizens in a 13th century miniature

Streets

In the Middle Ages, the street was used as a butcher's market.
The slaughter of livestock and the sale of carcasses of meat, created whole line health hazards, prompting them to introduce a decree (1301) that forbade butchers from selling carcasses or cuts of meat.

Which has already been put up for sale from their stalls and exposed to full day sunlight (unless, of course, the meat has been thoroughly cleaned and salted).
Little has changed at all...

Workshops

A characteristic feature of the medieval craft in Europe was its guild organization - the association of artisans of a certain profession within this city into special unions - workshops.
Workshops appeared almost simultaneously with the emergence of cities.

In Italy, they met already from the 10th century, in France, England, Germany - from the 11th-12th centuries.
Each workshop had special "secrets of craftsmanship" that were jealously kept.

For the discovery of these secrets to an outsider (not a student or apprentice), the master could be expelled from the workshop or even expelled from the city.

craftsmen and workers of various professions 15th century
Merchants. Possibly calculate the profit /miniature 15th century/
Sellers-buyers. Apparently some kind of deal is going on., 14th century miniature.

The system of tax collection in those days was also significantly different from the modern one. There was no such thing as "income tax".

Western Europe at the beginning of the 11th century. characterized by the growth of cities, and also many new cities appeared. The most populous medieval cities then were Milan, Florence, Paris and London. The number of inhabitants of these cities exceeded 80 thousand people.

Medieval cities often arose near monasteries, fortresses and castles. It was there that a large number of artisans and merchants came. They settled on the land of the feudal lord, they had to pay a tax in favor of the feudal lord.

Gradually, the townspeople began to fight the power of the feudal lord. The medieval city tried to free itself from the power of the feudal lord. The largest medieval cities could afford to pay off the lord, and those cities that were not so rich were forced to wage an open struggle. By the 15th century many cities have already become free.

The population of the medieval city

The influx of population into medieval large cities is associated primarily with the second division of labor. The fact is that in the XI century. in medieval Europe, in the mountains, crafts were separated from agriculture. Previously, peasants were engaged in handicraft only as a side activity. They made products only for their own use. They did not have enough time to actively engage in crafts, as they were forced to work on the land of the feudal lord. And it was still unrealistic to earn a living at the expense of the craft.

Later, the tools of labor become more complex, artisans have to devote more time to their manufacture. In order to make a product of high quality, the artisan first had to invest money - to purchase raw materials, new tools. For this, funds were needed. But it was worth it - by selling the product, the artisans covered their expenses and made a profit.

Later, artisans completely leave the earth and go to the cities. In medieval developed cities, they had a great opportunity to earn money by selling their products. Their buyers were feudal lords, merchants and peasants. In addition, the city in the Middle Ages could give artisans good places to sell their products - these are fairs and bazaars.

But artisans did not always sell their products only for money. Very often, the peasants offered the artisans to make an exchange. It was also beneficial for them - the artisans did not grow any products, so they needed cooperation with the peasants. And the peasant did not always have the opportunity to sell his surplus in the city for a coin.

Merchants in a medieval city

In the Middle Ages, in addition to artisans, representatives of a new layer of the population, merchants, began to come to the cities. They were engaged in trade. Traveled from one city to another, selling goods. Their activities were dangerous. Moving from one city to another, they risked the loss of their goods, damaged the wagons, and sometimes could lose their lives. The fact is that bad roads made the carts unusable, and the goods that fell from the cart automatically ended up on the land of some feudal lord. It was forbidden to take him back.The same thing happened during the wreck of a merchant ship, everything that came ashore was in the possession of the owner of the coast.

In addition, medieval merchants risked their lives, as they constantly carried large sums of money with them. There were many " dashing people who sought to enrich themselves at their expense. But over time, they were able to secure their money. They did not leave a large amount to another merchant, but in return they received a paper on which there was a seal and the amount of money was registered. So a new concept appeared in the Middle Ages - a bill. This allowed the merchants to secure money. It was possible to fold the bill and hide it. The merchants who issued such documents took a percentage for transactions and this brought them income. So gradually began to appear banks.

With the separation of crafts from agriculture and the emergence of merchants, the population of medieval cities grew. New cities began to spring up and old ones to expand. Usually the population in an ordinary city was 4-6 thousand people. Over time, the cities acquired a free status, they stopped paying taxes to the feudal lords.

Medieval city video