The Rise of Towns – 1200’s to 1400’s
Adapted from: http://history-world.org/rise_of_towns.htm
The Background
Town’s did almost no _____________________. Most people lived by farming the land. In
the 11th century, however, the _____________________began to stimulate the
__________________________________________. Traveling merchants established
headquarters in places of safety, such as by the walls of a castle or monastery. Places
accessible to _____________________or _____________________ grew rapidly.
Wherever _____________________settled, labourers and artisans came.
_____________________and _____________________made chests and casks for the
merchants' goods, and carts to transport them. _____________________made trading
vessels. Butchers, bakers, and brewers came to supply _____________________for the
workers, and tailors and shoemakers came to supply clothes. Others came to make the
wares of trade.
The End of the Middle Ages – Beginning of the Renaissance
By the _________ century Europe was dotted with _____________________. Most were
quite small and few had as many as _____________________. The towns were
introducing a new kind of life into medieval Europe, however, for the townspeople now lived
by the _______________________________________. They were no longer
___________________ like the small groups of peasants on the
_____________________were; they had to develop a lifestyle based on the idea of
_____________________. This organization laid the foundations for
_____________________economic and social living.
As the cities grew _____________________they sought the right to
__________________________________________ The first to free themselves from the
power of feudal lords were in _____________________--Venice, Pisa, Genoa, Florence,
and others. Towns in France were next to gain power, then towns along the Rhine Valley in
Germany. Some of the towns _________________their freedom from the nobles and the
church; others ________________bitter battles to win it. A few were ________________it.
Interacting with the growth of towns was the ____________________________. Many
serfs _____________________from the _____________________and made their way to
the _____________________. After living a year and a day in the town, a serf was
considered a _____________________.
After the _____________________, this accelerated greatly with many of the
_____________________moving to towns and cities, away from the manors and farms.
They were looking for _____________________to improve their lives and
_____________________not experienced in the old feudal system. A medieval
townsman's _____________________was based on _____________________rather than
_____________________. At the top of the social scale were the princes of trade, the
great _____________________and __________________________, bearing such names
as _____________________, Fugger, and Coeur. Then came the moderately wealthy
merchants and below them the __________________________________________. On
the lowest level were the __________________________________________, whose
miserable lot and discontent were destined to continue through the rest of the Middle Ages
and into the Renaissance.
What did a city in this time look like?
In the towns the houses were packed together because every town had to be a fortress,
with stout, high walls and a moat or river to protect it from hostile nobles, pirates, and
robber bands. The smaller the walled enclosure, the easier it was to defend. The only open
places were the market square in the town center, the cathedral, and the few gardens of
the rich. Main streets led like spokes of a wheel from the market to the few gates in the
walls. Building room was so cramped that the houses were built in several narrow stories,
the upper floors jutting over the alley-like streets.
Few streets were paved. In wet weather people floundered almost knee-deep in mud. The
street was the only sewer. It sloped to the center, and refuse and chamber waste were
flung into it. Pigs rooted in the odorous filth.
Wells, springs, and rivers were the only water supply. They were unprotected and
untreated, so that plagues were frequent.