Medieval Towns
Middle Ages #4
Towns grow up
 Early middle ages – most people lived
on a manor or in religious community
 From 1000 – 1450 (high middle ages)
towns started growing near manors
or monasteries along trade routes
 centers for trade an industry
 Towns surrounded by walls
 Visitors entered through gates
 Homes and businesses lined the
unpaved streets
 Signs with colorful pictures hung over
doors of businesses
 Open squares in front of public
buildings and churches were
gathering places
 Streets were narrow
 Second stories hung over first levelallowed for little light
 Squares were crowded with people,
animals
 No garbage collection- thrown into
canals, ditches or streets
Reasons for growth
 Improved agriculture
 Cleared forests
 Better farming methods
 Surplus crops to sell in towns
 Revival of trade
 Seaport towns served as trading centers
 Goods traveled along water routes
 Merchants became permanent
residents
 People who practiced various trades
stayed put
Wealthier towns
 Specialized in certain goods
 Flanders (present day Belgium and
Netherlands) – woolen cloth
 Venice – glass
 Other towns – banking – helping others
trade more easily
Domain of Towns
 In beginning of middle ages -part of a
feudal lord
 As towns grew wealthier, town
dwellers became resentful of lord’s
rights and taxes
 Felt they didn’t need lord’s protection
or interference
 In some places in Northern France
and Italy violence broke out in
struggle to become independent
 Other places independence was more
peaceful – England and parts of
France
 Became independent by purchasing a
charter – allowed them to govern
themselves – make laws, raise taxes
Free Towns
 Governed by a mayor and town
council
 Power shifted to merchants and
craftspeople
Guilds
 Towns became places where goods
were made
 Trade and production of these were
overseen by guilds
 Guild – an organization of people in
the same craft or trade
Craft Guilds
 Each type of craft had their own guild
 cobblers – shoe maker, belts, other
leather goods
 Cloth makers
 Stonemasons – builders
Guilds purpose
 Provided help and protection for
people doing a certain kind of work
 Maintained high standards
 Controlled hours worked
 Set fair prices
 Dealt with complaints by customers
 Punished members who cheated
Guild dues
 Paid dues
 Dues paid for construction of guild
halls and guild fairs and festivals
 Took care of members families who
were sick and unable to work
Guild membership
 At age 12 boy – some girls- became
apprentices
 Parents signed an agreement with
master of trade
 Master housed, fed, and train the
apprentice
 Parents sometimes had to pay the
master
 Apprentices rarely got paid
Mastering the trade
 At the end of 7 years the apprentice
had to prove himself by creating a
master piece
 Guild had to approve of the work
 Then the apprentice could set up his
own business – very expensive
 Many became journeymen
Journeymen
 Comes from the French word journeemeaning day
 Found work by day instead of
becoming a master who employed
others
Commerce
 Buying and selling of goods
 As commerce grew so did towns
 At beginning of middle ages trade
was mostly for luxury goods which
only the wealthy could afford
 By high middle ages more people
were buying and selling goods
Merchants
 Growth of trade – merchants became
more wealthy and powerful
 Looked for trading opportunities in
other lands
 Guilds dominated business life and
sat on town councils
Markets
 Place where local food and goods
were sold
 Great merchant fairs – attracted
merchants from other countries
 Goods came from all over Europe and
the east
Prejudice
 Many towns had a large Jewish
population
 Christians in general were hostile
towards Jews
 Lords sometimes took their property
 Targets of violence
 Many became bankers
 Church taught that charging money
for loans was sinful
 Jewish people performed this
essential service for economy
 They were often looked down upon
for doing this
Home and Households
 Most homes were made of wood
 They were narrow and were
sometimes 4 stories high
 As they got older they sometimes
leaned and touched the house across
the street
 High risk of fire danger – whole towns
sometimes burnt down
Poor homes
 Several families shared the same
home
 Family may have only one room to
cook, eat and sleep in
 People lived where they worked
Wealthy homes
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Large, splendid homes
First level was often a business
Second level living quarters
Third level housed apprentices and
servants
Life in towns
 Half of all children die before they
became adults
 Began preparing for adult roles at
age 7
 Some children attended school
 Wealthy children might learn to paint
or play music
 Most boys trained to do work of their
fathers
 Some girls trained for a craft, but
most married early
 Learned cooking
 Cloth making and other skills to run a
home and care for a family
Disease and Medical Treatment
 Towns were dirty and led to many
diseases
 No bathrooms – privies or chamber
pots – emptied into streams or rivers
 Garbage tossed into streets or
streams
 Bathed only once a week
 Rats and fleas common and carried
disease
Leprosy
 Prevented and cured today
 Spread easily
 Lepers had to live isolated from
others
Other diseases
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Measles
Cholera
Scarlet fever
Bubonic plague
Lack of knowledge
 No one knew how disease was spread
 People often accused Jews of
poisoning wells
Hospitals
 Invented during the middle ages
 Few
 Most people were treated by family
members or sometimes a doctor
 Doctors used a combination of prayer
and medical treatment
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Used herbs
Position of planets and magic
Bleed a patient by opening a vein
Applying a leech
Believed that bloodletting restored
balance and spirit to the body
Crime and Punishment
 Towns were unsafe
 Pickpockets and thieves were
common
 Night was especially dangerous
because of the darkness
 Night watchmen patrolled the streets
with candle to deter crime
Accused
 Held in dirty crowded jails
 Had to rely on family and friends to
bring food or money
 Wealthy people sometimes left money
to help prisoners buy food
Trial by Ordeal
 Accused had to pass a dangerous test
such as being thrown into a deep well
 Those who floated were considered
guilty because he had been rejected
by the water
Trial by Combat
 Accused had to fight to prove his
innocence
 God would make the right decision
 Clergy, women, children or disabled
could name a champion to fight for
them
Punishments
 Harsh
 Lesser punishment fined or put into
the stocks – wooden frame with hole
for legs an arms – painful and
humiliating
 Those found guilty of serious crimes
such as highway robbery, stealing
livestock, treason, or murder
 Hanged
 Burned at stake
 Carried out in public
Power to Prosecute
 Important lords and kings
 In early 1100s England set a system
of royal courts
 Contributed to common law – a body of
rulings by judges that became part of
the legal system
 Important safegaurd to individual rights
Leisure and Entertainment
 Children played with
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wooden dolls and toys
Played minton
Lawn bowling
Blind man’s bluff
 Adults
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Chess
Checkers
Backgammon
Card games
Betting on dice
dancing
 Took time off work on Sundays and
religious feasts
 Baiting animals was popular – bear or
bull fastened to a pole – trained dogs
were then let lose to torment the
animal
 Fair days
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Jugglers
Dancers
Clowns
Minstrels – singers or musicians
Guild members dressed in costumes and
paraded through the streets
 Mystery plays – put on by guildsActed out bible stories
 Miracle plays – lives of saints
 Church eventually disapproved of
both plays