Life in Medieval Towns
Introduction
This chapter focuses on daily life for people living in towns
from 1000 to 1450 C.E.
Towns cropped up around castles and monasteries and along trade
routes
Towns became centers of trade and industry
Surrounded by thick stone walls for protection
Visitors entered through gates in the walls
Homes and businesses lined unpaved streets
Businesses and shops hung colorful pictures over their doorways
because few people could read
People gathered in front of public buildings like churches
Most streets were very narrow
Second stories of the houses were built projecting out over the
first story, so very little daylight filtered down to the
streets
Squares and streets were crowded with people, horses, and carts,
and cats, dogs, geese and chickens
People threw their garbage into nearby canals and ditches, or
simply out the window
Medieval towns did not smell good
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The Growth of Medieval Towns
During the Early Middle Ages, most people lived in scattered
communities in the countryside
By the High Middle Ages, towns were growing again
Improvements in agriculture
Revival of trade
Merchants and other people practicing various trades became
permanent residents
Some towns became wealthier because they made a specific type of
good
Towns were generally part of the domain of a feudal lord a
monarch, noble, or a high-ranking church official
Town dwellers began to resent the lords feudal rights and his
demands for taxes as the town became wealthier
No longer needed the lords protection or his interference
-After the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, trade with the
east suffered and town life declined
Farmers were clearing forests and adopting better farming
methods
Resulted in a surplus of crops to sell in town markets
Seaport towns like Venice and Genoa in Italy served as trading
centers with the east
In Europe, goods traveled by river, and many towns grew up near
these waterways
Towns in Flanders (present-day Belgium and the Netherlands) were
known for their fine woolen cloth
Italian city of Venice: known for making glass
Other towns built their wealth on the banking industry
Violence broke out as towns struggled to become independent
(northern France and Italy)
The change was more peaceful in other places (England and parts
of France)
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Becoming Independent
Purchased a royal charter to become independent
People had the right to govern themselves, make laws, and raise
taxes
Free towns were governed by a mayor and a town council
Power shifted from the feudal lords to the rising class of
merchant and craftspeople
- Charter: a written grant of rights and privileges by a ruler
or government to a community, class of people or organization
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Guilds
Medieval towns became places where many goods were made
Trade and the production of goods were overseen by organizations
called guilds
2 main kinds of guilds: merchant guilds and craft guilds
Provided help and protection for the people doing a certain kind
of work
Maintained high standards
Controlled the hours of work and set fair prices
Guild members paid dues to their guild
All types of craftspeople had their own guilds, from cloth
makers to cobblers (who made shoes, belts, and other leather goods)
to the stonemasons who built the great cathedrals
-Guild dues paid for the construction of guildhalls and for
guild fairs and festivals
-Money also used to take care of members and their families who
were sick and unable to work
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Becoming a Member of a Guild
A boy (sometimes a girl) became an apprentice around the age of
12
After 7 years, apprentices had to prove to the guild that they
had mastered their trade by producing a piece of work called a
master piece
If guild approved, apprentice was given the right to set up his
or her own business
Apprentice: a person who works for an expert in a trade or craft
in return for training
-An agreement was signed between the master and the apprentices
parents
-Master agreed to house, feed, and train the apprentice
-Sometimes parents paid the master a sum of money
-Apprentices rarely got paid
-Became journeymen instead of setting up a business because it
was expensive
-Journeyman: a person who has learned a particular trade or
craft but has not become an employer, or master
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Trade and Commerce
Luxury goods were mostly traded at the beginning of the Middle
Ages
By the High Middle ages, goods included everyday items and
specialized goods that different towns were producing (woolen
cloth, glass, and silk)
Commerce: the buying and selling of goods
Most towns had a market, where food and local goods were bought
and sold
Great merchant fairs were much larger than markets. These
attracted merchants from many countries which meant goods came from
all over Europe and the east.
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Merchants
Grew increasingly powerful and wealthy as a result of growth in
trade and commerce
Ran sizeable businesses
Looked for trading opportunities far from home
Merchant guilds dominated business life of towns and cities
In independent towns, members of merchant guilds often sat on
town councils
Jews in Medieval Europe
Sizeable Jewish communities in Medieval towns
Experienced prejudice
Difficult to earn a living due to the hostility of Christians
(sometimes backed up by laws)
Jewish property and belongings were taken at will by their
lords
Were sometimes targets of violence
One opportunity was to become bankers and moneylenders which was
an essential service for the economy
Jews were looked down upon and abused for practicing this wicked
trade
Christians were forbidden to be bankers and moneylenders because
the church taught that charging money for loans was sinful
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Homes and Households
Most built from wood
Narrow and could be up to 4 stories high
Sometimes 2 facing houses would lean so much they touched across
the street
Poor Households
Several families might share a house in a poorer
neighborhood
Only had one room where they cooked, ate, and slept
Most people worked where they lived
Wealthy Households
Wealthy merchants had splendid homes
First level used for business, including offices and
storerooms
Second level might be for the family and included a solar where
they gathered to eat and talk
Servants and apprentices might live on an upper level
Rooms were cold, smoky, and dim
Only source of heat and the main source of light were the
fireplaces
Windows were small and covered with parchment instead of
glass
Growing Up in a Medieval Town
About half of all children died before they became adults
Around the age of seven, children began preparing for adult
roles
Some boys and girls attended school, where they learned to read
and write
Children from wealthier homes might learn to paint and to play
music on a lute (a stringed instrument)
Other children started work as apprentices
Most boys grew up to do the same work as their fathers
Some girls trained for a craft
Most girls married young, some as early as 12, and were soon
raising children of their own
At home, many girls learned to cook, make cloth, and other
skills necessary to run a home and care for a family
People of the Middle Ages believed in an orderly society in
which everyone knew their place.
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Disease and Medical Treatment
Many illnesses that can be treated and cured today had no cures
during medieval times
Common diseases that had no cure included measles, cholera, and
scarlet fever
People were treated in their homes by family members, or
sometimes, a doctor
Medieval doctors believed in a mixture of prayer and medical
treatment which involved herbs
Other treatments were based on less scientific methods such as
consulting the positions of the planets and relying on magic charms
to heal people
Another common technique was to bleed patients by opening a vein
or applying leeches (a type of worm) to the skin to suck out
blood
Bloodletting often weakened a patient instead
Towns were very dirty places. Homes had no running water.
Instead of bathrooms, people used outdoor privies (shelters used as
toilets) or chamber pots that they emptied into nearby streams and
canals. Garbage was tossed into streams and canals or into streets.
People lived crowded together in small spaces and usually only
bathed once a week. Rats and fleas were common and they often
carried diseases.
Leprosy: a skin and nerve disease that causes open sores on the
body and can lead to serious complications and death
Lepers were ordered to live by themselves in isolated houses.
Some towns even passed laws to keep out lepers.
Bubonic plague: a deadly contagious caused by bacteria and
spread by fleas
Because no one knew exactly how diseases like these were spread,
people looked for someone to blame. Jews were sometimes accused of
poisoning wells after an outbreak of illness.
The use of herbs as medicine was based on traditional folk
wisdom and knowledge handed down from ancient Greece and Rome.
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Crime and Punishment
Medieval towns were noisy, crowded and often unsafe
Dangerous especially at night because there were no
streetlights
Night watchmen patrolled the streets with candle lanterns to
deter, or discourage, criminals
People accused of crimes were held in dirty, crowded jails
Prisoners relied on friends and family to bring them food or
money
Wealthy people sometimes left money in their wills to help
prisoners buy food
Wealthy people sometimes left money in their wills to help
prisoners buy food.
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Trial by Ordeal or Combat
Used to establish an accused persons guilt or innocence
Trial by ordeal: an accused person had to pass a dangerous
test
Trial by combat: an accused person had to fight to prove his or
her innocence (people believed that God would make sure the right
party won); Clergy, women, children, and disabled people could name
a champion to fight for them
Example of trial by ordeal: throwing a person into a deep well.
If the person floated instead of drowning, he or she was guilty.
The reasoning was that he or she was rejected by the water.
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Punishment
For lesser crimes, people were fined or put into stocks
For serious crimes, such as highway robbery, stealing livestock,
treason, or murder, could be hanged or burned at the stake
Executions were carried out in public
Being left in the stocks for hours or days was both painful and
humiliating.
Stocks: a wooden frame
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Royal Courts
Kings and important lords had the power to prosecute major
crimes in most parts of Europe
In England, kings in the early 1100s began setting up a
nationwide system of royal courts
Decisions of royal judges contributed to a growing body of
common law
English common law would become an important safeguard of
individual rights
Court inquiries based on written and oral evidence eventually
replaced trial by ordeal and combat throughout Europe
Common law: a body of rulings made by judges that become part of
a nations legal system
Independent judiciary: court system
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Leisure and Entertainment
Children: played with dolls and toys, such as wooden swords and
hobbyhorses, rolled hoops and played games like badminton, lawn
bowling, and blind mans bluff
Adults: played games such as chess, checkers and backgammon.
They also played card games, bet on rolls of dice, or go dancing
(the church frowned on these activities)
Time off from work to celebrate special days, such as religious
feasts
On Sundays and holidays, animal baiting was a popular, but
cruel, amusement
Animal baiting: First a bull or bear was fastened to a stake by
a chain around its neck or a back leg, and sometimes by a nose
ring. Then specially trained dogs were set loose to torment the
captive animal
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Fair Days
Very colorful
Jugglers, dancers, clowns, and minstrels provided
entertainment
Guild members dressed in special costumes and carried banners
while parading through the streets
Guilds put on mystery plays
Mystery plays gave rise to miracle plays, another type of
religious drama
The church eventually disapproved of both types of plays, but
people still enjoyed seeing them acted out in the streets or the
public square
Minstrel: a signer or musician who sang or recited poems to
music played on a harp or other instrument
Mystery play: a type of religious drama in the Middle Ages based
on stories from the Bible
Miracle play: these plays dramatized the lives of saints
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How did towns form?
There were very few large towns in medieval Europe. Most were no
bigger than a modern village with a population of between 2000 and
10,000. In the 13th century, the largest cities (Flemish cities and
in northern Italy) had populations of as many as 50,000
inhabitants.
How did towns form?
One of the biggest Medieval cities was Bruges
How did towns form?
One of the biggest Medieval cities was Bruges
How did towns form?
Towns grew up for different reasons and had different functions
as a consequence.
Some had religious functions. The church or cathedral was
usually the most important building.
Other towns had political functions. Towns were freed from the
control of feudal lords and gained liberty. The town hall was in
charge of the government of each city and its surrounding
territory.
Towns also had economic functions. Craft production and commerce
was concentrated in cities. The market square was the main point
for exchanges.
How did towns form?
Towns had to be safe. Merchants would not come unless they felt
sure their goods were safe. So the lords built wooden fences or
walls around, them. At night, the gates were locked to stop
foreigners (outsiders) from getting in
.
How did towns form?
As towns grew in size and became prosperous they were able to
buy a charter, a document which gave them freedom from the lord of
the manor on whose land the town had grown up.
By the 12th century, many lords of the manor were short of money
and were glad to sell the rights of the town to pay off their
debts.
The town charter allowed the townsfolk to have a mayor, whom
they elected, and a law court of their own.
Men of the same craft or trade lived in the same street, and
often gave their name to the street.
Look at the plan of the town. What sort of occupations could you
find there?
What jobs did people have in the towns?
