Short history of towns

• 1066 – towns at first controlled by local landowner

• Could force townspeople to work on his land• Charge them rent and stop them from

leaving• Could treat them as badly as villeins• But merchants and craftspeople wanted to

be free

• As towns became richer townspeople were able to buy their freedom

• This is why many history books tell the story of medieval towns as the story of people becoming free.

• But, every town had to have rules – why?

Buying and selling

• 1100-1300 – more food produced

• Spare food – local market = towns

- This picture shows a shop selling clothes

Buying and selling

• Rules needed

- No fish sold before first church service – Why?

- Each baker to have own sign – why?

- John Penrose accused of selling wine which was bad – what punishment?

Making things

• Work-shops –

• Towns grew - new crafts

• So, what other rules were needed?

• Guilds – rule makers – who & what standards

• 1300s – no guild = no craft

• Apprentice…

Making things (cont’d)

• Guilds

– keep prices high

- No outsiders offering goods for lower prices

- Didn’t want too many goods being made

- No one allowed to work at night

- No women in most guilds

Goodies from the guilds

• Wealth = wonderful things for towns

- feasts, processions and plays

- Helped sick and poor

- Homes for old people

- Paid for funerals of members

A Charter

• What could the chief townsmen buy that

would release them from the lord’s control?

Elect a town council

• As well as giving them the right to buy and sell land, what else did the charter give them the

right to do?

1298

• In what year did the City of York make rules covering

food hygiene, the behaviour of doctors, drains, public toilets and prostitutes?

pigs

• They also made a rule about something

wandering. What?

48

• How many leaders did York’s council include in

1396?

Newcastle on Tyne

• Which town in 1140 made the rule that ‘A

townsmen may leave the town if he wants?

weapons

• What must every man living in the city bring

when the bell is rung in Hereford?

6d

• How much would people get fined if they refused

to serve on the ‘watch’ in Norwich in 1423??

Walls

• What did most medieval towns have around

them?

London

• Which town was Richard Devizes writing about when he said ‘pass through it quickly’?

The Scots

• Who were the townspeople of York very

suspicious about??

Special knockers

• What did they put on the gates just for the Scots in

1501?

Benedict

• As well as Josce, which other Jewish man

became rich lending money to northern

landowners?

Richard I

• Who was crowned in 1189?

Wicked customs

• As well as thinking them strange why else did

people in London dislike the Jews?

Commit suicide

• What did Rabbi Yemtob encourage the people in

York castle to do?