Urban life in the Middle Ages in Europe was practically non-existent. Most of the Roman cities were converted only into centers of ecclesiastical administration and became part of the territorial dominion of a feudal, secular or religious lord. Very few people lived in them.
However, from the twelfth century this situation changed. As a result of population growth, economic development and the need for merchants to settle in a fixed place, cities regained their importance.
So, the old Roman cities or old towns they became populated again and next to them, new hamlets appeared :the medieval city was born from the fusion between the old and the new towns . The inhabitants of medieval cities were called bourgeois .
This great urban development reached its maximum splendor in the thirteenth century in which some cities, such as Paris. Milan, Venice and Florence reached 100,000 inhabitants.
The birth of cities, urban life in the Middle Ages
The different stimuli
The urban population
Medieval cities were mostly small:few exceeded 10,000 inhabitants and not many had more than 5,000 inhabitants. In the smaller cities, the agricultural production of the surrounding areas was concentrated and then distributed. The largest cities covered a larger territory:they served several small ones, or an entire country. Thus, for example, London, with 40,000 inhabitants around the 13th century, was the main point of confluence for English products, and the distributor of imports that came to England from other countries.
The medieval city
With the commercial renaissance, cities became the center of attraction for many people of different social and economic conditions.
An attractive place
Medieval cities attracted a huge number of merchants who settled in them and over time came to dominate them. Most were located near a river, the sea, or a major road. This fact turned them into commercial centers.
The cities also became centers of attraction for peasants seeking better opportunities. Some servants they came to them fleeing from the feudal lords. The free peasants they did so attracted by the growing craft and commercial activity.
With this, these peasants became artisans. They became the workforce of the industry destined, on the one hand, to satisfy the needs of a growing urban population, and on the other, to generate articles that could be marketed abroad.
Finally, in some cases, for example in many cities in the south of France and in most Italian cities, feudal lords they abandoned their castles to reside in the cities, also dedicating themselves to trade.
Then, cities became centers of consumption, craft production and, at the same time, redistribution .
A particular aspect
Although each medieval city had its own features, most shared certain characteristics.
They were walled enclosures , which ensured his peace. As the old towns also had walls, it was very common for cities to have two walls:the old and the new. Its doors were closed at night and opened again in the morning.
Inside, the houses almost always had three floors :the first, built of stone, served as a workshop and store; the second and third, on the other hand, were used as housing and were made of wood. The use of this material in homes caused frequent fires in the cities.
Among the urban buildings stood out the churches, the episcopal palace, and later, the communal palace , which was the administrative headquarters of the city. In the center of the city or near one of its access gates, the market square used to be found. where the commercial activity took place.
The streets were narrow and therefore dark. There were no sewage systems so the cities used to have bad smells. People got their water from wells and canals.
With the passage of time, the cities lost their walls, the neighborhoods specialized in the trade of their inhabitants and began to grow disorderly.
Industry and merchants
The renaissance of crafts
The attraction that the medieval cities exerted on the peasants was the liberation of the countryside, from the twelfth century, a certain amount of labor that worked in urban industry. In the Middle Ages, the industry did not have large machines and its production was limited, that is, it was artisanal. That's why. the workers were called artisans . The medieval craftsmen of the twelfth century returned to the old forgotten techniques and learned from both the craftsmen of Islam and Byzantium. Unlike Western Europe, these regions had a highly developed industry throughout the Middle Ages.
A migratory phenomenon
The merchants in the cities
The economic power of the merchants was closely linked to the development of the cities that were their business centers. In the 13th century, the cities were dominated by them.
The great merchants, who were sometimes joined by the nobles, occupied the positions of government and constituted an urban patriciate, which controlled municipal life and did not encounter violent opposition until the crisis of the fourteenth century.
This patriciate also monopolized the economic direction of the cities.
Bourgeoisie and bourgeoisie
The leading role in the development of cities was played by their inhabitants:the bourgeoisie . Under this name, all those people whose wealth was based on money and not on land were designated. .
Getting rich with money and not engaging in rural activities distinguished the bourgeoisie from the peasants and the feudal nobility. That is why they formed a new social class:the bourgeoisie .
The appearance of the bourgeoisie broke the rigid scheme of the feudal society of orders. The majority of the bourgeois did not belong to any of the orders. They were merchants and artisans specialized in various jobs:bakers, blacksmiths and carpenters, among other trades.
Urbanandbourgeoisliberties
Some cities welcomed feudal lords. In those cases, the nobility invested their wealth in trade, personally engaged in business, and monopolized political office in the city. In this way the nobility became bourgeois .
In other cities, however, commoner merchants they seized power and, in doing so, sought to free themselves from the control exercised over them by the nobility. Their cities were on the lands of some feudal lord. To solve this problem, some merchants chose to ally themselves with the nobles by marrying them or buying their noble titles. In those cases, it was the bourgeoisie who were ennobled .
Generally, however, the burghers freed themselves from feudal rule by waging uprisings and hiring mercenaries who forced the nobility to relinquish their rights.
In other cases, they resorted to the support of the kings, who were interested in bending the nobility.
In exchange for financial support, the cities received from the monarchs letters of freedoms that placed them directly under royal authority -removing them from the control of the lords-, authorized them to administer justice by themselves and granted personal freedom to their inhabitants.
They also obtained from the monarchs the right to self-government , which made possible the formation of communal governments, which received different names:town hall, manor or commune . The privileges granted to the cities weakened the feudal schemes.
The Church did not welcome the rapid rise of the bourgeoisie. His occupations aimed at accumulating easy money were considered by the clergymen symptoms of avarice. For this reason, they became part of a list of dishonorable trades . On the other hand, the interest that some merchants charged for their loans was described as usury .
Over time, however, the Church became more tolerant of the bourgeois, who were very religious, and agreed that they were necessary to society.
The crisis of the feudal order
With trade and the slow change from a rural to an urban society, social relations were transformed and the feudal system entered into crisis. As the economy became more money-oriented every day, the land began to lose its value under the feudal regime. Then a new notion of wealth arose:commercial wealth, which consisted of money or tradable products estimable in money.
As the feudal class was very conservative, the majority was left out of this economic development. On the other hand, the freedoms granted to the cities also reduced the feudal system.
Life in the city
Medieval cities were very active. Contrary to what happened in the field, the division of tasks characterized urban economic life and cultural life regained importance.
Work and guilds
The inhabitants of the city specialized in a trade and bought in the market what they did not produce. Artisans of the same trade and merchants were grouped into guilds.
The guilds set manufacturing procedures, labor standards, working hours, and wages. They also ensured skill in the trade:the officer's rank was accessed after at least ten years' apprenticeship in a master's workshop.
Thus, the products were similar in quality and price. No one could exercise a trade if they did not belong to the respective guild. The guilds were very powerful and often clashed violently for control of the city.
The social differences
At first, there was equality in the city:the urban society contrasted with the feudal hierarchy. Over time the differences between rich and poor have increased and the concept of citizenship was born:to be a citizen and obtain urban advantages, one had to have the resources to pay a special tax to the commune and own a house in the city.
Citizens were the most prosperous :those who dedicated themselves to the textile industry, the most important in the Middle Ages, and the merchants of cloth and luxury items. At the lowest level were the marginalized workers who did not have access to citizenship and were excluded from the unions.
Cultural life
As urban activities required new knowledge, such as keeping account books, writing letters or drawing up inventories, the bourgeoisie founded the first secular schools . Thus, intellectual activity ceased to be exclusive to the clergy.
Also the first universities were founded , which introduced law and theology studies and other disciplines such as medicine to the ancient system of education.
A new spirituality
From the religious point of view, the contrast between rich and poor caused a need for reform. In this way, the mendicant orders:Franciscans and Dominicans emerged in the 13th century. .
Both adopted a morality based on austerity and settled in the cities, relating to their problems. His main occupations were preaching and teaching.
More work and new aspirations
Work rules
Saint Francis of Assisi
The members of the Franciscan order obeyed the preaching of Saint Francis, son of a wealthy Italian merchant from the city of Assisi, who in 1206 had abandoned his family, renouncing all his possessions. Saint Francis, who led a life of poverty and begged for daily sustenance, soon had many followers. That's why. in 1210 Pope Innocent III approved his rule that required living according to the principle of evangelical poverty. In this way the Franciscan order was born, which devoted itself entirely to the spiritual conquest of men. In 1228, two years after his death, Francis of Assisi was canonized by Pope Gregory IX.