Growth of Cities and Urban Society in the Middle Ages

Growth of Cities

1. Improvement in agriculture (ploughing)
2. More food = more people = bigger town = town convert into city
3. It began in countries such as Italy, where the ancient cities founded by the Romans had never completely disappeared
4. Urban areas also grew up in new places, such as Russia and Scandinavia
5. Don't have a sewer system
6. Inside the city walls, houses were crowded together and streets were narrow
7. The center of daily life was the square, where the market was held
8. Monasteries and convents were also built in urban areas
9. Universities were founded, replacing monasteries as the main source of knowledge

Urban Society

• New social group, the bourgeoisie (third estate)
• They were bankers, money lenders, and money changers
• There were other groups like the servants, laborers, and beggars
• The Jewish population lived in the Jewish quarters or the ghettos
• The Muslim population lived in the Moorish quarter

Economy

• Trade/bartering
• Trade was made in the fairs
• In the Middle Ages, currency was replaced by bartering. Gold coins were minted and as a result:
• Kings collected taxes and paid their armies, and peasants who had previously worked for and served the nobles for free now had to pay them rent for the land worked

Crafts

• They began as apprentices, when they had learned they became journeymen, and to become a master they had to make a masterpiece, which was approved by the guild council

Crisis of the 14th Century

• In the 11th century, Europe reached a population of 48 million inhabitants, large areas of land were plowed up for farming, and there was an urban renaissance
• From the 12th to the 13th century, Europe reached 73 million inhabitants, its network of cities was growing, and by the end of the 13th century, agriculture had reached the limit of its possible growth with the resources available, and production slowed causing the end of an agrarian cycle
• In the 14th century, living conditions began to get worse due to the decrease in production; historical sources repeatedly mention a period of bad harvest, which suggests the existence of a period of climate change; as a result of the boom in trade and handicrafts, a lot of land was now being used for other more profitable products such as wine and flax; large areas of land were set aside for pasture for wool-producing sheep