11.3
Merchant Class Shifts the Social Order
The merchants and craftspeople of medieval towns did not fit into the traditional medieval social order of noble, clergy, and peasent.
Urban Life Flourishes
Scholars estimate from 1000-1150 the population in western Europe rose around 12 million
Because of this towns grew and flourished
Trade and Towns Grow Together
compaired to great cities like constantinople, the european towns were unsophisticated and tiny
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Towns are Uncomfortable, Crowded, Dirty, and Full of Fire Hazards (Not to mention the Plauge)
As trade expanded, the burghers, or merchant class town dwellers, resented this interference in their trade.
Europes largest city, paris had not more than 60,000 people by the year 1200.
A normal town would have had only 1,500-2,000 people
They organized themselves and demanded for privileges such as freedom form certain types of tolls.
Even those small communities became a powerful force for change in Europe
Question: What problems would develop because of the rapid growth of cities?
Trade
Were the communities more powerful because of the growth in population?
Serfs can Become Free by Living in a Town for a year and a Day.
Why might have this been good or bad for these medieval towns?
Origins: the populations grew larger
Government systems
Risk of Disease and Plauge Sweep through Medieval Europe, Killing Millions