Chapter 14.3

The Growth of Towns

The Rights of Townspeople Trade and cities generally

grow together As towns grew,

townspeople realized they did not fit in the manorial system They played a little part in the

farming economy of villages Instead they made a living by

making and trading goods Manor lords continued

to control the towns

The Rights of Townspeople

Some towns won self-government while others resorted to violence

Some lords granted charters of liberties A charter was a written

statement of the town’s rights

In time the townspeople throughout Europe gained FOUR basic rights

The Rights of Townspeople

1. Freedom If you lived in a town for a

year you were considered free (This included serfs)

2. Exemption Exempt from having

to work on the manor 3. Town justice

Towns had their own courts 4. Commercial

privileges Sell goods freely in town

markets

Guilds

As trade increased, towns grew larger and richer

Merchants and workers began to unite in associations called guilds

In each town, a merchant guild had the sole right to trade there If you were an outside

merchant you had to pay a fee

These guilds were a union of people who would help out other members

Workers In time, skilled workers came

together in craft guilds Members included

shoemakers and weavers They set rules for wages,

hours, and working conditions

They controlled the training of skilled workers

First a boy served as an apprentice His parents paid the master

worker to house, feed, clothe, and train the boy

Training took five to nine years

Workers Next, the young man

became a journeyman A skilled worker who was

paid wages by a master Journeyman could

become a master by making a masterpiece

If the guild approved of the masterpiece the journeyman could open his own shop and become a member of the guild

The rise of the middle class

In time, towns’ guild members, merchants, and master workers, became the middle class Between the class of nobles and

that of peasants and unskilled workers

The middle class favored kings over nobles Could provide a stable government

that would protect trade, business, and property

The middle class gave the kings advice and some were given government positions Middle class started to gain power

Medieval Towns In the Middle Ages,

most northern and western European cities had fewer than 2,000 people

By the 1200s, Paris had 150,000 people

London had about 40,000 people Population of Sandy Utah:

90,231 Population of Draper Utah:

45,285

Town Life Towns offered serfs a chance to

improve their lives Some would escape from

manors and live in towns for freedom

Manor serfs sold crops and had to pay the lord money rather than crops

Cities often stood on hilltops or lay along river bends for added protection Cities had little land, so

houses were built several stories high

Cities also had large public buildings, including churches or cathedrals, town halls, and guild halls

The Black Death Many cities were an

exciting place, however, many were dark, unsafe, dirty, and unhealthy Cities had NO street lights

or police People didn’t go out at

night for fear of robbers

Waste was dumped into open gutters

Diseases spread quickly through the crowded cities

The Black Death

Beginning in 1347, one such disease, a terrible plague called the Black Death, swept through Europe This plague began in Asia

and spread along busy trade routes

Black rats on the ships carried the disease

The plague was spread to people by bites from fleas on the rats

The Black Death Some entire villages and towns

were wiped out! Some estimate about 25 million

people died in Europe in 1347 to 1351, about 1/3 of the population

The Black Death caused many changes in Europe People’s faith in God was shaken Church lost some of its power

and importance Relations between the upper

classes and lower classes changed Workers demanded higher

wages, peasants staged uprisings

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