TEXT: www.cumberlandgames.com
  A City-Dweller’s Look at Thirteenth to Fifteenth Century Europe
  by Lisa J. Steele
  The majority of images in Town are woodcuts or bookplates 
  adapted from historical sources.
  The text of Town, along with the map artwork prepared for 
  the appendices, is copyright © 2010 by Lisa J. Steele, used 
  under license. This edition’s index, page design and original 
  visual elements are copyright © 2010 by S. John Ross.
  All Rights Reserved. Licensed users of the PDF version of 
  Town may print unlimited hardcopies for personal use. 
  Researched and Written by Lisa J. Steele
  Edited by Allen Wilkins
  Proofread by Liz Rich, with Vickey A. Beaver, J.A. 
  Dettman, Dr. Phil Hendry, Darren Hill, Gerald James 
  Hollis, Jonathan Nichol, Marcelo Paschoalin, Cody 
  Reichenau, and Adam P.R. Zabell
  Indexed and Produced by S. John Ross, with additional 
  suggestions by the Cumberland Fire-Eaters
  Original Images by S. John Ross
  Original City Plans (for appendices) by Jonathan Turner, 
  with labeling and embellishments by S. John Ross
  Publisher’s Special Thanks to Adam Flynn, for fire-
  eating above and beyond, and to Mr. Oneness for 
  Pulsomnium, which sang the book to its rest.
  This book is part of the All-Systems Library™ – CG&D 
  sourcebooks unencumbered by ties to any specific set of 
  game-rules. All-Systems books are 100% gameable resource 
  material with no stat-block filler.
  Creativity, Unbound
  TM
  
  Contents
  Page 2
  INTRODUCTION 
  4
  FUNDAMENTALS 
  5
  A Short European Urban History   .  .  .  .  .  .  . 6
  Population   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 8
  Glossary   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 9
  AGRICULTURE 
  11
  Condato   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12
  Waste.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 12
  Water.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 13
  ARCHITECTURE 
  15
  Construction Methods.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 15
  Types of Buildings .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 16
  Baths   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 16
  Bridges   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 16
  Inhabited Bridges .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17
  Castle .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17
  Cathedral  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17
  Churches and Monasteries  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 18
  Clock Towers   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 18
  Guild Halls   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Hospitals   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Inns .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Market Places   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Mills and Factories .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Mines .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 20
  Ovens .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 20
  Residences .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 20
  Shops  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 21
  Roads  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 21
  Streets .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 21
  Roman Ruins   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 22
  Synagogues   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 22
  Town Hall .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 22
  Walls and Gates  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 22
  Sample Real Estate Prices 
     and Construction Costs   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 23
  CHURCH 
  25
  Almshouses .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 26
  Cathedral .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 26
  Bishop    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 26
  To Be a Bishop   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 27
  Canons   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 29
  Churches and Subordinate Chapels.  .  .  .  .  .  . 29
  Relics  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 30
  Mendicant Chapters  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 31
  Monasteries  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 31
  Convents   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 32
  Hospitalers and Templars .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 32
  Tithes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 33
  Universities   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 33
  Other Religious Movements   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 34
  Béguines .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 35
  Brethren of the Free Spirits.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 35
  Cathars  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 35
  Flagellants .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 36
  Lollards  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 36
  Waldensians  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 36
  COMMERCE 
  37
  Money   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 37
  A Merchant’s Arrival   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 38
  Credit .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 39
  Pawnshops .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 40
  Banks .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 40
  Debt Collection   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 40
  Medieval Economic Theory  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 40
  Commodities  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 41
  Beer .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 41
  Wool Cloth   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 42
  Spices .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 42
  Diplomacy and Reprisals.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 42
  Forms of Business .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 43
  Accounting   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 44
  Markets.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 44
  Seld .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 45
  Fairs   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 45
  Champagne Fairs.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 46
  Flemish Merchant Companies   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 47
  Inns and Taverns   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 47
  Travel.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 48
  Typical Costs For Services 
     and Common Goods .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 50
  CRIME & PUNISHMENT 
  53
  Curfews and Night .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 54
  Courts   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 54
  Punishment .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 55
  Penance.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 56
  Organized Crime and Crime Control .  .  .  .  .  . 56
  Watch .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 57
  Inquisition .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 57
  Organized Crime.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 58
  Typical Fines and Punishments  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 59
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 3
  Town: Contents
  Page 3
  EDUCATION 
  61
  Master-Apprentice System .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 61
  Universities .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 62
  ENTERTAINMENT 
  63
  Civic Processions   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 63
  Religious Processions   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 63
  Historical Commemorations .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 63
  Religious Feasts .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 64
  Candlemas.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 64
  Corpus Christi .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 64
  Fete des Fous (Feast of Fools) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 64
  Lent and Easter   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 65
  Assumption of the Virgin .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 65
  Neighborhood Competitions .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 65
  Races  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 65
  Snowmen   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 66
  Tournaments  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 66
  Entertainers .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 67
  Prostitutes   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 68
  FINANCE 
  70
  Monte and Public Debt   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 70
  Taxes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 71
  GOVERNANCE 
  72
  Subject Towns.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 72
  Chartres – Subject Town 
     with Two Sovereigns .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 73
  Chartered Towns   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 74
  Independent City-States .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 74
  Charter of St. Omer, 1127  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 75
  Leagues of Towns  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 76
  Record Keeping .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 77
  Forms of Government .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 77
  Podestàs, Captains, and Councils .  .  .  .  .  .  . 77
  Holding Public Office   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 78
  Guelf and Ghibelline .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 79
  GUILDS 
  80
  The Medieval Business Cycle   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 81
  Work Days and Work Weeks.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 81
  Holding Guild Office   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 81
  Types of Guilds and Other Regulated Trades  .  . 82
  Artisans .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 82
  Examples of Guilds   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 83
  Artists and Goldsmiths .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 84
  Builders  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 84
  Doctors  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 84
  Merchants .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 85
  Victuallars .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 85
  Typical Salaries and Wages .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 87
  JEWISH COMMUNITIES 
  89
  SOCIETY 
  93
  Class  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 94
  Clothing .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 94
  The Poor   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 94
  Immigrants  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 95
  Servants .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 95
  Slaves  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 96
  Muslims.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 96
  Women .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 97
  Neighborhoods   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 98
  Rituals of Life .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 98
  Birth   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 99
  Marriage.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 99
  Death .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 100
  Inheritance   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 102
  Orphans   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 102
  Threats .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 103
  Disease   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 103
  Leprosy   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 103
  The Black Plague.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 104
  Famine   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 104
  Rural Uprisings   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 104
  Fire  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 105
  Interdict .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 105
  Natural Disasters.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 105
  Urban Uprisings  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 106
  War.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 106
  Bandits   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 107
  Abroad at War   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 107
  Mercenaries  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 108
  Militias   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 109
  Siege  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 109
  Conclusion  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 109
  TIMELINE 
  110
  APPENDIX I: PARIS 
  115
  APPENDIX II: VENICE 
  124
  APPENDIX III: YORK 
  132
  SOURCES 
  141
  INDEX 
  145
  
  Introduction
  Page 4
  Medieval cities and towns were home to a tiny 
  percentage of Europe’s population. The vast major-
  ity of people were farmers who lived their entire lives 
  within the sound of their own parish church’s bell. To 
  a farmer, a town was a market for his goods, and a 
  source of those few items that could not be made in 
  his village. Rural adolescents went to towns looking 
  for work, before returning to take up their roles in vil-
  lage life. Others immigrated permanently in hopes of 
  a better, or at least different, life. The sick, injured, 
  or dying sometimes went to a town with hope for a 
  miraculous healing via the relics held in its churches 
  and cathedral. And, of course, towns were the homes 
  of powerful indirect influences on a farmer’s life – the 
  local bishop, and, if not the landholder of the farmer’s 
  fief, then perhaps that landowner’s feudal superior.
  To a townsperson, farms and fiefs were the source 
  of their food, fuel, and industrial raw materials like 
  wool and hides. Clergy and regional landholders 
  depended on rural parishes and fiefs for their incomes. 
  A steady influx of rural immigrants maintained and 
  grew urban populations. Wealthy townsfolk some-
  times owned rural estates, providing a private source 
  of fresh food and a refuge from the town during hot, 
  often disease-ridden summer months.
  Towns and cities were important nodes in a 
  vast network of international trade, commerce, and 
  finance. They were home to scholars, artists, and 
  administrators. Clergy were trained in their cathe-
  drals, monasteries, and universities. Workers came 
  from the countryside, many in hopes of escaping feu-
  dal duties and attaining better lives.
  Traditionally, medieval society was divided into 
  three classes or estates – those who fight (nobles), those 
  who pray (clergy), and those who work (farmers). Urban 
  merchants did not fit cleanly into those divisions, an 
  uncomfortable problem for medieval theologians and 
  philosophers. In England and France, the urban work-
  ing estate was subdivided into two basic groups: the 
  wealthy merchant class which ruled the towns (the “wor-
  thy men”, prud’hommes, or probi hominess), and everyone 
  else (the “lesser people”, le menu people, or animale viles). 
  The tension between these two urban classes became an 
  ongoing feature of town life.
  Town is the companion volume to Fief, an intro-
  duction to English and Norman French small land-
  holdings in the 9th to 11th century. Town primarily 
  focuses on urban life in the 13th to 15th centuries in 
  England, France, and Italy, with some digressions into 
  other areas and times. Like Fief, this book discusses 
  the fundamentals of a town’s political, economic, and 
  religious roles, as well as its logistics, physical archi-
  tecture, and inhabitants.
  Town is designed for armchair historians, medi-
  eval re-creationists, and role-playing gamers. Its focus 
  is to help the reader understand the interlaced struc-
  tures of town governance and life, in an effort to por-
  tray or recreate that setting, rather than for pure-
  ly academic study. It was written, in part, from the 
  author’s curiosity about the urban portion of medi-
  eval society and a frustration with implausible fiction-
  al settings. In the course of the project, the author 
  was amused to discover how many aspects of medi-
  eval urban life remain unexplored, perhaps because 
  historians seem to focus on their particular special-
  ties, and not on the town as its own entity.
  As always, many people have been involved in this 
  project over the decades since it began, including sev-
  eral helpful reference librarians at a variety of universities 
  and libraries including the University of Massachusetts 
  at Amherst, Boston Public Library, Mount Holyoke 
  College, and the Worcester County Law Library. Their 
  help has been invaluable.
  Any errors are the author’s.
  
  Fundamentals
  Page 5
  What was a town? For the purposes of this book, 
  it was a permanent settlement where most of the 
  inhabitants made their living in administration, trade, 
  and industry, rather than as farmers or monks. It was 
  defined by its economic function, by its religious role, 
  by the political rights of its citizens, or by its political 
  rights as an entity. Its key feature, however, was its 
  role as a trade center. Thus, a town can be defined as 
  a settlement holding one or more permanent (year-
  around) markets.
  Towns evolved in natural locations where people 
  came to buy and sell goods. A large village might hold 
  markets once or twice a year, often on the feast day 
  of the village’s patron saint. Market towns of a thou-
  sand inhabitants or more held more frequent regional 
  markets, generally collecting goods from fifteen or 
  more farming villages within a day’s travel by laden 
  cart (about 7 miles). 
  Because towns were defined by markets, many 
  of their characteristic institutions were dedi-
  cated to protecting peaceful 
  relationships with key trading 
  partners, maintaining safe trade 
  routes, controlling the quality of the 
  town’s goods, and protecting the value of its money. 
  Towns regulated much of their trade through guilds 
  – organizations of artisans and merchants who self-
  regulated trade and manufacturing. The existence 
  of one or more guilds is another indicator of a town, 
  rather than a village.
  At the opposite end of the urban scale from a 
  market town was a city like Palermo or Paris, which 
  might have 200,000 to 250,000 permanent residents, 
  and several specialized markets collecting goods from 
  multiple nations. Cities were rare. One historian 
  estimated that in 1300, there were only six or seven 
  towns in all of Western Europe with a population 
  greater than 50,000, thirty with a population between 
  20,000 and 50,000, forty with a population between 
  10,000 and 20,000, and perhaps a hundred with a 
  population between 5,000 and 10,000.
  Many towns grew around, and in the shadow of, a 
  bishop and his cathedral. Bishops were powerful polit-
  ical figures and major landholders, as well as spiritual 
  leaders. Often the cathedral and its associated prop-
  erty was virtually a separate entity intermingled with-
  in the secular town – tenants of cathedral property 
  and clergy had their own jealously guarded privileges 
  and rights, but might not share in the rights given by 
  the secular ruler to the town’s other inhabitants.
  In addition to a cathedral, most towns had sev-
  eral neighborhood parish churches, monasteries, and, 
  in a few cases, a university, all of which comprised a 
  complex religious society. The leaders of the cathe-
  dral, various wealthy, powerful monastic orders, men-
  dicant orders, parishes, and universities all had their 
  own traditional privileges and rights, and often jeal-
  ously competed with each other for power and pres-
  tige. Churches competed for donations and tithes 
  from the faithful, and in turn provided vital chari-
  table services, as well as daily religious rites and com-
  mon sacraments.
  One 
  medieval myth held 
  that “town air makes one 
  free” – that a serf or a peasant 
  who left a rural fief, arrived in a town, 
  and survived there for a year would 
  become a free citizen of that town. The 
  reality was more complex. On the one hand, towns 
  depended on rural landholders and farmers for their 
   food and could not afford to take in every discon-
  tented peasant. On the other hand, urban mortality 
  rates were high; towns needed a constant influx of 
  immigrants as workers and artisans. (See p. 95)
  Towns often accreted specific rights for their 
  inhabitants. Townspeople (bourgeois) had protected 
  rights within their home town and lands subject to 
  it, or to the landowner who controlled the town. 
  Outside of those boundaries, the bourgeois became 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 6
  Town: Fundamentals
  Page 6
  a foreigner (aubaine), protected by the grace of the 
  landowner in whose lands he traveled. Towns nego-
  tiated with their neighbors and trade partners on 
  behalf of their bourgeois to protect their inhabitants’ 
  rights to safe travel and commerce. Often reciprocal 
  treaties gave inhabitants of one town similar rights 
  in the other. A town, or its landholder, also might 
  become involved in disputes between its inhabitants 
  and others, seeking to redress the losses of a promi-
  nent citizen wronged on another’s lands, including 
  raising a ransom or threatening trade restrictions 
  or punitive taxes on the offender’s inhabitants and 
  their goods.
  As collective entities, 
  towns often acquired many, 
  or all, of a noble landholder’s 
  rights. Towns often had their 
  own law courts, or were sub-
  ject to the courts of powerful 
  large landholders, rather than 
  local  knights. Many were, to 
  a greater or lesser extent, self-
  governing and self-regulat-
  ing, with customs and rights 
  set forth in written charters 
  purchased from landhold-
  ers, rather than having their 
  rights dependent on rural 
  custom and oral memory.
  Perhaps the most com-
  mon indicator of a town was 
  physical – its walls. Many towns had large stone bar-
  riers which provided some protection during war and 
  unrest, and made it easier for the town to enforce 
  its monopoly on goods and services. Walls also pro-
  vided a sense of urban solidarity, providing a physi-
  cal separation between the urban household and its 
  rural counterparts.
  A SHORT EUROPEAN URBAN HISTORY
  The medieval town evolved from Roman and 
  pre-Roman settlements, although their historical 
  continuity was often more tenuous than proud urban 
  historians alleged. In some cases, parts of the old 
  Roman street plan or Roman building foundations 
  survived into (and past) the Middle Ages, but that 
  was often the only connection between the medieval 
  and Roman town.
  The Romans often laid out their towns on a 
  rectangular plan with two major cross streets – one 
  running east-west, the other north-south. The two 
  streets met at a central market forum. The Romans 
  renovated some conquered settlements into a rect-
  angular plan. Roman towns were also likely to be 
  found on plains, where they could be more easily 
  connected to Roman roads, rather than more defen-
  sible hilltop locations.
  As the Roman Empire began to crumble, 
  unwalled settlements on the plains either were forti-
  fied, or abandoned in favor of more defensible sites. 
  Between wars and a general collapse in trade, town 
  populations shrank. The 
  Catholic Church, recognized 
  by Emperor Constantine in 
  312, had established church-
  es in urban centers. As other 
  authorities collapsed, its bish-
  ops asserted themselves as 
  urban leaders and defenders. 
  By the 5th century, bishops 
  were common rulers in most 
  towns in Italy, France, and 
  the remains of the Roman 
  Empire.
  In other places, monas-
  teries became the nucleus of 
  new towns as people settled 
  near them. Although mon-
  asteries, like rural manors, 
  were generally self-sufficient, they often produced 
  and exported surplus wool and  food. Monastery-
  based towns were often smaller than those based 
  around a cathedral or landholder’s castle because 
  the monastery’s market was smaller. Monastic 
  towns often had their market place right outside the 
  monastery’s gates, with streets radiating outward, 
  which created a different street plan than towns 
  evolved from Roman settlements.
  As invading tribes like the Visigoths and Franks 
  settled around the surviving towns, their leaders 
  began to challenge the bishops for control of towns 
  and their surrounding lands. Some towns were divid-
  ed: the bishop ruled the area around the cathedral, 
  often within the old Roman center; the settled invad-
  ing leader ruled the remainder of the town and the 
  countryside. Ruling landholders made favored towns 
  their capitals, generally stripping the bishop of any 
  Walls provided 
  a sense of urban 
  solidarity, providing 
  a physical separation 
  between the urban 
  household and its 
  rural counterparts.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 9
  Town: Fundamentals
  Page 9
  GLOSSARY
   Alderman: English name for a member of a guild coun-
  cil or representative of a ward on a municipal council. 
  Equivalent terms include: échevins (Fr.), schepenen 
  (Flanders), Schöffen (Gr.), and scabini (It.).
   Aljama: (Sp.)  Jewish quarter within a city. A corporate 
  body with its own officials and taxes, often directly 
  subject to the monarch.
   Arte: (It.) Trade guild.
   Ban mile: The area outside a town’s wall in which it 
  had legal powers.
   Bourgeois: (Fr.) A town citizen who owned land within 
  the walls.
   Burgage: A way of holding urban land in England and 
  Scotland where the landholder rented urban prop-
  erty to another person in return for a yearly rent or 
  service. It was easier to sell, inherit, or dispose of bur-
  gage land than most rural property. Burgage tenants 
  often had to refer their disputes to the borough court, 
  which was an important source of urban revenue.
   Burgess: (En.) An urban citizen who owned land 
  within the town, rather than renting it. Often asso-
  ciated with a higher social status and legal privileges. 
  Where applicable, the term implies a member of the 
  sworn association of the town.
   Burgrave: Count of the “burg”, a kind of seigniorial 
  officer.
   Citizen: Urban resident with full civic rights. Citizenship 
  could be inherited or earned, and often required a 
  citizenship oath at majority. In England, full-citizen-
  ship (described as having the “freedom” of the city) 
  could be inherited, purchased, given, or earned by 
  service or apprenticeship. Prospective citizens gener-
  ally had to be of “free birth” (not slaves or serfs) and 
  not involved in any lawsuits that might embroil the 
  town if citizenship were granted. Some towns required 
  a period of residence in the town, guild membership, 
  minimum property qualifications, and/or a history of 
  tax payments.
   Commune: (Fr.) A sworn association of inhabitants of 
  a town or neighborhood pledged to mutual aid, the 
  oath acknowledged by the landholder. In the 11th 
  century, French landholders began to recognize town 
  governments as communes, but the recognition was 
  separate from a charter or grant of liberties. By the 
  13th century, a commune was expected to have a 
  written charter granting its liberties, a communal bell 
  to summon or warn citizens, and a municipal seal.
  Commune: (It.) A sworn association of the inhab-
  itants of a town pledged to mutual aid. An Italian 
  commune was an assertion of independent self-gov-
  ernment against a secular or ecclesiastical land-
  holder. In some case, the populace came together as 
  a commune; in others, it evolved from pre-existing 
  associations.
  
   Agriculture
  Page 11
  The country is very fertile and pleasant, with an 
  abundance of wine, fruits, and vegetables, and cere-
  als of every type. These nourish a warrior race ... The 
  city is surrounded by woods and marshes, and thus 
  well protected against enemy invasions.
  The city [Noyon] is located between two streams: 
  to the east flows the Goële, and to the west the 
  Marguerite. A third, called the Verse, receives both 
  streams, and the waters of all three flow into the Oise, 
  that river of renown, not far from the ramparts. In 
  the vicinity grow many fruit trees, and the radiant 
  soil, enlivened by its meadows and green verdure, is 
  very agreeable to the inhabitants. In addition, to the 
  east as well as to the west, the city is well fortified 
  by rocks, rivers, hills, and valleys, all around that it 
  could not be simpler to defend her with just a handful 
  of men against a huge and mighty invasion.
  – Radbod, Bishop of Noyon 
  (late 11th century)
  A town could not grow enough food within its 
  walls to feed its populace. Thus,  a town’s leader’s 
  primary, often paramount, concern was the security 
  of its  food supplies and the stability of the price for 
  grain. Grain was vital to make bread and ale, and to 
  feed the town’s many animals. Prodigious quantities 
  of grain, vegetables, fruit, ale, beer, wine, livestock, 
  and fish had to be brought into town. The amounts 
  involved could be staggering. In the late 13th centu-
  ry, Milan, one of the largest cities in northern Italy, 
  consumed an estimated 1,200 bushels of grain per 
  day. An inhabitant of early 14th century Frankfurt 
  ate more than 220 lbs. of  meat per year. Late-13th 
  century Paris annually consumed nearly 270,000 
  animals: 189,000 sheep, 30,000 oxen, 20,000 calves, 
  and 31,000 pigs. Early 14th century London import-
  ed 140,000 tons of wood each year to cook its food, 
  warm its inhabitants, and supply its industries. An 
  inhabitant of mid-14th century Lucca consumed five 
  to six barrels of wine per year. When possible, meat, 
  fish, and produce had to be fresh, as medieval stor-
  age methods were limited. Thus, it was crucial for a 
  town to be located in a fertile area which could sup-
  ply the vast majority of its typical needs. A major 
  city like London or Paris might draw supplies from a 
  radius of fifty to sixty miles. A 13th century town of 
  3,000 inhabitants might need the produce of at least 
  14 square miles of farmland, generally within 20 miles 
  of its walls. When a bad harvest threatened local sup-
  plies, a wealthy city might try to purchase grain from 
  great distances – in 1268, Venice sent ships to the 
  Black Sea for wheat.
  A town sought to control its  food supply. If it 
  had military control of the surrounding countryside, 
  it could force its subject farmers to sell their sur-
  plus grain to it and make it illegal for them to seek 
  other markets. Where the town’s military influence 
  was more limited, it became very interested in the 
  politics of the rural nobility. It could directly set 
  grain prices and  units of measurement within the 
  town’s limits. If it wished to influence the market 
  more subtley, it could tax imports and exports of 
  other foods. A town could also purchase and store 
  grain in plentiful years as a hedge against famine. 
  When those stores were exhausted, a town might 
  first cancel its taxes on imported goods (gabelle) in 
  order to encourage rural farmers to bring in needed 
  supplies tax-free. Generally, the remittance was 
  for a short duration, typically four to five days, to 
  encourage prompt action. If supplies remained 
  low, towns spent large sums of money and endured 
  heavy financial losses to purchase grain and sell it at 
  low prices to undercut speculators and avoid unrest 
  over scarce supplies. Some even paid bounties to 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 14
  Town: Agriculture
  Page 14
  war. The city’s magistrates appointed supervisors to 
  oversee the aqueduct from its entrance to the city to 
  its exit at the Trevi fountain. The supervisors tried 
  to prevent private siphons and preclude unsanitary 
  behavior at the fountain like bathing, washing laun-
  dry, or washing animals. Paris began building new 
  aqueducts in the late 12th century. Orvieto built one 
  in the late 13th century. The  Pozzo di S. Patrizio in 
  Orvieto is an extreme example of an urban well built 
  slightly after the Middle Ages. Built from 1527-37 as 
  a water supply for the Albornoz fortress, the 
  well is 175 feet deep, and lined with 
  two spiral stairwells large enough 
  for mules to transport jugs of 
  water to the surface.
  Venice may be the sole 
  example of a major town 
  which is not located on 
  or near a river. Instead, 
  Venice was built on a 
  series of islands in a salt-
  water lagoon. Much of 
  its fresh water came from 
  wells which collected and 
  filtered rainwater. At times, 
  Venetian sailors brought 
  additional amounts of fresh 
  water to town from nearby rivers 
  in boats and dumped the water by 
  bucket into the urban wells. (Medieval 
  technology was not sufficient to reach an aquifer 
  deep under the city.)
  Whatever its source, water had to reach homes 
  and craft shops. Wealthy families and some busi-
  nesses hired professional water carriers or dug private 
  wells. Those less fortunate families had to carry their 
  own water home from the river, public wells, or pub-
  lic fountains. (By the mid-13th century, towns were 
  increasingly able to pipe water to communal foun-
  tains – Milan had 6,000 fountains supplying drinking 
  water in 1288.) By the 15th century, English towns 
  were increasingly installing closed underground water 
  conduits, often lined with lead. A municipal conduit-
  keeper was charged with ensuring repairs and prohib-
  iting merchants and artisans from using the conduit 
  water for trade, instead of for cooking and drinking. 
  Homeowners paid a fee to maintain the conduits.
  While bathing was not common in the Middle 
  Ages, Roman-style public baths were found in a 
  few regions from the 10th to the 14th century. Other 
  towns offered a series of tubs, called stews, for bath-
  ers. Many baths and stews were closed in the 14th 
  century due to scandals over the bathers’ conduct.
  Crafts needed water to produce goods and to 
  power various kinds of water mills. Thus, towns dug 
  canals. A typical canal was three feet deep, six feet 
  wide, and had a sufficient grade to create a reason-
  able current to power mill wheels.  Butcher shops, 
  tanners, millers, and dyers all located their shops 
  along the canals for waste disposal.
  Town leaders  were concerned 
  about water pollution. They did 
  not understand precisely how 
  water quality affected pub-
  lic health, but they knew 
  that drinking water con-
  taminated with human 
  waste, offal, dye, and tan-
  nin (used to treat leath-
  er) was unhealthy. They 
  also knew that contami-
  nated water could lessen 
  the quality of their cloth 
  manufacturing, and thus 
  sometimes organized crafts 
  and trades so that the waste 
  from each would have a limited 
  impact on those downstream. The 
  freshest water was used for drinking, 
  cooking, and cloth cleaning. Dyers deposited alum 
  in the water as a byproduct of their work. Skinners, 
  glove-makers, and curriers could take advantage of 
  the dissolved alum to treat their skins and thus were 
  located downstream of dye works.  Butchers, who 
  needed large amounts of clean water while slaugh-
  tering animals, could be located upstream from tan-
  ners, who needed less water and who dumped tannin 
  downstream as a byproduct of their work. (On the 
  other hand, the smell of slaughtered animals often 
  resulted in butcher shops being located as far from 
  residential areas as possible, often well downstream 
  of other artisans.)
  While dyes and tannin were a health concern, 
  the amounts used in a typical town were not highly 
  polluting. Some of the chemicals even helped break 
  down organic wastes, making the water less danger-
  ous to downstream communities.
  
   Architecture
  Page 15
  The city of Rouen is very populous and has been 
  made wealthy by different sorts of commerce. It is 
  an agreeable city due to the number of buildings sur-
  rounding the port, the murmur of running waters, 
  and the charm of the meadows. A large abundance 
  of fruits, fish and all sorts of products adds to her 
  wealth. The mountains and forests, with which she 
  is surrounded on all sides, the walls, the trenches 
  and other military constructions, make this city very 
  pleasant indeed. Much of her luster comes from her 
  churches, as well as the appearance of her houses 
  and buildings.
  – Orderic Vital, monk of Saint-
  Evroul, Normandie (c. 1148)
  A town’s physical structures, like its geography, 
  have a strong impact on its character and its econo-
  my. The town’s climate, wealth, common local build-
  ing materials, and social structures will be reflected in 
  its simplest residences as well as its grandest cathe-
  drals and guild halls. Each town had its own quirks, 
  but there were some common features.
  Due to the constant risk of fire, town rulers 
  encouraged residents to build in stone and brick, and 
  to replace older wooden buildings with less flamma-
  ble materials. London’s Assize of Buildings (1189) 
  encouraged builders to make residences from stone, 
  to use stone party-walls when buildings shared struc-
  tures, and to use tiled roofs. In 1213, London forbade 
  roofs of reeds, rushes, straw, stubble, or thatch. In 
  the 14th century, London forbade wooden chimneys. 
  By 1381, the city also required every house to keep a 
  container of water by the door to fight fires.
  Towns also limited building density, both to pre-
  vent fires and to maintain the width of streets and 
  squares for travel and trade. Lots were typically nar-
  row on the edge facing the major streets, which 
  encouraged narrow, deep homes. A typical English 
  burgage lot was 60 feet wide and 200 feet deep or 70 
  feet wide and 400 feet deep.  Street width and orien-
  tation was also affected by the prevailing climate. In 
  colder areas, streets might be angled to break up win-
  ter winds and make it easier to clear snow. In warmer 
  climates, buildings might be oriented to cast cooling 
  shadows on hot streets and squares.
  Urban builders relied to a large extent on profes-
  sional artisans like brickmakers, carpenters, wallers, 
  and stonemasons instead of the traditional peasant 
  and serf labor available to rural landholders. Towns 
  could conscript labor for municipal projects – in 1486, 
  Genoa required its stonemasons to each contribute a 
  day’s labor to building the Molo (a municipal wharf) 
  – but typically preferred to pay skilled workers. Urban 
  builders also had to purchase their materials; peasants 
  and serfs could often gather wood from the landhold-
  er’s forest.
   CONSTRUCTION METHODS
  Urban construction generally depended on pro-
  fessional builders, not family members and neighbors. 
  On the smallest projects, the patron acted as con-
  tractor, hiring and supervising artisans, and purchas-
  ing materials directly. Many projects involved written 
  contracts, although patrons rarely seemed to ask for 
  competitive bids or try to minimize costs. In England, 
  patrons tried to protect themselves from delays and 
  poor work with penalty, surety, and bond clauses. 
  Italian patrons rarely used similar means, although 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 23
  Town: Architecture
  Page 23
  Item
  Date
  Location
  Cost
  Barn, large
  1309-10
  Buckinghamshire
  83 livre (see p.38 for a discussion of coinage)
  Brick, per thousand
  15th C.
  Florence
  4 lire per 1,000 including transportation to work site
  Brick, per thousand
  1429
  Venice
  10 lire, 10 soldi
  Bridge, stones, purchase
  1412
  Romans
  72 florins per 100 stones for arch
   Bridge, stones, transport
  1412
  Romans
  40 florins per 100 stones for arch (by land);
  20 florins per 100 stones per arch (by water)
  Bridge, wood, purchase
  1390
  Romans
  50 florins per thirty 30’ high fir trees
  Bridge, wood, transport
  1390
  Romans
  42 florins per thirty 30’ trees
  Chapel within church
  14th C.
  Florence
  210 fl. (typical)
   Church, large
  15th C.
  Venice
  38,000 lire (for construction)
  Iron bars
  1425
  Venice
  6 soldi for 4 bars
  Iron door lock
  1431
  Venice
  1 lire 5 soldi
   Gatehouse, stone
  1313
  Warwickshire
  16 livre, 13 sou, 4 dernier (not including 
  timber, or transporting stone)
  Glass
  1436
  Venice
  1 ½ soldi/pane
  Gold Leaf
  1432
  Venice
  10 lire 14 soldi per thousand
  Kiln, for bricks, tax value
  1427
  Florence
  100-200 florins
  Kiln, for tiles, tax value
  1427
  Florence
  30-40 florins
  House, bishop’s
  13th C.
  London
  50 marks
   House, row of 8
  1415
  London
  46 l 13 s 4 d
  House, small
  1335
  Paris
  70 l
  House, large
  1341
  Paris
  200 l
  House, Mercer’s, with chapel
  Mid-15th C.
  London
  100 marks (carpenter’s fee)
  House, Merchant’s
  1313
  London
  36 l (carpenter’s fee)
  Lead
  1425
  Venice
  2 soldi/ pound
  Lime, barrel
  1429
  Venice
  6 soldi, 9 denari
  Market stalls
  1380-1
  Exeter
  £ 11 (for 12 stalls in enclosed meat market)
  Mill
  1299
  Fladbury
  80 marks
   Mill
  1396
  Ivinghoe
  65 l 9 s 3 ½ d
  Mill, fulling
  1293
  Kent
  38 s 6 d
  Mill, horse-powered
  1408
  Ivinghoe
  108 s 4 d
  Mill, weir in river
  1370
  Downton
  118 s 3 d
  Mill cogwheel
  1373
  Castleford
  6 s 8 d
  Mill stone, for bread
  1301
  Taunton
  2 l 2 ½ d
  Mill stone, for malt
  1301
  Taunton
  9 s
  Mill stone
  1390
  Congleton
  11 s 1 ¾ d
  Mill waterwheel
  1373
  Castleford
  10 s
  SAMPLE REAL ESTATE PRICES AND CONSTRUCTION COSTS
  The tables are drawn from various sources, and to some extent reflect the idiosyncrasies both of surviving records and of information reported by 
  various historians. Prices have not been translated into a standard measure; some differences may reflect changes in the metal content of coins. 
  Thus, the tables are of more use for showing trends and examples than for allowing direct comparison of prices from one region or time to another.
  
  Church
  Page 25
  The  religious life of a town centered on its many 
  churches and monasteries. The Catholic Church 
  was a significant political, economic, and social pres-
  ence. In older towns, the local bishop often became 
  the center of urban government after the Roman 
  Empire’s fall. Other towns grew around a monastery, 
  whose abbot had a significant voice in the town’s gov-
  ernment. Even if a town subsequently gained political 
  independence, its bishop or abbot remained a power-
  ful political force.
  Many towns started with only one parish church, 
  which might be the cathedral (seat of its bishop). As 
  the town’s population expanded, it generally out-
  grew that church. More parishes were created, along 
  with monasteries, friaries, and other religious houses. 
  Some large towns became the sites for communities of 
  scholars, who formed a university. Each parish priest, 
  abbot, and university leader had his own political and 
  economic interests. Some were subject to the local 
  bishop, others to their own orders, and all ultimately 
  to the Pope in Rome. There could be a large num-
  ber of churches. Medieval London was divided into 
  nearly 100 parishes; Norwich and York into over 40 
  each; Worcester and Cambridge into 10 each. A few 
  towns, such as Westminster, remained essentially one 
  parish. Of course, the number of parishes does not 
  include monasteries, mendicant houses, and other 
  religious organizations.
  The Church held a variety of legal privileges for 
  its property and clergy. As a general rule, its property 
  was exempt from secular laws and authorities. It did 
  not pay taxes or tolls to the town. Clergy, about six 
  percent of a cathedral city’s population, were immune 
  from prosecution by secular rulers and could be pun-
  ished only by their own superiors. Some of these 
  rights extended to tenants of church property, even 
  if they had not taken holy orders. Moreover, the 
  church’s property tended to expand at a slow pace 
  because parishioners donated or sold land and build-
  ings to it, and it rarely sold property to secular rulers. 
  This expansion caused significant friction between 
  the town and its clergy, and often resulted in agree-
  ments about the scope of church properties and when 
  newly acquired properties obtained privileges and 
  exemptions.
  Within the clergy,  tithes were a frequent source 
  of disagreement. The tithe was a tax on one-tenth 
  of every family’s annual profits from agriculture or 
  business. Everyone was subject to it, even the cler-
  gy. In addition, when someone died, their heirs owed 
  their parish church mortuary, a fee “for tithes will-
  fully or ignorantly detained, or imperfectly paid.” 
  Churches and religious orders struggled between 
  themselves over which urban residents owed tithe 
  to their churches and how tithe revenues would be 
  divided between the receiving church and its supe-
  riors. Churches also quarreled over donations from 
  the public, burial rights (and their attendant fees), 
  and other gifts.
  For the public, the Church was a key part of daily 
  life. Many urban residents worried about their souls. 
  Usury was a  sin. The New Testament itself suggest-
  ed that “It is easier for a camel to pass through a 
  needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter heaven.” 
  (Matthew 19:23, 24) Clerics preached, often in vain, 
  against vanity and ostentatious displays of wealth. 
  Thus, urban merchants and artisans often made 
  public displays of their faith by gifts to their parish 
  churches and to religious orders. Each guild had its 
  patron saint and donated generously to its associat-
  ed parish. Workers who could not afford cash gifts 
  offered labor or in-kind goods. In later centuries, mer-
  chants and artisans became more respectable in the 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 27
  Town: Church
  Page 27
  Unlike other landholders, bishops were elect-
  ed and held their office for life unless promoted to 
  another office or deposed by the Pope. Before the 
  11th century, they were elected by popular vote of 
  their parishioners, often with considerable influence 
  from the local landholders. The Papacy struggled to 
  assert its power over appointing its own officials dur-
  ing the Investiture Controversy. The issue was finally 
  resolved by the Concordat of Worms (1122), which 
  eliminated the overt role of secular landholders and 
  monarchs in appointing church officials, but allowed 
  some influence over the process.
  Thus, starting in the 11th and 12th centuries, 
  bishops were elected by the chapter of monks who 
  served the cathedral. In practice, powerful landhold-
  ers often drafted a list of nominees for the chapter to 
  consider; normally, the bishop was a clergy member 
  from a noble family, often related to nearby secular 
  landholders. If the chapter chose a candidate who 
  was not on the list, neighboring landholders might 
  resist the new candidate, sometimes violently. The 
  Papacy would then intervene to protect the Church’s 
  nominal independence, but Rome was quite far from 
  most bishoprics and its influence waxed and waned 
  depending on the Pope’s reputation and ability.
  Although the bishop was chosen by the chap-
  ter, his relationship to it was often hostile. Laon’s 
  bishops, for example, issued frequent rules prohib-
  iting the  monks (canons) from singing their offices 
  with undignified haste, talking in the cathedral, talk-
  ing to women, carrying weapons, selling goods in the 
  cathedral, or accepting bribes. The need to frequently 
  TO BE A BISHOP
  A new bishop’s role was complex and contradictory. 
  If he were fortunate, his election was essentially 
  undisputed and he could quickly receive his pall from 
  the Pope. If he were unlucky, he might find himself 
  dealing with years of expensive litigation in the papal 
  courts, while perhaps being locked out of his own see 
  by a rival claimant.
  The new bishop then had to take possession of his 
  secular estates, which might involve fees paid to his 
  feudal liege. He had to decide whether to keep existing 
  officials, or replace them with his own officers, and 
  deal with any debts and disputes left to him by his 
  predecessor. This would likely involve a tour of his 
  estates, which might extend over a wide area.
  Finally, he had to resolve his supervisory duties in his 
  parish, which again would likely involve touring major 
  parishes, monasteries, hospitals, and other clerical 
  institutions to assess the state of the parish’s physical 
  and spiritual health. Again, this might involve keeping 
  or replacing his officials. He would also be expected 
  to hold a synod, often in the spring, to introduce 
  himself and to discuss issues facing the diocese. (His 
  administrative duties would make it hard for him to 
  be a scholar, if he were so inclined, although a few 
  bishops and archbishops managed to balance those 
  roles.)
  If he were fortunate, he already had experience 
  administering complex estates either as the son of 
  a landholder, as an abbot, or as an official in his 
  predecessor’s administration. If not, he would be more 
  dependent on his officials, who might have their own 
  agendas.
  The new bishop would find himself expected to act as 
  a judge, resolving disputes on his many manors, and 
  between his parishes and clergy. He likely had his 
  own prison, where errant clergy could be imprisoned 
  for misdeeds. Depending on the state of his parish, 
  he might find himself involved in reform efforts, or 
  battling heresy among his parishioners. He would likely 
  find himself in a tangle of existing disputes involving 
  his neighboring landholders over his secular lands, 
  and resolving his parishes’ disputes with each other 
  and with rival clergy.
  He would have to set up a household able to travel 
  with him as he made his rounds among his parishes 
  and estates. He might also be expected to attend the 
  royal court and that of the nearest major landholder 
  for his diocese. He would be expected to be a good 
  host to guests, and to participate in hunts and other 
  social activities among nobles. As a secular landholder, 
  he would also be expected to maintain  knights and 
  to lead them into battle if necessary.
  All of those duties generally came with a generous 
  income and a lifestyle luxurious by medieval standards. 
  If his health permitted, he might well enjoy the benefits 
  of his new role for many decades.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 34
  Town: Church
  Page 34
  its cathedral school and later gained a papal charter. 
  The University of Toulouse, on the other hand, was 
  directly created by papal charter at the end of the 
  Albigensian Crusade and had both the Papacy and 
  the French monarchy as patrons. Its purpose was to 
  teach theology in the heart of the lands most affect-
  ed by the heresy. Emperor Frederick II created the 
  University of Naples as a matter of prestige, and as 
  an alternative to Bologna’s law school as a source of 
  administrators for his empire.
  Students and teachers were, almost without 
  exception, male. Most students were minor members 
  of the clergy whose moral character was vouched for 
  by their local bishop or the head of the local monas-
  tic order. This did not stop the students, often young 
  men, from gaining a reputation as rowdy, mischie-
  vous rogues, fond of drinking and casual  sex, who 
  escaped punishment for misdeeds by virtue of their 
  clerical status. While some students remained consis-
  tently at a university until they gained their degree, 
  others came and went as their finances and interests 
  allowed. Toulouse, for example, required a student 
  to attend only 15 days of classes per year in order 
  to obtain a certificate of matriculation, with all the 
  privileges that came with it. With diligence, a stu-
  dent might eventually gain mastery in his field (usu-
  ally Arts, Medicine, Law, or Theology) and become 
  licensed to teach others. If the university had a papal 
  charter, the license was accepted in all of Europe. 
  Degrees granted by universities chartered by a king 
  or emperor were generally recognized only in that 
  ruler’s lands.
  There were two major models of university struc-
  ture – the Paris and the Bologna systems. To put it 
  simply, in the Parisian model, the students themselves 
  managed the institution, setting the curriculum, hir-
  ing and firing faculty, and determining the require-
  ments for a degree. Students in the Parisian system 
  were organized into colleges – a combination of resi-
  dence and dining hall, organized geographically, and 
  supervised by the faculty. In the Bologna model, the 
  faculty managed the institution and set the standards. 
  Students in the Bologna system were organized into 
  “nations”, similar to a modern fraternity, but orga-
  nized geographically, which served as a social club, 
  study group, disciplinary body, sources of housing and 
  meals, and even moneylender during times of distress. 
  The nations had significant influence on the faculty, 
  and through it on the university.
  In general, a medieval university offered the fol-
  lowing privileges:
  All of its full-time students and full-time faculty 
  were considered protected by the highest secular 
  authority in the land (usually the monarchy or its 
  equivalent). By definition, both students and fac-
  ulty were also clergy with the usual privileges of 
  that status. It was a serious crime to falsely claim 
  university privilege.
  All students and faculty were subject only to ec-
  clesiastical justice and, when within a day’s travel 
  of the university, or on university business, sub-
  ject only to its own justice. The university could 
  withdraw this privilege if it saw fit.
  All universities had the sole right to determine 
  the standards for graduates without interference 
  from any secular official or bishop.
  Universities had the sole right to determine the 
  course of their studies, again free from outside 
  interference.
  Universities had the sole right to strike – to cease 
  all classes and instruction, in any place and for 
  any reason.
  Universities held a monopoly on instruction in 
  the higher arts of law, medicine, and theology 
  within a reasonable radius of their campus.
  The Dominicans and Franciscans were active-
  ly involved in university education, although 
  they generally educated their own friars outside 
  of “secular” schools. The Dominicans created 
  four studia in England, Germany, Lombardy, 
  and Provence to educate promising friars. The 
  Franciscans educated their friars at studia in 
  Assisi, Bologna, Oxford, Paris, and Toulouse. 
  The best Dominican and Franciscan students 
  were sent from the studia to Paris for a master’s 
  degree.
  Other Religious Movements
  In addition to the major religious orders, there 
  were various popular and heretical movements which 
  affected urban life. Some of the major groups are 
  mentioned here; however, a detailed history of these 
  groups is beyond the scope of this book. Most of the 
  popular religious movements were reactions to fail-
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  
   Commerce
  Page 37
  Towns were primarily centers for trade and com-
  merce. To drastically oversimplify, a town gathered 
  raw materials from its hinterland, and exported them 
  in bulk; or processed them into finished goods like 
  cloth, and sold the results to various consumers. 
  Over time, towns began to gain reputations for the 
  quality of certain wares, which allowed them to 
  charge a premium for their goods. In order to 
  protect their reputations, local merchants 
  formed guilds which controlled the sup-
  ply and manufacture of goods, by licens-
  ing and regulating manufacturers. Towns 
  and regions began to specialize, improving 
  their own profits while becoming increas-
  ingly reliant on others for raw materials and 
  for other types of goods.
  The heart of a town was its market place. 
  The market, held weekly in small towns and 
  daily in cities, provided everything from the 
  staples of daily meals to costly spices, from 
  the simplest plain wool cloth to ornate 
  silk brocades. Among storefronts and 
  stalls wandered itinerant hawkers, 
  often with protected rights to sell 
  their wares. By concentrating sales 
  in a single market place, municipal 
  and guild inspectors could more eas-
  ily monitor quality, quantity, and price. 
  The market place was the site of the pub-
  lic scales and official measures, both vital 
  to setting disputes. Often it was a place 
  where urban criminals were punished and 
  decrees proclaimed.
  The  market place was, first and fore-
  most, under the control of the town’s guilds. 
  As discussed in more detail on p. 81, guilds were 
  effectively monopolists, controlling demand for vari-
  ous raw materials and supplies of finished goods. Each 
  set rules concerning price, quantity, quality, compe-
  tition, locations for manufacture and sales, and the 
  investigation, trial, and punishment of infractions. 
  Generally, the guilds prohibited foreign merchants 
  from selling in stores; they could rent market stalls, 
  booths, or tables. Guilds set the legal weights and 
  measures, which required foreign merchants to make 
  and sell goods in conforming sizes or face confiscation 
  or destruction of non-conforming items. They some-
  times required language interpreters, at the foreign 
  merchant’s expense.
  The market place was also under the control 
  of the town government. Towns often established 
  their own laws about product safety, quality, and 
  price which generally overlapped guild rules. 
  Towns often taxed goods entering and leav-
  ing their gates, and charged fees for the use 
  of market stalls and other temporary sell-
  ing spaces. Unlike the guild, town govern-
  ment often encouraged foreign merchants, 
  regulating inns to make sure that travelers 
  were welcomed and kept safe, while requir-
  ing innkeepers to prevent frauds and min-
  imize violence.
   MONEY
  “ Coins are the most incomprehensible 
  things. Their value rises and falls, and one 
  does not know what to do. When one thinks 
  that he has gained, he finds the contrary.”
  – Gilles Li Muisis, Abbot 
  of Tournai (14th C.)
  The urban market, unlike its rural counter-
  part, was based primarily on cash, not on bar-
  ter or in-kind payments. Medieval money is 
  a complicated topic. On the one hand, each 
  region had a relatively simple set of silver, 
  and later gold, coins. On the other hand, 
  the value of those coins varied widely due 
  to changes in their metal content, and fluc-
  tuations in the supply of circulating coins. To 
  add an additional layer of complexity, some regions 
  kept accounts in a different system of money, which 
  might bear little relation to the physical coins in 
  circulation.
  Keeping track of the value of money was a major 
  headache for merchants and administrators, partic-
  ularly prior to the introduction of Arabic numbers 
  in the 12th century. (Prior accounts and arithmetic 
  operations used Roman numerals.) Many different 
  towns might hold the right to mint coins – each with 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 38
  Town: Commerce
  Page 38
  their own metal content; which could change if the 
  town’s ruler decided to debase the coins to raise rev-
  enues from the mint by getting more coins per raw 
  silver, or if the mint itself became dishonest. Rulers 
  periodically demonetized existing coins, declaring 
  them unusable for transactions, and forced their 
  subjects to return the old coins to the mint for new 
  coins, which might contain less silver. Often, guild 
  and town rules required transactions to be made in 
  the coins minted in the town or, if the town did not 
  have its own mint, in the most commonly circulated 
  regional coins – which created a brisk business for 
  moneychangers.
  When manufacturing goods or entering a con-
  tract, a merchant had to anticipate the demand for 
  coins in the future. If, for example, a trade fair were 
  about to open, there would be a high demand for local 
  coins (which would raise their relative value), and a 
  surplus of foreign coins as foreign merchants changed 
  their money in order to make transactions in the local 
  currency. The problem would be reversed when the 
  trade fair ended and foreigners sought to change their 
  money back into their preferred coinage.
  Merchants also had to consider periodic short-
  ages of coins. In the late 14th and 15th centuries, there 
  was a systemic shortage of silver for coins. More coins 
  were being sent out of Europe to the Baltic, Middle 
  East, and Asia for spices, silk, and luxury goods, 
  than were being minted from newly-mined silver. 
  The shortage of silver may have expanded the use of 
  gold coins, which were first introduced in the mid-
  13th century. It may have also contributed to debased 
  coinage issued in the late 14th and early 15th century. 
  (A series of new mines opened in the mid-15th cen-
  tury reduced the silver shortage.)
  The basic Carolingian  money system was in com-
  mon use. A “pound” (489.6 grams) of silver (livre 
  tournois or l.) was divided into 240 pennies (dernier 
  or d.). At first, the livre was also divided into 20 shil-
  lings (sou or s.) as an  accounting measure. This cre-
  ated a ratio of 1 to 20 to 240, which was found across 
  western Europe. Only the dernier was a physical coin 
  at first – both the sou and livre were used only for 
  accounting. Over time, various other coins evolved. 
  England issued, at various points, half-pennies, far-
  things (quarter-pennies), groats (4 pennies), and 
  A MERCHANT’S ARRIVAL
  When a  merchant arrived in a new town for the first 
  time, he first encountered the watch at the gates who 
  collected any taxes or tolls on his merchandise. If he 
  wanted to claim an exemption from a fee, he might need 
  to speak to an urban official at the town’s hall.
  As he entered the gate, he might be surrounded by 
  young boys, each trying to persuade him to stay at a 
  particular inn. The choice was important: not only 
  did he want a safe place to stay that was (relatively) 
  vermin-free, but he also wanted a trustworthy inn-
  keeper, because an  innkeeper often served as a local 
  agent and intermediary between his guests and local 
  guilds. Negotiations often began in inns, which became 
  associated with guests from particular regions or 
  trades. Having picked an inn, the merchant would 
  let the young man lead him to it – negotiate a room, 
  and perhaps a place to stable his horse (if any) and 
  warehouse any bulky goods. If he was armed, he might 
  have to leave his weapons at the inn during his stay. If 
  he was arriving by ship or boat, some towns restricted 
  his ability to off-load his goods, requiring him to sell 
  from the ship, or the quay.
  From the inn, he might then go to the market to 
  conduct his business. He might rent a market stall to 
  sell his wares from the town government, show his 
  goods to a local guild inspector to prove their quality, 
  and make sure that his goods conformed to the local 
  weights and measures. Generally, all sales had to take 
  place in the marketplace, under the watchful eye of 
  urban and guild officials. He might also have to visit 
  a moneychanger to have enough local currency for 
  transactions.
  Some towns restricted how long a foreign (resident of 
  another town) or alien (citizen of another monarch) 
  merchant could stay in town. Typically, he might 
  only be able to stay in one place for 40 days at a time. 
  When he wanted to leave, he might hope to avoid 
  taxes on exporting any unsold goods.
  If he arrived alone, he might have difficulty with 
  transactions. Local merchants were often wary of 
  strangers – they might not be able to trust the quality 
  of his goods, nor be able to easily collect damages or 
  a debt. He might seek family members or others from 
  his home to vouch for him as pledges for his debts.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 51
  Town: Commerce
  Page 51
  TYPICAL COSTS FOR SERVICES AND COMMON GOODS
  Item
  Date
  Location
  Cost
  Ale, per gallon
  1320
  London
  1 d. (good quality)
  Ale, per gallon
  1320
  London
  3/4 d. (ave. quality)
  Ale, per gallon
  1423
  London
  1 1/4 d. (good quality)
  Ale, per gallon
  1423
  London
  3/4 d. (ave. quality)
  Almonds, pound
  1359
  Paris
  14 d.
  Arquebus
  1485
  Grenada
  11 reales
  Arquebus
  1519
  Nuremburg
  5 florins (elaborate gift)
  Bed, for hospital
  14th C.
  Florence
  10-15 lire
  Beef, pound
  1395-1405
  Florence
  1 soldi, 2 denari
  Beef, pound
  1491-1501
  Florence
  1 soldi, 3 denari
  Boots
  1470
  Derbyshire
  6 d. /pair
  Brooch with gems
  1444-45
  Worcester
  5 pounds (gift to noble)
  Calf
  1365
  Paris
  9 d.
  Candle, tallow
  1406
  Salisbury
  1 1/2 d. per pound
  Cloth, wool
  1380
  Ely
  5 s. /yard (for bishop)
  Cloth, wool
  1384-5
  Hereford
  2 s. 11 d. /yard (for knight)
  Cloth, wool
  1384-5
  Hereford
  2 s. /yard (for yeoman)
  Cloth, wool
  1384-5
  Hereford
  1 s. 7 d. /yard (for servant)
  Cloth, wool
  1390
  Exeter
  3 d. per narrow yard (12 x 1 yards), coarse material
  Copper, ingot
  1426
  Venice
  11 s./pound
  Crossbow
  1519
  Nuremburg
  13 1/2 florins (elaborate gift)
  Dates, pound
  1338
  Paris
  6 d.
  Fish, pound
  1395-1405
  Florence
  4 soldi, 3 denari
  Fish, pound
  1491-1501
  Florence
  3 soldi, 10 denari
  Fruit, dried
  1380
  London
  1 d. to 4 d /pound (currants, dates, 
  figs, prunes, raisins)
  Glass, small pane
  1426
  Venice
  1 ½ soldi
  Gloves, velvet
  1429
  Venice
  3 ducats
  Ginger, pound
  1338
  Paris
  15 s.
  Hazelnuts, pound
  1338
  Paris
  15 d.
  Herring, barrel
  1309
  Hull
  1 s. 2 d.
  Horse
  1391-2
  Exeter
  33 s. 4 d.
  Lamb
  1395-1405
  Florence
  2 soldi
  Lime
  1425
  Venice
  6 soldi, 9 denari/ barrel
  Oil, orico
  1445
  Florence
  1 1/2 florins
  Oxen (for  meat)
  1265
  Paris
  5 s. 3 1/2 d.
  Oxen (working)
  1265
  Paris
  10 s.
  Peas, field
  1270-80
  London
  3 s. /quarter
  
   Crime & Punishment
  Page 53
  Companions of our band, care-free,
  Rob ye for naught except for gold.
  Seek only those who’re weak, ye see;
  Let those go who seem too bold;
  And when ye take a purse or so,
  Nor backwards ever throw a glance:
  Beware the Law where’er ye go,
  Which makes you on the Gallows dance.
  – François Villon, Ballade 
  en jargon (c. 1460)
  Towns were crowded places with many oppor-
  tunities for frauds, thefts, and violent crimes. Urban 
  authorities sought the right to hold their own courts 
  which could resolve criminal complaints, administer 
  fines, and punish malefactors. Their courts, however, 
  were limited. Medieval society had a complex web of 
  legal privileges. Clergy, for example, had the right to 
  be tried under ecclesiastical law. Within the clergy, 
  certain orders and universities had the right to dis-
  cipline their own members separate from the bish-
  op’s court. The right of sanctuary allowed criminals 
  to seek protection from the Church against civil law 
  for 40 days (a few sites let criminals remain indefi-
  nitely). Often, sheriffs and urban officials could not 
  enter Church property to serve warrants or make 
  arrests, but had to wait on a public street for their 
  quarry to emerge. Royal vassals could demand trial 
  in royal courts. Guilds often held primary jurisdic-
  tion over their members for acts which violated guild 
  rules. Major fairs held their own courts during their 
  sessions to resolve merchants’ disputes and crimes 
  like assaults and thefts. This division of jurisdiction 
  made it hard for towns to keep order.
  Violence was a common feature of urban life. In 
  Antwerp, in the second half of the 14th century, court 
  records show twice as many cases for physical violence 
  as for theft. In early 15th century Brescia, nearly half 
  of the sentences imposed by the city’s podestà and 
  criminal court judges were for brawls, wounds, and 
  dire insults. Vendettas, common in Mediterranean 
  cultures, made quarrels more serious, creating a cycle 
  of revenge attacks and counter-attacks that could 
  quickly build into a riot.
  To some extent, ongoing low levels of violence 
  were part of the relationship between workers and 
  their employers. A dispute between an employee 
  and his employer was hard to fairly resolve in urban 
  courts, which were rightly regarded as biased in favor 
  of the wealthy. A disgruntled worker might instead 
  gain satisfaction by vandalism or violence. Town 
  records record many instances of nighttime vandal-
  ism, creditors being attacked, street brawls between 
  rival factions, gang rapes, and personal vendettas set-
  tled with knives and clubs.
  What could a town do? To reduce crimes which 
  took place after  dark, many towns imposed a strict 
   curfew forbidding most people from traveling on the 
  streets at night without permission. If, for some rea-
  son, a person needed to go into the streets, he was 
  expected to carry a lantern or light to demonstrate 
  honest intentions. In Siena, anyone caught outside 
  after dark was fined 20 s. Curfews primarily dissuaded 
  the easily temptable. They did not prevent groups of 
  youths, often university students or sons of wealthy 
  citizens, from congregating after dark in large groups 
  to engage in vandalism, robberies, or even house-
  breaking and rape. (Student groups were not to be 
  underestimated. In 1408, a group of Parisian students 
  armed with swords, daggers, axes, and polearms, wear-
  ing mail and padded leather jackets, invaded another 
  group of students’ party and killed their host.)
  Homeowners secured their houses and belong-
  ings. Ground floor windows were shuttered or pro-
  tected with iron bars. Doors were barred or chained 
  shut. Important papers and belongings were kept in 
  stout locked chests, often in the owner’s bedroom.
  Towns regulated  weapons. Most forbade foreign-
  ers and even many residents from carrying weapons. 
  Foreigners were usually required to deposit their 
  weapons for safekeeping with their host or innkeep-
  er on arrival in town. Residents and foreigners alike 
  were often precluded from carrying weapons to mar-
  kets and  fairs; even  knights and noble participants in 
  tournaments had their right to carry arms and arm 
  their followers limited.
   In 1099, Genoa forbade anyone to carry weapons 
  without a license, which was available for “defensive” 
  weapons to citizens known to have mortal enemies. 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 60
  Town: Crime & Punishment
  Page 60
  Offense
  Date
  Location
  Amount/Punishment
  Neglect of duty to host ambassador
  1483
  Venice
  10 ducat fine (debtor 
  ineligible for public office 
  until paid)
  Nuisance
  1302
  St. Ives
  6 d
  Nuisance
  1354
  Beverly
  40 d
  Nuisance
  1421
  Coventry
  12 d
  Pig, unattended
  Mid-14C
  London
  4 d (pig could be killed 
  on sight, owner could 
  purchase carcass for 4 d)
  Pig, unattended
  Mid-14C
  Sandwich
  12 d (pig killed and 
  carcass sold to charity)
  Pig, unattended
  1445
  Cambridge
  4 d
  Practicing medicine without license
  1330
  Bayons
  40 s
  Private meeting with foreign 
  ambassador by Senator 
  or Council member
  1481
  Venice
  1,000 ducat fine and 
  2 years exile
  Procuring
  1282
  Cordes
  Forfeit house, or if not a 
  homeowner, fined 20 l.
  Procuring
  1458
  Avignon
  200 l.
  Rape
  1369-70
  Rodez
  5 l
  Rape, attempted
  1307
  Montaillou
  20 l
  Rape, of  prostitute
  1194
  Pexiora
  1 s.
  Rape, of prostitute
  1286
  Pisa
  10 – 40 s.
  Rape, of prostitute
  1388
  Vallassina
  10 l.
  Robbery, 1st offense, less than 1 lire
  Early 13th c. Venice
  Whipping
  Robbery, 5-10 lire
  Early 13th c. Venice
  Loss of eye
  Robbery, 40 lire+
  Early 13th c. Venice
  Hanging
  Selling supplies to English
  1369-70
  Rodez
  5 l
  Sodomy (any “abnormal” 
   sexual behavior)
  14th c.
  Venice
  Burning alive
  Soliciting a  prostitute
  1369-70
  Rodez
  2 l
  Traveling at night
  15C
  Siena
  20 s
  Traveling at night w/o light
  1431
  Lyon
  60 s / offense
  Traveling at night while armed
  15C
  Troyes
  10 s (plus confisca-
  tion of weapon)
  Using false weights
  1335
  Canterbury
  80 l (plus reimbursement 
  to defrauded customers)
  Watch, failing to stop thief
  595
  Paris
  5 s (plus reimburse 
  for stolen goods)
  Watch, failing to stop thief
  813
  Paris
  4 s
  Weapon possession
  1409
  Venice
  25 lire (or 15 days in prison)
  
  Education
  Page 61
  Urban residents were more likely to be literate and 
  numerate than their rural counterparts, but an exact 
  rate can’t be determined. Merchants and shopkeepers 
  needed to manage basic accounts and keep records in 
  order to operate their businesses. Secular and ecclesi-
  astical administrators likewise needed to keep records 
  and  accounts in order to manage bishoprics, guilds, and 
  town government. Thus, there was a need for basic  edu-
  cation, as well as vocational training.
  At first, education was a Church monopoly. In 1215, 
  the Fourth Lateran Council directed every cathedral to 
  hire a grammar master for the clergy and indigent schol-
  ars, and every metropolitan bishop to hire a theologian. 
  No one could set up a grammar school in London, for 
  example, without the approval of the Bishop of London 
  and the chancellors of St. Paul’s cathedral. From the 
  12th century to the mid-15th century, London had 
  three approved grammar schools which taught basic 
  Latin vocabulary and grammar, and gave basic religious 
  instruction.
  In theory, church-sponsored teaching was free – 
  knowledge was a divine gift, not to be sold. But a teach-
  er had to earn a living and could be given a benefice or 
  salary, or charge reasonable fees. Teachers could also 
  accept gifts from those that could afford to donate to 
  them.
  When a Church education proved inadequate, or 
  too expensive, lay “primary” schools arose which were 
  focused on literacy in the vernacular and basic arith-
  metic. Lay schools first arose in Flanders and Italy, and 
  then spread across urban Europe. Urban students tend-
  ed to split their time between studies and work in shops, 
  so the schools focused on practical problems and taught 
  a rapid script (scrittura mercantesa), designed for record-
  keeping and merchant correspondence. In 1440, King 
  Henry VI founded Eton, a primary school in Windsor, 
  with a grant for the education of indigent scholars.
  By 1467, approximately 40% of the tradesmen in 
  London had basic literacy in English, and 50% of those 
  were literate in Latin as well. There is less evidence 
  about the literacy among London’s women. Women 
  were admitted to some primary schools, but excluded 
  from grammar schools. A woman who wanted to learn 
  Latin generally had to hire a private tutor.
  Monasteries had long maintained libraries and lent 
  books to other monasteries. Until 1436, all European 
  books were hand-copied, and were thus rare and expen-
  sive. Johannes Gutenberg invented his famous printing 
  press in 1436 (finishing the press in 1440). His combi-
  nation of press and moveable type spread rapidly, and 
  made printing far less expensive, vastly expanding the 
  number and types of available books. In the mid-15th 
  century, towns began to set aside rooms, and eventu-
  ally buildings, for their collections of books. These were 
  not public libraries, but the collections were available 
  to wealthy patrons.
   MASTER-APPRENTICE SYSTEM
  The apprentice system was the most common form 
  of vocational training for young men in Europe. A mas-
  ter was allowed by his guild to employ a limited num-
  ber of apprentices (in addition to his own spouse and 
  children). The Guild set standards for the fee a master 
  could charge the apprentice’s parents, and the minimum 
  length of the apprenticeship before an apprentice could 
  try to qualify as a master. If, upon completing an appren-
  ticeship, the apprentice then became a citizen of the 
  town, the urban government might also set standards 
  for  apprentice contracts.
  The prospective apprentice’s parent paid a master 
  a fee and entered into a written apprenticeship con-
  tract. The master agreed to house, feed, and train the 
  apprentice in his trade. The master was responsible for 
  the apprentice’s work and behavior. Often the contract 
  forbade the apprentice to gamble, fornicate, or hang 
  about in taverns. The agreement required the appren-
  tice to be appropriately trained, and not used merely as a 
  domestic servant. A master could discipline the appren-
  tice, including beating him, but not so seriously as to 
  permanently damage a limb. If the apprentice left before 
  completing the contract, his family could be fined.
  Once accepted, the master had to enter the appren-
  tice on the guild’s rolls and pay a fee to the guild. If the 
  guild required that an apprentice be literate, he would be 
  examined by the guild prior to enrollment. Some towns 
  also required the master to enroll the apprentice on its 
  records, and, of course, pay an additional fee. Enrollment 
  was often part of a ceremony to impress the event upon 
  the memory of the youth and on witnesses.
  
  Entertainment
  Page 63
  Both  towns and rural villages held feasts and cel-
  ebrations during the medieval year. The difference 
  was scale. A village might hold a  fair, festival, or cel-
  ebratory dinner for a relative handful of residents. 
  Urban celebrations involved hundreds or thousands 
  of participants, often drawing spectators from signifi-
  cant distances. Some feasts were massive urban cel-
  ebrations, others were held by individual churches or 
  guilds. In Bruges, there were thir-
  teen processions each year, held 
  as part of civic or religious festi-
  vals. Venice held sixteen proces-
  sions per year.
  Urban celebrations were, in part, 
  intended to demonstrate and re-
  enforce local ties and relative 
  precedence. Many had a reli-
  gious element, and were intend-
  ed to seek salvation or religious 
  protection from the honored 
  saint. Others were, partly, 
  intended to draw money from 
  participants and spectators 
  into the local economy.
   CIVIC PROCESSIONS
  Many towns had periodic 
  processions to honor the elec-
  tion of new urban officials, or to 
  welcome important dignitaries 
  to the town. Generally, civic 
  processions were more ad hoc 
  and less elaborate than their 
  religious counterparts. Still, they 
  were occasions for the town’s 
  leaders to demonstrate their 
  importance and impress guests.
   RELIGIOUS  PROCESSIONS
  Weekly processions occurred in some towns. 
  Each Sunday, the leaders of the cathedral chapter, 
  its subject churches, and the bishop processed from 
  the bishop’s residence to the cathedral. At the cathe-
  dral, they were met by acolytes with lighted candles 
  and censers. On major saints’ days, the procession 
  might include important relics. The cathedral chap-
  ter might also process to a town’s church to honor it 
  on its saint’s day. In Bergamo, the cathedral clergy 
  processed each Sunday to one of its cloisters of nuns 
  in honor of the Virgin. In Pisa, there was a proces-
  sion each Friday from the cathedral to its cemetery in 
  honor of Good Friday and the town’s dead.
  Processions might also be held to invoke 
  divine favor after a natural disaster, a 
  major disease outbreak, bad weather 
  that might affect the harvest, or in times 
  of war. In some towns, the faithful 
  might even punish a patron saint 
  for failing to come to their aid by 
  placing the saint’s statue outside 
  the church or conspicuously hon-
  oring a rival saint instead.
  HISTORICAL 
  COMMEMORATIONS
   Some urban feasts celebrat-
  ed major historical events. Venice, 
  for example, annually celebrat-
  ed a military expedition against 
  Dalmatia launched on May 9, 
  1000,  Ascension Day. On that 
  date, Doge Sebastiano Ziani 
  sailed against Emperor Frederick 
  I. When the victorious Venetians 
  returned, Pope Alexander III gave 
  Ziani a consecrated ring symbolizing 
  Venice’s marriage to the Adriatic. 
  The feast became an elaborate 
  festival in which the Doge, the 
  Bishop of Olivolo, and important 
  Venetian notables sailed out by the 
  Lido in a gilded boat (bucintoro) into 
  the open sea for a service of supplica-
  tion and thanksgiving. The Doge and his court were 
  sprinkled with holy water while psalms were chanted. 
  A ring was thrown into the water to commemorate 
  Venice’s symbolic marriage to the sea.
  Perugia held an annual feast on December 7 start-
  ing in 1371 to mark the start of a popular uprising 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 65
  Town: Entertainment
  Page 65
  hall. With that ceremony, Carnival, with its feasts, 
  dances, and drinking, began in  Paris.
  The Church intermittently tried to discour-
  age the Feast. In 1207, Innocent III tried to have 
  it discontinued in Polish churches. In 1400, the 
  University of Paris tried to ban it. In 1436, Basle 
  allowed the feast to proceed, but only if it was not 
  irreverent.
   Lent and  Easter
  Lent, a 40-day period between Ash Wednesday 
  and Easter, was a time of fasting, marked by the 
  absence of celebrations. Men stopped cutting their 
  hair. All Christians refrained from eating  meat, 
  eggs, and dairy products. Churches often covered 
  images and crosses. Some towns restricted loud or 
  boisterous activities during Lent. Sumptuary laws 
  might encourage even more modest dress during 
  Lent. After the Fourth Lateran Council,  Jews were 
  encouraged to remain indoors during the season. 
  Prostitutes were often expected to limit or suspend 
  their activities.
  Easter Sunday was a major Church festival. It 
  was one of the few times each year when commu-
  nion (preceded by confession) was mandatory. In 
  Italy, Easter was also an occasion for communal bap-
  tism of the community’s infants. After Mass, it was a 
  time for celebration, feasts, and dances as the faithful 
  broke their Lent fast.
   Assumption of the Virgin
  The Assumption of the Virgin (August 15) was 
  an important festival. In Italy, it was a traditional 
  time for a truce, so that even  soldiers could attend 
  ceremonies in their home church. Assaults and vio-
  lent conduct during the festival were more strictly 
  punished than at other times. Tolls and fees were 
  suspended for visitors. Candles were sold in the 
  market, under the strict supervision of guild leaders 
  who required religious candles to only use beeswax 
  and linen wicks. During the feast, candles were 
  offered by the faithful to the cathedral and other 
  churches. The laity could also buy candles to be 
  blessed for their own use.
  Italian city-states required every male head of 
  household to attend the services. Urban officials 
  sometimes checked attendance, and looked for any-
  one banished from the city who might try to sneak 
  into the ceremony. Generally, foreigners,  women, and 
  children were excluded from the candle offering pro-
  cession, although they could observe the ceremony.
  NEIGHBORHOOD  COMPETITIONS
  Some events were intended to boost urban  unity 
  as a whole. Others were intended to channel neigh-
  borhood rivalries. Feasts, festivals, and fairs were 
  often a time for official or unofficial neighborhood 
  competitions.  Combats between rock-throwing mobs 
  (sassaioli) were common in Perugia and Rome. Milan, 
  Pavia, and Ravenna were known for fighting with 
  wooden weapons (giuocco del mazzascudo).
  In Siena, there was the elmora (a melee with 
  wooden swords and lances), the battaglia de’sassi 
  (a melee with thrown stones), the pugna (a brawl 
  fought with fists wrapped in cloth), and the pallone 
  (a soccer-like game). Sienese officials tried to limit 
  the mayhem with  laws. Stone throwing was  banned 
  in 1253. The elmora was banned by the end of 13C. 
  A group tried to convert the unarmed pugna into 
  an urban rebellion in 1325, but were thwarted by 
  alert authorities.
  In Venice, there are records of battles between 
  neighborhoods as early as 810. Combatants fought 
  with rocks and sharpened sticks hardened by repeat-
  ed soaking in boiling oil, protected by shields, hel-
  mets, and even armor. In 1369, the Great Council 
  encouraged a set of battles on the first day of the 
  New Year and during the regatta (early September) 
  to help young men learn combat skills. In the 15th 
  century, there are scattered records of battles fought 
  on bridges and in small plazas (campi). In 1421, 
  there is a record of a neighborhood battle fought on 
  a bridge, the Ponte dei Servi. In 1493, a bridge battle 
  was staged on the Ponte di Santa Fosca for the duke 
  of Ferrara. In 1505, the  Council of Ten tried to ban 
  “wars” at the bridges, and failed.
   Races
  The Palio was, and is, a horse race held in Siena 
  each year. It was one of many run in northern Italy 
  starting in the 13th century. The name refers to the 
  banner or flag given to the winner in honor of the 
  city’s patron saint. Records first mention the Sienese 
  palio in 1238 as part of a festival of the Assumption 
  of the Virgin. Palios often honored saints, rarely 
  other individuals.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 69
  Town: Entertainment
  Page 69
  wives and daughters. (Oddly, laws requiring that pros-
  titutes wear particular clothing sometimes co-existed 
  with bans on prostitution, a mixed message at best.) 
  Many towns required prostitutes to live outside the 
  walls, or on designated streets. Some towns prohib-
  ited prostitutes from attend-
  ing public church services, 
  walking in public during the 
  week preceding  Easter, or 
  even speaking with “respect-
  able” women.
  The Church also disap-
  proved of prostitution, both 
  because of the promiscuity 
  involved and the making of 
  money from it. It was willing 
  to accept it, however, as a 
  lesser evil than male homo-
  sexuality or the rape of “hon-
  est” women. A number of Church leaders tried to 
  redeem prostitutes, helping them marry or earn a liv-
  ing in a trade.
   Pimps (houlier, Fr.) and  procuresses (marquerelle, 
  Fr.), on the other hand, were rarely tolerated. The 
  Church viewed making a living from a woman’s pros-
  titution as a  sin similar to usury (making money from 
  money). Pimps were blamed for recruiting gullible 
  women from the countryside or small towns with false 
  promises of wealth or love. Some prostitutes found 
  that a male protector was necessary to prevent rape 
  or assault by customers. The procuress, the pimp’s 
  female counterpart, was often a retired prostitute 
  who arranged liaisons between customers and prosti-
  tutes, and was believed to offer abortion advice, con-
  traception, and  love  potions. Some pimps and pro-
  curesses managed prostitutes under the  cover of a 
  business like a school or textile making that could 
  recruit and employ many single young women with-
  out suspicion.
  Numerous women made their living as prostitutes. 
  At some points and times, there were few other ways for 
  a woman to make a living in a city. Some women became 
  prostitutes when they were widowed, or their family 
  fell into debt. Often they were recruited from different 
  towns, perhaps to avoid scandals involving women from 
  local families. Frequently, towns required prostitutes to 
  practice their trade in brothels, which were monitored 
  by the local officials. Some towns had municipal broth-
  els which were farmed, like other property, to inves-
  tors to manage. Some prostitutes lived in their brothels, 
  which were sturdy structures, often walled, to prevent 
  rowdy men from assaulting the residents. Others lived 
  elsewhere and were required, like all workers, to cease 
  their trade at dusk and return to their homes during the 
  dusk-to-dawn  curfew.
  Some towns tried to pro-
  tect prostitutes from exploi-
  tation by brothel keepers. A 
  few limited the amount of 
  rent and board the keeper 
  could charge. Others pro-
  hibited keepers from over-
  charging for food and beer, 
  or from lending money to 
  the prostitutes. Some forbade 
  prostitutes from spinning or 
  carding wool, which limited 
  their ability to earn an “hon-
  est” living, but also prevented the keeper from forc-
  ing them to work when not with a customer. (Some 
  German towns, conversely, encouraged prostitutes to 
  spin for their keeper when not otherwise busy.) A few 
   forbade keepers from beating the prostitutes. Bishops, 
  in some towns, had one of their clerics inspect the 
  brothels periodically to make sure that none of the 
  women were being held against their will.
  In 1254, Louis IX tried to outlaw prostitution in 
  France. When his ban proved unenforceable, he urged 
  towns to distance brothels from churches, monaster-
  ies, and cemeteries, and, in effect, create districts for 
  the trade. After 1350, many towns relaxed their laws. 
  Some founded municipal brothels. In 1400, Venice 
  and Florence even included prostitution among their 
  civic values because the trade provided a safe out-
  let for unmarried men’s sexual needs. (Florence did, 
  however, create a vice-squad, the  Ufficali di Notte 
  (Office of the Night) to prosecute male prostitutes 
  and male homosexuals.)
  Oddly, perhaps,  concubines and courtesans (the 
  educated female companions of male merchants and 
  nobles) were not regarded as prostitutes. The rela-
  tive fidelity of the relationship between concubine 
  and lover made it more acceptable than a prostitute’s 
  promiscuity. The courtesan’s education (and wealthy 
  clientele) made her more socially acceptable in some 
  areas. In others, during the 15th century, one could 
  be fined for keeping a concubine, but brothels were 
  licensed or permitted by the town.
  Some women 
  became prostitutes 
  when they were 
  widowed, or their 
  family fell into debt.
  
  Governance
  Page 72
  Urban  governance came in many forms. Some 
  towns were subject to a major landholder or mon-
  arch and governed directly by an appointed offi-
  cial. Some held a charter which allowed them to 
  elect their own officials. A few, such as the north-
  ern Italian city-states, were independent and able to 
  select their own rulers. Within these broad catego-
  ries were many regional variations to accommodate 
  local needs, customs, and the complex interactions 
  between the town and its powerful religious and eco-
  nomic leaders, as well as surrounding landholders and 
  other political powers.
  One legacy of the fall of the Roman Empire was 
  a need for strong leadership to unify a town and 
  maintain its defenses. Towns from that era tended 
  to be either subject to a nearby landholder, or to the 
  local bishop. Over time, subject towns struggled for 
  and generally gained some measure of independence 
  through charters. The northern Italian city-states 
  took a separate path, freeing themselves from feu-
  dal and ecclesiastical overlords to become indepen-
  dent communities with control over their rural hin-
  terlands. Even there, however, wars and hard times 
  brought intermittent control by powerful rulers and 
  their families.
   SUBJECT TOWNS
  The subject town was the simplest form of urban 
  government. The town was controlled, much like 
  a medieval fief, by a powerful landholder, such as 
  a count or duke, or by an ecclesiastical landholder, 
  such as a bishop or abbot. Sometimes, the town was 
  literally divided between both a secular and an eccle-
  siastical landholder, each the absolute ruler of certain 
  neighborhoods, which may even have been divided 
  by a wall. In either case, the ruler generally controlled 
  the town’s taxes, finances, and trade.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 74
  Town: Governance
  Page 74
  the court. A bishop’s or duke’s court had only a cou-
  ple dozen members, but employed over three locals 
  per member of the court. The cost, however, was the 
  landholder’s interference with the town’s administra-
  tion and finances, and problems controlling members 
  of the royal household who were generally not subject 
  to local courts.
  Towns sought  charters because the interests of 
  a subject town and its ruler were often quite differ-
  ent. The landholder generally wanted to maximize 
  his revenue from the town. The town’s merchants 
  wanted to increase local trade (which might mean 
  decreasing taxes and tariffs to compete with rivals) 
  and needed a body of commercial law with depend-
  able, predictable results. If the ruler’s administrator 
  consulted with prominent local merchants and guild 
  leaders, peace could be maintained. However, local 
  residents often became restless and demanded self-
  government. Rulers generally resisted ceding their 
  power, which sometimes led to violent demonstra-
  tions and riots. While the ringleaders of such unrest 
  were often severely punished, their successors might 
  be more successful in negotiating a charter.
   CHARTERED TOWNS
   Many chartered towns started as subject towns, 
  but a few were granted a charter at their creation. 
  In France, these planned communities were called 
  Villeneuve or Villefranche and were often created to 
  help a landholder settle and control a contested 
  rural area.
  A charter was a written grant of right from 
  a landholder to a town as a corporate landholder. 
  Generally, the landholder granted a charter in 
  return for a large sum of cash, and often periodic 
  payments thereafter. When a town held land in 
  this manner, the payment was sometimes called a 
  fee farm rent or the king’s fee. Charter terms var-
  ied widely depending on the parties’ needs and 
  negotiating power, regional conditions, and local 
  traditions.
  A well-written charter enabled a town to grow 
  or prosper. A poorly-written one crippled its growth, 
  especially if it denied the town the ability to protect 
  travelers from bandits and tolls, or limited its access 
  to key taxes or fees.
  Generally English and French charters 
  included:
  Terms establishing the form of the town govern-
  ment, including the method of choosing its ex-
  ecutive and legislative councils.
  Legal protection for urban merchants against feu-
  dal justice.
  An urban justice system that abolished trial by 
  duel and by ordeal. Townspeople often also had 
  the right to defend themselves against criminal 
  charges by oath, often with the aid of compurga-
  tors (oath helpers).
  Urban real estate being held as “free” land with-
  out feudal duties in return for rent paid in money, 
  not feudal labor.
  Exemption of urban merchants from various cus-
  tomary feudal duties and fees.
  Protection of property from arbitrary seizures. A 
  debt collection system was created.
  Granting the right to collect tolls, fees, and taxes 
  to the urban government.
  The peace of the market (paix du marché), which 
  protected travelers to and from the town’s market 
  from arrest or violence. In England, the peace 
  was often symbolized by a market cross raised in 
  the market place.
  Charters could be revoked or limited by the 
  granting landholder or his successors, especially if the 
  town failed to meet its obligations or rebelled against 
  the grantor of its rights. If the landholder died or was 
  conquered by another noble, his or her successor 
  could also change the charter’s terms or demand a 
  fee for renewing the charter.
   INDEPENDENT  CITY-STATES
  A few towns became independent landholders in 
  their own right. Most of these were found in northern 
  Italy where, for a combination of reasons, powerful, 
  wealthy towns were able to escape the control of local 
  landholders, while nominally acknowledging duties 
  to distant rulers like the Holy Roman Emperor or the 
  Papacy. Some cities in the Holy Roman Empire like 
  Basel, Cologne, Mainz, Ratisbon, Speyer, Strasbourg, 
  and Worms became free cities (freie Städte), with lim-
  ited duties to the Emperor. (There were also imperial 
  cities, also independent of a local landholder, with 
  slightly different duties to the Emperor.)
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  �
  
  Guilds
  Page 80
   Guilds were one of the iconic features of medi-
  eval towns. They evolved to solve typical commer-
  cial problems – guaranteeing a minimum standard for 
  safety and quality of goods sold in the town’s market 
  and those produced for export; creating a collective 
  voice for manufacturers in town government and in 
  negotiations with other towns; providing a system for 
  debt collection and enforcement of contracts, partic-
  ularly those involving other towns; guaranteeing the 
  good conduct of merchant-members while traveling 
  to other towns; providing some security for members’ 
  widows and orphans; and providing burial services 
  and someone to remember the dead in prayers.
  In its most common form, a guild was an orga-
  nization of manufacturers in a specific trade which 
  protected their interests by controlling manufactur-
  ing standards and the ability to sell that good with-
  in the town. However, “guild” was a broad term. It 
  could also refer to many kinds of associations and 
  clubs whose members held communal feasts, religious 
  ceremonies, and had oaths between the members.
  The word “guild” or “gild” is old. In the 5th cen-
  tury, it referred to Frankish soldiers’ sacrificial feasts. 
  In Carolingian France, gilds could be drinking groups, 
  mutual aid groups, and/or organizations to maintain 
  altar candles or perform other religious duties. By 
  the 9th or 10th century, “guild” had become associat-
  ed with merchant and artisan groups, often with fra-
  ternal, social, and charitable functions. Whether the 
  social groups evolved into economic ones, or vice-
  versa, is debated among historians.
  A typical town might have dozens of  guilds. 
  Padua had 26 guilds in 1277. There were over 40 in 
  13th century Genoa. Rome, on the other hand, was 
  not a major commercial or manufacturing center and 
  had a mere 14 in the early 15th century. Generally, 
  there was a guild for each major trade in the city. 
  Construction workers like masons, carpenters, and 
  stonecutters each had a guild. Non-construction 
  wood-workers often had a separate guild. Food pro-
  ducers like  bakers, brewers, and  butchers had their 
  own guilds. Textile manufacturers had at least one 
  guild. Merchants might have a guild; specialists in 
  spices yet another. Lawyers and notaries might belong 
  to one guild; doctors and apothecaries to another. 
  In some areas, guild membership was exclusive; in 
  others, a merchant or vendor might be a member of 
  multiple guilds.
  Where a town had multiple guilds, they tended to 
  compete for prestige and political power. Competition 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 81
  Town: Guilds
  Page 81
  was expressed in numerous ways. In Chartres and 
  other cities, guilds donated stained glass windows to 
  the cathedral, competing over the best artisans for 
  the project. Guilds also used public feasts and festi-
  vals as a way to demonstrate their wealth and impor-
  tance. The most direct demonstration was the guild’s 
  participation in parades and processions – each guild 
  member dressed in his finest livery, showing the 
  guild’s wealth and numbers. Some guilds also spon-
  sored musicians and  actors for public performances 
  at feasts and festivals.
  Each guild was a local monopoly. It controlled 
  the conditions for becoming an  apprentice in a trade, 
  the duration of apprenticeship, and the conditions 
  for becoming a master. Guilds regulated work hours 
  and conditions to ensure quality and to reduce com-
  petition among their members. As guilds assumed 
  more regulatory duties, they developed statutes and 
  bureaucracies of officials and internal courts. They 
  sponsored group religious activities and provided ben-
  efits for injured members, widows, and orphans. Some 
  held funeral Masses for their members. In Florence, 
  guilds even supplied the city’s fire brigade.
  Guilds helped their members minimize their 
  transaction costs. They helped members find pro-
  ducers and customers by limiting competition with-
  in the town and negotiating trade deals with other 
  towns. They reduced negotiation costs by standard-
  izing weights and measures, and guaranteeing mini-
  mum standards for members’ wares. They also helped 
  reduce enforcement costs by sponsoring urban courts 
  and helping members collect debts from foreign cus-
  tomers and suppliers.
  Guilds were also mutual protection societies. 
  They stood together to protect individual members 
  from extortion, violence, and unfair competition. 
  They routinely sent representatives to landholders 
  demanding satisfaction for members robbed in the 
  landholder’s domain, and to other towns demanding 
  satisfaction for cheated members. They imposed trade 
  embargoes on those who wronged their members.
  Guilds tried to control labor costs. Generally, 
  conservative leaders discouraged innovations that 
  might give some guild members unfair advantage over 
  others. They also tried to increase revenues by 
  increasing the quality of the town’s goods, and thus 
  the price they could demand.
  THE MEDIEVAL  BUSINESS CYCLE
  Towns, by their nature, were trade centers. Often, 
  a new town had few industries. As they became suc-
  cessful, they attracted more workers, who drove up 
  the cost of living, rents, food prices, and thereby 
  wages. This led to social unrest. Merchants respond-
  ed by moving their trade, when possible, to smaller 
  towns, where wage costs were lower and there was 
  less unrest. Of course, the new town would quickly 
  itself fall victim to the same cycle of increased immi-
  gration and inflation. Moreover, the old town risked 
  a decrease in population, stagnation of its industries, 
  and a declining standard of living. Left to itself, this 
  problem sometimes resulted in lower wages, making 
  the town again attractive to merchants and artisans.
   WORK DAYS AND WORK WEEKS
  The average work week was Monday through 
  Saturday, sunrise to sunset, with the possibility of 
  leaving work early on Saturday night. Workers did 
  not work on the 40 to 50 Christian holy days scat-
  tered through the year. Many jobs were seasonal. 
  Agricultural trades were based around the annual 
  cycle from sowing grain to harvest. Textile trades 
  were based around sheep sheering and transhumance 
  (the annual migration of flocks to high-altitude pas-
  HOLDING GUILD OFFICE
   Guilds appointed various officials to handle 
  administrative and inspection duties. This 
  was not always a popular task. Guild charters 
  frequently allowed the guild to fine members 
  who avoided appointment to guild offices. This 
  suggests that members regarded the task as an 
  onerous distraction from their own businesses 
  and families. Opportunities for patronage and 
  social advancement were limited.
  An officer’s role included administrative and 
  ceremonial duties. It is unclear whether office 
  holders received any pay for their work, or were 
  compensated for their expenses, or whether 
  officers were expected to pay any expenses and 
  costs from their own pocket. Guilds audited their 
  own records, although office holders, unlike civic 
  officials, were rarely required to have sureties to 
  guarantee their good conduct. 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 83
  Town: Guilds
  Page 83
  EXAMPLES OF  GUILDS
  Town
  Year
  Guilds
  Bologna
  14-15th century
  Major: Notai (lawyers), Cambiatori (bankers), Drappieri (cloth merchants), 
  & Arte Serica (silk makers). Unknown number of minor guilds.
  Dublin
  15th century
  Bakers, Butchers, Carpenters, Glovers & Skiners, 
  Shoemakers, Smiths, Tanners, Weavers
  Exeter
  Mid-15th century
  Major: Tailors; Weavers, Tuckers (fullers) and Shearmen 
  Minor: Bakers, Cordwainers, Skinners, Smiths
  Florence
  15th century
  Major: Arte dei Giudici e notai (judges and lawyers), Arte della Lana (wool), Arte 
  di Por Santa Maria (silk), Arte di Calimala (cloth trade), Arte del Cambio (bank-
  ers), Arte dei medici, speziali e merciai (doctors, apothecaries, & shopkeepers), 
  Arte dei vaccai e pellicciai (animal skins and furs) Minor(Arti Medie): fourteen 
  including butchers, shoemakers, smiths, stone-masons, & second-hand dealers
  Imola
  13th century
  Judges, Notaries, & Doctors; Butchers; Peasants; Shoemakers; Masons & 
  Carpenters; Hemp Dressers; Merchants; Skinworkers; Smiths & Artisans
  London
  1351
  Butchers, Cordwainers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Grocers, Ironmongers, 
  Mercers, Pepperers, Saddlers, Skinners, Tailors, Vintners, Woolmongers
  London
  1500
  Armorers, Barbers, Brewers, Butchers, Carpenters, Cooks, Cordwainers, 
  Drapers, Dyers, Fishmongers, Fullers, Goldsmiths, Grocers, Haberdashers, 
  Ironmongers, Leathersellers, Mercers, Musicians, Parish Clerks, Pewterers, 
  Saddlers, Skinners, Tallow chandlers, Vintners, Wax chandlers, Woolmongers
  Paris
  14th century
  Water Merchants, Bakers, Butchers, Criers, Goldsmiths & Jewelers
  Pisa
  12th century
  Major: order of merchants (ordo mercatorum); order of the sea 
  (ordo maris) Minor: tanners; iron workers; butchers; furriers
  Pisa
  13th century
  Wool-worker’s guild becomes major guild. Guilds of vintners, 
  shoemakers, & notaries recognized as minor guilds.
  Pistoia
  15th century
  Judges & Notaries; Dealers in Spices & Money Changers; Merchants, 
  Cloth Workers & Porters; Butchers, Leather Workers & Furriers; Iron 
  Workers & Merchants; Stone Masons & Wood Workers; Shoemakers, 
  Painters & Barbers; Vintners, Innkeepers & Food Vendors
  Rome
  13th century
  13 Major including mercatores pannorum (cloth merchants) and 
  bobacterii (agricultural guild). The mercatores were subdivided 
  into 5 lesser guilds including one for wool merchants.
  Rostock
  Mid-15th century
  Major: Bakers, Barbers, Bridlemakers, Butchers, Carpenters, Coopers, 
  Fishermen, Furriers, Haberdashers, Hoopers, Linen Weavers, Masons, Pewterers, 
  Porters, Retailers, Shoemakers, Smiths, Tailors, Tanners, Wool Weavers
  Venice
  Mid-14th century
  52 guilds including: Apothecaries, Bakers, Barbers, Bowyers, Carpenters 
  (house), Carpenters (ship), Cappers, Caulkers, Cobblers, Corn (grain) 
  Chandlers, Comb (textile) Makers, Doublet-makers, Dyers, Fishmongers, 
  Furriers, Glassmakers, Goldsmiths, Hatters, Kilnmen (brick makers), 
  Linen & Fustian Makers, Mercers, Oarmakers, Oil Measurers, Oil 
  Sellers, Painters, Physicians, Ropemakers, Sand Suppliers (for the city’s 
  wells), Sawyers, Second-hand Clothing Sellers, Silk Throwers, Skeiners, 
  Spindle Makers, Smiths (ship), Stonemasons, Tailors, Wallers
  York
  1415
  At least 57 guilds including: Bakers, Barbers, Bowers, Butchers, 
  Cordwainers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Glovers, Goldsmiths, Hostlers, 
  Ironmongers, Masons, Mercers, Plasterers, Parchment-makers, 
  Potters, Saddle-makers, Sausagemakers, Shipwrights, Skinners,  
  Smiths, Spicers, Taverners, Tailors, Weavers, Woolpackers
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 87
  Town: Guilds
  Page 87
  TYPICAL SALARIES AND  WAGES
  Office
  Date
  Location
  Amount
   Alderman
  1400-1450
  London
  None, but office carried some minor privileges
  Ambassador
  1460
  Venice
  Not more than 1/2 ducat per day
  Architect
  1253
  Meaux
  10 l./yr. & 10 s./day when on site
  Architect
  1261
  St-Gilles
  2 s. tournois/d, 100 s. on Whitsunday 
  for clothing, meals
  Bailiff
  1388
  London
  13 s./4 d./yr.
  Bailiff
  1444
  London
  23 s./4 d./yr. and clothing worth 5 s.
  Beadle
  14-15th C
  Winchester
  1 farthing/day
  Blacksmith
  1490
  Florence
  16 lire/mo. & expenses
  Branch manager (for 
  merchant house)
  1363
  Florence
  150 florins/yr.
  Builder, master
  1428
  Venice
  36 soldi/day
  Captain, papal guard
  1462
  Rome
  500 florin
  Carpenter, master
  1426
  Venice
  25-28 soldi/day
  Carpenter, skilled
  1426
  Venice
  20 soldi/day
  Carpenter, apprentice
  1426
  Venice
  6-7 soldi/day
  Carpenter
  1444
  London
  3 d./day, 4 d./day if not fed
  Carter
  1388
  London
  10 s./yr.
  Carter
  1444
  London
  20 s./yr. and clothing worth 4 s.
  Castellan
  1382
  Chios
  400-500 Genose pounds
  Chamberlain
  1419
  London
  10 pounds
  Chamberlain’s serjeants
  1419
  London
  2 pounds
  Common pleader
  1419
  London
  10 pounds
  Executioner
  1323
  Carcassone
  20 s. per head
  Foreman
  1489
  Florence
  60 fl./year
  Foreman
  1490
  Florence
  20-22 soldi
  Gaolkeeper
  1130
  London
  5 d./day
  Laborer
  1294-5
  Autun
  7 d.
  Laborer
  1324
  Florence
  3-3 ½ soldi
  Laborer
  1344
  Florence
  4-4 ½ soldi
  Laborer
  1415
  Florence
  6-8 ½ soldi
  Laborer
  1444
  London
  2 d./day, 3 d./day if not fed
  Laborer
  1477
  Florence
  8-11 soldi
  Laborer
  1489
  Florence
  8-10 soldi
  Laborer
  1497
  Florence
  10 soldi
  Laborer
  1499
  Florence
  9-10 soldi
  Mason
  1294-5
  Autun
  20-22 d.
  Mason
  1352
  Florence
  17-20 soldi
  
  Society
  Page 93
  Thus far, Town has discussed urban life through 
  its structures. In this chapter, the focus turns to the 
  roles and rituals of the townspeople themselves. 
  Townspeople were divided in many ways: by guild, 
  by parish, by neighborhood. At the most basic level, 
  however, a town’s inhabitants were divided by their 
  legal  rights as foreigner, resident, or citizen.
   Foreigners were those 
  who visited the town from 
  outside, regardless of wheth-
  er they traveled for a day 
  from a nearby farming village 
  or for a month from a distant 
  foreign land. Foreigners had 
  very few legal rights except 
  those they might have as 
  a landholder’s vassal, as a 
  member of the clergy, or as 
  a visitor from a town that 
  had negotiated a trade treaty 
  with the host town. Urban 
  residents suspected foreign-
  ers of all manner of mis-
  deeds, frauds, and crimes; it 
  was hard to trust someone 
  who had no references or 
  local contacts.
  Most townspeople were 
  mere  residents. Residency 
  had its privileges, including 
  the ability to transform a serf 
  into a free person. A serf was 
  a farmer with limited rights: 
  he or she was effectively a landholder’s property and 
  was required to work for the landholder, for free, for 
  a number of days each year.  Serfs were not slaves; 
  they could not be sold to another landholder unless 
  the underlying land was also transferred, and they 
  had other customary rights. A serf could buy his or 
  her freedom or go to a town. Under English law, a 
  serf’s unchallenged residence in a town for a year-
  and-a-day precluded the serf’s former landholder 
  from claiming him or her. Similar customs applied 
  in France and the Holy Roman Empire. In order to 
  invoke this privilege, the serf needed to register his 
  residence with town authorities. If the serf came from 
  a neighboring landholder, the town might refuse to 
  register him, and report his presence under agree-
  ments between the town and its neighbors.
   Citizenship entailed more privileges and rights. 
  The most important right was the ability to trade in the 
  market without paying taxes or tolls imposed on non-
  citizens. It was also a prerequi-
  site for holding most munici-
  pal and many guild offices. 
  One could become a citizen by 
  being born to citizens, by pur-
  chasing the right, or by receiv-
  ing it as part of becoming a 
  master of a prominent guild. 
  Prospective citizens usually 
  had to be sponsored by exist-
  ing citizens, to reside in the 
  town for at least a year, and 
  to own a minimum amount of 
  property. Milan required five 
  years continuous residence, 
  plus ownership of 500 florins 
  worth of fixed goods for a 
  new citizen. Siena demanded 
  a fee, and that the new citizen 
  build or own a house within 
  the town worth at least 100 
  livre. Once gained, citizenship 
  could be lost if the townsper-
  son were convicted of various 
  serious crimes.
  In an age before identity 
  documents, townspeople recognized each other’s sta-
  tus by clothing, language, and behavior. Urban life 
  was surprisingly intimate. Townspeople frequently 
  crossed paths on the streets, in churches and shops, 
  in the market, or at public wells. They knew each 
  other by name, reputation, guild, and family. Births, 
  marriages, and deaths were neighborhood events. 
  Strangers and new immigrants stood out, a subject 
  of gossip and scrutiny.
  It was difficult for a townsperson to escape 
  their neighbors’ eyes and ears. Streets were narrow. 
  Residences abutted each other. Windows were left 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 103
  Town: Society
  Page 103
  In 1198, Pope Innocent III ordered convents 
  to install   foundling wheels, revolving stone com-
  partments, which allowed mothers to anonymously 
  donate unwanted infants to the church. Foundlings 
  might be given to other couples for adoption or raised 
  as  monks or  nuns.
   THREATS
  By eight o’clock there was such a crowd at the  bak-
  er’s door as one could never have believed without 
  seeing it. Poor creatures! Trying to get  bread for their 
  poor husbands away in the fields or for their children 
  dying of hunger at home – neither for their money 
  nor for all their  crowding could they get any after that 
  time; then you would hear said wailing and weeping 
  all over Paris, sad lamentations and little children 
  crying “I am dying of hunger!” In the year 1420, you 
  might see all over Paris here ten there twenty or thirty 
  children, boys and girls, dying of hunger and cold on 
  the rubbish heaps.
  – Anon. Journal d’un Bourgeois 
  de Paris (c. 1420)
  Towns thrived on peace and stability. They could 
  not exist without an agricultural surplus to feed their 
  residents, laborers to make goods, and peaceful trade 
  routes to their markets. Unfortunately, peace and sta-
  bility were rare things in the 11th to 15th centuries. 
  Towns had to react to natural disasters, fires, and 
  conflicts which could cause dramatic changes to their 
  resources and markets.
   Disease
  Disease and malnutrition were endemic in the 
  Middle Ages, especially in towns. Between the two, 
  the urban death rate generally exceeded its birth rate, 
  leading towns to need a constant influx of new immi-
  grants just to maintain their size. There were a variety 
  of common diseases, which were more-or-less taken 
  as given by the population. Extraordinary diseases or 
  serious outbreaks could cause significant panic and 
  urban disruptions. The problem was compounded by 
  medieval medical theory, which did not understand 
  how germs spread, and offered few successful rem-
  edies for illness.
  For the most part, town  water systems provided 
  some protection against diseases like cholera, dysen-
  tery, and typhoid. Medieval doctors did not under-
  stand how these diseases occurred, but urban rulers 
  tried to separate drinking water from water used to 
  dispose of human and animal wastes.
   Influenza (the common flu),  malaria ( ague in 
  England),  measles,  smallpox, and  typhus were com-
  mon seasonal diseases. Urban residents lived in 
  close quarters, which allowed influenza, measles, 
  smallpox, and typhus to spread easily. Fortunately, 
  survivors of measles and smallpox thereafter were 
  immune to future outbreaks. Doctors did not under-
  stand the link between mosquitoes and malaria, 
  but did understand that marshy air was unhealthy. 
  Unfortunately, towns needed  rivers for water and 
  trade, and urban residents needed to leave their 
  windows open for ventilation. Wealthy urban resi-
  dents tried to avoid such diseases by spending sum-
  mers on rural lands.
   Scurvy was a problem for towns distant from 
  the Mediterranean and trade routes for citrus fruits. 
  During the winter, food that provided vitamin C was 
  scarce, leading to mild scurvy and its muscle pains. 
  Urban residents were also at risk of vitamin A defi-
  ciencies when they could not get fresh milk.
   Leprosy
  Although leprosy is perhaps the least contagious 
  of communicable diseases, it was greatly feared. 
  “Leprosy” covered a variety of disfiguring diseases, 
  any of which could cause the sufferer to be expelled 
  from the community and sent to live apart. He or she 
  could only interact with the rest of the population in 
  very limited ways, and depended greatly on charity.
  In 1320, a leper named Guillaume Agasse con-
  fessed to a papal inquisition that he and a group of 
  40 other  lepers had met at Toulouse and agreed to 
  poison all the people in their region of France. Agasse 
  was imprisoned for the remainder of his life. As the 
  news of the confession and alleged plot spread, lepers 
  were arrested and executed. Forty-nine were killed in 
  Uzerche. In 1321, the French crown claimed jurisdic-
  tion over the lepers. They could be arrested and  tor-
  tured to determine whether they were involved in the 
  plot. Those who confessed were either imprisoned in 
  leprosaries or executed by burning at the stake. Their 
  property was to be confiscated and sold to benefit 
  the crown. When local authorities objected to the 
  royal claim, the monarchy relented and recognized 
  the rights of local landholders to investigate claims 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 104
  Town: Society
  Page 104
  and confiscate the property of those who confessed. 
  Others lepers were killed by  mobs who had heard and 
  believed in the improbable and unlikely plot.
  The Black Plague
  The  Plague, or Black Death, was a critical turn-
  ing point in urban history. The Plague started in 
  Asia and traveled along various trade routes until 
  it reached Europe in 1347. Within a few years, the 
  disease had spread across all but the most isolated 
  areas in Europe, killing millions. After the first out-
  breaks, Plague returned periodically. The impact 
  was enormous – between a quarter and two-thirds 
  of Europe’s population died from the Plague in the 
  mid to late 14th century. The deaths had drastic 
  effects on medieval demographics, religion, art, 
  society, and politics.
  Urban areas were especially vulnerable to Plague, 
  which could be carried by infected travelers. Many 
  imposed quarantines – 40 days in isolation for any 
  person or place suspected of plague exposure. (The 
  incubation period for Plague is 1 to 6 days, but local 
  governments took no chances.) Arriving ships, and 
  even high-ranking visitors, were routinely quaran-
  tined during an outbreak. Towns limited or prohib-
  ited public gatherings to limit the disease’s spread. 
  Once Plague reached a town, it was highly infec-
  tious, spreading both by air, and by the bite of infect-
  ed fleas.
  The Plague caused massive social disruptions. 
  Every  family lost at least some of its members. The 
  survivors had to provide for widows and orphans, 
  transfer the property of the deceased, and find suc-
  cessors to undertake military and commercial obli-
  gations. Surprisingly, European society was able to 
  function despite the massive losses. Fiefs, towns, and 
  royal courts continued to function. Buildings, farms, 
  and even whole villages were abandoned, but the sur-
  vivors concentrated in new locations and rebuilt as 
  the society recovered.
  Survivors demanded higher  wages for their work, 
  leading to, for example, the English Ordinances of 
  Labourers (1349) and Statute of Labourers (1351), 
  which made it illegal for workers to demand higher 
  wages than those paid before the Plague. (They also 
  made it illegal to give alms to able-bodied beggars). A 
  few workers were fined each year under the statutes 
  in hopes of deterring others from demanding high-
  er wages. However, the effort was doomed to fail-
  ure. The decreased supply of workers, and increased 
  demand for the survivor’s work, inevitably drove pric-
  es higher. 
  Towns found that, with the decline in population 
  and trade, they could not pay their pre-Plague taxes. 
  Many asked for, and received, temporary reductions. 
  Towns also had increased risk of fire from abandoned 
  buildings, which were destroyed if no owner could 
  be found. Town buildings and walls were frequent-
  ly neglected for a time because the town could not 
  afford the labor to maintain them.
   Famine
  Towns were obsessively concerned about main-
  taining adequate supplies of  cheap  grain. Florence, 
  for example, imported grain from Sicily, North Africa, 
  Greece, and (via Genoa) the Black Sea region. For 
  the most part, town precautions worked. Tales of 
  urban starvation during a famine are far less com-
  mon than those of rural starvation, even after several 
  successive bad harvests in the same region.
  Towns could encourage rural suppliers by offer-
  ing shelter to their rural neighbors (and their grain 
  stores) during wars and unrest and by cancelling the 
  gabelle (import tax). Remittances on taxes were often 
  for a short period (typically 4 to 15 days) to encour-
  age farmers to quickly bring their goods to the urban 
  market.
  When those measures failed, however, the result 
  was  starvation and sometimes riots. Famine was one 
  of the least common reasons for urban rebellion, and 
  towns were quick to try to restore order with dis-
  tributions of grain from their reserves. If that failed, 
  however, the government was likely to fall. In 1353, 
  the people of Gaeta rioted following prolonged food 
  shortages, killing twelve merchants. In 1368, four 
  successive governments fell in Siena after a famine, 
  despite the execution of more than 400 “troublemak-
  ers” by urban leaders
   Rural  Uprisings
  A rural  tax rebellion had similar effects to a fam-
  ine – the supply of food was interrupted, combined 
  with trade route disruptions that could make it hard 
  to bring alternative foods into town. There were spo-
  radic rural uprisings throughout the Middle Ages. For 
  the most part, these were relatively small in scale and 
  
  Timeline
  Page 110
  410 
  Rome sacked by Visigoths
  455 
  Rome sacked by Vandals
  627 
  King Dagobert founds the St-Denis fair near 
  Paris
  669 
  Muslims raid Sicily, capture Syracuse
  741 
  Fire damages York’s cathedral
  763 
  Fire destroys York
  847 
  Fire in Rome
  858 
  Normans burn Chartres, France
  859 
  Normans devastate Noyon, France
  861 
  Normans devastate Noyon, France and Pisa, 
  Italy
  866-67 
  Vikings capture York
  885-85 
  Norman siege Paris over winter
  896 
  Earthquake in Rome
  897 
  Earthquake in Rome
  911 
  Norman attack on Chartres, France driven 
  back
  925 
  Norman attack on Noyon, France driven 
  back
  938 
  Large amount of silver, lead, and copper 
  ore discovered at Rammelsberg in the Harz 
  Mountains of Germany
  962 
  Fire damages London
  969 
  Châlons-sur-Marne, France, captured by king
  982 
  Fire in London
  994 
  Vikings attack London
  1004 
  Muslims raid Pisa
  1008 
  Jews in Rouen, France, massacred
  1011 
  Muslims raid Pisa
  1017 
  Truce of God movement to encourage inter-
  Christian peace begins
  1020 
  Fire at Chartres
  1022 
  King Robert of France orders 13 Cathars 
  burned at Orleans
  1026 
  Jews in Rouen, France, massacred
  1050 
  Flood in Ferrara, Italy
  1066 
  Norman Invasion of England
  1069 
  Failed commune revolt in Le Mans (one of the 
  1st in France); revolt in York leads to devastat-
  ing fire
  1073 
  Townspeople of Worms, Germany, expel bish-
  op and welcome Emperor Henry IV into town
  1075 
  Danes plunder York
  1077 
  Fire in London
  1084 
  Robert Guiscard captures Rome from Holy 
  Roman Emperor; Normans sack the city
  1087 
  St. Paul’s in London destroyed by fire
  1091 
  Major storm flattens 600 homes and a bridge 
  in London
  1092 
  Fire in London
  1095 
  First Crusade begins
  1096 
  Jewish communities in Holy Roman Empire 
  attacked by crusaders; bishop of Speyer suc-
  cessfully protects its Jewish community with 
  his militia
  1098 
  Cistercian order founded
  1102 
  Fire in Venice
  1110 
  Fire in London; medical school founded at 
  Salerno
  1112 
  Uprising in Laon over suppression of com-
  mune by crown and bishop; bishop killed, fire 
  damages cathedral, town virtually abandoned; 
  Uprising’s leaders arrested and executed in 
  1114-15; commune granted by crown in 1128
  1117 
  Louis IV of France sieges Amiens with aid 
  of local merchants; Earthquake in Tuscany, 
  Italy
  1119 
  Amiens commune controls city for French 
  monarchy; University of Bologna founded; 
  Templar order founded
  1123 
  First Lateran Council
  1128 
  Fire in Sens, France
  1130 
  Henry I allows London to choose its own sheriff 
  (Privilege is withdrawn and re-granted in later 
  years)
  1131 
  Fire in Bologna destroys cathedral
  1132 
  Fire in London
  1135 
  Fire in London
  1137 
  Fire in Amiens, France; Construction begun 
  on St-Denis near Paris (first Gothic cathedral); 
  Fire in York
  1138 
  Vesuvius erupts
  1140 
  King Roger II of Sicily enacts first known 
  requirement that doctors be examined and 
  licensed by their peers
  1144 
  First accusation of Jewish ritual murder of boy 
  made in Norwich
  1146 
  Earthquake in Rome; first mention of Paris 
  butcher’s guild
  1147 
  Second Crusade begins
  1159 
  Fire in Milan destroys one-third of city
  1162 
  Milan burned by Frederick I Barbarossa
  1163 
  Council of Tours orders confiscation of here-
  tics’ goods
  
  Appendix I: Paris
  Page 115
  I am in Paris, in that royal city where the abun-
  dance of natural gifts not only captivates those who 
  dwell therein, but invites and attracts those who are 
  afar. Just as the moon surpasses the stars in bright-
  ness, so this city, the seat of royalty, raises its proud 
  head above all others. It is situated in the midst of 
  a delightful valley surrounded by a crown of hills 
  which adorn it in emulation of Ceres and Bacchus. 
  The Seine, that superb river which comes from the 
  east, here flows level with its banks and with its two 
  branches forms an island which is the head, the heart, 
  and marrow of the entire city. The two suburbs ex-
  tend to the right and left, the smaller of which would 
  be the envy of many cities. Each of the faubourgs is 
  joined with the island by a bridge: the Grand pont fac-
  ing the north in the direction of the English Channel, 
  and the Petit pont which looks towards the Loire. 
  The former, large, rich, and bustling with trade is the 
  scene of busy activity; innumerable boats filled with 
  merchandise and riches surround it. The Petit pont 
  belongs to the logicis (students of logic) who cross or 
  walk upon it while debating. In the île, alongside the 
  palace of the kings ... stands the hall of philosophy, 
  where study reigns as sole sovereign, a citadel of light 
  and of immortality. That île is the eternal home of 
  the seven sisters, the liberal arts, it is there also that 
  decrees and laws resound from a trumpet of most 
  noble eloquence; there, finally, bubbles the fountain 
  of religious learning ...
  – Guy of Bazoches (c.1180)
   Paris is one of the largest and clearest examples 
  of a subject town. It was the home of the French 
  monarchy, and was the largest European town never 
  to have its own government or charter. By using the 
  chapters of this book as an outline for a discussion of 
  Paris, one sees more clearly the problems of an urban 
  government divided between the monarchy, the bish-
  op, and the university; and of a city used as a revenue 
  source, with a limited voice for the merchants and 
  artisans who generated that revenue.
   AGRICULTURE
  Paris was built along the  Seine river, about 280 
  miles from the Atlantic. The Seine’s current was 
  moderate, providing steady power for water mills and 
  allowing for boat traffic from the English Channel 
  to the east and from Flanders and Burgundy to the 
  north and west. It was also close to the Loire, which 
  provided river access to central France. The Seine 
  provided fresh   fish, often sold near the Grand-Pont or 
  Pierre-à-Poissons (a street near Châtlet). Fresh sea-
  fish caught in the English Channel was shipped by 
  cart overnight to Paris using relays of horses. The 
  provost of Paris prohibited these relays, the chasse-
  marée, from being stopped or hindered on their jour-
  ney. Brined, salted, and smoked fish was shipped at a 
  more leisurely pace.
  There were several islands in the Seine near Paris. 
  The largest, the Île de la Cité, was the original site 
  for Roman Paris. Several smaller islands upriver from 
  the Île were used for cow pastures, and sometimes for 
  judicial duels and executions.
  Paris was surrounded by good agricultural land, 
  ensuring a bountiful food supply during most years. 
  It drew its grain primarily from the north and north-
  west, in an area of about 625 square miles in an arc 
  from Poissy in the west to Meaux in the east. Some 
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 118
  Town Appendix I: Paris
  Page 118
  members of the University’s faculty. Similarly, the 
  Dominicans became important faculty members at 
  the University starting in the mid-13th century. 
   COMMERCE
  The Right (northern) Bank of the Seine was, 
  and is, the heart of Paris’ commerce and manufac-
  turing. In 1292, Paris had over 130 regulated pro-
  fessions – 18 dealing with food and firewood; 5 in 
  building and construction; 22 in metallurgy; 22 in 
  cloth and leather; 36 in clothing and accessories; 10 
  in house furniture; 3 in medicine; and 15 in bank-
  ing and other professions. Merchants purchased a 
  license (métier) from the crown and were subject 
  to guild and royal inspectors. The watermen’s guild 
  was the most politically powerful guild, followed 
  by the butcher’s guild from which several prévôtes 
  (provosts) were drawn.
  In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, north-
  ern France was frequently a target of rival English 
  and French armies fighting the Hundred Years 
  War. Paris’ trades declined both because of the dis-
  ruptions to trade routes, and due to internal chaos 
  in Paris as the monarchy and its rivals struggled 
  to control the city. The city’s weaving industry 
  declined in the 15th century because their uncard-
  ed cloth could not compete with carded rivals in 
  Flanders and other nearby towns. Its dyer and silk-
  making industry declined in the 15th century when 
  the French court, and its courtiers, increasingly 
  spent time in palaces along the Loire instead of in 
  Paris. Many workers moved to towns closer to Loire 
  palaces.
  Paris had three major  markets, on the Île, at 
  Place de Grève, and at Les Halles. Place de Grève 
  was primarily the city’s river port and a place where 
  day laborers looked for work. Les Halles, a major 
  produce market, became a covered marketplace 
  starting in 1183.
  Paris was the home of the Templars’ major 
  bank, the Temple, which made it a major center for 
  European banking until the Order’s demise. Philip II 
  Auguste and other monarchs kept the royal treasury 
  at the Temple until Philip IV destroyed the Order 
  in 1254. (The Templars’ treasure was then confis-
  cated by the monarchy.) Paris was also home to the 
  two Lendit Fairs in nearby St-Denis, and the Saint-
  Germain Fair (see p.45).
   CRIME PREVENTION
  Philip II Auguste organized the city’s watch. His 
  administrator, the prévôt-balli, controlled a group of 
  guards, often derisively referred to by the public as 
  ribauds or ribauz. An unimpressed public nicknamed 
  the prévot de Paris the roi de ribauds. The prévôt 
  was assisted by commissaries-enquêtes (magistrates), 
  sergents, and a watch (le guet). The prévôt also had 
  his own bodyguard (la douzaine).
  The  watch was organized by guilds. Each guild 
  was expected to provide a certain number of per-
  sonnel for three-week tours of duty. There was also 
  a royal watch. Both watches were commanded by 
  the chevalier du guet. The captain could refuse any 
  person he deemed unfit for duty and impose a fine. 
  When this led to abuses under the English control of 
  Paris, an ordinance required the captain to accept any 
  healthy male over 20 years old who was well known 
  in his neighborhood or village.
  There was also a militia organized by neigh-
  borhoods (quatiers). Neighborhoods elected a 
  Quartenier, who commanded its militia and portion of 
  the watch. The Quartenier was assisted by dizainiers, 
  who commanded groups of ten men. Cinquantiniers 
  were captains of groups of fifty men. 
  Crime, by most accounts, was rampant. By the 
  15th century, Paris was the home of the  Beggar King 
  and his band of  organized criminals (see p. 58). 
  François Villon, a clerk, wrote a series of poems 
  about one group of Parisian bandits, who he called 
  Coquillards (Brothers of the Cockle-Shell), in the 
  jargon of that group. Villon particularly warned the 
  Brothers to be wary of the Archers, presumably the 
  prévôte’s guards.
  During times of particular unrest, the prévôt 
  ordered Parisians to keep lit lamps in their front win-
  dows at night and to keep vessels of water nearby in 
  case of fire. Chains were set in the streets and bonfires 
  kept at major intersections. Many Parisians ignored 
  the order, barricaded their doors, and kept weapons 
  near their beds.
  Criminals were often  executed at the 
  Montefaucon gallows. The gallows included sixteen 
  large stone pillars with wooden beams between them. 
  Criminals were hung from chains on the beams, and 
  their  bodies left to rot. Fifty to sixty corpses were 
  commonly displayed at once. When a new criminal 
  was hung, the oldest body was thrown into a charnel 
  
  Appendix II: Venice
  Page 124
  Rich with gold, but richer still in reputation;
  Strong in her wealth yet stronger in her virtue;
  Built on Marble, yet more firmly based on civil 
  concord;
  Surrounded by the salt sea, but made safer by her 
  saltier counsels
  – Petrarch
   Venice is an odd example of a medieval town. 
  It was, in many ways, an exception – a city built on 
  islands in a salt-water lagoon; a city wealthier than 
  many monarchs; and an oligarchy which never fell 
  to an invader or local tyrant. Its nature leaves open 
  many questions, such as how its numerous residents 
  were fed and provided with sufficient fresh water. 
  Was its fragmentation into hundreds of small islands 
  a cause for its multiple small institutions instead of a 
  small number of larger ones? How did it avoid much 
  of the factional politics and labor unrest that plagued 
  mainland city-states? Unfortunately, this appendix 
  is limited by its sources and can only outline some of 
  these issues.
   AGRICULTURE
  Venice is unique – it is a city built on islands 
  entirely surrounded by a salt-water lagoon. At first 
  glance, the site hardly seems promising. The fresh 
  water problem alone (p. 14) was daunting. A lack of a 
  river also meant a lack of water power to power mills; 
  Venetians may have used hand mills to grind their 
  grain into flour, or relied on transporting flour from 
  mainland mills. (Venice did experiment with tidal 
  mills and windmills in the lagoon, but these were not 
  a major source of flour.) The lack of power for full-
  ing mills and limited fresh water, may also partially 
  explain why Venice did not develop a major woolen 
  cloth manufacturing industry.
  But the lagoon provided fish and salt for trade 
  and a strong defense against invaders. It was stud-
  ded with shoals, some shallow enough for wading, 
  others deep enough to allow ships to pass. During 
  war, the channel marking posts were removed, 
  making access by any other than a native difficult. 
  In 1379-80, a Genoese fleet seized Chioggia, a port 
  at the southern end of the lagoon, which was the 
  closest any medieval invader came to threatening 
  Venice itself.
  The location was very favorable for trade. The 
  lagoon was at the mouth of the Adige and Po riv-
  ers, which provided trade routes deep into northern 
  Italy. It was near the east alpine passes from Italy 
  to the Holy Roman Empire. It was also at the head 
  of the Adriatic Sea, which allowed Venetian ships 
  to dominate trade along the east coast of Italy and 
  the Dalmatian coast. In fact, Venice regarded the 
  Adriatic as its own. Its Captain of the Gulf (capita-
  neus culfi) led a small group of ships to inspect any 
  vessel in the Adriatic for contraband. Armed vessels 
  (which could describe many merchant ships) could be 
  treated at the Captain’s discretion as pirates. During 
  grain shortages, Venice’s ships would seize food car-
  gos from any vessel its warships encountered north of 
  the Otranto Strait.
  Venice generally obtained its food and fuel from 
  the Italian mainland, along the Dalmatian coast, 
  and from Sicily. In 1224, it created a Grain Office 
  (offitiales supra granum) to monitor the city’s grain 
  reserves. (The office would later evolve into a gov-
  ernment treasury.) There were a few gardens in the 
  town itself and on the lagoon islands. Chioggia, a port 
  on the south end of the lagoon, provided salt. When 
  Venice held significant territory on the mainland (ter-
  rafirma), it could obtain food and fuel from those col-
  onies, although it also had to defend them from its 
  mainland rivals.
   ARCHITECTURE
  Venetian architecture is, of course, influenced by 
  its sandy soil. Venice’s early buildings were modest 
  two-story wooden structures roofed with straw thatch. 
  Most had two front doors, one facing land, the other 
  a canal. The campi, the fields behind the houses, were 
  used as gardens, boat storage, and for keeping ani-
  mals. They later evolved into market squares. After 
  a series of disastrous fires, particularly one in 1106, 
  brick and stone structures began to replace wooden 
  ones. Stone, however, is heavy. A stone building had 
  to be supported by wooden piles driven into the mud, 
  which made construction more expensive.
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 129
  Town Appendix II: Venice
  Page 129
  nominate 40 electors, each of whom must receive 
  votes of three of the four councilors and not more 
  than one of which could come from a single family. 
  By 1268, the system had become far more complex: In 
  a 10 step system, the Great Council chose a group of 
  electors by lot, who chose another group of electors, 
  which was reduced to a smaller number by lot, which 
  then chose another group of electors, and so on, until 
  the last group nominated the doge for approval by the 
  Assembly. The entire complex system was designed 
  to limit the influence of family factions in the doge’s 
  selection. 
  In 1312, the Great Council created the  Council 
  of Ten as a temporary response to a coup attempt. By 
  1334, it was a permanent body. Members of the Ten 
  were elected for a single year 
  term by the Great Council. 
  Councilors could not be 
  reelected until another year 
  had passed, during which 
  any abuses would be investi-
  gated. Two members of the 
  same family could not sit at 
  the same time. The Council 
  had three heads, the Capi dei 
  Diecti, who were sequestered 
  during their month long 
  term. Finally, the Council 
  was, at first, powerless to act 
  without the Doge and his six 
  councilors. It met daily; its members were unpaid, but 
  venality or corruption was punishable by  death.
  The Ten had significant power to suppress unrest 
  and conspiracies. It could punish anyone for suspicious 
  speech or meetings. It limited who could carry weapons. 
  It regulated drinking and gambling. Its agents watched 
  over inns, taverns, and other places where conspirators 
  might gather. Its members were chosen from the Senate 
  by the Great Council; they had to be over age 40, and 
  had to come from different families.
  The balance of power between the Ten, the Forty, 
  and the Doge varied. In 1355, the Ten and the Forty 
  ordered the execution of Doge Marin Falier, who was 
  accused of conspiring against Venice. In 1456, the 
  Ten ordered the deposition of another Doge, which 
  was seen as overstepping its role. Its authority was cut 
  back, for a time.
  Like other towns, Venice distinguished between 
  citizens and residents. It was not easy to become a 
  citizen (cittadini) if one was not the legitimate child 
  of a citizen. A foreigner needed to live in Venice or 
  its dominions as a law-abiding taxpayer for 25 years. 
  Citizenship de extra, which allowed one full protection 
  outside the Republic, was even harder to obtain, usu-
  ally it was given for singular skill or merit. Citizenship 
  brought commercial privileges and the right to be 
  treated as a Venetian under law and not as a for-
  eigner. Only citizens could be members of Venice’s 
  councils and could hold many public offices. Citizens 
  were given a monopoly of office in the Scuole Grandi, 
  the largest, wealthiest, and most prestigious confra-
  ternities in the city.
  Venice also had to manage several major trade 
  colonies, particularly in the wake of its success in the 
  Fourth Crusade. The details 
  of its colonial administration 
  are beyond the scope of this 
  book. In general, it appointed 
  doges for major colonies who 
  reported back to the Council 
  of Ten and the Doge.
   GUILDS
  Venetian guilds were 
  numerous and relatively weak. 
  The Justices (Giustizieri), 
  who were appointed by the 
  Great Council to oversee the 
  guilds, held the statutes of 52 guilds between 1218-
  1330; Florence had only 21 guilds during that time, 
  Bologna only 13. The three Justices enforced standard 
  weights and measures and decided market disputes. 
  Guild leaders (gastaldo) were elected by the guilds, 
  subject to the Justices’ approval. Some historians 
  suggest that having the Justices supported Venice’s 
  stability by providing a neutral body to resolve guild 
  disputes.
  The guilds did not have a direct role in gov-
  ernment, although their leaders were often part of 
  Venice’s merchant aristocracy. The guilds had a cer-
  emonial role when a new doge was crowned; each 
  guild made a presentation of its finest wares to the 
  new doge.
  Merchants and artisans were generally members 
  of both a guild (arte) and an associated religious con-
  fraternity (scuole). The Scuole performed religious 
  and charitable services for its members and their fam-
  The Council had 
  significant power 
  ... it could punish 
  anyone for suspicious 
  speech or meetings.
  
  Appendix III: York
  Page 132
  ‘This here ye mair chamberleyns & gudemen that 
  I fro’ noweforthe shall be trustye and true to the 
  Kynge our Sou’eyne lord to this Citie of York And 
  ye same Citie & shall saue and maynteyne to oure 
  saide sou’eyne ye Kynge and his heyres and succes-
  sors And all the ffrauncheys & fredoms of ye saide 
  Citie maynteyn & upholde at my power & Counyng 
  wt my bodye & my gudes als ofte tymez as yt hathe 
  myster of helpe so helpe me god and holy dome.
  ‘And by this buke Ye shall be obeyynge to ye mair 
  & shirriff of this Citie yt er or shall be for ye tyme 
  beyinge & justifyed after ye lawe accustumez & or-
  dynauncez of yis same Citie. And no man knowe yt 
  usez byyng or sellynge in ony crafte or occupacon as 
  Maistr & not franchesst but ye shall make it knowyn 
  to ye mayer Chamberleyns or the Common Clerk for 
  the tyme beynge. Nor ne gudes of Anie Straunger ne 
  of man unfraunchest ye shall not avowe for youre 
  owne by ye whilk the Kyng or the Mayor & Shirraff 
  myght lose ye Tolles custumez chargez or ony oyer 
  maner of Dewtez yt longys unto theyme. The coun-
  seyle and privatez of this sade Citie ye shall kepe. 
  And all thees poyntez & articlez afore Rehersyd ye 
  shall hold enenst yowe and for nothinge lett. But ye 
  shall so do. So helpe you God and Holy dome & be 
  this buke.’
  – Oath of Citizenship, York 14th century.
   York was the second-largest city in England and a 
  major center for wool trading during most of the middle 
  ages. It provides a good example of a large chartered 
  city with an important archbishopric. It was the admin-
  istrative capital of England several times in the late 13th 
  and in the 14th centuries; Edward I first moved his court 
  there in 1298, so that it would be closer to him during 
  his campaigns in Scotland. In 1396, Richard II made 
  the city into a county in its own right and allowed it to 
  elect its sheriff.
  York was founded by the Romans in 71 CE. They 
  departed in the 5th century, leaving it primarily in the 
  care of its archbishop. By the 8th century, York had 
  become a prosperous trade center. In 866-67, it was 
  captured by  Vikings who held it until 1055. In 1068, 
  William I captured it, and built a castle there. The town 
  tried to rebel against William three times over the next 
  year. In the aftermath of the third attempt, the Normans 
  burned and destroyed many buildings in reprisal, creat-
  ing a famine in 1070-71.
  Over the next three centuries, York became a 
  major center for wool trade between northern England 
  and Flanders. In 1379, two-thirds of English wool was 
  exported through York. When York hosted the royal 
  court, it became an even stronger center for trade, brief-
  ly rivaling London. By 1500, York’s trade had been sur-
  passed by other towns like Bristol and Norwich, but it 
  remained a significant economic center.
   AGRICULTURE
  York lies at the junction of the  Ouse and  Foss riv-
  ers in the center of a large plain. The Ouse, a tidal river, 
  was navigable by small ships up to York itself. At the 
  start of the 14th century, it had numerous bakers, brew-
  ers, butchers, fishmongers, and other vendors supplying 
  its inhabitants. During the 11th and 12th centuries,  shad 
  and graylings disappeared from the Ouse. Both species 
  were  sensitive to pollution, suggesting rising levels of 
  unhealthy urban effluent. 
  York, like Paris, prohibited townspeople from 
  allowing their  pigs to wander the streets. A law of 1301 
  allowed anyone who caught a pig loose in the streets to 
  kill it and have his choice of the meat.
  The city consumed a fair amount of meat, but 
  it was illegal to graze cattle within 6 miles of the 
  city center. Instead, merchants in the shambles (the 
  butcher’s neighborhood) sold hay to fatten up cattle 
  before slaughter.
  York’s wealth derived from its location near areas 
  favorable for sheep herding, although sheep were rarely 
  found in the city itself. Instead raw wool came to York to 
  be shipped overseas, or processed into cloth for export.
   ARCHITECTURE
  Many of York’s buildings were made from wood 
  or half-timber construction. A few, such as its cathe-
  dral and some prominent churches were made from 
  stone imported from limestone quarries a few miles 
  west of the city.
  York was best known for its cathedral, the   Minster 
  of St. Peter, which was first built in the mid-7th cen-
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 133
  Town Appendix III: York
  Page 133
  tury. The first cathedral was damaged by a fire in 741, 
  rebuilt, and again destroyed by a fire in 1069. It was 
  rebuilt, then damaged by fire in 1127 and repaired. 
  Major reconstruction began in 1220. The resulting 
  church, completed in 1472 was the largest cathedral 
  in England for its time and the second-largest Gothic 
  cathedral by volume in Europe. 
  The Benedictine abbey of St. Mary’s was found-
  ed in 1055 as a church dedicated to St. Olave. 
  William I refounded it as St. Mary’s in 1088. The 
  church may have been built over an Anglo-Saxon 
  village, Earlsburh. The abbey  was rebuilt from 
  1271-1294. It covered 13 acres and was one of the 
  largest, and wealthiest in England. Within its walled 
  enclosure, the Abbey had full legal rights, subject 
  only to the monarchy and the papacy.
  The Church of All Saints, one of over 40 parish 
  churches in York, was said to be the site where St. 
  Cuthbert was consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne. It was 
  one of the wealthiest parishes in York, and the burial site 
  of several mayors and Lord Mayors.
  The Church of St. Helen was built on the site of 
  a Roman temple to Diana, and was the parish church 
  of the stained-glass-window makers who worked on 
  the Minster.
   St. Leonard’s Hospital, another of York’s prominent 
  institutions, was founded in 937 and rebuilt in 1089, and 
  again in the mid-12th century.
  York’s fortifications were another important part 
  of its architecture. York’s first walls were built by the 
  Romans. Later walls were built in the 12-14th centuries, 
  finally enclosing an area of 263 acres. (They did not 
  York
  A – The Minster of St. Peter
  B – Monk’s Bar
  C – Merchant Taylor’s Hall
  D – Foss Bar
  E – Bootham Bar
  F – St. Leonard’s Hospital
  G – St. Mary’s Abbey
  H – Church of St. Helen
  I – Guild Hall
  J – Market
  K – Church of All Saints
  L – Merchant 
  Adventurer’s Hall
  M – Walmgate Bar
  N – Fishergate Bar
  O – Royal Castle
  P – Ouse Bridge
  Q – Micklegate Bar
  A
  Q
  P
  O
  N
  M
  L
  K
  J
  I
  H
  G
  F
  E
  D
  C
  B
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 135
  Town Appendix III: York
  Page 135
  (Petercon) provoked ongoing disputes with all of the 
  regions’ farmers. In 1371, the Franciscans argued with 
  the city’s butchers over disposal of their wastes in the 
  Ouse upstream of the friary. And, of course, there were 
  disputes over the right of the church to grant sanctu-
  ary to criminals and debtors. The church of St John of 
  Addle had a large brass ring on its door which someone 
  seeking sanctuary had to grab and hold until allowed 
  into the church.
   COMMERCE
  York was, for many centuries, the most impor-
  tant trade center after London. It was a major center 
  for the wool trade; its merchants traded their wares 
  in the Baltic and Flanders. In 1326, it was one of nine 
  towns with a wool staple; wool for export could only be 
  bought and sold at a staple town. By royal charter grant-
  ed by Henry III and confirmed by Edward II in 1312, 
  York’s citizens were immune to tolls and stallage fees in 
  England. However, by 1450, York’s fortunes had begun 
  to decline, in part due to hostility between England and 
  the Hanse, which made trade more difficult. It also faced 
  more competition from other English ports.
  York had two mints. The Archbishop’s Mint pre-
  dated the Conquest. In 1279, Edward I created a royal 
  mint in York’s castle. In 1344, the royal mint was 
  allowed to make both gold and silver coins.
  Until the mid-15th century, York’s fairs were all 
  associated with its churches. The archbishop had 
  a right to hold a Lammas fair from Vespers on the 
  Vigil of St-Peter-ad-Vincula (St. Peter in Chains) 
  (July 31) to the Morrow of the Feast, and had juris-
  diction over the city during the fair. The archbishop 
  held a merchant’s court (Pie Powder Court) during 
  the Lammas Fair; its jurors were generally merchants 
  using the fair. During a ceremony at the start of the 
  Fair, the city’s sheriffs turned their rods of office over 
  to the Archbishop’s officers, who became Sheriffs of 
  the Fair. The Clerk of the Ouse Bridge Jail gave the 
  keys to another officer named by the Archbishop 
  for the fair. The Bishop then swore in his jurors and 
  announced the opening of the Pie Powder Court.
  In 1449, Henry VI granted York its first municipal 
  fair, to be held for five days starting on Whit Monday. 
  This fair became known as the Whitsun Cattle Fair.
  In England, the monarchy exercised significant 
  control over local markets. It appointed a Clerk of the 
  Markets in each major town to collect tolls and stall fees, 
  ensure that weights and measures were fair, and enforce 
  the Assize of  Bread and Beer. York’s market clerk was 
  appointed by the town and had to strictly enforce royal 
  standards. York had several permanent markets. Its 
  two major market places were “Thursday Market” and 
  Pavement. Marke Skyre was held in Pavement three days 
  a week for the sale of grain and food. Thursday Market 
  was held in that market place two days a week to sell 
  cloth and other goods. There were two markets for fish: 
  one for freshwater fish held at King’s Staith at the foot 
  of Ouse Bridge and one for saltwater fish held on Foss 
  Bridge. Poultry was sold on the Ouse Bridge.
  THE  STAPLE
  Under the 1326 Staple  Law, wool for export had 
  to be bought and sold only at a “staple” town; of which 
  York was one. In 1353, the law was amended so that 
  wool could only be sold for export at a staple town; York 
  was one of fifteen such towns.
   Wool for sale had to be weighed and sealed by the 
  mayor of the Staple. Each staple town also had its own 
  court, which resolved disputes about credits, debts, con-
  tracts, and even crimes arising from wool transactions. 
  Thus, York had an official registry for merchant debts. 
  A Staple creditor and debtor could enroll a debt for a fee 
  (often 1/2 d. per l. of debt up to 100 l., 1/4 d. per l. for 
  larger debts). The debtor of a registered debt had a very 
  hard time escaping payment for a default. After 1362, 
  even non-merchants could register debts on the official 
  register in York and a few other Staple towns. There 
  was a separate set of registered debts under the Statute 
  Merchant, which required the seal of the debtor, mayor, 
  and city clerk, and cost 1 d. per l. in general, and 1/2 d. 
  per l. at fairs. Creditors were supposed to cancel debts 
  on payment, but often did not do so, leading to disputes 
  over whether a registered debt had been paid.
   CRIME PREVENTION
  There is not much surviving information about 
  the structure of York’s watch or what specific prob-
  lems it faced with criminals. It is likely that the parishes 
  and wards policed minor infractions. Serious matters 
  would be referred to the royal sheriff. The wards and 
  parishes probably managed disputes over street repairs, 
  encroaching buildings, clogged drainage ditches, and 
  waste disposal.
  In England,  homicides were investigated by the 
  royal coroner. He was required to view every corpse if 
  
  Sources
  Page 141
  Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, New York: 
  Atheneum (1969)
  Abulafia, Italy in the Central Middle Ages 1000-
  1300, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2004)
  Anderson & Zinsser, A History of Their Own (Vol. 
  1), New York: Harper & Row Publishers (1988)
  Baker, Medieval London, New York: Praeger 
  Publishers (1970)
  Ball, Merchants and Merchandise, New York: St. 
  Martin’s Press (1977)
  Basing, Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts, 
  New York: New Amsterdam (1990)
  Bataille, The Trial of Gilles de Rais, Los Angeles: 
  Amok (1991)
  Bellamy, The Criminal Trial in Later Medieval 
  England, Toronto: U. Toronto Press (1998)
  Benson, Life in a Medieval City: Illustrated by York in 
  the 15th Century, New York: MacMillan Co. (1920)
  Booth, York: The History and Heritage of a City, 
  London: Barrie & Jenkins (1990)
  Bowsky, A Medieval Italian Commune: Siena Under 
  the Nine, 1287-1355, Berkeley: University of California 
  Press (1981)
  Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean 
  World in the Age of Philip II, New York: Harper & Row 
  (1972) (first published 1949)
  Brentano, Rome Before Avignon, Berkeley: 
  University of California Press (1990)
  Brooke, London 800-1216: The Shaping of a City, 
  Berkeley: University of California Press (1975)
  Brown & Davis, Gender and Society in Renaissance 
  Italy, New York: Longman (1998)
  Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, New 
  York: Harper & Row, Inc. (1971)
  Bulter, The Lombard Communes, New York: Haskell 
  House Publ. Ltd. (1969)
  Calimani, The Ghetto of Venice, New York: M. 
  Evans & Co., Inc. (1985)
  Cave & Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval 
  Economic History, New York: The Bruce Publishing 
  Co. (1936)
  Chazan, Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages, 
  New York: Behrman House, Inc. (1980).
  Chazan, The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom, 
  1000-1500, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 
  (2006)
  Chazan, Medieval Jewry in Northern France, 
  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1973)
  Cohn, The Cult of Remembrance and the Black 
  Death, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 
  (1992)
  Cohn, Lust for Liberty: The Politics of Social Revolt 
  in Medieval Europe, 1200-1425, Cambridge: Harvard 
  University Press (2006).
  Contamine, War in the Middle Ages, New York: 
  Basil Blackwell (1984)
  Corfis & Wolfe, The Medieval City Under Siege, 
  Suffolk: Boydell Press (1995)
  Cooper, The History of the Castle of York, London: 
  Elliot Stock (1911)
  Courtenay, Parisian Scholars in the Early Fourteenth 
  Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 
  (1999)
  Cowell, At Play in the Tavern, Ann Arbor: 
  University of Michigan (1999)
  Crossley-Holland, Living and Dining in Medieval 
  Paris, Cardiff: University of Wales Press (1996)
  Crouch, Tournament, London: Hambledon & 
  Continuum (2005)
  Daly, The Medieval University: 1200-1400, New 
  York: Sheed & Ward (1961)
  Davis, The War of the Fists: Popular Culture and 
  Public Violence in Late Renaissance Venice, Oxford: 
  Oxford University Press (1994)
  de Pisan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, 
  Middlesex, Penguin Books (1985)
  Deanesly, A History of the Medieval Church, 
  London: Routlegde (1990)
  Dollinger, The German Hansa, Stanford: Stanford 
  University Press (1970)
  Dunlop, The Cathedrals’ Crusade; the Rise of the 
  Gothic Style in France, New York: Taplinger Co. (1982)
  Dyer, Everyday Life in Medieval England, London: 
  Hambeldon & London (1994)
  Dyer, Making a Living in the Middle Ages, New 
  Haven: Yale University Press (2002)
  Dyer, Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society, 
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1980)
  
  Town: Page Header
  Page 144
  Town: Sources
  Page 144
  Slater & Rosser, The Church in the Medieval Town, 
  Aldershot: Ashgate (1998)
  Smith, ed., English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of 
  More Than One Hundred Early English Gilds, London: 
  Oxford University Press (1963) [first printed 1870]
  Smith, The University of Toulouse in the Middle Ages, 
  Milwaukee: Marquette University Press (1958)
  Smith & Wolfe, Eds., Technology and Resource 
  Use in Medieval Europe: Cathedrals, Mills, and Mines, 
  Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing (1997)
  Spufford, Money and Its Use in Medieval Europe, 
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1988)
  Steinman & Watson, Bridges and their Builders, 
  New York: Dover Publications (1957)
  Stonor Saunders, The Devil’s Broker: Seeking Gold, 
  God, & Glory in Fourteenth-Century Italy, New York: 
  Harper Collins (2004)
  Strickland, War and Chivalry: The Conduct and 
  Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066-
  1217, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1996)
  Sumpton, The Age of Pilgrimage, Mahwah: 
  HiddenSpring (2003)
  Thompson, Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian 
  Communes (1125-1325), University Park: Pennsylvania 
  State University Press (2005)
  Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London, 
  1300-1500, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 
  (1989) [first published 1948]
  Toaff, Love, Work & Death: Jewish Life in Medieval 
  Umbria, London: Littman Library (1998)
  Tobacco, The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy, 
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989)
  Trease, The Condottieri, New York: Holt, Rinehart, 
  & Winston (1971)
  Turner, Spice: The History of a Temptation, New 
  York: Alfred A. Knopf (2004)
  Uitz, Women in the Medieval Town, London: Barrie 
  & Jenkins (1988)
  Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 
  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (2004)
  Unwin, The Gilds and Companies of London, 
  London: Frank Cass & Co. (1966) [first published 
  1908]
  Van der Wee, The Rise and Decline of Urban 
  Industries in Italy and in the Low Countries, Leuven: 
  Leauven University Press (1988).
  Verdon, Night in the Middle Ages, Notre Dame: 
  University of Notre Dame (2002)
  Verdon, Travel in the Middle Ages, Notre Dame: 
  University of Notre Dame (2003)
  Villon, The Jargon of Master François Villon, New 
  York: Houghton Mifflin (1918)
  Wedemeyer Moore, The Fairs of Medieval England, 
  Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies 
  (1985)
  Wade LaBarge, Medieval Travelers: The Rich and 
  Restless, London: Hamish Hamilton (1982)
  Waley, Siena & the Sienese in the Thirteenth Century, 
  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1991)
  Weil, The Story of Bologna, London: J.M. Dent & 
  Sons Ltd. (1923)
  Williams, Bread, Wine & Money, Chicago: 
  University of Chicago Press (1993)
  Wood, The Quest for Eternity, Hanover, University 
  of New England Press (1983)
  Wright, tr., The Life of Cola di Rienzo, Toronto: 
  Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies (1975)
  Wroe, A Fool and His Money, London: Vintage 
  (1996)
  Zupko, Straws in the Wind: Medieval Urban 
  Environmental Law – The Case of Northern Italy, 
  Boulder: Westview Press (1996).
  RPG MATERIALS
  A number of sources were consulted to see what 
  topics various writers and publishers thought would 
  be of interest to their readers, and how writers and 
  publishers tried to explain the complexities of medi-
  eval urban life.
  A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, 
  Expeditious Retreat Press (2003)
  Barrett, et als., The Ashen Knight, White Wolf (2000)
  Bøe, et als, Dark Ages Europe, White Wolf (2002)
  Crowe, et als., Three Pillars, White Wolf (1997)
  Hartford, et als., Spoils of War, White Wolf (2003)
  Karr, The King Arthur Companion, Pendragon (1983)
  King, Lionheart, Columbia Publications (1987)
  
  A
  Accounting, 44; audits of building 
  projects, 16; of tithe revenues, 
  33; public officials liable for fiscal 
  irregularities, 78; source of need 
  for urban education, 61; units of 
  account in money system, 38
  Actors; economic support of, 67; 
  morally and socially equivalent 
  to prostitutes, 68; Parisian 
  troupes, 120; sponsored by guilds 
  for public performances, 81
  Agriculture, 11; in Paris, 115; in 
  Venice, 124; in York, 132
  Ague (Malaria), 103
  Aldermen; as “searchers” (York), 
  138; associated with wards (York), 
  138; benefits in lieu of wages, 87; 
  clothing privileges (London), 94; 
  defined, 9; duration of service 
  (York), 138; electing mayor from 
  among their own (York), 138; 
  eligibility to serve (York), 138; 
  exacting a “street tax” from poor 
  hustlers, 95; heard complaints 
  about crime, 57, 136, 137; in 
  Parisian government (échevins), 
  121; occupational prejudice 
  (York), 138; power to grant 
  citizenship (York), 139; raised 
  money for the city (York), 136
  Aljama, 9
  Almshouses, 26
  Amulets; worn by children, 99
  Annulment, 100
  Anti-Semitic violence, 89-92
  Apprentices and Apprenticeship, 61; 
  apprenticeship in building trades, 
  84; guild control of requirements 
  and conditions, 81; hazing, 
  disputes, 62; Jewish doctors taught 
  via apprentice system, 91; master 
  given right to approve marriages 
  of, 100; rural artisans’ children 
  as, 95; servants becoming, 96
  Archdeacon, 28
  Architecture, 15-24; in Paris, 116; 
  in Venice, 124; in York, 132
  Archpriest (dean), 28
  Arte, 9
  Arte della Lana, 82
  Artisans, 82
  Artists, 84
  Ascension Day, 63
  Ash Wednesday, 64
  Assumption of the Virgin, 65
  B
  Bakers; besieged by starving citizens 
  (in epigraph), 103; blamed (and 
  pardoned) for blaze in Toulouse, 
  105; exceptions to night-work 
  laws, 54; less likely to have a 
  guild, 86; likely to have a guild, 
  80; numbers of (York), 138; 
  ovens, 20; fire risk, 86; power 
  of (and as indicators of town’s 
  concern with food), 12; sometimes 
  located outside town, 116; wares 
  inspected by town authorities, 86
  Bandits, 107; communities in the 
  condato fined for sheltering, 55; 
  merchant companies as defense 
  against, 47; more common on 
  roads than rivers, 13; river bandit 
  methods, 49; ties to organized 
  crime/urban confederations of, 58; 
  town walls protection against, 22
  Banishment, 55
  Banking, 39-40; Franciscan 
  non-profit banks, 91; Jewish 
  involvement in, 89; papal bank-
  ers, 29, 33; powerful Venetian 
  banks, 127; Templar, 32, 40
  Ban mile, 9
  Baptism, 99
  Barbers, 85
  Bath houses, 16
  Beasts; Courtaut (notorious wolf), 
  123; wolves digging up corpses, 123
  Beer, 41
  Beggars, 94; begging regulated 
  in Venice, 131; converting to 
  Judaism, 92; faking crippling 
  injuries, 58; popular stories of, 
  95; the Beggar King (Grand 
  Coesre), 58, 118; women, 35
  Béguines, 35
  Bells; announcing the hours, 82
  Birth, 99
  Bishops, 26-28; Venetian 
  bishopric, 126
  Black Plague, Black 
  Death; See Plague
  Bounty; offered for murder of 
  emigrant silk workers, 112; Venice 
  contrasted with Lucca, 127
  Bourgeois, 9
  Brethren of the Free Spirits, 35
  Bridges, 16; construction costs, 
  23; held by knights as an 
  alternative to tournament 
  jousts, 67; inhabited, 17
  Brothels; See Prostitutes, Sex
  Builders, 84; Jewish builders 
  forbidden to build pret-
  tier synagogues, 22
  Bull-baiting, 68
  Burgage, 9
  Burgess, 9
  Burgrave, 9
  Business Cycle, 81
  Butchers; and bull-baiting, 68; 
  appointment of masters (Blois and 
  Chartres), 73; as personal guards 
  of Duke Jean, 122; as polluters, 
  13, 14; in ceremony (Paris), 
  64; leaders in revolts, 86; less 
  popular than other food trades, 
  86; likely to have a guild, 80, 86; 
  minimal requirement for a Jewish 
  community, 89; occupational 
  prejudice against (York), 138; 
  Parisian guild practices, 86; 
  placement relative to tanners, 
  Page 145
  Index
  
  Page 146
  Town: Index
  14; power of (and as indicators 
  of town’s concern with food), 12; 
  prosperity of, 86; supplying raw 
  materials to other trades, 86; wares 
  inspected by town authorities, 86
  C
  Candle makers; See Chandlers
  Candlemas, 64
  Canons, 29
  Captains, 77
  Captives, war, 56
  Carnival, 64
  Carroccio, 107
  Castles, 17
  Cathars, 35
  Cathedrals; architecture & 
  construction, 17; Minster of St. 
  Peter, 132; Notre-Dame, 116; 
  social and religious roles, 26
  Celibacy; Catholic clergy, 30
  Chancellor, 28
  Chandlers; butchers’ wives 
  and daughters as, 97; sup-
  plied by butchers, 86
  Chartered Towns, 74
  Charters, 74; compared to books 
  of town records, 77; example 
  of (St. Omer), 75; for Jewish 
  communities, 89; of York, 137
  Chartres, 73
  Children, 99; and Parisian crime, 
  119; child abuse tolerated, 
  100; See also Orphans; sent to 
  town as apprentices, 95
  Churches; construction & 
  architecture, 18; construction 
  costs, 23; in York, 134; notable 
  churches in Venice, 125; parish, 
  29; powerful Parisian, 117
  Citizen; defined, 9; See 
  also Citizenship
  Citizenship, 93
  City-States, 74
  Civic Processions, 63
  Class; See Social Class
  Clock Towers, 18
  Clothing, 94; typical for children, 99
  Coins, 37
  Commerce, 37-52; Diplomacy 
  and Reprisals, 42; Forms of 
  Business, 43; in Paris, 118; in 
  Venice, 126; in York, 135
  Commodities, 41
  Commune, 9
  Competitions, 65-67
  Condato, 12
  Confraternity, 10
  Consorteria, 10
  Construction; builders and build-
  ing-trades, 84; methods, 15; of 
  Notre-Dame cathedral, 116
  Consul, 10
  Convents, 32
  Cook shops, 20
  Coquillards, 58
  Corpses; See Death
  Corpus Christi, 64
  Council of Forty, 128
  Council of Ten, 129; creation 
  of its own watch, 127; failed 
  attempts to ban recreational 
  bridge wars, 65; restricting the 
  charity of the Scuole, 131
  Councils and Councilors, 77-79
  Court, 54; estimated scale of, 73-74
  Courtaut (notorious wolf), 123
  Credit, 39
  Crime, 53; Coquillards, 58; false sto-
  ries of ritual murder, 91; organized 
  crime, 56, 58, 118; prevention in 
  Paris, 118; prevention in Venice, 
  127; prevention in York, 135
  Curfew, 54; at fairs, 46; cessation 
  of alcohol sales at, 48; church 
  bells heralding, 54; lanterns 
  required after, 53; mechanical 
  clocks automating the heralding 
  of, 82; prostitutes required 
  to return home for, 69
  D
  Dean (archpriest), 28
  Death, 100-102; announcements 
  of, 101; cemetery necessary for a 
  Jewish community, 89; continua-
  tion of business by family following, 
  43, 98; corpses displayed in Paris, 
  118; corpses eaten by wolves, 
  107, 123; Council of Ten corrup-
  tion punishable by, 129; English 
  homicide customs, 135; infant 
  mortality, 99; no escape from the 
  Inquisition, 57; parental death 
  as prerequisite for marriage, 100; 
  serious crimes punishable by, 55; 
  toll of anti-mercenary revolt, 108; 
  vigils, 98; Waldensian views on, 36
  Debt, 40; public, 70
  Disasters, 105
  Disease, 103; in prison, 56; 
  soldiers as source of, 107
  Distrain, 107
  Divorce, 100
  Doctors, 84; distinguished from 
  surgeons, 85; Jewish, 91
  Dowry, 100; dowry fund, 70
  E
  Earthquakes, 105
  Easter, 65; and Parisian ham sales, 
  116; communion mandated 
  on, 56; consolidated baptisms, 
  18, 99; Jews persecuted for, 91; 
  prostitutes prohibited from public 
  appearances just prior to, 69
  Échevins; See Aldermen
  Economic Theory, Medieval, 40
  Education, 61-62; in Paris, 119; 
  in Venice, 127; in York, 136
  Employment; See Jobs, Wages
  Entertainers, 67
  Entertainment, 63-69; entertain-
  ers, 67; in Paris, 119; in 
  Venice, 127; in York, 136
  Estimo, 10
  Eswardeurs, 47
  Evil eye, 99
  Execution; as entertainment in 
  Venice, 127; heretics burned at 
  the stake, 35; in Paris, 118; in 
  
  Page 147
  Town: Index
  York, 136; of Fra Savonarola by 
  fire, 31; of Jews under false pre-
  tenses, 91; of Templar leaders, 40
  F
  Factories, 19
  Fairs, 45-46; in Chartres, 73; scale 
  of, 63; weapons precluded from, 53
  Families; all affected by Plague, 
  104; rural families larger 
  than urban ones, 100
  Famine, 104
  Farm (payment), 10
  Farmers; as immigrants, 95
  Feasts; Fete des Fous (Feast of 
  Fools), 64; See also Fairs
  Finance, 70-71; in Paris, 120; 
  in Venice, 128; in York, 136; 
  See also Commerce, Taxes
  Fines; one source of a town’s 
  income, 70; typical fines 
  and punishments, 59
  Fire, 105
  Flagellants, 36
  Flax; makers of seldom 
  had own guilds, 82
  Floods, 106
  Food; as trade commodities, 41, 86; 
  cheap grain necessary to stave 
  off famine, 104; dependence on 
  rural fiefs and farms for, 5, 11; 
  English food markets, 135; fish 
  supply affected by pollution, 
  132; force used to control food 
  supply, 11; from monasteries, 
  6; hung as advertisement, 21; 
  Parisian fish supply, 115; Parisian 
  meat consumption, 11, 116; 
  political relationships between 
  town and food sources, 12; price 
  controls, 46; prices, 51-52; public 
  preparation facilities, 20; religious 
  practices; Christian, 65; Jewish, 
  89-90; river-food and seafood 
  in Paris, 115; starvation (in epi-
  graph), 103; town leader’s primary 
  responsibilty, 11; urban sources 
  of, 12; women associated with 
  food trades, 97; See also Famine
  Food trades, 85
  Foreigners, 93
  Foss, 132
  Foundling wheels, 103
  Franchise Charter, 10
  Friars; See Mendicant Orders
  G
  Gates, 22; gatehouse 
  construction costs, 23
  Ghettos, 89
  Ghibelline, 79
  Gild; See Guilds
  Glass; Venetian, 126
  God’s Penny, 10
  Godparents, 99
  Goldsmiths, 84
  Governance, 72-79; by papal 
  “vicars”, 73; Forms of, 77; in 
  Paris, 121-122; in Venice, 
  128; in York, 137
  Government; See Governance
  Grain; cheap supplies necessary 
  to stave off famine, 104
  Grand Coesre (Beggar King), 58
  Guards; assigned to Jewish 
  funeral processions, 90; assigned 
  to prevent copulation in cathedral 
  (Pistoia), 26; at Champagne 
  Fairs, 46; hired to protect holy 
  relics, 31; restricted from taking 
  from the populace (Charter of St. 
  Omer), 75; town watch, 56-57; 
  Ufficali di Notte (vice squad), 69
  Guelf, 79
  Guilds, 80-86; defined, 10; guild 
  halls, 19; holding guild office, 81; 
  in Paris, 122; in Venice, 129; major 
  versus minor, 82; militias organized 
  by, 109; number and frequency of, 
  80; religious guilds (York), 139; 
  searchers (English guild police), 
  139; table of examples by city, 83; 
  types of, 82; York’s plethora of, 138
  H
  Hanseatic League, 76
  Heretics; Interdict, 105
  Holidays; historical commemora-
  tions, 63; See also Fairs, Feasts
  Homosexuality; prostitutes toler-
  ated as measure against, 68
  Hospitalers, 32
  Hospitals, 19; administered by 
  clergy, 85; centralizing of, 95; for 
  ill musicians, 68; not centralized in 
  Venice, 131; Pietà foundling hospi-
  tal, 131; Scuole, 130; St. Leonard’s 
  Hospital (York), 133, 134
  Hotel-Dieu; See Hospitals
  Hours, 82
  Houses, 20; construction 
  costs, 23; rent, 24
  Hustling, 95
  I
  Immigrants, 95
  Imprisonment, 56
  Independent City-States, 74
  Indulgence (penance 
  by payment), 56
  Infant mortality, 99
  Influenza, 103
  Inheritance, 102
  Inns, 19; and taverns, 47; innkeep-
  ers as guild intermediaries, 
  38; innkeepers responsible for 
  confiscating weaponry, 46; 
  organized crime and, 58
  Inquisition, 57; resentment over 
  condemnation of respected com-
  munity members, 31; technically 
  did not perform executions, 58
  Interdict, 105
  J
  Jews, 89-92; Aljama (defined), 9; 
  encouraged to remain indoors 
  
  Page 148
  Town: Index
  during Lent and Easter, 65; 
  family networks, 40; in Paris, 
  122; in town divisions, 26; in 
  Venice, 130; in York, 139; mass 
  expulsions of, 92; more common 
  in Universities than women, 
  62; required to wear badges, 
  90, 94, 130; ritual bath (mikvah), 
  16; southern Italy exception to 
  European trends regarding, 92; 
  special taxes for, 96; traditions 
  of tolerance and intolerance 
  toward, 90; See also Synagogues
  Jobs; employment agents, 96; 
  hustling, 95; scale of employ-
  ment by court, 73; second 
  jobs for slow periods, 82
  Jurés, 10
  K
  Knights; bishops expected to 
  maintain, 27; holding bridges as an 
  alternative to tournament jousts, 
  67; hundreds at tournament, 
  66; Knights Hospitaller, 32; laws 
  regarding price of clothing, 94; 
  rights to bear arms restricted in 
  town, 53; secular landholders’ 
  duties comparable to, 28; 
  successful architects knighted, 
  84; towns subject to the courts 
  of large lanholders rather 
  than, 6; See also Templars
  L
  Lanaioli, 82
  Laws; bans on tournaments, 67; 
  governing prostitution, 69; 
  governing styles of clothing, 94; 
  restricting local competitions, 65; 
  skewed in favor of local merchants 
  and artisans, 42; Staple towns, 
  135; typical fines and punish-
  ments, 59; wandering pigs, 132
  Leagues of Towns, 76
  Lent, 65
  Lepers, 103
  Leprosy, 103
  Lollards, 36
  Lombard League, 76
  M
  Magic; amulets worn by 
  children, 99; love potions 
  offered by procuresses, 69
  Magnates; defined, 10; 
  excluded from council member-
  ship requirements, 78
  Malaria, 103
  Manners, 94
  Markets, 19, 37; Paris markets, 118; 
  periodic markets, 44; selds, 45
  Marriage, 99; contracts, 100
  Martinmas; and Hansa prohibi-
  tions on ship travel, 49; as 
  hiring day for servants, 96
  Master-Apprentice System, 61
  Measles, 103
  Meat; See Food
  Mendicant orders, 31
  Mercenaries, 108; Arezzo captured 
  by, 113; bribed by Pope Innocent 
  IV, 113; burning port of Boulogne, 
  113; captains’ wages, 108; 
  capture of Pont-Saint-Esprit, 113; 
  company contracts (condotta), 
  108; grain storage law and, 59; 
  in war, 106-108; papal, 106; 
  recruited at tournament, 66; 
  removed by the Magna Carta, 108; 
  suppressed by Parisian skirmishing 
  parties, 123; unemployed ones 
  a threat to travelers, 48, 58
  Merchants, 85; arrival in town, 
  38; as employers of mercenaries, 
  106; Flemish companies, 47; 
  given time to leave before war, 
  107; homes in Venice, 125; 
  most of York’s mayors were, 138; 
  trading in Muslim ports, 96
  Mezzadría, 10
  Michelmas (Michaelmas); as a 
  hiring day for servants, 96
  Mikvah, 16, 89
  Militias, 109
  Mills, 19; construction costs, 23
  Mines, 20
  Minster of St. Peter (Cathedral), 132
  Minstrels, 68
  Mobs; collapsing the Rialto bridge 
  (Paris), 114, 125; combats between 
  rock-throwing, 65; crowd at the 
  public pillory, 56; crowds of starv-
  ing Parisians (in epigraph), 103; 
  death of Bishop Polo (Venice), 
  130; Étienne Marcel against 
  the Dauphin (Paris), 117, 121; 
  revolt in Ghent, 113; Sicilian 
  violence against Muslims, 97; 
  violence against Jews, 91, 92, 112; 
  violence against lepers, 104
  Monasteries; construction & 
  architecture, 18; religious 
  & cultural roles, 31
  Money, 37-41; basic 
  monetary system, 38
  Moneylending, 91
  Monks; and medical practice, 85; 
  investigating heresy, 57; orphans 
  raised as, 103; prohibitions placed 
  on by bishop, 27; tithes used to 
  support, 33; York’s archbishop 
  said to have been murdered by, 
  134; See also Monasteries
  Monte, 70
  Murage, 10
  Musicians, 68; Paris as 
  center for, 120
  Muslims, 96; in Spain, 97; living 
  peaceably in Sicily, 97; southern 
  Italy exception to European trends 
  regarding, 92; special taxes for, 96
  Mutilation, 56
  N
  Natural Disasters, 105
  Neighborhoods, 98
  Night, 54; activities of the watch, 
  56; artisans forbidden to work 
  after dark, 54; burial processions, 
  90; gates locked at dusk, 54; 
  hours of, 82; Paris river-chains 
  
  Page 149
  Town: Index
  raised at, 117; riverboats kept 
  ashore during, 48; shop precau-
  tions, 21; wolves entering down 
  during, 107; See also Curfew
  Notre-Dame Cathedral, 116
  Nuns; orphans raised as, 103
  O
  Orphans, 102; foundling 
  wheels (anonymous orphan 
  donations), 103
  Ouse, 132
  Ovens, 20
  P
  Papal bankers, 29, 33
  Paris, 115-123; map of, 116; 
  origins of Carnival, 65
  Parties, Political, 79
  Pavage, 10
  Pawnbrokers, 40; as common 
  Jewish profession, 89; municipal 
  alternative (monte di Pietà), 71
  Penance, 56
  Penny, God’s, 10
  Perfecti, 35
  Pietà foundling hospital, 131
  Pimps, 69
  Plague, 104; in Paris, 123
  Podestà, 77; defined, 10
  Pollution, 14; affecting the 
  food supply, 132; affecting 
  town layout, 13-14
  Poor, the, 94
  Popolo, 10, 78; structure, 79
  Portage, 10
  Potions; love potions offered 
  by procuresses, 69
  Pozzo di S. Patrizio, 14
  Prévôté, 10
  Prison, 56
  Processions, 63
  Procuresses, 69
  Prostitutes, 68-69; and bath houses, 
  16; brothels managed under 
  “front” businesses, 69; included 
  as part of a mercenary company, 
  108; legal status in York, 136; 
  morally and socially equivalent 
  to actors, 68; rape of (penalties), 
  60; rate paid for room rental, 
  24; required to wear badges, 94; 
  soliciting (penalties for), 60
  Provveditore, 16
  Public Office, 78
  Punishment, 55; typical fines 
  and punishments, 59
  Purveyor of the works, 16
  Q
  Quarantia (Council of Forty), 128
  R
  Races, 65
  Rashi of Troyes, 89
  Rat (council), 10
  Record Keeping, 77; 
  chirographers, 90, 91
  Reform orders, 32
  Relics, 30
  Religion, 25-36
  Religious Processions, 63
  Residences; See Houses
  Residents; defined, 10; 
  features of residency, 93
  Rights; as basic division of 
  people in a town, 93
  Rituals of Life, 98
  Rivers, 13; as a source of malaria, 
  103; as power for mills, 19; floods, 
  106; hazards of river travel, 49; 
  impact on Venetian economy for 
  lacking a river, 126; most towns 
  located on, 12; river-trade and 
  rivercraft, 48; source of threats 
  by Vikings, 7; town industry 
  positions along, 13; traffic halted 
  by chains at night (Paris), 117; 
  used for waste disposal, 12
  Roads, 21
  Ruins; Roman, 22
  Rural dean, 28
  Rural Uprisings, 104
  S
  Sainte-Chapelle, 117
  Salt; Venetian Salt industry 
  and Salt Office, 126
  Saracens; in Sicily, 97; 
  See also Muslims
  Sassaioli; See Mobs
  Schultheiss, 10
  Scula, 10
  Scuole Grandi, 130
  Scurvy, 103
  Seals, 77
  Searchers (English Guild Police), 139
  Seine, 115
  Seld, 45
  Serfs, 93
  Servants, 95; hired at Michelmas, 96
  Servitia communia, 29
  Sewers, 12; as a civic expense, 70; 
  private sewers owned by wealthy 
  houses and monasteries, 12
  Sex; celibacy ideal of Catholic clergy, 
  30; forbidden between Christians 
  and Jews, 90, 130; guards assigned 
  to prevent copulation in cathedral 
  (Pistoia), 26; prostitution, 68-69; 
  punishments for sex crimes, 60; 
  reputation of university students, 
  34; rumors of activity by nuns, 32; 
  sexuality in snow sculptures, 66
  Shops, 21
  Shrovetide, 64
  Sicily; haven for (then mob 
  violence against) Muslims, 97
  Siege, 109
  Signoria, 10
  Sin, 25; crimes as, 56; Flagellants, 
  36; pimping and usury equated, 69
  Slaves, 96; as servants in Italy, 96; 
  faith not protected, 26; Lucera’s 
  Muslims sold into slavery, 
  
  Page 150
  Town: Index
  97; traded in Venice, 126
  Smallpox, 103
  Snowmen, 66
  Social class, 94
  Soldiers; as a source of disease and 
  threat to local women, 107; at 
  tournament, 66; benefits provided 
  to (Siena), 56; part of a bishop’s 
  household, 29; power of city-states 
  to demand, 12; power of monarchy 
  and major landholders to demand, 
  120; riots against (York), 140; 
  traditionally given holiday on the 
  Assumption of the Virgin, 65; 
  used against students, 33; See 
  also Guards, Mercenaries, War
  Spices, 42
  St. Leonard’s Hospital, 133, 134; 
  attacked by rioters, 140
  Städtebund, 76
  Staple, The, 135; defined, 10
  Starvation, 104
  Stone Throwing; banned in 
  1253, 65; combats between 
  rock-throwing mobs in Perugia 
  and Rome, 65; directed against 
  Jewish homes and funerals, 91
  Storms, 105
  Streets; construction of, 21
  Subject Towns, 72
  Synagogues, 22; basic requirement 
  for Jewish community, 89; forbid-
  den in Venice, 130; founding of 
  the Parisian Jewish community, 
  122; protected by Christian law, 90
  T
  Taverns, 47
  Taxes, 71; in Paris, 120; in York, 
  136; remitted in Toulouse 
  as fire relief, 105; scale of 
  Venetian wealth judged by, 
  128; tax rebellion, 104
  Templars, 32; as bankers, 40; in 
  Parisian finance and politics, 
  117-118; Jacques de Molay 
  burned for witchcraft and heresy, 
  119; torture of (York), 136
  Threats, 103; to Paris, 123; to 
  Venice, 131; to York, 140
  Tithes, 33; archdeacon charged 
  with collecting bishop’s share 
  of, 28; source of disagreement 
  among the clergy, 25
  Torture; as punishment for crime, 
  55; as punishment for urban 
  uprisings, 106; by the Inquisition, 
  57-58; of beggars during the 
  Hundred Years War, 119; of 
  Carmagnola and Gian Battista, 
  108; of lepers suspected of plotting, 
  103; of Templars, 136; of would-be 
  assassins (Venice), 128; power of 
  wool guild to (Florence), 82; pro-
  tection against (Siena council), 79
  Tournaments, 66-67
  Town halls, 22
  Trade; See Commerce
  Travel, 48-50
  Typhus, 103
  U
  Units of measurement, 11; See 
  also Weights and measures
  Unity; reinforced by feasting 
  in Perugia, 64; role of civic 
  events in maintaining, 65
  University; defined, 10; politics, 
  creation, relation to church, 
  33; subjects taught at, 62; 
  University of Paris, 117, 119
  Uprisings; rural, 104; urban, 106
  V
  Venice, 124-131; map of, 125
  Vicar forane (rural dean), 28
  Vicar general, 28
  Victuallars, 85
  Vikings; capture of York, 132; dan-
  ger to coastal and river towns, 7
  W
  Wages; chart of typical, 87-88; 
  increased by the Black Plague, 
  104; paid in cash on Saturdays, 82
  Waldensians, 36
  Walls, 22
  War, 106; Abroad at War, 107; 
  draining Parisian finances, 121
  Wards, 98
  Waste, 12; airborne, 13
  Watch, 56-57; as a civic expense, 
  70; Council of Ten’s own, 127; 
  Parisian, 118; See also Guards
  Water, 13; as protection 
  against disease, 103
  Weapon Regulations, 53-54
  Weights and measures; one 
  source of a town’s income, 70
  Windows; prices, 24; rarity of, 20
  Women, 97-98; concubines & 
  courtesans, 69; convents, 32; 
  dowry funds, 70; excluded from 
  Assumption of the Virgin candle 
  procession, 65; greater financial 
  independence of Englishwomen, 
  96; Jewish women as doctors 
  and surgeons, 91; Jews more 
  common in universities than, 
  62; limited rights of Florentine 
  women, 98; living together in 
  urban households (Béguines), 
  35; midwives and female doctors, 
  85, 91; prospects in business 
  worsening with time, 109; ratio 
  of men to unmarried women, 98; 
  widows receiving more charity 
  than elderly men (Paris), 123
  Wool, 42; and Staple towns, 
  135; Arte della Lana 
  (Florence wool guild), 82
  Work Days and Work Weeks, 81
  Y
  York, 132-140
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/_GM Books/World Building & Game Design/ Misc T/Town - 13-15th Cent. European town.pdf