The development of urban medieval Europe

          The origin of medieval cities can be traced to three main developments in the High Middle Ages; a rise in population, increased agricultural output, and political stabilization.  The last two points necessarily contributed to the first.  Greater food production meant that lager peasant families could sustain themselves, and a centralization of power meant that less lives were taken in wars for power.  Interestingly, a growing population created a scenario that would at first look like a crisis.  That being, there quickly arose a situation where available land became sparse.  But the ingenuity and adaptability of the people in the Middle Ages led to new opportunities for urban development.  Sons who did not have land handed down to them found new ways to survive by becoming artisans and merchants.  This development was so profound and consequential that the textbook tells us that a whole new class of citizenry arose.  One that was not agricultural or rural.

City walls had to be rebuilt
every few decades as the
city grew

          As this new class of citizens grew they sought out more lucrative places to do business.  Towns had existed for many years in Europe.  They may have started as fortifications, old Roman army camps, or religious settlements around cathedrals and monasteries.  Although small, and in some cases backwater, these collections of people provided merchants with opportunities for trade and banking, while giving artisans a customer base where they could sell the goods they made.  Many of these infant cities were positioned on established trade routes.  The relative peace and stability present meant that long distance trade thrived, contributing to the growth of these towns and in turn the merchants and crafters began to accumulate a lot of wealth.

          The consequences of the rise of cities in Europe were both economic and cultural.  Trade and crafting guilds formed and expanded, bringing new members n and developing them through a meticulous and time consuming training process.  Families that only a short time before would have been tied to a fief now were becoming independent and business oriented, even dynastic in some cases.  A completely agricultural society and economy changed rapidly into one of industry and commerce.  Culturally, liberty and freedom became ideas and eventually realities for city-dwellers.  As merchants became more powerful they were able to establish their cities as independent of the Lords whose land they sat on.  People started to reckon citizenship in regards to the towns they lived in.  Once they came to enjoy these rights, they were free of the status and obligations of a serf. 

          The developing urban society in the High Middle Ages presented problems for the Church of Rome, which had adapted itself to an agrarian social and economic order.  At the time, much of the Magistracy was composed of feudal nobility , so many bishops and priests saw cities as a threat to the standing order.  The new economy centered around commerce and trade also presented issues that the Church was not prepared for – the constantly changing policy on usury is an example of this.  Urban clergymen often indulged themselves in the luxuries mercantile cities provided, and the monasteries that provided true spiritual guidance were set away from the crowded towns, preferring to stay in isolation.  These factors led to many heretical groups forming in medieval towns.  People began to turn away from sacramental religion and instead formed more individualistic ideas on salvation.  The Church’s response to this rising heresy came in the form of new religious orders.  Saints Francis and Dominic founded new movements that focused on outward expression of love of God – juxtaposed against the inner isolation of monasticism at the time.  These Friars embraced the city-folk, reaching out and preaching directly to sinners instead of shunning them like most of the clergy would do.  Friars also embraced poverty, taking up begging to support themselves.  The poor, urban-centered methods of these groups brought a new face to the Church, one that the people more openly took too.  Eventually the Magistracy would recruit these Friars to carry out inquisitions all over Europe, aggressively – even violently at times – stamping out heresy throughout Christendom.