![]() The cities were initially within the traditional feudal districts (in the hands of private lords). The feudal city had its own legal organization. The city forced the creation of suburbs outside the walls. The central element was the square where the market was located. The five elements that could not be missing in a city were:Īmong all the elements, the wall was the most characteristic, as it defined the perimeter and the internal morphology of the city. What unique and common buildings were there in medieval cities? ![]() Sometimes the walls were the same houses, with the facades facing outwards from the city and acting as insulation from the outside enemy. And the towns were walled (walls that close the town). The seaports and roads were spaces suitable for locating cities. As topographical and urban characteristics, we can mention that the medieval cities were located at the crossroads of the main roads or the sea and river ports. Many people were concentrated in the cities, with a much higher density than in the rural world. Yet, with the growth of the urban centres, they soon experienced a significant demographic shift. What were the medieval cities like?Ĭities developed in a mostly agrarian society, where most of the population lived in the countryside. As this radius was further away, the migration process was not as active. The city became an attraction for a rural population coming from a radius very close to the city. What we do know is that the growth in the number of inhabitants was a consequence of the displacement of people from the countryside to the urban centres. Indirect sources indicate that population growth did occur, but to what extent, we do not know. The city oligarchy managed to control the institutions of local power.ĭid the growth of the cities result only from population expansion? It's very difficult to say. They claimed more power from the feudal lords and the monarchy. As this population growth took place, cities were acquiring a stronger institutional physiognomy. The increase in the number of inhabitants.They were binary cities, consisting of the old walled town which was insufficient and the new town adjacent to the previous one with spaces as the market square or the craft quarter Increasing the surface area of the cities that already existed and stand to regain their vitality by growing outside the old walls.It was a time of foundation of many urban centres all over Europe, which took place mainly in the new areas of reconquest, such as the Iberian Peninsula Three parallel phenomena occurred during the urbanization process in the feudal period: European population hubs of over 10,000 inhabitants (red dots) It was one more element of feudalization. Two phenomena that cannot be separated from each other and that went in parallel with the growth of the power of the feudal monarchies. The cities seat of bishops could maintain a certain importance. Nevertheless, the city as an institution was in retreat.įrom the second half of the 12th century, a change of trend took place: the spectacular development of the urban reality began, which coincided with the stage of European territorial expansion. With the disappearance of the Empire, those same cities had been emptied of content and population. For a good part of the history of the Roman Empire, cities were the central space of political, economic and social life. Notwithstanding, in the context of the first feudal centuries the cities had a secondary role.Ĭities during the Early Middle Ages were of little importance. In the rest of the European territories, it was not until the Feudal Revolution that cities of considerable size appeared. Post on | Updated on Development of medieval cities during feudalismĭuring the first centuries of the Middle Ages, a period known as the Early Middle Ages, cities of a certain size existed in Western Europe only in the territories of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Iberian Peninsula.
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