The skyline of a medieval town often revealed its character—and its fate. In the towns of northern Italy, noblemen living in close quarters erected lofty towers for protection against their quarrelsome neighbors. The towers of San Gimignano (opposite) are reminders of that town's downfall: in the 14th Century, while feuding aristocrats were shooting at each other from atop their bastions, the town lost its liberty to Florence and began to decline.
The Flemish textile town of Ghent, by contrast, faced rising competition from England's woolen industry. Ghent met this economic threat by greatly expanding its trade in grain. To handle the added business, Ghent built more of the distinctive structures that identified it as a merchants' town—guildhalls and warehouses with steplike facades (above).
A BIZARRE BATTLEGROUND, San Gimignano bristles with 15 martial towers, built by lords vying to possess the loftiest stronghold. The highest, marking the mayor’s palace (center), rises 177 feet.
AN ELABORATE CREST identifies Ghent's Spice and Herb Merchants' Hall with the guild's symbolic mortar and pestles, plus the word "Kruideniers," which is the hall's name in Flemish.
MEDIEVAL STUDENTS listen to a lecturer (left) in this relief at Notre Dame cathedral, where the University of Paris first held classes.
World History
