Living Conditions

By the 1200s, many towns were wealthy and large enough to have their fences replaced by walls and towers. Inside the walls, public buildings of stone and houses of wood were jammed close together. To save even more space, the houses had extra stories that extended over crooked narrow alleys.

The crowded conditions often made towns unhealthy places in which to live. Sewers were open, and there was little concern for cleanliness. People threw garbage out of windows onto the streets below. Rats were everywhere.

During the 1300s, diseased rats came to Europe on trading ships from the Middle East. They carried with them a plague called the "Black Death." This disease swept through Europe, killing millions of people. Experts think that one out of three Europeans died in the plague. To escape it, people fled from the towns and settled in the countryside. Trading, farming, and war came to a temporary halt.

Burgher Life Merchants and artisans controlled a town's business and trade. They hired workers from the countryside to

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Between 1348 and 1350, the Black Death claimed nearly 25 million lives. The epidemic stopped wars and slowed trade. Officials sealed off infected homes, suspended religious services, and made it illegal to meet in groups. It took almost 200 years for Europe to regain its pre-1348 level of population.

Make goods for them. At first, the merchants, artisans, and workers who lived in towns were all called burghers (ber' guhrz). Later the title was used to refer to rich merchants.

Reading Check

At first, what groups were called burghers?

Manners Robert of Blois, a French poet, listed rules of correct conduct for daughters of burghers. They included:

•  A lady must walk straight and not trot or run.

•  Take care: glances are messengers of love; men are prompt to deceive themselves by them.

The daily life of burghers and their families started with prayers at dawn. The burgher hurried off to the docks and market to see how his products were selling. Then, he met with his business partners.

The burgher's wife kept house, managed servants, and cared for children. The family ate two large meals a day—one at ten o'clock in the morning and another at six o'clock in the evening. A typical meal consisted of eel, roast beef, lark pastry, and curded milk. About nine o'clock in the evening, the family went to bed.

Changing Ways Under the feudal system, the land on which towns were built was owned by kings, nobles, and bishops. They taxed the people in the towns and charged them

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Health Care The unhealthy, overcrowded conditions of medieval cities encouraged the rapid spread of diseases such as measles, smallpox, polio, flu, and the "Black Death" (below). Today doctors know that most diseases are caused by bacteria and viruses. Many diseases common in medieval times have been wiped out or curbed through good health practices such as washing hands or receiving vaccinations like the polio shot (right). What carried the "Black Death" through Europe in the 1300s?

Fees to use the marketplace. The burghers did not like this or the other restrictions placed on them. They resented having to get a noble's permission to marry, move around, or own land. They also did not like serving in the noble's army.

Student Web Activity

Visit the Human Heritage Web site at humanheritaae. alencoe. com and click on Chapter 26-Student Web Activities to find out more about the towns of the Middle Ages.

WJ Reading Check

CiM What was the purpose of communes?

WJ Reading Check

What did

Charters allow townspeople to do?

Many nobles viewed the rise of towns as a threat to their power. They resented the wealth of the burghers and began to use feudal laws to keep them in their place. The Church was also against the rise of towns. Its leaders feared that the making of profit would interfere with religion.

The burghers, however, resented feudal laws. They thought these laws were not suited to business. The burghers now had wealth and power. Thus, they began to depend less on nobles and bishops. Instead, they developed a sense of loyalty toward their town. They worked together to build schools, hospitals, and churches. They began to demand changes.

Communes and Charters In the 1100s, townspeople in northern Italy formed political groups called communes (kom' yUnz). Their purpose was to work against the nobles and bishops and for the people by establishing local self-government. The Italian communes were successful. Soon, the idea of communes spread to the towns of northern Europe. Some kings and nobles gave the townspeople charters, or documents allowing towns to run their own affairs.

The charters gave the townspeople the right to elect officials to run their towns. A council collected taxes and set charges for merchants who bought and sold goods in the town market. It also repaired streets, formed citizen armies, and ran hospitals, orphanages, and special homes for the poor.

The towns enforced their own laws and set up special courts. To reduce crime, the towns severely punished those who broke the law. Murderers were hanged. Robbers lost a hand or an arm. Those who committed minor crimes, such as disturbing the peace, were whipped or put in the stocks, or a wooden frame with holes in which a person's feet and hands were locked.

Section 3 Assessment

1.  Define: burghers, communes, charters.

2.  What were some of the problems faced by medieval towns?

3.  What changes did burghers want to make in feudal laws?

Critical Thinking

4.  Demonstrating Reasoned Judgment

What laws or regulations would you

Have written to further improve conditions in medieval towns?

Graphic Organizer Activity

5. Draw this diagram, and use it to show characteristics of towns in the late Middle Ages.