From the 5th to the 10th centuries, towns were reduced in size, limited in importance and greatly depopulated. Some vanished altogether. Most of those remaining were merely big villages, though others were modest commercial or episcopal centers.
After the year 1000, the decrease in invasions and the reestablishment of relative security favored demographic growth, trade and commercial activities. The instauration of money exchange and the installation of markets and fairs made possible the rebirth of towns. Consequently, urban population increased, while transport means were more rapid and less expensive owing to significant inventions and technical improvements such as collars for horses and stern-rudders for boats.
During the Crusades, large parts of the Mediterranean Sea were purged of Arabian pirates, permitting Italian ports to control commercial sea routes with the East. In this favorable context, many towns grew and got rich. In the 13th century, feudalism was slowly dying out, but the social changes made some of the nobility richer and many peasants poorer. Many among the lower classes found themselves unable to pay their rent. As a result, some lost or sold their lands and moved to the towns, which often offered a better hope for the future.
The origins of European cities are extremely various. Many cities were ancient settlements founded by the Romans (villa, castra and castella) that were developed owing to the effort of a bishop or because they were near the protection of a feudal lord and his castle. Some towns grew around monasteries or places of pilgrimage. Certain cities owed their growth to the installation of a royal, imperial, princely or episcopal court and became national, regional or provincial capitals. Many others were rebuilt or created because of a favorable geographical situation (for example, a passage in a marsh or between mountains, a ford on a river, a junction of important crossroads, or a protected anchorage) because accessibility favored the installation of trading-places and markets. In the 12th and 13th centuries, many new hamlets, villages and towns were founded in vast areas conquered on wastelands all over Europe, and their names acknowledged them as brand new creations (Villeneuve, Bourgneuf, Neustadt, Newtown, and Villanova, for example). In southern France, some newly created cities were gaven famous or exotic names such as Cologne, Grenade or Valence. Others were named after their creators: the bastide of Libournes was founded in 1270 by Sir Roger Leyburn, seneschal to English king Edward I. Many new cities were created as military strong points or as supply bases on the borders of disputed lands. Others were colonies and economical centers in new lands. Their inhabitants came from ancient overpopulated villages and towns; to attract them, kings and lords granted privileges, rights, freedom and various fiscal advantages, sometimes reflected in the names of those cities (Ville-franche, Freistadt, Freiburg, Villafranca, Freetown).
Bastides were fortified villages founded mainly in the 13th century. In southern France there were about 350. Created by the kings of France and England, who were fighting over the rich province of Aquitaine, bastides had a square or rectangular plan inspired by ancient Roman urbanism. Inside, the city space was divided into regular living parcels with a church and a market square. Bastides were fortified with a masonry enceinte composed of curtains, flanking towers, moats and gatehouses. In southern France, the best preserved are Libournes, Cadillac, Sauveterre-de-Guyenne, Monpazier and Saint-Macaire. Bastides were also created in Britain, notably during the conquest of Wales by King Edward I (Caernarvon, Beaumaris, Flint, Conwy and Winchelsea, for example).
Bastides were also founded by the Teutonic knights to conquer and evangelize eastern Europe. In Pomerania, the knights created about forty new settlements, including the town of Rostock, which was built between 1190 and 1252. Many other colonies and towns were founded in Bohemia to fight the Turks, and the same thing happened in Spain and Portugal during the Reconquista against the Moors.
Colonial bastides were also created in the Netherlands in lands and polders conquered on marshes and low seashores. Elburg was founded in 1230, Naarden and Arnemuiden in 1288, and Brouwershaven in 1285 by the count of Holland, Floris V. The Dutch cities of Culem-borg, Montfoort, Heusden, Bredevoort and Helmond developed around existing castles, which related them to castelnaux,
Castelnaux (also called new-castle, chateauneuf or castet) were newly created fortified villages in the vicinity of previous castles. The development of the castelnau was either spontaneous or encouraged by the local lord, who granted economic and juridical advantages to settlers coming to work and live on his domain. Created between 1000 and 1300, they were particularly numerous in southern France.
Sauvetes (also called salvetat or sauveterre) were new villages created by the Church. Their development was generally connected to pilgrimages and Crusades. Sauvetes were stopping-places along the routes leading to sanctuaries and places of pilgrimages such as Santiago-de-Compostella in Spain, and along the roads going to the main Mediterranean ports of embarkation to Palestine.
In the 14th century the creation of towns and the conquest of new lands was slowed down by epidemics, disorder and war.
World History
