notes on the section for towns and cities

1. The Growth of Towns
and Cities

3. Agriculture
 Originally, manors produced only enough food to support the
peasants and the Lord's family
 Improvements that allowed peasants to produce more food, and
population grew
 Wheeled Plow with Iron Blades allowed workers to cut the soil
deeper with less work
 The Horse Collar allowed horses to work the plows rather than oxen
 Watermills and windmills were used to grind wheat into flour
 Crop Rotation – fields were planted in thirds (1/3 planted in fall, 1/3
planted in spring and 1/3 fallow), meaning that 2/3 were being used
to plant
 Population grew as a result

4. Trade
 Because of the improvement in agriculture, fewer peasants were
needed to work the fields so some started producing metal and
cloth goods.
 Nobles heard of luxury items from the East such as sugar, spices,
silks and dyes and demand for these goods grew
 Some towns grew into trading cities, and Europe developed two
major markets:
 Northern - France and Flanders
 Southern - Italy
 As trade grew, merchants started to use gold and silver coins as
currency
 Wealthy merchants established banks

5. Governments
 As towns and cities grew, a middle class emerged from
the merchants, bankers and artisan crafters.
 Tired of being controlled by the nobles, they used new
wealth to gain basic rights such as:
 freedom from military service
 self-government
 the right to buy and sell property
 Towns established city councils, which were elected by
the citizens (only males could be citizens), to create laws
and serve as judges.

6. City Life
 Although city people enjoyed extra freedom, wealth and
the protection of huge stone walls, life in the cities could
be quite difficult at times
 Houses were crammed together
 Heat came from fire so smoke and ashes filled the air
 Streets were used as toilets and were rarely cleaned
 Women managed the house, the children and the
finances and still had to help out with their husband's
trade

7. Flanders and France
 The region of Flanders, in modern Belgium, became a center of
trade for Northern Europe
 In northern France, trade fairs were established, and merchants
from northern Europe would trade wool, honey, furs, and tin
with merchants from Italy who carried metal weapons, cloths
and silks, dyes, and spices from the East

8. Italy
 Cities such as Venice, Pisa and Genoa grew to be
large trading centers and built a vast fleet of
merchant ships due to trade in the Mediterranean
Sea
 By 1200, the Italian cities were competing with the
Byzantine Empire for control of the Mediterranean
trade.

9. Interactive Prompt
Use the remainder of page 10 to respond to the
following:
How was the feudal order changed with the growth
of towns and cities?
This can be a written or illustrated response, or a
combination of both.