Source #1

Guiding Question:

1. What are 4 observations you can make about town life during the Middle Ages from this picture? (Be specific)

Source #2

Guiding Questions:

1. What types of goods were made and sold in towns?
2. Notice the shop signs in Picture C- why were shops signs pictures instead of words?

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A

B

C

Europe, in a nutshell, was transitioning from a developing to a developed region. Cities expanded as a result of the rise of industry, and changed from their earlier functions as governmental and military centers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as they grew busier with business and commerce. While others, like Venice, emerged out of nowhere, some, like Genoa, which were originally Roman settlements, expanded. Others were built by progressive leaders and went by the name "New City" (Villanova, Villeneuve, Neustadt). They were constructed according to a plan, usually a grid layout with a center square, a church, and market buildings, as opposed to expanding spontaneously. Businessmen and artisans began establishing what they called "communes" in various cities in Italy in the tenth century, declaring themselves free men who owed allegiance only to a lord who collected taxes but otherwise left them alone. Thoughtful rulers provided charters exempting citizens of the city from feudal obligations—"so that my friends and subjects, the citizens of my town of Binarville, stay more willing there," one lord naively reasoned. Even serfs were considered freed under the motto "Free air makes free men" if they remained in a city for a year and a day.

Source # 3

Guiding Question:

• What caused medieval towns to grow and develop in the late Middle Ages?
• What was the relationship between free men in towns and their lords?