Medieval cities essays

Medieval cities essays Medieval towns were much more advanced then the feudal world surrounding them. These medieval towns popped up all over medieval Europe in the sites of the old cities. Medieval towns had many more opportunities for the common people then feudal communities did. In the feudal world you could only be one of three things: those who worked the field, those who fought, and those who ruled. Merchants in the feudal world traded mostly locally in their community. These merchants did not trade with money. They used the bartering system, which means they exchanged things for things . They traded chickens for a certain amount of grain or made payments in land use. Local markets or fairs were held, where merchants exchanged the products of their farms. People of the feudal world were knit together by their village and had a dependency upon the lord. Money was what transformed Europe from feudal villages to cities. The traveling merchants helped the flow of money by traveling from place to place exchanging coins. Great fairs and markets were held in the cities where goods of the east were available as well as European goods such as salt, metals, food, and wool .Moneychangers were flourishing from the trade and flow of money in Europe. These moneychangers consisted mostly of Jews because it was against Christian belief to lend money at interest. The moneychangers were basically bankers who changed foreign currency into the local currency. In medieval towns there wasnt much of a class distinction. People either made things, bought things, or sold things. Many cities developed around the bishops house and the cathedral. Merchants from distant places would often come to trade and end up settling around the cathedral in a little merchant community. Many landowners moved to town and some peasants where able to escape serfdom to live in towns. The bishops town and the merchants town would eventually merge and bec...