Rural & Urban Life in the Middle Ages
The City Players
Aristocratic Daily Life
Daily Life
The Country Players
- late 10th-12th centuries = rise of cities/towns
- burghers/bourgeois
- artisans, craftsmen, merchants
- dependent upon countryside for food
- possibility to escape feudal ties
- c. 1100 = towns receive charters of liberties (privileges)
- some cities govern themselves (city council & mayors)
- "men of war" (nobles & knights)
- young boys intern with other nobles
- attempts to govern militaristic men:
- 11th century = "Peace of God" & "Truce of God"
- jousting touraments
- chivalry
- noble women
- ladies-in-waiting
- inherited, managed, owned estates
- narrow streets, houses built close together
- bottom level of house = business
- economic life
- family business (nuclear family)
- guilds come to govern trades
- apprentice
- journeyman
- masters
- single women = brewers, midwives, inherited husband's guild rights, prostitutes
- lords: land owners, needed protection, granted fiefs to vassals
- vassals: protected lords & lands, many became knights
- keys:
- occurs differently througout Europe
- honorable reliationship b/t free men
- subinfeudation
- compare to arrangement of lords, serfs, villeins, & peasants
Peasant Daily Life
Social Ills of City
Who had the better life in the Middle Ages: a serf or a city artisan?
- human and animal waste removal
- fire & disease
- clean drinking water hard to find (wells)
- city councils charged with local disputes
- crime - fines, prison, or public execution
- life structured around seasons
- entire household worked together
- church = part of everyday life
- 50+ "holy days" (holidays)
- diet = bread, ale, legumes, & meat on special occasions
- houses = 1-2 rooms, wooden/mud
- Your response should include a clear thesis statement at the beginning.
- Your response should include at least 2 pieces of supporting evidence.