The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century

432 Pages·1997·26.72 MB·English

by  David M Nicholas

THE GROWTH OF THE MEDIEVA L CITY
A History of Urban Society Europe
In
General Editor: Rohert Tiftler
This major series investigates the variety, functions and character of
the cities of Europe, and the changing lifestyles of their inhabitants,

since early medieval times. Strong in outline and rich in detail, each
volume will synthesise the present state of scholarship on the often
controversial issues involved; and each will offer interpretations based
on the author's own research. The books will be necessary reading
for students of urban and social history, and enjoyable and
informative for non-specialists as weIl.
ALREADY PUBLISHED
The Growth cif the Medieval City
From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century
David Nicholas
The Late Medieval City
1300-1500
David Nicholas
The Early Modem City, 1450-1750
Christopher R. Friedrichs
of
The Growth the
Medieval City

From Late Antiquity to the
Early Fourteenth Century
DAVID NICHOLAS
First published 1997 by Addison Wesley Longman Limited
Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN
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Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Addison Wesley Longman Limited 1997
The right of David Nicholas to be identified
as author of this W ork has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanicaI,
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Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency
Ltd., 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.
ISBN 978-0-582-29906-1 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholas, David, 1939-
The growth of the medieval city : from late antiquity to the early
fourteenth century / David Nicholas.
p. cm. - (A history of urban society in Europe)
Inc1udes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-29907-1 (CSD). - ISBN 0-582-29906-3 (PPR)
1. Cities and towns, Medieval. 2. Cities and towns, Ancient.
I. Tide. II. Series.
HT115.N53 1997
307.76'09'02-DC20 96-27185
CIP
Contents

01
List Maps and Plans xi
Editor's Priface XlI
Priface XlV
Acknowledgernents XVI11
PART ONE: ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY
MIDDLE AGES 1
1. The Urban Legacy of Antiquity 3
The Roman and the medieval city 3
Organic and planned cities 4
Roman Urbanisation in the Early Empire 6
City types and public administration 6
The beginnings of urbanisation in Roman Gaul 7
Roman urbanisation in Britain 9
The Third-century Crisis and Its Aftermath 10
The walled city as an urban type 10
The Fourth Century 14
The Mediterranean basin 14
Gaul and Britain 16
Christianity and the Urban Fabric of Late Antiquity 17
The Fifth Century: The Catastrophe of
Roman Urbanisation 18
The Mediterranean 18
Gaul and Britain 20
2. Suburbanisation and Deurbanisation in Merovingian and
Carolingian Gaul, 500-830 24
V
Contents
Capitals 26
The bourgs 27
Episcopal cities and merchant suburbs 28
Urban society in the Merovingian age 30
Episcopal cities and public lordship in
Merovingian Gaul 30

Monastic cities 31
The fate of Roman urbanisation in southern
and western Gaul 33
Episcopacy and urbanisation in the Rhineland 34
Urban life in pre-Carolingian Italy 35
Urbanisation in early Britain 37
The Economy of the Early Cities: the Problem
of the Seventh Century 38
Quentovic and Dorestad 40
Urban life in Britain in the seventh century 41
Urban Life in Lombard and Early Carolingian Italy 42
Urban Life in Northern Europe in the Early
Carolingian Age 47
Trade in Carolingian city and suburb 49
The coastal emporia 50
The Islarnic cities 51
3. Challenge and Response: the Scandinavian and
Muslim Attacks and the Revival of Urban Life
in the West, 830-1000 54
The Scandinavian attacks and urbanisation 54
The Low Countries 56
The Mlik 58
Urbanisation in England in the Viking age 58
The Burghal Hidage and English urban organisation 60
The Saxon burhs: the example of Winchester 61
The Scandinavians and urban development: the
examples of Y ork and Dublin 63
The Tenth-century Revival 64
France 65
En&and 67
Germany 69
Eastern Europe 72
Merchants and craftsmen in post-Carolingian Italy 74
City and contado in early medieval Italy 77
The Low Countries 81
Retrospect: a millennium of urban development 81
vi
Contents
PART TWO: THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH
CENTURIES 85
4. From Seigniorial to Economic Urbanisation: Landowning,
Commerce and Industry in the Cities of the
Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 87
Residence and city 87
Lords and fortresses 88
Jewish capital and urban growth 89
The Physical Expansion of the Cities 90
The terminology of urbanisation 90
The urban parishes 91
Extension of the walls 92
The planned towns of the central Middle Ages 96
City plan and city wall 98
Expansion and form of the urban markets 100
Neighbourhoods, occupational segregation and public
amenities in the twelfth-century city 102
The Beginnings of Economic Urbanisation 104 .
Transport and urbanisation 106
Politics and urbanisation 108
The early development of urban/ economic regions 110
Fairs and urbanisation 113
Urban Society in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries:
From Landowning Elite T oward Merchant Patriciate 115
City and contado in the Mediterranean basin 117
Ministerial elite or commercial patriciate? 125
Guilds and Social Organisation 129
The early guilds: landowners and merchants 129
Merchant guilds in Germany and the Low Countries 133
Merchant guilds in France and Italy 134
Craft guilds 135
Craft statutes, quality control and regulation of the market 139
5. Urban Law and Government in the Eleventh and
Twelfth Centuries 141
Lords and corporations: the beginnings of urban
govemment in northem Europe 141
Municipal liberties in France, England and the
Low Countries 146
The communal movements 146
Communal institutions and the growth
of municipal govemment 150
Jurisdictional heterogeneity in the cities 152
Vll
Contents
Merchant law and urban law 154
Freedom and freedoms in the medieval city 155
Urban Government in Southern Europe 157
The urban consulates of Italy 157
The movement for municipal independence in Italy:
the communal movement and the
first Lombard League 163
Urban consulates in France 166
The example of Toulouse 167
PART THREE: THE MATURING OF MEDIEVAL
URBANISATION, c. 1190-c. 1270 169
6. The Expansion of the Cities in the Thirteenth Century 171
Industrialisation, long-distance trade and urbanisation 171
Diversification and domestic demand 174
Trade, manufacture and the wealth structure.
Distribution of goods 175
Urban networks and demographic patterns 178
Urban regions 179
The region and population replenishment 181
Urban privilege and the regional market 182
Changes in the City Plan. The Walls, Inner Cities
and Suburbs 184
Reims: a case study of planned topographical
expansIOn 186
The street plan and social geography 187
The land market and urban rent 189
The market square 191
Public buildings on the market 193
The first city halls 195
Urban renewal in thirteenth-century Italy 196
The example of Bologna (Plan 14) 200
7. The North European Cities in the Thirteenth Century 202
Citizenship: the nature of the urban community 202
The cities and their lords 204
The urban churches in the thirteenth century 208
City and countryside. Urban administration
in the environs 210
Urban leagues 211
The city militia 212
Urban Social Structures 213
Formation and definition of urban elites 213
V111
Contents
The elite of Metz 219
The Merchant Guilds in the Thirteenth Century 220
Crafts and craft organisations 222
Urban Govemment in the Thirteenth Century 228
Govemment through councils 228
The Low Countries 229
France 230
The communes: mayors, jures and public administration 231
Germany 234
England 236
The special case of London 238
Early City Finances 239
The French royal domain and the south 241
England 243
Germany 244
8. The Commercial Cities of Thirteenth-century
Italy under 'Popular' Oligarchies 246
The Italian urban farnily 247
City Govemment in Italy During the Early Thirteenth
Century 248
The executive: senator, doge, podesta 248
Coumili ~2
The administration of the contado 253
City finances in Italy 255
Merchants, crafts and guilds 258
Municipal Govemment under the Popolo 262
Guelfs and Ghibellines 266
The popolo at Florence 268
The popolo and the guilds 270
PART FOUR: A HALF-CENTURY OF CRISIS 273
9. Merchant as Craftsman, Magnate as Guildsman: The
Transformation of the Medieval City, c. 1270-
c. 1325 275
Economy and demography 275
England 282
London: the metropolis as paradigm 283
Freedom of the city and the crafts 286
France 287
The special case of Paris 287
Citizenship 288
The crafts in French cities 289
IX