Medieval cities

Unit 3 - 2º ESO

The improvements in agriculture made the population increased.

Some of the improvements were:

.More land available.

.New crops.

.New techniques.

.New machinery.

.More irrigated areas.

.Greater use of mills.

1- Why did Europe become more prosperous?

Exercises 1 and 2 on page 31.

Activities

Trade developed quickly from the 12th Century.

There were two main trade routes:

1. The Mediterranean route

2. The Atlantic and Baltic route -> dominated by the Hanseatic League.

2- How did trade grow?

Due to the increase in trade, banking systems developed as well, and new

techniques appeared:

.Payment by credit.

.Bills of exchange.

The development of banking

Exercises 1 to 3 on page 32.

Activities

The importance of cities

From the 12th Century cities grew again.

Some were old cities, but others were new cities.

Medieval cities were small.

3- Why did cities grow?

1. Many peasants migrated to

cities due to the

improvements in

agriculture (less workers

were necessary).

2. The revival in trade made

cities the centre of the

exchanges.

3. Cities offered a better life

and freedom.

The causes of urban growth

1. Rich merchants, who governed cities.

2. Craftsmen, shopkeepers or domestic service (most of the population)

3. Poor people with no job.

Religion

Most of the cities population were Christians, but there were also other

groups who lived in separated quarters:

.Ghettoes: Jewish people lived there

.Moorish quarters: muslim people

Inhabitants of the cities

Exercises 1 and 3 on page 33

Activities

CRAFTSMEN

The number of craftsmen raised because of

the increase in the demand.

They worked on different products and with

different materials, but they always worked

by hand.

Their place to work was the workshops,

usually located in their own houses. They also

had a shop to sell the products in the same

space.

Craftsmen of the same profession often lived

in the same street, named after trades.

4- What was the role of craftsmen?

There were 3 categories of craftsmen:

1. Master craftsmen

2. Journeymen

3. Apprentices

TRADES

Look carefully.

-Could you identify the people in

this picture?

-And what would be the trade?

Practise

The growth of Royal authority

Due to the economic improvement Kings collected more taxes. They created now

their own armies (so they did not depend on nobles anymore). They reinforced

their power by restoring Roman law.

In cities, the kings began to take power from the nobles.

They gave charters of liberties to the cities to gain citizen help.

Kings began to have political power.

5- Why did monarchies grow stronger?

The kings created the Parliaments.

In the Parliaments a few people was represented:

● the king

● the nobles

● the clergy

● the city mayors

Kings used Parliaments in order to reduce nobles

importance with the aid of cities.

The main functions of the Parliaments were:

● establish new taxes

● approve special budgets for wars

The creation of Parliaments

The main reasons for having conflicts in that time were:

● War of succession: when a king died with no heirs.

● Border conflicts: regarding kingdom’s borders or new lands.

Conflicts between European kingdoms

Exercise 1 on page 34 and 1 on page 35.

Activity

-Work on pages 36-37: exercises 1, 2 a, 3 and 5.

Revision activities