3 City in History- Medieval period and Renaissance

Dr.Azka Kamil

  With the decline and fall of the West Roman Empire, which occurred between AD 400 and 476 AD, we find a corresponding change in the whole way of life of the Western Europe (Taylor, G. 1968). Invasions of the Germanic tribes, by the beginning of the 5th century, led to the breakdown of the western part of the Roman Empire. With the fall of Roman Empire in 5th century, there marked the effective end of urbanisation in the Western Europe, which stretched for600 years. So from 5th to 17th century cities in Europe grew only slowly or not at all (Mumford, 1961). The reasons being;

a) After the collapse of Roman Empire urban localities became isolated from one another and had to become self-sufficient in order to survive (Fig 1).

b) Islam spread in 7th and 8th century AD and a part of the world was basking under the glory of rise of Islam.The decline of cities that characterised medieval Europe did not happen everywhere. In East Asia, mostly in China, numerous cities, founded before the Christian era, remained inhabited and economically viable. Most of the cities of Asia, though with a population less than one million, were still larger than cities in Europe (before commercial and industrial revolution) may be because of very different political/cultural systems and geographical environments of the great Asian Civilization.

c) The raids of Norsemen in 9th century AD which completely eliminated trade between cities. With loss of trade the entire region became isolated.Also, agriculture productivity declined. The people rather became more preoccupied with defence and survival.

  d) Disruption, ruggedness and non-maintenance of the then existing transport and communication networks that further hindered interaction.

e) Agriculturist tribes dominated Europe (Saxons, Huns, Goths and Vandals) who preferred small village communities rather than large towns.

  There were three different types of forms of cities in this period based on their historic origin. There was a rectangular system with growth spreading outward slowly from this rectangular area in response to topographic characteristics. The second types of cities developed in a spontaneous manner with an irregular, disorganised form in which circuitous, winding cow-paths developed into streets. A third form in which the towns were designed in advance of its settlement, that is planned towns. These towns were mostly laid out in fairly rigid grid iron pattern. The central area was reserved for market and public assembly. Many cities of the time had remnant elements of all three forms, which had developed at different stages in the growth of the city. The characteristic that was common amongst them included the castle, the abbey, the cathedral, the town hall, the market place, and the wall with one or more gates.

  During the medieval period, thousands of new towns were formed and those that already existed expanded. The population of the city ranged from a few thousands to forty thousands. There was a distinct legal status given to city dwellers and not to rural masses in the European medieval city. Also, the same privileges did not extend to medieval towns elsewhere.

  Urban revival took place around 600 years after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was in the form of new fortified settlements and religious centres. But the population growth and agriculture production remained small as interaction was limited. The political structure was changed and the role of the church altered (Fig 2).The economic functions of the cities remained essentially as they were, market centres for the agricultural surpluses. Inland commerce grew in importance but was not at par with that of Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, some cities of the Western Europe had their growth stimulated greatly by the port function especially the Port of Marseilles.

  With the invasion of Islam in the period from 571 to 711AD, trade ties between Germanic kingdoms on the west and Byzantine Empire on the east was abruptly broken. Moslems founded new cities on the African shore like Tunis and Cairo. Two of the basic attributes of cities were a middle class population and a communal organisation.

  During the 10th century, commercial revivalwas marked with the reopening of long distance trade routes and the presence of urban nuclei represented by fortified settlements.Most urban residents spent their lives within the walls of the city.They thereby developed close knit societal structures. Cities were scattered at regular intervals over the country. The increase in the number of the citizens continued only until the city was full. So, middle ages developed no large cities. As the large monasteries were often respected by the pagans of the Dark Ages, so it was natural for them to form nucleus of cities of the future. Towns like Wurzburg, Brandenburg, and Oldenburg (Germany) originated as religious foundations (Fig).

   The castle of the local baron or knight acted as a nucleus of the town, with the development of feudal regime. They were built of wood, usually upon artificial mounds. In times of danger the peasants abandoned their hovels and fled within the walls until the enemy withdrew. Slowly, with the influx of peasants into the walled towns, there developed an important institution of guild. The guilds defied feudal lords, so the cities became strongholds of trading class. With the revival of trade in the 11th century Great Fairs were held at regular intervals, which attracted traders from all over the continent. Universitysuch as Cambridgein part developed from these trade fairs (Fig 3 and Fig 4). Others include Byzantium, Augsburg, and Venice. Better tools were evolved and crafted. Horses were used in transportation, windmills were constructed in large number and there was a massive increase in croplands.

       The 13th century saw cities as small, walled and not overcrowded. Gardens were numerous within the walled city and gradually with time they were filled with inferior dwellings. Venice and Milan (population of 10,000) were largest cities of Europe at that time. During the 15th century, the shop and house were contained in the same building. Often, the rooms were built around the court with the shop fronting on the street, and the living room over the shop, while the bedroom was over the back. Also, at this time, glass became common in windows, and inside fireplaces with well-built chimneys were the rule. Houses were usually half-timber and stucco in Western Europe, though the stone was used in more important dwellings. Baths were obtained only at the public Baths, and much more cooking was done at public bakeries than in the home. In these early walled towns it was unusual for the streets to be arranged in regular plan. Various traders were segregated in special quarters, and the streets penetrated these quarters rather haphazardly. The chief meeting place of town was the market square, which often faced the main church of the town.

  The power was often shared between feudal lords and religious leaders. The guild, church and feudal administration determined the social status of an individual and their position.But the social and economic constraints inherent in the dominant social system of feudalism stalled the revival of feudalism. Feudalism was a form of social organisation. Feudal lords who formed status hierarchy headed by the monarch, politico-legally dominated the direct producers. Social relationships under feudalism were not defined through market interactions. They were legally defined and the whole society was organised in terms of a formal and rigid hierarchy of power and dominance. The main focus was on self-sufficiency and local markets. It thereby, restricted innovation and commercial expansion. Since the amount of surplus value extracted by the feudal lords in rents and taxes was dependent less on market forces than on their expenditure requirements, which increased as they competed for political status through conspicuous consumption, there was insufficient re-investment in the productive capacity of agriculture and industry. During the centuries of the dark ages an economy based on exchange was replaced by an economy of consumption. But a new merchant class emerged on the edge of the feudal society amongst landless men, escaped serfs, casual harvest labourers, beggars and outlaws, the bold and resourceful among them being the people quick with language, ready to fight or cheat became chapmen or pedlars, carrying their wares to remote hamlet. They were paid in pennies and local products like bee wax, rabbit fur, goose quills sheepskins, if they prospered, they could settle in the centre. The merchants made town and needed walls, wall builders, warehouses and guards, artisans to manufacture their trade goods, cart builder, smiths. They needed farmers and herdsmen outside wall to feed the, bakers, brewers and butchers within. They introduced self-government, substituting money economy for one based on land and thus were likely to oppose local lord and became supporters of king. Towns recruited manpower by offering freedom to any serf who would live within their wall for a year and a day. Merchants and craftsmen in guilds saw the possibilities of free cities where a person could reach his or her potential within a community setting. Over time, commerce expanded the function of the city and linked it to the expanding power of the state resulting in a system called Mercantilism. The main purpose was the use of power of the State to help the nation develop its economic potential and population.

  The cities at this time were centres of assembly, places for observance of religious rites, local markets and political and judicial centres. Also military needs were provided for the cities of this era to protect refugees and treasures of the society. Medieval England had a very few towns. Most of the people in medieval England were villagers and their main occupation was farming. Religious centres attracted settlement which transformed into towns or cities. Some of the examples of cities include Canterbury, York, Bath etc. These were big cathedral cities that attracted traders, pilgrims and masses. Medieval towns tended to grow around areas where people could easily meet, such as crossroads or rivers. Towns were mostly settled near to water source as regular water supply was required. Rivers would provide the water used for washing and drinking and they were used for the disposal of sewage.

  The regrowth of towns in Europe coincided with the decline of the feudal system and was related to increasing economic and political power of an emerging middle class of merchants opposed to economic regulation of their activities by feudal lords. The urban bourgeoisie of merchants, manufacturers and financers organised into guilds, obtained freedoms, notably right to supervise their own markets. Successful towns obtained charters from the king and, in England were known as boroughs. In the more urbanised parts of Europe many towns such as Milan, Florence and Cologne were able to become self-governing municipalities (communes) capable of independent political action. In northern Italy a competitive society of rival city states had emerged by the 13th century providing foundation for Italian Renaissance.

  The power of commerce and trade in medieval urbanism is exemplified in the German city of Lubeck, situated at the western edge of the Baltic Sea, Lubeck developed into the nucleus of German Baltic trading system. In Lubeck, the town had a medieval cathedral and monasteries, but it was dominated by the central market place. This consisted of shops of merchants and craftsmen concentrated together in their area like streets of baker, spice merchants, tailors etc, with living quarter located above the shop. A mint, the new urban engine of the medieval money economy, was located close to market place. Medieval towns did not sever links with surrounding area but enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the countryside. In particular, medieval towns, with their poor hygiene and higher mortality, grew only because of influx of rural immigrants seeking employment and economic opportunity. Many cities such as Venice and Nuremberg, annexed large areas of their surrounding lands to guarantee food supplies.

  With an aim towards profit maximisation, the city Lord ensured that there were more merchants in a town so that more tax could be collected by sheriff. The system became vulnerable to abuse and corruption as common man could not read and write and that is why many people in towns wanted to get a charter. A charter gave people in a town certain rights that were clearly stated in the charter that town had. Many charters gave towns the right to collect their own taxes thus removing corrupt sheriffs from doing so. It was also common for a town to ask for its own law court so that legal problems could be settled quickly (Truman, 2015).

  Boundaries and fences delineated cities and an ample amount of security was provided to the traders, both local and outside and to their goods. Many towns had large fences built around them and the gates of these fences were locked at night to keep out undesirables. Cities such as York and Canterbury had city walls that served the same purpose. The towns were fortresses.Residences and fortresses sprang up everywhere at the start of the ninth century. Each of this fortification commonly was known as burg, borough, bourgorborgo, depending upon the language (Fig 5 and Fig 6). These burgs usually were circular in form, with a wall and a moat. In the centre of the walled enclosure was the strongest structure, the last defence in event of an attack in which a permanent military garrison was stationed. The ruling authority had a residence in each of the burgs in his domain, and very often a chapel or church and buildings to house a clergy were part of this central complex (Lewis Mumford, 1961).

  The early medieval village and town experienced little in the way of sanitation problems but as, cities began to take shape, serious pollution problems arose from the accumulation of human waste, from the decay of accumulated corpses, and from garbage. Towns became dirty places to live in. There was no sewage system. Open drains carried toilet wastes. Rats were

very common in towns and cities and lead to the Black Death of 1348 to 1349.Water was far from clean as a local river would have been polluted with toilet waste thrown into it from villages both upstream and downstream. Therefore, as people used this as a source of water, for that they had no choice and because people knew little about health and hygiene, disease was common(Trueman, 2015).The English Parliament in 1388 passed an Act that forbade the discarding of garbage into open waterways. It was not until 1543 in the city of Bunzlau Silesia that the first public sewage plant and water works was developed (Mumford, 1961). Piped water to individual household started in the 17th century. Also, there was a granary and storehouses in which to store food in case of a siege, this food being provided by surrounding peasants. Above the burg was a military establishment, with secondary function of religious administration headquarters. The burg was not really a city, but cities did begin to take shape outside the walls of burgs that were predecessors of large cities to come(Mumford, 1961). Another feature was guilds, which were, with the exception of the church, the widespread representatives of corporate life. The first guilds for which there are records were in Germany (Mainz), Italy (Pavia) and France (St. Omer). A guild was an association of fellowship of persons engaged in the same type of economic activity, and it structured the productive population along occupational lines, but at the same time there were strong religious aspects of the guild system. A guild provided cohesiveness to the productive population. Merchants, tradesmen, craftsmen, shopkeepers and others formed independent guilds under the guidance of church and the nobility continued to collectively make strides forward with regard to the commercial life of the city, where they were most commonly found, the guild was not the part of the agrarian scene. Craftsmen shop cum house doubled as trade grew and attracted masses to the city. A sign outside of the shop showed people what that person did for a living. Signs had to be used as so few people could read or write. The guilds regulated the conditions of the production, distribution, and marketing and the role of the working class was upgraded (Mumford, 1961). The inhabitants of town followed a law, a curfew,whereby no one came out of their home after a particular time at night for security reasons.

  The houses were made of wood. A building of medieval town was expensive as land cost a great deal. That is why many medieval houses that exist today appear odd in that they have a small ground floor, a larger second floor and an even larger top floor as builders built up and out, to keep the cost down the cost down. The houses of most of the people were two or three stories high in continuous rows, which is to say, they were common wall dwellings and when located on a large blocks, they often had inner courts. Heating of homes became less of a problem, however when the fire place and chimney began to replace the open hearth. Fireproof roofing, stone and tile construction and white washed thatched roofs came into wider use, leading to fewer devastating fires. In the 14th century the urban homes were often the workshops, store that provided the livelihood of the occupants. All in all, the medieval home, with its extended family, lacked two desirable attributes: privacy and comfort. The early medieval village and town experienced little in the way of sanitation problems but, as cities began to take shape; serious pollution problems arose from accumulation of human waste, from decay of accumulated corpses and from garbage. Piped water to the individual households did not gain wide use until the 17th century (Mumford, 1961).

  Communes were first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread phenomenon. They had the greater development in central-northern Italy, where they were real city-states based on partial democracy, whereas in Germany they became free cities, independent from local nobility.The walled city represented protection from direct assault at the price of corporate interference on the pettiest levels, but once a townsman left the city walls, he (for women scarcely travelled) was at the mercy of often violent and lawless nobles in the countryside. Because much of medieval Europe lacked central authority to provide protection, each city had to provide its own protection for citizens both inside the city walls, and outside. Thus towns formed communes, a legal basis for turning the cities into self-governing corporations(Trueman, 2015). There were presence of rural communes, especially in France and England. These were formed to protect the common interests of villagers.Almost every town had its own commune. No two communes were alike, but ruled by a common tenet; communes were sworn allegiances of mutual defence. Whenever a commune was formed, all its participating members gathered and swore an oath in a public ceremony. Theyalliedto defend and safeguard each other in times of trouble.

  In the period of Renaissance many social changes developed which had a marked effect on the plans of the towns of the time. In early medieval times the church was very powerful, but as the time elapsed it became recessive. Two other factors also operated; the court and the improvement in artillery. As artillery became stronger, the old straight walls offered little protection to the powerful cannon, and the military engineers began to develop star shaped walls of the 16th century. Later, ravelins were built in front of the main wall, and ultimately the plan of the fortress became a geometrical puzzle, example acropolis town of Nice in Southern France. The power came into the hands of those who controlled armies, trade routes, and large amount of capital. There was consolidation of dispersed feudal states and creation of continuous political administration, with the more powerful cities seeking to overcome their weaker neighbours. There was rise of the autocratic organisation and bureaucracy, which was accompanied by the development of the office building.Since growing population including refugees from the adjacent countryside, were confined within such fortifications there was a severe overcrowding and increased population densities. Four to five storey buildings were constructed. There are instances of eight or more storey building being constructed in Edinburg. There also arose a new perception of space in which developed Baroque city in which the avenue became the most important symbol. The baroque city had several major broad avenues as opposed to the narrow alleys of the former times. The development of the linear avenuewas based partially on artistic considerations but also was the result of more widespread use of wheeled vehicles which were not suited to the narrow, winding alleys of the medieval city. The avenues were not only wanted for the commercial movement but they were vital for the military movement and pageantry as well. Accompanying the development of the broad avenue in the baroque city was the building of magnificent palaces for the nobility, along with the ornate fountains and gardens. So much of the civic activity revolved around the court that a new element arose to accommodate visitors, this was hotel. Most cities formed between 16th and 19th centuries in Europe either were places of residence of kings and princes, such as Versailles, Karlsruhe and Potsdam or were garrison cities that were seats of real power in absentia. Another development of the Baroque city was the residential square, an open space surrounded by exclusively residential structures and including perhaps a church. These squares, established after 1600, met the needs of upper class. The essence of Baroque city was its geometric regularity, involving a number of broad diagonal avenues radiating from a given point and producing an asterisk shaped pattern. It often was implemented without regard to economic cost or to other urban functions. In spite of its shortcomings the baroque plan provided the layout of a number of large cities in the 20th century such as Tokyo, New Delhi, San Francisco and Chicago. A modified form of Baroque plan was followed in the development of Washington D.C. with the only major component missing being fortifications of the baroque city of the 16th century.

  Mumford introduced the term Baroque to define the change in planning which was marked by great scientific and mechanical discoveries. It was also reflected in the towns by adoption of geometric designs. At the same time it was the age of absolute monarchs, whose general policy was to concentrate their power in one centre. They built large and imposing palaces as an emblem to their authority. London, Paris, Naples and Milan became cities with population of 200,000 or more. One of the main features of Baroque city is the dominance of avenue. Wider streets became necessity, as vehicles became larger. A marked separation of classes into rich and poor developed and segregation into mansions and slums became noticeable. Straight streets were admired, and the old cul-de-sacs of medieval towns were often swept away, example Karlsruhe. The streets were laid out in the form of the fan radiating from castle or wheel shape. There were no less than thirty six streets radiating from palace area, which however, do not meet at the centre, so that there is no usual difficulty of crossing. The administrative quarters were housed in the fine buildings around the plaza fronting a place ornate with Museums, Art Galleries, Department of Finance, Justice and Mining. Over the period of time Karlsruhe spread far beyond the area. This made buildings cluster at the suburbs along the main outlets of original town. Streets were arranged in a check-board fashion. In Germany many other cities too adopted such pattern like Potsdam, Mannheim and Munich, and still is a salient feature of such American cities as Washington of L’Enfant (1791), and in modern times of the improved plan of Detroit (Mumford, 1961).

  Fluere (Geographical Review, Dec 1920, New York) gave main features of town in northern Europe (Fig 7). He pointed that cities depended upon trade there must necessarily be a progressive change in the city types as we proceed from the west, say in France, to the east in the central Russia.

   To explain Fleure makes a special reference to Toulousea town (Fig 8), on the east bank of the GaronneRiver, an important place before the Romans captured it. In the centre of the city Romans placed the Forum or Market Place. Later, when Christianity reached Toulouse in the second century, churches were built in the city. Cathedrals were towards south and formed the nucleus of the town. They had Place or Open Square fronting it. Chartres may be taken as an example of this type of city foundation. Fluere uses Ghentto illustrate his third zone in which, commerce was more important than Roman tradition or early church.

       Ghent situated in the lowland, divided into twenty four insular districts separated by narrow waterways. In the 14th century it was linked with England by means of wool trade but later its waterways silted up. Moving to Western Germany which later formed margins of Charlemagne’s empire has been the scene of warfare throughout the centuries. Partly for this reason many of the older towns have developed around the castle like Heidelberg. Further east, Fairs determined the growth of cities like Augsburg. Leipzig may be instanced as another German city whose growth has been largely influenced by its famous Fairs. Eastern Germany, Bohemia, and Poland, were all threatened by invaders long after the west Europe had become stabilized. Thus, eastern zones deals with towns which have developed around acropolis type of nucleus, or with veritable marginal forts such as arose in the limitless forests of northern Russia in medieval time example Prag, capital of Bohemia. Far to the east in Moscow, the first settlers were probably Finnish tribe. Moscow lies on a meander of small river Moskva and the evolution of town in a series of concentric circles. A log fort was built on the north bank, and this in time developed into the great Kremlin Fortresses. Alongside was a small district called KitoiGorod (the city of refuge), outside this area developed the Belya-Gorod (white city) where better classes live, and the outer annulus constituted ZemlanoiGorod (peasant city). The Kremlin was the acropolis of Moscow, with walls as high as forty feet. Within them were number of barracks, arsenals, palaces and churches as well as other buildings.

    From the 17th century on the impetus of urban expansion, areal and economic growth, were the merchants, financiers and landlords (the rise of Mercantile City). With the gradual development of the commercial city financial transactions gave rise to new economic activities.The significant aspect of urban society at this time was change in attitude towards land. Under the feudal system, land was leased for the long period and was not sold. This created a stability and continuity in use of land resources. After the 17th century, land came to be regarded as “commodity”. Land rent rose substantially and took larger and larger share of workers income. The greater gain was to be made from degraded and dilapidated land use, and it was true for London, New York and Paris before the middle of the 19th century. City life during this period was subject to commercial speculation, social disintegration and physical disorganisation. At the same time cities were multiplying in number and increasing in size throughout the western world. With the rise of the contemporary city, individual lots and blocks became units for buying and selling without regard for historic uses, physical conditions or social needs. The reason that this pattern appears more representative of American cities is because the cities developed in US with the exception of New England. The walls around cities of Western Europe after the 17th century had been made obsolete as a defensive measure (Mumford, 1961). It rather served as a deterrent to areal expansion of mercantile cities.

    At the end of the 18th century, cities had a fewer inhabitants than they had in 300 years earlier. The development that stimulated city growth at this time was mainly the industrial revolution. Urbanisation increased in direct proportion to industrialisation. After the 1830sthe development of the factory production and new methods of transportation created needs for employing more workers in developing industrial centres. It stimulated migration from the non-urban areas. Of the prime importance in creating the rise of a factory city was the development of steam engine. This created new energy needs, especially for coal. The main elements of the new urban industrial complex were the factory, the rail road, the slum.The factory formed the nucleus of the new urban organisation. The factory generally occupies the best sites in the city. The workers who were vital to the industrial process often resided in quarters. These quaters were comparable to the lowest serfs dwelling in the medieval period. In such districts there was no open space, except the lane between rows of dwellings which was the receptacle for accumulated rubbish. There was not much improvisation on toilet facilities.The sanitation condition was still deplorableand it resulted in spread of infectious diseases.

   However, 19th century saw some advances being made in the production of glazed drains and caste iron pipe. It enabled the distribution of better quality of water to increasing number of dwelling units as well as the disposal of sewage. Open space in form of small parks began to appear in minimal amounts, hospitals were more widespread, street cleaning was emphasised, and private toilets became common in most dwelling units.The 19th century is also marked for its development of Suburb. When the repressed workers gained financial sufficiency, they tended to escape the overcrowded, unsightly and unsanitary city by moving to an adjacent community where the living conditions were better. Though suburbs existed before, but with the advent of the railroad between 1850 and 1920 plus the coming of electric trolley in the 1880s, suburbs began to develop on the margins of many large cities. These early suburbs were small with a population of not more than 5000 people. It was the wealthy class that resided in the suburbs.

  The early 20th century marked the rise in private automobile. This enabled people to shift more towards suburbia. However, the problems that they were trying to escape reappeared. Congestion, impersonality, water problems, overcrowding, sewage disposal, pollution and high population densities become problems of suburban dwellers.

References:

• Mumford, Lewis (1961), The City in History, Harcourt, Brace and world publication, New York.
• Taylor ,Griffith (1968), Urban Geography; A study of site, Evolution, Patterns and Classification of Villages, Towns and Cities, Billing and Sons Limited, Guildford and London, Great Britain.
• Trueman, C., N., (2015), Medieval Towns, The History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/medieval-towns/