Urban society
Seminar and Essay Questions
- Did the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of urban life in the Middle Ages?
- In what sense was there a commercial revolution in the thirteenth century?
- What roles did merchant and craft guilds play in medieval towns?
- What were the risks involved in conducting international trade? How were they mitigated?
- What were the main sources of tension within urban communities?
Documents
- Pope Innocent III: License to Venice to Trade With The Saracens, 1198Link opens in a new window .
- Reginald of Durham: Life of St. Goderic
- Southampton Guild Organization, 14th Century
-
Matthew of Paris: The Usury of the Cahorsins, 1235 and A Promissory Note Secured By Collateral, 1200
Essential Reading
Barber, The Two CitiesLink opens in a new window, 48-79
Bartlett, The Making of EuropeLink opens in a new window, chap. 7
Power, The Central Middle AgesLink opens in a new window, chap. 2
Waley and Denley, Later Medieval EuropeLink opens in a new window, 15-21, 90-92
Recommended Reading
'Images of Market Trade' in James Davis, Medieval market morality : life, law and ethics in the English marketplace, 1200-1500, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
R. Britnell, 'Town Life' in A Social History of England, R. Horrox and M. Ormrod, eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
e-resources
- The Internet Medieval Sourcebook has sections on the rise of townsLink opens in a new window and the commercial revoultionLink opens in a new window.
- The Burghal HidageLink opens in a new window
- 'The Viking WayLink opens in a new window'. BBC radio series, November 2005.
- The Viking Age in IrelandLink opens in a new window
- Novgorod OnlineLink opens in a new window
- Medieval CoventryLink opens in a new window
- Map showing the main trade routes of late medieval EuropeLink opens in a new window. The black lines show the routes of the Hanseatic League, the blue Venetian and the red Genoese routes. Purple lines are routes used by both the Venetians and the Genoese. Overland and river routes are stippled.
- The Carta marinaLink opens in a new window of the Baltic Sea region (1539)
- Privileges Granted to German Merchants at Novgorod, 1229Link opens in a new window.
- In Our Time, "The City", Part One and Two. BBC Radio series, March 2010.
Further Reading
Bautier, R.-H., The Economic Development of Medieval Europe (London, 1971)
Blockmans, Wim, Mikhail Krom and Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz (eds.), The Routledge handbook of maritime trade around Europe 1300-1600 (Routledge, 2017) (lots of useful articles)
Brundage, James A., 'Usury'Link opens in a new window in Joseph R. Strayer et al. (eds.), Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 13 vols. (New York, 1982-89), vol. 12, pp. 335-9.
Davis, James, Medieval market morality : life, law and ethics in the English marketplace, 1200-1500, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Day, John, The Medieval Market Economy (Oxford, 1987)
Duby, Georges, The Early Growth of the European Economy: Warriors and Peasants from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century (Ithaca, NY, 1974)
Epstein, S. R., Guilds, innovation and the European economy, 1400-1800. (Leiden: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Gerrard, Daniel, 'William of Malmesbury and Civic Virtue' in Discovering William of Malmesbury, Rodney M. Thomson , Emily Dolmans , Emily A. Winkler (eds.) (Boydell and Brewer, 2018), pp.27-36.
Hanawalt, Barbara, Growing Up in Medieval London: The Experience of Childhood in History (Oxford, 1993) [also onlineLink opens in a new window]
Holt, Richard, and Rosser, Gervase, (eds.), The English Medieval Town: A Reader in English Urban History 1200-1540 (London, 1990)
Howell, Martha C., Commerce before capitalism in Europe, 1300-1600 (Cambridge, 2010).
Hunt, Edwin S., and Murray, James M., A History of Business in Medieval Europe, 1200-1550 (Cambridge, 1999)
Le Goff, Jacques, Time, Work, and Culture in the Middle Ages, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago, 1980)
Lopez, Robert S. et al. (eds. and trans.), Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World (1955; rept. 2001) [An important collection of documents]
Lopez, Robert S., The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages 950-1350Link opens in a new window (Cambridge, 1976)
Mollat, Michel, The Poor in the Middle Ages, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (New Haven, 1986)
Nicholas, David, Medieval Flanders (London, 1992)
Nicholas, David, The Growth of the Medieval City (Harlow, 1997)
Nicholas, David, The Later Medieval City (Harlow, 1997)
Ogilvie, Sheilagh C., Institutions and European Trade : Merchant Guilds, 1000-1800 (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011)
Phipps, Teresa, 'Female Litigants and the Borough Court: Status and Strategy in the Case of Agnes Halum of Nottingham' in Town courts and urban society in late Medieval England, 1250-1500, Richard Goddard and Teresa Phipps (eds) (Boydell, 2019)
Pirenne, Henri, Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade (Princeton, NJ, 1952)
Postan, M.M., et al. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 2: Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1987)
Pounds, N., An Economic History of Medieval Europe, 2nd ed. (London, 1994)
Spufford, Peter, Money and Its Use in Medieval EuropeLink opens in a new window (Cambridge, 1988)
Spufford, Peter, Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe (London, 2002)
Wood, Diana, Medieval Economic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
