6.2 power to the cities

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• Leerjaar 1

6.2 power to the cities

After this lesson you will be able to:

• Explain how both cities ans rulers profited from city rights..........
• but first: Let's draw !!!!

What words do you need to describe a city?

The importance of cities

Due to the growth of trade, cities became richer. This meant that the landlords were able to collect more taxes from the cities. The landlord collected these taxes for his king. They were used for special events, upholding laws and to pay for the defence of the country. 

Of course, cities did not like paying high taxes. They discussed this with their landlords or bishops. In return for their financial support, they wanted a number of privileges. These were special rights, such as the permission to organise markets, store goods, build or expand city walls or receive exemption from military service. It was even better if they received a city charter. This was a special contract with city rights. City rights gave cities some degree of self-government. They were allowed to uphold and create their own laws.

By the Town charter of (December 29) 1284 Flensburg received the Town privilege.

The importance of cities

In exchange for city rights, cities had to promise to support their landlords both financially and militarily. Cities were often able to pay their own armies. For both kings and their vassals, cities became a new power block. If kings and landlords were in a conflict, both parties desired the support of the cities. Cities were able to choose the side that offered them most privileges. Because of this, some cities became very powerful. Sometimes they got even more powerful than their landlords.

4.1.7

From a chronicle about the abbey in Bruges, written by J. Lelong in the 13th century.

The Hanseatic League

To improve trade over long distances, cities and merchants started to work together. In the thirteenth century, a number of German and Baltic cities joined together to cooperate in the Hanseatic League. Other cities in the Low Countries and England soon followed. The league became a powerful network of trading cities. Many Dutch cities joined the Hanseatic League. Examples include: Groningen, Nijmegen, Venlo, Arnhem, Kampen, Zwolle and Harderwijk. Most of them had easy access to the Zuiderzee. During the fourteenth and fifteenth century, Bruges grew to become the most important trading city in North-west Europe. The league placed one of its headquarters in the city. It became the meeting place for merchants from all over Europe.

Main trading routes of the Hanseatic League.

4.1.11

A merchant ship is about to leave the city of Riga on its way to Bruges.

20th century illustration.

City People

Living in a city was very different from living on the countryside. People who lived in cities were free. They were called burghers. Many serfs tried to escape from their manors to live in the cities. If serfs stayed in a city for more than a year, they could become burghers as well.

In the cities, there were huge differences between rich and poor people. The burghers can be divided in three groups. Merchants and masters of a guild were among the richest people. They were often part of the city council and controlled the cities. Important positions were kept in the family. Next there was the middle class, made up out of craftsmen and shopkeepers. Finally there were the common workers and beggars.

4.1.7

From a chronicle about the abbey in Bruges, written by J. Lelong in the 13th century.

6.2 power to the cities

After this lesson you will be able to:

• Describe lif in medieval cities and expalain how they were ruled..........
• but first: Let's do a listening exercise !!!!

Give a description of  medieval city. Use the following words;

Burghers - guilds - masters

Black Death

In the fourteenth century, millions of people died an early death. These people died from the Black Death. This sickness, also called ‘the plague’, swept across Europe between 1346 and 1353. It spread mainly in cities where people lacked hygiene and lived close to one another. Rich people and Jews took more care of keeping themselves clean. Therefore they often survived plague outbreaks. At the time, people called the sickness the ‘Black Death’. One of its symptoms was that it caused swellings on your body. After some time, these swellings turned black and looked like bruises.

The Black Death killed between 75 and 200 million people in Europe. In some cities, such as Paris, more than half of the population died.

It is hard to find out the exact number of deaths, because victims were not always given a proper burial. So many people died that they were often buried in one big grave. When a place was hit by the plague, between one third and a half of the people died.

At the time, no one knew what caused the disease and how it was spread. Some believed that it was a punishment from God. Others blamed the Jews for putting poison in drinking water. We now know that the disease was caused by bacteria. It was spread by fleas on rats.

A priest prays while corpses from plague victims are carried outside the city for burial.

Get to work...

• Read par  6.1 and 6.2
• 6,1: 1 up until 11 and 13
• 6.2: Exercise: 1 up until 12 and 14.