UNIT 3

LA CIUDAD MEDIEVALMEDIEVAL TOWNS /LATE MIDDLE AGES

1. La recuperación de la vida urbana

2. Las actividades urbanas: artesanía y comercio

3. La sociedad urbana

4. El afianzamiento del poder real

5. La crisis de la Baja Edad Media (siglos XIV y XV)

6. El arte gótico. La arquitectura

7. La escultura y la pintura góticas

La recuperación de la vida urbanaThe return of urban life

La recuperación de la vida urbana

• The economical changes caused a social change.

• We will pass from a subsistence economy to a commercial economy.

La recuperación de la vida urbana

- Desarrollo de ferias.

- Puntos comerciales en ciudades (burgos)

- Aparición de una clase comerciante (burguesía)

Towns’ rebirthEl renacer de las ciudades

• In Europe, towns have suffered a decadence phase during High Middle Ages.

• From the 12th century, town began to grow again.

• Medieval towns were small, the biggest ones had around 50.000 inhabitants.

• Paris, Amberes and Florence were the biggest towns in Europe.

Ciudad Medieval

The causes of towns’ rebirth

• Towns began to grow again due to:

– New agricultural techniques, so peasants’ workforce was less

necessary and they had to migrate to towns.

– Commerce reactivation.

– Towns offered better life conditions, as they were not under the

control of feudal lords. Usually, people living in the towns were

free.

The inhabitants of the cities

• The inhabitants of the cities were called burghers (burgueses). There

were big differences among burghers:

– Some of them were very rich, like the merchants or the owners of

big artisans workshops.

– Most of the population was formed by artisans (craftsman) and

shopkeepers. And people who worked as domestic service.

– Apart from them, there were beggars, with no work. They begged

money to live.

• Medieval cities were protected by high walls.

• Streets were narrow and unpaved.

• There was usually a large square in the centre of the city. This square had the most important public buildings: the cathedral, the town hall and the market place.

• There were also palaces, hospitals, schools and inns.

• In Spain, there were separated neighbourhoods for Jewish (aljamas) and Moorish (morerías).

• Artisans were grouped by profession in each neighbourhood.

La prosperidad económica del siglo XIIIEconomic prosperity during the 13th century

• In the 13th century, Europe had a great economic prosperity. Life conditions improved a lot.

• Agricultural production increased in all Europe, due to woods cutting down, swamps were dried out and new lands could be cultivated.

• Trienal Rotation was introduced, so production could increase.

• New technical innovations were introduced, such as niykbiard ploughs (arado con vertedera), horse collars…

• In the Mediterranean area, irrigation was used and new farming productswere introduced.

• As a consequence, food production increased enormously and population grew up a lot: in Europe, from 41 millions in the year 1000 to 73 millions in the year 1300.

LAS ACTIVIDADES URBANAS: ARTESANÍA Y COMERCIOURBAN ACTIVITIES: ARTISAN WORKSHOPS AND TRADE

The development of trade and banks.

• Trade experimented a big development from the 13th century. Population growth increased products needs.

• Merchants and traders meet periodically in fairs (ferias) where very different products could be found.

• Trade increase brought new banking and financial techniques to Europe.

• Goods (mercancías) or merchandises began to be financed with instalment contracts (letras de cambio).

• Goods were transported by carriages. • Long distance trade was carried out by ship:

– The Mediterraneam route joined the Italian, French and Spanish mediterraneam cities with the Byzantine and Muslim cities. Luxury products (silk and spices) were imported. Fabrics (tejidos), weapons and tools were exported.

– The Atlantic and Baltic routes: joined the ports of the Iberian Peninsula with Northern Europe. Controlled by the Hansa (traders from Northern Europe association). Wool, wines, wheat were exchanged with tin (estaño), amber (ámbar), furs (pieles) and wood.

The main trade routes

• There will be new commercial methods:

– Markets and fairs

– Money

– Credit

– The origin of the banks

Fairs

BAJA EDAD MEDIABAJA EDAD MEDIA

COMERCIOCOMERCIO: Aumenta por el incremento de la población

MEDITERRÁNEO

ATLÁNTICO Y BÁLT

ICO

FERIAS:FERIAS: Reuniones periódicas de mercaderes. Ámbito internacional

Champagne, Medina del Campo

NUEVAS NUEVAS FORMAS DE FORMAS DE PAGOPAGO

LETRAS DE CAMBIO

Hansa

comercio sedas

mapa

FERIAS:FERIAS:

Periodical meetings of traders that lasted for 3 or 4 days. In those fairs, they exchanged a great variety of products.

The fairs of Champagne in Francia and Medina del Campo in Spain were the most important Fairs in Europe.

A Fair was like a market but it lasted more days and there were much more different products.

Nace la BANCA Los burgueses acudían a las ferias, hacían préstamos y gestionaban la LETRAS DE CAMBIO

Money

Banks

• Their origin is in the Lower Middle Ages.

• They are used to ask for loans and to keep money in a safe place.

• They had their origin in Amberes and the Italian cities.

Banks

Craftsmanship (artesanía)

• There was an extraordinary development of the crafsmanship. The artisan workshops were very varied: weavers (tejedores), coopers (toneleros), bakers (panaderos), carpinteros (carpenters), dyers (tintoreros)…

• They created products in small workshops. The owner was the master artisan. The workshops were in the same houses. They were used as shops.

• Artisans that made the same products lived on the same street, which was named after them (calle Boteros en San Clemente o calle de los Tintes en Cuenca, Curtidores en Madrid…)

Artisan workshops. Guilds

• A guild was an association of

artisans who made the same

products. There were

apprentices, artisans and

masters in a guild.

• Each guild controlled that all

artisans respected the same

rules concerning working hours,

tools, quality and price.

Artisans professional categories• There were three professional categories in artisans:

– The artisan master (maestro): he was the workshop owner. He owned too the tools and the raw materials (materias primas). They ruled and controlled the guilds.

– The skilled craftsman (oficial): he was the expert worker in the workshop.

– The apprentice (aprendiz): he was a young who wanted to learn the profession and he worked without earning a salary. He used to lived in the master’s house and the master provided him food.

• A skilled craftsman could become masters and open a workshop, after passing an exam in the Guild.

COMPOSICIÓN DE LOS OFICIOSCOMPOSICIÓN DE LOS OFICIOS

MAESTRO: MAESTRO: Dueño o del taller, el que obtiene los beneficios. CONTROLAN EL GREMIO

OFICIAL: OFICIAL: Trabajador experto del taller, recibía un salario. Podía convertirse en maestro y abrir su propio taller realizando una obra maestra que debía aprobar el gremio.

APRENDIZ: APRENDIZ: Era el que aprendía el oficio, permanecía varios años en el taller, sin salario, solo aprendiendo. Vivía en casa del maestro que también lo mantenía

Guilds in the city

“Cristóbal colocó a su hijo Pedro con el zapatero Juan para que le enseñase el oficio del calzado durante cinco años, a cambio del pago anual al citado Juan de 10 sueldos y la prestación de dos capones. Juan prometió instruir bien y fielmente al citado Pedro, enseñándole a trabajar el cuero, a cortar correas y tacones, a coser y a hacer todas las cosas pertenecientes a al magisterio del citado oficio. Cristóbal prometió pagar cada año diez sueldos en la festividad de S. María de Agosto y entregar los mencionados capones el día de S. Esteban, prometió también que su hijo trabajaría bien y continuadamente en el citado oficio, que todo beneficio que obtuviera lo entregaría al citado Juan.”

Contrato de aprendizaje S. XIII.

La sociedad urbanaUrban society

The bourgeoisie•People who belong to the bourgeoisie lived in the towns and worked as artisans or traders. They were not dependent on a feudal lord.

• There were differences among the bourgeoisie: the high bourgeoisie were important traders and bankers and the petty bourgeoisie were master artisans and small scale traders.

• Other social groups lived in the cities, including nobles, clergy and peasants.

Urban society

Pese a que esta imagen es un siglo posterior, refleja la mentalidad de finales de la Edad Media.

Urban society

Síntesis

Burguesía: Una nueva clase social.

Desarrollo Urbano

(siglos IX-XV)

Oficios Banca

Mercados (ferias y crecimiento de población)

Gremios

Cambios:

-Culturales

-Políticos

-Sociales

El afianzamiento del poder realRoyal power reinforcement

• From the 12th century, kings reinforced their power and spread their territories.

• As agriculture production improved, Kings could get more taxes and have their own armies. So they could control better the feudal lords.

• They were helped by cities (the bourgeoisie) to remove power from nobility. So they conceded freedom privileges to towns and fueros (special laws for towns), so cities were free from any feudal link. In return, burghers helped economically kings agains the nobility.

The origin of Parliaments• At the end of 12th century and during 13th century, kings

summoned Courts and Parliaments (Cortes o Parlamentos).

• In the Parliaments were represented the king, nobles, clergy and cities’ representatives.

• With those Parliaments’ meetings, kings wanted to decrease nobility power with the bourgeoisie support.

• They only meet when the king summoned them.

• Their main functions were:

– Establish new taxes. – Approve extraordinary expenses to pay wars.

BAJA EDAD MEDIABAJA EDAD MEDIA

• PARLAMENTO o CORTES

El Rey y su Corte

Están presentes: Rey, Nobles, Clero y Representantes de la ciudad

Reuniones convocadas por el Rey

Funciones:

Establecer nuevos impuestos

Aprobar gastos extraordinarios

Los Reyes pretendían disminuir el poder de los nobles ayudados por los representantes urbanos

La crisis de la Baja Edad Media (siglos XIV y XV)Crisis in the Lower Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries)

• Population in Europe decreased almost one

third from the 14th century.

• There were three calamities:

– War

– Hunger

– The Plague or the Black Death

WAR

• During 14th and 15th centuries there was important wars between kingdoms. The most important of those wars was the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between England and France. The final victory was for France (Charles VII), even if English occupied a large part of French territory for many years.

• Juana de Arco standed out in that war.

HUNGER

• At the beginning of the 14th century there was a serious agricultural crisis, due to a series of bad harvests.

• During the crisis, the production of wheat decreased, so bread began to be very expensive.

• There was revolts in cities and in the countryside (as they had to continue paying taxes).

THE PLAGUE OR THE BLACK DEATH

• In 1347, a terrible plague, the Black Death devastated Europe. It was brought from Asia on a Genoese ship. Hunger and poor hygiene conditions stimulated its spreading. The Black Death killed a quarter of the population in Europe.

• In two years the Black Death devastated the entire continent. The cities suffered the worst consequences.

La arquitectura góticaGothic architecture

Arte Románico Arte Gótico

NEW ARCHITECTURE

• Taller, lighter buildings become popular.

• In cities, many Gothic buildings began to be constructed including palaces, town halls and especially cathedrals.

• Gothic architecture used the pointed arch, big stained glass windows, and buttresses or flying buttersses to reinforce the walls.

La escultura góticaGothic sculpture

• Gothic sculpture was used to decorate

churches and cathedrals.

• It was more realistic than the Romanesque

style and the figures were usually represented

in scenes.

La pintura gótica

• Gothic painting was very religious. The scenes had depth and people showed emotions. Figure, landscapes and buildings were painted using a lot of detail.

• As Gothic cathedrals included many stained glass windows, there was much less wall space for paintings than in Romanesque churches. For this reason, many paintings were made on the wooden tables and alterpieces behind the altar.