City life in the middle ages - Medieval Madness

Summary

The video "Medieval Madness" by Madnes64 delves into the daily life of medieval cities during the high and late middle ages. It contrasts city and rural life, emphasizing the social and economic dynamics like trade markets, professions, and the roles of city councils. Unlike rural life under feudal lords, city dwellers experienced varied professions, from craftsmen to merchants. However, hygiene and waste management were poor, affecting living conditions. Education opportunities were better in cities, mainly through churches and monasteries, and wealth significantly influenced political power. The video conveys the notion that medieval city life was diverse and complex, challenging the simplistic portrayal in movies.

Highlights

• Life in medieval cities was varied and not just about knights and kings as movies often portray. 🤴
• Markets played a central role in city economies, pivotal for merchants, artisans, and townsfolk. 🛍️
• The general state of sanitation was poor, with waste thrown into streets, making living conditions challenging. 🗑️
• Education was more attainable in cities, mainly via church institutions, fostering literacy. ✍️
• City councils sought greater autonomy, sometimes clashing with kings or church authorities. ⚔️

Key Takeaways

• Medieval city life was markedly different, with a range of professions like craftsmen and merchants, unlike the simplistic portrayal of knights and nobles. ⚔️
• Markets were crucial to the medieval economy, located near central landmarks like churches, facilitating trade and commerce. 🏛️
• Poor hygiene was a significant issue, with waste management affecting living conditions, but cats helped keep the rat population in check. 🐱
• Education was more accessible in cities, mostly through churches, providing basic literacy and numeracy skills. 📚
• City councils were vital in managing city affairs, often seeking independence from feudal lords and church officials. 👑

Overview

The video "Medieval Madness" by Madnes64 provides an engaging exploration into the life of medieval cities. It notes the varied origins of these cities, including their development around important landmarks like monasteries and castles, highlighting how these influenced urban growth. Strategically located near trade routes or water, these cities became bustling hubs of activity, just like in a strategy game—captivatingly drawing in trade and commerce.

Medieval cities were characterized by bustling markets close to churches, where townsfolk and rural residents engaged in vibrant exchanges, buying and selling goods essential for daily life. However, these cities grappled with severe sanitation problems, with waste commonly discarded in the streets. Despite this, they served as centers of learning, primarily through church and monastic institutions, offering inhabitants knowledge beyond the reach of rural dwellers.

Governance in medieval cities was left to city councils, composed typically of the wealthy or well-connected. They wielded considerable power in shaping city policies, often striving to achieve greater autonomy from feudal or ecclesiastical overlords. This quest for independence saw cities sometimes taking drastic measures, like rejecting bishops or defying kings, underscoring the complex and dynamic nature of medieval urban life.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Medieval Life This chapter introduces the theme of medieval life, emphasizing the contrast between the Middle Ages and modern times. The narrator draws attention to the distinct social structures and technological differences of the period, presenting a world where contemporary cultural references and technologies like cat videos, selfies, and Pokémon did not exist. The chapter sets the stage for exploring the unique and fascinating aspects of medieval history, inviting the reader to imagine the vastly different lifestyle of that era.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Differences Between Urban and Rural Life The chapter explores the differences between urban and rural life in medieval times, focusing on professions and living conditions. It compares the mostly free population of cities to those living under feudal lords in the countryside. The chapter challenges common portrayals of medieval cities, questioning if life was dominated by knights and kings, with commoners merely serving the nobles. It notes that while generalizations are made, medieval cities were diverse and not identical in characteristics.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Development of Medieval Cities This chapter focuses on the development of medieval cities, particularly in central Europe during the high and late middle ages. It explores how cities generally emerged over hundreds of years around important landmarks such as bishop's sees, castles, or monasteries, and often near rivers.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Importance of Trade and Markets The chapter discusses the significance of trade and markets in urban development, highlighting how proximity to water bodies or established trade routes fosters city growth. It compares historical urban planning to strategy games like Age of Empires, illustrating the strategic decision to establish settlements near water sources. It also points out the scarcity of land trade routes during the early to high middle ages, with continental Europe's roads initially being remnants of the Roman Empire. The chapter hints at the gradual development of a road system in the subsequent centuries.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Social Dynamics in Medieval Cities This chapter discusses the social dynamics in medieval cities with a focus on the role of markets. The markets were essential to the medieval economy, serving as central hubs for trade and commerce. They were crucial for travelling merchants, artisans, and townspeople who needed to purchase goods like cloth, tools, and food. Markets were typically situated near churches, either in squares or along market streets. They also provided rural farmers a vital opportunity to sell their excess produce and livestock, highlighting the interconnectedness between urban and rural economies.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Craftsmen and Professions The chapter 'Craftsmen and Professions' explores the contrasting perceptions between townspeople and rural inhabitants within a feudal society. Townspeople often believed rural inhabitants to be uneducated ('dumb'), while rural inhabitants saw townspeople as arrogant, a perception largely influenced by the townspeople's superior educational opportunities. In the context of trade, these educational advantages were significant, even if they weren't as advanced as modern public education systems. Townspeople typically had basic knowledge, such as literacy, which facilitated their trading activities.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Living Conditions in Medieval Towns The chapter discusses the living conditions in medieval towns, emphasizing the lack of literacy and numeracy skills among most townspeople. Craftsmen, such as tailors, locksmiths, and tanners, were prevalent, and they would create goods that merchants would then buy and sell at markets for profit. The narrative humorously interacts with readers, asking them to choose a profession they would take up if they lived in that era, while playfully dismissing 'Dragonslayer' as a profession.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Hygiene and Public Health The chapter titled 'Hygiene and Public Health' discusses how life in a medieval town would differ from modern urban experiences, particularly focusing on the distinctive smells and sanitation challenges of the past. It contrasts walking through medieval streets with contemporary city experiences, emphasizing the significant evolution in public health and hygiene over time.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Education and Social Mobility The chapter discusses the poor waste management in cities during a certain historical period, leading to unsanitary conditions where feces and waste were disposed of in streets or rivers. People owned minimal clothing which they rarely washed, contributing to the spread of disease and bad odor. This situation was compounded by a constant plague of rats, prompting households to keep several cats to manage the rat population.
• 04:30 - 05:00: City Governance and Politics The chapter delves into the issues of city governance and politics, focusing on public dissatisfaction with poor infrastructure and unhygienic conditions despite constant complaints to the city council. It highlights the disparity in educational opportunities, where children of affluent families, such as wealthy merchants and noblemen, had significantly better access to education. The church and monasteries served as the primary educational institutions during this time.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Conclusion The Conclusion chapter highlights the historical context of education and social mobility, particularly focusing on Latin literacy and access to church libraries. It acknowledges the advantages wealth provided in learning and political influence, recognizing that while wealth made it easier, upward social mobility was not impossible for commoners. The chapter concludes by noting the importance of noble or wealthy status for political positions, such as being a member of the city council, drawing parallels to modern political customs.

City life in the middle ages - Medieval Madness Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Welcome to Medieval Madness, where we try to shed some light on the dark ages of human history… Because there are many fascinating things about the medieval times, aren’t there? Life, well simply was different back then, not only technologically – I mean try and imagine living without cat videos, duckface pictures and Pokémon - but it was also different in the matter of social structures, the pursuit
• 00:30 - 01:00 of professions and of course living conditions in general. Many differences can for example be seen between the mostly free population of cities and those who lived under the rule of a feudal lord in the country. But what was life in a medieval city like? Was it all about knights and kings and was the common man but a mere tool of the nobles as it is mostly portrayed in movies? Let’s take a look! Side note: The contents of this video do not apply to every single medieval city, obviously. You won’t be able to find two cities that shared exactly the same characteristics. But
• 01:00 - 01:30 it can be said that the features that are to be mentioned here could have generally been seen in many cities. We will focus on the average central European city in the high middle ages and the late middle ages. Now where and how cities developed had many different origins. So called mother cities slowly developed over many hundreds of years for example in the vicinity of a bishop’s see. Other important landmarks such as a castle or a monastery could have caused a city to emerge in its surroundings as well. Whenever these landmarks were located near a river,
• 01:30 - 02:00 ocean or an already existing trade route, this increased the chances of urban development massively. Just think about playing Age of Empires or a comparable strategy game – you usually start your city close to water, right? However trade routes on land were rare during the early middle ages and in the beginnings of the high middle ages. In continental Europe the only existing roads were leftovers from the Romans after all and only in the following centuries a road system was developed. The reason for that – well it was mostly the
• 02:00 - 02:30 trading between cities. Markets were the backbone of the medieval economy. They were of central importance for travelling merchants, artisans and the townspeople who bought cloth, tools and of course food, naturally. Markets were mostly located in the vicinity of a church, either on a square or in the form of a market street and even for farmers living in the country a city’s market was the opportunity to sell grain, animals and stuff like that, at least, well, that part of their belongings which they weren’t
• 02:30 - 03:00 forced to hand over to their feudal lord. Townspeople and rural inhabitants usually disapproved of one another. Rural inhabitants were dumb and townspeople were just arrogant – at least that’s what they thought of each other. The pretended arrogance was mostly caused by better education possibilities in the cities. Of course it can’t be compared to public education systems we have in the industrial countries nowadays but for trading it was very common for townspeople to have at least basic knowledge like being able to
• 03:00 - 03:30 read and do calculations, something that we take for granted nowadays. Most townspeople would be craftsmen, like tailors, locksmiths and tanners – or they would be merchants and buy goods from the craftsmen to sell them on the markets for profit. What kind of profession would you choose if you had to? Just leave a comment and let us know. What? What was that? No… See, Spencer…Spencer… Dragonslayer is not a profess... No, just …This
• 03:30 - 04:00 is not up for discussion. No it’s not…Fine…Fine, be a dragonslayer, whatever dude, whatever. Okay, however. Uhm, back to the serious stuff. Walking around in the streets of a medieval town would be very different to us than walking through a city nowadays. It kind of stinks that we can’t simply go back in time and experience it ourselves, but what would stink
• 04:00 - 04:30 even more is probably the city itself. Feces and waste were mostly thrown into the streets or rivers and most of the townspeople only owned one or maybe two pieces of clothing – well clothing which they rarely washed, so they stank too. As a result of the bad - let’s call it – “waste management” rats were a constant plague. To fight them it was not unusual for citizens to have several cats in the household. So you see… the internet’s
• 04:30 - 05:00 favorite animal was pretty popular back then too… But after all this I don’t wanna give you the impression that the townspeople approved of the stinking roads and bad general state of public space. In fact they constantly complained about it to the city’s council but it remained a lasting problem in most cities. Hygiene was of course a different topic for children of wealthy merchants or of noblemen. Also their chances to enjoy a higher education than the common folk were enormously higher. The main source of education was provided by the churches and monasteries in which it
• 05:00 - 05:30 was possible to learn to read and write in Latin and have access to the church’s libraries. Being rich sure made things easier, that doesn’t seem to have changed, but it was not impossible for commoners to emerge and become wealthy too. However being noble or a wealthy merchant was extremely important in order to become a member of the city council. This council was a committee of townspeople who were elected in complicated procedures from among the townspeople, but…well as it is still custom in politics – it’s
• 05:30 - 06:00 easier to get in if you know the right people and have resources. The city council had many tasks like granting permits, observing tax collections and they also constantly tried to take steps to gain more independence from the King or the religious leaders like for example arch bishops who had a great influence on a city’s politics. To gain more independence sometimes even meant throwing a bishop out of the city and waging war against the feudal lords or even the King himself. As you might imagine – well -some failed and others succeeded
• 06:00 - 06:30 and the outcome changed the city for the worse or the better. There’s so much more interesting to tell about medieval cities but this should be enough to summarize the most important facts of the everyday life in a nutshell. I do hope you enjoyed this video, if you have a question about the Middle Ages then don’t hesitate to leave a comment or visit my facebook page and leave a message on my timeline.