EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

H >> HUTTON WEBSTER >> EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45

* * * * *

193. CITY LIFE

A CITY FROM WITHOUT

The visitor approaching a medieval city through miles of open fields saw
it clear in the sunlight, unobscured by coal smoke. From without it looked
like a fortress, with walls, towers, gateways, drawbridges, and moat.
Beyond the fortifications he would see, huddled together against the sky,
the spires of the churches and the cathedral, the roofs of the larger
houses, and the dark, frowning mass of the castle. The general impression
would be one of wealth and strength and beauty.

A CITY FROM WITHIN

Once within the walls the visitor would not find things so attractive. The
streets were narrow, crooked, and ill-paved, dark during the day because
of the overhanging houses, and without illumination at night. There were
no open spaces or parks except a small market place. The whole city was
cramped by its walls, which shut out light, air, and view, and prevented
expansion into the neighboring country. Medieval London, for instance,
covered an area of less than one square mile. [6]

[Illustration: A SCENE IN ROTHENBURG]

UNSANITARY CONDITIONS

A city in the Middle Ages lacked all sanitary arrangements. The only water
supply came from polluted streams and wells. There were no sewers and no
sidewalks. People piled up their refuse in the backyard or flung it into
the street, to be devoured by the dogs and pigs which served as
scavengers. The holes in the pavement collected all manner of filth, and
the unpaved lanes, in wet weather, became deep pits of mud. We can
understand why the townspeople wore overshoes when they went out, and why
even the saints in the pictures were represented with them on. The living
were crowded together in many-storied houses, airless and gloomy; the dead
were buried close at hand in crowded churchyards. Such unsanitary
conditions must have been responsible for much of the sickness that was
prevalent. The high death rate could only be offset by a birth rate
correspondingly high, and by the constant influx of country people.

CIVIC REGULATIONS

Numerous petty regulations restricted the private life of the townspeople.
The municipal authorities sometimes decided how many guests might be
invited to weddings, how much might be spent on wedding presents, what
different garments might be owned and worn by a citizen, and even the
number of trees that might be planted in his garden. Each citizen had to
serve his turn as watchman on the walls or in the streets at night. When
the great bell in the belfry rang the "curfew," [7] at eight or nine
o'clock, this was the signal for every one to extinguish lights and fires
and go to bed. It was a useful precaution, since conflagrations were
common enough in the densely packed wooden houses. After curfew the
streets became deserted, except for the night watch making their rounds
and the presence of occasional pedestrians carrying lanterns. The
municipal government spent little or nothing on police protection, so that
street brawls, and even robbery and murder, were not infrequent.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

The inhabitants of the city took a just pride in their public buildings.
The market place, where traders assembled, often contained a beautiful
cross and sometimes a market hall to shelter goods from the weather. Not
far away rose the city hall, [8] for the transaction of public business
and the holding of civic feasts. The hall might be crowned by a high
belfry with an alarm bell to summon citizens to mass meeting. Then there
would be a number of churches and abbeys and, if the city was the capital
of a bishop's diocese, an imposing cathedral.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT

The small size of medieval cities--few included as many as ten thousand
inhabitants--simplified the problem of governing them. The leading
merchants usually formed a council presided over by a head magistrate, the
burgomaster [9] or mayor, [10] who was assisted by aldermen. [11] In some
places the guilds chose the officials and managed civic affairs. These
associations had many functions and held a most important place in city
life.

194. CIVIC INDUSTRY: THE GUILDS

FORMATION OF GUILDS

The Anglo-Saxon word "guild," which means "to pay," came to be applied to
a club or society whose members made contributions for some common
purpose. This form Of association is very old. Some of the guilds in
imperial Rome had been established in the age of the kings, while not a
few of those which flourish to-day in China and India were founded before
the Christian era. Guilds existed in Continental Europe as early as the
time of Charlemagne, but they did not become prominent till after the
crusades.

MERCHANT GUILDS

A guild of merchants grew up when those who bought and sold goods in any
place united to protect their own interests. The membership included many
artisans, as well as professional traders, for in medieval times a man
often sold in the front room of his shop the goods which he made in the
back rooms. He was often both shopkeeper and workman in one.

COMMERCIAL MONOPOLY

The chief duty of a merchant guild was to preserve to its own members the
monopoly of trade within a town. Strangers and non-guildsmen could not buy
or sell there except under the conditions imposed by the guild. They must
pay the town tolls, confine their dealings to guildsmen, and as a rule
sell only at wholesale. They were forbidden to purchase wares which the
townspeople wanted for themselves or to set up shops for retail trade.
They enjoyed more freedom at fairs, which were intended to attract
outsiders.

[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE BUTCHERS' GUILD, HILDESHEIM, GERMANY
Hildesheim, near Hanover, is perhaps the richest of all German towns in
fine wooden-framed houses. The house of the Butchers' Guild has recently
been restored, with all its original coloring carefully reproduced.]

CRAFT GUILDS

After a time the traders and artisans engaged in a particular occupation
began to form an association of their own. Thus arose the craft guilds,
composed of weavers, shoemakers, bakers, tailors, carpenters, and so on,
until almost every form of industry had its separate organization. The
names of the various occupations came to be used as the surnames of those
engaged in them, so that to-day we have such common family names as Smith,
Cooper, Fuller, Potter, Chandler, and many others. The number of craft
guilds in an important city might be very large. London and Paris at one
time each had more than one hundred, and Cologne in Germany had as many as
eighty. The members of a particular guild usually lived in the same street
or quarter of the city, not only for companionship but also for better
supervision of their labor. [12]

INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLY

Just as the merchant guild regulated town trade, so the craft guilds had
charge of town industry. No one could engage in any craft without becoming
a member of the guild which controlled it and submitting to the guild
regulations. A man's hours of labor and the prices at which he sold his
goods were fixed for him by the guild. He might not work elsewhere than in
his shop, because of the difficulty of supervising him, nor might he work
by artificial light, lest he turn out badly finished goods. Everything
made by him was carefully inspected to see if it contained shoddy
materials or showed poor workmanship. Failure to meet the test meant a
heavy fine or perhaps expulsion from the guild. Thus the industrial
monopoly possessed by the craft guild gave some protection to both
producer and consumer.

ORGANIZATION OF CRAFT GUILDS

Full membership in a guild was reached only by degrees. A boy started as
an apprentice, that is, a learner. He paid a sum of money to his master
and agreed to serve him for a fixed period, usually seven years. The
master, in turn, promised to provide the apprentice with food, lodging,
and clothing, and to teach him all the secrets of the craft. At the end of
the seven years the apprentice had to pass an examination by the guild. If
he was found fit, he then became a journeyman and worked for daily wages.
As soon as he had saved enough money, he might set up as a master in his
own shop. A master was at once workman and employer, laborer and
capitalist.

ACTIVITIES OF CRAFT GUILDS

Like the old Roman guilds, those of the Middle Ages had their charitable
and religious aspects. Each guild raised large benefit funds for the
relief of members or their widows and orphans. Each guild had its private
altar in the cathedral, or often its own chapel, where masses were said
for the repose of the souls of deceased members, and where on the day of
its patron saint religious services were held. The guild was also a social
organization, with frequent meetings for a feast in its hall or in some
inn. The guilds in some cities entertained the people with an annual play
or procession. [13] It is clear that the members of a medieval craft guild
had common interests and shared a common life.

DISSOLUTION OF CRAFT GUILDS
As the craft guilds prospered and increased in wealth, they tended to
become exclusive organizations. Membership fees were raised so high that
few could afford to pay them, while the number of apprentices that a
master might take was strictly limited. It also became increasingly
difficult for journeymen to rise to the station of masters; they often
remained wage-earners for life. The mass of workmen could no longer
participate in the benefits of the guild system. In the eighteenth century
most of the guilds lost their monopoly of industry, and in the nineteenth
century they gave way to trade unions.

195. TRADE AND COMMERCE

MARKETS

Nearly every town of any consequence had a weekly or semiweekly market,
which was held in the market place or in the churchyard. Marketing often
occurred on Sunday, in spite of many laws against this desecration of the
day. Outsiders who brought cattle and farm produce for sale in the market
were required to pay tolls, either to the town authorities or sometimes to
a neighboring nobleman. These market dues still survive in the "octroi"
collected at the gates of some European cities.

"JUST PRICE"

People in the Middle Ages did not believe in unrestricted competition. It
was thought wrong for anyone to purchase goods outside of the regular
market ("forestalling") or to purchase them in larger quantities than
necessary ("engrossing"). A man ought not to charge for a thing more than
it was worth, or to buy a thing cheap and sell it dear. The idea prevailed
that goods should be sold at their "just price" which was not determined
by supply and demand but by an estimate of the cost of the materials and
the labor that went into their manufacture. Laws were often passed fixing
this "just price," but it was as difficult then as now to prevent the
"cornering of the market" by shrewd and unscrupulous traders.

FAIRS

Besides markets at frequent intervals, many towns held fairs once or twice
a year. The fairs often lasted for a month or more. They were especially
necessary in medieval Europe, because merchants did not keep large
quantities or many kinds of goods on their shelves, nor could intending
purchasers afford to travel far in search of what they wanted. The more
important English fairs included those at Stourbridge near Cambridge,
Winchester, St. Ives, and Boston. On the Continent fairs were numerous and
in some places, such as Leipzig in Germany and Nijni-Novgorod in Russia,
they are still kept up.

FAIRS AND COMMERCE

A fair gave opportunity for the sale of commodities brought from the most
distant regions. Stourbridge Fair, for instance, attracted Venetians and
Genoese with silk, pepper, and spices of the East, Flemings with fine
cloths and linens, Spaniards with iron and wine, Norwegians with tar and
pitch from their forests, and Baltic merchants with furs, amber, and
salted fish. The fairs, by fostering commerce, helped to make the various
European peoples better acquainted with one another.

[Illustration: Map, TRADE ROUTES BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE IN
THE 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES]

DECLINE OF COMMERCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Commerce in western Europe had almost disappeared as a result of the
Germanic invasions and the establishment of feudalism. What little
commercial intercourse there was encountered many obstacles. A merchant
who went by land from country to country might expect to find bad roads,
few bridges, and poor inns. Goods were transported on pack-horses instead
of in wagons. Highway robbery was so common that travelers always carried
arms and often united in bands for better protection. The feudal lords,
often themselves not much more than highwaymen, demanded tolls at every
bridge and ford and on every road. If the merchant proceeded by water, he
must face, in addition to the ordinary hazards of wind and wave, the
danger from the ill-lighted coasts and from attacks by pirates. No wonder
commerce languished in the early Middle Ages and for a long time lay
chiefly in the hands of Byzantines [14] and Arabs. [15]

COMMERCIAL REVIVAL AFTER THE CRUSADES

Even during the dark centuries that followed the end of the Roman Empire,
some trade with the Orient had been carried on by the cities of Italy and
southern France. The crusades, which brought East and West face to face,
greatly increased this trade. The Mediterranean lands first felt the
stimulating effects of intercourse with the Orient, but before long the
commercial revival extended to the rest of Europe.

ASIATIC TRADE ROUTES

Before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope the spices, drugs, incense,
carpets, tapestries, porcelains, and gems of India, China, and the East
Indies reached the West by three main routes. All had been used in ancient
times. [16] The central and most important route led up the Persian Gulf
and Tigris River to Bagdad, from which city goods went by caravan to
Antioch or Damascus. The southern route reached Cairo and Alexandria by
way of the Red Sea and the Nile. By taking advantage of the monsoons, a
merchant ship could make the voyage from India to Egypt in about three
months. The northern route, entirely overland, led to ports on the Black
Sea and thence to Constantinople. It traversed high mountain passes and
long stretches of desert, and could profitably be used only for the
transport of valuable articles small in bulk. The conquests of the Ottoman
Turks greatly interfered with the use of this route by Christians after
the middle of the fifteenth century.

EUROPEAN TRADE ROUTES

Oriental goods, upon reaching the Mediterranean, could be transported by
water to northern Europe. Every year the Venetians sent a fleet loaded
with eastern products to Bruges in Flanders, a city which was the most
important depot of trade with Germany, England, and Scandinavia. Bruges
also formed the terminus of the main overland route leading from Venice
over the Alps and down the Rhine. But as the map indicates, many other
commercial highways linked the Mediterranean with the North Sea and the
Baltic.

COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

It is important to note that until late in the Middle Ages trade existed,
not between nations, but between cities. A merchant of London was almost
as much a foreigner in any other English city as he would have been in
Bruges, Paris, or Cologne. Consequently, each city needed to make
commercial treaties with its neighbors, stipulating what were the
privileges and obligations of its merchants, wherever they went. It was
not until the kings grew strong in western Europe that merchants could
rely on the central government, rather than on local authorities, for
protection.

[Illustration: Map, MEDIEVAL TRADE ROUTES
Land Routes
Water Routes
Marco Polo's Route]

196. MONEY AND BANKING

SMALL SCALE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

We have seen that business in the Middle Ages was chiefly of a retail
character and was conducted in markets and fairs. The artisan who
manufactured the goods he sold and the peddler who carried his goods about
from place to place were the leading types of medieval traders. Little
wholesale business existed, and the merchant prince who owned warehouses
and large stocks of goods was an exceptional figure.

LACK OF MONEY

One reason for the small scale of business enterprise is found in the
inadequate supply of money. From the beginning of the Christian era to the
twelfth century there seems to have been a steady decrease in the amount
of specie in circulation, partly because so much moved to the Orient in
payment for luxuries, and partly because the few mines in western Europe
went out of use during the period of the invasions. The scarcity of money,
as has been shown, [17] helped directly to build up the feudal system,
since salaries, wages, and rents could be paid only in personal services
or in produce. The money supply increased during the latter part of the
Middle Ages, but it did not become sufficient for the needs of business
till the discovery of the New World enabled the Spaniards to tap the
wealth of the silver mines in Mexico and Peru. [18]

FAULTS OF MEDIEVAL CURRENCY

Medieval currency was not only small in amount but also faulty in
character. Many great nobles enjoyed the privilege of keeping a mint and
issuing coins. Since this feudal money passed at its full value only in
the locality where it was minted, a merchant had to be constantly changing
his money, as he went from one fief to another, and always at a loss.
Kings and nobles for their own profit would often debase the currency by
putting silver into the gold coins and copper into the silver coins. Every
debasement, as it left the coins with less pure metal, lowered their
purchasing power and so raised prices unexpectedly. Even in countries like
England, where debasement was exceptional, much counterfeit money
circulated, to the constant impediment of trade.

"USURY" LAWS

The prejudice against "usury," as any lending of money at interest was
called, made another hindrance to business enterprise. It seemed wrong for
a person to receive interest, since he lost nothing by the loan of his
money. Numerous Church laws condemned the receipt of interest as
unchristian. If, however, the lender could show that he had suffered any
loss, or had been prevented from making any gain, through not having his
money, he might charge something for its use. In time people began to
distinguish between interest moderate in amount and an excessive charge
for the use of money. The latter alone was henceforth prohibited as
usurious. Most modern states still have usury laws which fix the legal
rate of interest.

THE JEWS AS MONEY LENDERS

The business of money lending, denied to Christians, fell into the hands
of the Jews. In nearly all European countries popular prejudice forbade
the Jews to engage in agriculture, while the guild regulations barred them
from industry. They turned to trade and finance for a livelihood and
became the chief capitalists of medieval times. But the law gave the Jews
no protection, and kings and nobles constantly extorted large sums from
them. The persecutions of the Jews date from the era of the crusades, when
it was as easy to excite fanatical hatred against them as against the
Moslems. Edward I drove the Jews from England and Ferdinand and Isabella
expelled them from Spain. They are still excluded from the Spanish
peninsula, and in Russia and Austria they are not granted all the
privileges which Christians enjoy.

ITALIAN BANKING

The Jews were least persecuted in the commercial cities of northern Italy.
Florence, Genoa, and Venice in the thirteenth century were the money
centers of Europe. The banking companies in these cities received deposits
and then loaned the money to foreign governments and great nobles. It was
the Florentine bankers, for instance, who provided the English king,
Edward III, with the funds to carry on his wars against France. The
Italian banking houses had branches in the principal cities of Europe.
[19] It became possible, therefore, to introduce the use of bills of
exchange as a means of balancing debts between countries, without the
necessity of sending the actual money. This system of international credit
was doubly important at a time when so many risks attended the
transportation of the precious metals. Another Florentine invention was
bookkeeping by double-entry. [20]

197. ITALIAN CITIES

THE CITY REPUBLICS

The cities of northern Italy owed their prosperity, as we have learned, to
the commerce with the Orient. It was this which gave them the means and
the strength to keep up a long struggle for freedom against the German
emperors.[21] The end of the struggle, at the middle of the thirteenth
century, saw all North Italy divided into the dominions of various
independent cities. Among them were Milan, Pisa, Florence, Genoa, and
Venice.

MILAN

Milan, a city of Roman origin, lay in the fertile valley of the Po, at a
point where the trade routes through several Alpine passes converged.
Milan early rose to importance, and it still remains the commercial
metropolis of Italy. Manufacturing also flourished there. Milanese armor
was once celebrated throughout Europe. The city is rich in works of art,
the best known being the cathedral, which, after St. Peter's at Rome and
the cathedral of Seville, is the largest church in Europe. Though the
Milanese were able to throw off the imperial authority, their government
fell into the hands of the local nobles, who ruled as despots. Almost all
the Italian cities, except Venice, lost their freedom in this manner.

PISA

Pisa, like Milan, was an old Roman city which profited by the disorders of
the barbarian invasions to assert its independence. The situation of Pisa
on the Arno River, seven miles from the sea, made it a maritime state, and
the Pisan navy gained distinction in warfare against the Moslems in the
Mediterranean. The Pisans joined in the First Crusade and showed their
valor at the capture of Jerusalem. They profited greatly by the crusading
movement and soon possessed banks, warehouses, and trading privileges in
every eastern port. But Pisa had bitter rivals in Florence and Genoa, and
the conflicts with these two cities finally brought about the destruction
of its power.

[Illustration: BAPTISTERY, CATHEDRAL, AND "LEANING TOWER" OF PISA
These three buildings in the piazza of Pisa form one of the most
interesting architectural groups in Italy. The baptistery, completed in
1278 A.D., is a circular structure, 100 feet in diameter and covered with
a high dome. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 A.D. The finest part of
the building is the west front with its four open arcades. The campanile,
or bell tower, reaches a height of 179 feet. Owing to the sinking of the
foundations, it leans from the perpendicular to a striking extent (now
about 161/2 feet).]

FLORENCE

Florence, Pisa's neighbor on the Arno, was renowned for manufactures. The
fine wool, silk cloths, golden brocades, jewelry, and metal work of
Florence were imported into all European countries. The craft guilds were
very strong there, and even the neighboring nobles, who wished to become
citizens, had first to enroll themselves in some guild. It was from
banking, however, that Florence gained most wealth. In the fifteenth
century the city contained eighty great banking houses, in addition to
numerous branches outside of Italy. With their commercial spirit the
Florentines combined a remarkable taste for art and literature. Their
city, whose population never exceeded seventy thousand, gave birth to some
of the most illustrious poets, prose writers, architects, sculptors, and
painters of medieval times. It was the Athens of Italy. [22]

GENOA

Genoa, located on the gulf of the same name, possessed a safe and spacious
harbor. During the era of the crusades the city carried on a flourishing
trade in both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. After the fall of the
Latin Empire of Constantinople [23] the Genoese almost monopolized
Oriental commerce along the Black Sea route. The closing of this route by
the Ottoman Turks was a heavy blow to their prosperity, which also
suffered from the active competition of Venice.

SITUATION OF VENICE

Almost alone among Italian cities Venice was not of Roman origin. Its
beginning is traced back to the period of barbarian inroads, when
fugitives from the mainland sought a new home on the islands at the head
of the Adriatic. [24] These islands, which lie about five miles from the
coast, are protected from the outer sea by a long sand bar. They are
little more than mud-banks, barely rising above the shallow water of the
lagoons. The oozy soil afforded no support for buildings, except when
strengthened by piles; there was scarcely any land fit for farming or
cattle-raising; and the only drinking water had to be stored from the
rainfall. Yet on this unpromising site arose one of the most splendid of
European cities.

VENETIAN COMMERCE

The early inhabitants of Venice got their living from the sale of sea salt
and fish, two commodities for which a constant demand existed in the
Middle Ages. Large quantities of salt were needed for preserving meat in
the winter months, while fish was eaten by all Christians on the numerous
fast days and in Lent. The Venetians exchanged these commodities for the
productions of the mainland and so built up a thriving trade. From
fishermen they became merchants, with commercial relations which gradually
extended to the Orient. The crusades vastly increased the wealth of
Venice, for she provided the ships in which troops and supplies went to
the Holy Land and she secured the largest share of the new eastern trade.
Venice became the great emporium of the Mediterranean. As a commercial
center the city was the successor of ancient Tyre, Carthage, Athens, and
Alexandria.