Medieval towns
Topic: Medieval Europe: Feudalism and the Three Orders · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Changing Traditions"; Class 11, Ch 4 "The Three Orders"
Meaning
Medieval towns were the towns that grew again in Europe from the eleventh century. Old Roman towns had emptied. Once farming produced extra crops, peasants needed places to sell them. Periodic fairs (markets held at fixed times) and market centres slowly gained a square, a church, merchants' shops and a governing office. Other towns grew around castles, bishops' estates and big churches. Townspeople paid the lord a tax instead of labour services. Bigger towns of about 30,000 people are sometimes called a 'fourth order' of society.
Example
From the twelfth century in France, cathedral-towns grew around great stone churches. Rich merchants paid for these churches, and pilgrims and settlers came to live near them.
Don't confuse with
- Manor: the manor was the lord's own estate, worked by peasants who owed him services. A town's people were mostly free and paid tax in place of services.