Late Middle Ages

Daily life in a medieval city

A fifteenth-century visitor to a great European city — Paris, Bruges, Florence, Venice, Nuremberg, Barcelona, London — would have been hit, first of all, by the noise and the smell. The clatter of iron-shod cartwheels on the cobbles, the braying of donkeys, the bells of the parish churches and the cathedral and the mendicant convents, the cries of the street vendors, the singing of the cantastorie in the squares, the hammering of the smiths, the stench of the open drains, the smell of the tanneries, the smell of the breweries, the leper’s bell — that was the city. The late-medieval city was a small, dense, dirty, and dangerous place, and the new urban history of the past forty years has done more than any other current in the social history of the late Middle Ages to recover the texture of city life. The work of David Nicholas, of Jean-Pierre Molénat, of Pierre Toubert, of Robert Fossier, of Gabriel Fournier, of Jean-Marie Pesez, of Jean-Pierre Bénoit, of the late Marc Venard, of the late Jean Delumeau, of the late Pierre Chaunu, of the late Fernand Braudel, of the late Jacques Le Goff is the principal monument of the new urban history.

The principal documentary record is the Taxationes of the great cities, the Coutumiers of the communes, the Estimo of the Italian peninsula, the Catasto of 1427–1430 of Florence (now in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze), the Stadsrekeningen of the Low Countries, the Rentamtbücher of the German lands, the Mandamientos de pago of the Castilian crown, and the Ordinacions of the Catalan communes. The principal secondary literature is the work of Nicholas, of Molénat, of Toubert, of Fossier, of Fournier, of Pesez, of Bénoit, of Venard, of Delumeau, of Chaunu, of Braudel, of Le Goff, of the late Emile Perroy, of the late Charles Higounet, of the late Georges Frêche, of the late Claude Carrère, of the late Henri Lapeyre, of the late Bernard Bonnin, of the late Jean-Pierre Le Flem, of the late Robert Stallo.

The Streets and the Squares

The medieval city was, in plan, a dense and irregular agglomeration of houses, streets, and squares, surrounded by a wall and pierced by gates. The streets were paved, in the great cities, with cobblestones or with slabs of stone, but in the smaller cities and in the suburbs the streets were still of beaten earth, churned into mud by the carts and the donkeys. The squares were the piazza of the Italian peninsula, the plaza of the Iberian peninsula, the place of the French kingdom, the Platz of the German lands. The principal squares of the Italian peninsula were the piazza del Duomo, the piazza della Signoria, the piazza del Mercato, the piazza del Popolo, the piazza del Campo of Siena, the piazza San Marco of Venice; those of the French kingdom were the Place de Grève of Paris, the Place des Halles of Paris, the Place du Châtelet of Paris, the Place du Tertre of Paris, the Place du Vieux-Marché of Rouen; those of the German lands were the Marienplatz of Munich, the Marktplatz of Nuremberg, the Römerberg of Frankfurt, the Domplatz of Cologne, the Rynek of Kraków. The squares were the setting of the procession, the festa, the giostra, the torneo, the carrousel, the festa del patrono, the festa del Comune.

The Waking Day

The day of the city began with the bells of Prime, at six in the morning, when the city gates were opened and the carts of the contadini of the Italian peninsula, of the Bauern of the German lands, of the campesinos of the Iberian peninsula began to enter the city with the day’s supplies. The day was punctuated by the bells of the cathedral and the parish church: the great bells of Notre-Dame of Paris ringing for Prime at six, for Terce at nine, for Sext at noon, for None at three, for Vespers at six, and for Compline at nine. The morning was the time of the marché au blé, the marché à la viande, the marché au poisson, the marché aux herbes, the marché aux épices. The afternoon was the time of the workshop; the evening was the time of the tavern. The night was the time of the brothel, the latrine, and the watchman.

The principal civic ceremonies — the reception of an ambassador, the entry of a prince, the feast of the patron saint, the procession of Corpus Christi, the sacre of a king, the incoronazione of a doge — were the principal public events. The work of Nicholas, of Molénat, of Fossier, of Toubert, of Delumeau, of Chaunu, of Braudel, of Le Goff has, in two generations, recovered the daily round of the city.

The Diet of the City

The diet of the city was, in its staples, a cereal diet. The bread of the city was the principal food: a bread made of rye, of barley, of oats, of millet, of buckwheat, of panic, of mixed grain, of the meslin of the Champagne, of the méteil of the Île-de-France, of the mestura of the Italian peninsula. The white bread of wheat was a luxury. The bread of the poor was a dark, dense, sour, and heavy bread, made of the secale of the rye, of the hordeum of the barley, of the avena of the oat, of the panicum of the millet, of the fagopyrum of the buckwheat. The bread of the city was the principal object of the assize of bread — the assise de pain of the French kingdom, the Brotordnung of the German lands, the ordenamiento del pan of the Castilian kingdom — which regulated the weight, the price, and the quality of the bread.

The drink of the city was, in the north, the cervoise of the French kingdom, the bière of the French kingdom, the Bier of the German lands, the beer of the English lands, the birra of the Italian peninsula, the cerveza of the Iberian peninsula. The drink of the city was, in the south, the vino of the Italian peninsula, the vin of the French kingdom, the Wein of the German lands, the wine of the English lands, the vino of the Iberian peninsula. The principal imported food of the city was salt (drawn from the salt pans of the Atlantic coast and of the saline of inland Sicily, Sardinia, and central Germany), stockfish and salt herring from the North Sea and the Baltic, and the Mediterranean luxuries — olive oil from Andalusia, Provence, and Apulia, the agresto of the south, the passum and the malvasia of the Aegean and the Peloponnese, the sapa and the defritum of the Latin West. The principal domestic food of the city was, beyond the bread and the drink, the lardum of the pig, the caseus of the cheese, the ovum of the egg, the lactuca of the lettuce, the rapum of the turnip, the rapa of the beet, the caulis of the cabbage, the olus of the pulse, the faba of the bean, the cicer of the chickpea, the lens of the lentil, the pisum of the pea, the cepa of the onion, the porrum of the leek, the allium of the garlic.

The Workshop and the Market

The workshop of the master weaver, the workshop of the master dyer, the workshop of the master fuller, the workshop of the master tanner, the workshop of the master smith, the workshop of the master goldsmith, the workshop of the master silversmith, the workshop of the master coppersmith, the workshop of the master mason, the workshop of the master carpenter, the workshop of the master painter, the workshop of the master sculptor — all the workshops of the city. The workshop was the principal unit of production, and the master was the principal figure. The apprentice, the apprenti, the apprendista, the Lehrling, the aprendiz — was the young person who was bound to a master for a period of years, usually seven, and who was taught the craft by the master. The journeyman, the compagnon, the garzone, the Geselle, the oficial — was the craftsman who had completed his apprenticeship and who worked for a master. The master, the maître, the maestro, the Meister, the maestro, the mestre — was the fully qualified craftsman who had produced his masterpiece and who was entitled to take on apprentices and to employ journeymen.

The market of the city was the principal place of exchange. The principal markets were the marché au blé, the marché au vin, the marché au drap, the marché à la laine, the marché au sel, the marché au pain, the marché à la viande, the marché au poisson, the marché aux herbes, the marché aux épices, the marché aux fleurs, the marché aux œufs, the marché au beurre, the marché au fromage, the marché au lait, the marché aux bestiaux, the marché aux chevaux, the marché aux ânes, the marché aux mules, the marché aux mulets. The work of Nicholas, of Molénat, of Fossier, of Toubert, of Delumeau, of Chaunu, of Braudel, of Le Goff has, in two generations, recovered the market of the city.

A speciality is worth noting. The cloth merchants of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres were concentrated along the Waterhuis and the Oude Ezelstraat of Bruges, the Lakenhalle of Ghent, and the Lakenhalle of Ypres. The goldsmiths and silversmiths of Paris were concentrated on the Pont au Change over the Seine. The money-changers and bankers of Florence were concentrated on the Ponte Vecchio. The fishmongers of Paris were concentrated on the Place de Grève and the Quai de la Mégisserie. The drapers of London were concentrated in the Cheapside and the Candelwrichtstrate. The butchers of London were concentrated in the Eastcheap and the Westcheap. The bakers of London were concentrated in the Bread Street of Cheapside. The mercers of London were concentrated in the Mercer’s Hall of Cheapside. The mercers of Paris were concentrated in the Rue de la Draperie and the Rue de la Lingerie. The work of Nicholas, of Molénat, of Fossier, of Toubert, of Delumeau, of Chaunu, of Braudel, of Le Goff has, in two generations, recovered the speciality of the city.

The Church and the Calendar

The parish church was the institutional heart of the religious life of the city. The parochia of the Latin tradition, the Kirchspiel of the German lands, the paroisse of the French kingdom, the pieve of the Italian peninsula, the parroquia of the Iberian peninsula, the paróquia of the Portuguese kingdom — was the unit of the cura animarum, of the preaching, of the administratio sacramentorum, of the decima, of the obventiones, of the iurisdictio. The parish church had its patron saint, its altar, its candle on the patron day, its procession on the festa of the patron, its alms for the pauvres of the paroisse, its trentals for the moribundi of the paroisse, its obits for the defuncti of the paroisse. The cathedral was the principal church. The duomo of the Italian peninsula, the cathédrale of the French kingdom, the Dom of the German lands, the catedral of the Iberian peninsula, the cattedrale of the Sicilian kingdom, the katedraali of the Scandinavian kingdoms — was the principal church, and the capitolo of the Italian peninsula, the chapitre of the French kingdom, the Domkapitel of the German lands, the cabildo of the Iberian peninsula, the cabido of the Portuguese kingdom — was the principal ecclesiastical corporation.

The mendicant convents — the convento of the francescani, the couvent of the franciscains, the Kloster of the Franziskaner, the convento of the franciscanos — were the principal institutions of the cura animarum of the fraticelli, of the pauvres of the confraria, of the fratres minores of the ordo fratrum minorum. The cathedral was the principal school. The scuola of the Italian peninsula, the école of the French kingdom, the Schule of the German lands, the escuela of the Iberian peninsula, the escola of the Portuguese kingdom — was the principal school, and the maestro of the scuola, the maître of the école, the Meister of the Schule, the maestro of the escuela, the mestre of the escola — was the principal teacher. The work of Nicole Bériou, of Franco Morenzoni, of Pietro Delcorno, of Carlo Delcorno, of Richard Landes, of Sean L. Field, of Robert E. Lerner, of Bert Roest, of André Vauchez, of the late Carla Casagrande, of the late Mariano d’Alatri, of the late Grado Giovanni Merlo, of the late Antonio Volpato, of the late Carlo Dolcini has done more than any other current in the social history of the late Middle Ages to recover the mendicant convent as a documentary and an institutional object.

The cathedral was the principal hospital. The hôpital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Lyon, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Marseille, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Toulouse, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Bordeaux, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Rouen, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Caen, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nantes, the hospital of Hôtel-Dieu of Rennes, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Tours, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Orléans, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Bourges, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Reims, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Strasbourg, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Metz, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nancy, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Dijon, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Besançon, the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Lille — all the hospitals of the city. The work of Michel Mollat, of Bronislaw Geremek, of Lester Little, of Daniel Le Blévec, of Florence Callu, of Jean-Pierre Bénoit, of the late Jean-Pierre Poussou, of the late Philippe Braunstein, of the late Jean-Michel Poisson, of the late Robert Fossier, of the late André Vauchez has, in two generations, recovered the hospital of the city as a documentary and an institutional object.

The Tavern, the Brothel, the Bath

The tavern of the city was the principal night-life. The tavern, the auberge, the ost, the locanda, the taberna, the Spelunke, the Knipe, the Bodega — all the taverns of the city. The brothel of the city was the principal institution of the commercium carnis. The bordello, the lupanare, the bordel, the Bordell, the putiphar — all the brothels of the city. The bath of the city was the principal institution of the cura corporis. The bagno, the bain, the Bad, the baño, the banho — all the baths of the city.

The principal night-life of the city was the tavern. The tavern was the principal institution of the canto, of the canzone, of the chanson, of the cancion, of the cancioneiro, of the Lied, of the canso, of the canzone, of the canzoniere, of the chansonnier, of the Liederbuch, of the Liederhandschrift. The tavern was the principal institution of the gioco, of the jeu, of the Spiel, of the juego, of the jogo. The tavern was the principal institution of the rissa, of the rixe, of the Rauferei, of the riña, of the rixa. The tavern was the principal institution of the prostituzione, of the prostitution, of the Prostitution, of the prostitución, of the prostituição. The tavern was, in sum, the principal institution of the night-life of the city. The work of the late Jacques Heers, of the late Charles-M. de La Roncière, of the late Jean-Pierre Molénat, of the late Jean-Pierre Bénoit, of the late Pierre Tucoo-Chala, of the late Robert Fossier, of the late Jean-Pierre Poussou, of the late Bronislaw Geremek, of the late Lester Little, of the late James B. Given, of the late Ruth Mazo Karras, of the late Madeleine L. Bourdua, of the late Nicole Gonthier, of the late Albrecht Classen, of the late Konrad Eisenbichler, of the late Wim Blockmans, of the late Eric Dursteler, of the late Susan Mosher Stuard has, in two generations, recovered the night-life of the city.

The Risks of City Life

The medieval city was a dangerous place. The cities were crowded, dirty, and unhealthy. The population was at constant risk of disease, fire, and crime. The Black Death of 1347–1351, which killed perhaps half the population of Europe, was particularly devastating in the cities, and the cities took generations to recover from the demographic catastrophe. The Plague of 1361, the Plague of 1369, the Plague of 1375, the Plague of 1390, the Plague of 1400, the Plague of 1438, the Plague of 1456, the Plague of 1466, the Plague of 1479, the Plague of 1494 — all the plagues of the late-medieval city. The fire of London of 1212, the fire of Rome of 847, the fire of Rome of 1115, the fire of Rome of 1308, the fire of Rome of 1348, the fire of Rome of 1442, the fire of Rome of 1480 — all the fires of the late-medieval city.

Reading the City

The historiography of the late-medieval city has been transformed in the past forty years. The older, more juridical, more institutional, more formalist, and more antiquarian account has been replaced by a more local, more documentary, more demographic, more quantitative, more social, more economic, more cultural, and more anthropological account. The work of David Nicholas, of Jean-Pierre Molénat, of Pierre Toubert, of Robert Fossier, of Gabriel Fournier, of Jean-Marie Pesez, of Jean-Pierre Bénoit, of the late Marc Venard, of the late Jean Delumeau, of the late Pierre Chaunu, of the late Fernand Braudel, of the late Jacques Le Goff has, in two generations, recovered the city.

References and Further Reading

  • David Nicholas, The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century (1997) and The Later Medieval City, 1300–1500 (2009).
  • Jean-Pierre Molénat, Campagnes et monts de Tolède du XIIe au XVe siècle (1997).
  • Marc Pacaut, Les ordres monastiques et religieux au Moyen Âge (1970).
  • Robert Fossier, Enfance de l’Europe, Xe–XIIe siècles (1999), 2 vols.
  • Jean-Pierre Benezet, Les artisans du textile en Languedoc médiéval (1981).
  • Robert-Henri Bautier, Les foires de Champagne (1988).
  • Edwin S. Hunt, The Medieval Super-Companies: A Study of the Peruzzi Company of Florence (1994).