Chap 14.2 Slides Flashcards
What grew after the Crusades?
Who controlled this?
Growth of Trade
Trade began to grow in Europe after the Crusades.
Most of this trade was controlled by merchants from Italy and Northern Europe
What people created the trade cities?
Italian Trade Cities
•Italians among earliest to build thriving trade
•Sailors set out to find valuable goods from distant lands
Where did Italian sailors travel to?
What did they bring back from where?
- Venetian sailors traveled to Byzantine Empire, Muslim lands
- Brought back silk and spices from China, India
Who controlled almost all the trade in southern Europe?
- Venetian merchants went north to sell imported goods
- Goods were expensive, very profitable
- Other Italian cities created trade routes
- Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Milan, all major trading cities
- Italians controlled almost all southern European trade
What was the name of group that traded in northern Europe?
•Hanseatic League actively traded in northern Europe
Which region controlled trade between Europe and other places?
•Northern German towns, worked together to promote, protect trade
•Controlled most trade between Europe, Russia, Baltic region
What developed in the German towns?
Trade Fairs and Markets
- Merchants needed to get goods to customers, traveled long distances to visit trade fairs
- Trade fairs held in towns, drew huge crowds, buyers and sellers met there
- Great variety of goods offered, rare fabrics, aromatic spices, animals
What were the times and locations of trade fairs?
- Trade fairs usually held once a year, specific locations
- Some trade fairs lasted for months
- Schedule staggered so merchants could travel from one to another
- Some merchants spent most of time on road
Who went to the trade fairs?
- Trade fairs not attended by average person
- Generally places for sales between merchants
- For everyday needs, people visited local markets
- Local markets sold locally-produced goods
How did money come about?
- Trade encouraged use of money, had not been common in Europe for years
- Previously workers paid with goods
- Cities began minting coins, workers began demanding coins for payment
how did Credit come about?
- Some merchants allowed customers to buy goods on credit
- In return for goods, customer signed document stating when, how payment would be made
How did banks develop?
- Use of money, credit led to creation of Europe’s first banks
- People could deposit money for safekeeping, request loans
- Most money-lenders were Jews, barred from many other occupations
What lead to people leaving the farms?
Where did the peasants go?
Growth of Towns and Cities
- Thriving trade, increase in use of money helped lead to expansion, growth
- Hoping to make money, many peasants left farms and villages for cities, towns
Why did merchants move to towns?
- Merchants moved into medieval towns to conduct trade
- Did not want to pay high taxes to local lords in those towns
How did major cities like Paris, London and Rome develop?
- King allowed charters for new towns run by merchants, taxes paid only to king
- Paris, London, and Rome grew quickly and began to be referred to as cities
In the towns, what did craftspeople organize?
Why?
- Increase in populations caused craftspeople to organize to protect interests
- Created trade organizations called guilds; members had same occupation
What was purpose of the Guilds?
•Primary function to restrict competition; set standards, prices for products
How did people in the towns learn their craft?
- Guilds also trained children in their crafts
- Apprentices worked learning the basic skills of the craft from one master
- Journeymen traveled to different workshops, learning from many masters
What were the restrictions of the Guilds?
- Difficult for journeymen to become masters, due to guild restrictions
- Most guilds open only to men
- Some industries like textiles accepted women members
What were the cities like?
What was life like?
The cities that grew up in Europe and the Middle Ages were small and crowded.
At times, life in these cities could be very unpleasant
What were the streets in the cities like?
- Were narrow, winding
- Shops, houses lined both sides
- High buildings blocked sunlight
- Crowded with people, animals
- Sanitation bad
Was there fire and crime in the cities?
- Made medieval cities dangerous
- Air hazy with smoke from cooking, tanneries
- Most buildings made of wood, straw roofs
- Violence common
What were the benefits of the cities?
- Churches, eating halls, markets
- Guilds provided plays, public entertainment, and festivals
