Medieval cities and society: guilds, trade and estates

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4THE HIGH AND LATE MIDDLE AGES

1Economic changes during the middle ages

*Three-years crop rotation consisted of dividing the arable land into three parts

*The use of the iron-wheeled plough could make deeper furrows and so prepare the earth better for sowing thankas to its eavier structure.

*The use of a new type of harness enabled farmers to use horses as draught animals .

2Medieval cities

they established a medieval cities carried out administrative , defensive , commercial , craft and signiicantly .

2.1Political organisation

The medieval monarch tried to impose their uthority over the feudal lords .

One of the instruments they used to do this was the cortes or parliaments , the privileged estates of the realm took part , but the bourgeoisie represented the urban population .

The cities used to be in the hands of the following institutions ruled by the wealthiest citizen :

*A council to which the inhabitants of the ity delegated their power , the council was responsible for collecting taxes , regulating the market and organizing the city 's defense .

*various magistrates , whose names varied according to the area . They wrer in charge of carrying out the orders of the council .

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2.2Guilds and workshops

Most craftworkers had their workshops on the ground floor of their homes and sold their products directly to customers . Each worshop consisted of the following craftworkers:

*MASTER:The owner of the tools and raw materials , the workshop and the products .

*JORNEYMAN:They received a wage . They often lived in the master's home and spend several years learning the trade . Then they because journeymen.

2.3Trade

In the cities the weekly markerts and fairs continued to exist .The development of trade brought with it the emergence of new ptofessions such as the moneycharngers and moneylenders , which led to the appearance of the first banks .The most important traders , bankers and artisand built up a new social group , the high bourgeoisie who was usually confroted to the privileged estates .

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3Society

*NOBILITY:They continued to enjoy privileges , such as exemption from paying taxes .

*CLERGY:At the beginning of the 13 century , the firts mendicant orders appeared

*BOURGEOISIE :This new social group appeared in the cities .

*PEASANTRY:The majority of peasants continued to live a hard life in the field under the authority of the ords.

4The christian expansionism

The muslims suffered their major defeat at the battle of navas de tolosa (1212) . In the 13 century , the christians accupied almost all the east and south of the peninsula.Only the kingdom of granada resisted he christian advance until that the last king , boadil , surrendered granada to the catholic monarch the day january 2 of the 1492.

4.1The repopulation

After the reconquest came the repopulation ...

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The repopulation was carried out in different ways depending on the historical momnet when the conquest happened and how the muslim conquered behaved

*CARTAS PUEBLAS:In the north and centre of the peninsula much of the reganined land was uninhabited and so the king considered that it belonged to them .

*CAPITULACIONES:The monarch permitted the muslims to stay and keep their land culture in exchange or the payment of special taxes .

*REPARTIMIENTOS:the original muslim population used to be ensleved or expelled from the peninsula (CONQUEST OF MALAGA , 1487)

5Political and social organisation in the christian kingdoms .

The cristian kingdoms had their own political institutions:

*MONARCHY:It was feudal in nature because the nobles were the king's vassals .As the middle ages advance , the kings defensed their authority over the nobility and clergy reconvering part of the territory a power borrowed to them .

*CORTES:They were formed by members of the nobility , clergy and the bourgeoisie .The monarch summoned the cortes , especially so that its members would approve the creation of new taxes .

*OTHER INSTRUCTION:The monarchs created various intitutions to administer justice , such as the chancilleria in the crown of castille and the justicia mayor of aragon .

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Privileged estates

* NOBILITY:It was divided into high nobles or ricoshombres (counts , marquises , and dukes), who lived their lands , and the petty nobility , cosisting of infanzones and hidalgos , who were in the in the service of a member of the high nobility .

*CLERGY:Bishops , abbots and grand master from the peninsular military orders wich had been nvented to protect the frontier zone from the muslims .

Non-privileged estate

*PEASANTS:They were the largest group peasant cuold be the owners , also called coloni , of the land ty farmed.

*BOURGEOISIE:hey because more important as the cities grew bigger.