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2º ESO/WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN A MEDIEVAL TOWN - Contenido educativo

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Subido el 21 de noviembre de 2020 por Alicia M.

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In a previous video we looked at medieval housing and realised that during the early 00:00:00
medieval period housing was extremely primitive for the vast majority of peasant people. However 00:00:04
the rich and wealthier tended to have rather nice houses and some even having lavish manors 00:00:10
and castles. What was life like inside a medieval town though? Let's have a little look, to 00:00:15
support our channel please make sure to subscribe. 00:00:20
Early medieval towns were quite small and very limited in their numbers, but as time 00:00:24
After they moved on throughout the later medieval period, the population within towns started 00:00:28
to expand and increase. 00:00:32
Medieval people moved into towns from the countryside, and the largest medieval town 00:00:34
established in England would have been London. 00:00:38
In 886 Alfred the Great re-established London, which was at the time in ruins as a walled 00:00:41
Roman city, and transformed it into a fortified town or a burgh. 00:00:47
At this time London's population was around 8000 and was classed as a town and not a city. 00:00:52
People from the countryside would realise that the towns could be a place where they 00:00:58
could sell their food, products or goods easier than the new medieval towns, and early entrepreneurs 00:01:02
would take their goods to market to sell and make profit. 00:01:08
Some of these people did so well that they could afford to rent a home inside the medieval 00:01:11
town as well as have their own home in the village. 00:01:15
Some of these entrepreneurs would move permanently into towns to trade or work for rich merchants. 00:01:19
It was considered in the countryside that life was better in the towns due to the more 00:01:24
available services, and also there were more varied jobs and entertainment was available. 00:01:28
Initially medieval towns were created by wealthy barons or lords, who would own large plots 00:01:34
of land. 00:01:39
This land was usually gifted to them by the king, and the lord would provide services 00:01:40
and money to the king in return. 00:01:44
The lords would realise that establishing medieval towns was a very good money maker, 00:01:46
and they could charge high rent for the properties they would own and build within the town. 00:01:51
They could also impose a tax on people to collect a percentage of profits that were 00:01:56
made from selling goods inside of the town. 00:02:00
But how did these towns get their names? 00:02:03
Many of them derived from the previous Roman names of the town, other towns were named 00:02:06
after lords or barons who created them, or some were named after natural features nearby 00:02:10
such as river crossings or so on. One important part of the town though was the rules and 00:02:15
laws on how the town was governed and run. Each town created their own rules which sometimes 00:02:20
was an issue as what was legal in one township wasn't always legal in another. They all 00:02:26
tried to keep the town clean and tidy to attract visitors even if they did adhere to slightly 00:02:31
different standards. The inhabitants of the town would get together and write out the 00:02:36
rules and some would go even further. Some established guilds of tradesmen who would 00:02:41
control the quality of goods and products produced. This ensured that different tradesmen 00:02:46
who specialised in one area would all be producing high quality goods. This could then generate 00:02:51
more money for the town. Bigger and more complex towns would also set up councils to help run 00:02:57
the town and official positions such as the mayor were created during this time. Local 00:03:02
medieval courts would also be established to deal with any crimes or disorder. 00:03:07
Some medieval towns would even set up hospitals which were based upon charitable donations, 00:03:12
these would then take care of the elderly and the sick. 00:03:18
Also a town hall was usually present which was known as a guild hall. 00:03:21
This would be an administrative base for the town where all the rules and regulations were 00:03:25
made and upheld. 00:03:29
Medieval shops were workshops open to the streets for customers with the craftsmen working 00:03:31
in the house above. At this time very few people could read, so shop signs were usually 00:03:36
a visual model of the craftsman's trade, so it was easy for people to understand what 00:03:41
was being sold. People of the same trade often worked in the same street as well. The streets 00:03:45
were rather narrow, busy and extremely loud too. The town crier would cry out, church 00:03:51
bells would ring and traders would call out to attract custom. 00:03:57
Interestingly in the streets you might also find some medieval style fast food sellers, 00:04:01
which sold fast foods such as hot sheep's feet or beef ribs. 00:04:06
Towns would be enclosed by protective walls, and access was regulated through gates. 00:04:11
As the medieval period progressed in England, more and more market towns were established, 00:04:16
with over 2000 appearing by the middle of the 14th century. 00:04:21
These initially were located close to castles to enable them to be protected. 00:04:25
Traders would also be a key source of importance inside the town's walls, as traders would 00:04:30
travel to different townships to sell their wares to different people. 00:04:35
Traders that were more professional often had stores set up outside a shop front, such 00:04:39
as a bakery, however more casual traders would just set up a stall on the market day. 00:04:43
The market was a very sociable place where people would interact with each other and 00:04:49
spread local gossip and chat. 00:04:53
Interestingly in England, many of these market towns still have specified market days. 00:04:56
In these towns though, there was sometimes a rogue or criminal element to the society. 00:05:01
Some people would enter towns wanting to make money quickly, and would sell dodgy or poorly 00:05:06
made products, or would be dishonest with the selling of their goods. 00:05:10
Criminals were usually put in the stocks or the pillory, these were wooden boards with 00:05:15
holes for the feet, hands or head. 00:05:19
People could humiliate them publicly by throwing stuff at them, however for more serious crime 00:05:21
times, capital punishment did take place. Medieval punishments were very cruel and crimes 00:05:26
such as theft, which was considered very serious, could lead to a person being sentenced to 00:05:31
death by hanging. This would often take place in public too, with a crowd baying for the 00:05:36
blood of the condemned. At dusk, curfews in some towns would be signalled by a bell ringing, 00:05:41
and everyone at this time was supposed to be in their house with the door shut. The 00:05:47
gates of the town would also be closed at this time, and a watch would patrol the streets 00:05:51
looking for thieves. 00:05:55
There was also an issue with overcrowding, as well as poor hygiene of the people living 00:05:57
within the town's walls. Often there were no sewers, and as time went on I'm sure you're 00:06:02
aware of the conditions people lived in by the time the Black Death came around. There 00:06:07
was a real danger from fires, due to the fact that the town was mostly made from wood, and 00:06:12
also from disease and violence, making life inside the town rather unpleasant for a few. 00:06:17
During the 14th century, to help control the spread of the Black Death or the Plague, townspeople 00:06:23
would try to tidy up the areas. They would attempt to keep the streets clean and improve 00:06:28
hygiene mostly due to the miasma belief that bad air was one of the major factors in the 00:06:32
spread of the disease. Areas like markets would be targeted for cleaning by special 00:06:37
groups of workmen. In the later medieval times, in certain towns across Europe, different 00:06:42
laws would be made, such as in Abbeville they banned public urination, and later in Rouen 00:06:48
in France there would be a demand that every house must have their own toilet. 00:06:53
It is also said that in towns you could have a plague industry, this was a group of people 00:06:58
who were basically employed to deal with epidemics and outbreaks. 00:07:03
These teams included people who would have to bury the dead, surgeons and physicians 00:07:07
who were required to treat the sick were also part of this group. 00:07:11
Surgeons would be used to apply their medieval treatments such as bleeding and purging, 00:07:15
which was believed to treat the plague victims. Being a barber surgeon was a very dangerous job, 00:07:19
and if one would die, towns would often have to pay more to hire a replacement. 00:07:25
So the plague did bring in a strange sense of economic growth and employment 00:07:29
to a small group of people living within the town. 00:07:33
In England, with the Norman invasion and the introduction of the feudal system, 00:07:36
this helped to create a better trading network within towns. 00:07:40
The Norman rulers or barons would have good trading contacts throughout Europe, 00:07:44
being able to import many different and luxury goods into England. So goods from all over Europe 00:07:48
were now being sold in medieval towns, attracting more people to them. Craftsmen and merchants could 00:07:54
also export their goods to other countries, allowing them to grow a larger customer base 00:08:00
and subsequently get a lot richer. So although the common impression of the medieval period 00:08:04
as it was extremely primitive, this really wasn't the case. By this time, towns had been created 00:08:10
that were rather sophisticated and had rather complex rules and regulations within them, 00:08:16
even if the conditions weren't as clean or as sanitary as they should have been. 00:08:21
Once again thank you for watching. 00:08:25
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe. 00:08:27
Thank you once again for watching. 00:08:30
Subido por:
Alicia M.
Licencia:
Dominio público
Visualizaciones:
78
Fecha:
21 de noviembre de 2020 - 18:53
Visibilidad:
Público
Centro:
IES LA SENDA
Duración:
08′ 38″
Relación de aspecto:
1.78:1
Resolución:
640x360 píxeles
Tamaño:
82.35 MBytes

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