THE IMPACT OF THE CRUSADES

The later Middle Ages saw political, economic, and social change in Europe. The growth of cities, trade, wealth, capital, and the development of banking began to change the manorial and feudal systems. Slowly the fragments of a shattered Roman Empire were being pulled together into new national states.

GROWTH OF COMMERCE

Trade did not cease entirely after the fall of the Roman Empire. Some merchants and peddlers risked the dangers of robbers to travel from manor to manor to sell goods the manors could not produce. Additionally a market town served several manors with seasonal or yearly fairs. However, beginning in the 1100s the pace of trade steadily increased. As sea and land routes expanded and became safer, more traders dared to travel them. One of the reasons for this expansion of trade was the Crusades.

The crusades began as military expeditions to free the Holy Land from the control of the Seljuk Turks. There were eight major crusades between 1096 and 1270. They ended without finally achieving their purpose and by the late 1200s the crusaders had been driven from all the areas in the Holy Land they had taken. The Crusades, however, had certain lasting effects which the crusaders had not foreseen when they set out with the cry "God wills it!"

Many European trading centers were pushed to the limit to furnish supplies for the crusaders. The city-states of Italy—Venice, Genoa, Pisa and others—provided ships to transport many of the crusaders to the Middle East. The ships returned filled with perfumes, spices, jewels, silk, dyes, and other products which the Europeans gradually came to value. The merchants of Genoa, Pisa, and other Italian cities established new trade routes throughout Europe. On the shores of the North and Baltic seas, cities such as Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen grew prosperous and powerful through trade. In the latter part of the 1200s, the merchants of these cities established a trade confederation known as the Hanseatic League.  The confederation provided protection for merchants, supplied lighthouses, maps of harbors, and other navigational aids, and stan­dardized weights and measures. The league sent its own diplomats abroad, had its own flag, and made treaties with other powers.

Trade routes tied all parts of Europe together. Wool went from England to the cities of Flanders, northern France, and Italy to be woven into cloth and re-exported. Fleets of ships took salt from the coast of France to the Baltic Sea and to Scandinavia where it was used to preserve fish for export.

Increased Trade led to the growth of banking. Business became increasingly complex and traders began traveling great dis­tances for long periods of time. Letters of credit and documents of exchange—similar in idea to credit cards—became necessary so that traders could conduct their business more easily. Merchants also increased their wealth by lending money to kings, nobles, and other merchants. However, during the early Middle Ages the charging of interest, called usury, was forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church. Money lending, therefore, became one of the few occupations open to Jews. Eventually the growth of business and the need for capital changed the Catholic Church's attitude toward money lending. From around 1250 to 1450, groups of people began changing money from one currency to another, lending it, keeping it safe, and transporting it from one region to another. These groups became the first European bankers.

The greatest and earliest bankers were Italian and the most famous of the banking cities was Florence. It was the home of many banking families—the Peruzzi, the Bardi, the Medici, and the Cerchi among others. The bankers of Florence transported money for kings and popes. They kept money on deposit and made loans for commercial and political ventures. From Italy the banking business spread to other areas of Europe.

GROWTH OF TOWNS AND CITIES

The expansion of trade, wealth, and capital as well as population hastened the growth of towns during the later Middle Ages. Four­teenth-century towns and cities were usually small by modern stan­dards. Populations ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 people. But even this relatively small number of persons found themselves packed tightly within the protecting walls of the city. Townspeople solved the problem of cramped spaces by building upward. They built their houses with three, four, and five stories. To gain additional space, each story was extended a little farther out so that the top floors of facing buildings almost met over the narrow streets. This gave the townspeople more space but it also made life hazardous for passersby. It was not uncommon for those living on upper floors to empty their garbage and sewage out the windows.

Most towns of the 1300s lacked drainage systems. Rotting garbage and other refuse were a breeding ground for disease. Drinking water was often polluted so city dwellers drank beer, ale, and wine. The fire department was a volunteer bucket brigade which was not very effective. Once a fire started among the tightly packed houses, it quickly spread from one dwelling to another. There was also danger at night from robbers. The police were usually aged men who were of little help in a fight with a thief. Yet life in the towns and cities was generally better than the serfdom of the manor as there were opportunities for advancement in the towns.

Gradually the people of the growing towns and cities obtained greater liberties and privileges from the one who ruled them. Often they bought these privileges with their new wealth. Sometimes rulers granted privileges to cities because of their service. In Spain, for instance, the rulers of Leon and Castile granted special charters to cities that protected the frontiers against the Moors. During the 1200s and 1300s there were a number of such self-governing cities in Spain—Madrid, Barcelona, and Seville among them.

Around this time townspeople in France, Germany, and England were also gaining freedom from feudal control. They gradually were released from a number of obligations, including payment of feudal dues. Additionally they gained the freedom to buy and sell as they chose and could organize their own courts of law. A number of towns gained the right of self-government.

THE MIDDLE CLASS

With the development of cities a new and powerful social group arose. It became known as the bourgeoisie or middle class. The power of the bourgeoisie was centered in the cities and founded on its new freedoms: knowledge, wealth, and independence. Representatives of the new middle class were received at royal councils and gained a voice in assemblies, diets, and parliaments.

The primary reason that the rulers requested middle-class repre­sentatives at these meetings was money. Kings and queens needed money and the clergy and nobility were traditionally exempt from taxation. However, the middle class provided a valuable source of income. In return for agreeing pay taxes, the middle class began to require additional privileges and rights from rulers.  These rulers used this money to equip and outfit soldiers which reduced their dependence on the nobility.  

Thus, what began as an effort to free the Holy Land had profound and unintended consequences. The Crusades increased trade and banking which speeded the movement of people to towns.  In these towns emerged a new and wealthy class which was outside the traditional power structure of medieval society.  This new middle class was utilized by monarchs to create a new political order that was not dependent on feudal obligations. This laid the foundations for the emergence of the modern nation state.

Welty, Paul.  The Human Experience.  New York: J.B. Lippincott. 1977.