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THE CAUSES OF URBAN GROWTH Cities began to grow rapidly in the 12 th cetury. There were several causes: Economic growth: The increase of agricultural production meant that there was food por urban population. Trade revived urban life and the developed of craftsmanship.
2. Urban privileges: Feudal lords did not control cities, whose inhabitants were free. Monarchs granted cities charters and privileges in order to reduce the influence of the nobility. 3. Rural migration: - Many peasants fled from harsh conditionsin the countryside and went to live in cities where they had not feudal obligations.
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WHAT WERE CITIES LIKE? Most of the population of Europe was rural, but cities became important centres of economic and cultural activity. There were new settlements where merchants and crafstmen settled in well-placed locations near ports, roads and castles. These settlements grew into cities. Their leading figures were known as burghers. A medieval city was surrounded by walls for its protection. At the city gates a tax was charged on all the products that were brought into the city to be sold. Urban life was very unhealthy because the cities did not have sewers. The streets were full of mud and dirty water, for that reason epidemic spread rapidly. Most medieval cities were small, with few thousand people, but there were serveral very large cities: Milan, Venice, Paris, London, Barcelonaa nd Bruges.
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URBAN SOCIETY Monarchs granted cities th right to form municipal governments that were elected by the leading citizens. In Italy, cities formed independent republics that ruled the surrounding countryside. In England and the Iberian Peninsula, the cities appointed representatives for assembies that advised the monarch. There were urban courts hat administered justice, this was a significance advance because peasants had been subject to the judicial authority of heir feudal lords. A new social group emerged in the cities, the bourgeoisie, which was made up of he merchants and wealthier craftsmen. This new social elite controlled the municipal government. There were minorities in the cities: - The Jews: They lived in their own Jewish Quarter. - The Muslims: On he Iberian Peninsula there were Muslim quarters.