What did middle age cities look like?

Medieval towns layout The medieval towns were surrounded by a moat and walls made of stone or brick. The medieval towns usually grew up around a castle or monastery, or followed the contour of a hillside, or a river-bank. As a result, they had steep, meandering streets, with irregular width.

How were medieval cities different from modern cities?

Medieval cities — with their agrarian societies and simple market economies — seem very different from modern European urban centers. Life in 14th-century cities centered around hierarchical institutions such as the crown, guilds, and churches. Today, companies, technologies, and a global economy dominate our lives.

What was it like to live in the Middle Ages?

Life was harsh, with a limited diet and little comfort. Women were subordinate to men, in both the peasant and noble classes, and were expected to ensure the smooth running of the household. Children had a 50\% survival rate beyond age one, and began to contribute to family life around age twelve.

How bad did medieval cities smell?

Medieval cities likely smelled like a combination of baking bread, roasting meat, human excrement, urine, rotting animal entrails, smoke from woodfires — there were no chimneys so houses were filled with smoke which likely seeped out of them into the streets — along with sweat, human grime, rancid and putrid dairy …

How did thinkers in the Middle Ages view cities?

Medieval writers were unsure about towns. On the one hand, they saw them as vital hubs of economic, cultural, political, administrative and spiritual activity. But on the other, they saw their many dangerous temptations: their taverns and alehouses, gambling dens and brothels.

What would be in a medieval city?

Medieval towns tended to grow around areas where people could easily meet, such as crossroads or rivers. Towns needed more water than villages, so a nearby water supply was vital. Many towns had large fences built around them and the gates of these fences were locked at night to keep out undesirables.

How would you describe a medieval city?

A Medieval city was considerably smaller with a limited population. Its streets were not paved and there were no tarmac roads like there are today. Medieval cities were quite dirty and muddy although as the medieval period progressed medieval cities became more organised and structured.

Was medieval London dirty?

The inhabitants of medieval London may have tolerated a dirtier smellier environment than inhabitants of modern-day western cities, but beyond a certain threshold, they were highly intolerant of pollution of their immediate environment.

What were the major cities of the Middle Ages?

Major Middle Ages Cities. Some of the major European cities of the Middle Ages were Paris, London, Constantinople, Rome, Florence, Milan, and Palermo.

Why did medieval cities have so many gates?

In the Middle Ages, cities mostly fell in to the hands of attackers due to lack of food and long siege. The city gates were built narrow (for pedestrians and horsemen) and wide (for carts). Typical medieval city had two gates (or more) because if attackers break through one gate, defenders could simply escape through the other.

How did medieval cities defend themselves from attack?

In order to make strong defense around the city walls, authorities have ordered digging trench filled with water, so people walked across the drawbridge to enter the city. The walls of the towers were especially thick. In the Middle Ages, cities mostly fell in to the hands of attackers due to lack of food and long siege.

What was life like in Europe during the Middle Ages?

When we think of Europe during the High Middle Ages, we see buoyant optimism everywhere. Europe was striking out against its neighbors in the movements of the Crusades, there was an unprecedented period of economic growth, and the age saw the soaring of great architecture—first Romanesque and then Gothic—cathedrals and churches all over Europe.