Forming a Town
Who first moved to a town?
What replaced bartering for goods?
The use of money
What is a guild?
an organized group of craftsmen with the same craft (such as shoemakers)
What disease killed 1/4 to 1/2 of Europe's population in the mid-14th century?
The Black Death, or the bubonic plague
What type of architecture replaced Romanesque architecture?
List two benefits of living in a town
Protection, and easier trade
Why would (answer to 2A) be a good replacement for bartering?
Sometimes you don't need what the other person has to offer right away, with money, you can save up and use it to make a purchase later
Merchants and craftsman
Where did many craftsmen and merchants live?
They lived on top of or behind their businesses
Describe both types of architecture
Romanesque: rounded vaults (arches for ceilings), thick stone walls, small windows, dark and cold
Gothic: flying buttresses for thinner walls, more windows, high ceilings, bright, airy, and stained glass
What were the two main things that traders looked for in settling a town?
Transportation (a major road or waterway) and protection (a castle)
Explain town fairs
A town fair was set up when traders returned from far away places with goods to trade. You could find exotic things there, and could trade what you had for what you wanted (bartering).
How did guilds control what was sold?
no craftsman could sell or make his product unless he belonged to a guild. the guild managed the quality and price of the products
Besides work, what did guilds provide for people in towns?
care for sick or old members, social life, celebrations
What were the church bells used for?
Reminding the town of the time, warning them of danger, and announcing good or bad news
What is a charter? Why would the townspeople celebrate this?
A document giving the townspeople the ability to govern themselves. Although they still had to pay taxes, the townspeople had much more freedom.
Why did farmers need craftsmen? Why did craftsmen need farmers?
Farmers might need horseshoes, wagons yokes, or iron tools. Craftsmen needed food from the farmers
List and define the three stages of learning a trade
apprentice: lives and works in the home of a master craftsmen, and learns the trade; journeyman: travels to different towns and hires himself out to work for different master craftsmen; master craftsman: presents a masterpiece to the guild, and if it is good enough he will be allowed to join the guild
What were the two greatest dangers of a medieval town? Why were they such a big problem?
Fire and disease. The houses were very close together and were all wood. People did not bathe or wash their hands, and they dumped their chamber pots into the streets; because they lived so close together, diseases spread very quickly.
What did the townspeople use the Cathedrals for? Why were the cathedrals so special to the town?
Generations of local craftsmen had worked on it, all the townspeople had spent money and watched its progress. The townspeople used the cathedral for worship, meetings and markets outside, and celebrated holidays and parades there.
What are the 4 stages of town development?
Beginning a town (traders settle), young town (peasants, younger sons of nobles, craftsmen, and priests join the traders), bulging town (stories are built on top of houses to stay within the walls), chartered town (the town receives its charter)
What is a letter of credit, who received it, and how did they obtain it?
A merchant left an amount of money with the banker, who gave him a letter that said it was worth that same amount. This way, the merchant could travel with the letter instead of a large amount of money. When he got to the next town, that town's banker would accept the letter of credit, give him that amount of money, and then that banker could get the real money from the first banker.
Guilds made it so that craftsmen had to follow high standards for their work. How does this relate to what the Bible tells us about our work?
We are instructed to be "not slothful in business" (Romans 12:11), which means that we should always be doing the best that we can, not to get more money or fame, but because that is what God instructs us to do
What religion did the townspeople follow? Who ministered to the people in the town? What inaccurate view of Salvation did these ministers have?
Friars of the Roman Catholic church helped and ministered to the people in towns. They believed that by doing so many good works, they could earn their Salvation. We know from the Bible that the ONLY way to be saved is to believe that Jesus died for our sins
The cathedrals were beautiful and it took a lot of time, effort, and money to build them. In what ways were these cathedrals a good example of honoring and worshipping God? In what ways were they a potential stumbling block to people?
We should give God the best of what we have, whether that is our time, our work, or our money. We want to honor God with a beautiful place to worship Him. However, it can become easy to idolize the building, when it is God that should be the one being worshipped. Many people began to compare their town's cathedral with other towns', and it was easy to focus more on the beauty of the building than worshipping God.