Medieval City Governance and Social Structure
III.3 – City Governance
The political autonomy of cities varied greatly. English cities were dependent, while Italian city-states were autonomous. Urban franchises granted economic freedoms. Residents could gain self-governance through land rights. City governance typically had three levels: General Assembly (all residents), Council (deliberates on urban management), and Executive Branch. Appointments combined election, co-optation, and drawing.
Political autonomy unified cities legally. Symbols like seals, halls, and bells represented this unity. Walls physically unified settlements.
III.4 – Urban Society
A) Patricians and Urban Renewal
A few powerful men, known as magnati in Italy, held political and social dominance. Initially, historians believed these were new men, but now recognize the importance of urban nobility. These gentlemen citizens controlled city strongholds. Urban clergy, including canons and monks, also held influence.
Franchise letters led to a merger of old nobility, ministry families, and merchant classes. Rivalries and factions sometimes caused the business bourgeoisie to overthrow the old patricians. In Florence, moguls lost power in 1293. In Ghent and Bruges, the ‘new rich’ revolted with artisan support.
B) Popolo Grasso and Popolo Minuto
Medieval urban society was stratified, with money as the primary differentiator. Patricians controlled finances and taxes. Debt became a tool for domination as wage labor developed. Artisans, shopkeepers, clergy, and workers formed the popolo, a difficult group to define. Tax records classified citizens by their tax bill. The lowest taxpayers, the minuti, were often unrecorded. The difference between grassi and minuti is unclear.
Social groups were distributed by labor specialization and quarters. Housing shortages exacerbated inequalities. Rental markets emerged. The poorest couldn’t pay taxes.
Cities cared for the poor through urban hospitals, which housed the poor, sick, and pilgrims. These hospitals had property income. Urban society was framed by sociability. The family was the primary unit, its size and structure depending on social level. Aristocratic clans controlled some cities. Artisan families were vulnerable to epidemics. Fictive kinship reinforced family structures.
The neighborhood, centered around the parish church, was another key part of sociability. Public spaces facilitated interaction. The third part of urban sociability was craft production.