European History The income and food consumption of urban dwellers in England in the 14th century
Urbanization began in Western Europe in the early Middle Ages, as defined by Fontaine's Dictionary of Modern Thought"The process and impact of population concentration in cities and urban areas. This concept includes urban sprawl and urban population growth, as well as changes in land use, lifestyles, natural landscapes, geographical and occupational distribution of population, and economic activity"。
The rate of urbanization is analysed in three main aspects: national population, urban population and number of towns. The traditional view in the study of urban history is that medieval Western Europe had a low rate of urbanization, with no more than 10% of the total population living in cities, while medieval England probably had less than 10% urbanization. As research has developed, scholars have included small towns in England as well. Unlike other Western European countries, medieval England had a relatively large number of small towns and their inhabitants, and small towns played an important role in the cities of medieval England. Some researchers believe that the rate of urbanization in medieval England was more than 10%, and in the 14th century it could have reached 15% to 20%.
Surveys of 14th-century English towns show that the total population of these towns ranged from 900,000 to 1 million, divided into three classes: large, medium, and small. Large towns typically have 10,000 or more inhabitants;The largest is London, with around 80 to 100,000 inhabitants, making it one of the largest towns in northwestern Europe;Norwich, Bristol, York and Winchester have about 50,000 inhabitants;There are between 2,000 and 10,000 inhabitants in medium-sized towns and 40 in total. There are about 40 medium-sized towns with a population of between 2,000 and 10,000, mainly provincial towns and port cities in the east and south;Small towns range from 300 to 2,000 people, with about 600 or more, with a total population of about 400,000, and are closer to the villages, about 10 to 20 kilometers"。"England in the 14th century was generally less urbanized than some developed parts of Europe, with only 5% of the population living in towns with more than 5,000 people and 10% in towns with more than 2,500 people, much lower than in the Low Countries or Italy in the south.
Of England's 14 towns, small towns play an important role;At that time, small towns accounted for 85% of the total number of towns in England, and their combined population accounted for 45%-55% of the total population of England's towns. Banbury, Chelmsford, Rouse, Peterborough, Ludlow, Doncaster, Tinterden, Petersfield, Loskier, Leicester, Loughborough and Loveborough. Loskil, Lehrard, Newmarket, Bradford, Corkmouth, and Arnwick were typical small towns of this period. The small towns of this period had both commercial and agricultural characteristics. Compared to larger towns such as London, small towns have a weaker commercial character, smaller market areas, and a more defined division of non-agricultural enterprises in small towns, unlike rural areas"。"Industrialists and businessmen in small towns have not yet been completely detached from agriculture, they continue to own small plots of land, pastures and farmland, but their agricultural income is often less than half of their income, and their main income is **and industry.
Resident income. In the Middle Ages, urban society was hierarchical, class differentiated, and income disparities between different classes were large, but in the 14th century, English society underwent major changes, and the incomes of city dwellers changed dramatically during this period.
The composition of the urban population.
Modern Western scholars generally believe that medieval cities must have five basic characteristics: first, dense population;The second is the specialization of economic functionsThird, the social structure is complex;Fourth, the administrative mechanism is perfect;Fifth, it has an impact on the outside world as a community. Compared with the cities of ancient Rome and ancient China, the biggest feature of medieval cities in Western Europe is the economic function of industry and **, developed industry and ** attract people to settle in the city, which is also the reason for the rapid growth of the urban population of England after the Norman conquest in the 11th century.
The English clergyman Elfrank, in his study of the social structure and social groups of early England, divided the people of the time into three categories: warriors, prayers, and workers. Warriors fight the enemy and defend their homeland;Workers work hard to provide the capital they need to survive;Prayer seekers pray to God day and night for God to bless the people. With the development of society and economy, more and more people come to the city, and the city is full of all kinds of people. The demographic composition of UK cities also varies according to different criteria. In terms of occupation, English townspeople are mainly divided into merchants, guild artisans, and wage labourers. According to the amount of wealth they have, urban dwellers are divided into rich, middle-class, and poor classes.
The analysis of urban tax assessment mainly measures the wealth of urban residents through the value of movable and immovable property, and the analysis of urban tax assessment shows that the distribution of urban wealth is very uneven;In large cities, the upper class is often referred to as the merchant elite. Merchants are valued because they are highly profitable because they are engaged in the trading of valuable goods such as liquor or fabrics. In many cities, there are also fairly wealthy people who earn income by holding public office, practicing law, and renting property;Merchants and craftsmen are a minority. The middle class was less affluent and included servants, hired laborers, day laborers, and small shopkeepers. The urban underclass is made up of widows and itinerant beggars, who make their living mainly from urban almsgivers, and itinerant beggars, who make their living mainly through urban almsgivers.
According to their legal status, urban dwellers are divided into two categories: those who have civil rights and those who do not. According to the classification criteria of feudal cities in China, urban residents were divided into upper, middle, and lower classes. At the top was the ruling class, including officers and soldiers, city lords, wealthy merchants, and secular feudal lords;The middle class is the mainstream of society, mainly craftsmen engaged in **, industry and handicrafts, as well as some relatively weak merchants;The lower classes of the city included some apprentices, assistants, beggars, hooligans, prostitutes, etc.
In Hans Werner Goetz's Life in the Middle Ages in Europe, the bourgeoisie is divided into upper, middle and lower classes. The upper class of the city consisted mainly of merchants and eunuchs, including some very wealthy artisans;The middle class of the city consisted of craftsmen, artisans and industry;The lower classes consisted mainly of apprentices, assistants, day laborers, hired laborers, servants, executioners, butchers, and beggars. According to Marx's theory of social division of labor, from the specific composition of the population of a particular city, London's social classes can be divided into five, the first is the bureaucratic aristocracy, including the royal nobles, municipal **, local nobles, these people are the holders of urban power and have the absolute right to speak in the city;The second was the merchant and artisan class, which constituted the bulk of London societyThe third is the clergy class;The fourth is self-employed and immigrants. Doctors, lawyers, unskilled workers, small craftsmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, hairdressers, cooks, foreign immigrants, etc.;The fifth is the lower strata of society: apprentices, day laborers, laborers, maids, servants, beggars and prostitutes.