7/23/2023 0 Comments Medieval town charter exampleSo medieval towns weren’t just another continuation of the medieval system we think we know – the system of lords, peasants and feudalism. This protected peasants who fled their lord’s estates to join the city – and encouraged labourers to move to urban areas, ensuring the growth of the town. In some charters, it was explicitly stated that any man who lived in the city for a year and a day, and paid the town’s fees and upheld his responsibilities, was considered a freeman of the town and any previous obligations he had were void. Some towns were also given the right to host an annual faire – an extended trading event that lasted multiple days. A town’s charter would nearly always specify its market day – the day of the week that town was allowed to hold its market. Of course, the most important role a town played was as a centre of trade and exchange. This was to facilitate trade, since many of the town’s citizens would be merchants who travelled regularly as part of their job. Many charters granted the town’s citizens exemption from paying bridge, road and other tolls when travelling either in the lord’s land or around the whole kingdom, in the case of royal towns. Instead, the town government paid a lump sum every year to the exchequer (the medieval English government’s treasury) – this was called the ‘fee farm’. More often than not, citizens of a town were exempt from paying some or all royal taxes. Some towns had their own courts and judiciary, and some charters stipulated that their citizens could only be tried by their town’s court, though the royal court usually took charge when crimes were especially serious. These were usually re-elected every year. The charter usually confirmed that citizens would have the right to elect a mayor and sometimes a council from among them to manage day-to-day operations. Some unofficial, organically developing ‘towns’ had to fight for the right to be granted a charter, while in the case of a local landowner choosing to establish one, often the charter was one of the first steps on that road, long before the area had any kind of urban development.Ĭharters varied wildly from place to place, but these were some common features: The charter was a legal document that outlined the rights and privileges of the town’s inhabitants, as well as how it would pay tax and be governed. Regardless of origin, what made a town was its charter. Others were founded on purpose, with the local church, lord, or even the king setting aside land specifically for the purposes of establishing a town. Some towns coalesced naturally – either as the descendants of old Roman towns, like London or Bath, or at natural points like road crossings where merchants and others might often stop for a rest. With this in mind, I thought I’d outline how Medieval European towns actually functioned – who ran them, how they appeared, who lived there and all that. Of course, the medieval world didn’t quite work this way. This means kings with absolute authority, dirty peasants, shifty merchants, grubby towns and – besides a handful of inept town guards who seem to work directly for the king or local lord – a total lack of government or law. A lot of fantasy writers draw inspiration from medieval Europe – or what they think is medieval Europe.
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