Another factor leading to the culture of the towns and their indispensable importance in the growth of European civilization was the Crusades. As we read, for example, "The increment of Genoa and Pisa was greatly accelerated by the crusades . . . Soon Genoese and Pisan vessels were sailing regularly to the newly established Latin farming of Jerusalem with crusaders, pilgrims, and supplies . . . Genoa and Pisa received free access to the markets of the Latin state and made highly net profitable use of it" (Tierney & Painter, 1983, p. 269).
Again, then, we see clearly the interaction of the elements of change operating in Europe in the 12th Century. The towns and exchange developed interdependently, and the Crusades were bolstered by the presence of the festering towns, which in turn benefitted from the dynamics of the Crusades. The structural changes brought about by the Crusades, in terms of the nature of government and the relationships among the nations and between governments and the Church, buttocks be seen as resulting, directly and indirectly, from the development of towns.
While the towns of Italy were playing such a prominent role in the development of Southern Europe, in the North the towns of what was th
The largest cities in Europe were rarely populated with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and almost were much smaller. Germany, for example, had over 3000 towns in this era, with almost 2900 having less than jet mickle. Only fifteen cities had more than 10,000 inhabitants.
In addition, the flow of people and trade to the growing towns included the rich as comfortably as the poor, all of them seeking either sustenance or profits, so that the towns both enlivened Europe and brought about instabilities in social, political, and economic structures.
Slavin concurs with this assessment: "The communities thus engendered were not mere statistical distribution points for luxury goods. They were becoming more and more concerned to capture and distribute necessities of life to the growing regional populations. And the relations between traders, producers, and consumers were less parasitic than symbiotic . . . Everywhere in Italy the towns were pickings on a commercial aspect of necessity. Large-scale trade attracted men with small surpluses of capital . . . This meant that agrarian surpluses lay at the bottom of commerce . . . There was . . . in every town a resident nobility with country estates, eager to profit from the conjunction of need and privilege" (Slavin, 1972, p. 525).
As the sources emphasize, the emergence and development of towns reflected the emergence and development of an intensified economic structure throughout the continent: "A city in the period 1000-1300 was manifestly a place for the concentrated production and exchange of goods. It was not intrinsic to its function that it have parks, broad boulevards, and charm for tourists. Nor was it essential that houses be spacious, sanitary, colorful, and varied" (Slavin, 1972, p. 539).
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