Constructing a sense of community in rapidly growing European cities in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries

Abstract

The rapid growth of cities from the eleventh to the thirteenth century raises the question of how a sense of community was created among inhabitants who were migrants from disparate backgrounds. Before urban institutions and legislation emerged, informal social structures based on trust networks appear to have fostered socialization and an adaptation to new ways of life. Travelling merchants created various kinds of associations which were at the origins of the sworn communes. The merchants' guilds also strove to protect citizens on their travels. The growth of the cities led to the need to institutionalize these functions.The strong urban growth of cities in western Europe between approximately 1000 and 1300 C.E. resulted from important migrations. These were movements primarily from the countryside into nearby new population concentrations, but probably also from regions further away. Historians have paid little attention to the process of social integration which must have taken place in these rapidly growing urban communities. However, the lifestyle experienced by those in small rural communities, where various types of domain laws bonded serfs, differed fundamentally from that in the new havens of freedom.The character of urban economic activity made people less dependent on natural conditions and more on social constraints, as will be explored below. People coming from various backgrounds had to adapt to new types of work and community life. Habitation was more dense, the size of the community larger and levels of social interaction much higher although less personal. Social positions and relations were rather fluid; new roles and behavioural standards had to be developed. Given the variety of social origins of the new town dwellers, and the rapid changes consequent upon the continuing expansion, the early cities must have been melting pots in which the limits of the newly acquired freedom were probed through processes of adaptation and conflict. New social structures emerged with new laws, new institutions and a new sense of community. As historians, we are best informed about the steps by which new relations became formalized. I would like to draw attention to the phase before institutionalization and legislation, during which more informal social structures must have prepared the paths towards new urban ways of life. In the very first stage, 'a particularized trust in persons of known attributes or affiliations' needed to be created, before the urban elites and the community as a whole could expect to be * This article is a revised version of the plenary lecture delivered at

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“…But what about the idea that princes might actually insist that cities maintain lower barriers to entry into markets? This is an idea that has been emphasized by Epstein (2000, 101–105, 125) and which has also received qualified support from Blockmans (2010, 585–586).…”

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“…3 3 For instance, Blockmans (2010) shows how merchant guilds came to protect citizens on their travels in 11th to 13th century Europe.…”

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