The Role of Commerce and Towns in the High Middle Ages

During the High Middle Ages, towns rose and commerce was revived, beginning with long-distance trading. Goods that could only be produced in certain areas became great in demand. For example, Flemish woolens, which could not be duplicated elsewhere, had merchants travel to Flanders in increasing numbers to buy them and bring them back home to sell. Money came back into circulation. As the merchants traveled back and forth, they started settling down in growing centers -- towns. Craftsmen moved from overpopulated manors into these towns, thus causing local trade to develop as villagers, serfs, and lords needed to get materials from the craftsmen in towns. Also with the rise of agricultural productivity, people could produce surplus to sell in markets. Each town carried on trade with the nearby rural countryside. The growth of towns also increased demands for food, and lords began clearing land. Since serfs were not slaves, they could not be moved at will, so lords offered freer terms to convince peasants to settle on the new lands. It was harder for the lord of the old villages to hold his people in serfdom since new villages nearby allowed people to be free. Meanwhile, corporate liberties - such as serfs who lived in towns long enough would be deemed free - appealed to serfs. Additionally, peasants were able to earn money by selling produce in town; it became common for peasants to gain personal freedom in return for annual money payments to their lord.

Economic roles available to women

Women were allowed to be a part of guilds, associations within each town that protected its members and the regulation of certain crafts or trades such as merchant and carpentry guilds. Although they could belong to guilds, they were still excluded from some of the guild's social activities and political privileges. Mostly, women worked in clothing-related positions. Widows were allowed to continue working in the trades or the artisanal crafts of their husbands, but they never became masters, or supervisors, of the guilds.

References

R. Palmer R., Joel Colton, and Lloyd Kramer. span class="auto-style1">A History of the Modern World. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2007.