Western Civilization

and waste products from their animals into the river,

while tanners threw in tannic acids, dried blood, fat,

hair, and wastes.

Because of the pollution, cities were not inclined to

use the rivers for drinking water but relied instead on

wells. Some communities repaired the aqueducts left

over from Roman times, and some even constructed

new ones. Private and public baths also existed in me-

dieval towns. Paris, for example, had thirty-two public

baths for men and women. City laws prohibited lepers

and people with “bad reputations” from using them,

but such measures did not prevent the public baths

from being known for permissiveness. One contempo-

rary commented on what occurred in public bath-

houses: “Shameful things. Men make a point of staying

all night in the public baths and women at the break of

day come in and through ‘ignorance’ find themselves in

the men’s rooms.”^4 Authorities came under increasing

pressure to close the baths down, and the great plague

of the fourteenth century sealed their fate.

There were considerably more men than women in

medieval cities. Married women, in addition to super-

vising the household, purchasing food and preparing

meals, washing clothes, managing the family finances,

and bearing and taking care of children, were also often

expected to help their husbands in their trades. While

men produced goods at home, their wives often

peddled them at markets or fairs.

Single women and widows had little alternative but

to become involved in activities to generate income in

order to provide for themselves financially. Some

women earned money by practicing a trade, such as

brewing ale, manufacturing glass, or making hats and

cloth. Other women became midwives, innkeepers, or

prostitutes. A widow often carried on her husband’s

trade. Some women in medieval towns were thus able

to lead lives of considerable independence and made

important contributions to the market economy.

Industry in Medieval Cities

The revival of trade enabled cities and towns to become

important centers for manufacturing a wide range of

products, such as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather

goods. A host of crafts were carried on in houses along

the narrow streets of the medieval cities. From the

twelfth century on, artisans began to organize them-

selves intoguilds, which came to play a leading role in

the economic life of the cities.

By the thirteenth century, virtually every group of

craftworkers, including tanners, carpenters, and bakers,

had its own guild, and specialized groups of merchants,

such as dealers in silk, spices, wool, or banking, had

guilds as well. Craft guilds directed almost every aspect

of the production process. They set standards for the

articles produced, specified the methods of production

to be used, and fixed the price at which the finished

goods could be sold. Guilds also determined the num-

ber of men who could enter a specific trade and the

procedure they must follow to do so.

A person who wanted to learn a trade first became

an apprentice to a master craftsman, usually at around

the age of ten. After five to seven years of service, in

which they learned their craft, apprentices became jour-

neymen (or journeywomen, although most were male),

who then worked for wages for other masters. Journey-

men aspired to become masters as well. To do so, they

were expected to produce a “masterpiece,” a finished

piece in their craft that allowed the master craftsmen of

the guild to judge whether the journeymen were quali-

fied to become masters and join the guild.

The Intellectual and Artistic

World of the High Middle Ages

Q FOCUSQUESTION: What were the major intellectual

and cultural achievements of European civilization in

the High Middle Ages?

The High Middle Ages was a time of tremendous intel-

lectual and artistic vitality. The period witnessed the

growth of educational institutions, a rebirth of interest

in ancient culture, a quickening of theological thought,

the development of a vernacular literature, and a burst

of activity in architecture. Although monks continued

to play an important role in intellectual activity, the

secular clergy, cities, and courts, whether of kings, prin-

ces, or high church officials, began to exert a newfound

influence. Especially significant were the new cultural

expressions that emerged in towns and cities.

The Rise of Universities

The university as we know it—with faculty, students,

and degrees—was a product of the High Middle Ages.

The worduniversityis derived from the Latin worduni-

versitas(yoo-nee-VAYR-see-tahss), meaning a corpora-

tion or guild, and referred to either a guild of teachers

or a guild of students. Medieval universities were edu-

cational guilds or corporations that produced educated

and trained individuals.

The Intellectual and Artistic World of the High Middle Ages 211

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