Medieval Cities in Italy
0 “Town air makes one free”
0 Italy’s urbanism was unique
0 Amalfi, Bari, Genoa, Venice
0 Italians = equal opportunity merchants
0 Made money from Crusades
0 13th century = Genoa, Venice, Florence have massive
influence
Medieval Cities in Italy
0 “Town air makes one free”
0 Italy’s urbanism was unique
0 Amalfi, Bari, Genoa, Venice
0 Italians = equal opportunity merchants
0 Made money from Crusades
0 13th century = Genoa, Venice, Florence have massive
influence
0 Example of Marco Polo (1254-1324)
Medieval Cities in Italy
0 New financial innovations
0 Two societal classes: “magnates” and “populars”
0 By 11th and 12th centuries, towns buying freedom
0 Italian experiments in self-government
0 Based on Ancient Greek city-states
0 Assemblies
0 Internal partisan politics
0 Consuls and professional city managers
Northern European Towns
0 Earliest towns developed from cloth trade
0 Ghent, Bruges, Ypres
0 Three social classes: patricians, artisans, unskilled
labor (“blue nails”)
0 Occasional revolts, but lots of repression
0 Importance of guilds
0 Some economic mobility
The Silk Road & the Mongols
0 13th century = direct route between Asia & Europe
0 Trade & cultural exchange
The Silk Road & the Mongols
0 13th century = direct route between Asia & Europe
0 Trade & cultural exchange
0 The Mongols = nomadic herdsmen, raiders
0 Temujin (ca. 1167-1227), “Genghis Khan”
0 1209 = invaded China
0 European Invasion . . .
0 1241 = Battle of Liegnitz (stalemate)
0 Kublai Khan (1260-1294)
0 1279 = invaded southern China
The Khanate of
the Golden Horde
The Khanate of
the Golden Horde
0 1294 = Kublai Khan died
0 Russian territory allowed semiautonomy
0 Russian territory of Muscovy
0 Foundation of modern Russia
0 Suspicious of Western Europe
The Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate
0 Initially controlled by Turks
0 1243 = Mongols defeated the Turks
0 1268 = Mongols absorb Anatolia
The Ilkhanate
0 Initially controlled by Turks
0 1243 = Mongols defeated the Turks
0 1268 = Mongols absorb Anatolia
0 Mongols stopped by the Mamluk Sultanate (Egypt)
Mongolian Rule
0 Largest contiguous Empire ever – 20% of the earth
0 Khanates were ruled separately
0 Flexible, adaptable
0 Extremely tolerant of other religions
0 “Pax Mongolica” (1250-1350) = 100 years of peace
0 Cultural achievements
0 Encouraged trade along the Silk Road
0 Marco Polo
0 Ibn Battuta (1304-1368)
0 1368 = Chinese oust Mongols
Euro-Expansion into Africa
0 Gold!
0 Lots of early trade . . .
0 13th & 14th centuries = increased demand for gold
0 Europe ran out of silver
0 Spread throughout northern Africa
Moving into the Atlantic . . .
Moving into the Atlantic . . .
0 Genoans, Catalonians, Venetians branch out
0 14th century = discovery of the Azore and Canary Islands
0 By 1000 = Vikings colonized Greenland & “Vinland”
0 Permanent colonies established in Greenland
0 Later impacted by climate change
0 Colonies failed in “Vinland”
The Innovation of Exploration
0 New ways of handling money . . .
0 Double-entry bookkeeping
0 Written receipt transfers
0 1280s = eyeglasses
0 Exploration-related inventions:
0 Magnetic compass
0 Portolan charts
The Innovation of Exploration
0 New ways of handling money . . .
0 Double-entry bookkeeping
0 Written receipt transfters
0 1280s = eyeglasses
0 Exploration-related inventions:
0 Magnetic compass
0 Portolan charts
0 Mechanical clocks
0 Regulation of life into clear segments