I was going to ask this on /tg/ since it's research for a homebrew setting, but I realized it's a better question for /his/, I understand how the Manorial model works for villages, there is a lord, the property is divided up, there are commons and people pay rents.
How did cities and large towns operate under Feudal rule in Europe?
Although I'd like being spoon fed, condescendingly pointing to sources is also good.
some were independent and powerful like the italian city states, others existed separate from the feudal structure with burghers being allowed to follow their own traditional laws separate from the rest of the kingdom
for most of the middle ages cities in western europe were still small compared to what they had been during the pax romana and it wasn't until the high middle ages that they really began to expand
>>1276104
Thank you, from the little I have read on the subject, I gathered a trend if semi-autonomy.
Specifically in Feudal Western Europe, how were cities (small as they were) ran? Where they part of the king's demense?
That would seem to explain the non-noble nature of mayors.
>>1276060
Cities were usually chartered.
The charter regulated the law and lives of the townspeople, who were considered citizens, which rights did they have, whose their relations with the various other powers are...
Nobles did found their own cities too.
>The then lord of Biscay, Diego López V of Haro, founded Bilbao through a municipal charter dated in Valladolid on 15 June 1300 and confirmed by King Fernando IV of Castile in Burgos, on 4 January 1301. Diego López established the new town on the right bank of the Nervión river, on the grounds of the elizate of Begoña and granted it the fuero of Logroño, a compilation of rights and privileges that would prove fundamental to its later development.[29]
>>1276060
>feudalism
Didn't exist. :^)
>>1276060
Either independent to a large degree with ruling body of citizens or under a king/lord
In the latter case an official such as mayor, bailif or whatever was appointed every so often.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_in_the_Middle_Ages#Governing_the_City
>>1277098
ill just quote it
>Between 996 and 1031, Robert the Pious named the first Prévôt, or Royal Provost of Paris, to be the administrator of the city. Originally the position was purchased for a large sum of money, but after scandals during the reign of Louis IX caused by Provosts who used the position to become rich, the position was given to proven administrators. The Provost lived in the Grand Châtelet fortress. He combined the positions of financial manager, chief of police, chief judge and chief administrator of the city, though the financial management position was soon taken away and given to a separate Receveur de Paris. [39] For his role in administering justice, he had a lieutenant for civil law, one for criminal law, and one for minor infractions. He also had two examiners to carry out investigations. In 1301, the Provost was given an additional staff of sixty clerks to act as notaries, to register documents and decrees.
>Saint Louis created a new position, the Provost of the Merchants (prévôt des marchands), to share authority with the Royal Provost. This position recognized the growing power and wealth of the merchants of Paris. He also created the first municipal council of Paris with twenty-four members. The Provost of the Merchants had his headquarters in the Parloir aux Bourgeois, located in the 13th century on rue Saint-Denis close to the Seine and the Chatelet fortress, where the royal Provost resided. In 1357, the Provost of the Merchants was Etienne Marcel who purchased the Maison aux Piliers on the Place de la Greve, which became the first city hall; the current city hall occupies the same location. [40]
>The Parlement de Paris was created in 1250; it was a national, not a local, institution; it was a court rather than a legislature, and it rendered justice in the name of the King, and was usually summoned in difficult periods when the King wanted to gather broader support for his actions. [41]
>>1276060
For some interesting examples, take a look at the capitanei and valvassores in the 10th-11th centuries in northern Italy - these were 'urban vassals' of a kind. Good evidence for them comes from the rule of the Salian Emperor, Conrad II, particularly from Milan where these two ranks of the urban warrior aristocracy had a dispute settled over inheritance of fiefs by the emperor.
Of course, the Italian landscape was very different to that of the rest of western Europe - the pace of urban decline in Italy was significantly slower, as was subsequent revitalisation.
'Free cities' as described by other posters were quite common - the city of Worms is a good example. Unfortunately, before the 13th century, in many places their governmental structures are obscure.
They should not be seen as standing outside of the feudal system, but there was a considerably greater variety of ways in which cities could slot into the system.
>>1276060
>ynr this painting's only purpose is to immortalize that guy in the background that fell on the ice like a bitch
classical bantz
Why don't communists and anarchists look more upon medieval communes when they were the closest we ever got to rule by worker's council, in the case, many free cities were ruled by guilds?
>>1277060
What should I say then? Manorialist economic planning under middle age monarchy?
>>1276104
>cities in western europe were still small compared to what they had been during the pax romana
what were major roman cities like after the fall of rome?
>>1277575
The ones which were major cities during Roman times, Rome herself, Treveris, Marselle...
>>1277575
Barbarians ruling over them with Romans in administration. They eventually intermingled and created a new culture
