The influence of the Middle Ages in Western Europe on modern society

Hello, happy to answer your questions. Root cause: With the development of the productive forces in Western Europe, the power of the citizen class has grown, and Western European cities have re-emerged.

The emerging cities of Western Europe first developed in Italy, such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Florence Venice was originally a vassal state of Byzantium, independent in the ninth century, and in Europe, which was dominated by agriculture, it was the first country to rely on commerce to survive Venice developed a thriving triangle between Venice and Constantinople and Muslim North Africa**, trafficking goods from the East Then Genoa, Pisa, Naples and other ports also followed suit, and then promoted the development of Milan and Florence in the interior of Italy But the proliferation of cities in Western Europe was from the 11th to the 13th centuries.

In the past two or three hundred years, the towns of Bruges and Ghent in the Flemish region imported wool from England, forming the industrial center of Northern Europe On the coast of the Rhine, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, there were also cities such as Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubek In the trade routes of the interior, there were regular large fairs, among which the market in the county of Champagne was the most famous The cities of Western Europe in the Middle Ages were not large and not crowded The largest cities were mostly in southern Europe, and the city of Palermo in Sicily was said to have 300,000 people at its peak, but this was mainly the foundation laid by Muslims The population of Venice, Milan, and Florence in Italy is generally 100,000 or more Paris had a population of 240,000 in the 13th century, London in the 12th century, and 45,000 in the 13th century By today's standards, the city of London was small, dirty, a stinking, fire-prone waste dump: wooden houses, unpaved streets, the only sewer system in England, and only one public toilet But the citizens of London in the 12th century were proud of London and thought it was shining Hope it helps. Please give a thumbs up, thank you!

The main reason: the rapid development of capitalist industry and commerce.

There were two areas where medieval cities first emerged in Western Europe: the Po River valley in northern Italy and Flanders (a city in southern France) on the North Sea coast. The cities of Milan, Venice, Bruges and Ghent sprang up here.

This is followed by the Rhine Valley and some cities in northern France, with the rest of the region being relatively late.

Before the rise of these cities, the lands of Western Europe had been divided among secular feudal lords. Most of the cities arose in the territory of the feudal lords, and were therefore exploited by the lords. The city had to pay the lord in kind and money, for labor or military service, and to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes.

Therefore, after the rise of the city, various forms (overt or covert) and various means (armed struggle or money ransom) were used to fight against the lords, and the anti-lord struggles in some cities won the support of the royal power for a certain period of time. The struggle of the cities for freedom and autonomy is known in France as the "urban commune movement". As a result, some cities have gained a certain degree of freedom and privileges, and have become "free cities".