Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/340

 252 General History oj Europe ville, is derived from "vill," the manor or villa, and we use this old Roman word when we call a town Jacksonville or Harris- ville. The need of protection was probably the usual reason for establishing a town with walls about it, so that the townspeople and the neighboring country people might find safety within it when attacked by neighboring feudal lords. 411. Compactness of a Medieval Town. The way in which a medieval town was built seems to justify this conclusion. It was generally crowded and compact compared with its more luxurious Roman predecessors. Aside from the market place there were few or no open spaces. There were no amphitheaters or public baths as in the Roman cities. The streets were often mere alleys, over which the jutting stories of the high houses almost met. The high, thick wall that surrounded it prevented its extending easily and rapidly as our cities do nowadays. 412. Townsmen originally Serfs. All towns outside of Italy were small in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and, like the manors on which they had grown up, they had little com- merce as yet with the outside world. They produced almost all that their inhabitants needed except the farm products which came from the neighboring country. There was likely to be little expansion as long as the town remained under the absolute control of the lord or monastery upon whose land it was situated. The townspeople were scarcely more than serfs, in spite of the fact that they lived within a wall and were traders and artisans in- stead of farmers. They had to pay irritating dues to their lord, just as if they still formed a farming community. With the increase of trade (414-418) came the longing for greater freedom. For when new and attractive commodities began to be brought from the East and the South, the people of the towns were encouraged to make things which they could exchange at some neighboring fair for the products of distant lands. But no sooner did the townsmen begin to engage in manufacturing and to enter into relations with the outside world than they became aware that they were subject to exactions and restrictions which rendered progress impossible.