Rise of the Medieval City

A WebQuest for 6-12th Grade Social Studies, Literature

Designed by Chris Espinosa

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Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

In late Medieval Europe, the city had become the place to be.  Many people fled the countryside to the cities for many of the same reasons people do today.  Jobs, money and excitement were only a few of the reasons that people were drawn to Medieval cities like magnets.  But like  today, those that made it to the Medieval city found a cramped, dirty, and often corrupt place, where poverty, and disease resided along side hope and wealth.

The Medieval city then is a place where space is king, and power and money are the hands that hold the crown.  But in a place that is home to both burgler and bishop (and everything in between), space is dictated by the role a person plays.  So whether inside or outside the city walls, a constant battle for space ensues as each group carves out a place of their own.

Task

You and a group of four other people will take on the role of a Merchant, Church Official, Jew, Beggar, or Artisan respectively, and negotiate between yourselves to come up with the best city lay-out possible. As a team you are to, in the best Medieval tradition, find a place for everybody, and put everybody in their place.  You are then to draw up a proposal, consisting of the name and a sketch of the city, plus a one to two page (each) description of the role your character's group plays in the city, and why you wanted (or did not want) to control the part of the city in which you were placed.  After your proposal is turned in, each team will give a five minute presentation defending their proposal.

While your city can be anywhere in Europe, it is important to remember that it must have at least four walls, and have fresh water available.  It should also be accessible by land and/or water, so that trade is possible.         

Process

• Step one: Each team of five must decide which role each member will play. 

  	Church  Officials: Large churches were usually in the center of town. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html http://www.netserf.org/ http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_church.htm
  	Jews: Often Lived near castles for protection http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html http://www2.kenyon.edu/Projects/Margin/jew.htm http://www.answers.com/topic/ghetto
  	Artisans: Tried to be near the marketplace to sell their goods. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html http://www.historyforkids.org/
  	Merchants: Lived near marketplace, or close to main gates for trading purposes. http://www.fidnet.com/~weid/medievaleconomics.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/12834/text/marketplace.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html
  	Beggars: Often lived by churches to collect alms from worshipers http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1t.html http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/lectures/paupers.html http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/nelson/paupers.html

   
  

• Step two: After careful research, as a team, you will decide the best location for your city, and the lay-out of your city.
  

  http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gbetcher/373/MedTowns.htm http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/  http://www.the-orb.net/ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html http://www.historyforkids.org/

  
  

• Step three: Each student will research the role of their respective character's group of people to see what they offer the city, and decide where in the city that group best suited (remember, you will likely have to have more than one site in mind).
  

• Step four: Each team will negotiate between themselves to figure out which section of town their respective group of people will control (eg: city center, near the main gate, along river or wall, etc.).
  

• Step five: On a poster board, the team will recreate the Medieval city that your team imagined.  The team will need to identify which part of the city each group of people controls, roads leading to and from the city, and major buildings (such as the church) in the city.  Along with the poster, each individual member of the team will write a one to two page paper that explains the role that their group of people play in the Medieval city, and why they choose/didn't choose the section of the city that their group of people controls.  In additions, each individual student will fill out a sheet evaluating each member of his or her group.
  

• Step six: There will be a five minute presentation given by each team defending their proposed city plan. Each presentation will be followed by a short question and answer session.
  

Evaluation

Each student will be evaluated both as a group, and as an individual within that group, and will be given a single grade.  The rubric below illustrates how the project will be evaluated. Peer evaluations will also be taken into account. 

Conclusion

By completing this task, I now hope that you have a better understand of some of the different groups that made up the Medieval city, and how different groups related to one another.  In addition, it is my hope that this task has helped you realize the importance of negotiation.

Questions to think about:
How might Medieval cities be different if only one group of people lived in them, and would that city
     be better off, or not?
How is the Medieval city like cities today?
How is the Medieval city different than the cities today?
Would you like to live in a city like the one you imagined?

Credits & References

 The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns page were the resources used to create this webquest. 
Top image, and map image can be found at: http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il
Full "Beggar" image found at: http://classes.bnf.fr/ema/grands/795.htm
"Jews" image found at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html#The%20Jewish%20Middle%20Ages
"Artisans" image can be found at: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/n/nanni/banco/
"Church Officials" image found at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/euwc/ho_1984.343.htm
Full "Merchants" image found at: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/artist/guilds.html

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

Last updated 10-8-05. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page