wunder · Library

CHAPTER IV. Life

Life in a Mediæval City · Edwin Benson — chapter 2 of 8 · ~219 words · public domain

Read in the Wunder reader — free

LIFE

A. Civic Life

City government, the parishes; extra municipal rights; a royal city; charter; sheriffs; mayor; city councils; civic spirit; city and trade rule; royal government; punishments; sanctuary

B. Parliamentary and National Life

Leasing of royal power; Parliament; visits of Henry IV.; Wars of Roses; Duke of Gloucester; judges of assize; royal larder

C. Business Life

Middle class of merchant employers; Jews and Italians; professions; wool trade; trade-guilds; their government; strangers; phases of guild life; merchants; apprentices; working hours; trades; artist craftsmen; markets and fairs; overseas trade; money; extracts from ordinances

D. Religious Life

The Church in the Middle Ages; the Church and daily life; merchants and religion; the Church and education; work of hospitals; priests (at Minster; parish churches; Archbishop); pluralism; religious orders; monastic life; St. Mary's Abbey; Anchorites; other types of religious (pardoner, palmer, pilgrim {original had "pligrim"}); Church services

E. Education

Higher education; grammar schools; elementary education; educational welfare work; instruction; the ways in which the citizen got news and information; vocations; literacy in fifteenth century; mediæval learning; Revival of Learning

F. Entertainments

Holidays, travelling; mediæval plays; York plays; Corpus Christi Day Processions; production of pageants; other forms of entertainment; archery

G. Classes

Fashions and dress; nobles; religious; townspeople; women; the freemen; soldiers; men in royal service; lepers; visitors (kings, lords, commoners; judges; sailors) serfs

← Previous chapterAll chaptersNext chapter →

Life in a Mediæval City · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.

© 2026 Wunder Learning LLC · Terms & Privacy