[Illustration: FIG. 58. A TYPICAL MEDIAEVAL TOWN (PRUSSIAN)
All the elements of a typical mediaeval town are seen here--the walls for
defense, the watch-towers, the churches, the tall cathedral, the castle,
and the high houses huddled together.]

After about the year 1000 a revival of something like city life begins to
be noticeable here and there in the records of the time (R. 94 a), and by
1100 these signs begin to manifest themselves in many places and lands. By
1200 the cities of Europe were numerous, though small, and their
importance in the life of the times [29] was rapidly increasing (R. 94 b).

THE RISE OF A CITY CLASS. As the mediaeval towns increased in size and
importance the inhabitants, being human, demanded rights. Between 1100 and
1200 there were frequent revolts of the people of the mediaeval towns
against their feudal overlord, and frequent demands were made for charters
granting privileges to the towns. Sometimes these insurrections were put
down with a bloody hand. Sometimes, on the contrary, the overlord granted
a charter of rights, willingly or unwillingly, and freed the people from
obligation to labor on the lands in return for a fixed money payment.
Sometimes the king himself granted the inhabitants a charter by way of
curbing the power of the local feudal lord or bishop. The towns became
exceedingly skillful in playing off lord against bishop, and the king
against both. In England, Flanders, France, and Germany some of the towns
had become wealthy enough to purchase their freedom and a charter at some
time when their feudal overlord was particularly in need of money. These
charters, or birth certificates for the towns, were carefully drawn and
officially sealed documents of great value, and were highly prized as
evidences of local liberty. The document created a "free town," and gave
to the inhabitants certain specified rights as to self-government, the