Cities vs. Manors in medieval times
kevbeck43
🖼️ 13 images Surveyor
I have a number of resources but I can't seem to find the answer to this pretty basic question about medieval life. Were manors separate from cities? Could there be a city in a manor or was the biggest town you might find in a manor a large village or small town? I think once a town becomes a city the income is so large that the manorial income is not needed by the city as much because the city can sustain itself and becomes its own income generating force for the kingdom and the king. Is this correct?
Comments
Villages, towns, and cities are collections of multiple households.
Manors might reside inside a city (or many different manors belonging to the major families and powers) or they might be like a country estate and be on their own. Wikipedia generally goes with the country estate definition of Manor, and is probably more correct than my thoughts about rich families having manor-like residences withint towns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_house
Unfortunately I don't know the answer. I can't find reference to cities (of which there were few) on manors, but that doesn't mean there weren't any!
As the site notes, a manor might contain a hamlet, village, or town or more than one of those depending upon the amount of land the Manor Holder possessed.
Cities such as London or Paris was where most non-agricultural trade would be conducted. They would be the home to many, if not most, non-serf freemen who were not in the "titled" classes and would be the centers for Guild activity. Cities might be within the purview of a noble or might have Crown Charters from the King to be free cities.
Where cities have grown to 100 times their original medieval size in this country, old manors have been incorporated, but the land has been built on and the 'manor' is now just the house that once stood in the middle of hundreds of acres of farmland.