Max Weber: Selections in Translation

From the third century onwards, the progress of urbanisation encountered constant and manifestly increasing impediments. Before touching on the causes of them, let us examine yet again the special characteristics of the ancient city-state, and ask in particular how it is related to the medieval ‘city’. A number of features are discernible in the beginnings of the medieval city which we have already observed in the early days of the ancient city-state. In both, the basic requirement for citizenship is the combination of landownership and participation in the market; there is a tendency towards the accumulation of landholdings through the investment of trading profits; the landless are treated as ‘resident aliens’ (or ‘metics’); public service to the city is imposed as an obligation on the lords of the city; the citizen body is organised along military lines, especially the members of those trades which are of military importance; and there is a social division between those who fight on horseback and those who fight on foot. However, the differences are also enormous. Admittedly (and this cannot be stressed enough) it is important to bear in mind how widely the medieval cities differ from one another in their social structure.