How Medieval Cities Defended Themselves - Middle Ages DOCUMENTARY

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Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on medieval history and economic history continues with a video on how the cities of the Middle Ages defended themselves against the states and feudals.
Medieval Battles: • Medieval Battles
Hansa - Northern Silk Road: • Hansa - Northern ...
Roman History: • Roman History
Fugger - Banker Who Brought the Habsburgs to Power: • Fugger - Banker W...
Oldest Businessmen in History: • Oldest Businessme...
Roman-Indo-Parthian Trade: • Roman-Indo-Parthi...
Roman Trade with Africa: • Roman Trade with ...
How Roman trade with India made the Empire rich: • How Roman trade w...
Why Was Egypt Crucial for the Roman Empire?: • Why Was Egypt Cru...
Roman-Chinese Relations and Contacts: • Roman-Chinese Rel...
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The video was made by Sebastiao Reis while the script was researched and written by Ivan Moran. Narration by Officially Devin ( / @offydgg & / @gameworldnarratives )
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Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
#Documentary #Medieval #MiddleAges

[Lucas Dimoveo]

Proto-capitalism and medieval city states are fascinating topics. Can we get a video on Venice as well?

[Lucas Dimoveo]

@A Jar of “Mayonnaise” I guess?

[Pedro Henrique]

Venice??? **Genoa ftw**

[Not Human]

In short the clan system of the isles and vikings mixed with the merchant guilds in Northern Europe as well as had mercenaries just wondering around. Lead to them creating city states

[Øyvind Holmstad]

Medieval city states had the best urbanism ever!

[Aram Halamech]

Random fact: German cities had notoriously bad relations with their overlords, especially bishops. The city of Mainz murdered their archbishop in 1160. The entire citizenry was excummunicated but they just hosted a big party for the holy roman emperor in 1184 who promptly ignored the will of the pope and gave them back all their city-priviliges.

[Aram Halamech]

@Luis Aldamiz agreed. Without Bishops most cities would have been exploited or kept small by local knights and the rural aristocracy.

[Eljan Rimsa]

Nürnberg kicked out their Burggraf but kept the Burg :)

[Civil Engineer]

There is no Dark Age. The Dark Age is a myth espoused by historians in the 19th century because archeology was more limited back then

[Aram Halamech]

@Civil Engineer the dark age existed, it was just not as bad as previous historians assumed and is generally called early middle ages instead.

[Corporal Soletrain]

Killed by a butcher no less. Also the number of times that feudals told the church to pound sand makes me think that the power of religion in the Medieval period is typically overstated. The church never seems to be able to make even the lowliest knight do anything he doesn't want to do.

[Nathan s]

I appreciate the heavy focus on Medieval Germany lately. For so long it felt like only England and France existed in the medieval world because that's all what was ever talked about.

[Tobi Landsfried]

it's a really hard topic because "Germany" was so decentralized.

[Nicola Mutton]

Honestly to me it seems a bit assurd that they only talked about germany, while in Italy you had cities building literal city states and forming leagues for defense against the emperor of the hre, moreover there is a term for it "l'Italia dei comuni" italy of communes (not in the communist sense) because an italian state didnt exist and italy was full of small entities each projecting their own influence

[Craven Morehead]

Esp difficult because many early Germanic tribes had little to no written legacy

[Tobi Landsfried]

@Craven Morehead Tribes? Wrong time period for that pal. Maybe around Charlemagne but not during the HRE

[morewi]

I'm sure that's because you live in an English speaking country

[ColeZawesome]

This channel always amazes me. Never once have I ever wondered about this topic in particular. But, as soon as I see the K&G channel releases something I have to watch it! Always so very in depth and informative. Truly wonderful what they have going here.

[Øyvind Holmstad]

I always wanted to live in a Medieval city state!

[Patrick Ols]

@Øyvind Holmstad the reality would make it not that much of a good dream. It was crowded, dirty, smelly with no hygiene to speak off. Live span was short, brutal and extremely difficult. I sometime think we have it so easy in our modern world that we forget that in the past life wasn’t such a party. Funny enough cities in Antiquity were probably a much better time to be alive in.

[Øyvind Holmstad]

@Patrick Ols I do of course want to mix it with modern comforts:-) Like Village Towns or Markets Towns of New Zealand, although no one is still built. And I love the ownership they had to their own cities:-)

[Deron]

I love seeing these types of videos! Ik they don't attract a lot of viewers but seeing the development of the economies around the world is just so entertaining!

[Luiz Brito]

Absolutely loved this episode. I love anything related the the history of cities in general, but the north of the Alps middle age cities have always been more interesting to me.

[Luiz Brito]

@Anuradha doesn't matter, really. The low coutries were in Roman territories and their cities are very interesting trading centers. But yeah, mostly out of the direct Roman sphere. Northern Italy is also fascinating.

[Jeremy Romero]

@Luiz Brito so you enjoy barbarism?

[Luiz Brito]

@Jeremy Romero YES! how did you get that? You've got a forensic mind.

[Tobias Aarns]

It would have been great, if you had talked about the role of the Reichsstldte (imperial cities), especially Frankfurt in the march to defend the besieged city of Neuss at the northern theatre of the burgudian wars. It could be stated, that it was the last big try in imperial politics of the free cities, before the territorial princes made there consolidating moves. But to focus on the exception of the Swiss confederation is totally valid, especially because it is a lesser discussed subject, at least here in Germany.

[Alexander Gutfeldt]

Here in Switzerland we don't learn (in Sschool) what went on in the neighburing states, except for the one that were eventually included in the federation (e.g. Neuchatel, Bale). My guess is this is deliberately done to promote national unity. I would love to have learned more about the Hanse and trade routes in europe!

[MRD Gaming]

I really enjoy how kings and Generals uses symbols similar to symbols seen in games set at a similar time or with a similar subject. Like some the symbols in this video have a similar art style or remind me of Kingdom Come Deliverance. It helps me understand some of the context better.

[Arwah Sapi]

He often used game engines to create scenarios and machinimas for his videos.

[Sephikong]

This video popped up in my recommended just as I first started this very game a few days ago (granted I ...... don't really enjoy it that much due to how asinine the controls are and how obnoxious the UI is and how it somehow brings me out of the experience more than it enhances it, but that's another topic)

[Luke Danger]

Honestly for a few of them I thought they outright lifted symbols from KCD's perks.

[Hashtagrex]

there are times when they straight up use symbols/art from games, notably like from eu4 and hoi4

[Kelvin Lange]

Man. I'd love a whole series on the history of how Germany came to be. I was born and raised in Germany and was really young when I left, I'm just now starting to really comprehend the extensive history of my Homeland. Absolutely love this channel my friend! Keep it coming, I've never wanted to learn history before I stumbled upon your channel haha

[William Shakespeare]

This is far more interesting than just learning about the battles. That being said I’d love a video series on the Swiss and the battles that led to their de facto independence

[Lukas Milan]

Hello Bill, nice to see you thrilled by Swiss history, so could we expect some Swiss spin off to Merchant of Venice soon?

[Rowec]

@Lukas Milan lol

[Blue Eyed]

Nah, battles are pretty awesome :))

[James Davies]

Is there any way you could publish your research documents? I’m a longtime fan of the channel and I’m in university now. These historical documentaries are awesome and I think looking at the source material could be very helpful. Thank you.

[MbisonBalrog]

So you can plagiarize right? Just kidding you.

[Lukas Milan]

No, no, no. Plagiarism exists just in artistic sphere... on academic level it's called inspiration with correct footnotes :-) :-)

[marcus aurelius]

Would be cool. Imagine if these videos were accompanied with a research article published in a journal.

[Der Süddeutsche Sumpf]

Would definitely be cool to see

[Bobette the destroyer the builderish]

I would love if you also highlighted the strength of cities outside of Europe! What comes to mind usually is Malacca or Palembang or the Cham cities, but Chinese clans and southern Chinese cities are also highly Proto-capitalist, and say Gujarat sultanate, Tamil clans in southern India, and the Swahili cities on africa

[Cannabias Media]

If you pay attention to the K&G videos all of their topics are low-key related to the modern issues we face in everyday life. Happy New Year K&G, one of my resolutions is to become a premium member.

[marcus aurelius]

These are stories of human development. Our moment lies in that continuum.

[Sérgio Rocha]

The history of the small german states is something very interesting and yet quite hard to research. I'd love to see more videos like this

[PVO]

It's nice to see you covering the German Empire instead of the usual England/France. I was born and raised in a free "Reichsstadt" south of Ulm and this period of time is a big part of the city's identity to this day.

[Broken Bridge]

This was a very well-informed video. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.

[Tsar Chi Napoleon Abudabi]

early captialism vs feudalism is an underapeciated subject, really nice video!!

[Mr Mitchell History]

Kings and Generals being the channel we all wish we were!

[Hvinnir]

I live in Bern and I learned so much from this video - thanks for the great work!

[Temp Temp]

Bern be like "ok we been kicking everyone's ass too much and We've expanded enough now, let's just stay in Switzerland"

[Eljan Rimsa]

I live in the territory acquired by Bern, and I'm really proud of my canton now. Show restraint when you are most successful, that's long-term thinking.

[inigo]

You may be interested in the Castillian Hermandad de las Marismas, formed in northern spain in 1296 as a comercial league to protect their interests against the king of Castille.

[inigo]

@Luis Aldamiz Yes, of the Marismas which by that time most likely meant of the Sea. The town members were Castro Urdiales, Guetaria, Santander, Laredo, Fuenterrabía, San Sebastián and other cantabric coastal cities. They went to war against the english and french independently.

[abcdef27669]

"A group is coming!" "Open the gate!" "They're soldiers from the neighbor kingdom!" "Close the gate!" "They have cookies!" "With milk?" "No! Only Cookies..." "Keep the gate closed!"

[theoutlook55]

I don't get it, it's this a reference to something?🤷🏾‍♂️

[Lukas Milan]

You are not alone. Only two sources of inspiration came to mind: Monty Python or Blackadder

[DivaViews]

No, ask what kind of cookies!

[Nathan Wilson]

Another interesting historical documentary. I especially enjoy these where I don't know much of anything about the topic going in. I get to learn so much 😄. Thank you! Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you friends! :)

[Kings and Generals]

Don't forget to check out our new channel - so much fun fantasy and sci-fi content on the way! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmnae2qfp5iWn5o Similar format to this channel with tactical battles!

[sloop]

Fancy meeting you here.

[Thor Tä]

Great video as always! Could have touched more on the Italian city states though, as they were the most representative of the topic you were discussing.

[Maverik Miller]

Man you GOTTA love Holy Roman Empire. Literally the miracle of Medieval Europe. Would like to see an in depth video of HRE's workings or even a series about it.

[SwirlingDragonMist]

I feel using topographic maps would bring allot to your videos. Allowing viewers to see a realistic view of world geography, rather than an inaccurate stylized map. The “terrain” mode of google maps is a great example of how insightful pinpoint awareness of geography can help us understand why borders were drawn the way they were. If the rights usages are prohibitive, Perhaps you could use a topographic map as a guide to trace over your own stylized map, which still captures a high degree of geographic fidelity. As you get more into the alps it may be very revealing just how clustered sections of mountains and valleys defined the flow of history. Perhaps even revealing the flows of armies through Canyon passes, or the migration route of the Etruscans into Northern Europe.

[Ahmed Shaharyar Ejaz]

Topographic maps are severely underrated ad underused tools for understanding History.

[Italianplayer]

Meanwhile in italy: 'The emperor is under our walls, angry as hell, some valleys and most of the countryside stayed either neutral or rebelled, all the neighboring cities states took the opportunity to take us out. As long as we keep the mountain trails odds are even!'

[Dominic Guye]

Is this about Guelphs vs Ghibellines?

[Italianplayer]

@Dominic Guye yes, siege of brescia 1311, second direct siege of an emperor

[Fox D]

Playing the Patrician series taught me to trust in pirate-killer ships and well-fortified walls...or to just bribe the princes.

[Otto von Bismarck]

Aaah, good old times. I still play Port Royale 3.

[Litche Gaming]

Love the channel watched every one of the videos beginning to end thank you for the free, informative and animated content!

[Lord inquisitor]

I definitely prefer these historical videos over battle reports

[Ivan Miletic]

I'm glad that there is a history channel on KZbin that doesn't focus solely on France, England and Vikings. Good job Kings and Generals!

[Kenny Hagan]

Another great video. Your research skills are on a pro level. 👍

[FreeFalling Air]

Really enjoying learning about this side of medieval warfare!

[Anh Trần]

Watching Kings and Generals makes me realize that the Hundred Years War was like the Western Front of a World War. We have Flander cities and counts, Milan, Florence and Venice's merchants involved in this war, not to mention there were possibly some German city states too.

[LC HG]

About the Burgundian Wars and the death of Charles The Bold, in Switzerland exists a rhyme. In Grandson (First Battle) Charles lost his fortune In Murten (Second Battle) He lost his Courage And in Nancy (Third Battle and dying place of Charles) He lost his Blood For explanation, after the first battle Charles fleed with leaving all his battle equipment behind which Bern took as "payment", after the battle at Murten he started fearing Bern as a threat and in Nancy, he got killed and was found two days after the battle in a frozen pond

[Hoolioh]

@Kings and Generals this was a great video. Have you covered the battle of Kasserine Pass? I think that would make an interesting episode.

[T P]

You forgot to mention that Nürnberg became THE centre for industry and weapon smiths of the entire Holy Roman Empire, which is why the city could expand her territory in the first place.

[Felipe Pereira]

I think it'll be pleasant to watch a video in this ver kind about the Italian city states and merchant republics!

[Napoléon I Bonaparte]

We French defended our medieval cities by mocking our foes, and fart at their general direction from the parapet of the walls, not to mention hurling animals.

[Green Koopa]

Their grandparents smelled of elderberries

[It's History Senpai]

Hahahaha

[MrEvilproductions]

Which is why we invaded you. NO-ONE FLINGS A COW AT ARTHUR, KING OF THE BRITONS, SLAYER OF A FAMOUS HISTORIAN AND GETS AWAY WIT.. *sees another cow heading his way* JESUS CHRIST! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! *flees*

[Miliba]

Being descendants of hamsters made the English very incapable of conquering France

[jkasiron]

It's a good thing you already had a holy grail. 😂

[Hugo Desrosiers-Plaisance]

Very cleanly explained. Nice work.

[João Rita]

No wonder Germany remained just a bunch of small states right till the 19th century... with all this infighting between cities...

[Dreagostini]

I guess you know it but there's a big point about it that it's not Germany until the 19th century, because something like nationalism and a common "germanhood" wasn't a thing back then.

[Rowing Away]

@Dreagostini You're correct on nationalism, since that wasn't a thing until the 19th century anyway. However there was some sense of a common German identity, but it was a rather loose bond of language and culture compared to lets say the French. On the other hand, the Holy Roman Empire already added the "of the German nation" to its name in the 15th century, so there was a territorial idea of Germany back then too already.

[João Rita]

@Dreagostini I know, but most european countries (Italy being the other messy one) had their borders set long before the 19th.

[max mustermann]

@Rowing Away you should keep in mind that mediaval france was highly decentralized. probably less infighting than in the hre, but there nonetheless. brittany, elsass, lothringen, gasconny and okzitania are examples where many people would prefer to self rule their region even to this day ...

[Ole Nickel]

@Rowing Away It's even looser when you consider that there were several German languages. Low German and Bavarian, for example, aren't just dialects, but languages in their own rights with distinct cultures attached to them. It's often forgotten that German Nationalism also involved a very conscious political effort to unify and codify a common language, while suppressing other German languages. If history had gone differently, we may now look back at a distinct Low Germany and would maybe talk about the Hansa in terms that would make it seem inevitable that an independent and distinct Low German nation would arise from it...

[D. Drokk]

Hi! Great video guys. This is just a super minor mistake that you sadly cannot rectify but at 14:22 you confuse the original Flag of the Canton of Glarus with the modern Flag of the City of Glarus. Canton and City are a bit like Washington state and Washington DC, as in they're different units. For a Swiss person that looks a bit shabbily researched, but I totally understand that this is a minor detail. Otherwise we'll done, great video!

[Winds of Time]

It is interesting how this evolved into the "Bastion Fort" (trace italienne) during the early modern period This change was a consequence of the fall of Constatinople, the new weapons, such as gunpowder cannons, made it possible and necessary

[Esteban Ferreras]

Please make a video about the Battle of Carmen de Patagones, the only battle fought in Patagonia in the post-colonial period. It had naval and land warfare components!

[hitman amjed]

Love the channel and all its videos amazing. Have a great new year. - I really love this kind of videos about the simple life of the past. Specialy the medieval era. Hope one day u make a light project about the evolution of agriculture in the medieval age. Keep it up

[Will]

I think a follow up to this video could probably focus solely on Italian cities. There's a lot of a military action between cities and their rivals.

[MemoFromEssex]

Can you do a video on the Kingdom of Africa? It was a short-lived quasi-state located in North Africa owned/coopted by the Normans of Sicily

[Hard Time Coming]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Kings and Generals' great and compelling voice?

[the mighty BBB]

Funny you mentioned the rivalry between Zürich and Bern, that one is alive and well troughout history to this day. Its this sort of thing; yeah we both know we're on the same side but if after all we've become freinds then it's that sort of friendship when one always teases and tries to get ono up on the other,

[Paws Travel]

That was quite interesting to hear, especially parts about Hansa league and HRE I'm playing a lot of Europa Universalis IV and I mean who hasn't played a HRE city state 🏰

[Max Kaufmann]

Curious about reading more on the Hanseatic League, are there any good books on the subject?

[An0o0rak]

I felt in love of your channel almost 2 years ago, and I just became addict to your content. Greetings and love from Russia 🇷🇺!!!

[D C]

I live near Ulm and loved to hear more of it´s history here.

[newdeesse]

Hello, i love your videos but could you put your bibliography in the description? I would love to read the sources materials and it’s more academic this way ;)

[Lucas A]

The quality and detail from this channel are incredible. I have gotten so much

[Syed Ashar Imam]

Great content sir 👍👍 keep it up ❤️

[Cicero alexandar]

These kind of videos are helpful in case you suddenly transported to an isekai medieval world

[big boy]

The franco flemish war of the beginnign of the 14th century is perhaps the best example of medieval cities standing up for themselves, that war would make a very intresting video series

[David Herbek]

History has always been my baleywick of interest and antiquity. Great video. Thank you. David

[Benicio Becka]

Great video. Could we get a video on the wars in Flanders that you mentioned?

[MbisonBalrog]

As per title you should do another vid on the Militia. How raised, and trained? And equipped. Did they only hire mercenaries?

[Farrouk]

Almost always great content! Love it!

[Greatkhan6]

I wonder what parallels can be drawn between the city-feudal conflicts and the rural urban divide today.

[Buzz Bladz]

Awesome content as usual keep up the good work. Thx you simply Devin

[Siciid xuseen Sucuudi]

KZbin is nothing for me without kings and generals ❤❤❤❤

[Lazaros Zissis]

This is one of the most interesting videos I have seen. Immense quality.

[Dargon]

Kings and Generals is what we wished the History Channel would've been

[Mads Christian Andersen]

I love your work, Keep it up!

[Michael Pothoven]

The EUIV music was a nice touch for the time period, excellent video as always!

[The Awesome Man]

Being under siege really sucked back then. The worst part wasn't your enemies trying to scale the walls or bombardments. Modern pluming wasn't a thing meaning waste would always end up in the city streets during the siege, causing disease with no cures invented yet to counter them, which killed multitudes of people residing inside the city.

[Cornel Croitoru]

A video about Dacians would be amazing

[Sea Raider]

I feel Kingdom Come vibes in this video. I hope a video about Bohemia and Sigismund in the year 1403 will come out soon.

[Everett Li]

man I can't wait until ck3 comes out with a republics DLC. hopefully they will take into account the more landlocked trade posts aside from the limited silk Road posts in ck2

[Ibnziyad Tariq]

hope you can do the same for France and Spain, they went through similar processes

[Alexander Bouwens]

Not mentioned in the video but significant nonetheless is that the aargou is the original fief of the habsburgers.

[Ninja 007]

Can you make a video about The SATVAHANA EMPIRE, that would be great..!!! LOVE YOUR CONTENT, FROM 🇮🇳🇮🇳🤗

[George Hirsch]

What a wonderful topic! Thank you!

[Jaques Renskew]

Can we get a video about the Laon revolt in 1112, which also links to the theme of medieval cities?

[R O N N I E]

Always good information 👍🏻 keep it up

[PIATPotatoPeon]

6:10 That road idea is terribly creative. I'm going to have to use that one.

[Michael Galt]

A whole lot of stuff that I didn't know - thanks for the video!

[HF_Alex]

9:10 Frankfurt seems a bit far south on that map. And a bit to much on the Rhine and not enough on the Main. :D I think you might have swapped it with Straßburg.

[Dillon Blair]

No

[Bruce Paul]

Can you consider doing a episode on the Combat of the Thirty or Jeanne de Clisson. Big fan of Breton War of Succession.

[mranderson718]

When I saw the title I thought you were going to talk about how cities resisted sieges. This was cooler though.

[Benji Azbell]

I think it would be interesting to see a video on thr impact of ww2 on medieval castles and other historical buildings, would like to see how much history wad lost forever due to bombing

[Francisco]

What about the Italian city states? Btw great work, was just a bit confused by their absence...

[Jon J]

In the subtitles, there are numbers that look like footnotes - eg. @4:20 "Ghent actively recruited nobles and knights [4]" - but there's nothing in the description. Any chance we could get the footnotes/references for these?

[johno 379]

I would love more Videos about medieval european politics and diplomacy

[Corporal Soletrain]

This is absolutely fascinating