CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: B - The rise of the towns created a new social class in medieval society because it created a marketplace for merchants and craftsmen to sell their goods to many people at once. The primary impact of towns was economic; merchants and craftsmen had a more substantial local marketplace in which they could sell their goods. With a bigger market, came more revenue. It was the first social class to develop that did not fit into the nobles-peasants-clergy hierarchy that had existed to that point. It also defied the feudal society model in that people were living collectively but not bound to one another (or their location) for survival. Like a feudal manor, the town collectively contributed to the survival of its residents, but, unlike a manor, townspeople remained autonomous because they operated with coinage currency, not a currency of oaths and obligations.