How did the middle class express their point of views during the middle ages?

Answer 1

1st Answer:

There was no middle class. This is a modern idea. In this time frame people were rich or they were poor. About 90% of the population was peasant or serf and the rest were clergy or noble.

2nd Answer:

The middle class existed throughout the entire Middle Ages, but only became powerful after the time of Charlemagne, as towns and cities grew. There were always expensive clothes and jewelry and other such things that were used by the nobility, and the middle class supplied them, either as manufacturers or as importers. Anglo saxon embroidery was popular throughout Western Europe in the 8th century.

For the early part of the Middle Ages, the members of the middle class who wanted to express views took petitions, either as individuals or as groups, to those in power. We see this either happening or expected in the history of William the Conqueror and how he was received in England.

If they were not heard, of course, the people had a tendency to riot or go into rebellion. The Nika Riots were an expression of frustration on the part of city dwellers in Constantinople. But we also see the same sort of thing in the rejection of Queen Matilda by the people of London, which lead to the civil war between Matilda and King Stephen.

In the 7th or 8th century, middle class people started to band together politically in various places, forming guilds and republics. The guilds were trade and merchant organizations which took active interest in local economies and politics. The republics were cities that were run by commoners, some in ways that were rather democratic. The Republic of Venice is an example. It began as a republican city within the Byzantine Empire, but soon became entirely independent. There were other cities run by guilds, or citizen groups, called communes, though the word commonwealth gives a clearer understanding of the government.

Guilds and groups of guilds ran towns and cities. The governments of the towns and cities, regardless of whether they were within monarchies or independent, entered into international treaties. These lead to important trade groups, such as the Hanseatic League, which had powers rivalling those of a kingdom, including its own military.

The middle class was always appreciable in the Middle Ages. If you think about economic models, the serfs provided food to the nobles, who derived wealth from it. This implies that the food could be traded for goods. If 90% of the population was providing food to the other 10%, who were the nobles selling food to so they could be wealthy? The philosophers of the Middle Ages wrote of three classes, the serfs, the nobility, and the clergy, but this was clearly not a detailed and thorough investigation of medieval economics.