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Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
  
  
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II. MEDIEVAL “ORGANIC” TOWN

The medieval approach to the city, emerging in a
period in which urban culture broke down, is complex
and ambivalent. One of the characteristic features of
the early medieval attitude is a disconnection between
the notions of the celestial and the terrestrial city.
Probably the most explicit expression of this attitude
is to be found in Saint Augustine's famous work, The
City of God.
In this work, the image of the city be-
comes highly metaphorical, the term denoting a com-
munity rather than a material city. Even in his meta-
phors Augustine rarely refers to the city plan, to
architectural elements (walls, gates, squares, etc.), or
to actual cities (with the exception of Rome and
Jerusalem, both of which assume a highly symbolic


429

significance). The basis of “cities” is moral values or
metaphysical ideas: the foundation of the terrestrial
city is the “love of self” while the celestial city is based
on the “love of God” (XIV, 28; cf. XI, 1 and X, 25).
The two cities, the terrestrial and the celestial, are not
only unrelated to each other, but there is a contra-
diction between them. The City of God “is a pilgrim
on the earth” (XVIII, 54); the citizen of the Heavenly
City is “by grace a stranger below, and by grace a
citizen above” (XV, 1); Cain is described (based on
Genesis 4:17) as the founder of a terrestrial city, while
Abel, who was conceived as a prefiguration of Christ,
“being a sojourner, built none” (XV, 1).

Like the Near Eastern thinkers, Augustine conceived
of a celestial and a terrestrial city. But while in the
Near East the city on earth is believed to be a copy
of the one in heaven, Augustine sees the two as alien
to each other. In moral terms they are even mutually
exclusive: one belongs to either one or the other. Thus
the hostile attitude towards the (terrestrial) city, an
attitude that was to play a major part in medieval
thought, is already clearly articulated at this early
stage.

This attitude may be understood as an expression
of a broad historical process which is probably also
reflected in the development of the actual medieval
town, and in the iconography of the city in medieval
art.

It is significant that in a period as permeated by
symbolism as were the Middle Ages not much thought
was given to the symbolism of the city plan, as far
as actual cities are concerned. The organization of the
town as a whole was, as a rule, neither understood nor
desired by medieval builders. This lack of interest led
to the well-known irregular shapes of medieval towns.
Even in cities which developed from Roman towns,
the additions and changes which originated in the
Middle Ages were made without consideration for the
original Roman layout. The medieval town thus pro-
vides an almost perfect example of the city that has
“grown” versus the “planned” city. The narrow, wind-
ing streets (ruelles, Gassen) of medieval towns and
their beautiful but unpredictable vistas could be taken
as an expression of “organic life,” as the writers of the
romantic period, in fact, characterized medieval life.

“Organic growth” as an overall characterization of
the medieval town is not radically challenged by the
fact that, especially in the thirteenth century, some
new cities (villes neuves) were built according to a
preconceived plan, and do in fact display some regular
features (e.g., Aigues-Mortes, founded in 1240 by Saint
Louis; Montpazier, established in 1284 by Edward I
of England). These “new cities” remained exceptions.

In contrast to the irregularity of actual medieval
towns, the innumerable representations of the
“Heavenly Jerusalem” and of other holy cities in the
art of the Middle Ages frequently show a regularity
and symmetrical arrangement which strongly suggest
the image of a “planned” city. In early Christian rep-
resentations (e.g., the fifth-century mosaics in Santa
Maria Maggiore and in SS. Pudenziana), the Heavenly
Jerusalem is reduced to a simple round wall, but in
later renderings (see Santa Cecilia) it becomes more
elaborate, sometimes adorned with towers, gables, and
columns. However, in spite of the inclusion of such
actual architectural elements, the overall shape of the
sacred city retains a remarkable regularity. Thus, in
a ninth-century mosaic in San Marco in Venice, the
city of Bethlehem has a clear oval shape. Even when
representing the earthly Jerusalem (representations
which are certainly symbolic rather than documentary
records), the medieval artists tended towards clearly
laid out, regular forms.

The iconography of the city in medieval art has not
yet been systematically studied, but a review of the
rich material pertinent to this theme suggests that the
hostile attitude towards the city has had a formative
influence on artistic imagery. Since the eleventh or
twelfth centuries the city is symbolically portrayed not
only by architectural motifs (walls, gates, towers) but
also by secular, inherently vicious figures and scenes,
considered typical of urban life. The view of the city
as a place of carnal temptation, debased entertainment,
and avarice is visually portrayed by figures of jugglers
and acrobats, loose women, misers, and, in the late
Middle Ages, by scenes of gambling seen against an
urban background. In medieval art, cities are often
inhabited by demonic creatures. Such figures and
scenes, sometimes appearing in the margins of sacred
texts, frequently anticipate the specific realism of a
burgher art.