2 A MEDIEVAL CITY

Such buildings, without the help of the literary and
other memorials, testify by themselves to the
greatness of the Middle Ages.

Through the fifteenth century England continued
to be in a state of political unrest. There were
wars and risings both abroad and at home,' for
besides the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) and
the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) there-were wars
with the Welsh and the Scots, as well as disorders
made by powerful, intriguing barons. The barons
and great landowners took advantage of the weak
royal rule to increase their own power. Parliament,
especially the House of Commons, succeeded in the
first half of the century in strengthening its consti-
tutional position, but during the Wars of the Roses
it became less truly representative of the solid part
of the nation, the middle class, and more and more
a party machine worked by the baronial factions,
The proportion of people wanting peace and firm
government steadily increased, and, when the
internecine Wars of the Roses, which affected the
lords and kings far more than the people, were
followed by the protection and order provided
without excessive cost by the Tudors, it was the
people who most welcomed the change.

The towns were, however, comparatively little
disturbed by these perpetual disorders. The mayors
and corporations as a rule guided their cities through
difficult times with politic shrewdness. Town life
developed through flourishing trade and an increasing
sense of municipal unity, and municipal importance.