Who lived and worked in the towns?

            Many different types of people lived and worked in the towns of the Middle Ages. Craftspeople, such as cobblers and shoemakers; apothecaries, which are people who prepare and sell drugs/medicine; farmers; part-time artisans; and shopkeepers were only some of the people who lived and worked in the towns. Farmers had to sell their surplus crops to make money to buy the resources they need. Since the agricultural productivity increased, this made the population of peasants increase as well. In other words, these towns had a "surplus" population of peasants that emigrated to Europe and not a lot of resources to supply everyone with. Villages in the Middle Ages would have about 20-1,000 people living there. Cities in this time period had approximately 8,000-12,000 people living and working in them. Towns in the Middle Ages would have from 1,000-8,000 people living in them. A town with a population of 2,000 people was considered to be a large town in the earlier Middle Ages. The average town would have about 100 people per square mile (2.6 square kilometers).