City States in Medieval Times

How many city‑states were there compared to other states?

Short answer: city‑states were numerous, but geographically concentrated, while kingdoms were fewer and larger.

Longer, more medieval answer:

Rough, honest estimates (because medieval record‑keeping was… vibes-based)

Across medieval Europe (c. 1000–1500):

• City‑states:
  Probably 200–300 at their peak, depending on how strictly you define one.
• Kingdoms / large territorial states:
  Usually 20–40 at any given time (kingdoms, principalities, duchies, emirates, etc.).

So numerically:

• City‑states vastly outnumbered kingdoms
• But kingdoms controlled far more land and people

Where city‑states clustered

City‑states didn’t pop up evenly; they thrived where conditions favored commerce and weak central authority:

• Italy (the champion league):
  • Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Bologna…
  • Northern & central Italy alone had 50–70 city‑states at various times.
• Holy Roman Empire:
  • Free Imperial Cities like Nuremberg, Augsburg, Lübeck, Hamburg, Cologne
  • About 80–100 over the medieval period (not all at once).
• Low Countries:
  • Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Utrecht
• Iberia & elsewhere:
  • Fewer, but some semi‑autonomous cities

Outside Europe, city‑states were also common:

• Islamic world (e.g., city‑centered emirates)
• Swahili Coast
• Hanseatic League cities
• Byzantine sphere (earlier medieval period)

2. Were city‑states just the city?

Short answer: No—almost never.
A city without farmland is just a very fancy famine.

The classic structure: City + contado

Most medieval city‑states controlled:

• The city proper
• Surrounding agricultural hinterland, often called:
  • contado (Italy)
  • banlieue or march (elsewhere)

This land provided:

• Grain (the big one—bread riots were real)
• Wine, olives, livestock
• Taxes and manpower

How big was this territory?

It varied wildly:

• Small city‑states:
  • 10–30 km radius of farmland
  • Think “bikeable in a day, marchable before lunch”
• Major ones:
  • Florence controlled much of Tuscany
  • Venice controlled vast mainland territories (terraferma)
  • Genoa and Venice had overseas possessions

Trade still mattered—a lot

Even with farmland, cities:

• Could rarely feed themselves fully
• Relied on trade for:
  • Grain shortfalls
  • Salt, metals, timber
  • Luxury goods (silk, spices, status)

So the model was:

Local agriculture for survival + trade for stability and wealth

3. Why didn’t city‑states take over everything?

Because medieval politics was a brutal game of:

• Limited military reach
• Personal loyalties (feudalism)
• Geography (mountains, rivers, mud—so much mud)
• Eventually: kings learned how to tax and field armies better

By the late Middle Ages:

• Monarchies consolidated power
• City‑states were swallowed, frozen in place, or turned into regional powers
• Italy remained the exception… until early modern times smoothed that out

TL;DR (for the marginalia)

• City‑states were far more numerous than kingdoms but much smaller
• They almost always included surrounding farmland
• Trade was essential, but agriculture was non‑negotiable
• Italy and the Holy Roman Empire were the city‑state MVPs