Industrious street life

From the Middle Ages to the 18^th century, craftsmen and traders made up the vast majority of the city's labor force. Workshops and stores were taken for households, which were themselves tiny. The workshop itself was on the ground floor, and gave onto the "display window", or shopfront, which jutted out into the street. Groups were formed along family lines, by location or by profession, each with its distinct apprentices, valets or salaried laborers and master craftsmen.

Every profession had its own rules, used to resolve disputes. All paid their dues to the "watch", the armed militia that watched over and protected the city.