Analyze how the growth of the market economy contributed to the decline of medieval Europe.

The Middle Ages is a period characterized by decline of cities and reduced movement of people. People stayed in the rural areas rather than in the cities, and there was little trade or immigration. The common people were tied to their land (manors), farmed it, and send portions to their lords. Change came when farmers and small-scale craft producers increasingly met in towns or cities to trade goods, and developed into trade guilds. These guilds became powerful as financiers backed merchants/farmers/craft producers, stimulating trade and development of market economy. The resulting growth of wealth urged peasants to flock into cities, bringing an end to manorialism