These were demarcated by various landmarks, crosses, holy images, etc.; and "the bounds" were beaten every year.

The wealthier citizens usually possessed gardens and orchards within the town walls, while each inhabitant had his share in the communal holding without.

The use of this latter was regulated by the Rath or Council.

In fact, the town life of the Middle Ages was not by any means so sharply differentiated from rural life as is implied in our modern idea of a town.

Even in the larger commercial towns, such as Frankfurt, Nuernberg, or Augsburg, it was common to keep cows, pigs, and sheep, and, as a matter of course, fowls and geese, in large numbers within the precincts of the town itself.