Medieval Mediterranean cities hosted speakers of every known language.

Evidence

Constantinople and Rome, of course, were centers of great political and commercial empires. Not every preindustrial city could match their exotic cosmopolitanism. Yet, in the twelfth century, it was said of the Mediterranean cities of Beziers, Agde, Narbonne, and Montpellier, that in them “every language in the world might be heard” (Lacroix, 1963:255-56). — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 234

Categorization

• XREF: Supports the reader’s comparison of preindustrial urban heterogeneity against modern anonymity — feeds the Lofland typification framework.