Definition and classification were the very essence of medieval thinking: so that philosophic nominalism, which challenged the objective reality of classes, and presented a world of unrelated atoms and disconnected events, was as destructive to the medieval style of life cannonballs proved to be to the walls of the town.
The psychological importance of the wall must not be forgotten. When the portcullis was drawn and the town gates were locked at sundown, the city was sealed off from the outside world. Such enclosure helps create a feeling of unity as well as security. It is significant--and a little disturbing--that in one of the rare modern communities where people have lived under analogous conditions, namely in the atomic-research community of Oak Ridge, the protected inhabitants of the new town grew to value the "secure" life within, free from any sort of foreign invasion or even unauthorized approach--though it meant that their own comings and goings were under constant military surveillance and control.
Lewis Mumford, The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1961) 299-314
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