European Middle Ages

Divided Empire around300 C.E.

C

European Middle AgesI. Clear Trends

A. 500-1000 = political decentralization and backwardness

B. Emerged from ruins of Roman EmpireC. Similar to Japan and Africa in political development

1. Fragmented, kingdom-based rule

European Middle AgesD. Decline of Urban Areas – Why?

1. Impact of Vikings, Magyar & Muslim invasionsa. Disrupted developmentb. Protection was valuedc. Gave rise to feudalism and the Manorial system

The Vikings“Terror from the North”

Viking Expansion

European Middle AgesD. Decline of Urban Areas – Why?

2. Disease/plagues – people avoided population centers

European Middle AgesD. Decline of Urban Areas – Why?

3. Decline of ag. prod.a. Over cultivationb. Lack of organized labor forcec. Little Ice Age!

- Reduced temps. - Disrupted/dramatic weather

patterns

European Middle AgesII. Labor in the Middle Ages

A. Feudal system emerges – 2 main labor sources1. Coerced labor – bound in servitude as property

a. Serfs and slaves2. Free peasants = paid rent or labor services

to lordB. Rise of Craftsman Guilds

1. Guild – association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town.

2. Masons, carpenters, carvers etc.

Critical Intro:

How does the system based on guild membership compare to the modern capitalistic economic system?

The Lollipop Guild

The rise of worker’s guilds

Hanseatic League

Emperor Justinian = Last hope for Roman Empire

European Middle AgesII. Byzantine Empire – 476 - 1453

A. Remaining Roman EmpireB. Combined trad. sources of power & legitimacy

w/innovation1. Traditional = patriarchy, religion, land-

owning elites2. Innovations

a. New methods of taxationb. tributary systemsc. Adaptation of religious institutiond. Codified legal system– Justinian’s Code

Byzantine Empire

Impacts of the Byzantine Empire on Russia?

E. 1000-1500 = General revival in Europe1. More defined nations - France, England, Spain, Russia2. Stronger economy

a. Trade increases- Hanseatic League- Black Sea trade- Through central Europe

b. Pop. Increasesc. Revival of Cities!

3. Improved tech. & cultural knowledgea. Ag. Improvements

- Moldboard plow + 3-field system + horse collar = Pop. Increase

b. Printing press

IV. High Middle Ages – 1000 – 1500A.New Ag. Techniques

1. Moldboard plow + 3-field system + horse collar = Pop. Increase

2. Demand for trade; & towns grew

4. Intellectual Movementsa. Increased interest in learning from past &

present societiesb. Rise of universitiesc. Synthesis of faith and reason• Thomas Aquinas– high point of

scholasticism’ Summas• Sought to reconcile faith & reason

5. Emergence of concept = Europe as single civilizationa. Joined by common heritage and Christian rel.

II. Feudalism and Manor SystemA.Origins of feudalism

1. Inability to create centralized rule2. Need for protection and localized control3. Based on reciprocal economic obligations

B.Timeline of Feudalism1. 800 – feudalism expands to cover wider area2. 900 – Regional lords evolve into Feudal monarchs3. 1066 – William conquers England = feudalism +

central gov’t4. 1200 – origins of limited and rep. gov’t

III. Medieval ChurchA. Most stable institution of Middle Ages

1. Main source of intellectual activityB. Christian Orders Developed

1. Benedictines – monastic life2. Franciscans & Dominicans – called for return to

simplicity and poverty of early church.- Appalled by heresy within church

B. Catholic Church – Limited centralized power1. Weakened power of feudal kings2. Means of authority =

a. Canon Law – rules of behavior set by churchb. Excommunication – separated from churchc. Interdict – Excomm. all in a ruler’s realm

C. Impacts1. As pol. power increased; friction between Kings

and Popes2. Other limiting factor to cent. power = Indep.

enjoyed by nobility3. Holy Roman Empire demonstrates power of

churcha. German confederation crowned by Pope

V. Kings Gain Power during High Middle AgesA. Increasing land through wars and marriageB. Extended power through greater wealth

1. Enabled monarchs to hire soldiers and officials2. Reduced dependence on vassals

VI. Steps to Centralized GovernmentA.Rise of Limited Gov’t (limits on power of king)

based on = 1. Magna Carta (1215) – Eng. doc. signed by

King John guaranteeing rights of nobility2. Parliaments (Eng. 1295)– gave nobility &

clergy a voice3. Hundred Years War (1337-1453) – Solidified

nationhood of Eng. & Fr.

VII. Impact of Crusades (1095-1291)A. Short-term, short-lived victory in Jerusalem

1. City regained by Turk SaladinB. Long-Term = Contact with other civs.

1. Made Europeans aware of riches they could acquire/control

2. Increased demand, consumption, & production

The Crusades

Pope Urban calls for 1st Crusade - 1096

C. Two Italian Cities Emerge as Economic Leaders1. Venice & Genoa – benefitted from transporting

knights & trade goods2. Become economic powerhouses!

a. Lead banking and Renaissance movementb. European towns grew in responsec. Use of money spread

D. Artistic Developments of Late Middle Ages1. Vernacular languages (common people’s oral

language)a. Italian; Dante’s Divine Comedyb. English; Chaucer’s Canterbury Talesc. Before; most in Latin

2. Gothic Cathedrals = Most impressive Medieval art forma. Combined many art forms

E. By 1300s; art & culture taking shape in Italy as Renaissance

II. England in the High Middle AgesA. 1066 – Norman conquest of England

establishes feudal monarchy in England.B.1215 – King John forced to sign Magna

Carta1. Limited king’s power

C. 1295 – 1st English Parliament1. Law beginning to be determined by king in

consultation with reps.

III. The Capetian Monarchs Build a French KingdomA. Capetian dynasty established in 987 –

No real power over most of France.B.King Philip II (1180-1223)gained power

and land from EnglandC. 1302 – Estates General (French Parliament)

was born1. Bringing together reps. From 3 estates or

classesa. Clergy = 1st Estateb. Nobles = 2nd Estatec. Townspeople = 3rd Estate

D. Feudal Monarchy in England vs. France1. 1066 Norman conquest of England

establishes a feudal monarchy in England much more rapidly than occurs in France.

1. Draw in cities and trade routes representing the Hanseatic League.

2. Annotate the map with information from pp. 220-21, describing how “the Black Death moved along trade and military routes.”

Effects of the CrusadesForemost among the effects of the Crusades was the final fatal weakening of the Byzantine Empire. The Crusades failed to recover Anatolia from the Turks, and the sack of Constantinople in 1204 destroyed Byzantium as a first rate power. Henceforth, it would exist only as a convenience to the Turks. Initially it served as a buffer state against the Turks. By the late 1300's the Byzantines were encouraging the Turks to invade the Balkans to create a buffer to protect the Byzantines from rival Europeans. For a while longer Byzantium was useful to the Turks as a point of contact with the West; when it had outlived its usefulness, they took it in 1453. Perhaps the most significant effect of the Crusades was a vast increase in cultural horizons for many Europeans. For every European who went on a Crusade (let alone the minuscule fraction who returned) there were hundreds who knew someone who had gone, or who had seen the Crusaders march by. Palestine was no longer a quasi-mythical place that people knew only from Bible readings in church; it was a real place where real people went. Once Crusader kingdoms, however fragile, were set up in Palestine, they traded with their kin in Europe, sending finished goods to Europe and importing raw materials. The result was a stimulus to Mediterranean trade. The need to transfer large sums of money for troops and supplies led to development of banking and accounting techniques. If the combatants in the Crusades came mostly from France, Germany and England, the middlemen tended to be merchants from northern Italy. The Crusades launched the economic dominance of cities like Genoa and Venice. The financial burdens of the Crusades, coupled with the need to borrow money to finance them, weakened the power of the nobility and strengthened the merchant classes and the independence of cities. A number of cultural institutions we think of as characteristically medieval came into being during the Crusades. Crusader knights, almost all of them illiterate, soon began using emblems and geometric designs to identify themselves. This practice later evolved into a complex code of heraldic emblems and coats of arms. Romantic and imaginative literature also blossomed during the Crusades. Although we typically picture the Middle Ages in terms of stone castles, a great deal of Europe's knowledge of heavy stone masonry, and construction of castles and stone churches was returned from the Middle East. So were improved techniques of siege technology, tunneling, and sapping. Although tunneling technology would later be of great use in mining, its purpose in warfare was to undermine or sap enemy fortifications. (Engineers, often called "sappers", have been considered a completely different branch of the military from the Army itself in many countries.) European churches also began to include spires or steeples at about the time of the Crusades, possibly inspired by minarets. The cultural and technological enrichment was primarily from East to West; Europe was underdeveloped by Middle Eastern standards and had little to give in return. The principal effects of the Crusades on the Moslem world were negative. Europe lost prestige and military status in the eyes of Moslems, perhaps encouraging the later Turkish incursions into the Balkans. The Moslem world was already becoming more intellectually and theologically conservative; the Crusades accelerated the process and further undermined the long tradition of tolerance in the Moslem world. However, while the Crusaders were making minor nuisances of themselves pecking away at the Moslem world from the West, the Moslem world was about to receive a sledgehammer blow from the East: the Mongol Invasion.

1. Create an organizational web/chart summarizing the “Effects of the Crusades”.

2. Write a DBQ-style thesis addressing the “Effects of the Crusades”.

Event Feudalism is weakened because…

Feudalism is weakened because…

Feudalism is weakened because…

Crusades

Emergence of Towns and Trade

Black Death

100 Years War

Intro. of Printing

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