Download World History: Lesson 13: Rise of European Nation

World History: Lesson 13: Rise of European Nation States
I.
England
a. Had been a part of the Roman Empire
b. Population is a mix of Angles, Saxons, and Vikings who had each invaded the
island over the centuries of the early Middle Ages
c. The Norman Conquest
i. 1066: King Edward died with no heir – two rival claims are made to the
throne by Harold (Edward’s brother-in-law) and by William of Normandy
(Normandy is in France)
ii. William raised a French army and won the backing of the Pope; at the
Battle of Hastings, he defeated Harold and became king
iii. William becomes known as “William the Conqueror” and his victory is
known as the “Norman Conquest”
iv. 1086: William had a census taken which listed every castle and field (along
with who owned it) – this census is called the “Domesday Book” and
allowed William to accurately tax his people
d. English Legal Reform
i. King Henry II in 1150s wanted to strengthen law enforcement
1. sent out traveling justices to enforce law
2. expanded royal law to all of England and did away with feudal
courts and church courts
3. first to use juries to decide trials
4. Henry got in a fight with the church over who should try priests
accused of crimes
a. opposed by his good friend Bishop Thomas Becket
b. some of Henry’s knights think that they are doing him a favor
and kill Becket
c. Horrified at what had happened, Henry backed off and
allowed church to try their own officials
ii. King John (Henry II’s son): BAD KING!
1. made many enemies and lost to them all
a. King Philip II of France – seized John’s lands in France
(Normandy no longer English)
b. Pope Innocent III – forced John to accept Pope as superior to
kings by threatening to excommunicate him (excommunicate
= kick him out of the church, condemning his soul to Hell)
c. English nobles – angered over high taxes, forced John to sign
Magna Carta
2. The Magna Carta
a. Protected the privileges of nobles, townspeople, & the Church
b. Created “due process” – protection from arrest and
imprisonment without cause
c. Protected people from “taxation without representation” by
requiring the king to consult the Great Council before raising
taxes
d. King must obey his own laws
3. The Great Council
a. Now known as Parliament
b. 1295: Edward I had representatives of the common people
join with the nobles and clergy already on the Council
c. later evolved into a two-house legislature
i. the House of Lords (nobles and clergy)
ii. the House of Commons (knights and townspeople)
d. Parliament holds power because they control the taxes
(money)
II.
France
a. The Carolingian Dynasty (founded by Charles “the Hammer” Martel) failed
i. Around 987 the Capetian Dynasty, founded by King Hugh Capet took
power
1. The Capetian kings started off weak – little power and little wealth but slowly built up both and grew into a strong monarchy over the
next 300 years
2. Philip II
a. seized English territory in France
b. built Europe’s first standing army of professional soldiers
c. Won the approval of the pope for crushing heretical groups
(heresy is any religious teaching not in line with the official
church theology)
d. By his death in 1223, he was the most powerful king in
Europe
3. Louis IX (1226-1270)
a. Deeply religious
b. Persecuted heretics & Jews, fought Muslims
c. Brought justice to France by centralizing the legal system,
sending out royal justices, and freeing French serfs
4. Philip IV
a. Facing mounting debts, Philip confiscated Jewish property,
destroyed the Knights Templar (whom he owed money ) and
even tried to tax the church to raise money
b. Pope refused to pay taxes
c. Philip sent troops to arrest the pope, but pope was mistreated
and died from injuries
d. Philip appointed a new FRENCH pope and moves the Papal
Seat from Rome to Avignon, France
III.
IV.
The Holy Roman Empire and the Church
a. The Holy Roman Empire
i. Remember Charlemagne? He ruled over France and Germany
ii. Part of his empire became France
iii. The other part became Germany
1. 936: Otto I became first King of Germany
2. For helping the Pope put down rebellions, Otto is honored with the
title “Holy Roman Emperor”
a. “Holy” = crowned by the Pope
b. “Roman” = considered to be the heir of the Roman emperors
3. Unfortunately, Otto doesn’t have a lot of “real” power because the
feudal lords in Germany are too strong and the church holds too
much influence
b. Conflict with the Church
i. Pope Gregory VII
1. wanted the Church to have power independent of kings
2. stopped allowing kings to appoint the bishops (church
officials)within their own realms (previously, kings could decide
who became bishops and often used the position as a reward for
their friends.)
3. This made the various European kings angry and resentful
4. Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV challenged the Pope on the issue,
but was undermined by his own nobles who backed Gregory
5. Gregory excommunicated Henry, forcing him to apologize and beg
for forgiveness
ii. Papal Power
1. Various European kings and the Church also clashed over control of
Italy. In the end, no one could control Italy and the entire area
remained broken up into tiny independent city-states
2. Popes remained incredibly powerful until Philip IV of France broke
that power by moving the papacy to France and placing it under his
control
The Byzantine Empire
a. Remember the eastern half of the old Roman Empire?
b. 330 AD: Emperor Constantine made the city of Constantinople (formerly called
Byzantium and now called Istanbul, Turkey) his new capital
i. Constantinople’s position along important trade routes made it incredibly
wealthy
ii. To protect its wealth, the city was also heavily defended
c. Emperor Justinian (527-565)
i. Wanted to reclaim the western part of the Roman empire from the
“barbarians” which had overrun it
ii. Built the Hagia Sophia, a gigantic church in Constantinople (now a
mosque)
V.
iii. Justinian’s Code: overhauled the old Roman legal code
iv. Refused to acknowledge the Pope’s authority; instead Justinian was both
Emperor and head of the eastern Church
1. Byzantine priests were allowed to marry
2. Byzantine priests used Greek instead of Latin
3. placed greater emphasis on Easter than Christmas
d. Differences in religious practices led to a schism (or break) within the church
i. 1054: Christianity split into the Eastern Orthodox (east) and Catholic
(west) churches
e. Constantinople sacked during the 4th Crusade by Catholic knights
f. After years of decline, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Muslim Ottoman Empire
in 1453; Constantinople renamed Istanbul and made capital of the Ottomans
Russia
g. Kievan Rus
i. Developed as a trading center between Byzantines in the south and the
Vikings in the north
ii. Christian missionaries from Byzantines converted Russians to Christianity
in 900s AD
1. missionaries Cyril and Methodius developed the Cyrillic alphabet so
as to translate the Bible into Russian
2. Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Christianity and then forced
his people to convert as well (no choice)
iii. City declined in 1100s as trade with weakened Byzantines fails
h. Mongol Rule of Russia
i. Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis, burned Kiev and conquered Russia
ii. Mongols ruled Russia for 240 years, but actually continued to let the
Russian princes govern their city-states
i. Moscow
i. Under Mongol rule, Moscow became the most powerful city in Russia –
both the political capital and the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox
branch of the Church
ii. 1380: Moscow led the overthrow of the Mongols, freeing Russia from
foreign rule
iii. Ivan III (or Ivan the Great) united Russia into one nation between 1462
and 1505 and takes the title “Czar”
j. Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) 1530-1584
i. Grandson of Ivan III
ii. At the same time much of Western Europe was getting rid of feudalism,
Ivan introduced it to Russia
iii. Was unstable; killed his own son and grandchild in a fit of madness
iv. Had secret agents called oprichniki who roamed the countryside, killing
the czar’s enemies
v. After his death in 1584, Russia fell into chaos