Download Medieval Europe

Medieval Europe
300 - 1500
•1. Kingdoms and Christianity – 300 – 1250
•2. The Early Middle Ages – 800 – 1215
•3. The High Middle Ages – 1000 – 1500
Mr. Schenk
The Early Middle Ages
•800 - 1215
•1. Charlemagne’s Empire
•2. New Invaders
•3. The Feudal and Manorial Systems
•4. The Growth of Monarchies
•5. Power of the Church
•At the outset of the early Middle Ages, western Europe was a land without an empire
•New forms of community took hold
•Christianity spread throughout western Europe
•Strong, new political systems also arose, uniting much of Europe
300 - 1500
1. Charlemagne’s Empire
300 - 1500
•With the fall of Rome, Europe had entered into a period of political, social, and economic decline.
•Small kingdoms competed to control the lands once under Rome’s central authority
•Among these kingdoms, were the Franks
Building an Empire
•By the 800’s, the Franks ruled much of western and
central Europe
•Leaders most influential in the successes of the Franks
belonged to one family – the Carolingians
•The family of Charlemagne
•Grandfather – Charles Martel – served as a political
advisor to the king
•His son – Pippin III – the first king of the
Carolingians
•He passed to his son Charles – considered one of the
most important leaders in European history
300 - 1500
Charlemagne’s Rise to Power
300 - 1500
•Pope Leo III, in 774, called
on him to defend his Papal
States against a group known
as the Lombards
•Charlemagne and the Franks
swept into Italy and defeated
the raiders
•Charles the Great became
king of the Romans
•This medieval manuscript shows Pope Leo III crowning Charlemagne
Emperor of the Romans
Charlemagne’s Rule
300 - 1500
•Charlemagne had tremendous power as emperor
(however to large to rule)
•Permanent capital at Aachen (now Germany) Charlemagne’s home palace
•Counts – officials who ruled under him in exchange for large tracts of land- oversaw his empire
A New Society
300 - 1500
•The Carolingian Renaissance
•Politics – unified Europe for the first time since
the fall of Rome
•Education – built schools and preserved ancient
writings
•Religion – spread Christianity among conquered
people
•Law – developed a written legal code
Charlemagne’s Empire Collapses:
Treaty of Verdun, 843
•With Charlemagne’s death in 814, the
empire lost its center
•Once again disunity spread throughout
Europe
•His grandsons divide the empire into three
parts, a western, a middle, and a eastern
kingdom
•to make matters worse – invaders –
Vikings!
300 - 1500
2. New Invaders
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300 - 1500
The death of Charlemagne marked the ending of
peace in Western Europe
The Vikings, Magyars, and the Muslims all focused
on their conquests of Europe
Perhaps the most fierce were the warriors from
Denmark known as the Vikings
•“The number of ships grow: the endless stream of Vikings never
cease to increase. Everywhere the Christians are victims of
massacres, burnings, plunderings; the Vikings conquer all in their
path, and no one resists them.”
•A Monk of Noirmoutier
•The Viking World
•The first attack of the Lindisfarne Monastery marked the
beginning of a 200 year period of raids in northern Europe, a
period known as the age of the Vikings
Who are the Vikings?
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300 - 1500
The people of Scandinavia, also called Northman,
Norsemen (Northern Europe)
In Viking homelands, society was based on
agriculture and the sea
As Scandinavians population grew, resources
became limited so the Vikings decided to take
what they needed from other people
Thus started the Viking raids
•Erik the Red – conquered Greenland and Iceland 982
•Leif Eriksson – explored North America, but did they
reach Minnesota? (1100)
Viking Conquests and Settlements
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Erik the Red
Leif Eriksson
Viking long boat
300 - 1500
First raids were England and northern France
As time passed they reached Kiev and
Constantinople
Not all were raiders, many were explorers
(Iceland, Greenland, Canada) Vikings were
superb ship builders and sailors (excellent
navigators)
Ships could withstand heavy ocean winds and
carried as many as 100 warriors
The Magyars
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As Vikings terrorized northern and western Europe, the Magyars invaded from the east
Magyars- nomads (horsemen) who settled in what is now Hungary
Military tactic invaded small settlements
In mid 900’s, King Otto the Great crushed the Magyar raids
300 - 1500
Moors, African Muslims in Spain
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•Legend has it that King Rodrigo of Spain married the daughter of one of his
noblemen, Count Julian against the wishes of her father. To avenge what Julian
perceived as his violated honor, he opened secret parleys with the enemy and
invited with the Emir (Governor) Musa ibn Nusayr, the Muslim ruler of North
Africa, who was based in Tunisia to invade Spain.
•The Caliph al-Walid authorized the invasion of Spain (710-711 AD), on
condition that Count Julian recited the Shahada and embraced Islam.
300 - 1500
In 711, a Muslim Army from northern Africa crossed
the straits of Gibraltar and made conquest of the
Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal)
Ruled the peninsula for more than 700 years
Cordoba – one of the wealthiest and most culturally
advanced cities of the medieval world
In 800’s and 900’s, Muslim raids in southern France,
Rome Italy, and Constantinople, the Byzantine
Empire, led to a shift in power from Christianity to
Islam
Feudalism in Europe develops in response of the
invasions of the Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims
3. The Feudal and Manorial Systems
The Greatest Knight?
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•William Marshall
•Served the first four English kings
300 - 1500
In Europe, during the Middle Ages, the
feudal and manorial systems governed
life and required people to perform
certain duties and obligations
As the Middle Ages progressed, knights
began to emerge as key figures in Europe
What was responsible for this change?
Origins of feudalism
•A political, economic, and social system based on loyalty and military service
•Feudalism originated in part as a result of the foreign invasions of Europe
•For protection nobles built castles to defend their lands
300 - 1500
Carcassonne: A Medieval Castle –
•Castles were built on hills because
hilltop locations were easier to
defend
•Most early castles were made of
wood and stone
•Castles were defended by nobles
soldiers, known as knights
300 - 1500
Knights and Lords
300 - 1500
•Main room of the castle called the hall – dining and entertaining
•Bedrooms separated by sheets and near latrines (bathrooms) Hay for
toilet paper!!!
Parts of a Medieval Castle
•Being a knight was expensive, therefore nobles gave knights land for payment of service
•This land was called a fief
•Anyone who accepted the land from the lord was called a vassal
•This is known as the Feudal System
Feudal Obligations
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•Fealty – oath or loyalty between knight and his king
300 - 1500
Feudalism build upon
relationship and service
A knights duty to his lord
– Provide military service
– Remain loyal and faithful
– Give money on special
occasions
A Lord’s duty to his Knights
– Give land
– Protect from attack
– Resolve disputes
between knights
Chivalry: A Code of Honor and Behavior
•Generic term for knightly system of the middle
ages
•First appeared with military actions against nonChristian states
•Protectors of their religious faith Christianity
•Chivalry also directed that men should honor,
serve, and do nothing to displease women and
maidens
300 - 1500
The Medieval Manor
•Feudal system built around large estates
called manors
•Owned by wealthy lords or knights
•Serfs – peasant workers who were legally
tied to the manor on which they worked
•Manors land occupied by fields for crops
and pastures for animals
•Three crop rotating system
300 - 1500
Life on the Medieval Manor
300 - 1500
Serfs at work
Legally tied to the manor
Serfdom was hereditary
Lived in small one to two room cottages –floor was
packed dirt/roof was straw (cooking by fire!!!)
4. The Growth of Monarchs
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•A Sign from Heaven
•William the Conqueror: Battle of Hastings, 1066 (Bayeaux
Tapestry)
300 - 1500
The power of the kings grew and the
nature of monarchy changed across
Europe in the early middle ages
1066 – King Harold saw what we think
was Haley’s comet, appear in the sky
He thought it was a sign that change was
coming to England
Within a year, the Duke William of
Normandy invaded England and took the
throne
The English Monarchy
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300 - 1500
England was one of the first
countries in Europe to develop a
strong central monarchy
Anglo Saxon Rule – Alfred the
Great drove out the Vikings
In 1066, William, Duke of
Normandy of France, in the battle of
Hastings took the English throne
Domesday Book – a book that
William used to create a new central
tax system for England
The English in France
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300 - 1500
One of William’s descendants, King
Henry, married a powerful French
duchess, Eleanor of Aquitaine
Together, they ruled all of England
and most of France
The kings of England become more
powerful than French counterparts
England’s Political System
300 - 1500
 Henry I, King William’s son, set up a court system and a department of
royal finances, under an Exchequer who collected taxes
Henry II, established the principle of common law throughout the
kingdom
Under his court, he established a grand jury and trial by jury.
1200 – the power of the English kings started to worry a group of nobles
Noble Revolution under King John, who tried to raise money with a new
tax to help him regain France – led to a Magna Carta
Magna Carta, 1215
300 - 1500
The Magna Carta was a document that
contained restrictions on the king’s power
King must obtain consent from the nobles if
he wished to raise taxes
Also ended king’s ability to arrest and punish
people without cause or to take property without
legal procedures
King is not above the law
One of the more Important documents in the
formation of modern democracies
300 - 1500
The Beginnings of the British Parliament
 Great Council:
 middle class merchants, townspeople [burgesses in Eng., bourgeoisie in Fr., burghers in Ger.] were
added at the end of the 13c.
 eventually called Parliament – governing body of England today
 by 1400, two chambers evolved: House of Lords  nobles & clergy and the House of Commons
 knights and burgesses.
The French Monarchy
300 - 1500
•After the death of Charlemagne, England
controlled France for quite sometime
•Hugh Capet – Capetian family who managed to
expel the English nobles out of France
•1300 – controlled most of modern France
Holy Roman Empire
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300 - 1500
The eastern part of Charlemagne’s empire
became known as Germany
936 – Otto the Great – duke of Saxonygained the throne and conquered parts of
northern Italy
Just like Charlemagne, Otto was crowned
Emperor of the Romans in 962.
Became known as the Holy Roman Empire
because king had God’s support
Spain and Portugal’s Monarchy
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300 - 1500
Spain and Portugal the growth of monarchies
was coupled with religious struggle between
Christians and Muslims
Moors of Cordoba controlled Spain for 700 years
The Reconquista – Christian effort to retake the
Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims
Leader of the Reconquistas was the king of
Castile of Spain who eventually united with the
queen of Aragon of Portugal
In 1492, once they rid the Moors from Spain,
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ruled one of
the strongest countries in all of Europe
5. The Power of the Church
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300 - 1500
Who would have the power to make an
emperor wait in the snow, begging for an
audience?
Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire
waited three days to meet with Pope Gregory
VII and the Countess Matilda
Emperor Henry IV wanted to ask the countess
to intervene in his conflict with the pope
300 - 1500
Religion in the Middle Ages
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Popes are head of the Roman Catholic
Church and throughout the Middle Ages,
they became powerful political figures
Great level of Piety – person’s level of
devotion to his or her religion
Europeans placed a great importance on
faith and their devotions to Christianity
Growth of the Papal Power
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Pope Gregory VII
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•Henry IV
300 - 1500
In 1049, the first series of clever and capable popes
dedicated to reforming the papacy came to power
Leo IX – reformer who became more active in
governing the church than any other pope had been
for centuries
Pontification – papal term in office – under Pope
Gregory VII
Emperor Henry wrote a letter to Pope Gregory
claiming that he had no authority over him or any
other ruler
Gregory excommunicated Henry IV
Henry begged for forgiveness
Led to the pope becoming one of the strongest
figures in Europe
Changes in Monasticism
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300 - 1500
Early 900’s, a small group of monks,
sought to return monasticism to its
original Benedictine Rule
The Cistercian order was dedicated to
leading simple lives. Monks spent part of
each day in prayer and part at work
Lived like hermits and had no contract
with other people