Download unit 3: the world in transition

UNIT 3: THE WORLD IN TRANSITION
CHAPTER 14: THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
Section 1: The Crusades
I. Causes of the Crusades

the Seljuq Turks were a Muslim people from central Asia who gained control of Palestine (the Holy
Land) during the late 1000s

the Turks were a threat to Constantinople, too, so the Byzantine emperor asked Pope Urban II for
help

Pope Urban II asked European lords to free the Holy Land from the Turks, & some 10,000 Europeans
took up the cause

Crusades - expeditions by Christians to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims

Crusaders joined the cause for various reasons:
o
to save their souls
o
to gain land & wealth
o
for adventure
II. The First Crusade (1096-1099)
Political Effects
Economic Effects
Cultural Effects
European control of the Holy Land
Spread of European institutions
Small states set up by crusaders
Spread of feudalism
Trade between Europe & the Holy Land
Growth of Italian shipping business
Europeans wore Eastern clothes & ate Eastern foods
Christians grew to respect Muslims
III. Other Major Crusades

for almost 100 years European Christians held onto Palestine; little by little, however, the Turks
won back their lost lands, despite the efforts of popes & European rulers
A. The Second Crusade (1147-1149)

Crusaders failed to recapture Damascus & returned home in disgrace
B. The Third Crusade (1189-1192)

Crusaders gained control of Palestinian coastal towns & get permission for Christians to enter
Jerusalem
C. The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)

Crusaders attacked & looted Constantinople, & Venetians gained control of Byzantine trade
D. Other Crusades

the Children’s Crusade was a short-lived failed crusade in 1212 by young people from Europe
who marched on the Holy Land to regain it for Christianity

the Crusades continued until 1291 when the Muslims captured the city of Acre, the last
Christian stronghold in the Holy Land
IV. Results of the Crusades

all the Crusades except the first failed to reach the goal of taking the Holy Land from the Turks
A. Weapons & Warfare

during the Crusades, the weapon of choice for many European soldiers was the crossbow

from the Byzantines & Muslims Europeans also discovered new ways to wage war
B. Political Changes

European kings grew stronger as feudalism ended

during the Crusades the Christian church became more powerful
C. Ideas & Trade

Crusaders exchanged ideas with other crusaders & with the Byzantines & Muslims

Italian cities became major trading centers
Section 2: The Revival of Trade
I. Trade Routes

because of the Crusades, trade began to grow again in Europe
A. Trade in Italy

the Italian city-states of Genoa, Pisa, & Venice became important trading centers, acting as gobetweens for traders from Asia & northern Europe
B. Trade in Northern Europe

Kiev, in what is now Ukraine, became a trading center, as did Flanders
C. The Hanseatic League

German cities on the Baltic & North Seas also became important trading centers, but Germany’s
weak central government could not control trade; for that reason, the German trading cities
joined together to form the Hanseatic League
The Crusades
stimulated
trade
Flanders became
a meeting center
of different
trade routes
Italian ships
brought
goods back
from Asia
Hanseatic
League set
up trading
posts
REVIVAL
OF TRADE
Viking ships
brought Asian
goods to
Europe
II. Trade Goods & Markets

fairs promoted economic growth & social activity & communication

barter economy - economy of exchanging goods & services without using money
III. Manufacturing, Banking, & Investment

the revival of trade in Europe during the Middle Ages led to 3 important business developments
A. Manufacturing

the domestic system was a method of production that took place in the worker’s home rather
than in a shop or factory
B. Banking

moneychangers not only exchanged currencies at fairs but also became moneylenders

bankers also made it easier to move money from one place to another
C. Investing

capital - wealth that is earned, saved, & invested to make profits

market economy - economy in which land, labor, & capital are controlled by individual
persons
Section 3: The Growth of Towns
I. The Rights of Townspeople
Freedom
Anyone who lived in a
town for a year & a day
became free.
This included serfs who
escaped from a manor
to a town.
Exemption
Townspeople won the
right of being exempt
(free) from ever having
to work on the manor.
Town Justice
Towns had their own
courts.
Leading citizens tried
cases that involved
townspeople.
Commercial Privileges
Townspeople could sell
goods freely in the town
market.
They could also charge
tolls to outsiders who
wanted to trade there.
II. Guilds
A. Merchants

a merchant guild was an association of merchants & workers created to protect their rights
to trade & to help out members & their families
B. Workers

craft guilds were associations of skilled workers that set standards for working conditions

apprentice - one who learns a skill under a master

a journeyman was a skilled worker who was paid wages by a master
C. The Rise of the Middle Class

middle class - class of skilled workers between the upper class & the poor & unskilled
workers
III. Medieval Towns
A. Town Life

towns offered serfs a chance to improve their lives
B. The Black Death

Black Death - terrible plague that swept through Europe, beginning in 1347

by some estimates, about 25 million people died in Europe from 1347-1351—about 1/3 of the
entire population
Section 4: Life & Culture in the Middle Ages
I. Language & Literature

since the collapse of the Roman Empire, Latin had remained the written & spoken language of
educated people in western Europe

vernacular languages - everyday speech that varies from place to place
A. Early Vernacular Literature
Kind of Literature
Troubadour songs
Romances
Characteristics
Poems about love & chivalry
Fictional stories, sometimes of heroes
National epic
Miracle, morality, & mystery
plays
Long poem about a hero
Short dramas with religious or biblical
themes
Example
Love songs
King Arthur & his Knights of the
Round Table
Song of Roland
“Noah’s Flood”
B. The Flowering of Vernacular Literature

Dante Alighieri - Italian who wrote in the vernacular; his masterpiece was The Divine Comedy.

Geoffrey Chaucer - English writer who used Middle English; his most famous work was The
Canterbury Tales
II. Education

during the early Middle Ages, few people received an education; schooling was carried out at
monasteries & in churches &, later, other schools

in time, teachers & students united to form guilds to protect & gain rights for themselves (came
to be called “universities”)

between the late 1000s & the late 1200s, 4 great universities developed: Paris, Oxford, Bologna,
& Salerno

by the end of the 1400s, many more universities had opened throughout Europe, & all
universities had the same programs
III. Philosophy & Science
A. Philosophy

scholasticism - medieval philosophy attempting to bring together faith & reason

Peter Abelard, an important philosopher of scholasticism, wrote Sic et Non (Yes & No), which
raised many questions about the church’s teachings

Thomas Aquinas - one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages; wrote Summa Theologiae,
which summarized medieval Christian thought
B. Science

few advances were made in science during the Middle Ages; Europeans did, however, make
some technical advances that helped with everyday life

winches & pulleys made lifting & pulling heavy objects easier

iron plows & better oxen yokes made farming easier

windmills & waterwheels also began to be used
IV. Architecture

Gothic - style of church architecture characterized by tall spires & flying buttresses that was
developed by master builders during the mid-1100s
ROMANESQUE
Dark
Low walls
Heavy domes
Section 5: Wars & the Growth of Nations
I. England
VERSUS
GOTHIC
Light
Towering
Spacious

by the late Middle Ages, England’s feudal lords had lost much of their power to its king

Hundred Years’ War - war between France & England for the French throne that continued from
1337-1453
A. The Hundred Years’ War
RESULTS
England
France
Lost all of its French territory except Calais
English soldiers robbed the French people &
Knightly warfare was weakened by the use of
destroyed their property
longbows, cannons, & gunpowder
The French starved, even during peacetime
Parliament gained more power over the king
The French king became more powerful
B. The War of the Roses

War of the Roses - war between the York & Lancaster families of England in 1455

the white rose was the badge of the House of York; the red rose was the badge of the House of
Lancaster

Henry Tudor - won the War of the Roses in 1485 by defeating King Richard III of York; married a
daughter from the House of York &, as King Henry VII, set up a strong monarchy in England
II. France
A. A Fight for the Throne

during the Hundred Years’ War, the House of Burgundy sided with the English against the
House of Orléans, preventing France from uniting against the English

finally in 1429, Charles VII of Orléans was crowned the king of France &, with the backing of
the French people, drove out the English

Joan of Arc - helped Charles VII become king of France; burned at the stake as a heretic;
Catholic saint & a symbol of French patriotism
B. A Return of Strong Kings

during the Hundred Years’ War, the French Estates General controlled finances & passed laws
(similar to the role of the English Parliament); after the war, however, it lost some of its
power

under the French king Louis XI, the French monarchy became stronger, & France became a
united country
III. Spain

Spain became a united nation in 1479 under Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile

Ferdinand & Isabella also discriminated against non-Christians; as a result, Spain was robbed of
many of its leaders in industry & trade
IV. The Holy Roman Empire

Habsburg - powerful family of European rulers in the 1200s
The Habsburgs used
their position to arrange
marriages with powerful
families
A Habsburg was
elected emperor in
1273
Through marriage the
Habsburgs gained control of
Austria & nearby lands
RISE OF
THE
HABSBURGS
More well-planned
marriages gave the
Habsburgs control of
much of the empire’s
territory
The Habsburgs became
the most powerful
family in Europe

they were unable to unite the Holy Roman Empire because independent princes in Germany &
the pope in Italy refused to surrender power to the Habsburgs
Section 6: Challenges to Church Power
I. Church Power Weakens

power began shifting from the church to monarchs

people began to question church practices

in 1294 a conflict arose between the pope & a monarch, after which King Philip IV Of France ordered
the clergy in France to pay taxes, thus angering Pope Boniface VIII who, in 1302, decreed that popes
had power over worldly rulers

this conflict between Philip IV & Boniface VIII was the first instance of a king with enough power to
stand up to a pope & the church
II. The Babylonian Captivity & the Great Schism

after Boniface died, Philip had a French bishop, Clement V, elected pope; Clement V moved the
headquarters of the church from Rome to Avignon, France

Babylonian Captivity - years that the pope lived in Avignon, France, instead of Rome, Italy (13091377)

until 1417 the church had 2 (& sometimes 3) popes; for political reasons, each pope had the
support of certain national rulers & their people & clergy

Great Schism - period of church history from 1378-1417 when the church was divided into
opposing groups

Council of Constance (1414-1417) removed the Italian & French popes while a third pope
resigned; it then elected a new Italian pope & suggested that other councils be held to correct
church problems
III. More Problems for the Church

the Babylonian Captivity & Great Schism resulted not only in loss of respect for the church &
weakened papal authority, but they also increased criticism of the church

Defender of the Faith (1324) claimed that the pope was the elected of the church alone with no
power over worldly rulers

it also stated that the church’s power belonged with a council of clergy & lay people
John Wycliffe
Promoted the English Bible
Defended by the royal court
Banned, not executed

Both
Teacher
Attacked church abuses
Accused of heresy
Jan Hus
Angered clergy
Burned at the stake
the questioning of church authority by John Wycliffe & Jan Hus set the stage for later reformers
who would radically alter the history of the Christian church