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CHAPTER 9 The West Asserts Itself: The High Middle Ages, 1050 – 1300 CHAPTER OUTLINE I. The West in the East: The Crusades The papacy gave powerful religious sanctions to Christian military expeditions against the Muslims in Palestine, leading to eight major Crusades between 1095 and 1291. A. The Origins of Holy War The original call for a crusade came in response to the threat that the Muslim Seljuk Turks posed to Christians in the eastern Mediterranean. Crusaders, a new sort of armed pilgrim, sought both spiritual and material rewards as they battled to take Jerusalem, which many identified with Paradise itself. B. Crusading Warfare The First Crusade (1095-1099) landed in the Middle East to find Arab states weakened from fighting the Turks and internal theological dispute. Capturing Jerusalem and establishing Latin principalities in what is today Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine, this was the only really successful crusade. Subsequent crusades either failed or, in the case of the Fourth Crusade, blatantly subverted religious aims to worldly ones. C. The Significance of the Crusades The Crusader hold in the Middle East did not last long, nor did the Crusades facilitate the transmission to Europe of Islamic cultural and intellectual influences, which instead came via Sicily and Spain. The Crusades did help destabilize the Byzantine Empire, which made it an easy target for Muslim conquest, but most importantly, they led to the expansion of European trade, leading to an era of exuberant economic growth. II. The Consolidation of Roman Catholicism New religious orders, intellectual creativity, and the conversion of the last polytheistic tribes marked one of the greatest periods of religious vitality in Roman Catholicism, thanks largely to able pope who gave the Church the most advanced, centralized government in Europe. But the papacy’s intervention in worldly affairs helped undermine its spiritual authority. A. The Pope Becomes a Monarch Vitality depends on unity, and unity requires a clearly defined identity. The Church built that identity by insisting on ritual uniformity and obedience to the pope. Medieval popes, 85 however, had to make their authority real. Pope Gregory VII sought to do this by pursuing the intertwined objectives of internal reform in the church and independence of the church from external, secular control. In the process he not only centralized authority within the church, but also asserted a theory of temporal, as well as spiritual, papal supremacy. 1. How the Popes Ruled The actual power of the papacy lay in the sophisticated legal, administrative, and financial systems that succeeding popes built up and maintained. Excommunication and interdict were also powerful weapons a pope could deploy against monarchs. 2. The Pinnacle of the Medieval Papacy: Pope Innocent III Possessing a clear concept of papal monarchy, Innocent III provided the papacy with an independent territorial bases, the Papal State; expanded the idea of crusading to include war against heretics; successfully asserted papal power over political affairs; and clearly defined both the church’s liturgical rites and its dogma. 3. The Troubled Legacy of the Papal Monarchy Innocent’s less capable successors undermined a pope’s spiritual authority as they continued to blatantly and more aggressively interfere in secular politics. That eventually made it conceivable and even acceptable for a monarch like King Philip IV of France to not only accuse Pope Boniface VIII of heresy, but to send armed men to arrest him, marking the end of papal monarchy. B. Discovering God in the World This was an era of unprecedented spiritual awakening, with a reformation of clergy morals, an increase in lay devotion and monastic vocations, and the success of new religious orders. 1. The New Religious Orders The desire for a “purer” monasticism led to the founding of the austere but popular Cistercian order in 1098. An entirely new, uncloistered form of monasticism, the friars, emerged with the Dominican and Franciscans, who devoted themselves to teaching, preaching, and ministering in the world. 2. The Flowering of Religious Sensibilities Religious enthusiasm and experimentation pushed piety in new directions for all Christians. Veneration of the Eucharist provided identification with Christ while veneration of the Virgin Mary popularized a new, more positive image of women. C. Creating the Outcasts of Europe 86 With the rise of religious unity and moral reform was also an increase in the persecution of those who did not fit into the official idea of Christian society. 1. The Heretics: Cathars and Waldensians The impulse toward a “purer” Christianity led Cathars and Waldensians to deviate from Catholic doctrine, earning them the unremitting hostility of Church authorities, who sought to search out and exterminate the heretics through inquisition and crusade. 2. Systematic Persecution of the Jews The Crusades fostered hostility and violence against the Jews, who found themselves increasingly marginalized, deprived of legal protections, and subjected to persecution. 3. “The Living Dead”: Lepers Victims of this feared, disfiguring disease found themselves increasingly segregated from their communities and classified with heretics and Jews as “outcasts.” 4. The Invention of Sexual Crimes The church first legislated against homosexual relations in 1179, and male “sodomites” were, like heretics, Jews, and lepers, identified as outcasts and subjected to persecution. Male church authorities, however, appear to have been unable to imagine female homosexuality. III. Strengthening the Center of the West In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, western Europe reached new heights of political and economic might as kings, especially in England and France, achieved unprecedented power within their kingdoms, and sophisticated merchants bound Europe together in an extensive trading network. A. The Monarchies of Western Europe In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monarchs of France and England, in contrast to overextended empires and underdefended city-states, were able to form stable borders, develop permanent, impersonal bureaucracies to manage finance and administration, establish themselves as the ultimate, or sovereign, authority and make the law the object of their subjects’ fundamental loyalty, in the process laying the foundations of modern nation states. 87 1. Expansion of Power: France The kings of France achieved unity through military conquest and administrative reform, aided by a lucky streak of dynastic continuity. 2. Lord of All Lords: The King of England Claiming all land in England by right of conquest, William I of England made sure that every bit of it was held, directly or indirectly, as a fief from the king. William’s great-grandson, Henry II, further enhanced royal power by using sheriffs to enforce the king’s will and making the king’s justice available to all, although he was unable to overturn the church’s legal privileges and immunities. Although Henry’s son John was forced to concede some limitations to royal power in regard to the barons, John’s grandson Edward I increased royal power through legal reforms and the foundation of Parliament. 3. A Divided Regime: The German Empire Lacking the feudal or legal foundations for building monarchical authority that the kings of England and France had, German emperors had to rely on forceful personality and military skill to make themselves effective. They also faced the ongoing hostility of popes wary of any consolidating of royal power so territorially close to the papacy, and thus Germany and Italy remained disunited. B. The Economic Boom Years Building on the foundations of the agricultural and power revolutions of the eleventh century, advances in transportation networks facilitating long-distance trade, the creation of new business techniques needed for long-distance trade, and the development of cities made possible an economic boom. IV. Medieval Culture: The Search for Understanding In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the West re-engaged with classical Greek philosophy, and theologians tried to reconcile that philosophy’s rational approach with their religious faith. Ancient Roman and Muslim influences as well helped bring about a cultural and intellectual flowering. A. Revival of Learning A tremendous increase in medieval education emerged from the monasteries and cathedral schools, especially the latter, as Europeans began to embrace large-scale learning, in which the Church was still the dominant force. 1. Scholasticism: A Christian Philosophy Out of a growing need for training in logic, the cathedral schools began to train its students in methods of critical reasoning, which gave rise to scholasticism. A broad philosophical and theological movement that dominated medieval thought, 88 scholasticism relied on the use of logic as learned from Aristotle to interpret the Bible and early Christian writers. In their lectures and disputations, scholastics considered all subjects, even sacred ones, open to their rational inquiry. 2. Universities: Organizing Learning Arising from the schools, medieval universities formulated the basic educational practices still in place today, such as curricula, examinations, and degrees. 3. The Ancients: Renaissance of the Twelfth Century Between 1140 and 1260 a flood of Latin translations of ancient Greek works brought Christian thinkers into a greater familiarity with the philosophical method of reasoning, and, like Jewish and Muslim thinkers, they were anxious to demonstrate that philosophy did not contradict the truth of their faith. This quest to reconcile philosophy and faith found its most successful resolution in the work of Thomas Aquinas, who distinguished between natural truth and revealed truth, both coming from God, with the latter perfecting and completing the former. Both Aquinas’ work and that of the jurists revealed a new systematic approach to things. B. Epic Violence and Courtly Love A remarkable flowering of vernacular literature occurred as orally-transmitted epics were written down, and troubadours created a new literary form, the courtly love poem, which introduced the idea of romantic love and idealized women. C. The Center of Medieval Culture: The Great Cathedrals Most European cathedrals were built between 1050 and 1300, symbolizing the soaring ambitions and imaginations of their era, and were centers for all kinds of arts. 1. Architecture: The Romanesque and Gothic Styles The arched stone roofs of Romanesque cathedrals created an intimate, comforting space, but gave way to the high pointed arches of the Gothic style that evoked feelings of mystical awe. 2. Music and Drama: Reaching God’s Ear and the Christian’s Soul Whether plainchant or polyphony, liturgical music was a form of enhancing the mystical experience of worship, and liturgical plays, intended for education as well as worship, began the Western dramatic tradition. V. Conclusion: Asserting Western Culture For the first time since the Roman Empire, the West, looked both inward and outward, measured itself, defined itself, and promoted itself as it matured into its own selfconfident identity and extended its power outside of Europe itself. 89 The West cultivated critical methods of thinking that produced an almost limitless capacity for creative renewal and critical self-examination. This is what has most distinguished the West ever since. TIMELINE Insert the following events into the timeline. This should help you to compare important historical events chronologically. Magna Carta Murder of Thomas Becket First Crusade Albigensian Crusade ______ 1096-1099 ______ 1170 ______ 1208-1213 ______ 1215 TERMS, PEOPLE, EVENTS The following terms, people, and events are important to your understanding of the chapter. Define each one. Crusades Excommunication Investiture Controversy Canon law Curia Interdict Mendicant friars Eucharist Transubstantiation Circuit court Grand jury Trial by jury Magna Carta Scholasticism Twelfth-century Renaissance Thomism Courtly love Troubadours Gothic Romanesque Plainchant 90 Polyphony Pope Urban II Pope Innocent III Gregory VII Albigensian Crusade Philip II Augustus Louis IX William I, the Conqueror King Henry II Frederick II Champagne fairs Thomas Aquinas MAP EXERCISE The following exercise is intended to clarify the geophysical environment and the spatial relationships among the important objects and places mentioned in this chapter. Locate the following places on the map. Vezelay Clermont Marseilles Damascus Jerusalem Cairo Pickup map from Kishlansky study guide, page 75 91 MAKING CONNECTIONS The following questions are intended to emphasize important ideas within the chapter. 1. What were the causes and consequences of the Crusades? How did the goals of these interventions change over time? 2. How did the Roman Catholic Church consolidate its power in Europe? How was the law a mechanism for control in the Catholic world? 3. What issues within the church prompted the founding of the new religious orders? 4. What factors contributed to the economic boom during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries? 5. Discuss scholasticism. What role did it play in the revival of learning in the medieval world? DOCUMENT QUESTIONS 1. How does “The Love of Tristan and Iseult” typify courtly love? What are the “ennobling possibilities” of their love? 2. The “Crusaders Massacre the Jews of Rhineland Germany” depicts the actions of Jewish martyrs. What is the role of martyrdom in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism? What are other famous stories of martyrdom? PUTTING LARGER CONCEPTS TOGETHER 1. How did the consolidation of Roman Catholicism in Europe actually contribute to the creation of a unified European identity? What was the role of the Inquisition in this process? 2. Explore the connections between European economic growth in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the cultural renaissance of the same period. What is the significance of where this renaissance takes place? 92 SELF-TEST OF FACTUAL INFORMATION 1. Which statement about the Crusades is not true? A. B. C. D. 2. The Investiture Controversy centered around the Pope's determination to A. B. C. D. 3. Jews. lepers. homosexuals. Albigensians. A French king known for his justice, piety, and chivalry was A. B. C. D. 6. Dominic Clare of Assisi Bernard of Clairvaux Peter the Hermit In its efforts to defend the faith, the Church categorized some groups as heretics, such as A. B. C. D. 5. issue dispensations. adjudicate disputes over inheritance. control appointments to church offices. retake the Holy Land. Who founded a mendicant order for men to combat heresy, teach, and preach? A. B. C. D. 4. Three reigning monarchs participated in the Second Crusade. The Crusades revitalized and strengthened the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople. Crusaders held Jerusalem for almost 90 years. Louis IX. Hugh Capet. Philip I. Philip II. Which statement about the Magna Carta is true? A. B. C. D. It recognized representatives of the "commons." It required the king to respect feudal privileges. It established circuit courts to administer the king's justice. It reduced the jurisdiction of feudal courts. 93 7. Thirteenth-century German emperors A. B. C. D. 8. The Persian philosopher whose commentaries on Aristotle influenced Catholic scholasticism was A. B. C. D. 9. Fulcher. Maimonides. Avicenna. Al-Ghazali. Which statement about Thomas Aquinas is not true? A. B. C. D. 10. Could not exercise control over powerful independent-minded German dukes. Intervened in Italy. Belonged to the Hohenstaufen dynasty. All of these. He wrote Summary of Theology. He differentiated between natural truth and revealed truth. He engaged in verbal disputations with Peter Abelard. He tried to reconcile faith and reason. Which is not a characteristic of Romanesque cathedrals? A. B. C. D. flying buttresses intimate, dark cozy atmosphere rounded arch barrel vault 94