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Chapter 12; Islam and the Crusades
The crusades or Holy Wars brought new ideas and new interests
to Europeans. There were also changes happening on medieval
farms and in towns.
Some recognized that the king had too much power and that
their rights were being denied. Change was slow but change was
continuous.
Christian Pilgrims
During the middle Ages, the Christian religion was the strongest
force in Europe.
People made pilgrimages to show their faith they travelled from
France, Germany, England and Italy to holy shrines.
Pilgrims travelled east to the holy city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem
was the holy city for both the Jews and Europeans. Europeans
went to see the place where Jesus had lived and taught.
Muhammad and the Birth of Islam
The Muslims also called the city of Jerusalem holy. Prior to
A.D. 570, Arabia was a vast desert southeast of the
Mediterranean Sea. The Arabs who lived there believed in many
gods. Arabia was not a peaceful land. Bands of thieves rode
throughout the area looting and killing.
The nomadic tribes also fought amongst themselves. Trade
became harder and harder and the people became poorer.
Around A.D. 570, in the Arabian City of Mecca, a man named
Muhammad was born. Though not much is known of
Muhammad’s early life he was to become a religious figure that
would change the shape of the world.
When Muhammad was 40 years old, it is said he saw an angel.
The angel spoke to him saying that he was a prophet of God.
Muhammad was tasked to teach the people. The angel said,
“That there is one God, and that God is Allah”.
Like Jesus, Muhammad became a teacher. He tried to teach his
people that Allah was the one true God. Most Arabs would not
listen.
Muhammad promised that Allah would reward people for good
deeds with a wonderful life after death. Poor people listened.
Slaves listened. Peoples whose lives were hard or sad listened to
Muhammad.
The Muslims were forced to flee the city of Mecca in A.D. 622.
Muhammad took his followers to the Arabian city of Medina.
As the number of Moslems grew the converts became soldiers
for Islam. With army of followers, Muhammad returned to
Mecca. They took the city in A.D. 630.
In A.D. 632, Muhammad died. By the time of his death, most of
Arabia was united under one religion. The religion of the
Muslims was called Islam. The religion promised all who died
in battle would go to paradise. This idea alone created huge
armies of enthusiastic soldiers.
The Spread of Islam
Between A.D. 640 and A.D. 66, Arab armies swept through
Syria, Persia, and Egypt. They conquered Palestine and the holy
city of Jerusalem. The Arab conquests continued for hundreds of
years. Arab lands would stretch from North Africa to North
Africa and Spain to the Indus River and Central Asia.
In the conquered territories the Muslims gave the conquered
people little choice – the people must become Muslim or die.
Only Jews and Christians were able to keep their own religion.
The Muslims respected those who worshipped one God and
followed the words of the holy book.
Allah, the God of the Moslems is the same God as that found in
the Jewish and Christian religions. According to Muhammad the
word of God was revealed though the chosen prophets. These
prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally
Muhammad.
God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Gospels to
Jesus and the Koran Muhammad. Even so, the Christians and
Jews were forced to pay tribute to the new Arab rulers.
The conquering Arabs brought their culture as well as their
religion. They built fine cities, new schools and beautiful places
of worship called mosques.
The Arabs writing and language became part of world culture.
The numerals that we use now in the United States, for example
are Arabic numerals.
Today Islam is one of the world’s great religions. Most Muslims
live in the Middle East, Pakistan, India, North Africa and parts
of Asia. About 5 ¾ million people of Islamic faith are estimated
to live in the United States.
The Koran
The Koran is the sacred book of Islam. The verses in the Koran
are a collection of verses said to be revealed to Muhammad by
the angel Gabriel.
Muslims believe the Koran is the word of God and cannot be
changed in any way although translations are permitted.
The Koran emphasizes that Allah is the one and only God.
Muslims must submit, or yield, to Allah and his word. Allah will
judge each person by his or her deeds and submission to him.
There are several things a good Muslim must do., according to
the Koran. A Muslim must pray five times a day, facing toward
Mecca. A Muslim must give to the poor. A Muslim must not
eat or drink during daylight hours of one special month called
Ramadan. A Muslim should, if at all possible, make at least one
visit to Mecca. Today, Muslim pilgrims from many lands still
journey to the holy city of Mecca.
The Soldiers of Christ
When the Christian pilgrims of the middle Ages journeyed to
Jerusalem, that city was under Muslim control. Because the
Muslims respected the Christian religion they allowed Christian
pilgrims to visit Jerusalem.
In A.D. 1071, the Seljuk Turks, who dominated Syria, took
power in Jerusalem. The Turks were Muslims, too but they were
not friendly to the Christians. The Turks prevented the
Christians from visiting the city or its sacred shrines.
In 1095, Pope Urban II stirred Europeans to recapture
Jerusalem. He told the Nobles that it was their Christian duty to
free the Holy Land.
Feudal lords, knights, and commoners all joined the crusade and
were ready to invade the Holy Land. They wore crosses on their
clothing as a symbol of their mission. The Crusades would last
about 200 years.
The Crusaders joined the Crusades for a number of reasons.
Some of the Crusaders did it for religious reasons. Others did it
looking for adventure, others were looking for wealth. Soldiers
wanted military glory, merchants and traders wanted new
markets for their goods. Criminals wanted a safe place to hide.
Crusaders came from every social class – Kings and nobles,
knights and lords. Serfs saw a chance to escape the feudal
manor.
The earliest crusade, in 1096, was led by a man called Peter the
hermit. The Crusade was made up of French and German
peasants. The peasants were not well organized. The people
stole food to survive along the way. The Turks had little trouble
defeating them. Most of the peasants were killed before they
reached Jerusalem.
In the autumn of 1096, several armies of knights set out from
Europe. Nobles from France led the march. Over the next two
years many died from hunger and from disease.
In 1099, the battle for Jerusalem took place. The battle lasted six
weeks. When it was over the crusaders had won back Jerusalem
and much of the Holy Land from the Muslims. The crusaders
had killed many of the people who lived there – Jews as well as
Muslims.
The crusaders set up several small states in the Holy Land. Upon
completion of the crusade most of the crusaders returned to
Europe. Afterward quarrels among the Christian nobles began to
break out amongst themselves. The Turks launched new attacks.
In response, more crusaders went off to help protect the Holy
Land.
A Truce
The Muslims’ leader was Saladin, who was said to be
strong and wise. Saladin’s troops won back the city of
Jerusalem in 1187.
In response the German Emperor Frederick I, King Philip
of France and King Richard I of England went off to fight
to regain Jerusalem.
Frederick I accidentally drowned on the trip to the Middle
East. King Philip returned home before the Crusade was
over claiming illness. It was up to Richard I to fight
Saladin. Richard and Saladin were both great leaders and
brave warriors.
Both had great respect for the others skills. Even though
Saladin’s forces had the upper hand, Saladin agreed to a
five year truce so Richard could return to England.
Under the terms of the truce, Christians would be allowed
to visit Jerusalem. They could also keep control of a few
cities along the coast.
The Holy Land falls to the Ottomans
When Saladin died the truce ended. By 1291, the Muslims
again held all of the Holy Land.
In 1453 the Ottoman Turks took power in Constantinople
and much of Anatolia. With the fall of Constantinople, the
Turks renamed the city Istanbul. By 1500 the Ottomans
ruled a huge territory from the Middle East and North
Africa to much of Eastern Europe.
The Ottoman Empire would last for hundreds of years.
Cost of the Crusades
Europeans found the Crusades costly in many ways. It
took a lot of money to equip the warriors and send them
such great distances. The Crusades were also costly in
terms of lives.
The Holy Wars, however, caused much suffering and
misery. And this was all in the name of religions based on
brotherhood and love.
The Children’s Crusades
In 1212 an army of 30,000 French boys and girls set out
to fight. Most of them were 12 years old or younger. They
were gathered together and led by a shepherd boy named
Stephen.
Few of the children returned to their homes. Most fell sick
along the way or they starved to death.
Another army of German youths headed for Jerusalem led
by a boy named Nicholas, these 20,000 children never
saw the Holy Land either. While on board a ships bound
for the Holy Land two of the seven ships were wrecked in
storms. All of the children on board drowned. The
remainder of the children were taken to Egypt and sold as
slaves.
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Turks first appeared in Asia Minor in the
late 1200s. They were named Osmanli or Ottoman after
their leader Osman. It was under Osman that the
Ottomans began to conquer the Byzantine Empire.
The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was called a sultan. The
sultan was a powerful man who ruled through a group of
high officials.
By early 1400s, Constantinople was a Christian city
surrounded by Muslim lands. Under the rule of the Sultan
Mehmed II, the Turks captured the city of Constantinople,
the countries of Bulgaria, Palestine, Egypt, parts of
Arabia, North Africa, Europe and Persia.
The Ottomans continued to rule their empire for hundreds
of years. During the 1800, however, they began to lose
territory. The governments grew harsher and minorities
throughout the empire suffered persecution.
During World War I the Ottoman Turks joined Germany
and Austria (1914 – 1918) with defeat came the loss of
non-Turkish lands. A free republic was declared in 1923.
The Crusades bring change to Europe.
By 1291 the Christians had lost all of the lands they once
held in the Middle East. The Crusaders however brought
back Middle Eastern ideas.
Crusading merchants brought back home new products
like lemons, rice, apricots and melons. New spices such as
ginger, and pepper, cloves and cinnamon now seasoned
European food. Merchants brought back fine cloth and
dyed silks.
With new trading European economies grew stronger.
The crusades stimulated an interest in new lands, travel
and exploration. Map making became more detailed and
more accurate.
Because of the fighting, greater interest in warfare grew
meaning an improvement in new weapons, and better
battle skills.
Changes in Agriculture
During the middle Ages a farming revolution took place,
with people learning about new and better methods of
growing food. These changes in agriculture also changed
society as a whole.
Emperor Charlemagne had opened new iron mines. With
more iron available, farm tools improved meaning better
axes and hoes.
The new tool that changed farming the most during the
Middle Ages was the plowshare. The new plowshare was
fastened to a heavy wheeled frame. Oxen were used to
pull the plowshare. The plow was ideal for tilling heavy
soil because of its weight and as such more land could be
tilled more quickly.
More tilled land meant more food could be grown. The
larger amounts of food meant the excess could be sold or
traded as surplus for other goods.
During the Middle Ages, horses began to replace oxen as
draft animals. Horses could work longer without rest and
were faster. Because of the greater use of horses,
improved horse shoes and harnesses were developed.
Farmers began to learn to get more produce out of their
fields. They maintained three fields now. One field was
planted in the autumn; one field was planted in the spring.
A third field lay fallow each season. Each field was given
a season to be fallow, this let the soil rest and grow rich
again. With the implementation of the three field method
more food was produced.
The Population Grows
During the 1000s Europe’s population began to grow.
With more people came the need for more food. This
meant more land needed to be cleared and drained. People
began to migrate eastward. Germans colonized new lands
in eastern Europe.
Beginning in the 1000craftworkers and traders began to
settle in medieval villages to sell their goods. New shops
sprang up and villages grew into towns.
Medieval towns were usually surrounded by stone walls.
Their narrow streets were made of mud or cobblestone.
The towns were often dirty, dark and crowed. People
threw their garbage into the streets. There were no fire
departments, no police departments, and no health
services.
Because most of the structures in the medieval towns
were made of wood, the towns were always in danger of
fire and disease.
As the towns grew the workers, merchants and craft
workers became more specialized. Money began to be
used instead of barter to obtain goods. Now people paid
money for new leather shoes, a pottery bowl, or a tasty
cake.
Serfs left the manor and escaped to the towns. If the serf
could escape being recaptured for a year and a day he/she
would go free. This rule also meant greater freedom and
kinder treatment for the peasants that remained on the
manor.
The Feudal System Weakens
As trade increased and towns grew stronger and richer the
feudal system weakened. The towns wanted to govern
themselves – to be free of the manor.
Some feudal lords sold charters of freedom to the towns.
As a result people were no longer being tied to the land.
Guilds
The towns offered opportunities. Peasants could work
their way up in the world. They could learn a craft or a
trade. Each craft or trade had their own guild.
The guild helped set prices and standards for
workmanship. The guilds also decided how long shops
would remain open each day. The guilds also offered a
chance to learn. Boys and girls could become apprentices
and go to work for a guild member.
The apprentice lived in the master’s house and worked in
the master’s shop. An apprentice received no pay.
An apprentice served for seven years. Then the apprentice
would become a journeyman and earn wages.
For the journeyman to become a master he needed to
complete one unique work for the master. This unique
piece when completed was called a “masterpiece”. If the
masterpiece was good enough the journeyman could join
the guild.
Big Cities
In the few large cities that existed during the Middle Ages
trade flourished. These cities had theaters, hospitals,
schools and libraries.
One million people lived in Constantinople. As many as
1,000 ships might dock in the harbor at any one time.
Baghdad became the center of the Islamic world. There
scientists studied mathematics and astronomy. Doctors
made new discoveries in medicine and geography.
Cities like Cordoba, Spain became the center for learning
with Spanish Muslims and Spanish Jews studying there.
There were cities like Venice and Antwerp. Trade and
manufacturing made these places wealthy.
Big cities continued to grow during the middle ages.
Trade kept them powerful and rich. They were centers for
art, science and education.
Progress in Human Rights: The Magna Carta
There was little concern for human rights during the
middle ages. A lord had a great deal of power over the
lives of serfs.
In A.D. 1213 a group of powerful nobles met in England.
These men drew up a list of rights that they wanted the
King to grant them. The agreement was intended to
protect the feemen while limiting the power of the king.
At first King john did not want to sign the document so in
1215 the nobles sent an army after him. At Runnymede,
near the Thames River, King John signed the list of rights.
The Magna Carta was the agreement between King John
of England and his nobles.
The Magna Carta said:
 that a freeman must be tried by a jury of his equals
before being sent to prison.
 Taxes would be collected by legal means, not by
force.
 Punishment should fit the crime.
The Magna Carta was important to the development of
the legal system of the United States. The Declaration of
Independence, the U.S. Constitution and many state
constitutions were based partly on the ideas of the Magna
Carta.