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The Middle Ages
(A.D. 500 –1300)
The Middle Ages covers one of the darkest periods in European
history— from the collapse of the Roman Empire through centuries of
chaos, destruction, and barbarian rule. The civilizing power of the
church, the rise of feudalism, the growth of monarchical rule, the
dramatic rebirth of towns and cities, and the formation of the world’s
first universities are among the events vividly documented in this
richly illustrated text. Challenging map exercises and provocative
review questions encourage meaningful reflection and historical
analysis. Tests and answer keys included.
MP3397 The Middle Ages
Written by: Tim McNeese
Illustrated by: Art Kirchoff
Page Layout & Editing: Lisa Marty
Cover Design: Jon Davis
Managing Editor: Kathleen Hilmes
Cover Art: Medieval feast (Bibliothèque
nationale de France)
Copyright © 1999
Milliken Publishing Company
11643 Lilburn Park Drive
St. Louis, MO 63146
www.millikenpub.com
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
Permission to reproduce pages extends only to teacher-purchaser for individual classroom use,
not to exceed in any event more than one copy per pupil in a course. The reproduction of any
part for an entire school or school system or for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
Table of Contents
Creating the Middle Ages ................................................................1
The End of the Roman Empire ........................................................2
The Germanic Invasions ..................................................................3
The Eastern Empire Survives...........................................................4
The Byzantine Empire ....................................................................5
The Barbarian West..........................................................................6
The Early Medieval Church ............................................................7
Monastic Life ..................................................................................8
The Rise of the Franks ....................................................................9
The Frankish Empire of Charlemagne ..........................................10
The Vikings ....................................................................................11
Dividing Charlemagne’s Empire....................................................12
Developing the Feudal Order ........................................................13
Life in a Medieval Castle ..............................................................14
Test I (Worksheets 1–14) ..............................................................15
The High Middle Ages, Part I........................................................16
The High Middle Ages, Part II ......................................................17
The Crusades, Part I ......................................................................18
The Crusades, Part II......................................................................19
Medieval Town Life.......................................................................20
The Great Cathedrals. ....................................................................21
Medieval Universities ....................................................................22
Popular Christianity ......................................................................23
The Rising Power of the Church ...................................................24
Monarchy in England ....................................................................25
Monarchy in France ......................................................................26
The Rise and Fall of Germany ......................................................27
Test II (Worksheets 16 –27)............................................................28
Answer Key ..............................................................................29-30
© Milliken Publishing Company
i
MP3397
Creating the Middle Ages
Before you read any further, write in the blanks
below the first images that come to mind when you
hear the term Middle Ages.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
In the study of Western Civilization, historians
have typically relied on three primary time frames.
These divisions of Western history help the historian
and the student of history understand how Western
Civilization has developed in stages. The three time
frames are generally referred to as the Ancient
World, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Era.
The Ancient World spans the development of
civilization through Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus
Valley, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.
With the fall of the Roman Empire around A.D. 500,
historians begin looking at a new stage in the
advancement of Western Civilization: an era called
the Middle Ages.
Historians created the term Middle Ages to
identify a long period of European history from the
fall of Rome to the rise of a new era, the Modern
World, which begins around 1500. The word middle
is used to identify an era which lies between two
others—one ancient, the other modern.
The Middle Ages are also known as the medieval
period. The term comes from two Latin words:
medium, meaning “middle,” and aevum, meaning
“age.” From their beginning to their end, the Middle
Ages comprise a thousand years of European history.
Many changes come to Europe during these centuries.
With the rise of the medieval world, the center of
the western world continues to move further west.
During the Ancient period, the center of the western
civilized world was the Near East (known as the
Middle East today), a region which included Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, and other places.
With the rise of the Greeks, the center of the civilized world shifted to the west to the region of the
© Milliken Publishing Company
Mediterranean Sea. As the Romans became more
dominant over the western world, civilization shifted
to the north, further into Europe, as the Roman
Empire spread into Gaul, Britain, Spain, and the
region of the Germanic tribes. Thus, the history of
the Middle Ages marks the shift from not only the
ancient world to the medieval world, but a
geographic shift from the Mediterranean further
north across the European continent.
Much change came to Western Civilization
during the Middle Ages. In fact, so much change
occurred that historians divide the Middle Ages into
three categories of time:
The Early Middle Ages—500 to 1000
The High Middle Ages—1000 to 1300
The Late Middle Ages—1300 to 1500
In each of these three eras of European medieval
history, important changes occurred. The world of
Europe in the year 1500 was very different from the
experiences of Europeans in A.D. 500.
By the close of the Middle Ages, great kings
ruled over powerful states such as France and England;
Columbus discovered the New World for Europe; the
Portuguese sailed around Africa and reached the East;
and the invention of gunpowder rendered medieval
castles and knights outdated.
In this book, we will be looking at the world of
the Europeans during the Early and High Middle
Ages. During these centuries, Western Civilization
made great strides toward our time, helping to create
the modern world in which we live.
1
MP3397
The End of the Roman Empire
During the centuries, the Roman Empire faced
many challenges. Difficult situations came and went,
Rome coped, and life went on within the Empire.
However, with the weakening of Rome from A.D.
200 into the 400s, the Empire finally faced too many
problems. The end for Imperial Rome came during
the 5th century.
Economic, political, military, and social problems
all worked against Rome in those centuries. But these
internal challenges were made more difficult by forces
outside the Empire. These challenges came in the
form of foreign invasion.
Throughout the history of the Empire, neighboring powers had occasionally marauded and plundered
its fringes. In the later stages of Imperial Rome, the
Empire faced great pressure from the north. It was
here that roaming tribes of ferocious Germans (considered barbarians by the Romans) began to move
against the power of Rome.
The Germanic tribes lived in the region of Europe
from the Rhine River on the western edge of Roman
Gaul (modern-day France) to the east as far as modern-day Russia. They comprised many different tribes.
Nearly all of these tribal groups were semi-nomadic.
They practiced a limited agriculture and raised herds
of cattle and sheep. In fact, their economy was so
primitive that their standard of value was not money,
but cattle.
These “barbarian” groups enjoyed close family
ties and tribal allegiances. They told each other stories of great warriors and battles. They practiced a
religion which included several gods. Some of these
deities provided names of the days of our week, such
as Wotan, the chief of the gods (Wednesday is named
for him); Thor, the god of power (Thursday); Thiu,
the god of war (Tuesday) and Freya, goddess of
fertility (Friday).
While the Germanic tribes were always present
to the north, they did not prove to be a significant
threat to Rome until the later days of the Empire.
Marius battled them successfully in 101 B.C. Julius
Caesar conquered them in Gaul during his campaigns
in the 1st century B.C. However, in A.D. 9, the
Roman ruler Augustus and his army met German
warriors in the dark forest north of the Rhine river
and faced dramatic defeat. After this military loss,
© Milliken Publishing Company
the Roman Empire established the Rhine and Danube
Rivers as the northern frontier border of the Empire.
Throughout the century-and-a-half of the Pax
Romana, the Germanic tribes did not prove to be a
significant challenge to the power of Rome. But during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161–180),
the Germanic tribes began to menace the Roman
frontier. This lasted for nearly a century. The tribes
of the Franks and the Goths proved to be the most
bothersome.
After about A.D. 300, the Germans again slipped
into a quieter mode and did not raid against the
Romans to any significant degree for nearly 75
years. Through these decades, Rome was able to
keep the Germanic tribes at bay by playing them off
one another, maintaining a policy of “divide and
conquer.”
However, by the 4th century, the Germans were
warring again, restless for land and the riches of the
Empire. Meanwhile, a new group of invaders was on
the horizon, the Huns. They were not Germanic, but
Asiatic. The Huns were a nomadic Mongolian people
who began raiding eastern Europe in the 300s.
One Roman writer described these terrifying new
raiders:
Their mode of life is savage. They need no
fire or prepared food but live on wild roots
and the flesh of any kind of animal, eaten
half raw; they warm it a little by putting it
between their thighs and the back of their
horses. Like unreasoning beasts, they are
utterly ignorant of right and wrong. They
burn with lust for gold.
When the Huns entered eastern Europe in A.D.
372, they began conquering a tribe of Germans
called the Ostrogoths (meaning the East Goths). In
no time at all, the Huns proved to be a problem for
the Roman Empire and its future.
Review and Write
Describe the lifestyle of the Germanic tribes who
were neighbors to the Roman Empire.
2
MP3397
The Germanic Invasions
The Huns, an invading Asiatic tribe of horsemen,
began menacing the Ostrogoths of eastern Europe in
A.D. 372. The Romans observed these events with a
watchful eye. While the Eastern Gothic people fell
under the influence of the Huns, another Germanic
tribe, the Visigoths (meaning the West Goths) began
to fear their new Asiatic neighbors.
In 376, the Visigoths turned to the Roman
Empire and requested permission from Rome to
cross the Danube River into Roman lands. By doing
this, the Visigoths were asking Rome for protection.
When the Romans agreed, the Visigothic people
streamed into the Empire. The Roman emperor,
Valens, allowed the Visigoths to enter the Roman
frontier lands with the intention of using them in the
Roman army.
However, all did not go well. Roman officials
along the frontier regions treated the Visigoths with
little respect and did not distribute land to them as
they were promised. Desperate for food and a home,
the Visigoths turned on their hosts, the Romans, and
began attacking Roman towns and villages. When
Emperor Valens led an army against the Visigoths at
Adrianople (modern-day Edirne, Turkey), the
Visigoths defeated them and killed Valens.
The Emperor Theodosius managed to fend off
most invasions during his reign, but after 395, a
Visigothic leader named Alaric, led raids onto the
Italian peninsula and attacked the city of Rome in
A.D. 410, sacking the Imperial capital. To bring
peace, the Imperial government was forced to give
Roman territory in southern Gaul to the Visigoths,
where they established an extensive kingdom.
Soon after this defeat, other barbarian tribes
began to menace the Empire, invading at will across
the frontier borders. After being pushed out of Gaul
by the Visigoths, a tribe called the Vandals migrated
to Roman Spain and then to northern Africa, where
they established a kingdom. In 455, the Vandals
reached their height of power and campaigned across
the Mediterranean, landed in Italy and succeeded in
sacking Rome. During the same period, the
Burgundians moved into central Europe and the
Franks settled in northern Gaul.
Ultimately, a weakened Rome had no alternative
but to retreat in the face of these repeated German
© Milliken Publishing Company
invasions into its territories. Roman army units were
withdrawn from frontier posts, and legions of border
troops were pulled deeper into the Empire. After the
withdrawal of such troops from England in A.D.
407, the British Isles were left without Imperial protection. Over the next 50 years, German tribes—
including the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons—raided the
countryside. The Celtic people there, left by the
Romans, were nearly destroyed by these Danish
invaders.
Few of these new Germanic kingdoms lasted
longer than a couple of centuries. Only two—the
Angles and Saxons in Britain, and the Franks in
Gaul (the name would later be used in renaming the
region France)—managed to remain powerful over
the long run.
All these invasions, even the sacking of Rome
twice, did not bring the Empire to an immediate end,
however. But Roman rule was slipping fast. Germans
were serving as officers and soldiers in the Roman
army by this time. In 475, a German commander of
Roman forces named Orestes led a coup and had his
son, Romulus Augustus, placed on the Roman
throne. The next year, another German commander,
Odovacar, killed Orestes and deposed his son. This
coup in A.D. 476 is considered by some historians as
the year of the fall of the Roman Empire.
Review and Write
Why did the Roman government have so much
trouble coping with German tribes on their borders?
3
MP3397
The Eastern Empire Survives
In A.D. 330, on
May 11, the history of
the Roman Empire
changed forever. On
that date, the Emperor
Constantine dedicated
a new capital in the
eastern half of the
Roman Empire. He
ordered the city christened as New Rome. It
was an urban trading
center first established
by the Greeks centuries
earlier and called
Byzantium.
The Roman Empire
had been divided in two during the reign of
Emperor Diocletian (285-305). While Diocletian
ruled in the eastern half of the Empire at a city
named Nicomedia, Constantine made New Rome
his capital because he wanted a city as splendid as
Rome itself.
But Constantine had another reason for establishing the capital at New Rome, which was to be
commonly called Constantinople, after the Emperor.
Christianity had made great strides within the
Empire over 300 years time. Constantine supported
Christianity (although he was not baptized until just
before his death in 337). Rome had long been
considered by the Christians as a pagan city.
Constantine believed that the Empire needed a new
city, a Christian capital.
A century and a half later, when the western half
of the Roman Empire was being overrun by the
Germanic tribes, the eastern half was somewhat
untouched by such invasions. In addition, many of
the problems the western Empire was facing, such
as political assassinations, corrupt emperors, inflation and little trade, were not happening in the East.
One reason was its geographic location.
Constantinople (today the modern city of Istanbul,
Turkey) was located on the southern end of the
Bosporus, a neck of land that connects the northeastern Mediterranean and the route to the Black
Sea. Positioned at the crossroads between Europe
© Milliken Publishing Company
and Asia, Constantinople was destined to be a prosperous city, one which served as the great trading
city of its day.
The trade of Constantinople was to be based on
gold coins, one in particular. Known as the bezant,
it contained 65 grains of pure gold. For over 700
years, the bezant kept its value and was used in
trade by many nations and peoples from the British
Isles to the Far East, even China.
As the Roman Empire in the West collapsed in
the late 400s, in the East, the Empire flourished.
Although the people of the Eastern Empire continued to refer to themselves as Roman, historians
refer to this remaining half of the old Empire by a
different name: the Byzantine Empire.
Life in Byzantium (Constantinople) was, in
many ways, similar to life in ancient Rome.
Ironically, both cities were built across seven hills.
Many of the buildings were similar to other Roman
architecture. There was an immense chariot racing
track just like the Hippodrome in Rome and an
arena similar to the Coliseum. The city featured
many public baths, just as Rome did. Free bread
was distributed to the masses and games and races
were common entertainment.
Eventually, after the western half of the Roman
Empire fell under German domination and Roman
Imperial rule collapsed, the Byzantine Empire continued for another 1000 years. Ruled by many
emperors, including eleven named Constantine,
Byzantium did not fall to an enemy until May 29, in
the year 1453, when the city was overrun following
a siege laid down by Moslem Turks.
Review and Write
1. Why did Constantine establish a new Roman
capital at Byzantium?
2. In what ways were the cities of Rome and
Byzantium similar?
3. What was the bezant, and why was it important
to the economy of Byzantium?
4
MP3397
The Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the direct continuation of the eastern half of the old Roman Empire.
Long after Rome fell under the domination of the
Germanic invaders of the fourth and fifth centuries,
Byzantium continued on with an emperor on the
throne in Constantinople. These emperors ruled as if
the Roman Empire was still in existence.
This empire, despite being
only half of the old Roman
Empire was an extensive
kingdom nevertheless. Its territories spread along the southern
shores of the Black Sea and the
eastern Mediterranean. By the
mid-500s, expansive-minded
Byzantine emperors had moved
into territory of the former
western half of the Roman
Empire including the Italian
peninsula and northern Africa.
Over the 1000 years of the
Byzantine Empire, two periods
of greatness stand out. The first
took place in the 6th century
(the 500s) and was followed by
two centuries of relative decline
of imperial power. The second great period was from
the 8th to the 11th century (the 700s to 1000s). Four
hundred years of decline followed, ultimately leading to the Empire’s fall to the Turks in 1453.
During Byzantium’s first great period, one
emperor was outstanding. His name was Justinian
and he ruled from 527–565. His reign saw great
Byzantine expansion across North Africa, Sicily,
Italy, and even southern Spain. He fought other wars
less successfully, including exhausting campaigns
against the Persians.
This great Byzantine emperor rose to power from
a simple background. He was born a peasant, yet
was fired by ambition and great energy. During his
reign, he pursued high goals and ideals. He wanted
to restore the empire to its former Roman glory.
In one sense, Justinian was the last of the great
Roman emperors. His reign was one of the last that
still used Latin as the official royal language. After
his death, the Latin tradition began to die out and
© Milliken Publishing Company
Greek became the official language of the eastern
empire. This caused the Byzantines to think of themselves ultimately as different from the Romans and
loosened the historical ties between Rome and
Constantinople.
Great strides were taken by Justinian during his
reign. He oversaw the construction of a great church
in the city that would prove to
be the shining example of
Byzantine architecture. Known
as the Church of the Hagia
Sophia (HI yuh SO FI yuh), it
was a monumental work.
(Hagia Sophia translates from
the Greek as Holy Wisdom.)
The building measures 250
feet by 235 feet and features a
great dome measuring 107 feet
across and peaking at a height
of 185 feet. The building took
five years to complete with
10,000 men working on it.
Inside, the great church was
adorned with marble, elaborate
columns, intricate mosaics, and
gold.
Another contribution of Justinian was the
reforming and codifying of Roman law. He ordered
the creation of a commission to study Roman law
and to bring it together in a unified form. The result
was the Code, which included all Roman law up to
A.D. 534. Also, the commission arranged the Digest,
which included all the cases that served as interpretations of the law. This new work commissioned by
Justinian gave new prestige to old Roman law.
Review and Write
1. What are some of the successes of the reign of
Emperor Justinian?
2. Why do you think a “Roman” emperor such as
Justinian would order the construction of a great
church such as the Hagia Sophia?
5
MP3397
The Barbarian West
While the eastern half of the Roman Empire continued and prospered as the Byzantine Empire, in the
western half, life grew difficult. When the centralized Roman government collapsed around A.D. 500,
Western Europeans experienced 500 years of disorder, chaos, and darkness. Traditionally, this period in
Western Europe is known as the Early Middle Ages.
With the fall of Rome, the Germanic tribes
became the dominant force in the West. However,
they were relatively primitive people with little culture and civilization. They destroyed more than they
brought or even borrowed from the Romans. Over
the centuries following A.D. 500, civilization in the
West nearly reached the point of extinction.
With the demise of the Roman political system,
destruction became commonplace. The barbarian
Germans were brutal conquerors, murdering, raping,
and turning their victims into slaves. The population
in the West declined as a result. Former Roman
towns and cities either lost large numbers of their
populations or ceased to exist at all.
The population of Rome, for example, had
reached 10 million during its heyday. However, by
A.D. 800, Rome was home to only 50,000 inhabitants. Throughout these years, many of the municipal
(or city) systems ceased to operate. There were simply not enough people to keep the roads repaired.
Great aqueducts which had delivered water to the
city fell into disrepair. Buildings and bridges were
not maintained and fell apart. The city’s streets
became littered with waste and trash. Grass grew in
along Rome’s streets and roads. Cattle grazed in the
Roman Forum, formerly the city’s busy commercial
and political center.
Other Roman cities ceased to exist altogether. In
England, the Roman city of London was completely
abandoned and was not revived until hundreds of
years later. A city in southern Gaul (France),
Marseilles, fell from existence for 200 years.
Shortages existed everywhere in the West. With
little trade and little production, food shortages were
constant. By the 700s, gold coins almost disappeared
with only a few silver coins left in circulation. The
chief export of the West became human beings who
were sold into slavery.
© Milliken Publishing Company
Each little village or rural group had to produce
all its own food, clothing, and housing. Farming
became less productive. There was a constant shortage of hay, so livestock could not be fed and consequently dwindled in numbers. Fewer farm animals
meant less manure, which was in shortage to fertilize
the hay fields, completing the tragic circle. There
were reported incidents of cannibalism in the West.
Children died at early ages; perhaps four out of five
died in infancy.
Learning nearly disappeared in the barbarian
West. Schools ceased to exist and most people grew
up illiterate. Only the church existed to provide some
element of security in people’s lives. Within the
church, literacy remained alive.
For hundreds of years, life in Western Europe
became desperate and frightening. People forgot how
to be civilized. They forgot how to live in cities.
They forgot how to read. It is no wonder that some
historians still refer to these centuries in Western
Europe as the Dark Ages.
Review and Write
1. In what ways did life in the western half of the
old Roman Empire become barbaric after A.D.
500?
2. Describe the Germanic peoples who invaded the
Roman Empire.
3. What happened to life in the city of Rome after
the collapse of the western half of the Roman
Empire?
6
MP3397
The Early Medieval Church
With the collapse of
the Roman Empire by
A.D. 500, Roman civilization began a serious
decline. For hundreds of
years, Rome was a
unifying force in the
Mediterranean region,
bringing security and
prosperity to many within
the Empire and for those
who traded from the outside.
Once the Empire ceased to wield power,
however, the West experienced bleak times.
Lawlessness was rampant. People lived in constant
fear of invaders, robbers, and plunderers. No
governmental power existed in the West that
provided any sense of security and direction. There
was no emperor and no great king to provide
protection. Civilization itself seemed to many to
be doomed.
Although no great secular or worldly leader
emerged in the West following the collapse of
Rome, the early Church soon took a position of
leadership among Western Europeans. The Church
and its leaders became important in maintaining
many elements of classical heritage, including
literacy. Christianity continued to provide some
element of civilization in a world increasingly
barbarous and insecure.
Even after Rome ceased to be the center of
imperial power, the city continued to be an important
Christian capital. Western Europeans looked to
Rome for religious direction. The patriarch of
Rome, in time, came to consider himself to be the
leader of the Western Church.
In the East, the patriarch in Constantinople
thought himself to be the head of the Byzantine
Church. This resulted in Christianity following
several paths during the Early Middle Ages.
Other splits among Christians also occurred. As
different Church leaders emphasized various religious ideas, or theologies, splinter groups of
Christians were formed. One example was the
establishing of the Coptic Orthodox Church in
© Milliken Publishing Company
Egypt around A.D. 450. Its leader was the patriarch
of Alexandria. It was the Copts who created monasticism, the practice of setting one’s self apart from
the secular world as a monk.
In the West, various Roman patriarchs began
redefining the scope of their Church office.
Innocent I (who served as patriarch from A.D.
402–417) established himself as the only universal
leader of the Church. Leo I (440–461) announced
the principle of papal supremacy. He also obtained
a decree from the Roman emperor recognizing
Leo’s decisions as having the force of law. Other
patriarchs—such as those in Constantinople,
Alexandria, and Jerusalem—did not agree,
of course.
One justification given by Roman patriarchs for
elevating themselves as leaders among the patriarchs
was the tradition that the Apostle Peter, one of
Jesus’ twelve followers, had lived the last years of
his life in Rome. The Roman Church came to see
Peter as the first Pope, and all other Roman
patriarchs to follow him were supreme among
Church leaders.
From A.D. 500 to 800, various doctrinal issues
further separated Christianity, including a long-standing debate about whether Jesus had been all flesh,
all spirit, or a combination of both. Other controversies centered around the use of images, such as
paintings and statues, in Christian worship. Some,
especially in the Eastern Church, did not believe
such images should be used. Such believers were
known as iconoclasts, meaning “image-breakers.”
Such theological issues plus the dividing of the
old Roman Empire into eastern and western halves,
caused splits among Christians which remain in
place today.
Review and Write
Why did Christianity split into several different
Churches during the Early Middle Ages? Cite three
reasons.
7
MP3397
Monastic Life
As the power and significance of the Church in
Western Europe expanded after the fall of the Roman
Empire, new Christian lifestyles developed. The old
Roman parish system was adopted by the Church, and
local parish priests were appointed to provide spiritual
guidance for the Christians in their village or locale.
In the West, many priests were illiterate; many
were raised as peasants. Many priests in the early
Church married and had children. Bishops often came
from the unruly nobility who were frequently uncouth
and illiterate themselves.
In time, the clergy—Church leaders including the
local priests—developed into two distinct groups: the
secular clergy, who lived in the world and interacted
with people on a regular basis; and the regular clergy,
which was made up of men and women known as
monks and nuns. The word monk is taken from a
Greek word meaning solitary or alone.
The original monks came out of Egypt and Syria
in the Near East. Early monks were hermits who
sometimes practiced fasting and self-torture. Others,
such as St. Simeon Stylites the Elder lived on top of a
tall stone pillar out in the Syrian desert for more than
36 years.
Perhaps the most important outgrowth of monasticism was the establishment of monasteries in Western
Europe. Benedict (480–543) was the founder of one of
the first monastic systems. He established rules for
monks to follow, including taking vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience. Such rules were part of what
became known as the Benedictine rule. Benedict
established a monastery in southern Italy at Monte
Cassino, which still exists today.
By the end of the 600s, most monasteries in the
West followed the Benedictine rule. A century later,
the great Frankish king, Charlemagne, required all
monks to follow the rule.
From 500 to 1100, monasteries played a key role
in the Western Church. In a period when few schools
existed in Western Europe, the monasteries were
important centers of knowledge, information, and
literacy. In fact, while few people could read in Europe
during the Early Middle Ages, the monasteries were
home to dedicated scholars who could read, write, and
copy manuscripts, especially copies of the Bible.
The printing press was not invented until the
© Milliken Publishing Company
1300s, so men who could copy
the Scriptures were important.
When pagan Germanic tribes
harassed the Church and
its clergy between
A.D. 400 and 800,
many monks and scholars fled the Continent to
Ireland, in the
northern British Isles.
During these
centuries, Ireland
became an important
center of learning and
scholarship. When
few people in Gaul
could read, Irish
scholars could read
both Greek and
Latin texts.
These scholar-monks copied the Bible, as well as
ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts, helping keep
learning and Western heritage alive.
One of the leading Irish monks was known as the
Venerable Bede (BEED), who lived from 673 to 735.
Bede was raised in a monastery from age seven and
spent his entire life studying, reading, copying manuscripts, and writing some of the early histories of England. He made popular the term anno Domini, meaning “in the year of our Lord,” abbreviated A.D.
The works of the Irish monks, such as Bede,
produced some of the most beautiful books in the
world. Such books were printed on animal skin called
vellum, and were hand-sewn with wooden covers
adorned with gold leaf and precious stones. The works
produced by these monks were passed down through
the ages. So beautiful were their works that people in
Gothic times, during the High Middle Ages, actually
thought such books had been created by angels!
Review and Write
What contributions did Benedict make to the
European monastic system?
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The Rise of the Franks
Among the Germanic tribes that invaded Western
Europe causing the collapse of the Roman Empire in
the West, the Franks played a very important role.
The Franks were a nomadic Germanic tribe who
lived in the Rhine River valley, which flows through
modern-day Germany. In the 400s, the Franks were
restless and began to invade Roman Gaul (the
France of today).
The Franks were ruled by a family called the
Merovingians. Clovis I ruled the Franks from 481 to
511. Under his leadership, this tribal kingdom
became the most powerful group in Western Europe.
Born a pagan, Clovis was converted to Christianity
in 496 by his wife, a princess named Clotilda.
(According to the 6th-century historian Gregory of
Tours, Clovis was baptized after he won the battle of
Strasbourg against a rival German tribe to fulfill a
promise he made to God before the battle.)
Not only did Clovis convert to Christianity, but
so did his people. The Christianizing of the Franks
is important historically. It made certain that
Christians, especially Catholics, in his kingdom,
would be loyal to Clovis.
After his death in 511, Clovis’s kingdom was
extended by his sons and grandsons to include all of
modern-day France, Belgium, and the larger part of
Germany. However, the Merovingian kingdom faced
many challenges. The royal household was corrupt;
royal plots of murder and assassination were common.
The Merovingians were destined to lose their power
in time.
By the 600s, the Merovingian kings were too
weak to rule in reality, and the Frankish kingdom
was divided into three independent kingdoms.
Although the dynasty continued to support a king,
the chief official of the royal house, known as the
Mayor of the Palace, held power. The Merovingian
kings were reduced to nothing.
Among the foreign challenges the Merovingians
faced in these years was the invasion of Western
Europe by the Moslems, the followers of the prophet
Muhammad, who had created a new religion in
Arabia known as Islam during the early 600s. A
great horde of Moslem Arabs was rampaging on
horseback in the late 7th century, threatening Spain
and ultimately the Frankish kingdom.
© Milliken Publishing Company
In 714, a skilled and capable Mayor of the
Palace, Charles Martel, came to power. One of the
Carolingian family who had challenged the power of
the Merovingians and other Mayors of the Palace,
Charles brought unity to the Kingdom of the Franks
while managing to keep the Merovingians weak
figureheads.
It would be Charles Martel who would face the
advancing Moslems. In 732, he faced them in battle
at Tours (southwest of Paris). The battle featured
Frankish infantry troops against horse-bound
Moslem cavalry. The Moslems faced heavy losses,
and when their commander was killed, they retreated
to Spain.
The battle of Tours is considered one of the key
military engagements of history. It guaranteed that
Moslems would not rule in a future France, and that
Christianity would remain the religion of the Franks.
Another important result of the battle of Tours
was that Charles realized the effectiveness of mounted cavalry. Following this victory, he began to create
military units of Frankish cavalry. This led to the
development of mounted knights, an important
fighting force in the medieval world.
Review and Write
Compare the success of the Merovingians and
the Carolingians in leading the Kingdom of the
Franks.
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The Frankish Empire of Charlemagne
Through his extensive military campaigns,
Charlemagne was able to create an extraordinary
empire for himself. In the year 800, on Christmas
Day, he was crowned as emperor, with Pope Leo III
placing a gold crown on his head.
This crowning of Charlemagne was an attempt to
bring back the glory days of the long-dead Roman
Empire. And his lands were impressive in scope. The
Frankish Empire, or what came to be known as the
Carolingian Empire, included all of the western half
of the old Roman Empire minus Africa, Britain,
southern Italy, and most of Spain. It stretched from
the Baltic Sea south to the Adriatic Sea in the east to
the coast of Denmark and to northern Spain in the
west. Charlemagne maintained his Empire through
military campaigns, which took place during nearly
every year of his reign.
What kind of man was Charlemagne? He was
one of the most powerful rulers of the Early Middle
Ages, a military commander and a capable statesman. He stood tall (over 6' 3") in an age when few
people were over 5' 5". He loved hunting and swimming (his palace in Aachen had a marble pool which
could accommodate 100 bathers). He was fond of
music, despised lavish court decorations, spoke
German and Latin, and even knew a little Greek.
Although he was not well educated, Charlemagne
was a great supporter, or patron, of the arts. He
encouraged and paid for a revival of learning within
his kingdom. Called the Carolingian Renaissance,
his scribes, who included scholar-monks, copied
many manuscripts during his reign. He had schools
established throughout his Empire, usually attached
to monasteries and churches where priests could
learn to read, write, and do simple arithmetic.
More than 90 percent of the old Roman writings
which survive today find their earliest form in a
Carolingian text. The writing style used was called
Carolingian minuscule, since copyists used lowercase letters, rather than all capital letters, as had been
the Roman practice.
Although his reign was a model for later
medieval kings and his lands were extensive, when
he died, his sons divided his kingdom up, bringing to
an end the glory days of the Carolingians.
A sample of Carolingian miniscule
Charles Martel, an outstanding Mayor of the
Palace, managed to defeat the Moslems at the battle
of Tours in 732. This success helped pave the way
for his family, the Carolingians, to come to royal
power over the kingdom of the Franks.
His son, Pepin the Short, inherited his father’s
title and soon succeeded in gaining further power for
himself. He ruled from 741 to 768, years of increasing power for the Frankish kingdom. He convinced
Pope Boniface that he, Pepin, was the actual ruler of
the kingdom. During the winter of 751–52, Boniface
crowned Pepin as King of the Franks and the last
Merovingian monarch was shipped quietly off to a
monastery.
Pepin’s close relationship with the papacy in
Rome strengthened both his monarchy and the influence of the Church in northern Europe. The alliance
between these two powers helped speed up the
separation of Western Christianity from the Eastern
or Greek version.
This first Carolingian king, Pepin, proved to be a
successful monarch. However, his son would outshine his father. His name was Charlemagne (SHAR
luh mayn). Born in 742, his Latin name was Carolus
Magnus (which translates as Charles the Great).
When his father died in 768, Charlemagne and
his brother inherited his throne as joint heirs. After
his brother’s death three years later, Charlemagne
became the sole ruler of the Franks. He soon
embodied the ideal of a medieval king. The alliance
between the Franks and the Pope was maintained.
© Milliken Publishing Company
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The Vikings
Even during Emperor Charlemagne’s lifetime,
his empire was being threatened from foreign
invaders. Europe itself was besieged by many
roaming bands of restless marauders who brought
with them great upheaval.
The Slavs occupied Eastern Europe from the
Balkans of the north to Greece in the
south. The nomadic horsemen called
the Magyars stormed in from the
East, leading raids into northern
Italy and the Rhine Valley of
Germany. By the 900s, they
finally settled down to quiet farm
living on the rich plains of
Hungary.
To the south, the Moslem
Arabs campaigned across the
eastern Mediterranean Sea region.
They invaded Italy, and in 846
sacked the city of Rome.
Despite the force and power displayed by these invaders, from the
northern reaches of Europe came marauders more dreaded than any other—the Vikings.
They were a Germanic people called the
Normans who had traditionally farmed the thin soil
of Scandinavia for centuries. They were also a
seafaring culture, adept at navigation in small, shallow boats called drakken, or dragon ships.
Such ships measured about 60 feet long, with a
keel carved from a single tree trunk. The hull was
ribbed, and the entire vessel was flexible. A single
center mast boasted a great coarse woolen sail, often
striped with various colors. At the bow of the
drakken, a wooden dragon’s head rose to frighten the
enemies of the Vikings. The men slept on an open
deck, exposed to the elements and the sea waves.
The Vikings were considered barbarians. They
were coarse and rough, tall and blond-bearded, with
great red cloaks thrown over their broad shoulders.
They fought with ferocity and, to their victims,
seemed bloodthirsty. Viking warriors believed that
their chief god, Odin, would protect them in a fight
and strike their opponents blind and deaf and turn
their swords into harmless sticks.
The Viking technique of attacking an enemy
usually began by establishing a base of operation
© Milliken Publishing Company
on a coastal island or through the taking of a walled
seaside town. From there, they sailed their shallow
drakken up a river, attacking villages along the way,
stealing horses and riding into the countryside, plundering as they went.
No one was safe from the attacks of the marauding Vikings. They even invaded churches and monasteries, killing the monks and priests, taking the
gold and silver artifacts and crosses, even stripping
the jewels from the covers of Bibles.
Among the Vikings, the most savage
were the warriors known as the berserkrs,
meaning “bear shirts.” These men went
wildly into a fight, naked except for
animal skins, often that of a wolf. Some
historians believe this practice may have
given rise to early tales of werewolves.
Today, our word berserk comes from
the practices of these frenzied
Vikings.
So fearful were the Vikings
that a prayer was developed by
Western European Christians, and
spoken at the first sign of an invading band of
Vikings: “From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord
deliver us!”
The Vikings raided all across Europe. They
established colonies in Iceland and Greenland during
the 800s, and in the late 900s even reached America.
In England, in 853, they set up a kingdom with its
capital in Dublin. In 810, they raided the whole of
Charlemagne’s Empire, besieging Paris four times,
pillaging it three times, and burning it twice.
Over time, the Northmen settled down, often
with Frankish women, and became civilized. In 911,
a Viking chieftain named Rollo accepted land from
the Frankish King Charles the Simple, in exchange
for the conversion of the Northmen to Christianity.
Today, this region of France is called Normandy,
after the Norman Vikings.
Review and Write
What technique was used by the Vikings when
raiding an enemy?
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MP3397
Dividing Charlemagne’s Empire
The great Carolingian rulers were a grandfather,
son, and grandson: Charles Martel, Pepin the Short,
and Charlemagne. Between them, they provided a
century of solid rule over the Franks and their neighbors—from approximately 714 to 814.
Destroying much of their combined legacy, however, only took one generation. By the mid-800s,
Charlemagne’s Empire was divided three ways,
creating in the process the modern nations of France
and Germany.
Before his own death, Charlemagne witnessed
the crowning of his son Louis the Pious who almost
immediately partitioned, or divided, the Empire
between his three sons: Lothair the Elder, Louis the
German, and Charles the Bald. The three sons soon
quarreled between themselves, even to the point of
fighting one another through civil war.
Louis and Charles sided against their brother
Lothair, signing the famous Strasbourg Oaths in 842.
Interestingly, the oath document was written in two
languages: French, to be understood by Charles’s
followers, and German, for those loyal to Louis,
many of whom lived on the eastern side of the Rhine
river. The use of these two languages, indicates that
the Frankish Empire was already facing division
between two groups: those living in East Frankland
and those of Germany.
The next year, in 843, the three brothers ended
their fighting and signed the Treaty of Verdun. The
result was a three-way split of the Empire. Charles
the Bald gained title over the western empire and
Louis the German over the eastern portion. Lothair
(he was to keep the title of Carolingian emperor)
was granted land which lay between the other two. It
included the northern half of Italy, and a strip of
territory about 150 miles wide, running from Italy to
the modern-day Netherlands and the North Sea.
Never again would the Carolingians rule over a
united empire. In fact, Frankish nobles overthrew the
last Carolingian in the West in 887 and the final
Carolingian rulers in East Frankland died in 911.
Besides bringing about an end to Charlemagne’s
Empire, the Treaty of Verdun had other primary
results. The states established for Louis the German
and Charles the Bald helped to create the modern
nations of France and Germany. The kingdom of
Lothair, called Lotharingia or Lorraine, became destined to be a battleground between France and Germany in later centuries, including the Twentieth.
Such weak rulers on the thrones of Europe
helped give rise to more localized rule by regionally
powerful noblemen. These lords controlled estates
through a system known as feudalism, which we will
be studying later.
Map Exercise
This map shows the
Empire of Charlemagne at the
time of his death. In short
order, it would be divided
between his three grandsons.
Using colored pencils, shade
the three kingdoms established by the Treaty of
Verdun. Identify the kingdoms
ruled by Lothair the Elder,
Louis the German, and
Charles the Bald.
© Milliken Publishing Company
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Developing the Feudal Order
The long coast of northwestern France became
home to a tribe of Vikings in 91l after the Frankish
(or French) king Charles the Simple struck a bargain
with the marauding, seafaring Vikings. Deciding it
would be easier and less destructive to grant land
from his kingdom to the Vikings rather than face
their recurring invasions, which featured pillage,
plunder, rape, and burning, Charles surrendered a
coastal region of thick forests, rolling hills, and rich
pastures to the Normans.
The Normans lived up to their end of the bargain, promising to recognize Charles as their king
and agreeing to convert to
Christianity. Soon, the Vikings
intermarried with local women,
and adopted the French language.
Once they settled down, they began establishing their loyalty to the Frankish kings.
They became warriors in their service.
Normandy was a rich land of pastures
where horses thrived. The Normans
became expert riders. Such
horse-bound fighting men developed into an elite group of military
servants to their king known as
knights. Knights soon became the
standard warrior of kings across
Europe.
Such men were highly trained professional
soldiers. Our popular image of the medieval knight
is of a fighter wearing heavy-plate armor that completely covered him from head to toe. However, earlier knights wore long, knee-length shirts made of
chain mail called hauberks. Such protective garments
consisted of small, interlocking iron rings, often
hundreds of thousands of them. They were usually
hooded and split from the waist down to allow the
knight to mount and ride a horse. Other gear rounded
out their military wardrobe, including iron helmets,
lances, shields, and swords.
The Norman knights living on the French coast
were used in important battles on behalf of the
Frankish king. In 1053, a Norman army of knights
defeated an army of Pope Leo IX in the battle of
Civitate. In 1066, Norman cavalry defeated Saxon
© Milliken Publishing Company
infantry in the famous battle of Hastings in 1066.
This fight took place on the English mainland.
Victory in this battle allowed William the Conqueror,
duke of Normandy, to defeat the Saxons and establish himself over a great kingdom on both sides of
the English Channel, the body of water which
separates England and France.
To ensure their occupation of the English mainland, the Normans built strong fortifications called
castles. Such structures provided powerful stone
strongholds not only in England but in France, and
ultimately throughout all of Europe.
Holding together the
developing relationship
between knights and their
loyalty to kings was a system
known as feudalism. It was a
series of relationships, between
a king or a lesser lord and his
knights. Under this system, an
exchange took place. A lord distributed land to his knights in
exchange for their vow of service,
known as a fealty oath. This oath
was made during a ceremony of
homage. The knight knelt before
his lord, placing his hands
within his master’s and vowed to
him, “Lord, I become your man.” The lord then
ordered his knight servant, or vassal, to stand,
followed by a ceremonial kiss.
The service the knight promised to his lord was
military in nature. He would fight for his lord and
protect his estate or kingdom. Along with the land
granted to a knight, there were farming people who
came with it, peasants, who were bound to the land
all their lives, agreeing to accept the protection of
lord and knights in exchange for their labor. Such
peasants, bound by contract to the land, were known
as serfs.
Feudalism served as the primary social, political,
economic, and military system in Europe between
900 and 1300. During these centuries, approximately
80 to 90 percent of the people served their lord as
serfs.
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Life in a Medieval Castle
Beginning during the Early Middle Ages, the
medieval castle was to become the home of many
lords and ladies of the nobility. The word castle
comes from the Latin word, castelum, which means
“fort.” Such places were originally simple fortified
camps, first built by the Romans, and later by
European nobility and military leaders.
could fire arrows on their enemies. Inside the castle
was a large, open courtyard lined with the lord’s
living quarters, as well as his chapel, workshops,
kitchens, and servant’s rooms.
Life there was secure and simple. Typically, the
noble and his family attended chapel each morning.
Time was spent throughout the day in a variety of
ways. The lord might oversee his lands outside the
castle, confer with his knights, practice his war arts,
keep records of trade, and engage in an occasional
pastime of chess, backgammon, or cards. The lady
of the castle often spent time sewing and raising the
children.
Servants were everywhere, carrying out the
chores of cooking, keeping animals, tending gardens,
and seeing to the needs of lord and lady. Meals were
prepared in large open kitchens with broad fireplaces.
Dinners were served in a great hall, which was
the central room within the castle. Here, banquets
might be held, affairs of state carried out, and entertainment performed. Such halls were often decorated
with large tapestries or other embroidered hangings
that showed hunting or Biblical scenes. On the floor,
straw was scattered about. Here people often sat, for
furniture in a castle was scant. The lord might sit in
a chair (we use the term chairman to refer to one
who presides over a meeting for this reason).
Castles were generally cold places. Fireplaces
were built in later castles, while earlier ones featured
a fire built in the center of the great hall. Bedrooms
were often chilly places. Medieval lords and ladies
wore several layers of clothing to stay warm.
Despite popular myth, medieval people enjoyed
taking baths. A castle might include a “bath room”
near the kitchen (where hot water was prepared).
“Toilets” were built into the walls of the castle. This
allowed waste to drop down a chute and into the
moat of water surrounding the castle.
Early versions of the castle were constructed by
the Normans. Many were built following the defeat
of the Saxons by William in 1066, to provide protection for the Norman forces occupying medieval
England. These early castles were constructed on top
of an earthen mound called a motte. A wooden fort
was built commanding the lands around the motte
and enclosed by a bailey, a wooden-fenced stockade.
The motte-and-bailey castle could be thrown up in
just a few weeks.
By 1100, England alone had at least 500 such
castles. The completion of most castles was followed
by the building of a small village for the local people. In time, many of these wooden fortifications
were replaced by castles of stone and mortar.
These later models were large and imposing,
designed to serve not only as a fort or defensive
stronghold, but as home to the lord and his family as
well as armory, local governmental center, prison,
and treasure house. Such castles often took hundreds
of laborers and years to build.
The castles of the High Middle Ages became
elaborately constructed fortifications. While there is
no standard model, and castles varied widely from
one to another, a typical castle included high, thick,
stone walls. Built within the walls were round towers
called merlons from which the castle’s defenders
© Milliken Publishing Company
Review and Write
What do you think would have been the most
uncomfortable part of life in a medieval castle?
14
MP3397
Test I
Part I. Multiple Choice (Worksheets 1–7)
Match the answers to the right with the statement on the left.
______
______
______
______
______
1. Word derived from two Latin words meaning “middle ages”
2. Important god of several Germanic tribes
3. Germanic tribe whose name means “East Goths”
4. Germanic tribe whose name means “West Goths”
5. German military commander who deposed the last Roman emperor
in A.D. 476
______ 6. Name given the eastern half of the Old Roman Empire
______ 7. Great church constructed in Constantinople in the 6th century A.D.
______ 8. Emperor in Constantinople from A.D. 527–565
______ 9. Christian church established in Egypt around A.D. 450
______ 10. Churchmen who separated themselves from the secular world
______ 11. Christians who did not believe in the use of images in worship
______ 12. Roman patriarch who established himself as universal leader of
Christianity during the 5th century A.D.
A. Ostrogoths
B. monks
C. Justinian
D. medieval
E. iconoclasts
F. Byzantine Empire
G. Innocent I
H. Odovacar
I. Coptic
J. Visigoths
K. Hagia Sophia
L. Wotan
Part II. Multiple Choice (Worksheets 8–14)
______ 1. Church leader who established a monastic order
______ 2. Irish monk who popularized the use of A.D.
______ 3. Animal skin used to make books
______ 4. Frankish ruler who was of the Merovingian dynasty
______ 5. Frankish Mayor of the Palace who defeated the Moslems at Tours
______ 6. Son of Pepin the Short; he was a great Carolingian king
______ 7. Style of writing using lowercase letters
______ 8. Dragon ships of the Vikings
______ 9. Wild Viking warriors who wore nothing but animal skins
______ 10. Region of northern France settled by Vikings
______ 11. Peace which divided up the Empire of Charlemagne
______ 12. Promise of service made by a vassal-knight to his lord
A. Charles Martel
B. berserkrs
C. Carolingian minuscule
D. Benedict
E. Normandy
F. Clovis I
G. Charlemagne
H. drakken
I. vellum
J. Venerable Bede
K. fealty oath
L. Treaty of Verdun
Part III. Respond and Write
After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D., generally describe what happened to the
eastern half and the western half of the Empire. Be as specific as you can. Did life continue as it always had?
Was life different? What forces took the place of the Roman Empire?
© Milliken Publishing Company
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MP3397
The High Middle Ages, Part I
During the 500 years from the collapse of the
Roman Empire to the year A.D. 1000, life in Western Europe was less than perfect. With no powerful
government in place, the people and powers of the
West faced constant challenges from invasion, wars,
civil wars, food shortages, and disease.
However, around the year 1000, and for the next
300 years to follow, a dramatic series of changes
came to the West. There was a brilliant recovery
from the semi-barbarism that had held Western
Europe in its clutches for centuries. Life in the West
not only improved, it improved substantially. These
centuries—from 1000 to nearly 1300—mark the rise
of the High Middle Ages.
How did this happen? And what were the
changes that allowed Western Europe to turn a
corner to a better world? By 1000, many of the
Germanic tribes which had proven so destructive in
the West had settled down. There were fewer invasions
and internal civil wars, bringing greater stability and
less chaos.
The nature of destructive wars and invasions
changed. Most of the medieval conflicts consisted
of lengthy sieges of heavily fortified castles and
other fortresses. Typically, no more than a few
dozen men were needed to protect a castle, leading
to less direct violence and bloodshed. Even field
conflicts involving knights were limited skirmishes
with minimal loss of life. This allowed more young
people to survive, which resulted in a population
rise in the West.
This population explosion is an important trend
in the West of the 11th and 12th centuries. Other
reasons for the population increase include the fact
that between the 10th and 14th centuries, Europe
was not hit by a major plague or killing disease.
Also, the period between 1000 and 1200 experienced a better weather pattern. This meant a significant long-term warming trend, which brought
milder winters and drier summers and allowed for
an increase in agricultural production, resulting in
healthier people, less disease, and better lifestyles.
The population changes in the West were significantly greater. For example, between 950 and 1350,
England’s population increased from one million to
three million. Overall, Europe’s population doubled
© Milliken Publishing Company
in the four centuries beginning in A.D. 950.
This growth in population caused some ecological problems for Europe, however. As the population
grew, the old balance between the land and the populace was upset: farming was expanded into completely new regions; forests were chopped down and
cleared; and swamps were drained for agriculture.
As Europe’s population grew by leaps and
bounds, the size of feudal holdings also increased.
The land owned by a lord typically expanded in size
during the High Middle Ages.
The changes that Europe experienced during the
High Middle Ages resulted in a decline in slavery.
Buying and selling slaves had been an important
trade activity during the Early Middle Ages. However, slavery barely survived the High Middle Ages.
With the population boom, there was no manpower
shortage in the West, resulting in less slavery.
Also, changes in farming and the use of the
horse reduced the need for slavery. The High
Middle Ages witnessed the adoption of the padded
horsecollar, the tandem harness, and the nailed
horseshoe—all of which improved the work capacity
of the horse by
four times. When
feeding a horse
became cheaper
than feeding four
slaves, and a
horse could produce more work,
the result was an
inevitable lessening of
reliance on human
labor. Such innovations were bringing a new
quality of life to Western Europe.
And more changes were on the way.
Review and Write
How did life in western Europe improve greatly
between 1000 and 1300?
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The High Middle Ages, Part II
As we have seen, the High Middle Ages brought
positive change to Western Europe during the centuries between 1000 and 1300. These changes
included advancements in farming methods, an
increased urbanization, and new technologies.
Perhaps nowhere else did medieval life change
more dramatically than in farming. The heavywheeled plow was invented which cut deeper furrows in fields and eliminated the need for crossplowing, going several times over a field before the
soil was broken up enough to plant a crop.
In addition, the three-field system of agriculture
was adopted. In earlier centuries, medieval farms
used a two-field system. Each spring, half the fields
were planted with a grain crop and the other half lay
fallow, or lay idle. Under the new system, fields
were carved into thirds, with one-third planted with a
winter crop of wheat, rye, or barley; another third
sown with spring crops of grain, peas, or beans; and
only a third left fallow. Such changes brought more
abundance from medieval farming.
Industrial changes also occurred during the High
Middle Ages. The modern factory did not exist during this period, but other mechanization did. For
example, there was a dramatic increase in water and
wind-powered mills. Where slaves had once been
used to grind grain, the High Middle Ages introduced the water mill. Most such mills provided services for about 50 families, grinding grain, sawing
lumber, beating cloth, and crushing ore.
Several significant inventions came into existence in Western Europe during the High Middle
Ages. One such medieval invention was the crank,
a simple device consisting of two shafts at right
angles. This technology transformed up-and-down
and backward-and-forward motion into circular
motion. The crank allowed people to lift more with
less strain. The spinning wheel was another important medieval technology. It allowed for the production of inexpensive thread and cloth. Such a tool
gave those of the medieval period a greater access
not only to clothing, but to additional items such as
sheets, towels, and even underwear.
As the spinning wheel brought more cloth items
to the medieval wardrobe, it also changed the nature
of the material people wrote on. As clothing wore
© Milliken Publishing Company
out, the rags—mostly linen—allowed for the production of cheap paper, rather than vellum made from
animal skins or expensive parchment. The result was
cheaper books produced on paper.
Other items which revolutionized life in the
Middle Ages were the mechanized clock (by the
1300s) and the button for clothing. By the 14th century, gunpowder had been introduced to Europe by
way of China, which changed the nature of warfare
and made the castle as a defensive tool obsolete.
Another trend of the period was the revival of
urban life. Many towns and cities had declined or
ceased to exist in the West during the Early Middle
Ages. But by the 10th century, towns were back and
large cities once again gained importance.
Such cities led to greater trade. This trade helped
expand the economy of the High Middle Ages. Rather
than just producing to survive, medieval people were
now accumulating surpluses, which they sold to the
East, including Constantinople and the Moslems.
In Italy, great trading cities grew and connected
with the East. Leading the way were the city-states
of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. Such cities were filled
with merchants, shippers, and traders who helped
connect the West with the East.
Review and Write
After studying the changes brought to Europe
between 1000 and 1300, make a list of what appear
to be the three greatest changes, and explain why.
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The Crusades, Part I
During the High Middle Ages, Christians from
all over Europe expressed their faith in many ways.
One spiritual act especially important to many of the
followers of Christ was to make a trip to the land
where Jesus had lived, walked, and spread his message during his ministry.
That place was known as the Holy Land. For
hundreds of years, Christian travelers called pilgrims
took an inspirational tour of the land of Palestine
(today, the nation of Israel) to visit the sites spoken
of in their New Testaments: the Garden of
Gethsemane, the Sea of Galilee, and the site of the
Holy sepulcher (the traditional site where Jesus was
laid to rest after his crucifixion).
Until the 11th century, Christian Europeans had
no trouble gaining access to the Holy Land, despite
the presence of the Moslems who ruled there. Moslem
governors had been more than happy to allow
Christians into their lands to visit their holy places.
However, during the mid-11th century, a fanatical group of Moslems known as the Seljuk Turks
invaded the Near East, including the Holy Land, and
occupied the region. These Moslems were not
friendly to Christians and refused to allow pilgrims
to visit.
When the Seljuks raided to the north and fought
a Byzantine army and defeated it in 1071, the eastern
emperor (a new one—the old one was killed fighting
the Moslems) appealed to the West and to the Pope
to come to the rescue of Byzantium. When
Constantinople itself was threatened, the Westerners
considered responding.
After hearing stories of atrocities by the
Moslems against Christians in the Near East, a
Western pope named Urban II finally began to rally
others to offer help. In 1095, he called Western
Europeans to participate in a holy war against the
Moslems.
This First Crusade led Christian rulers to commit
their knights to fight to free the Holy Land once
again. The word “Crusade” was taken from the term
meaning “taking the Cross.” The knights who
participated in this and other Crusades wore white
cloth tunics over their armor, which bore the symbol
of a red cross.
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While many Europeans who went to fight did so
for religious reasons, some had other motivations. A
crusader became a privileged person. While away on
a crusade, he did not have to pay taxes and his debts
were cancelled temporarily. Others saw opportunities
to gain new lands in Syria or Palestine for themselves. Italian merchants provided many ships to
carry crusaders to the Holy Land, making huge
profits for themselves.
Over a period of 200 years, there were eight
distinct crusades and several smaller ventures. The
First Crusade involved lords and knights from
France, Germany, and southern Italy. This was the
most successful of all the crusades. Approximately
3000 knights and 12,000 infantry helped to fight the
Turkish Moslems. Ultimately these Christian
warriors were able to win great victories, including
capturing Jerusalem, the Holy City.
Once these crusading knights succeeded in
defeating the Turks in Syria and Asia Minor, they
created a feudal Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, which
lasted from 1099 to 1187. A second crusade was
called in the 1140s when the Turks were close to
seeing to the fall of Jerusalem. This crusade was
called by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
Two European leaders—Louis VII and the
Byzantine Emperor Conrad III—joined forces in
1147, and had many problems just getting their
armies to the Near East. They never made it to
Jerusalem and this crusade failed to even capture the
city of Damascus from the Moslems. Other crusades
lay ahead, however.
Review and Write
1. What were some of the primary reasons why the
crusaders agreed to fight against the Moslems so
far from home?
2. Why was the land of Palestine so important to
the Christians of Europe?
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The Crusades, Part II
With the failure of the 2nd Crusade, the Moslems
continued to strike at the fringes of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem until they caused its fall in 1187.
Led by a fanatical, yet brilliant, general named
Saladin, the Moslem takeover of the Holy Land signalled the call for a third crusade.
This 3rd Crusade was led by three kings: Philip
Augustus of France, Richard I (known as the
Lionhearted) of England, and Frederick Barbarossa,
Emperor of Germany. (“Barbarossa” was a reference
to the king’s red beard.) These three men led their
armies into the crusade sometimes referred to as the
Crusade of Kings.
Their alliance was to be an uneasy one. Along
the way, Philip and Richard quarreled and the French
king quit the crusade and returned home before ever
reaching the Holy Land. Frederick Barbarossa
drowned in a river before seeing a single Moslem
opponent. Only Richard and his army fought
Saladin.
Richard’s forces fought fairly well and in 1191
succeeded in capturing the Moslem-controlled city
of Acre, located along the eastern Mediterranean
coast, north of Jerusalem. (At Acre, the Christian
army used a huge catapult known as Bad Neighbor.)
However, he did not succeed in taking Jerusalem. In
the end, Richard had to be content with an agreement from Saladin which opened the Holy City to
Christian pilgrims.
The crusades were not over. Saladin died in
1193. In 1198, a new pope, Innocent III, called for a
4th Crusade. This one went terribly wrong. Few
knights volunteered to go on this crusade. Many of
those who did arrived in Venice, the great port city
on the eastern coast of Italy, needing passage to the
Holy Land. The Venetian merchants, seeing an
opportunity for great profit, charged the crusaders so
much for the voyage that most
of the knights could not
afford the trip.
A deal was soon struck
which completely violated
the ideals of the crusade.
The Venetians offered to
give the knights passage
only if they agreed to attack the
© Milliken Publishing Company
city of Zara first. Located on the opposite side of the
Adriatic from Venice, Zara was Venice’s rival in
trade. The Christian knights agreed. The irony was
that Zara was not a Moslem city, but a Christian one!
Once Christian knights destroyed the Christian city
of Zara, the Venetians urged them to attack the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, another
Christian community. The knights attacked
Constantinople on April 12, 1204. They looted the
city and killed the emperor. Most of these knights
never finished their journey to the Holy Land.
The crusaders established a new Latin Empire of
Constantinople. This new kingdom did not see
Byzantine rule again until 1261. This destruction by
Western Christians resulted in a decline of the
Eastern Empire. Byzantium would never be as powerful as it had been before the Christian attack.
This attack by Christians on Christians brought
an end to any reasonable spirit for future crusades.
The final four crusades accomplished very little. The
5th Crusade (1217–1221) was directed at Egypt, not
the Holy Land, since it was a Moslem stronghold.
They failed to take the city of Cairo, however, due to
squabbling in their ranks.
The 6th (1248) and 7th (1270) Crusades were led
by the French king, Louis IX. Both failed and Louis
lost his life in the second one. The 8th Crusade was
an abject failure as well.
Although the Crusades failed ultimately to secure
the Holy Land for Christians over the long run, they
did help to stabilize life in Western Europe by causing young knights to fight the Moslems or Eastern
Christians rather than fight one another at home.
Knights en route to the Crusades
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MP3397
Medieval Town Life
During the Early Middle Ages, town and urban
life came close to fading away. Old Roman towns
sometimes ceased to exist altogether. During the
High Middle Ages, however, beginning around
A.D. 1000, Western Europe experienced a revival of
town life. The influences that had worked to destroy
the old Roman communities—a lack of communication and trade, wars, lawlessness, little local government—had been reduced in influence.
Such defensive walls were important to the security of the town. The gates of the community were
closed at night to keep out marauders and thugs. A
night guard patrolled the streets, which were dark
without street lights. In case of an emergency—such
as a fire or raid—a town crier was responsible for
waking up the citizens.
Some of these medieval urban centers were built
on the sites of old Roman cities that had fallen into
ruin or maintained minimal populations. Others were
completely new towns, many built near a local lord’s
castle or manor house.
The streets of medieval towns were lined with
many private homes and businesses, shops which
sold a wide variety of goods, many locally produced
by the very merchant who ran the shop. There was
little advertising along the streets, but local
patrons—most illiterate—could identify the shops by
signs indicating what was sold inside: a boot, a fish,
a loaf of bread. The local barber shop featured a redand-white-striped pole indicating the place where
one could shave and receive a bloodletting, a practice of the day done for health reasons.
Medieval towns were often not pleasant places.
There were few sewage systems, and waste water
flowed down the streets. People threw their garbage
and trash out their doors and windows into the alleyways, where pigs roamed to help clean up the refuse.
Typically, streets were narrow, about six or eight feet
wide. Mud and manure were everywhere, and keeping
clean on a walk down a town lane could be difficult.
Such towns smelled bad and could be detected by an
approaching traveler from miles away.
If life in such a town was so bad, what caused
people to live there? One reason was the freedom
one had in a town. Townspeople were not bound to
anyone. A common saying of the day told the story:
“Town air makes men free.”
Town growth was an important development of
the High Middle Ages. In 919, Germany had only 30
towns. By 1125, there were 150. By 1300, Paris and
Venice had populations of over 100,000, while Milan
and London could boast populations of 50,000. By
the beginning of the 14th century, approximately 10
percent of Europe’s population lived in towns.
Local noblemen were partly responsible for this
urban growth. Under the feudal system, the serfs
worked the lands of the local lord in exchange for
agricultural produce such as sheep, cattle, wheat, and
other crops. Such a system did not bring ready cash
to the estate, however.
Lords and other nobles began encouraging
sprawling settlements of free people to establish
themselves under a town charter. Such charters provided the framework of government for a town or
borough. Local tradesmen established themselves in
the towns, traded and manufactured, and created a
local cash economy.
Under this system, urban centers were governed
not by the local lord, but through a town council,
established under the town charter. Local residents of
the town accepted the authority of an elected mayor
and other officers of the community. They paid taxes
to the local lord and the town officials. Such municipal taxes might be used to construct a defensive wall
around the town, or to build roads or bridges.
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The Great Cathedrals
With the rise of towns and
urban centers in Europe during the High Middle Ages,
Christian places of worship
were changing in style and
size. As these trading centers
prospered, towns were able to
afford the construction of great
churches called cathedrals. Such buildings
were monumental undertakings requiring
much skill, labor, and great sacrifice on the
part of the Christian community.
Artistically, such buildings were part of a
new style of architecture called Gothic. These
medieval buildings, especially cathedrals, emphasized an openness using many windows to let in
massive amounts of light. Builders used tall, slender
arches, and narrow columns that rose to spectacular
heights.
Light was so important in a Gothic cathedral that
the designers used dozens of large windows. The
glass was of many colors called stained glass. Since
most of the people of the medieval period were
illiterate, such windows might depict a scene from
the Bible or tell a story.
One of the first Gothic buildings was the abbey
church of St. Denis (den NEE) near Paris. Inspired
by the famous abbot Suger, St. Denis was built
between 1140 and 1150. Although the Gothic style
began as an architectural form in northern France, by
the mid-1200s, the style was being copied all over
Europe. Perhaps the French produced some of the
greatest cathedrals, notably those built at Paris,
Reims, Amiens, and Chartres. These cathedrals rose
high above the landscapes and townscapes surrounding
them. From the floor to the top of the cathedral’s
central corridor, or nave, Notre Dame rose 107 feet.
Chartres stood at 118 feet, and Amiens’ nave
measured 144 feet.
One reason for the great height of the Gothic
cathedrals was to take the building closer to God.
Another was an ongoing rivalry between towns and
cities to build the largest, tallest cathedral. Such
competition was dampened in 1284 when the choir
walls of a cathedral at Beauvais, France, built to a
record height of 157 feet, suddenly collapsed.
Building a cathedral was a long and difficult
© Milliken Publishing Company
process, often taking decades to complete.
Work at a cathedral site used all the technology, mathematics, and engineering knowledge
of the period. Unskilled workers dug
the foundations and moved massive
stone blocks into place. But many
skilled workers and artisans were
needed to carve intricate patterns in
stone, as well as create all the
artwork, including stained glass,
statuary, and decorations, that
went into building a
typical cathedral.
Hundreds of cathedrals
were constructed in the High Middle Ages. In France
alone, 80 cathedrals were built between 1180 and
1270. In Europe as a whole, over 500 cathedrals
were built within a 400-year period.
Such great houses of worship provided a common meeting place for Christians, where often as
many as 5000 of the faithful might gather for special
services. The cathedrals were a symbol of pride for a
community and were the sites of many pilgrimages.
Inside a cathedral a relic was usually included, an
object which was considered holy and meant for
worship, such as a piece of Jesus’ cross or the bones
of a saint.
Review and Write
Give two reasons why Gothic cathedrals were
constructed to such great heights?
21
MP3397
Medieval Universities
The Early Middle Ages had not witnessed
great strides in learning. Schools were few. The
large majority of the population of Europe could
not read or write. People remained ignorant of
many things in their world.
There was much superstition among the masses. Even believers in Christianity were convinced
that monsters, dragons, and ogres lived in the forest. They did not think to question the existence
of fairies, trolls, nymphs, and other mythical creatures. For this reason, such imaginary beings are
found in popular stories we call “fairy tales.”
During the High Middle Ages, however, a
revival in learning and knowledge took place.
Institutions of study called universities came into
existence in Europe for the first time. Such places
of higher learning had been founded in the Arab
countries hundreds of years before and in cities
such as Baghdad and Cordova, Spain. In these
great centers of knowledge, Western scholars
came to better understand their world and the
worlds of others.
Early universities in Europe were founded by
the Church. They provided the facilities to train
men to serve in the growing number of administrative positions of the medieval Church and of
the state. Prior to the university, monasteries and
cathedral schools provided the only formal education in Europe.
The earliest chartered university in Europe
was the University of Paris, founded in 1150. This
was to become the center of university learning.
Other institutions followed, such as Oxford
University, which was established in the 1160s.
By 1500, Western Europe was home to 77 universities.
These schools were different from modern
universities and colleges. The typical medieval
university was a guild, or organized corporation
of masters. Early universities did not usually have
classrooms, gymnasiums, stadiums, laboratories,
dormitories, or theaters. They were often nothing
more than a rented hall where students met with a
master. Such students found their own lodging in
the local town.
© Milliken Publishing Company
The subjects taught
at a medieval university
were different from the
typical curriculum
today. The heart of the
university studies was
the school of liberal
arts. There were seven
liberal arts, which were
divided into two
categories.
The Trivium consisted of the literary
arts of grammar,
rhetoric, and logic. The
other four, called the Quadrivium, were the
numerical arts of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy,
and music.
Lectures were given in Latin. Students took
notes, asked questions, and held discussions with
the professor. Textbooks were not used. They
were too costly.
Once a student completed his studies, he
received a bachelor’s degree. He might continue
his university work in graduate school where he
could study law, medicine, or theology. There he
could earn a master’s or doctoral degree.
Upon graduation, the student wore a cap and
gown, much like graduates do today. In fact, the
ceremonial caps, gowns, and hoods used in
modern graduations date from the medieval
period. In some cases, before a candidate seeking
a degree could receive his, he had to provide gifts
or perhaps even a banquet for his professors. In
Spain, a university graduate was sometimes
expected to provide a bullfight before officially
graduating.
Review and Write
Name four ways in which a modern university
is different from a university of the medieval period. What similarities do medieval and modern
universities share?
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Popular Christianity
All across Europe, the growth of universities as centers of learning during the
High Middle Ages gave a renewed emphasis to literacy and a new interest in scholarship and theology. It also led to a revival in the study of classical literature, the works
of the ancient Greeks and Romans, which had fallen into obscurity during the Early
Middle Ages.
This new scholarship gave rise to such notable theologians as Peter Abelard
(1079–1142). He was a leading philosopher and thinker of the Middle Ages.
From 1113 to 1118, Abelard taught theology in Paris. He founded a school that
eventually developed into the University of Paris. Abelard’s studies led him to
emphasize logic in the forming of ideas about one’s Christianity. He said that
Peter Abelard
logic may be used to understand and even to defend Christian beliefs.
Despite the rise of universities, scholarship, and other intellectual pursuits, the beliefs of most European
Christians remained quite simple, even primitive. They were often as superstitious as they were faithful—perhaps more so.
Especially in rural areas, Christianity was a combination of legends and near-pagan rituals and practices,
which did not mirror the official theology of the Church. Superstitions led people to believe in demons,
witches, and ghosts, whose spirits returned to haunt the living.
Other practices helped to create an emotional form of Christianity that relied heavily on an imaginative
theology, a blind belief, and a strong fear of the unknown. Everywhere, popular Christianity expected to see
signs and miracles. Stories circulated throughout Europe of nuns who cured diseases, of bleeding statues, and
other alleged demonstrations of God’s power.
One powerful belief system that developed in the Middle Ages was the belief in the existence of miraculous relics. A relic was an object that connected one with power because of the source of the object. For example, when a religious person died, especially one who would soon be considered a saint, he or she left behind a
physical body as well as articles which he or she possessed. Those objects, including the body, were considered in and of themselves sacred, holding great power to heal or bless the owner.
An entire cult of relics developed. Anything connected with Jesus or another Biblical figure, such as his
Apostles, was considered to have the power to work miracles. There were thousands of popular relics: the
Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus, wooden pieces of His Cross, hay from His stall in Bethlehem, hairs from
Noah’s beard, the tooth of an Apostle. Cathedrals and churches competed for such relics, for a powerful relic
could attract pilgrims to their city or town.
Many of the alleged relics circulated during the medieval period were fakes, however. A pig’s bones were
passed off as those of a saint. And sometimes there were one, two, or three churches that might claim to have
the same relic, such as the head of John the Baptist. Even some popes of the period questioned the
authenticity of many of the alleged relics.
Another Christian cult which developed in the Middle Ages was known as the Mary Cult. By the 12th
century, Mary, Jesus’ mother, had become very popular with the masses. They began worshipping her, praying
directly to her. Many stories were created about the life of Mary, nearly all of which were false.
Such belief systems were often tolerated by the leadership of the Catholic Church, which sometimes
encouraged these popular forms of Christianity.
Review and Write
Why do you think so many people in the medieval Church practiced such a simple, yet superstitious, belief
system?
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MP3397
The Rising Power of the Church
Between the years 1000 and 1200 the Roman
Catholic Church rose to its most powerful position in
the history of Europe. These were years of sweeping
reform in the Church. Despite the relative failure of
the Crusades, the leaders of the faithful gained more
power and prestige. By 1200, the Church was the
strongest institution in the West.
threatened to excommunicate, or deny worship and
salvation, to any secular ruler who committed lay
investiture.
Additional changes and reforms were instituted
by the Church. In 1215, the Sacramental system was
firmly established, recognizing seven sacraments
within Catholic doctrine. The sacraments included
baptism, confirmation, (which recognizes a young
person’s preparation for adult Church membership),
marriage, the Eucharist, (taking the elements of wine
and bread during Mass), ordination for the priesthood, penance through confession, and anointing the
sick. These practices first took on significance during the medieval period as the instruments of salvation serving as a sign of a believer’s relationship
with God.
During the 1200s, other religious orders were
established to further strengthen the papacy and to
give new life to the Church. The old monasteries
were losing their purity and enthusiasm. New ministers, called friars, were providing the needs of
Christians across Europe. (The word friar comes
from the Latin word for “brother.”)
These men served as preachers for the Church.
They did not completely separate from society as the
monks did, but rather connected to the people, traveling about, rallying Christian communities, hearing
their confessions, and seeking out heretics and critics
of the Church.
Two such orders were established in the early
1200s: the Dominicans in Spain and the Franciscans
of Italy. The founder of the Dominicans was
Domingo de Guzman, who saw the need for highly
educated preachers to fight heresy with learning. The
Franciscans were founded by Giovanni Francesco de
Bernadone, who was later known as St. Francis. His
followers were less educated than the Dominicans,
but they were devoted to preaching love and the
brotherhood of humans.
Despite these efforts to strengthen the Church
between 1000 and 1200, this was the high water
mark for the power of the Church in Europe.
Political powers were soon going to require the
Church to take a backseat, reducing the strength of
Church leaders.
One base of power for the Church was the
continuing growth of monasteries. They were
expanding in numbers and influence. In France
alone, the A.D. 900s witnessed 157 new monasteries,
326 in the 11th century, and a whopping 702 in the
12th century. In England, by the 1200s, nearly one of
every 50 adult males was a monk.
New monastic orders were established during
these centuries. In 910, the Cluniac system was
founded, with the abbey of Cluny, France, controlling 200 satellite monasteries. In 1098, the Cistercian
order was created, also in France, by Bernard, abbot
of Clairvaux. He was responsible for the calling of
the 2nd Crusade.
The papacy was also gaining power. In the 11th
century, popes rose to new positions of prominence,
partially due to the monastic movement. Strong
stands were taken by the papacy against marriage
among the Church’s priests, bishops, and other
administrative clergy.
Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) held a council in
Rome denouncing a practice of secular rulers called
lay investiture. This occurred when a king or local
ruler took it upon himself to fill an empty Church
office with a candidate of his choosing. Gregory
believed that all Church positions came under his
control and were to be filled by the Church. He even
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MP3397
Monarchy in England
During the High Middle Ages, Europe witnessed the development of strong nation-states
with powerful, ruling, secular kings. Many circumstances allowed for this development. The
prosperity and peace brought by the period
encouraged the rise of such rulers. Also, many
Europeans wanted to see strong national governments to help protect them.
The development of secular national governments did not take place everywhere in Europe in
this period. Indeed, only a few states saw such a
change. The two most important ones were
England and France.
In 1154, a powerful secular ruler came to the
throne. Henry II was lord of England and all of
western France. He lived in France during most of
his reign (for it was there he held the largest territory). England had seen few powerful and capable
kings prior to Henry II. But he worked hard to create in England a strong government. To do so,
Henry enlarged the jurisdiction of the royal courts.
He helped establish English common law. Circuit
judges and juries found a new prominence in
England. By 1250, all important cases in England,
whether criminal or civil, were decided by juries.
Such courts helped to strengthen the influence
of kings like Henry and weakened the influence of
the king’s vassal lords and barons. Rather than
take a case to the local lord, the people began
flocking to the king’s courts for decisions and protection.
Using common law as its basis, Henry II
developed a legal system which applied to everybody in the kingdom, regardless of their local lord.
To ensure a uniform application of the law, the
first textbook on English common law was written
near the end of Henry’s reign. Common law in
England eventually became a great symbol of
English nationalism.
Henry II also brought greater prosperity to the
royal treasury. As his grandfather, Henry I, had
done, Henry II accepted money from his vassal
lords, in addition to military service. He also
established new taxes, including a general tax on
the country in 1188. Although the people did not
like such taxes, they paid them, since Henry prom-
© Milliken Publishing Company
King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215 A.D.
ised to use the money to launch a crusade.
Despite the effective leadership of Henry II,
his two sons did not share in his abilities. Richard
(1189–1199), known as the Lionhearted, spent
only ten months of his reign in England. Otherwise, he was away fighting either the Moslems
during the Third Crusade or Philip Augustus in
France.
His brother John (1199–1216) was an intelligent but suspicious ruler. His mismanagement
resulted in his losing territory to the French. He
taxed the people heavily and sometimes abandoned jury trials to punish his enemies. Because
he was so ineffective as a king, a large group of
his vassal lords revolted against him in 1215.
The revolt was supported by London merchants and the Archbishop of Canterbury. This
combined force brought a direct conflict with King
John, which resulted in his forced signing of a
document called the Magna Carta on June 15,
1215, at Runnymede.
This document—soon known as the Great
Charter of Liberties—insisted that the king was
bound by law and that he could not tax without
consent. The Magna Carta also required the king
to observe due process of law and denied him the
right to punish without a trial.
Although the Magna Carta was intended to
protect the rights of the feudal lords, by the end of
the century, others, such as merchants and peasants without property, were protected as well. In
time, the Magna Carta became the centerpiece of
the English system of constitutional government.
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MP3397
Monarchy in France
As England created a powerful monarchy in the
Philip’s rule. making Philip stronger than any of his
12th century, the overriding problem was how to
vassal lords.
limit an overpowerful king. In France, the
To help maintain his newly acquired lands, Philip
problem was just the opposite. There the land was
set about creating new structures that protected his
divided into nearly independent feudal states. French
rule over these feudal estates. In doing so, Philip was
states such as Flanders, Normandy, and Champagne
responsible for establishing the true French monarhad well-defined governmental systems by the end
chy. Two principles gave him direction.
of the 1100s but lacked an effective power base of
First, he used local institutions, laws, and cusunification under a strong, centralized ruler.
toms as often as possible rather than force change on
During the 12th century, the French monarchy
a regional people within his kingdom. By doing this,
gradually gained power and prestige. Just as in
he kept on his subjects’ good side. Second, he dividEngland during the same period, the French legal
ed his lands into smaller administrative units and
system of the king captured a new level of promiestablished a local ruler over each district.
nence. The people of the French lands
wanted law and order, and they felt that
1190
1223
they achieved both through the royal law 1035
courts. As developed in England, the
opportunity rose for a powerful ruler to
take advantage of the honor given to
royal courts and gain a stronger power
base for himself. Philip II, known as
Philip Augustus (1180–1223), was such
a monarch.
Growth of the French Monarchy. In 1035, the black region (Ile de
Philip was the first highly capable
France) marked the full extent of royal power. Extensive growth
and intelligent ruler of the Capetian
resulted under Philip II. (Striped areas show English control.)
dynasty. Much of his rule was spent
expanding the borders of his kingdom from a tiny
state with Paris as its center, to a larger nation. To
The result was that states within the ruled lands
accomplish this goal, Philip Augustus had to fight
of Philip retained a high degree of local custom, law,
both the English king Richard and then his brother,
and tradition. The king’s recognition of such regional
John. Richard was able to match Philip’s military
differences caused many people to accept his authorventures.
ity without question.
But brother John was not as skilled a general as
Philip placed these appointed administrators,
Richard. Nor was he a capable administrator. After
known as bailiffs, over thirteen regional districts.
he blundered on several fronts, including murdering
The bailiffs realized their power came from the king,
one of his own nephews who was in line to inherit
and generally served him loyally and efficiently.
the county of Brittany in eastern France, his French
Philip paid such local rulers handsomely.
lords revolted against him. When his English lords
This system of control added greatly to Philip’s
fought poorly and his French vassals did not fight
power and prestige. Most Frenchmen were able to
for him at all, John was forced to surrender lands in
remain connected to their individual traditions and
France to Philip Augustus.
customs, caring little about the power wielded by a
Such a turn of events resulted in Philip’s annexking of a national government. This allowed Philip
ing of Normandy, Poitou, and Anjou in France.
Augustus to build France into a powerful state, held
These holdings helped to triple the lands under
together by him and his royally appointed officials.
© Milliken Publishing Company
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MP3397
The Rise and Fall of Germany
At the beginning of the High Middle Ages (about
the year 1000), Germany was one of the most centralized and well-ruled territories in all of Europe.
The previous 100 years had seen to that. During the
900s, the Carolingian Empire, established by
Charlemagne in the 800s, was collapsing. However,
even as the house of the Carolingians fell, Germany
remained mostly united under five lords or dukes.
In 936, a ruler named Otto came to the throne.
Known as Otto the Great (936–973), he extended his
power over all five dukes and established a strong
kingdom. By 962, he was crowned emperor. His
empire—known as the Roman Empire of the
German Nation—was one of the strongest in Europe
until 1100. After that, it remained a powerful force
for the next 200 years.
Otto maintained his power through close ties
with the Church and its leaders. He thought of himself as the successor of Charlemagne. He also
thought of himself as protector of the Western
Church and the papacy.
Yet despite the power and prestige of the national
monarchy over Germany, in time, this strong imperial
government came to lose its significance. Where
Germany was the most organized and best-ruled territory in Europe in 1100, by 1300 its leadership was
reduced to practically nothing. In a time when
stronger centralized monarchies were the rule in
Europe, why did the monarchy in Germany decline?
Otto and his successors were able to gain power
through close ties to the Church, and by halting invasions from outside. So close were the German
monarchy and the Church that emperors established
many churchmen, including bishops and archbishops,
in administrative government positions. Increasingly,
emperors appointed new churchmen, without consulting the pope and the Church leadership.
During the reign of Henry IV (1056–1106), a
pope named Gregory VII (1073–1085) challenged
his authority over churchmen and their appointments.
Gregory created an alliance between the Church and
German dukes and princes. They were prepared to
help depose Henry, because he challenged the
authority of the Church. When Gregory threatened to
excommunicate Henry, the emperor panicked.
© Milliken Publishing Company
In the middle of winter in 1077, Henry made a
pilgrimage over the snowy Alps to reconcile himself
with the pope. When he arrived at Gregory’s castle
at Canossa, in northern Italy, Henry spent three days
barefoot, crying at the gate, waiting to be received
by Pope Gregory.
This proved to be a great humiliation for Henry.
His support from German secular leaders faded
away, and his reign was doomed. In 1105, he was
forced to surrender his throne when one of his own
sons turned against him in rebellion.
Because the emperors of Germany did not control their feudal lords, they lost power. (Control of
the feudal lords in England and France had resulted
in strong monarchies there.)
Although the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
(who ruled the Empire from 1155 to 1190) tried to
reassert his authority by calling his empire the Holy
Roman Empire, he did not succeed in stopping the
dividing of his territory.
By the 1300s, the German princes gained the
right to elect the Holy Roman Emperor. Rule in
Germany was then held by powerful dukes, not by
the centralized rule of a strong emperor.
27
MP3397
Test II
Part I. Multiple Choice (Worksheets 16–21)
Match the answers to the right with the statement on the left.
______ 1. The period of medieval history from 1000–1300
______ 2. Invention which improved the work capacity of the horse
______ 3. Christian traveler of the Middle Ages
______ 4. Moslems who occupied the Holy Land by the mid-11th century
______ 5. Word which means “taking the Cross”
______ 6. Great Gothic churches
______ 7. Abbot responsible for the construction of the church at St. Denis
______ 8. English monarch during the Third Crusade (Crusade of Kings)
______ 9. Church leader who called for the Second Crusade
______ 10. Christian city attacked by Christian knights during the Fourth
Crusade
______ 11. Name of catapult used by Europeans during the Fourth Crusade
______ 12. Great cathedral found in Paris
A. Suger
B. tandem harness
C. crusade
D. Notre Dame
E. pilgrim
F. Zara
G. Bad Neighbor
H. Seljuk Turks
I. cathedrals
J. High Middle Ages
K. Bernard of Clairvaux
L. Richard the Lionhearted
Part II. Multiple Choice (Worksheets 22–27)
______ 1. An organized corporation of masters
______ 2. University liberal arts which included grammar and rhetoric
______ 3. University liberal arts which included geometry and music
______ 4. Leading philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages
______ 5. Popular worship of the mother of Jesus
______ 6. Examples include pieces of True Cross and apostle’s tooth
______ 7. Practice of secular rulers appointing Churchmen
______ 8. Latin word for “brother”
______ 9. King who worked hard in England to create a strong government
______ 10. English document which assured due process of law
______ 11. Powerful 12th-century French monarch
______ 12. Name for the German states created by Frederick Barbarossa
A. friar
B. relics
C. Henry II
D. guild
E. Holy Roman Empire
F. Philip Augustus
G. Quadrivium
H. lay investiture
I. Mary Cult
J. Peter Abelard
K. Trivium
L. Magna Carta
Part III. Respond and Write
How significant was the Church and Christianity in European history during the Middle Ages? What were
the strengths of the Church? What were the weaknesses? How did the Church leadership attempt to add to
its power throughout the period?
© Milliken Publishing Company
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MP3397
Answer Key
Page 3
Answers will vary. They should include some of the
following: the Roman army was not as effective as it
once was owing to Germanic influences; the Roman
government gave sanctuary to the Visogoths within
the borders of the Empire; the Romans faced attacks
from too many different fronts within the Empire;
there was a blurring of the lines between the Romans
and the Germans—i.e., German commanders.
3. By A.D. 800, Rome was home to only 50,000 inhabitants. Many of the municipal systems ceased to operate. Roads went unrepaired, aqueducts fell apart,
streets became littered with waste and trash, cattle
grazed in the Roman Forum.
Page 7
Answers will vary but should include: Church leaders in
Rome, Constantinople, and other cities did not recognize
the authority of one another over themselves; various
theologies led Christians to pursue separate goals;
Rome ceased to be the leading city of the Empire.
Page 4
1. Answers will vary. He wanted the Eastern half of the
Roman Empire to have a capital as splendid as Rome
itself. Constantinople was also a Christian capital (to
Constantine), unlike Rome which was known as a
pagan city.
2. Answers will vary. They were similar in that they
were each built on seven hills; they had similar architecture; free bread was distributed to the masses; and
games and races were a common entertainment.
3. The trade of Constantinople was based on gold coins,
one in particular. Known as the bezant, it kept its value
for 700 years and was used in trade by many nations.
Page 8
He established rules for monks to follow, including
taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Page 9
The Merovingians did not produce a good leader after
Clovis I. His sons and grandsons were corrupt and
unskilled. The Carolingians blossomed and gave prestige to the kingdom of the Franks through several generations, including Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and
Charlemagne. Charlemagne created an empire which
was a shining example of what a centralized government could accomplish in the 9th century under a
strong ruler.
Page 5
1. Answers will vary. He expanded the borders of his
empire through successful military campaigns; the great
church, the Hagia Sophia, was constructed; he gave
the Romans in Constantinople a positive image of
themselves; and he codified and reformed Roman
law.
2. Answers will vary. He wanted the Roman tradition of
greatness to continue; however, he wanted his empire
to have a basis in Christianity, thus a great Church
building.
Page 11
They began by establishing a base of operation on a
coastal island or through the taking of a walled seaside
town. From there, they sailed their shallow drakken up a
river, attacking villages along the way, stealing horses
and riding into the countryside, plundering as they went.
Page 14
Answers should include: cold in the winter, hot in the
summer; poor sanitation; drafty, routine-oriented.
Page 6
1. Answers will vary but should include the following:
city life nearly came to a halt, people resorted to nearly tribal existence, trade was nearly nonexistent,
barter was common, farming was subsistent, literacy
declined dramatically, culture declined, schools
ceased to exist.
2. The barbarian Germans were brutal conquerors—
murdering, raping, and turning their victims into
slaves. They destroyed more than they brought or
even borrowed from the Romans.
© Milliken Publishing Company
Page 15
Part I.
1. D
2. L
3. A
4. J
5. H
6. F
29
7. K
8. C
9. I
10. L
11. E
12. G
MP3397
Answer Key
Part II.
1. D
2. J
3. I
4. F
5. A
6. G
cities to build the largest, tallest cathedral.
7. C
8. H
9. B
10. E
11. L
12. K
Page 22
Answers will vary but should include the following
differences: Medieval universities did not have classrooms, gymnasiums, stadiums, laboratories, dormitories, or theaters. They had limited curricula, and textbooks were not used. Similarities include: professors
lectured, students took notes, bachelor and graduate
degrees were granted, robes were worn as well as caps
and hoods.
Part III.
Answers will vary. Life in the eastern half of the Empire
continued under the auspices of the Byzantine Empire
with its capital at Constantinople. In the Western half
of the Empire, life fell into chaos following the
Germanic invasions which witnessed the collapse of
Rome and a near end of urban living in Western
Europe.
Page 23
Answers will vary. The crux of this point is that many
people in the medieval world did not have a scientific
understanding of their world. They believed in many
things related to the spirit world, which led to an
extended belief in miracles, powerful relics, and so on.
Page 16
The nature of destructive wars and invasions changed.
Most consisted of lengthy sieges of heavily fortified
castles and other fortresses. Invasions were fewer and
internal civil wars were fewer bringing greater stability and less chaos. Population increased, but Europe
was not hit by a major plague. Weather patterns
improved, allowing increased agricultural production.
Page 28
Part I.
1. J
2. B
3. E
4. H
5. C
6. I
Page 17
Answers will vary but could include: advances in
technology, learning, urban growth, better farming,
important inventions, such as crank, spinning wheel,
etc., better weather patterns, decline in slavery,
increased use of the horse owing to inventions such as
the padded horsecollar, the tandem harness, and the
horseshoe.
Part II.
1. D
2. K
3. G
4. J
5. I
6. B
Page 18
Answers will vary. Some were led by their faith,
others went to gain glory or honor, others fought
because they did not have to pay taxes while crusading,
debts of crusaders were canceled, greed for new land,
great profits possible.
7. H
8. A
9. C
10. L
11. F
12. E
Part III.
Answers will vary. The Church was a powerful
institution during the Early and High Middle Ages. It
solidified its power by allying itself with kings and
emperors, built great churches such as cathedrals,
established orders of monks, nuns, and friars, established the sacramental system, fought lay investiture,
and sponsored the Crusades.
Page 21
One reason was to make the building closer to God.
Another was an ongoing rivalry between towns and
© Milliken Publishing Company
7. A
8. L
9. K
10. F
11. G
12. D
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MP3397