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The Rise of Europe
500-1300
Geography
• Location
– Located between present day Portugal and
Russia
– Had no cities
– Made up of small communities and eventually
kingdoms
• Resources
– Forests, good soil for growing crops, mineral
rich lands
– Seas for fishing, trade and exploration
– Rivers and mountains
Germanic Tribes and Kingdoms
• Tribes
– Migrated across Europe
– Farmers and herders
– No written laws
– Lived in small communities led by an elected
king
• Kingdoms
– Developed between 400-700
– Most successful kingdom was the Franks
• Clovis: king of the Franks, conquered Gaul,
converted to Christianity
Charlemagne
• Son of Pepin and grandson of Charles Martel –
Frankish warrior who defeated the Muslims at
the Battle of Tours, stopping Islam from
spreading into Europe
• Charlemagne= Charles the Great
Determined and decisive
– Intelligent and curious
– Fierce warrior, strong statesman and pious Christian,
supported education
– AKA: Charles the Man, Charles the Administrator,
Charles the Conqueror and Charles the Patron of
Learning
•
Accomplishments
– Ruled from 768-814
– He was crowned Emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day in 800AD
after stopping a rebellion of Roman nobles
• This helped to unite the Christians in Europe but also led to a greater divided
with the Eastern Roman Empire (Constantinople)
– He tried and was successful at uniting Western Europe creating a
Christian Europe
– Expanded the Frankish kingdom
– Created an empire called the Carolingian Empire: covered most of
western and central Europe
– He used powerful nobles to rule local regions and had missi dominici to
oversee these rulers as well as to check on the roads, listen to the
peoples complaints and enforce justice
– Revived and expanded learning and culture
• He could read but not write and knew that it was important to do both in
order to keep accurate records
• Founded a school that was run by Alcuin, a respected scholar.
• The school taught Latin, grammar, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and
astronomy
After Charlemagne
• The improvements to Western Europe by
Charlemagne were short lived
• After his death his sons battled for power
and later his grandsons split the empire
into three parts
• His heirs faced invasion by Muslims,
Magyars and Vikings which led to death
and destruction throughout western
Europe
Feudalism
• After the death of Charlemagne his well
organized government collapsed
• Without a central government a new system
developed known as feudalism
• Feudalism was a loosely organized system of
rule based on a social structure
• Everyone had an obligation and a place in the
feudal society
• Under this system,
– people looked to the nobles/land owning aristocrats to
protect them
– Nobles/aristocrats/lords offered protection in return for
service
Feudal Society
Gave land to the lords (fief)
Provided land
Protection
Kings
Fees, loyalty, military support
Lords/Vassals
Knights
Fees, loyalty, military service
Serfs
Paid fees, gave loyalty, worked the land
Knighthood
• Mounted warriors
–
–
–
–
Wore coats of mail (weaved metal armor)
Used long lances
Rode horses, had saddles and stirrups
Had great prestige
• It was a long process to become a knight
– At age 7, boys were sent to their father’s lord to begin
their training
– They learned to ride, fight, take care of armor and
weapons and follow strict discipline
– After many years of training a young man would be
granted knighthood
• Provided protection for both the serfs and
vassals in return for loyalty, fees and land
or service
• Chivalry- the code of conduct for knights
– Defend the church and defenseless people
– Treat captives as honored guests
– Fight only for glory not for reward
• By the 1100’s warfare had decreased and
knights so knights became more involved
in tournaments than actual war where they
had mock battles, jousted and competed
for honor and prizes.
The Shield
• Knights often carried a
shield into battle
• The shield was as much
for protection as it was a
sign of one’s identity
• The shield may have
colors or images on it that
represented the family or
kingdom of which that
knight was from
• Colors and symbols all
had meaning and
represented something
about that knight
Manors
• Agricultural estate run by a lord and worked by a
peasant (serf)
• Including one or more villages and surrounding
lands
• Serfs
– Legally bound to the land
– Provided labor; worked three days a week for the lord
– Paid rent; gave the lord a share of all of the products
they raised, paid for use of common lands (rivers,
streams, pastures), paid tithe to the church
– Cultivated crops, built barns
– Could not leave manor or marry without lords
permission,
The Church
•
Church hierarchy
•
Authority of the church
– Believed in order to avoid hell
people must participate in the
sacraments
– Had it’s own body of law and
those who did not obey could
be kicked out of the church
•
Pope
Claimed authority over everyone
Cardinal
Archbishops
Daily life
– Most Christians only had
contact with their local priests
– Center for news, gossips,
education
– Church tried to protect
women; set minimum age for
marriage, punished men who
abused women
Bishops
Priests, Nuns, Monks
Agricultural Revolution
• Change from wooden plows to iron plows
• New harnesses for horses to pull the
plows instead of oxen
– Horses were faster and allowed peasants to
expand the size of their farm
• Windmill---used wind power to grind grain
into flour
• Developed a three field system
– One field had grains
– Another had peas and beans
– The third was left fallow (empty)
• All of these improvements made more
food available and led to population
growth
– Between 1000-1300 the population of Europe
doubled
Revival of Trade
• New trade routes were built between Europe,
Asia and the Middle East
– Silks, gold jewelry and spices came from Asia
– Europeans paid for new products with products—
honey, furs, fine cloth, tin and lead
• Trade Fairs
– Took place near rivers or where trade routes met
– Trading of luxury goods took place and were
purchases by rulers, nobles and churchmen
– Peasants traded farm goods and animals
– Entertainment such as juggling and acrobatics were
common
• New towns and cities developed and grew
– Settlements began to grow around areas that
had trade fairs
– These settlements grew into large towns and
cities with populations of up to 100,000
– Charters were written setting up rules and
laws of the new city or town
• Often granted the people the right to choose their
own leader
• Control their own affairs
• Allowed runaway serfs to gain freedom if they lived
in the town for a year
Commercial Revolution
• Merchants developed partnerships
– Enabled merchants to pool their money to buy larger amounts of
products
• Bill of exchange
– Merchants deposited money into a local bank and were given a
bill of exchange (check/money order) to exchange for cash in a
distant city
– Merchants no longer had to carry large sums of gold coins with
them
• Peasants began paying their rent in cash instead of labor
– By 1300 most peasants were no longer serfs and instead were
tenant/renter farmers or hired farm laborers
• Middle class formed
– Merchants, traders, and artisans
– Between the nobles and the peasant classes
Guilds
• Association of workers in a common trade
• Protected their economic interests
• Made rules to ensure the quality of their
goods
• Regulated hours of work and prices
• Took many years to become a guild
member
– To become a guild member you had to first be
an apprentice for approx. 7 years, then a
journeyman and if you were lucky you might
become a master
Butchers Guild House
Haberdasher’s Guild
Haberdasher, Sailor, Archer
Furniture Makers
Bakers Guild