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WORLD HISTORY UNIT 1.1: EARLY CIVILIZATION – MIDDLE AGES LECTURE NOTES LEARNING TARGETS: Understand the differences in life before and after the agricultural revolution Be able to list and explain the components of civilization Understand how civilization played out in the Fertile Crescent Compare and contrast how mythology/religion evolved through the early civilizations Know the contributions of ancient Greece to the modern world Understand the conditions surrounding the rise and fall of Rome Know the contributions of ancient Rome to the modern world Understand the origins of Christianity, its draw, how it challenged existing beliefs, and its influence on the world ID TERMS: hunter-gatherers ethical monotheism Athenian democracy agricultural revolution Ten Commandments Republic domestication prophets Twelve Tables specialization Torah Julius Caesar civilization Socrates Octavian/Augustus geographic luck Plato Pax Romana Fertile Crescent Aristotle Jesus of Nazareth Hammurabi’s Code humanism Paul of Tarsus Epic of Gilgamesh tragedy Constantine Hebrews comedy St. Augustine of Hippo 1. Before Civilization – Prior to 10,000 B.C., people used stone, bone, skin, and wood to make tools They were called foragers or hunter-gatherers, because they supported themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects Early people were nomads, or people who move from place to place to find food Typically, 20-30 lived in small bands with them men hunting and women gathering Because these bands did not stay in one place too long, permanent structures were rarely built, therefore, little evidence survives to help archaeologists accurately piece together the way they lived Much of what they know is based on the few hunter-gatherer cultures that survive today Tools became more refined and useful and soon the spear, bow and arrows, and fishhooks were invented Natural shelters such as overhanging rocks or cave were favorite camping places Other shelters consisted of huts constructed of branches, stones, bones, skins, and leaves The only permanent shelters were found in fishing villages near riverbanks and lakeshores where the abundance of fish permitted people to occupy the same site year-round Around 10,000 B.C., hunter-gatherers along the coastal plains of what today is Syria and Israel near the Zagros Mountains, people began to stay put and use the sources of food in their area: fish, wild grains, fruits, and game They built and rebuilt mud brick and stone huts over generations rather than moving on The advantages of settled communities included a decrease in infant mortality and a rise in life expectancy Instead of making long hunting and gathering trips, they brought plants and animals back to their villages to be grown and raised This is known as the agricultural revolution and is one of the great turning points in history because it led to rapid population growth Historians believe agriculture began independently in four places: the Middle East, (wheat, barley, and lentils), Southern Asia (rice and millet), western Africa (millet and yams), and the middle Americas (beans, potatoes, and corn) Involves the shift from the hunting and gathering or foraging to systematic agriculture Domestication of plants and animals gave humans greater control over their environment Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated mainly for protection Soon animals were domesticated for their meat, fur, eggs, and milk Eventually larger animals were domesticated as beasts of burden to help with farming (oxen pulled wooden plows) Because humans tended to enclose their animals within their domiciles, animal-based diseases infect humans, however, over time immunities are built up Once food production was secured, specialization or a division of labor where people are involved in trade, crafts, and blacksmithing started Pottery from clay was made for containers and cooking Thread from vegetable and animal fibers was made into flax and wool to be used for clothing Baskets were produced and stone tools became more refined Craftsmen discovered that metal-bearing rocks could be heated to liquefy metals, which could then be cast in molds to produce tools and weapons that were more useful than stone instruments The invention of writing enabled records to be kept while the use of bronze (copper & tin) in metallurgy marked a new level of human control over the environment and its resources 2. Jared Diamond – A professor of geography at UCLA whose many bird-watching trips to Papua New Guinea, led him to wonder why the people there are technologically behind much of the world He studied human history over the last 13,000 years to find out why people on certain continents evolved differently Specifically, he looks to explain Eurasian hegemony and why sub-Sahara Africa, North and South American have taken on an inferior role in world history He argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies do not reflect cultural or racial differences, but rather originate in environmental differences As a result, the geography of the Eurasian landmass gave its human inhabitants an inherent advantage over the societies on other continents, which they were able to dominate or conquer In his book Guns, Germs, & Steel, Diamond develops his theory of “geographic luck” Simply put, when domestication took place, Eurasian societies were at an advantage due to having better plants and animals to choose from, whereas sub-Saharan Africa and North and South America lacked both the types of crops and domesticated animals that would have allowed them to become more advanced Their crops yielded enough calories and nutrition to support a strong population and their animals were able to be used as beasts of burden, therefore allowing these civilizations to advance more than those who were lacking Through cultural diffusion - the spreading of ideas, customs, and technology from region to region through migration, trade, and warfare - Eurasian civilizations advanced 3. Civilizations – Authorities do not all agree about the definition of civilization but most would accept the view that a “civilization” is a culture which has attained a degree of complexity usually characterized by urban life – that is capable of sustaining a substantial number of specialists to cope with the economic, social, political, and religious needs of a populous society Basic characteristics are common in these highly complex and structured societies Cities: they become the focal points as administrative centers Jericho, (Palestine) was built c. 10,000 B.C. and although it was only the size of a few football fields, thousands lived in it and it was surrounded by a large wall, suggesting it had a government and leader Catal Huyuk (Turkey) developed later around 7,000 B.C. and was larger than Jericho, and its inhabitants lived in rectangular mud-brick houses Female statuettes found there had large breasts and buttocks which symbolically represented the fertility of “earth mothers” and human mothers implying the presence of gender roles Religion: the gods were deemed crucial to the community’s success, and professional priests act as stewards of the gods Specialization: many people are engaged in non-food producing activities Government: based on control of a defined territory rather than kinship connections Social hierarchy: status distinctions based largely on accumulation of substantial wealth by some groups (kings, priests, and warriors dominating, and farmers, artisans, and craftsmen in the middle, and slaves at the bottom) Record keeping: Kings, priest, merchants, and artisans usually used writing to keep records Architecture: large monuments, usually religious, occupied a prominent place in urban settings Advanced science & art: art that is no longer merely decorative, like that on Neolithic pottery, but representative of people and their activities Long-distance trade/commerce: Cultural diffusion was made possible by the sharing of ideas with distant lands The earliest civilizations, commonly called river civilizations were the earliest great societies to occur The Tigres and Euphrates (Mesopotamia) in Iraq, the Indus in Pakistan, the Yellow in China, and the Nile in Africa The civilizations were directly tied to the rivers and depended upon them for irrigation, food, transportation, and trade 4. Fertile Crescent – A region in the Middle East where a number of early civilizations arose; known for its rich soil and golden wheat fields Since the region has few natural barriers, it became a crossroads where people and ideas mingled Mesopotamia, in Greek, it means the “land between the rivers” (Tigres and Euphrates) and is located in modern-day Iraq The world’s first civilization, Sumeria occurred there and was comprised of independent city-states The rivers frequently rose in terrifying floods destroying villages which forced the people to work together to build dikes to hold back floodwaters and irrigation ditches to carry water to their fields Unpredictable floods and droughts and frequent invasions, because they lacked geographical barrier, led Sumerians to be pessimistic about life Although goddesses were often worshipped, women didn’t possess the same rights as men Sumerians were polytheistic and thought gods controlled every aspect of their lives and to keep them happy they constructed ziggurats; they attributed prosperity and disastrous floods to the gods and believed gods needed to be appeased The Epic of Gilgamesh is a collection of tales about a hero named Gilgamesh who seeks immortality but comes to realize that death is the fate of all people By 3200 B.C., Sumerians had invented the earliest known writing, called cuneiform with scribes making marks on clay tablets using a stylus Canals and dikes harnessed water supplies; plows, sleds, and carts hauled produce to town and to distant markets The use of bronze tools and weapons enhanced technology People developed mathematics to understand business and government administration using a numbering system based on six, dividing an hour into 60 minutes and the circle into 360 degrees Political power was in the hands of a priest-ruler, who over time rivaled the priest for control and these “god-kings” were seen as divine in origin, deriving their power from the gods and were considered agents of the gods Due to the constant state of war, power was granted to strong warriors which evolved into hereditary rule Constant rivalry over land and water rights dominated the relations between the Sumerian city-states The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale about Gilgamesh, a great hero and ruler, part god and part man, who sets out on a journey to find cedar with a companion, Enkidu, who is killed by the storm god, Enlil Mourning the loss and facing death, he searches for eternal life, finds the plant that restores youth, but a serpent swallows it while he is bathing The epic is profoundly pessimistic and gives us a key to the Sumerian view of the universe The gods, often alternate between showing man favor and punishment and along with the constant threat of flood and invasion led the people of the Fertile Crescent to be uncertain about the future and total dependent upon the gods Mythology provided people with explanations for creation, how nature worked, and the mystery of life and death Natural objects such as the sun, the river, the mountain were seen either as gods or as the abodes (homes) of gods Prior to scientific reason humans used myths as a way to explain natural occurrences (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, lightening, etc.) to provide order and making life less frightening and overwhelming Ziggurats, the terraced temples of the gods were built as monuments to them and ritualistic ceremonies were used to praise them The people of the Near East were polytheistic, meaning they relied on multiple gods to help them in their daily lives and held elaborate rituals complete with sacrifices to keep them Hammurabi’s Code was a law code created by Hammurabi, king of Babylon, who conquered much of Mesopotamia He had artisans carve nearly 300 laws on a stone pillar for all to see and this was the first time a ruler to set down in writing, all the laws that would govern a state One section contained civil laws dealing with private matters, such as business contracts, property inheritance, taxes, marriage, and divorce and although it didn’t treat people equally it was designed to help protect the powerless Another section dealt with criminal law setting out punishments for offenses to keep people from taking the law into their own hands and thereby maintaining social order Although the criminal law called for “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” if imposed more social order than existed when people sought their own justice 5. Hebrews – A people who originated in Mesopotamia and migrated to Canaan (Palestine) Their largest contribution to Western civilization was religion: Judaism then Christianity Their history is recorded in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible The Hebrew Bible tells the story of Abraham (c. 1800 B.C.) and his descendants; born in the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, Abraham rejected the idol worship of his homeland and migrated with his family and livestock across the Syrian desert Eventually he arrived in the land of Israel, which had been promised to him and his descendants by the Israelite god, Yahweh The Israelites were nomadic pastoralists who migrated from the grazing lands between the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the Mediterranean coastal plain They camped by a permanent water source in the dry season, then drove herds of sheep, cattle, and donkeys to a wellestablished sequence of grazing areas during the rest of the year; the animals provided them with milk, cheese, meat, and cloth In the Hebrew Bible, Abraham’s son Isaac and then his grandson Jacob became the leaders of this wandering group of herders In the next generation, the squabbling sons of Jacob’s several wives sold their brother Joseph as a slave to passing merchants heading for Egypt Through luck and ability Joseph became a high official at the pharaoh’s court; thus he was in a position to help his people when drought struck and forced the Israelites to migrate to Egypt The sophisticated Egyptians looked down on these rough herders and eventually enslaved them and put them to work on royal building projects The Israelites were led out of captivity by Moses, an Israelite with connections to the Egyptian royal family The story of their departure, the Exodus, includes stories, such as the ten plagues that Yahweh inflicted on Egypt to persuade the pharaoh to release the Israelites, and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea that enabled the refugees to escape During their forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites entered into a covenant or pact with Yahweh: They would be his “Chosen People” if they promised to worship him exclusively This was confirmed by tablets that Moses brought down from the top of Mount Sinai, inscribed with the Ten Commandments that set out the basic tenets of Jewish belief and practice The Commandments prohibited murder, adultery, theft, lying, and envy and demanded respect for parents and rest from work on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week A fundamental difference emerges between Hebrews and the people of the Near East with the development of ethical monotheism, the belief in one God who demands righteous behavior from his human creations (essential element to Western tradition) Near Easterners saw gods everywhere and invented myths to explain nature Their gods had limitations on their power, did not always act morally, and could be punished and killed Yahweh, on the other hand, was all powerful, all knowing, eternal, and the source of the universe Hebrews believed God gave humans moral autonomy – the capacity to choose between good and evil Prophets were people who believed God had chosen them to remind the Jews of their duties to him and his law They carried God’s message to the leaders and the people and warned of punishment for disobedience to God’s commandments They denounced exploitation of the poor, the greed of the wealthy, and oppressive behavior and called for social justice the equality of man despite differences in wealth and power) They argued that the core of Judaism was not about tradition and rituals but instead, morality Hebrews and later Jews use the Torah (The first five books of the Old Testament) as a source of law Differing from law codes of the Near East, Hebrew laws were more concerned with people than with property; they expressed a humane attitude toward slaves and rejected the idea of one law for nobles and another for commoners 6. Ancient Greece – Along with the Hebrews, the largest contributor to Western civilization From c.800 – 30 B.C., the Greeks gave us scientific and philosophic thought, created democracy, and developed a humanistic outlook Because the Greek peninsula is mountainous, transportation and communication was difficult Therefore, the Greeks developed small, separate communities called city-states (often at war) The Greek coastline has excellent harbors so the Greeks developed thriving trade and set up colonies across the Mediterranean Due to contact with other civilizations and cultural diffusion, the Greeks adopted new ideas if it suited their needs 7. Greek democracy – In the mid-seventh and sixth centuries B.C. in one city-state after another, a tyrant – a person who seized and held power in violation of the normal political traditions of the community – gained control Greek tyrants were often disgruntled or ambitious members of the aristocracy, backed by the emerging middle class Ultimately, the tyrants were unwitting catalysts in an evolving political process toward democracy, the exercise of political power by all free adult males In comparison with other Greek city-states, Athens possessed an unusually large and populous territory and in 594 B.C., it was on the verge of civil war, and a respected member of the elite class, Solon, was appointed lawgiver and granted extraordinary powers He divided Athenian citizens into four classes based on the annual yield of their farms; those in the top three classes could hold state offices Members of the lowest class, with little or no property, could participate in the Assembly This arrangement, which made political rights a function of wealth, was far from democratic, but it broke the monopoly on power of a small circle of aristocratic families Solon also abolished the practice of enslaving individuals for failure to repay their debts, thereby guaranteeing the freedom of Athenian citizens 8. Greek mythology – A collection of gods whose home was believed to be atop Mount Olympus Each city-state saw itself under the special protection of one god or goddess Oracles (priests or priestesses) gave advise and answers to questions directed to the gods Zeus was the leader of the gods; god of lightning, law and mortality Hera was the wife of Zeus; goddess of marriage and childbirth Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes Apollo was the god of the sun, archery, music, prophecy, and medicine Athena was the goddess of wisdom and protector of heroes Olympia was the main sanctuary of Zeus and starting in 776 B.C. every four years wars were suspended while athletes met at Olympia to participate in contests in honor of Victors were seen as the ideals of human society, the perfect triumph of body and soul 9. Greek philosophy and the Age of Reason – By the sixth century B.C., Greeks began to seek explanations for the world around them and philosophers formed ideas by using observation and rational thought, not myth and religion (the beginning of scientific thought) Traditionally, natural occurrences like earthquakes and lightning had been attributed to the gods but early Greek thinkers began to see nature as a system governed by laws that could be understood Gradually philosophers began to leave out gods from their explanations of how nature came to be and replaced it with physical explanations based on reason and logic Early philosophers regarded substances such as earth, air, and fire as building blocks to the universe Greek society began to tolerate nonreligious, rational teaching, which would have been too controversial in other times After the philosophers helped replace the supernatural with the natural a group of thinkers, known as Sophists applied reason to human affairs by teaching rhetoric (the art of persuasion,) grammar, poetry, mathematics, music, and gymnastics They sought to develop their students’ minds through a secular (non-religious) curriculum Greatest among them was Socrates (c. 470-399 B.C) who believed knowledge could be ascertained by asking questions and then subjecting the answers to logical analysis He criticized his fellow Sophists for not teaching ethics, so he urged people to look critically at their own lives and choices “Know thyself” was his plea; an unexamined life was not worth living To Socrates, human excellence or virtue (arete’) is knowledge, and evil and error are the result of ignorance He was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and for refusing to believe in the traditional gods of the city; knowing the crimes were punishable by death, he refused to deny the charges or seek forgiveness He was ordered by the court to drink poison [hemlock], and he did so willingly as prescribed by the law Plato (c. 428-347), an aristocratic student of Socrates, witnessed the execution of Socrates and the destruction of the empire because of the Peloponnesian War and as such developed a hatred for Athenian democracy and a distrust of ordinary people’s ability to tell right from wrong Plato wrote dialogues, a literary genre of imagined discussions, between Socrates and others, to develop his ideas In his political treatise, the Republic, he criticized democracy as a political system dominated by emotion rather than logic and the evils of the world result from an ignorance of the truth because man only sees reality as reflections, not as it really is Therefore, he promotes a new form of government through proper education of elite philosopher-kings The state’s basic function was the satisfaction of the common good which allowed the state to regulate every aspect of life Plato’s greatest student, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), who founded his own school, the Lyceum, at Athens, where he rejected Plato’s view in favor of a philosophy rooted in the natural world Aristotle departed from Plato’s theory of an ideal reality that cannot be perceived by the senses, rather he saw turned to what can be seen to exist Each object has a purpose as part of a grand design of the universe and he sought to discover their purpose to ultimately determine a general pattern of the universe Therefore, he embraced logic, metaphysics, astronomy, biology, physics, politics, and poetry Like, Plato, Aristotle wanted to design the best state and of the three types of government (monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy), he chose “moderate democracy”, in which the masses don’t have too much power The ideal government strikes a balance for what is good for the individual and the community as a whole This is related to his idea of happiness, which is the greatest good and to achieve it, people must seek intellectual and moral virtue He introduced his Doctrine of the Mean as a guide for good conduct – he considered all virtues to be means between extremes; thus courage was the mean between cowardice and rashness Moderation, therefore, often called the Golden Mean: a compromise between extremes of excessive pleasure and ascetic denial – was a goal that reflected the Greek principle of harmony and balance in all things Aristotle also developed the syllogism as a way to use deductive reasoning as a way to test if something is valid and logical or not (the first two premises must be correct for third proposition to be true as well) From Greek philosophers and authors a new outlook on life develops known as humanism, which urges humans to develop their physical, intellectual, and moral capabilities to the fullest, and to shape themselves according to the highest standards through intelligence and self-mastery 10. Greek literature – One of ancient Greece’s greatest achievements was the creation of two new literary forms: the tragedy and comedy Prior to that is the epic poem and two masterpieces are the Iliad and the Odyssey written by Homer The Iliad is where we see excellence defined as the virtue of bravery in battle first appear The chief hero is the proud warrior Achilles, who withdraw from the siege of Troy when his lover is taken from him; he then allows his friend Patroclus to wear his armor in combat and, after he is killed by the Trojan hero Hector, Achilles avenges his friend’s death by killing Hector in a scene of savage power The Odyssey, by contrast, celebrates cleverness rather than sheer military prowess as its hero, Odysseus, makes his way home after the Trojan War through dozens of adventures that test his skill and tenacity; eventually, reaching his home, the island of Ithaca, and drives of a band of suitors who are wooing his faithful wife, Penelope Writers of tragedies, sometimes called dramas, drew most of their plots from gods and heroes in Greek mythology and focused on great men who failed because of flaw in their natures (Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes) They used characters to study the human condition by asking basic questions: What is our relationship to the Gods? What is justice? If the gods are just, why do they allow people to suffer? How can worldly success lead to destruction? Comic playwrights focused their satire on political and social issues and real people The most famous was Aristophanes (c. 450-388 B.C.), who ridiculed statesmen, philosophers, and even the gods; his comedies are full of talking animals and obscene jokes and puns, yet he was deeply patriotic and dedicated to democracy and peace 11. Greek art and architecture – Art displayed humanism by not only using human subjects as the focal point in pottery and statues, but also by depicting them as dignified, proud, and beautiful Architecture was meant to be a monument to the power and glory of the city-state and often buildings had columns and ornate carvings on their exterior to fill visitors to the city with awe and wonder To show their interest in balance and harmony with nature, buildings were often symmetrical and pleasing to the eye The Parthenon, within the Athenian acropolis, is an example of this balance 12. Athenian democracy – The Greek city-state Athens developed the concept of political liberty, whereas humans possess the ability to govern themselves The Egyptians and Mesopotamians, who were subject to the absolute authority of god-kings and priest-kings, did not participate in political life, and had no individual liberty In contrast, Athenian male citizens were able to vote, hold public office, and were equal before the law They did not believe law was given to them by the gods, they saw law as a human creation, a product of human reason Despite its achievements, Greek democracy did little to end slavery or allow women to participate in political life 13. The Roman Republic (509 – 27 B.C.) – The first stage of Roman history which began as an oligarchy or rule by a few patricians (nobles or wealthy landowners) but soon included the plebeians (commoners; artisans, farmers, merchants, and traders) Plebeians could own land, but they could not hold public office or marry patricians Slaves made up the lowest class in Roman society; most were prisoners of war, but some were plebeians who had been enslaved for debt (slaves were not citizens and had no legal rights) A republic is a government in which all citizens with the right to vote choose their leaders, who rule in their name Two consuls, who served for fixed periods, executed the law, instead of just one person The consuls worked with the Senate, governing body comprised of 300 patricians which guided foreign and domestic policies Plebs organized in response to patrician control and often refused to serve in the military until their demands were met In time, they created their own assembly, to which they elected tribunes, who protected them from patrician power To solve the ongoing struggle between patricians and plebs, the Twelve Tables (450 B.C.) was created (a basic Roman law code that recognized the basic rights of all citizens) The law code was posted publicly and covered private, criminal, sacred, and public matters In spite of their differences, patricians and plebs were a united front against their enemies abroad As plebs became political equals, they began to acquire land, thus creating a shortage that led Rome to expand her borders through its army, known as the legions The Roman war machine was unlike any the world had seen because it possessed tremendous discipline and orderliness The Roman manner of treating conquered populations contributed to her success; in war, no one could match the Roman legions for ruthless, thorough destruction, yet no conquerors were more generous in victory Rome extended citizenship to conquered neighbors and offered this possibility to allies, making them great supporters By 264 B.C., all of Italy was united under Roman hegemony and her expansion finally brought conflict with the great Mediterranean power of the west, Carthage, in what is called the Punic Wars They began when Rome invaded Sicily, who turned to Carthage for assistance; three wars were fought with the northern African city of Carthage between 264-146 B.C. The first, fought largely at sea, led the Romans to create a vast fleet and after 20 years Rome won, taking Sicily In the second, the Carthegian commander Hannibal brought the war to the Romans, invading Italy through Spain, even bringing elephants across the Alps; with the help of allies and the leadership of Roman general, Scipio, defeated Hannibal, taking Spain in the process The final war was a route, with the city of Carthage being entirely flattened and its survivors sold into slavery Although Rome was victorious, these wars mark the decline of the Roman republic due to corruption within the senate By 133 B.C., Rome controlled all the lands that touched the Mediterranean Sea which became known as the “Roman lake” However, the senatorial leaders no longer governed effectively as they became corrupted by greed in the governing of the provinces They amassed large fortunes through bribery, extortion, and the confiscation of property The wars of expansion had a disastrous effect on Roman agriculture because mandatory military service by the peasants kept them away from their farms for long periods of time Slaves brought in as prisoners of war squeezed many small farmers out of business and with no jobs they often went to Rome where they became a permanent and bitter underclass The long term effects of rebellions and civil wars continued to weaken an already shaken Rome 14. The Roman Empire (27 B.C. – 476 A.D.) The second period of Roman history, marking the end of self-government and the rise of an emperor who ruled in conjunction with the Senate The turmoil and anarchy within Rome led to strong military commanders taking control with Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C) ruling jointly as the first triumvirate; following the death of Crassus, tensions between Pompey and Caesar erupted into civil war and when Caesar won, he became the dictator of Rome Caesar implemented a series of reforms, such as opening the Senate up to more common Romans and for that a group of senators, not wanting to share power, assassinated him This set off another civil war and a second triumvirate of Marcus Antony, Lepidus, and Caesar’s grandnephew and adopted son, Octavian (63-14 B.C.) stepped in and the eliminated the senators responsible for the murder of Caesar, but Lepidus retired and Marcus Antony and Octavian fought for supreme power The contest ended in victory for Octavian and the death of Antony and his supporter Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt Although his power rested with his command of the army, Octavian did not want to invite conflict by making himself a dictator as Julius Caesar had done, so in 27 B.C., he returned power of the republic to the Senate and the people of Rome and in turn, the Senate decreed him the title of Augustus (the revered one) Augustus used his control of the army to bring what people desired most – internal peace He divided the power to rule Rome and its empire between himself and the Senate Soon most financial and administrative matters came under Augustus’ control Pax Romana, or “Roman Peace” lasting from the reign of Augustus until the death of Marcus Aurelius (27 B.C.-180 A.D.) Stable government, law, military organization, and widespread trade and transportation helped the Roman build their empire and maintain its peace Government maintained order, enforced the laws, and defended the frontiers Roman law unified the empire as more people became citizens; telling them exactly what could or could not be done and what the penalties were for breaking them (later became the foundation for the laws of most of the European countries) Trade and transportation helped the economy thrive as goods flowed from various parts of the empire using its extensive road network (50,000 miles of road bound the empire together) Pax Romana created a cosmopolitan world-state where races and cultures intermingled freely 15. Roman engineering & architecture – The vast size of the empire made it necessary to create a complex system of roads and bridges Their roads were used for armies and messengers and were kept in repair, some still exist today Due to the arid climate, the construction of aqueducts (man-made water channels) was also necessary Unlike the Greeks, who were interested in knowledge for its own sake, the Romans applied the knowledge gained from the Greeks in planning their cities (water & sewage systems, improved farming methods) The development of concrete by the Romans made the building of large structures possible Engineers learned to use the arch and vaulted dome – which allowed them to construct much larger buildings that the Greeks Perhaps the greatest engineering feat was the construction of the Coliseum The greatest literary contribution was their language – Latin, which became the basis for all Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, & Portuguese) 16. Christianity – The complex landscape of the Jewish religious world was complicated by Joshua ben Joseph (c. 6 B.C. – 30 A.D), known to history as Jesus of Nazareth and to his followers as the Messiah, or the Christ Jesus left no body of sacred texts, and what is known about him and the first generation of his followers comes from Greek texts written between the middle of the first century and the middle of the second The texts include gospels, accounts of Jesus’ life; letters, or epistles; and historical narratives and visionary writing by his early disciples The core religion of Western civilization based on the teachings of Jesus that are found in the New Testament of the Bible The poor and enslaved were drawn to Jesus’ message of love and compassion, and the promise of eternal life drew people in who lived a life full of misfortune and were fearful of death He and his Twelve Disciples spread the word that he was the Son of God along with his messages of peace and love He was condemned by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy and crucified by Roman governor, Pontius Pilate because it was believed he posed a threat to law and order Crucifixion was a common form of execution for slaves, pirates, and troublemakers Jesus’ death did not deter his followers who announced that three days after his death he had risen which influenced converts to follow this new Jewish sect known as Christianity Christianity spread beyond its origin as a Jewish sect because of the work of Paul of Tarsus (c. 5-67 A.D.) He saw Christianity as a separate tradition, completing and perfecting Judaism, intended for the whole world The Christian message of salvation was to be preached to all nations and people, for “there is no neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.” Paul spread his message throughout the eastern Mediterranean world and Rome and he won converts, established churches, and expressed the first coherent system of beliefs of the Christian sect His teachings were radically new: God had created the human race in the image of God and destined it for eternal life He taught that Jesus was the Christ (from Christos, Greek for “Messiah”) the Son of God and that he died to atone for the sins of the human race and acceptance of this belief guaranteed salvation However, by the deliberate sin of Adam and Eve, humans had lost eternal life and introduced evil and death into the world and salvation from sin was accomplished by Jesus, the son of God, through his faith Christians refusal to acknowledge the existence of Roman gods was intolerable Judaism was tolerated because it was not seeking to convert others, however, Christianity was eager for converts 17. The triumph of Christianity – During the second century A.D., Rome endured a number of internal and external challenges The success of emperors hinged on their ability to bribe their armies with the promise of land and riches If an emperor failed to deliver, he faced the real threat of assassination by his army Since Rome never developed a system of imperial succession, assassinations frequently plunged Rome into chaos Rome’s internal crisis was compounded by an increase of attacks from the Persian empire to the east, from Berber tribes in North Africa, and from Germanic peoples along the Rhine and Danubian frontiers of Europe Constantine (306-337), Roman emperor who made the practice of Christianity legal following his conversion in 312 A.D. Christianity grew from a persecuted minority to the most favored cult in the empire Almost as important as his conversion to Christianity was his decision to establish a new capital in Byzantium, which later was known as Constantinople, the city of Constantine For the next 11 centuries, Constantinople served as the heart of the Roman and then the Byzantine world In 341, pagan sacrifice was banned, followed by the temples being closed in 355 and then under Emperor Theodosius, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 391 A.D. Constantine and his successors saw the importance of one religion allowing them to strengthen their imperial control During the fourth century, the number of Christians rose from 5 to 30 million However, the Catholic Church, as it was now called remained divided by significant differences Two of the most important issues were the nature of Christ and the means by which people were saved Generally, Christians saw God as a Trinity, at once one and three Was Christ just a man, chosen by God as a divine instrument or was he God? Arius (250-336) believed that Jesus was merely human so the Council of Nicaea called by Constantine in 325 declared that Jesus was divine and condemned Arius and his followers (Arianism remained popular with Germanic tribes) Despite the declaration of Arians, followers of Arius, as heretics, the sect remained and even spread into Germania Christians were also deeply concerned with the mechanism of salvation and the role of humans in that process St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), one of the greatest Christian authors, set the course of Christianity and political philosophy for the next thousand years He wrote the City of God during the last years of the Roman Empire and although it appeared as if the world was ending there was another world that was lasted forever and was more important The city of man was here on earth but the city of God was in heaven and that when humans turn away from God to pursue their own desires as Adam and Eve did , they fall into evil and become miserable and they can only be relieved through God’s grace He determined that salvation was free, a gift not earned by virtuous lives but freely granted by God to true believers He also determined that original sin had been committed by Adam when he yielded to Eve’s temptations Sin soiled every newborn child and, therefore, baptism was a required sacrament to remove sin from the soul 18. The fall of Rome – In 376, Huns, a nomadic horse-riding people from central Asia, swept into the Black Sea region, driving the barbarian Visigoths into the Roman empire After asking Rome for assistance and receiving brutal treatment instead, the Visigoth rose up and defeated the imperial army at Adrianople in 378, and the emperor Valens was killed Theodosius, his successor allowed the Visigoths to settle within the boundaries of the empire and govern themselves Other Germanic tribes moved into the empire and their warriors served in the Roman army Soon the Huns, led by Attila (c. 406-453), invaded the empire and did extensive damage In 476 A.D. the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus was overthrown by Odoacer, chieftan of the Ostrogoths Rome’s vast size, widespread corruption, and incapable rulers made governing next to impossible The followers of Jesus were widely blamed for bringing about Rome’s fall; men charged that the ancient gods, offended by the empire’s formal adoption of the new faith, had withdrawn their protection from the Eternal City Augustine maintained that Rome was being punished, not for her new faith, but for her old, continuing sinfulness 19. Greco-Roman & Judeo-Christian tradition – Both traditions make up the foundations of Western civilization but they have two different viewpoints of the world The Greco-Roman viewpoint suggests the ultimate aim of life was the achievement of excellence in this world, the maximum development of human talent For Christians, the principal purpose of life was the attainment of salvation – entrance into heaven after death Where the Greeks demonstrated the powers of the mind, the Christians explored the soul They include the notion that all souls are equal in the eyes of God and every human life is precious Greeks had identified the beautiful and the good, had taught ugliness to be bad and had shrunk from disease as an imperfection and horrible, the Christians saw a spiritual beauty even in the most unpleasant looking human and desired to help the diseased and crippled WORLD HISTORY NOTES UNIT 1.2 THE MIDDLE AGES LECTURE NOTES ID TERMS: Dark Ages Beowulf Pope Gregory the Great Charlemagne Treaty of Verdun Byzantine Empire Constantinople Justinian Justinian’s code Islam Koran Five pillars caliphate feudalism chivalry manoralism tithe three-field system saints relics pilgrimages Crusades Council of Clermont scholasticism Thomas Aquinas bubonic plague Flagellants Hundred Years’ War Joan of Arc nationalism sovereign power 20. Middle Ages – An era of European history spanning from c. 500-1500 A.D., following the fall of the Roman Empire, otherwise known as medieval period of European history During this time, new institutions slowly emerged to replace those of the fallen Roman Empire Trade had been disrupted by repeated invasions from different Germanic tribes sparked new trends that altered governments, economies, and cultures The Dark Ages (500-1000) is a term used to describe the disruption of trade by merchants caused by invasions which led businesses to fail, money to become scarce, and European cities to no longer be centers of commerce As Roman centers of trade and government collapsed, nobles retreated to rural areas and other city dwellers fled to the countryside, where they grew their own food and the population of Europe became mostly rural 21. Germanic (Gothic) people – Group of people who settled in Scandinavia along the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, As early as 750 B.C groups such as the Franks and Saxons moved into northern Europe Other groups such as the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals moved starting in 250 B.C. Those were migratory, but not nomadic, because they often settled in an area for generations They survived by hunting, fishing, and by herding cattle, sheep, and pigs Their primitive agriculture forced them to constantly search for new lands to plunder or settle and by in the fourth century they had become attracted by Roman wealth The Huns, a nomadic people from central Asia, led by Attila the Hun (r. c. 433-453) began sweeping into Europe, which in turn frightened Germanic tribes who sought refuge in the Roman Empire Politically, Germans arranged themselves in kinships, families, clans, and tribes Their economies were based on simple agriculture; farming grains and herding animals This meant they still heavily relied upon plundering other clans or the Romans (metals, slaves, & precious objects) Since warfare was a way of life, tribal chiefs organized bands of younger warriors who took solemn oaths of personal loyalty and obedience In return the chief promised to provide them with food and drink and a share in the plunder Women were primarily responsible for raising the children, preparing food, brewing beer, spinning thread, and weaving cloth; they were held in high esteem and often had a voice in tribal affairs A male who aspired to be a warrior needed a wife who would tend his fields and watch over his flocks and herds during his absences (making war or hunting) Women were prized booty for raiding missions and constant targets of abduction Since written law didn’t exist until the sixth century, disputes were settled through retribution (avenging the death or injury to a family member) Gradually Roman law and Germanic custom began to blend as the Germans established kingdoms and adopted many Roman laws and traditions Literature like law, passed through oral tradition The earliest examples weren’t written down until the ninth century, but they still provide how violent an age it was The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, the king of the Danes, Hrothgar, is powerless against the terrible monster Grendel Hrothgar appeals to the hero Beowulf, a great warrior who defeats Grendel by tearing off his arm When Grendel’s mother, a sea-witch, comes seeking revenge, Beowulf chases her to her underwater cave, where he finds a giant’s ancient sword and slays her Beowulf becomes king and dies years later while battling a dragon Germanic religion saw nature as a hostile force Minor deities, both good and bad, dwelt in groves, streams, fields, and seas and directly affected human beings Through incantations, spells, or charms, people tried to influence the actions of these spirits Such practices added a large element of superstition, which lasted through the Middle Ages and long beyond 22. Medieval Catholic Church – The Catholic Church survived the fall of Rome intact and it was organized similar to the way Roman government was Every district or diocese was headed by a bishop, and the bishop of Rome, was called the pope (Latin for father) Monks helped preserve Christianity after the fall of Rome Men who wanted to devote themselves to prayer, give up their worldly possessions, abstain from sexual activity, and to withdraw from daily life to live in isolated communities called monasteries Saved Europe from ignorance by copying the Gospels and other writings by hand with magnificent calligraphy (illumination) in blue and red and thin layers of gold which helped preserve Western culture The great bulk of the surviving Latin works of both pagan and Christian antiquity were copied in monasteries Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), one of the most effective popes at expanding the power and the reach of the Catholic Church by fully supporting a missionary movement to convert the barbarian people of northern Europe To encourage conversion to Christianity, pagan customs were absorbed into Christianity Wedding rings, Easter, Christmas, and Halloween are examples of how pagan symbols or holidays were coordinated with Christian holydays 23. Charlemagne “Charles the Great” (r. 771-813) – Charlemagne established the Carolingian dynasty and made the Frankish Empire the largest after the fall of Rome He took as his motto the Latin phrase, Renovatio imperi romani, “Renewal of the Roman Empire Through his conquests he spread Christianity and reunited western Europe for the first time since the fall of Rome Made an alliance with the Christian Church in which he defended the Church from attacks and he spread Christianity In return, Pope Leo III crowned him King of the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas Day in 800 A.D. The coronation confirmed the alliance of the papacy and the Frankish monarchy This event signaled the merging of Germanic power, the Catholic Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire There was a revival of learning or rebirth of education under Charlemagne’s rule called the Carolingian Renaissance Made possible the blending of Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions into a new European culture Following Charlemagne’s death in 814, his son Louis the Pious inherited the throne Louis, a weak and indecisive man, soon lost control over his own family, and his sons rebelled against him After his death in 840, warfare broke out between his three sons (Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German) The Treaty of Verdun divided the empire into three sections and weakened it greatly After the treaty, Carolingian kings lost power and as central authority broke down, the lack of strong leaders led to a new system of governing and landholding called feudalism 24. Byzantine Empire (395 – 1453) – Otherwise known as the Eastern Roman Empire which survived for nearly a thousand years after the fall of Rome Successfully blended the traditions of imperial Rome with Christianity and Greek culture in a distinct civilization They kept alive Roman law, contributed to the development of Christianity, protected the eastern borders of Europe from nomadic invasions, and preserved much of classical Greek learning It dominated the eastern Mediterranean at a time when medieval civilization was developing in Western Europe The modern world owes Byzantine scholars a huge debt for preserving many of the great works of Greece and Rome Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire; founded by Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. as the “New Rome” and was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium Built on a peninsula overlooking the Bosporus Strait (body of water connecting the Black and Aegean Sea) The city stood at the intersection of two heavily traveled trade routes: one by land and the other by sea Silk worms were smuggled out of China and silk made the empire wealthy Unlike the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire used Greek, rather than Latin as its official language Justinian, emperor of Byzantine from 527-565 A.D. was determined to recover the Roman Empire from the Germanic invaders and return it to its former glory and he also wanted reform the empire’s laws and institutions Although he recovered much of the former Roman empire, he is criticized for bankrupting the empire His wife, Empress Theodora, is the most powerful woman in Byzantine history who served as an advisor to her husband Justinian’s code, a collection of revised Roman laws meant to regulate the Byzantine Empire Although his conquests proved short-lived his contribution to Western civilization was his organization of Roman law Between 528 and 533 A.D., ten legal advisors went through 400 years of Roman laws and the edicts of emperors Some of the laws were outdated, others repeated or even contradicted other laws Their task was to create a single uniform code for Justinian’s New Rome During the Middle Ages, Roman law was largely forgotten in Western Europe, but when scholars from universities in Italy and France visited Constantinople, they eagerly copied the code The code helped shape the legal systems of Western Europe and the Americas For example, the idea that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty comes from the code 25. Islam – Last of the three great monotheistic faiths, based on the teachings of Muhammad (c. 570-632), who was born in Mecca (Arabian peninsula) homeland of the Arabs and orphaned as a child As an adult, he worked as a caravan manager and experienced visions inspired by Allah (the Arab word for “God”) He believed that while Allah had already revealed himself in part through Moses and Jesus – and thus through the Hebrew and Christian traditions – the final revelations were now being given to him Out of these revelations, which were dictated to scribes, came the Quran or Koran, the holy scriptures, which contained the guidelines by which a follower of Allah was to live Like the Christians and Jews, Muslims were a “People of the Book” Muhammad’s teachings formed the basis for the religion known as Islam which means “submission to the will of Allah” The followers of Islam are called Muslims and they must submit themselves completely to the will of Allah in order to achieve everlasting life The cardinal principle of the Islamic faith is that there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet The Meccan aristocracy opposed him, fearful of his impact on the traditional idol worship of Arab society He and his followers were forced to flee to the rival city of Medina in 622, where he gained supporters Especially important was the town of Mecca, though known for trade, it was more significant as a pilgrimage site since it possessed the Ka’ba, the sanctuary that held the sacred black meteorite Muhammad put together a significant army which rapidly spread the faith throughout the Middle East The Koran is not only a “Holy Bible”, but an ethical guidebook, law code, and political theory in one The faith emphasizes the need to obey the will of Allah, otherwise known as the “five pillars” of Islam: belief in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet; standard prayer five times a day; observance of the holy month of Ramadan with fasting from dawn to sunset; making a pilgrimage, if possible, to Mecca in one’s lifetime; and giving alms to the poor and unfortunate Those who observed the law were guaranteed a place in an eternal paradise that contains sensuous delights, obviously lacking in the midst of the Arabian desert After Muhammad’s death in 632, a new institution called the caliphate was created to provide leadership The Koran calls for jihad, or “striving in the way of the Lord”, which involves raids against neighboring tribes Once all Arabs had been unified under Muhammad’s successor, they began to expand outward First they chipped away at the Byzantine Empire, then they defeated the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and northern Africa by 650 A.D. Arab success was due in part to fanatical soldiers whose valor was enhanced by the belief that Muslim warriors were guaranteed a place in paradise if they died in battle A policy of partial toleration, which prevented rebellion was extended to “people of the Book”, so conquered Christians and Jews people who didn’t convert were required only to submit to Muslim rule and pay taxes Islamic conquests continued under the caliphs of the Umayyad family, who were the first line of hereditary rulers of the Arab Empire The Umayyads moved the capital from Mecca to Damascus and under their rule they overran the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain After crossing the Pyrenees into the kingdom of the Franks, Muslim raiders were defeated by Charles Martel at Tours in 732 (marking the extent of the Arabs’ western advance Three new civilizations inherited the Roman Empire: the German kingdoms, the Byzantine Empire, and the world of Islam 26. Vikings – People from Scandinavia (present-day Norway, Finland, Sweden, & Denmark) who remained both pagan and warlike began migrating and invaded Europe from 700-900 Scandinavia’s sparse farmland could not support the populations that developed there Their ships allowed migration which were long and shallow, driven by oars and a single large square sail Viking exploration took them as far as a western territory they called Vinland, undoubtedly part of North America For nearly 200 years wave after wave of raiders sailed out of Scandinavia every spring, returning to their northern homes with plunder and slaves Viking raiders struck terror in the hearts of their victims Monks were favorite targets and so Irish monks built tall stone towers with doors high off the ground, where they could draw up their ladders European lords built stone castles into which villagers might flee for safety Eventually the Vikings began to settle many of the lands they formerly raided, and as they began to settle, they turned to long-distance commerce and trade Over time, they converted partially to Christianity but still maintained some pagan traditions Their goal was plunder and they caused western Europeans to live in constant fear of attack 27. feudalism – Invasions and the collapse of the Carolingian empire led to the creation of a new system where commoners promised to serve powerful land owners in exchange for protection The feudal system was based on mutual obligation: in exchange for military protection and other services, a lord, or landowner, granted land called a fief to a vassal (person receiving the land) This practice was derived from Germanic society where chieftans attracted followers by promising loot in return It was not a single, unified, and universal system from the beginning, rather, it developed over time It provided political order and local government and at it was based on an oath of loyalty The invention of the stirrup in the 700s allowed highly trained knights to wear heavy armor and fight on horseback Since knights required money for weapons and time for training they were granted land to use to support themselves The pressure to find more knights to defend their lords caused a land shortage which in turn led to wars of expansion Feudalism started in France but spread to England, Germany, central Europe, and in some form to Italy Chivalry –a code of conduct for knights that combined Christian values with those of a warrior Their training began at seven where they learned how to joust, hunt, ride, and handle weapons properly Because young knights had to wait until their fathers died to gain their inheritance, they often fought one another Tournaments began to appear as a way to curb the fighting The melee was a mock battle in which warrior on horseback fought in open-ended combat and the goal was to take prisoners who would then be ransomed, making success in tournaments a path to wealth Gradually, the joust became the main part of the tournament but still young knights remained uneasy and hungry for war Manorialism – the economic system where nobles gave peasants the right to work the land on their estates, or manors, in return for a fixed payment The manor generally consisted of the manor house or castle, pastures, fields, woods, and a village The lord kept about one third of the manor land, called the domain, for himself Peasants, called serfs farmed the remaining two thirds of the land A typical manor village would be located near a stream that furnished water power for a mill As town life dwindled and trade diminished, most manors became nearly self-sufficient Traders, often Jews carried goods by boat on European rivers or on caravans with horses or mules Serfs were also required to pay a tithe (a tenth of their produce to their local village church) Feudal lords built strong stone castles for protection and when attacked, serfs took refuge behind the thick stone walls Castles were defended by heavy iron gates and water-filled ditches called moats Castle sieges involved a wide range of strategies and weapons to force the castle to surrender Defenders poured boiling water, hot oil, or molten lead on enemy soldiers and archers stationed on the roof or walls used crossbows to fire deadly bolts at the enemy Siege towers, battering rams, and trebuchets were used to penetrate the walls of the castle An agricultural improvement, known as the three-field system, was introduced where two fields were planted with crops, and a third field was left fallow, or uncultivated to allow the soil to rest This was an improvement over the two-field system where one field was planted while another left fallow Estates were now divided into three parts; one field was planted in the fall with winter grains, such as rye and wheat, while spring grains, such as oats and barley, and vegetables, such as peas, beans, or lentils were planted in the second field, and the third was left fallow The rotation of crops also prevented the soil from being exhausted so quickly The introduction of a heavy-wheeled plow with an iron ploughshare was an improvement over the wooden plow Because of its weight, six or eight oxen were needed to pull it but the invention of the horse collar and the horseshoe meant that horses could be used for plowing without being choked and have greater traction The watermill and windmill helped grind grain into flour The expense of animals and their equipment led to cooperative agricultural villages where they shared everything Farmers produced food surpluses which along with warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons caused the population of Europe to double from 38 to 74 million people between 1000 and 1300 This growth was despite the relatively high mortality rates especially among infants and small children 15-20% of infants died in the first year of life, while 30% died before the age of 20 Millions of acres of forest were cleared in order to make room for farmland 28. Medieval Western Christianity – The Village priest was responsible for the peasant’s soul by conducting the sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion, marriage, and last rites to ensure salvation Village priests were often barely literate peasants themselves, and it is hard to know how much church doctrine the peasants actually understood Perhaps, they regarded God as an all-powerful force who needed to be appeased by prayer to bring good harvests Special events in the peasant’s calendar were the feast days commemorating the great events of the Christian faith Holy days provided a blend of paganism and Christianity, especially evident in Halloween In pre-Christian northern Europe, November 1 had been a traditional day for celebrating a feast of the dead The Church made November 1 All Saints (or Hallows”) Day, however, the real celebration came on All Hallows’ Eve, the night before when people lit bonfires and danced around them, frequently disguised in masks Christmas was held to coincide with the pagan celebration of the winter solstice In the early church, saints were men and women who were believed to have gone to heaven and could intercede on peoples’ behalf with God It was believed saints had the power to protect the living and therefore almost every parish had its own patron saint The shrine of Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury, England was the scene of many miracles and pilgrimages The cult of Mary was most powerful because she was viewed as the most important mediator with her son Christ The number of stories about miracles occurring through her intercession also increased The role of saints was closely tied to the use of relics, which were usually the bones of saints or objects intimately connected to saints (pieces of Christ’s swaddling clothes, his manger and part of the five loaves of bread) Medieval Christians believed a pilgrimage to a holy shrine was of particular spiritual benefit (Jerusalem, Rome, & Canterbury were popular sites) 29. The Crusades – Series of armed expeditions by western Europeans that started in the 11 th century to free the Holy Land from Islamic rule Pilgrimages to Palestine were threatened by Seljuk Turks, Muslim nomads, who overran much of the Middle East Although Pilgrims weren’t harmed, they were forced to pay numerous fees to reach Palestine and they also opposed the idea that Jerusalem was dominated by Muslims More concerning to the West was the possibility that the Turks would overrun the Byzantine Empire, which was badly beaten by the Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 A.D. The loss of the Byzantines would be disastrous because they served as a buffer zone to the West’s eastern flank The Byzantine emperor, Alexius I, requested the help of Pope Urban II in 1095, who agreed to ask the Western knights and princes to go to the aid of their fellow Christians in the East Alexius needed mercenary soldiers to enlarge his army and when he wrote Pope Urban II asking for assistance, he suggested that the schism between the eastern and western Churches, which had occurred in 1054, might be brought to an end The Council of Clermont, was a meeting in 1095 of prominent religious and political European leaders in southern France Pope Urban II described how the Turks had seized Christian lands and “killed or captured many people…destroyed churches, and devastated the kingdom of God.” Urban asked Christians to take up their weapons against the infidel and participate in a holy war to recover the Holy Land The pope promised remission of all sins for those who took up the sword for the Church (guaranteed salvation) Although the knights who made up the first wave were motivated by religious devotion, some sought adventure through fighting, while others saw an opportunity to gain territory, riches, status, possibly a title, and even salvation The expanding population led to increased conflict between knights and Pope Urban hoped the Crusades would help end those conflicts Those that joined the movement sewed a cross on their clothes and thus became crusaders, from the Latin word cruciata, “marked with a cross They reached Jerusalem in 1099 and following a horrible massacre against the city’s inhabitants, they retook it Although there were multiple crusades, none were as successful as the first Europe’s increasing population and the crusades stimulated trade with the East for sugar, spices, and silk The Italian port cities Genoa, Pisa, and Venice prospered because the dominated trade with the East The travels of Marco Polo in the late 1200s gave Europe abundant information about China which later inspired Western navigators to find a way to trade directly with China The growth of trade led to the resurgence of western European towns and cities In feudal times, status was based solely on one’s birthright, however, invigorated trade and bustling towns gave many people an opportunity to earn a new place in society, where one could achieve middle class wealth through hard work and talent 30. Universities & Scholasticism – The university as we know it is not a product of ancient Greece or Rome, but of the High Middle Ages The word university comes from the Latin word universitas, meaning a corporation of teachers and students In the Early Middle Ages, education rested primarily with the clergy, especially the monks By the 11th century, universities surpassed monastic schools Those studying to be a priest made up the all-male student body but so to did those who didn’t want to be a priest Bologna Italy was the first university, followed by Paris, then Oxford and Cambridge By the end of the Middle Ages, there were 80 universities, most of them located in England, France, Italy, and Germany Latin was the language that was written and spoken at universities Curriculum was based on the liberal arts concept, with offerings in bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees Fields of study, or majors, were law, medicine, and theology In the 12th century, western Europe was introduced to a large number of Greek works, including Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Archimedes, Euclid, and above all, Aristotle The revival of interest in Aristotle and in Greek philosophy sparked a major controversy in the Church over how human beings could learn about the world around them Scholasticism refers to the philosophical and theological [religious] system of medieval thought Scholastics attempted to reconcile faith and reason, to demonstrate that what was accepted on faith was in harmony with what could be learned by reason Aristotle believed that truth could be discovered only through human reason Christians believed that truth was revealed by God, and depended solely on faith Scholastics showed that the church’s doctrine was also knowable and provable through the use of logic and reason By using human reason, the Scholastics thought, one could make logical deductions from the revelations found in the Bible and the knowledge discovered through observation Thus faith and reason together would reveal truth As these ideas spread throughout Europe, a tradition of learning was revived and it helped create a new educated class, who spoke and wrote Latin and shared a common culture Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Dominican monk did more to advance scholasticism than did any other person He argued that both reason and faith were necessary for a complete understanding of truth One could arrive at a truths based on reason and also truths based on faith, however, the two truths could not be in conflict with one another 31. Black Death – It was the most devastating natural disaster in European history, wiping out one-third of the population and causing economic, social, and political upheaval It was spread both by the Mongols as they expanded across Asia and by the Asian black rat that also moved westward In 1347, the bubonic plague arrived from Asia, carried by black rats but transmitted by fleas When infected rats died, their fleas began biting people, thus spreading the disease Symptoms included black swelling (buboes) about the size of an egg under the armpit and in the groin, and black spots at the point of the flea bite The buboes oozed blood and pus and the spread of boils and black blotches over the entire body from internal bleeding Intense pain usually brought death within five days, however, those lucky enough to survive developed an immunity against further infection Pneumonic plague, a more serious and almost always fatal form of the disease, attacked the lungs and was spread through the air as victims coughed or sneezed From China the disease traveled along the trade routes until it reached ports along the Black Sea Merchant ships carried it to Sicily and Italy and from there to northern Europe The disease swept throughout the European population, especially in crowded towns and cities An estimated one third of Europe’s people died between 1347 and 1351 alone Natural disasters produce extreme psychological reactions There were acts of heroism and great courage as monks and nuns stayed with the suffering until they themselves died Living for the moment, some threw themselves into sexual and alcoholic indulgences Those who could afford to fled to their country estates To many, the plague had either been sent by God as a punishment for humans’ sins or caused by the evil one, the devil One group, the flagellants believed they must cleanse themselves of sin to gain God’s forgiveness They wandered from town to town, flogging each other with whips to win the forgiveness of a God whom they felt had sent the plague to punish humans for their sinful ways They began to predict the end of the world which created mass hysteria, until the Pope Clement VI condemned them and urged public authorities to crush them An outbreak of anti-Semitism occurred as Jews were accused of causing the plague by poisoning town wells The worst pogroms occurred in Germany, where entire Jewish communities were wiped out, causing many to flee to Poland and Russia People evidently saw life as less valuable as the number of murders doubled in the decade of the 1350s Still others blamed witchcraft and sorcery for the plague High demand for laborers gave surviving peasants leverage over their landlords in demanding higher wages However, demand for goods decreased resulting in falling prices This arrangement benefited peasants but hurt the nobility as they were able to negotiate an end to their feudal obligations and receive the freedom to move to cities to find higher wages Some nobles used force and violence against the peasants to maintain control, which often led to peasant revolts Scholars agree that the Black Death contributed to the end of feudalism and its economic system of manorialism 32. The Hundred Years’ War – Not only did 14th century Europeans have to contend with the worst natural disaster in history, but they had to deal with war and political instability as well This conflict from 1337 until 1453 between France and England, was the most famous and most violent of all the wars It wasn’t one continuous war but rather periods of fighting followed by periods of peace England and France were the first countries in which kings established strong governments and a new sense of nationhood The main cause was that the English king Edward III held territories (Gascony) in southern France, which made him a vassal of the French king When the last male member of France’s Capetian dynasty died, Edward claimed the French throne, despite French opposition A cousin of the Capetians, Philip, duke of Valois, became king as Philip VI in 1337 and seized Gascony, which led Edward III of England to declare war on Philip, the so-called king of France The French assembled a large army (three times the size of the English) with many knights However, the English introduced the Welsh longbow which made armor and the knight obsolete The defeat of the select French knights by English commoners signaled a change in the method of warfare (less expensive to train a bowman than a knight) During the first half of the war it seemed as if the English would win as they swept through northern France, capturing most of the land Joan of Arc (1412 – 1432), a French peasant woman, who in 1429 helped save France whose visions convinced her to go to the French dauphin, Charles, to allow her to accompany a French army to Orleans With nothing to lose, Charles conceded and the French armies inspired by her faith found new confidence and defeated the English at the Battle of Orleans In July 1429, Charles was crowned King Charles VII of France The uses of gunpowder and canons spread to Europe and Joan convinced the knights of the importance of artillery and they began to use it successfully against the English Mass and prayer before battles became customary because she insisted the army be God-fearing Inspired by her leadership, French troops began to defeat the English When Joan was captured by Burgundian allies of the English and burned at the stake as a heretic (for wearing men’s clothing and stating that she received messages directly from God, her martyrdom only inspired the French even more By 1450 they had driven the English out of all French territory except the port of Calais on the English Channel In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church Knights lost the respect of the people because they pillaged the countryside to make up for their lack of pay The French victory gave the citizens of that country a feeling of nationalism, a love of their own ethnic identify France’s victory in the Hundred Years’ War strengthened the French monarchy Kings throughout Europe begin to develop sovereign power, or sole authority throughout their country Kings began to limit the power of the nobles and as a result Europeans gave loyalty to these kings and began to feel a new sense of national identity Gunpowder and cannons could blast apart castles and forts, thus peasants no longer had to rely on nobles for protection