Download The European High Middle Ages: 1000 to 1300

Chapter One: The West before 1300
Before we begin our formal study of European History, we will examine its historical foundations by
surveying the Greeks, the Romans, the Judeo-Christian Tradition and the Early Middle Ages.
The Glory that was Greece
More than any other culture, the Ancient Greeks had the most profound impact on Western Civilization.
Unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, Greece developed among the islands and rugged, mountain dominated areas
of south-eastern Europe. This rugged topography and scattered islands helped to create a civilization
dominated by small, fiercely independent, city-states. The Greek word Πολις (Polis) originally referred to a
citadel or fortified site that offered refuge during the Dark Ages or the period of the Dorian invasions when
Mycenaean Greece (the Greece of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey) collapsed. It took hundreds of years for Greece
to recover but by 800 BCE, these fortified sites began to “grow” villages followed by urban areas, finally
spreading to the surrounding countryside. Nevertheless, these early Greek states, despite their isolation and
differences, shared a common culture and experimented with many forms of government.
Between 750 and 500 BCE, the Greek city-states evolved four basic types of government. The first was
Monarchy, where a heredity or elected king held power. The second was Tyranny (i.e., dictatorship) or the
rule of the state by one man or Tyrannos, who could be benevolent or harsh and cruel. Third was Oligarchy,
the rule of a small class of aristocrats, elites or nobility. Lastly, there was Democracy in which – to varying
degrees – power is in the hand of the people. Nevertheless, the two classical examples of Greek government
were Athens and Sparta.
Sparta
The Spartans (or Lacadaemonians) were Dorians who occupied what is today the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
They were the Dorians who destroyed Mycenaean Greece were a warlike society and fell into three wellmarked divisions. The Spartans themselves were full citizens who alone were eligible for honors and public
offices. They formed only about 10% of the total population and formed a tight military community. The
Perioicoi (dwellers round about the city) occupied an inferior but not servile position. They were also small in
number and probably were probably the aristocratic, artisan and merchant classes, who were descendants of the
older inhabitants. They engaged in commerce, crafts and the arts forbidden to the Spartans. Their chief military
obligation was to serve as hoplites (heavy infantry) in war. The Helots were the serf population and may have
represented the enslaved population before the arrival of the Spartans. They were brutally mistreated and in
war had to serve as light infantry.
Spartan government was headed by two hereditary kings who answered to an oligarchic-aristocracy and were
two in number as a sort of primitive check and balance system. The Spartans sole aim in education was to
fashion soldiers who would be invincible on the battlefield. Weak children were exposed (left to die on
hillside). Boys began their military training at the age of seven when they were taken from their mothers and
lived in barracks. They were taught to endure every hardship and discipline. For example, they would be given
little clothing in the winter cold to make them tough; they would be denied enough food and encouraged to
steal, except that, if caught they were beaten unmercifully. From 20 to 30, they served in the army. At 30, they
became citizens and left the barracks to marry and set up households, but they were still subject to military and
public discipline until the age of 60.
To catch the spirit of the Spartans, three anecdotes are told about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE. As
the Persian king Xerxes was advancing into Greece, his army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers was delayed
by a few hundred Spartans holding the narrow pass at Thermopylae. After a hard first day’s fighting, the
frustrated Xerxes demanded that Leonidas, the Spartan king, surrender his soldier’s weapons. Leonidas
replied, “Come and get them”. The second anecdote took place after a traitor had shown the Persians a way
around the pass. So the night before the last battle, Leonidas told his doomed men to eat a hearty breakfast
because that night they would dine with the gods in Hades. Finally, as the battle began, the Greeks were
informed that the Persians were boasting that their arrows would blot out the sun in the sky. A great fear came
upon the soldiers, until one of them, named Dienekes (Διηνέκης), laconically remarked, "So much the better,
we shall fight in the shade.” After the battle, a Greek poet, Simonides, wrote an epitaph for the fallen of
Thermopylae:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie
Thus, the Spartans are important because they represent not only an early form of National Socialism
(or a government in which citizens exist to serve the state) but also a classic form of Oligarchy (or, a
government run by and for small powerful elite). Even after marriage, Spartan men ate in public mess halls
eating only simple foods. Spartans were not allowed to use money and all luxury was prohibited. Marriage
existed, but its purpose was to supply the state with necessary soldiers. Girls underwent similar training to be
so physically fit, that they would bear the strongest possible sons. That Spartan women shared the Spartan
Ideology, is illustrated in the exhortation of a Spartan mother to her son before an impending battle: Come
home with your shield or on it. In other words, come home victorious or dead, but don’t run from battle. (In
current English, the adjective Spartan means simple, frugal, undaunted by danger or pain.) By the 300s BCE,
however, Sparta had lost its disciplined character and enjoyed the pleasures of luxury and wealth, but still kept
a strong army to keep the Helots enslaved.
Athens
Athens was much older than Sparta and its acropolis has been inhabited since Neolithic times. In fact, the
history of Athens is longer than any other city of Europe. Athens was one of the principal Mycenaean cities,
and although Athens shrank in population and power, Athens was never completely abandoned during the dark
ages. Moreover, the Athenians always claimed to be descendants of the Mycenaeans (Ionians, as they called
themselves) with no Doric blood. As a result, Athens developed quite differently than Sparta. Whereas Sparta
was a farming and military society; Athens was city state built of trade and commerce.
Athens reemerged during the 8th century as a city state ruled by a king, who was the head of a powerful
aristocracy called the Eupatridae or well-born. The king’s power was curtailed very early. First, the king had
to share his title with a Polemarch (military commander) and other officers called Archons (magistrates). By
680, nine archons were the ruling government of Athens. However, they had to answer to the Council of the
Areopagus, which represented the interests of the aristocracy.
As Athens became a rich, maritime trading power, her population grew and her economy expanded, and
Athens became the largest and wealthiest polis on the Greek mainland. But this success caused two problems:
first, it created a large class of people excluded from political life by the nobility or elites. Secondly, it caused
social tensions that were created when the rich used their power to steadily become richer and make the poor
poorer. The result was that Athens was threatened with civil war and class warfare. At first, harsh measures
were enacted and the Council of the Areopagus appointed Draco, a man whose spirit was akin to the Chinese
Legalist School, to take control. Draco issued a famous law code which was both the first written constitution
of Athens and proverbial for its severity. (Draconian)
When Draco failed, the council appointed Solon who was considered one of the Seven Sages or wise men of
Greece. His reputation was forged in 594 by his compromise between the classes, whereby he let the aristocrats
keep their wealth, but - at the same time – canceled the debts of the poor. He also, more importantly, he laid
the groundwork for Athenian Democracy by founding the Ecclesia, a legislative body of all the citizens
wealthy enough to devote their time to public affairs. The result was that poor could vote, but only the
aristocrats could hold public office.
After Solon’s death in 558, Athens wavered for four decades between tyranny, oligarchy and democracy.
Finally in 510, Cleisthenes took charge and established democracy in Athens. He completed the reforms of
Solon and made it possible for all citizens to participate in government. Cleisthenes’ most famous reform was
Ostracism or annual election which resulted in the expulsion of the individual felt to be the most dangerous to
the state for 10 years, but with no loss of property of status. After Cleisthenes, the Ecclesia ruled Athens; it
met about three times a year to debate, vote on laws and conduct the Ostracism election. Day-to-day affairs
were conducted by the Boule or Council of 500 whose members were chosen by lot from the entire citizenry.
Lastly, Athenian courts both enforced and interpreted the laws passed by the Ecclesia and Boule.
In the 5th century, Athens reached a golden age of political power and influence under the leadership of
Pericles (443 – 429), who, by diplomacy and leadership, made Athens not only Greece’s strongest naval
power, but a center for scientists, poets, philosophers, artists and architects. The city became, in Pericles's
words, "The school of Greece ". He made Athens the most prosperous city in Greece and with its riches hired
the finest artisans to rebuild the Athenian Acropolis which Xerxes had destroyed. It was during this time that
the three great temples of the Acropolis were constructed: the Parthenon (Temple of Athena), the Erectheum
and the Temple of Athena Nike or Athena victorious.
In 431, Pericles delivered his famous “Funeral Oration” for the Athenian dead who had fallen in the first year
of the Peloponnesian War. In it he praised Athenian Democracy as being fundamentally different from the
governments of other states because in Athenian Democracy power rested not in a minority of people but in the
whole of the people. Although the whole of the people did not include women or slaves, the Athenian councils
(Ecclesia and Boule) had laid the groundwork for our modern political ideas of majority rule, civil debate,
impartial juries and rule of law. Therefore, they were the first to lay the foundation for modern democracy, as
we understand it. Athenian Democracy would also last 500 years until Roman times, a feat (Think about it!)
matched by no modern Democracy.
Time Out: Political Definitions
1. Tyranny or Dictatorship: a ruler (benevolent or malevolent) with complete authority.
2. Oligarchy (like Sparta): supreme power is placed in the hands of a small, exclusive class; sometimes this is
called rule of the aristocracy. (In Greek, aristos means best and oligos means few)
3. Monarchy: rule by a king: sometimes absolute (tyranny), but often limited by nobility /constitutions.
4. Democracy: government by the people:
a. Direct Democracy (like Athens): All citizens participate in the running of the government.
However Athens could also be called a Limited Democracy because the right to participate in the
government was limited only to citizens, not women or slaves.
b. Indirect Democracy or Republic: citizens give power to elected representatives like Rome, the
United States and most modern democracies.
Classical Philosophy
Socrates, who lived from 470 to 399, is credited with being the most important of the founders of modern
philosophy. Socrates was an outspoken critic of the Sophists and was driven by powerful urge to understand
human beings and human affairs in detail. He was famous for constantly asking, “What was the greatest
good?” Socrates did not write, but his disciple Plato describes his teachings, which were almost always
accomplished by questioning, so that today, instruction by questioning has come to be called the Socratic
Method. Socrates was stonecutter by training, but spent most of his time wandering though Athens engaging
people in conversations. And in these conversations, he gave himself entirely to ethical philosophy. He was an
individualist and not a “yes’ man; he spoke his mind and insisted on personal integrity, honorable behavior,
and working towards a just society. He made it clear that honor and honesty were far more important
than money or fame or political power.
Although he took no money, as the Sophists did, he nevertheless offended the powerful elite who accused him
of “corrupting the youth of Athens” (which really meant that he taught them to think; and even worse, to think
ethically). So he was tried by rigged jury and condemned to death by drinking hemlock. Since Socrates was a
citizen of Athens and a defender in the democratic system, he willingly submitted to even this unjust penalty
because he maintained the duties of a citizen included obeying the laws of the state. His most famous quote
was “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
Plato: Socrates’ most important disciple was Plato who lived from 430 to 347. He had a deep distrust of
democracy because of the execution of Socrates. So he left Athens for ten years but returned and opened a
school called the Academy where he taught and wrote about his and Socrates’ ideas. His most famous works
were the Dialogues and the Republic. The early Dialogues were conversations between Socrates and various
people which reflected Socrates’ teachings and Socrates probing important moral questions such as what is
justice or right or liberty. Later Dialogues dealt more with metaphysics or science (, after, φυσις
nature), which dealt with first principles and sought to know: the nature of being (ontology), the origin and
structure of the world (cosmology) and the theory of knowledge (epistemology). In the Republic, Plato seeks
to discover the nature of Justice and describes an ideal state.
In order to understand Plato, we must understand the idea of his Theory of Forms. Plato believed that the
world we live in is not the only world, because our world is a pale and imperfect reflection of a perfect world,
which he called the World of Forms or Ideas. In that world, the perfect everything could be found and men
were obligated to find (or at least struggle to find) that perfection.
Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave or Plato’s Cave to explain the Theory of Forms. Imagine prisoners, who
have been chained deep inside a dark cave; their limbs are immobilized by chains; their heads are chained in
one direction, so that their gaze can only be fixed on a wall. Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and
between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which statues of various animals, plants, and
other objects are carried by people. The statues cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these
shadows. When one of the statue-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that
the words come from the shadows. According to Plato, that is how we see the world, but we through
philosophy we are able to come closer and closer to seeing objects as they really are then begin to creating
those perfect objects, whether it be the perfect temple, the perfect statue, the perfect painting, the perfect essay,
the perfect poem, the perfect body, etc.
Thus, Plato believed that the secrets of the World of Forms could only be found by philosophers and so Plato
divided the ideal society into three classes: workers who produced that which was necessary to maintain
society, soldiers who defended the state and philosopher kings who would be specially trained to rule with skill
and justice.
Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322, studied under Plato and was the tutor of Alexander the Great. He too
founded a school in Athens, which was called peripatetic (from his walking up and down while he lectured).
While Plato was a discursive philosopher (i.e., proceeding coherently from topic to topic), Aristotle on the
other hand was a scientist and a systematic philosopher (i.e., separating things into component parts or
constituent elements). Aristotle distrusted Plato’s Theory of Forms, which he considered unnecessary to
understanding the world. Aristotle believed that the senses could provide accurate information about the world
and its mysteries. Aristotle’s most important contribution were his metaphysical (or scientific) works, in which
devised rigorous rules of logic in his efforts to construct powerful arguments. He wrote about Physics,
Biology, Practical Philosophy (politics) and Literature. Using observation, logic and reason, Aristotle
developed his own ideas about government and concluded that government by the many was better than
government by the few.
In his book, Politics, Aristotle taught that the rule of law is better than the rule of a few or an individual. He
was also concerned with ethics or the way people lived and he defined the Golden Mean as a moderate
course between two extremes. In Book 3, Chapters 6-7, Aristotle establishes his famous classification of six
types of government - divided between those that are good and those that are corrupt. The good types of
government were monarchy, aristocracy and polity (i.e., mature Athenian democracy), while the corrupt types
included tyranny, oligarchy and democracy a (i.e., 'mob rule' or the immature, out of control democracy, such
as killed Socrates). For Aristotle, good government rules in the common interest of all while corrupt
government rules in the interest of those who rule.
It is very important to understand that Plato and Aristotle were suspicious of the democracy, which Socrates
supported, because both of them felt that democracy contained the seeds of mob rule, which led to instability
and injustice. Plato’s solution was to favor Philosopher Kings; Aristotle favored constitutional government in
which the rule of law limited popular sentiment. Aristotle called this form of government Polity. Plato and
Aristotle would also deeply influence Christian and Islamic philosophers until the 17th Century and both
provided the intellectual framework that Christian theologians would use to explain Christian teachings.
Hellenistic Philosophies
The Hellenistic world also produced philosophical thought that affects in the modern world. It is important to
note that Hellenistic philosophies appear as Greek political life was in decline and that of Rome was rising.
Nevertheless the intellectual life of the Greeks continued to flourish and their philosophers continued the work
of the philosophers who preceded them in new schools of thought.
The first was Epicureanism that maintained that pleasure was the greatest good. Its founder, Epicurus,
emphasized minimizing harm and maximizing happiness not only for oneself but for others, and by that he
meant that people should seek to find a state of quiet satisfaction and freedom from the emotional turmoil and
the pressures of the (Hellenistic) world. Epicureanism was not hedonism (love of pleasure itself), but a quiet
state of satisfaction. (Today, Epicureanism refers to the love of good food.)
The Roman lyric poet Horace was an Epicurean. He captured the Epicurean principle of Let us eat drink and
be merry, for tomorrow we die in his well known Carpe Diem poem he says, While we talk, greedy time flees
away: Seize the day and trust as little as possible in the future. Thomas Jefferson referred to himself as an
Epicurean which can be clearly seen in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence in which Jefferson
wrote, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their
Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
A second group were the Skeptics, who refused to take a strong position on any political, social or moral
issue. In fact, they were not even sure that there was such a thing as fact or truth. Their goal was to find
equanimity by which they meant evenness of mind, a calm temper and complete composure under the
pressures of the (Hellenistic) world. Timon of Philius (320-230) was a classic Skeptic philosopher. He wrote
poetry, tragedies, satiric dramas, and comedies. Most of his works are lost, but one of his most famous
quotations, a barb against philosophers, has survived, Philosophers are excessively cunning murderers of
many wise saws"
A third Hellenistic school of philosophy was Cynicism. The Cynics taught that the purpose of life was to live a
life of Virtue in agreement with Nature and they rejected of all conventional desires for wealth, power, health,
and fame, and by living a simple life free from all possessions. The most famous Cynic Philosopher was
Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in a tub on the streets of Athens. He took Cynicism to its logical extremes, and
came to be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher. For example, he taught complete freedom of speech and
practiced it to the point of rudeness and was remembered for carrying around a lantern – even during the day –
because he was “looking” for a wise man.
The last Hellenistic school of philosophy was Stoicism, which was founded by Zeno of Citium. Stoicism
taught that self-control, fortitude and detachment from distracting emotions (sometimes even indifference to
pleasure or pain) allowed one to become a clear thinker, level-headed and unbiased. Stoics considered all
human beings members of a single, universal family. The Stoics taught virtue for the sake of virtue and,
unlike the Epicureans and Skeptics, they did not seek to withdraw from the pressures of the world, but taught
that individuals had a duty to help others lead virtuous lives. This altruistic escape from the pressures of the
(Hellenistic) world was accomplished by emphasizing inner moral independence and tranquility brought about
by strict discipline of body and mind. They argued that a person’s chief business in this life is to do his duty.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman Stoic philosopher, who was also a statesman, lawyer, political theorist,
and Roman constitutionalist. He was perhaps Rome's greatest orator and prose writer. His letters, speeches and
orations were able to put Greek philosophical ideas into Latin terminology and adapt them to Roman culture
which would be handed down through Western Civilization. For example, Cicero believed that the world was
governed by natural and divine law that humans could understand and use to govern themselves. We shall see
that Cicero ideas deeply influenced the Renaissance and inspired the Founding Fathers of the United States and
the revolutionaries of the French Revolution. John Adams, the second president of the United States said of
him, as all the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher united than Cicero,
his authority should have great weight."
Greek Religion and Literature
Greek religion was Indo-European. Its gods were anthropomorphic and their origins, lives and exploits (moral
and immoral) explained natural phenomena and the story of creation. But as Greek society became more
sophisticated and complex, the gods and goddesses with all their fantastic mythology seemed more and more
remote from daily human life. And so, like other Indo-European religions, the stories of lecherous and violent
gods, the foolishness of divination (like predicting the future from flights of birds), and the disgusting blood
and animal sacrifices created a sense a moral bankruptcy left many Greeks cynical.
People wanted answers to the existential question (why am I here? who am I? What is the meaning of life?). So
cults began to evolve. Some demanded high moral standards; others were ecstatic and celebrated life, fertility
and the harvest. The most powerful was the Mysteries of Eleusis, which became part of the Athenian state
religion. We have already seen that there were fairs which in addition to athletic, musical and dramatic contests
also featured religious festivals. In fact, the fairs were the origin of both the Olympic Games and Greek drama.
In the Hellenistic period the questions of mortality and immortality tugged more and more at the Greeks and so
they began to adopt Salvation Religions. Again, we see the challenge to the old and ineffective Indo European
religion, which failed to answer the problems of human existence and morality. The Hellenistic cult was that of
the Cult of Isis, which was immensely popular, because instead of some vague shadowy existence, it promised
salvation (a happy life after death) to all who led honorable lives.
The Principles of Greek Culture
1. Humanism: the Greeks were the first true Humanists. They placed great confidence in the power of the
human mind and adopted the idea that man was the measure of all things. As a result, Greek art, literature
and sculpture glorified human achievement and the human form. The Greeks were fascinated with human
energy and how humans try win even when the odds are against them. This stands in strong contrast to
Chinese restraint and Buddhist moderation, and is more in keeping with the Hindu notion of enjoyment of
life and the accumulation of wealth.
2. History: the Greeks also undertook Historia (which in Greek means investigations). Herodotus (485 to
425) was called the Father of History because he was the first to try to research and verify the facts which
he presented in his History of the Persian Wars. A generation later, Thucydides (460 to 400), wrote a
History of the Peloponnesian War which was even more objective and accurate and was praised for its
direct, graphic and condensed style.
3. Political Science: the Greeks were passionate about political theory and did not hesitate to debate the
merits of different (governmental) constitutional models. They naturally assumed that men could plan
governmental models and ideals such as justice and rule by law. This heritage was adopted by the Romans
and passed into Western political thought through the Renaissance.
4. Philosophy and Logic: the Greeks used philosophical and scientific inquiry to create the effective use of
logic in understanding the natural world. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all developed new ideas about truth,
reason, justice and government.
The Grandeur that was Rome
After the death of Alexander the Great and the rise of the Hellenistic empires, Greek society fell into decline as
a new superpower gradually arose in central Italy on the banks of the Tiber River. Like the Greeks, Persians
and Aryans, the Romans were Indo-Europeans and began to arrive and settle in central Italy around 2000 BCE.
Much early Roman History is legendary, driven by a desire (a half a millennium later) for a suitable pedigree.
These legends tell of a Trojan hero, Aeneas, who, having escaped from the destruction of Troy with a band of
followers, underwent many adventures (as told in the Roman poet Vergil’s Aeneid), and finally founded a
colony in Italy. Later his descendants, twin boys, Romulus and Remus, founded the city of Rome in 753 BCE.
Rome’s history is easily divided into three periods: first, the Kingdom from 753 to 509; second, the Republic
from 509 to 27 (some scholars say 31); and finally the Empire from 27 (31) to 476 CE.
The period of Roman kings is obscure and semi-mythological but by 509 BCE, the Romans were strong
enough to drive out the last Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and found a republic. Much more is
known about this period than that of the kings because now legend gradually becomes history. Although Rome
occupied a strategic location with easy access to the sea and opportunities for trading, Rome became an
agricultural society: conservative and patriarchal. The citizen-farmer-soldier was the Roman ideal and, during
these early years, most Romans were self-sufficient, independent farmers. However, as happens in most
agricultural societies where land is the basis of wealth, a small number of families become a ruling elite and
acquire larger and larger tracts of land. These mostly-wealthy aristocrats were called Patricians. The non-elite
Romans were called Plebeians.
During the 5th century (the Golden Age of Athens and Greece), the Patricians so dominated the Roman
government that the Plebeians threatened to secede and won the right to elect officials known as Tribunes who
represented the Plebeians in the government, and included the right of Veto. (Note: that Tribune also refers to
mid ranking army officers). It is very important to understand that as the Roman Republic expanded and began
to dominate the Mediterranean Basin, social tensions centering around money and political power, continued to
plague the Roman governmental system and, by the mid-100s BCE, would destroy the republic and usher in
one man rule under the Emperor Augustus.
Rome began as a tiny almost insignificant city-state and yet grew to be a huge empire whose glory and power
would be envied and imitated until the twentieth century. Scholars have debated how this could have
happened. Some say greed and aggressiveness, others that the Romans loved war. However, the best answer
seems to be that the naturally conservative Roman mind always feared attack from its neighbors. Therefore, the
Romans would attack first (or at least force a fight), but each new conquest brought the old problem of new
and potentially dangerous neighbors. This latter theory explains Rome’s problem in the early day with the
surrounding city-states of central Italy.
Throughout the 4th century (as Greece is declining and Macedonia growing), Rome fought a series of wars
with her neighbors. In 390 the century began with a great setback when Gauls (Celts who had settled in the Po
River Valley) sacked and burnt the city. But the Romans bounced back slowly absorbed the nearby city-states,
most notably the Sabines. Then Rome fought the Greek city-states of Southern Italy, which ended with the
defeat of King Pyrrhus. Thus by 268, the Romans controlled Italy through a network of alliances, conquered
or dependent states, colonies, and strategic garrisons. But Rome didn’t feel secure and started to look outwards
from Italy to Sicily and a potential threat in North Africa. That threat was the great trading city of Carthage,
which lay just across the Mediterranean.
Carthage controlled a vast trading empire in the western Mediterranean as well as in Spain and Sicily. They
had the best navy since the Athenian navy, but a relatively mediocre army. Between 264 and 146, Rome fought
three wars with Carthage, called the Punic Wars, and Rome won all three. The most famous of these was the
Second Punic War in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps and almost defeated Rome. In
202 BCE, however the Roman Publius Scipio Africanus took a Roman army into North Africa and destroyed
Carthaginian power once and for all .The Romans also became involved in the Eastern Mediterranean. Thus
between 215 and 146, Roman armies conquered the Macedonian Empire as the more mobile Roman Legions
outmaneuvered and crushed the Macedonian Phalanx. Then the Romans absorbed Greece because Greece had
been unable to rule itself, and Rome cleared the seas of pirates which hindered commerce. Thus by 146, the
Romans had annexed all of Macedonia, Greece, Syria, most of Anatolia and Spain, all of Italy, Sardinia,
Corsica, Sicily, and Carthaginian Africa.
But in spite of these successes, Rome had a terrible problem. Conquest MAY HAVE brought immense wealth
to Rome; but the unequal distribution of that wealth created social tensions as wealthy patricians turned
captured land into Latifundia (large estates run by slave labor). Moreover, the wealthy dominated and
swallowed up small landowners to increase their holdings. Rome’s early economy had been based on small,
citizen-farmers, who grew wheat to make bread, the staple food of the people. However, the Latifundia owners
preferred to raise cattle or cash crops like grapes for wine, which made enormous profits but drove up the price
of grain (because it now had to be imported) and drove the peasants off their land into the cities, especially
Rome, where they had no means of making a living.
This unequal distribution of resources slowly tore apart the Roman Republic. The government that had
worked so well for a small city-state, now crumbled under the social pressure of an increasing and angry
struggle between the haves and the have-nots, even as Rome’s empire was expanding.
Between 130 and 31 BCE Rome was torn apart by social feuding and civil wars bringing much political
instability and bloodshed. The famous Julius Caesar became wealthy when he conquered Gaul in the 50s but
by 49 he had become too powerful. The wealthy hated him because he tried to help the plight of the poor and
he was assassinated in 44. A Triumvirate was formed between Octavian, Julius Caesar’s nephew, Mark
Anthony, married to Octavian’s sister, and a general named Lepidus. Lepidus was quickly edged out and
Octavian took control of Rome and the west, while Anthony took control of the east and made an alliance with
Cleopatra (who had already been his uncle Julius Caesar’s darling) and Egypt. Civil War soon again broke out
and Octavian defeated Anthony and Cleopatra at the great sea battle of Actium in 31. Both Anthony and
Cleopatra committed suicide, Egypt (and its huge quantities of grain) became a Roman province and an
exhausted Roman world accepted Octavian as their leader.
Octavian became the virtual dictator of Rome. Nevertheless, he was too wise to take the formal title of king or
dictator for life. He spent the next four decades keeping up the show or facade of Republican government,
while he became princeps (or first citizen), and both quietly and fundamentally restructured the form of
Roman government. He centralized power and carefully ruled from behind the scenes.
It is important to understand that in reality, Augustus was a dictator by persuasion, using a combination
of status, ruthlessness, patience and diplomacy to maintain his absolute power. His was a monarchy
disguised as a republic.
In 27 BCE, he allowed the Senate to confer upon him the title of Augustus (meaning the exalted one), which
implied that he was of semi-divine nature. Although he left the Senate and Republican governmental
institutions intact, he created a new bureaucracy loyal to him. And he found loyal bureaucrats in wealthy
merchants and landowners, who provided him with a core of civil servants that would administer the Roman
Empire until its last days. Augustus ruled for an astonishing 45 years and when he died in 14 C. E., there was
almost no one still living who could remember the old republic. So popular was Augustus, that four members
of his family succeeded him. However, it is important to remember that the emperorship was never seen as
hereditary. The theory was always that the Senate affirmed the emperor, but in reality, it was the army who
chose the emperor.
The Roman Empire can be divided into four phases:
1. The Pax Romana was the period lasting from accession of Augustus to the death of Marcus Aurelius
in 180 C.E. Sometimes there were unstable periods but these were limited to the imperial families and
did not affect the ordinary citizen. Thus this period is often called the Pax Romana (or Roman Peace)
as it was a period of great prosperity and contentment in the empire.
2. Crisis: The second century signaled the beginning of the fall of Rome. During the 200s, the empire
began to experience internal and external challenges. The worst problems were overextension of
resources (the empire could grow no further), economic meltdown (severe inflation and shrinking tax
base), corrupt government and no clear rule of succession for emperors (succession was determined by
the whim of the army).
3. Fourth Century Revival: During the 300s there was a temporary revival. The emperor Diocletian
believed the empire was too big to be governed by one man so he divided it into east and west. His
successor Constantine reunited the empire but built a new capital in the east at Byzantium which
became Constantinople.
4. Collapse in the West; Survival in the East: In the fifth century the west slowly imploded. The
Barbarian Tribes poured across the Roman frontiers in search of land and (surprisingly) a safe haven.
As imperial authority crumbled Rome itself was sacked by Alaric in 410 and the Vandals in 455 before
falling permanently to the Germanic chieftain Odoacer in 476. In the east, the emperors hung on and
Rome continued for another millennium as the Byzantine Empire.
The Jews
The Hebrews were shepherds and nomads who originally lived on the fringes of Mesopotamian society. Their
history begins with Abraham who lived near the Mesopotamian city of Ur around 2000 BCE. Abraham was
told by his God to move his family westward to a land called Canaan which is today modern Palestine or
Israel. Here Abraham makes a covenant with his God and through his son Isaac and Isaac’s sons he becomes
the ancestor of the Hebrew or Jewish people. Later, famine forced the Hebrews to flee to Egypt where at first
they were well received, but then enslaved and lived a bitter existence in a strange land.
Then came the pivotal moment in Jewish history; the moment when they - as a people - took their genesis or
self-awareness. A charismatic figure, Moses, claimed to have talked to a God named Yahweh, and began to
teach a monotheism in which Yahweh was the only, one supreme God. Moses taught that Yahweh expected his
chosen people, the Hebrews, to worship him alone and demanded that they observe high moral and ethical
standards. Thus Yahweh strengthened the Covenant originally made with Abraham. Under Moses, the
Children of the Hebrews watched as Yahweh indeed humbled the Egyptians and they won their freedom; they
migrated to Palestine and eventually set up a kingdom.
Their two greatest kings were David (1,000 to 970) and Solomon (970 to 930) who built Jerusalem into a great
city and used Iron technology to dominate the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. After the death of
Solomon, however, the kingdom split in two and decline sets in. In 722, the Assyrians conquered the northern
kingdom, called the Kingdom of Israel and in 586, the Chaldeans (or Neo-Babylonians) destroyed the
southern kingdom or the Kingdom of Judah. Both events marked the beginning of the Diaspora or scattering
of the Jews.
When the Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem (even leveling Solomon’s Temple), they carried off a large part of
Jerusalem’s population (mostly the elites and artisans) to Babylon in what has come to be called the
Babylonian Captivity. When the Persian king and founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great,
conquered the Chaldeans, he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Most (but not all returned) and rebuilt
their state under Persian authority while the northern kingdom of Israel never recovered except for a few
Samaritan communities.
After the Persians, the Jews were dominated by Hellenistic Greeks and the Romans and even had some limited
periods of independence. But it is important to understand that some Jews remained in Babylon and other
Jewish communities sprang up around the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, especially the great Jewish
community in Alexandria, Egypt. Finally, in CE 66, the Jews in Palestine rebelled against the Romans who,
like the Babylonians, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and scattered the Jews around the Mediterranean and
Near East.
To understand the central core of Judaism it is necessary to understand that to the Jews history and
religion were interconnected. In other words, their religion was inseparable their social, economic and
political lives. The Jews were the first people in the world to believe that freedom meant the responsibility to
make correct moral choices. They believed that disobedience to Yahweh’s laws brought consequences and
linked political disasters with widespread disobedience to the laws of the Mosaic Covenant. It is important to
understand that the Jews believed that men and women were made in God’s image and this produced a strong
sense of societal ethics in which the rich and strong were expected to help and protect the poor and the weak.
This eventually became the basis of the Western idea of equality before the law, which foreshadowed
Aristotle’s and the Roman’s notion of the rule of law or the idea that those in charge of government are obliged
to run government on behalf of the many and not for just the few.
Thus the Jews, along with the Greeks and the Romans, laid the foundations of Western Civilization (the
culture in which we live) and their most lasting contribution to that civilization was their unbending,
uncompromising ethical-monotheism upon which Christians and Muslims would later build.
Judaism never seriously competed with the cult religions in the Roman Empire because the afterlife was not a
doctrine believed by all Jews and the religion itself was ethnically oriented and looked inwards not trying to
make converts.
The New Covenant: Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth was arguably the most influential person ever to have lived. He was born about four BCE
and was unknown until about the age of 30. He became charismatic preacher and many believed that he
worked miracles. Moreover, even though he taught devotion to God and love of his fellow men, he offended
many Jewish leaders because He claimed to be the Son of God. His enemies turned him over to the Romans
who crucified him abound 30 A.D. His followers claimed that he rose from the dead three days later ascended
to a place called heaven. His followers called him Christ (ς or “Anointed One”), and taught that he
promised eternal life to any person who followed him. At first only Jews followed his teachings; but later nonJews began to convert. His followers were soon called Christians.
Paul of Tarsus, both a Greek Jew and a Roman citizen, was an early convert to Christianity. Paul was a welleducated man and in his younger years persecuted the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, now called Christians.
Then he had a conversion experience in which he had a vision of Jesus. He converted and joined the Christian
party. He did not split from Jewish Christians, but began to travel and used the Roman roads and shipping land
to carrying Jesus of Nazareth’s message to non-Jews. He founded many Christian Communities from Asia
Minor to Rome itself. He also wrote extensively and explained Christian teachings. Most Jewish Christians
died out, but Paul’s conversion of the gentiles (Jewish word for non-Jews) began a religious revolution. Paul’s
unique contribution was that in his thirteen letters or Epistles, he synthesized (combined or made compatible)
Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic thought with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Growth of Christianity: For a time, Christianity remained a Jewish sect but slowly differences profoundly
split the two groups. Like the Jews, Christians were ethical monotheists and accepted the Jewish scriptures, but
they added their own scriptures and modified Judaism so that a new religion, albeit based on the old, emerged.
Moreover, the Christians refused to worship the Roman state gods and were selectively but on occasion
brutally persecuted. (Paul of Tarsus was beheaded during the reign of Nero.) Nevertheless, in spite of
persecution, Christianity grew rapidly during the Pax Romana. Its Law of Love appealed strongly to the lower
classes, urban populations and women. Christianity became the most influential religion in the Mediterranean
world by the end of the third century because it (1) accorded honor and dignity to lower standing individuals,
(2) gave spiritual meaning to every act of life, (3) taught equality of the sexes and (4) promised eternal life for
true believers.
As the Christian Church grew and organized, it adopted a hierarchical form of administration. The basic unit
was the Diocese governed by a Bishop assisted by priests or presbyters and deacons. All bishops traced their
lineage (who consecrated them) back to the apostles and they in turn ordained all priests and deacons. These
were the clergy who were authorized to perform religious ceremonies, especially the Mass (or Holy
Communion, Lord’s Supper or Divine Liturgy), which commemorated the Last Supper. Gradually the bishops
of larger cities gained authority of bishops in nearby cities and became archbishops, metropolitans, patriarchs
and in Rome, Papa or the Pope. By the end of the Roman Empire there were five of these Patriarchates: Rome,
Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.
It is important to understand that the Romans were tolerant of other religions as long a respect was paid to the
Roman State Religion. This both Jews and Christians would not do because of their strict monotheism; and
both were persecuted. Thus by the middle of the third century, the Christian religion had become the most
powerful and influential religious force in the Roman Empire. Paganism, on the other hand, had become
impotent for all practical purposes - even though the official cults were still maintained. The Emperor
Diocletian (very much afraid of supposed Christian disloyalty) ordered the last great persecution of Christians
and it too failed. Then in 313, his successor Constantine gave legal recognition to the Christians in the famous
Edict of Milan. Constantine himself became a de-facto Christian, guided the growing Church and was baptized
on his deathbed. In 380, the emperor Theodosius made Christianity the Roman State Religion.
The Triumph of Christianity
Out of the chaos of the late fourth and fifth centuries, two things happened: first, barbarian kingdoms began to
coalesce in Spain, Gaul, Britain and Italy, while in Constantinople, imperial authority survived and would
continue for almost a millennium. Secondly, Christianity triumphed. The last pagan emperor was Julian, who
was killed fighting the Sassanids in 363. But because of the gradual political separation of east and west, the
Church itself quickly developed eastern and western traditions. The Eastern Church revolved around four
Patriarchates (cities with senior bishops): Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch. Historically,
they are referred to as the Orthodox Church. In the West there was one Patriarchate, Rome, headed by the
Pope or the bishop of Rome. Serious decisions were made at Ecumenical Councils, which were assemblies of
Christian bishops from all over the empire.
We have seen how Constantine called the first council at Nicaea in 325 and dealt the problem of Arianism.
Arianism taught that there was only one God and that Jesus, although divine, was created like any other
human. That made him slightly more human than divine. The Council disagreed and countered by decreeing
that Jesus Christ was equally human and equally divine. In the 381 the Second Council at Constantinople
affirmed this decision and issued the Nicene Creed (as we know it) used as a statement of Faith by many
churches to this day. In 431, we saw how the third Council at Ephesus condemned Nestorianism and in the
next chapter we shall see how the Council at Chalcedon in 451 condemned Monophysitism. But it is also
important to note that these Councils used the rigorous rules of Aristotelian logic to come to their decisions and
issue the teachings (or doctrine) of the early Christian Church.
St. Augustine (354-430) was the leading theologian of Western Christianity in the late Empire. In his writings
he harmonized Christianity with Platonic thought so that Christianity spread rapidly among the intellectual
classes. In his book, The City of God (De Civitate Dei), he sought to explain the meaning of history and the
world from a Christian point of view. His theory of predestination would later influence many leaders of the
Protestant Reformation, especially John Calvin. Augustine’s most famous quote (which ironically flies in the
face of Calvin’s interpretation) was, "Love the sinner and hate the sin” (literally, Cum dilectione hominum et
odio vitiorum - With love for mankind and hatred of sins)
It is important to understand that in the West, as political authority crumbled, the Church – centered
around the Bishop of Rome - was the only stable institution that survived. These early popes and many
bishops in the West were the only ones to organize local government, to defend against enemies and to help the
poor and needy. The Popes also made a successful concerted to convert both the Arian and Pagan Barbarians to
Roman Catholic Christianity. So, through the Bishop of Rome, Rome was still looked to as the center of
authority and leadership in the West.
Rome’s Cultural Legacy
1. Rome admired and therefore preserved Greek philosophy, literature and science;
2. The Romans were master builders and engineers (inherited from the Etruscans): aqueducts, the
Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Basilica, etc.;
3. The idea of imperial unity in the name of ROME remained a political concept that kings and
emperors would struggle to attain until the early twentieth century
4. Roman political thinking guided the formation of many emerging European states and deeply
influenced the American Founding Fathers. (Why do we have a Senate and not a Parliament?);
5. Roman Law remains one of the keystones of Western Law
6. The Roman Empire was the soil in which Christianity grew and flourished; then was recognized and
became the state religion
7. The language of the Romans, Latin, is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and is
still taught in high schools and universities the world over.
The Byzantine Empire
Although the city of Byzantium was a trading city with roots deep in antiquity, it was Constantine the Great
who laid the foundation for the Byzantine Empire by moving his capital from Rome to Byzantium in 330 C.E.
Byzantium was only stable imperial state during the Post Classical Period and protected Western Europe from
Islamic and nomadic invasion. When Europe was an economic backwater in the early Middle Ages, Byzantium
had the strongest economy in the world and, coupled with its strategic location, encouraged trade along the
Silk Roads deep into Asia. The emperor Justinian who ruled from 527 to 565 reconquered much of the west
and more importantly ordered scholars to make a systematic revision of Roman Law in his Corpus Iuris
Civilis or Codex Justinianus, which strongly influenced the development of the Slavic nations and modern
Western legal codes.
The Byzantines were arguably the best diplomats in all world history. They were particularly skilled at forging
diplomatic alliances and dynastic marriages. The story was told that the Emperor Heraclius once intercepted a
message from Persian rival Chosroes that ordered the execution of one of his own Persian generals. Heraclius
craftily added 400 names and diverted the messenger, provoking a rebellion by those on the list, thereby
causing huge problem for his Sassanid rival. Maybe most importantly, the Byzantines considered themselves
Hellenized, Christian Romans and, as such, left a dual legacy in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Europe. The
great travel writer, Robert Byron, once declared that the greatness of Byzantium lay in what he described as
"the Triple Fusion": that of a Roman body, a Greek mind and an oriental, mystical soul.
Islam
Islam is the youngest of the world’s major religions; it arose in the early 7th century C.E. on the Arabian
Peninsula and quickly transformed itself into an international cultural and political force. Its founder was
Muhammad ibn Abdullah who was born about 570 C.E. in Mecca. About 610 C, at almost 40, Muhammad’s
life changed when he underwent a series of religious experiences, including visitations by the Archangel
Gabriel, who told him that there was only one true God (Allah) and that Allah would soon bring judgment on
the world. His followers soon grew and became a tight knit community; and they began to write down
Muhammad’s teachings which were later compiled into the Muslim Holy Book, called the Quran, (Koran).
Muhammad began to refer to himself as the “Seal of the Prophets” by which he meant he was the last prophet
of Allah. Abraham, Moses and Jesus all came before, but Muhammad was the seal; and it is important to
understand that Muhammad held both Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian New Testament in high esteem.
The result was that Muhammad was determined to spread Allah’s wishes to all mankind. Despite persecution
and his flight to Medina (called the Hijra which marks the beginning of the Muslim Calendar) by 630 he was
strong enough to conquer Mecca and surprised many when did not kill his former enemies; rather he forced
them to accept Islam. They built mosques and expanded negotiating with and/or attacking Bedouin clans and
towns forcing them to accept Islam. By Muhammad’s death in 632, all of Arabia was Islamic.
It is important to understand that Islam’s success was due to the fact that it contained unifying beliefs that cut
across cultural lines and even appealed to Christians and Jews, such as uncompromising monotheism, moral
codes, egalitarianism (equality of its members), and a strong sense of community. Islam’s Five Pillars, which
is still binding on all Muslims, provide an illustration of this underlying unity: Muslims must: acknowledge
Allah as the only God and Muhammad as his prophet; pray daily to Allah, facing Mecca; observe a fast during
the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan; contribute alms for the relief of the weak and the poor. Muslims
must, if possible, make the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca to honor Muhammad, at least once in their lifetime.
In the centuries after Muhammad’s death there also emerged the Sharia or Islamic Law, which offered detailed
guidance on every aspect of life. Thus, through the ethical and social values laid out in the Sharia, Islam
became more than a religion, but also a way of life.
The Low Middle Ages
In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Roman Empire staggered under the migrations and invasions of the Germanic
nations and the resulting collapse of the central authority in the West began the period known in Europe as the
Middle Ages. Classical learning and culture gradually became a dim memory as Europe fragmented into small
states. The wealthier East [the Byzantines] survived these attacks and endured for a millennium, but in the
West only one institution, the Roman church survived. Nevertheless out of this chaos, new states in England,
France and Germany – (and later in Spain, Sweden and others), although economically and commercially
backwards, slowly laid the foundations for political and cultural institutions that became Western Civilization.
It was the Franks who first organized a centralized state in the late fifth century. Their first important ruler
was Clovis (481 to 511), who disposed of the last vestiges of Roman authority and transformed Frankish Gaul
into the military and political power in Western Europe. Perhaps the strongest unifying factor in Frankish
growth and self-awareness was Clovis’ conversion to Roman Christianity. Tradition holds that his wife,
Clotilda, a devout Christian, was the reason why. It is important to understand that when he became Christian,
he (just like we will see with Vladimir of Kiev) expected all his people to convert as well.
When Clovis died, he divided his kingdom among his three sons. This led to a two hundred year period of
decentralization and feudalism. The Frankish state revived in the 720s however, under a remarkable man,
Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer). Charles was not the king, but as the Mayor of the Palace, he ran the
Frankish State from behind the throne and began to re-unify Frankish Gaul like a king. Charles Martel secured
his reputation in 732, when he defeated a Muslim army advancing into Europe from Spain at The Battle of
Tours in Southern Gaul. By the time of his death in 741, he had reestablished the Franks as the rulers of Gaul.
In 751, his son, Pepin the Short, took the royal title he never claimed, and in 768, his grandson, Charles the
Great or Charlemagne began a long reign that would take the Frankish kingdom to the first “revived” Roman
Empire in the West.
Charlemagne continued to consolidate and expand the work of his father and grandfather. He was said to have
been an impressive man: tall, stately, and fair-haired, with a disproportionately thick neck. Although he was
unable to write, he was a shrewd diplomat, who spoke German and understood Latin; and corresponded with
the Byzantine and Abbasid courts. He inherited what are now France, Belgium, the Netherlands and
southwestern Germany. By the time of his death in 814, he had added northeastern Spain, Bavaria and Italy as
far south as Rome to his Empire. His greatest headache (and his greatest conquest) was that of the Saxons of
Northwest Germany whom he broke after 32 years of bitter fighting. Even the states of Southern Italy and
Eastern Europe paid him tribute as their imperial overlord.
On Christmas Day, 800 C.E., Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III. The Byzantines
bitterly resented it, but Charlemagne soothed their suspicions and bruised egos. He put forth the theory that the
Empire (in the west) had only been suspended in 476 and he was resuming the emperorship – only in the West.
Today Charlemagne is often regarded as the founding father of both France and Germany - sometimes even as
the Father of Europe, as he was the first ruler of a united Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.
Charlemagne was succeeded by his son, Louis the Pious (814-840) who managed (on the surface) to keep the
Empire intact, but in actuality began to lose control of the nobles. At his death his three sons divided the
Empire into three parts, and soon, all central authority was lost. Moreover, new disrupting influences were
about to strike:
1. Muslim pirates raided all along the Mediterranean coastline and seized Sicily, parts of Southern Italy,
and even parts of Southern France.
2. Magyars (a semi nomadic people from Central Asia) invaded Eastern Europe and eventually settled in
Hungary, but raided Germany, Italy and even Southern France.
3. The Vikings or the Northmen were the most feared of all the invaders. From their Scandinavian
homeland they raided Russia, Germany, the British Isles, France, Spain, and Italy. They ended the Irish
Renaissance. Following the Russian river system, they raided as far south as Constantinople. Some
Vikings even went to work for the Byzantine emperors and became the famous Varangian Guard.
Vikings also sailed the Atlantic and established colonies in Greenland and Vineland (modern day
Newfoundland).
With these new invasions and the loss of centralized authority, Europe went into another period of chaos, less
destructive but more violent. Eventually, three areas of national authority arose:
1. In what is today modern England, King Alfred (871-899) built a navy and constructed fortresses to
challenge the Vikings and laid the basis for the Modern English State.
2. In Germany, Otto I (936-973) of Saxony defeated the Magyars in 955 at Lechfeld on the Rhine River and
ended their threat to Europe. He imposed his authority on most of Germany and he twice invaded Italy,
destroying Lombard power. The Pope, John XII, crowned him Holy Roman Emperor in 962. It is very
important to understand that, although he laid the basis for the modern German State, he was more
interested in imperial power as Holy Roman Emperor and dreamed of a Christian Roman Empire, not a
German state. (He was king of Germany, but the title of Holy Roman Emperor was more important.)
3. In France, the end of Carolingian rule led to a proliferation of local states and the Viking raids led to the
establishment of even more settlements, especially in Normandy, which were vassals of the king, but
independent. The king remained, but France was not his to rule.
Feudal Society
The Feudal System or Feudalism refers to both a political and social order, which decentralized public
authority into an elaborate society in which local rulers used their military powers to gain political power. Like
we will see in Japan, the European Feudal System revolved around political and military relationships. The
most important relationship was between a lord and his vassal. The lord provided the vassal with a
Benefice (or grant) by which the vassal supported himself and his family. Benefices were usually grants of
land, often called Fiefs, but sometimes benefices were rights to income (such as from a toll bridge or mill), or
rights to money from a town or village, or even outright grants of money. In exchange for the benefice, the
vassal owed his lord obedience, loyalty, counsel and service, especially military service.
This complex system actually began to germinate with the Crisis of the Third Century which itself
characterized the decline of the Roman Empire; by the 9th century, it had become widespread and
institutionalized across most of Western Europe. The agricultural relationships of Feudalism were found in the
Manoral System, which developed when free peasants needed protection from invaders or bandits. These
peasants - over time - became neither free nor slave and were called serfs.
At first, free peasants often turned themselves and their lands over to the local warlords for protection. This
lord was usually a tribal chief or military leader, but might be a political leader or even a religious leader. As
time went by, the peasants became formally bound to the land. Occasionally they could move, but only with
the lord’s permission. It is important to remember that Serfs had certain rights: to farm or work certain
lands and to pass those lands on to their heirs. In return, serfs had to follow the rules of the lord and pay
obligations of labor or rent, usually a portion of the harvest. The serfs worked on large estates called manors,
which – over time -became the property of the lord. So that which once belonged to the peasants eventually
became the lord’s. The lord and his deputies kept order, resolved conflicts and protected the manor. Manors
were almost always self-sufficient units having mills, bakeries, and shops for toolmakers, blacksmiths, leather
smiths, weavers, etc.
All during the Early Middle ages more and more land came under cultivation, as more forests were cut down
and improved agricultural technologies appeared, such as the iron plow (called the moldboard). Before the 9th
century, farmers left half of their fields fallow, but in the 9th century the three field system which left only one
third of the land fallow. Slowly new food crops were introduced from the Muslim world: Durham wheat, rice,
spinach, artichokes, eggplant, lemons, limes, oranges and melons. These factors caused improved agricultural
output and Europe’s population began to increase.
Christian Europe
It is very important to remember that when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the only surviving
continent-wide institution was the Roman Catholic Church. Until the conversion of Clovis, very few converts
were made north of the Alps. But in the period between Clovis (500) and Charlemagne (800) the church grew
dramatically. Both kings made a deep commitment to the Christian Religion and the Pope, viewing themselves
as protectors of the Church. They gave the popes political and military support and in return, the popes gave
them legitimacy. Charlemagne in particular sought to convert northern Europe, especially the Saxons of
Northwest Germany, whom he subdued with great difficulty. It is important to understand that paganism, led
by the druid priesthood, did not die quickly. Areas of paganism remained until 1,000 C.E., especially in rural
areas.
The Papacy changed during the Early Middle Ages. Before 6th century, the Popes worked closely with
Byzantine authorities, but during the 6th century Rome began to act more independently, as Byzantine authority
weakened and the Western Church began to follow a different cultural path than the Eastern Church. In the
East, the church was mostly docile, but in the west the popes (sometimes the only functioning organization
left) became more assertive and the Bishops of Rome began to claim more authority for themselves.
The most important person in this evolving Roman Catholic Church was Pope Gregory I (Gregory the
Great, 590-604). He combined several roles and achieved several goals during his powerful reign. First, he
was a temporal politician. He administered the civil government of Rome and organized its defenses against
the Lombards. Second, he was a church politician and asserted papal primacy (or control) over other bishops.
The idea was that the popes took their authority from the apostle Peter, whom, as the popes still claim, was
commissioned by Jesus himself to head the church. Lastly, Gregory was a theologian and many of his
writings (especially his sermons) have come down to us. His aim was to emphasize the authority of the Church
over its members, especially in the sacrament of Penance, which required people to confess their sins to God
through the ministry of a priest.
Anticipating Charlemagne, Gregory tried to convert as much of Europe as possible and repeatedly sent
missionaries north of the Alps. He spent much effort on the conversion of England and he chose St. Augustine
(not St. Augustine of Hippo) to lead his effort in England. Augustine had an additional problem. Much of
England was already Christian, Celtic Christian from St. Patrick’s efforts. So Augustine’s task was both to
convert the pagans and convince the Celtic Church to accept Roman authority. He and successors were
successful and, by 800, the Church in England was securely under Roman jurisdiction.
Monasticism: Monks became the most effective agents of promoting Christianity in pagan Europe and it
would be St. Benedict of Nursia, who would organize Western Monasticism. In 529, he organized a
monastery community at Monte Casino just south of Rome. His monastery became a close-knit community,
held together by a set of regulations called The Rule. His ideal was expressed in the Latin motto: Orare et
Laborare (work and pray). This ideal rejected extreme asceticism preferring a life of prayer and simple labor.
Like Byzantine monks, Western monks took three vows: poverty, chastity and obedience. Gregory’s sister, St.
Scholastica, (482-543) adapted The Rule for women and opened monasteries for women, thus providing
women the same opportunity.
Monasteries became very popular and numerous and they quickly became the dominant feature in the social
and cultural life of Europe. They provided inns and shelters for travelers, orphanages, medical centers, schools,
libraries and scriptoria (places where books were copied). In this way they helped preserved much of ancient
culture. It is very important to understand that monks and nuns did immense, incalculable good by
serving the needs of the poor and rural populations. More than any other Christian institution, they handed
down Christian values to countless generations of peasants. The monasteries also organized much of the rural
labor force for agricultural production and led the effort to turn forests and swampland into productive
farmland.
On the other hand monasteries often accumulated large landholdings and over time became quite wealthy.
They soon learned that luxury corrupts the simple religious life and the monks often became corrupt, lazy and
worldly. Often, there would be cries (both in and out of the church) for reform. Sometimes the reform was
internally accomplished and monasteries “cleaned up their acts”, but more often, new monastic groups looking back to Benedict’s original vision of simple work and prayer - were founded.
The European High Middle Ages: 1000 to 1300
Germany and the Holy Roman Empire
Otto of Saxony (912 – 973) spent his lifetime creating a powerful state in Central Europe in order to break the
power of the feudal nobility and to re-create the Roman Empire. He succeeded his father as King of Germany
in 936 and in 951 became king of the Lombards, adding Northern Italy to his German holdings and linking the
destinies of Germany and Italy. In 955, he defeated the Magyars at Letchfeld and in 962 Pope John XII
crowned him Holy Roman Emperor. Otto forced Bohemia, Burgundy and Denmark to accept his authority.
He gained Byzantine recognition of his status as Emperor and even brokered a marriage between his son and a
Byzantine princess. When he died, he left an empire in Central Europe that stretched from Rome to Denmark.
Otto was not only the founder of the Holy Roman Empire (or the First Reich) but the ruler who began the
association between the title of Holy Roman Emperor and German kingship. (Remember, he valued the
imperial title far more important than being king of Germany)
The Investiture Controversy: Psychology teaches us that rarely can there be two leaders; so it was inevitable
that friction arise when both the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors wanted to dominate the empire. The first
clash for power would come over the appointment of church officials (bishops, archbishops and abbots) by the
emperors. From the earliest days of the empire, imperial authorities had named these church officials to their
positions, since the higher clergy had political as well as spiritual functions. This practice was called Lay
Investiture and was opposed by the papacy.
It is very important to understand that the popes never questioned a king’ right to grant a bishop or
abbot a fief and have him become a vassal, but the church did object to kings and nobles naming bishops
or abbots.
Round One in the power struggle came in 1075 when Pope Gregory VII, known as Hildebrand, (1073 to
1085) ordered an end to lay investiture. When the Emperor Henry IV (1056 –1106) defied the Gregory,
Gregory excommunicated him and released his subjects from their duty to obey him. His subordinate princes
rebelled and Henry acted fast. In January 1077, he went to the pope at Canossa, a town in Northern Italy, and
for three days stood barefoot in the snow, beseeching the pope’s mercy. The pope lifted the excommunication
and Henry managed to subdue the princes, but imperial authority was permanently weakened, as the German
princes won semi-independence from the emperor, comparable to the warlords of Asia.
Round Two: came over not over Lay Investiture but political interests in Italy. Among the most vigorous of
the Holy Roman Emperors in the 12th century was Frederick Barbarossa, ”the red beard,” who reigned from
1152 to 1190. Working from his ancestral lands in southern Germany, Frederick sought to absorb the wealthy
and increasingly urban region of Lombardy, which is today Northern Italy. Frederick hoped this would help
him to recreate the old dream of a revived Roman Empire. The popes opposed him by working with other
Christian states and Frederick was forced to give up Lombardy. Again, the bottom line was that the popes
gained temporal power and the vision of empire was once again frustrated. However, in most other
respects Frederick strengthened the Empire. (Frederick would later join the third crusade and die in a drowning
accident in Cilicia.)
Voltaire, the 18th century French writer and philosopher, once quipped that the Holy Roman Empire was
neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. What he meant was that in reality it was a feudal, mostly German
and regional state. Although some of its Emperors had much influence, it was in no way a rebirth of the Roman
Empire. But the idea did not die; nor kings nor emperors stop trying!
France
After the death of the Louis the Pious in 843, the Frankish Empire broke up into three kingdoms. Modern
France descends from the western kingdom, which was ruled by Louis’ descendents until 987. A new factor
was added in the late 800s, when Viking Normans (under their king, Rollo) carved out a state in Western
France on the Normandy Peninsula. The Normans created a unique culture when they quickly adopted
Christianity and melded with their conquered subjects. And so, ironically, although they were vassals of the
French king, they were – in reality - an independent kingdom.
When the last Carolingian died, the feudal lords elected a minor noble, Hugh Capet, to be king. Capet held
only a small territory around Paris (the Île de France) and was far weaker than most of his vassals. But during
the next three centuries, his descendants slowly expanded their holdings and political influence. They absorbed
territories of vassals who died without heirs and forced the nobles to recognize Royal Law. By the 1300s, the
Capetian kings controlled most of modern France.
Perhaps the two most important of these early kings were Philip II often called Philip Augustus (1180 to
1223) who more than doubled the size of his domain by marriage alliances and skirmishes with the English;
and his grandson Louis IX (1226-1270), who participated in two disastrous crusades but who, nevertheless,
expanded royal authority by forcing the nobility to stop minting their own coinage and to use only money
minted by the king.
England
In 899, Alfred the Great was succeeded by his son Edward who continued his father’s resistance to Danish
Viking attacks. But the 10th century witnessed fresh Viking invasions and the establishment of a Danish
kingdom, which gradually merged with the Saxon kingdom. The two famous kings of this era were Canute
the Dane (1016 – 1035) who was famous for both his conversion to Christianity and his just reign; and
Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066), who was a sincere, pious ruler famous for giving money to the poor,
but failing to curb the growing power of the nobility.
After Edward’s death, William of Normandy claimed the English throne and defeated Edward’s, successor,
King Harold, in late 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. William remained Duke of Normandy, but became king
of England, known as William the Conqueror. He introduced Norman culture and feudalism into England.
He seized the lands of Saxon nobles and divided them among his Norman nobles. England now mixed French
with Saxon and Danish cultures, and this effect on the language would within 100 years produce Middle
English
William’s successors created the most tightly centralized (least feudalized) European state in the High Middle
Ages. During his long reign from 1154 to 1189, Henry II used the law to increase his authority. He set up a
central royal court in London and Circuit judges who took the king’s law to all parts of the land. This created
what we call Common Law (meaning law that was the same for everyone), helping to untie the country.
Henry also used the grand jury system or group of people who present to judges names of people suspected
of crimes, out of which grew the English idea of trial by jury. (12 people decide guilt or innocence). Henry also
attempted to dominate the Church had his humiliating “Canossa” with his archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas
à Becket.
In 1215, Henry’s son, King John, was forced to accept the Magna Carta, which guaranteed both the rights of
the nobility and the king’s obligation to follow the law. Eight years later, John’s son, Edward I called for a
meeting of representatives to advise and to help make the laws. This body was called parliament and
represented the English nobility’s legal participation in government, which over time assumed more and more
governmental power at the king’s expense. (Later Parliament would divide into two houses: the bishops and
nobility formed the House of Lords, while knights and townspeople met as the House of Commons.
By 1308, Edward I conquered Wales and Scotland. Under his grandson, Edward III (reigned 1327 to 1377),
England and France became involved in the Hundred Years’ War, which was a result of political
entanglements between the intermarried French and English monarchs, France’s attempt to regain English
(formally Norman) territories in France and economic competition for the wool trade. The English won many
early victories, but by the 1420s the future Charles VII (aided by the short lived Joan of Arc) managed to
rally the French and drive the English out of France, with the exception of a few port cities, most notably
Calais.
Growth of the Agriculture and Economy
As in the Low Middle Ages, serfs and monks continued to cut down forests, drain swamps and increase arable
(farmable) land and. Lords encouraged this to increase tax revenues and thus brought about the origin of
surnames. Yes, the sad news is that surnames were invented for taxing purposes.
Agricultural techniques continued to improve the 3-field system of crop rotation. Enriching the soil became
common place; watermills and heavier plows along with the horseshoe and the horse collar (which enabled
the horse to carry more burdens without blocking its windpipe) came into use. Introduction of new crops,
especially the cultivation of beans and peas, which not only added protein to the early medieval diet (high in
starchy grains) but also added nitrogen to the soil. Books and treatises on farming also began to appear,
especially on using new tools and domesticating animals.
Thus, the year 1000 is a transitional date; before 1000 the European diet was almost all grain, after 1,000,
grains were varied with meat, dairy, fish, vegetables and legumes. As we have seen the population soared from
29 million in 800 to 58 million in 1200. Remember the axiom: More efficient agriculture meant more people,
and more people meant increasing urbanization and increasing urbanization meant specialization of labor and
specialization of labor means increased trade and the beginning of business economy.
Urbanization accelerated: cities founded during Roman times such as Paris, London and Toledo became
thriving centers of government and business - and new cities began to appear such as Venice in Northern Italy
and Bergen in Norway. Urbanization and increased specialization of Labor led to the development of industry.
A good example was the woolen industry which appeared almost everywhere, but most especially in the cities
of Italy and Flanders, which became lively centers for the spinning, weaving and dying of wool.
The revival of cities was most apparent in Italy and was hastened (hurried along) by increasing trade with
Byzantium and Muslim nations in the Middle East. Italian merchants (eager to gain access to the Silk Roads)
established colonies in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas in order to export salt, olive oil, wine, wool
fabrics, leather products and glass in exchange for gems, spices, silk, and other goods. In the process, the
Byzantines and Muslims were cut off and cities like Florence, Pisa, and Naples grew in wealth with Venice
and Genoa becoming the most powerful of these city states.
Trade also grew in Northern Europe. The Baltic and North Seas witnessed a well-developed trade network
known as the Hanseatic League, which was an association of trading cities stretching from Novgorod to
London and embracing all the significant commercial centers of Poland, Northern Germany and Scandinavia.
They exported grain, fish, furs, timber and amber for luxury goods.
As in Post-Classical China and the Islamic world, increasing trade stimulated the development of credit,
banking and business organization. Letters of credit freed traders from carrying money. Partnerships and the
beginnings of corporations also took root, and, due to the limited liability of partnerships and corporations,
stimulated new growth.
Social Changes and the Church
During the High Middle Ages, Medieval thinkers frequently held that society consisted of three classes or the
Three Estates: “Those who pray; those who fight, and those who work.”
First Estate:
Second Estate:
Third Estate:
The Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church - from simple priest or Archbishops
The fighters came from the ranks of the feudal nobility
The majority of the population; peasants and the small, growing middle class
VITU: those who prayed and fought enjoyed more rights and honors than the workers.
Perhaps the greatest social change in the High Middle Ages was the growth of specialized workers who filled
the growing cities and become the expanding middle class: merchants, artisans, butchers, bakers, fishmongers,
jewelers, pharmacists, physicians and lawyers. As the economic climate boomed and the towns grew into
cities, the middle class was more and more able to manage its affairs independent of the Feudal nobility; and
over time they were able to secure charters from the lords, which gave them de facto independence and
freedom from taxation.
Within the cities workers organized guilds which regulated the production and sale of goods and services.
These guilds set standards of quality, trained new members (apprentices, journeymen and masters), set
quotas to maintain a balance between supply and demand, and determined prices and wages. Guilds had
a social dimension as well such as comradeship and mutual support. They built halls for social events and
providing financial support for those who fell ill. They even organized funerals and assisted widows.
The High Middle Ages also provided increasing opportunities for women. Such opportunities were rare in the
countryside where women still continued to perform traditional farming chores, but cities gradually allowed
women an entrance into the working class. Slowly they began to work beside their husbands in traditional
trades like shopkeeping, brewing or baking, and they came to dominate other trades like midwifery, the
decorative arts and textile manufacturing. Most guilds admitted women and a few were exclusively for women.
These advances however, did not mean that women had gained parity (equality) with men. On the other hand,
aristocratic women could and often did exert a great deal of political and cultural influence. Christine de
Pizan (1364–1430) was a Venetian, medieval writer, rhetorician, and critic, who strongly challenged misogyny
(hatred for women) in the male-dominated realm of the arts. Her forty one treatises - most of which defended
the contributions of women - established her as Europe’s first professional woman writer.
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 -1204) was probably the most celebrated woman of her day. Her father saw to it
that she had the best education possible: she could read and speak Latin, and was well-versed in music and
literature. She also enjoyed riding, hawking, and hunting. She was married to Louis VII of France, but later to
Henry II of England. Thus she was the queen of France and queen of England and the mother of two kings:
Richard the Lionhearted and John. But she was far more famous for her own court in Poitiers, where she
supported troubadours, promoted good manners, refinement and romantic love.
Chivalry was in informal but widely recognized code of ethics and refined manners that encouraged Christian
conduct in all affairs, and which was fostered by church officials. Troubadours were a class of traveling
poets, minstrels and entertainers patronized by aristocratic women. Their entertainment often focused on
chivalry, but also on refined behavior, social politeness and love. Troubadours were most common in Southern
France and Northern Italy, but took much of their inspiration from the love poetry of Muslim Spain.
The Roman Catholic Church was the heart of Western Christendom. Its representatives guided European
thought on religious, moral and ethical matters and it administered the rituals associated with birth, marriage,
death, etc. Most interestingly, it was responsible for our modern educational systems. Bishops and archbishops
in France and northern Italy organized schools called Cathedral Schools. By the 12th century these cathedral
schools had established formal curricula or courses of study concentrating on the liberal arts, especially
literature and philosophy. The academic curriculum consisted of the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and
the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music). But the most important curriculum was
theology, the queen of the sciences. Students studied the Bible, the church Fathers, like St. Augustine and
Gregory the Great (whom we have discussed), as well as the major classical Latin authors and (in Latin
translation) the works of Plato and Aristotle.
As time passed student and faculty guilds sprang up and multiplied and the large Cathedral Schools became
universities, which gave high quality instruction and conferred academic degrees. The first universities were
those at Bologna, Paris and Salerno, but by 1400 major universities had also arisen in Rome, Naples, Seville,
Salamanca, Oxford and Cambridge. With increased communication with Byzantium and the Muslim world, the
universities soon rediscovered the works of Aristotle. During the 13th century, this growing understanding of
Aristotle and his ruthless rules of logic brought about a new school of Christian thinking called Scholasticism.
Scholastic theology sought to synthesize (harmonize) the beliefs and values of Christianity with the logical
rigor of Greek Philosophy.
The most famous Scholastic Theologian was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who taught at the University
of Paris. While holding fervent Christian views, Aquinas saw no contradiction between Aristotle and Christian
revelation. In his Summa Theologica he created a manual in which he used Aristotelian logic to explain such
concepts as the existence of God, what conditions make a just war, an explanation of church doctrines such as
transubstantiation and questions of ethics and morality.
The church also administered sacraments were holy rituals for bringing God’s grace to the people. There were
seven: Baptism, Penance, Confirmation, Communion, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Matrimony.
The most important was the Holy Communion or the Eucharist or Mass, which was a ritual meal,
remembering the Last Supper. The church taught that a person must receive this sacrament at least once a year
(at Easter) to be in good standing. Many people went to mass daily and devotion to the Eucharist was
widespread, but unfortunately, many superstitions grew up around the Mass, such as it being able to protect
people from danger or help them in worldly affairs.
Devotion to the saints was another way popular religion was expressed. People popularly prayed to the Saints
who were holy men and women who had died and gone to heaven. There they could help those still on earth by
their prayers. Many cults grew up around the Invocation of Saints (Prayer to the Saints for their help or
intercession) and the most popular cult was the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, who
personified the Christian ideal of womanhood, love and sympathy.
But the cult of the Saints was also the root of many abuses. Many superstitious people believed that such and
such a saint could cure diseases or work miracles. People went to shrines like St. Peter’s in Rome or Santiago
de Compostela in Spain to pray to these saints. It is not the place of this course to say whether or not miracles
happened but there were many greedy priests who often made much money off desperate and superstitious
people and even sold the sacraments of the Church for profit. These abuses would become a great battle cry of
Martin Luther as he fired the first shots of the Protestant Reformation.
Another area of great goodness and parallel abuses were the religious orders. There is an old axiom from the
Early Middle Ages, “Holiness begets discipline; discipline begets abundance; abundance begets laxity.”
Religious orders began with the idea of St. Benedict’s motto “orare et laborare (pray and work) but over time
the monasteries became wealthy and that led to laxity and materialism causing a loss of the original purpose of
finding God in a community. Secular clergy also struggled with the same abuses.
The Crusades
We also saw the Seljuk Turks invade and conquer most of Southwest Asia, so that they not only controlled the
Abbasid Caliphate, but they also conquered Byzantine Syria and took control of the Christian holy places in
Fatamid Palestine, especially Jerusalem. In 1071, the Byzantine defeat at Manzikert shocked Western Europe.
So in 1095 in Clermont, France, Pope Urban II called for Christian knights to take up arms to free the Holy
Land from Muslim domination. First was Peter the Hermit who traveled in Europe and organized a ragtag
army, which met with terrible disaster.
Soon afterwards, French and Norman nobles organized the First Crusade in 1096 and by 1099 they had
captured Jerusalem. They established the kingdom of Jerusalem, which survived until 1187 when it fell to the
Muslims under a charismatic leader Salah al-Din or Saladin. The Second Crusade (1146-1149), forty years
earlier had been a complete disaster. Then a Third Crusade (1189-1192) was organized to win back
Jerusalem. It was led by three famous kings: Richard the Lionhearted of England, Philip Augustus and
Frederick Barbarossa. Although the crusade ended in a stalemate with Saladin’s forces still holding
Jerusalem, the crusade nevertheless won rights for Christian pilgrims to visit the holy land. The Fourth
Crusade (1202-1204) was both a disgrace and another disaster, and ended up sacking Constantinople and
gravely weakening the Byzantine Empire.
The effects of the crusades included a worsening of Christian-Muslim relations. Economically, however, the
Crusades dramatically encouraged trade between Europeans and Muslims and the demand in Europe for silk,
cotton and spices increased. The crusades also helped bring paper production, the use of Arabic numerals and a
drink called coffee to Europe. But perhaps, in the long run, the most important commodity brought back to
Europe by the crusaders was granulated sugar.