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Middle Ages
Re-Do Day 28
Review and New Notes, Post-Snow Day(s)
1. The Middle Ages
• Also known as the Medieval period and the first few
centuries were also known as the Dark Ages.
• The Gothic period around 1500 gave way to huge
cathedrals and Europe will rise and the dominant
region of the world.
2. Byzantine Empire
• Code of Justinian – extensive set of laws
established by the Emperor Justinian.
• Hagia Sophia – magnificent church built
in Constantinople
• Ottoman Empire of Turkey (Muslim)
conquered the Byzantine Empire.
3. Roman Catholic Church
• Monasteries – self contained a religious community, which operated,
schools, libraries, and were the first copying machines.
• Pope Gregory – Gregorian Chant or plainsong is part of the Catholic
worship services today
4. Charlemagne
• King of a Germanic people called the Franks, who
gave France its name.
• Although a warrior Charlemagne (Charles the
Great), could be best remembered for his love of
learning.
• Without the help of monks, most of the classical
works of the Greeks and Romans would have
been lost forever.
• Aided the Pope and was crowned Holy Roman
Emperor in an attempt to restore the Holy Roman
Empire.
5. Vikings
• Vikings were fierce warriors, traders,
and raiders from Scandinavia,
present-day Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark.
• Vikings terrorized much of coastal
Europe and traveled many miles up
rivers in their special boats (could
float in 3 feet of water when loaded)
• A Viking named Leif Ericson was
probably the first European explorer
to discover North America
6. Norman Conquest
• The Duke of Normandy was a descendent of the Viking raiders who settled
in northern France.
• In 1066, his army invaded England and defeated the English army led by
King Harold
• The Duke of Normandy with his victory at the Battle of Hastings, the French
Duke of Normandy became the new king of England and earned the new
name, William the Conqueror.
• Mounted knights, who helped William, became very popular in Europe.
• The new French Norman leaders for protection built huge strong castles.
• Castles and Knights became very popular during the Middle Ages
• English Common Law (law common to all of England) was really advanced
by William the Conquerors’ grandson, King Henry II, insuring the rights of
the English people (for example; trial by jury)
7. Feudalism
• Feudalism was the military and social system which developed for
protection from enemies such as Viking raiders or neighboring kings
• People born into permanent social class for life, owed loyalty to higherranking members of society
• Bottom of society: Peasants, or serfs who farmed land owned by a
lord or noble. The serfs gave a portion of their produce to lord in
return for protection.
• Nobles in turn owed military service to the king in return for the
king’s protection.
• The clergy was one of the wealthiest classes of people
• Vassal is the term for a knight/lord who provided service to a higherranking person.
• Vassals were often given manors, which provided the vassals income. A
manor was a self-contained agricultural community with homes for serfs
and craftsman, a church, and a manor house
8. Knights
• Knights were mounted warriors in Europe of the Middle Ages
• Mounted soldiers were needed to respond quickly to attacks from
Vikings or other fast moving raiders
• The stirrup made mounted knights much more effective. It is
believed that the Franks invented the stirrup to try to replace the
chariot
• Chivalry was the code of behavior expected of knights in the Middle
Ages. The code consisted of:
excellent horsemen
skilled in battle
brave
generous in victory
devoted to religion
educated in the arts
willing to help the poor and needy
to be courteous to women
fight to the death to their “lady”
9. Guilds
• As towns began to more settled and grew into important
centers of commerce, Merchants could now become more
influential members of society
• Self-employed craftsman who formed organizations called
guilds to regulate the price and quality of their products such
as metal works, weaving, and baking. This led to a new class
of people, the Middle Class
10. Thomas Beckett
• Thomas Beckett was appointed as Archbishop of
Canterbury by King Henry
• Beckett defended the church against the King, thinking
that they wanted Beckett dead, 4 barons went to
Canterbury where they killed Thomas Beckett in his
cathedral
• Beckett was declared a saint by the Catholic Church,
and people from all over England went to his burial
place in Canterbury to pray and be healed of
sickness
• One of the best loved books in the English language,
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is about a
group of pilgrims (one who travels for religious
reasons) setting out for Beckett’s tomb
11. Magna Carta
• In 1215, noblemen forced King John of England to sign a list of
rights known as the Magna Carta.
• The Magna Carta declared that the king could not impose
taxes without the approval of Parliament (the English
legislature), and that a free man in England could not be
imprisoned or deprived of property without legal process such
as a trial.
• The Magna Carta was the beginning of representative
democracy in Europe
12. Islam (A Review!)
• During the Middle Ages the religion of Islam rose.
• Islam was founded in 622 by Muhammad, who was born in
Mecca in the present day Saudi Arabia
• Muhammad encouraged learning, and he taught that men and
women were equal.
• Muslims tolerated other religions, and they grew in
knowledge from others
• Arabic numbering system using zero and 10 replaced the
numbering Roman system and is the numbering system we
use today
• Other inventions: paper, gunpowder, the magnetic compass,
and the game of chess
13. Crusades
• The Holy Land is a name used by some Christians to describe
the lands in which Jesus lived at the eastern end of the
Mediterranean Sea
• During the Middle Ages, the Holy Land came under the control
of Islamic rulers
• Encouraged by Catholic Popes, Christian kings and knights of
Europe organized several military expeditions or crusades to
the Middle East in an effort to take control of the Holy Land
from the Muslims
• Each side called the other infidels (non-believers)
• Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099 but were unable to
hold the city and were eventually driven out by the Muslims
• Crusades made Europeans more willing to travel to encourage
exploration and the spreading of Christianity
14. Mongols (A Review!)
• Mongols were nomadic tribes whom were superb horsemen
from central Asia who swept east toward China and east
towards Europe during the Middle ages under the leadership
of Genghis Khan and his successors
• The Mongol conquest of China was completed by Genghis
Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan who established the present day
capital of Beijing and established himself as the Emperor of
China
• Kublai Khan made Buddhism the official religion of China
15. Marco Polo
• Marco Polo was born in Venice Italy in the mid 1200’s
• Venice was founded on a group of swampy islands during the
Dark Ages and over the centuries it grew into a rich and
powerful as a trading center between Europe and the Far
East
• When Marco Polo was 16 he traveled with his family to
China and entered the court of the great Kublai Khan (…?)
• Marco Polo was chosen as the representative to the outlying
provinces of China and the Polo family remained there for 24
years
• When fighting broke out between Venice and Genoa Marco
was taken prisoner and wrote the book, The Travels of Marco
Polo, this book gave the Europeans their first look into China
and helped create the first accurate maps of Asia
• His book aroused the interest of Christopher Columbus
(Genoa)
16. Gothic Architecture
• The pointed arch of the Gothic style soon
replaced the well rounded arches of the
Romanesque style (Leaning tower of Pisa)
• One of the best know examples of this
Gothic style is the Notre Dame Cathedral
• A flying buttress is an external arched
support for the wall of a building. Flying
buttresses allowed builders to construct
tall, thin stone walls filled with stained
glass
17. Black Death
• Also known as the Plague, the Black Death was a disease that
wiped out half of the population of Europe (over 20 million
people)
• The Plague was spread by fleas carried by rats
• “ring around the rosie” comes from the period of the Black
Death
18. Hundred Years War
• Because of the Norman Conquest of England by
a French Duke, the royal families of England and
France were related, and they became more
closely related during later years through
marriage
• When a King of France died in the early 1300’s,
the royal family of both England and France
claimed the legal right to the French throne that
led to war
• With the help of Joan of Arc the French eventually
won the Hundred Years War (it really lasted 116
years)
• Many changes occurred during the Hundred Years
War: long bows, guns, cannons, the ending of the
feudal systems, loss of knights, loss of castles,
feudal lords
19. Joan of Arc
• In a strange but true story, an illiterate
peasant girl convinced the King of France to
allow her to lead the armies of France during
the Hundred Years War
• At the age of 17, Joan of Arc led the French
to victory over the English in a Battle of
Orleans France in 1429
• The Battle of Orleans was the turning point
of the Hundred Years War and eventually
drove the English out of France in 1453, this
is why Joan of Arc is loved by the French and
was burned at the stake by the English
• Joan of Arc was declared a saint by the
Roman Catholic Church in 1920