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Chapter 9
The Middle Ages
The Impact Today
The events that occurred during this time period still impact
our lives today.
•
Ancient Roman literary works exist today because they were
copied by monks.
•
The influence of English common law is seen in our American
legal system.
•
Byzantine architecture inspired building styles in eastern
Europe and Southwest Asia.
A Turning Point in History:
The end of Ancient Times –Into the Middle
Ages
• Middle Ages, period in the history of Europe that lasted
from about AD 350 to about 1450. At the beginning of
the Middle Ages, the western half of the Roman Empire
began to fragment into smaller, weaker kingdoms. By
the end of the Middle Ages, many modern European
states had taken shape. During this time, the
precursors of many modern institutions, such as
universities and bodies of representative government,
were created.
• No single event ended the ancient world and began the
Middle Ages. In fact, no one who lived in what is now
called the Middle Ages ever thought of themselves as
living in it. In the Middle Ages, people thought they were
living in modern times, just as people do today.
MIDDLE AGES cont.
• Began with collapse of Western Roman Empire and came
to an end sometime in the 14th-15th centuries
• Once considered to be one long, bleak period of
violence, ignorance, and superstition
– The “Dark Ages”
• Period did represent regression from achievements of
the ancient world but it was not completely dark
– Preserved what was best of the ancient heritage and
mingled it with new Germanic and, later, Arabic
traditions to create a new civilization
• One that was capable of further growth and
progress
• Major contribution to the creation of the
foundation for the modern western world
The New Germanic Kingdoms
• Germans and Romans intermarried and
created a new society in which German
customs had an important role.
• The extended family was the center of
German society.
• They worked the land together and
protected each other in violent times.
• Western Europe
– Hodge-podge
of loosely
organized
kingdoms
– Became even
more
fragmented as
time went on
• East
– Highly
centralized
Byzantine
Empire
Europe’s Feudal States
CHARLEMAGNE
• Tried to overcome
chronic disunity in
Western and Central
Europe
• Approx. 800 AD
• Established empire
that included France,
most of Italy, Germany,
and part of Eastern
Europe
• Took title of “Holy
Roman Emperor”
CHARLEMAGNE
• The breakup of the Empire
• Incompetence of his
descendants
• Charlemagne’s failure to set
up an effective
administrative system
• Invasions of the Magyars
• Invasions of the Vikings
POST-CAROLINGIAN EUROPE
• Hopelessly complex jigsaw puzzle of small states
– Each with its own ruler
• Sometimes with title of duke or count
• Nominally owed allegiance to kings but this
allegiance was more theoretical than real
– Long-distance trade virtually disappeared
– Currency fell into disuse
• People reverted to barter system
– Cities shrank dramatically and sometimes disappeared
– Educational standards declined
• Even kings were illiterate
POST-CAROLINGIAN EUROPE
• Only form of unity was the Christian Church
– But even its intellectual standards had
declined due to the prevalent ignorance
and isolation of the times
• Europe had become a desolate rural world in
which petty rulers lorded over tiny pieces of
territory and ignorance prevailed everywhere
FEUDALISM
• Grant of a piece of
land (fief) by a “lord”
to a subordinate
(vassal) in exchange
for the vassal’s
promise to provide
lord with military
service for a
specified period of
time
• Subinfeudation:
vassals having
vassals of their own
FEUDAL PLAYERS (VASSALS)
• Feudalism also
provided a
decentralized form of
government
• Vassals were supreme
within their fiefs
– Made own laws
– Enforced them as he
saw fit
– Settled disputes
between people who
lived on the fief
MEDIEVAL PEASANTS
• Small scale farmers
who devoted their
lives to growing
enough to stay alive
• Lived and worked
on manors
– Economic subunit
of fief
Women
• Feudalism saw many strong women who advised,
and sometimes dominated, their husbands.
• One of the most famous was
Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• An heiress to the duchy of
Aquitaine in southwestern France,
at 15 she married King Louis VII of
France.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
Kings:
• William I of Normandy
• In 1066, won Battle of Hastings over King Harold of
England
• William was crowned king of England.
• He gave fiefs to Norman knights, and all nobles had to
swear loyalty to him as the ruler of England.
• The French-speaking Normans and the Anglo-Saxon
nobility gradually merged into a new English culture.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
• William took the first census in western Europe
since Roman times, known as the Domesday
Book.
• He also developed the system of taxation and
royal courts earlier Anglo-Saxon kings had begun.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
Kings:
• Henry II, who ruled from 1154 to 1189, enlarged
the power of the English monarchy.
• He expanded the royal courts’ powers to cover
more criminal and property cases.
• Because royal courts were all over the land, a
body of common law–law common to the whole
kingdom–began to replace varying local codes.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
Kings:
• Henry claimed he had the right to punish the clergy in royal
courts.
• Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, disagreed.
• The angry king expressed his desire to be rid of Becket.
• Four knights took the challenge and killed the archbishop
in the cathedral.
• An outraged public caused Henry to back off his struggle
with the Church.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
Kings:
• Resenting the monarchy’s expanding power, many nobles
rebelled against King John.
• In 1215 at Runnymede, John was forced to agree to a
document of rights called the Magna Carta, or Great
Charter.
• The Magna Carta (it) recognized the longstanding feudal
idea of mutual rights and obligations between lord and
vassal.
Magna Carta
Magna Carta
• limited the power of English Monarchs,
specifically King John, from absolute rule
• Magna Carta was the result of disagreements
between the pope and King John and his barons
over the rights of the king
• Magna Carta required the king to renounce
certain rights and respect certain legal
procedures, and to accept that the will of the king
could be bound by law.
• Magna Carta is widely considered to be the first
step in a long historical process leading to the
rule of constitutional law.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
Kings:
• Edward I, In the thirteenth century the English Parliament
emerged.
• Parliament was an important step in developing a
representative government.
• Under Edward I it granted taxes and passed laws.
• It was composed of two knights from each county, two
people from each town, and all of England’s nobles and
bishops.
• The two houses still make up the British Parliament.
HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)
• Cities grew in size and
beauty
• Local and international
trade revived
• Kings began to break
down feudal system
and create nation-states
under their direct
control
REVIVAL OF LOCAL TRADE
• Growth in European population after centuries of decline
and/or stagnation
– Caused by increase in food supply
• Made possible by draining of swamps and clearing
of forests by monasteries
– Created surplus people on manors
• Manorial economy could not support them
• Moved to long-dormant towns
– Created demand for agricultural products from
countryside
– Stimulated demand for manufactured products
– Sparked revival of local trade and commerce
BYZANTINE EMPIRE
The Roman Empire never “fell”
JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA
• Conquest of old Western provinces
• Justinian’s Code (compilation of Roman law)
• Construction of Santa Sophia (Church of the
Holy Wisdom)
Justinian & Theadora
The Reign of Justinian
• Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman
Empire in 527. He wanted to restore the full Roman
Empire.
• By 552 he almost had, but only three years after his death in 565,
the Lombards had conquered much of Italy.
• Justinian’s most important contribution was his codification of
Roman law in The Body of Civil Law.
• It was the basis of imperial law until the Eastern Roman Empire
ended in 1453.
• It also became the basis for much of the legal system of Europe.
CRUSADES
• In theory, purpose was to take
back the Holy Land from
Moslem Turks
• Caused tremendous human
and material damage– without
permanently achieving
purpose
• Created demand for Middle
Eastern luxury products
among returned Crusaders—
thus stimulating international
trade
• Revival of local and
international trade created
Commercial Revolution
– Introduced modern
capitalism
THE CHURCH
• Administration of pope
was larger and more
sophisticated than that
of any king
• Wealth of the Church
was greater than any
king or merchant
– Also largest
landowner in Europe
• Popes contended with
kings on a equal basis
– Using powerful
spiritual weapons
• Excommunication
• Interdict
BYZANTINE ACHIEVEMENTS
• Empire renown for its wealth, power, and
military strength for centuries
• Army threw back or weakened wave after
wave of would-be invaders
– Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and
others
– Saved Western Europe from conquest
• Civilized barbarian tribes on fringes of
Europe
– Russians
• Converted to Christianity by
Byzantine missionaries
• Gave them alphabet they still use
today
– Cyrillic alphabet
END OF THE BYZANTINE
EMPIRE
• Territory of empire shrunk
over centuries
– Only included
Constantinople and
parts of Asia Minor and
southeastern Europe by
1200
• Constantinople falls to
Ottoman Turks in 1453
– Renamed city Istanbul
– End of Byzantine
Empire
SUMMARY
• High Middle Ages were a period of progress
and prosperity
– Cities grew in size and beauty
– Trade revived
– Kings reasserted their power over their
realms
– Church was at its peak of power and
prestige
• Then it all came crashing down in the 14th
century
– Crisis of the Late Middle Ages
Constantinople named Istanbul
• Chapter 10
CRISIS IN THE CHURCH
• Babylonian Captivity
– 1309-1372
– Popes fell under the control of the
French monarchy
– Forced to move to the southern
French city of Avignon
– Lost much power and prestige
• Great Schism
– Late 1370s
– Two, and for a while three, men all
claimed to be pope at the same
time
– Threw the church into confusion
– Crisis resolved in 1415 but Church
prestige had been permanently
damaged and many Christians
were left confused and/or cynical
100 YEARS WAR
• Caused by dispute over French
throne by France and England
• Lasted actually 116 years
• France won
• Introduction of longbow
rendered the heavily armored
horseman obsolete
• Hundreds of thousands people
died, decimating the population
growth of earlier years
• Heavy taxation provoked
peasant uprisings (jacqueries)
THE BLACK DEATH (BUBONIC
PLAGUE)
• Started in China in 1331
– Traveled across Asia to
Black Sea region
– Picked up by Italian
merchants and taken to
Europe
• Spread from Italy to
Germany, France, Spain,
and England
– Europeans could not cure it
or prevent it from spreading
• Catastrophic results
– 25% of population killed
– Some cities lost 75% of their
population
• Plunged Europe into a
severe depression
BYZANTINE CHRISTIANITY
• Church had fallen under the
control of the emperor
– Through his puppet, the
bishop of Constantinople
• Created tension with the pope
• Resulted in split within
Christianity in 1054
– Roman Catholic Church
• Headquartered in Rome
• Led by pope
– Eastern Orthodox Church
• Headquartered in
Constantinople
• Led by bishop of
Constantinople (and
Byzantine emperor)
– Shattered unity of Christian
Church forever