Download europe 600 1450

Europe 600-1450
Unit 3 Section 4
Early Medieval Western
Europe: 600-1000
• The period from the fall of the Romans until the beginning of the
Renaissance is known as the Medieval period, or the Middle Ages,
– chiefly because it is bracketed by periods of cultural, economic, and political
ascendancy – the once-great Roman Empire & the Renaissance
• The fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century, brought drastic
changes to western Europe, which entered a period of economic
decline and subsistence living
– Local lords and chieftains replaced Roman imperial rule
– the laws of the Roman Empire were supplanted by the Germanic traditions and
practices of the tribes in the area
– With the absence of centralized imperial authority, safety became the primary
concern, and peasants turned to local lords rather than faraway kings to provide
safety
• This need for protection was the political and cultural context out of which the feudal system
emerged in the 7th century
Charlemagne
• One exception to the weak kings of the early medieval
period was Charlemagne, whose grandfather, Charles
Martel, had prevented the Muslims from taking over
France (Gaul at the time) at the Battle of Tours in 732
– By that time Muslims controlled all of the Iberian peninsula,
having taken over the Visigoth kingdom and pushed the
Christians back
– By then, Charlemagne’s family, the Carolingians, and created
an empire that included all of Gaul and parts of Germany and
Italy
– Charlemagne brought about a brief period of intellectual
revival, but with the death of his son Louis the Pious, the
Treaty of Verdun split the empire into 3 parts, - one for each
of Louis’s sons and this brief period of empire in Medieval
Europe came to an end.
Collapse of Roman World
• While the Roman Empire had focused on urban life,
– exemplified by the city of Rome itself, western European
cities declined and in some cases became smaller villages.
• Roman roads also fell into disrepair, as did the great
buildings of Rome
• The Roman coin became a thing of the past, and local
trade was by barter
– Contact with the larger world through long-distance trade
around the Mediterranean severely declined
• With less communication with the larger world and no
strong central government, most Europeans relied on
their own local resources for both political control and
economic survival
Medieval Life & Serfdom
• Organization of medieval life thus settled around the
institution of the manor, which became the primary
source of local agricultural production in both northern
and southern Europe.
• The manor was far more than a single fortified
dwelling
– Life behind its walls sustained a small community of people
and included a mill, church, workshops and a village where
serfs lived
• Serfs, both men and women, worked the lands of the manor in
exchange for protection and were under the complete control of the
lord of the manor, the noble whose armed men provided for their
safety.
• Serfs were tied to the land and could not leave
• Most peasants across France, England, and western Germany in the
10th & 11th centuries were serfs
Feudalism
• The rigid system of serfdom did not allow for much personal or political
advancement
• However, for the noble class, opportunities for political and economic advancement
centered on warfare to protect lands from distant enemies like the Vikings as well as
other competing lords
• This centuries-long traditions of linking land rights to military service was termed
feudalism
– The feudal society was based on the vassal relationship, in which kings and
lords gave land to vassals in exchange for sworn military allegiance
– This vassal relationship looked different from region to region, but by the 11th
Century the key person in the medieval military was the knight
– Land given to a knight by his lord or king allowed him to afford armor and
horses, and the land, known as a fief, could be passed down through generations
– This allowed knights themselves to become wealthy lords, who could then enter
into vassal relationships with other knights
– Knights could also be in a vassal relationship with more than one lord at a time
Role of Women
Catholic Church
• The other central institution of medieval Europe was the
Catholic Church, the strongest unifying force in medieval
Europe
– The church created the moral framework for society, a task it
took very seriously
– The church also owned and controlled extensive lands
throughout medieval Europe on which it placed its monasteries
and converts
– The Catholic Church wrestled with secular lords and kings to be
the dominant authority over all matters, ecclesiastical or not
• This tension was not present in the Byzantine Empire;
– because as the appointed patriarch of Constantinople, the
emperor had both political and religious supremacy (one Guy –
Two Jobs but no competition or battle of Ego)
Pope
• The head of the western Church was the pope,
whose authority continued to grow stronger and
stronger in the early medieval period
• The pope was based in Rome and controlled
territory in Rome and central Italy
– He exercised authority over all clergy and, through his
councils of bishops, drew up the rules and doctrines that
priests communicated to lay people
• Catholics who were not part of the clergy
– He also demanded that secular leadership honor and
respect his authority
Investiture Controversy
Fight for power
Monasticism
• One other unique aspect of medieval European
Christian life was monasticism
– Monks and nuns separated themselves from daily life and
lived in gender-specific communities focused on a celibate
life of devotion, religious work, and simple living
• Nuns provided a refuge for women who were widowed or selected a
spiritual life instead of their traditional obligations to marry
• Monks served as missionaries, produced foods on their lands, and
made their monasteries resting places for weary pilgrims and other
travelers
• Monks were also the essential link between the past and the future
– They were the keepers of literacy and learning
– In addition to writing their own books on religious matters, monks
conserved the works of the Latin world by painstakingly copying them
Late Medieval Western
Europe: 1000-1450
• Important changes occurred in late medieval Europe
between 1000 and 1200
– Increases in population and agricultural production
allowed for a Food surplus,
• This created more opportunities for trade and towns
• A surplus of food freed people to focus on other industries in
artistry and construction
– These changes resulted from technological advances in
agriculture
• A new plow
• the use of the horse collar
• the use of horses instead of oxen
The Black Death
• The most dramatic shift in population – a reversal –
came to medieval Europe in the 14th century because
of the bubonic plague
– Known as the Black death, it ravaged Europe from 1347
to 1351, killing one in three Europeans
– the plague first hit Mongol armies stationed in Kaffa, a
port on the Black Sea
– Italian traders brought the disease from Kaffa to Italy,
and from there it traveled across the continent and to
England
• Not until 1500 did Europe’s population rebound to
its level before the plague
Aftermath of the Black Death
• The Black death left an impact far more significant than
just demographic change
– In many ways, the Black death killed serfdom
• With so many dead, laborers could charge more for their services,
and they rebelled against nobles who initially refused to comply
• Demand for the end of serfdom sparked uprisings across Europe
– Production rose as free laborers bought land for themselves or
became urban workers and could demand higher wages
– For those still working the land,
• technological improvements such as the waterwheel and windmill –
technologies that had long been in use in the Muslim world –
increasingly came into use in Western Europe
• These devices improved efficiency by powering a number of the
necessary tasks, from the grinding of grain to papermaking
• These technologies were also used for iron production, which
brought about the expansion of iron mining
Vikings
• In addition to the Muslims, the Scandinavian
Vikings were a formidable presence in medieval
Europe
– The Vikings, excellent shipbuilders, raided towns along
the coasts of England and France and eventually settled
in Normandy
• From there they would conquer parts of England and take Sicily
permanently from the Muslims
– The Vikings were among the earliest European explorers,
also settling Iceland and Greenland
• Around 1000 almost 500 years before Columbus they made it
to the North American continent without the use of maritime
technologies such as the compass and established Vinland, on
Newfoundland
2/26/2015
1. Discussion focused on chapter 17 (Review)
– Clarification?
– Connections?
2.  Quiz 
– 12 minutes
– Finished? Open up that notebook of yours and
review 16 notes
3. Chapter 16/19 notes continued
Changes to Cities
• Another important change was a revival of trade,
– propelled by the politically independent cities of Italy and Flanders that
were exclusively focused on seaborne trade
• These cities sprang up when individuals banded together to demand freedom from their
lord
– A lord who allowed this independence was sure to benefit from the economic prosperity of the
city brought to the region
– Laws were passed so that serfs who made their way to these cities were guaranteed their freedom
and were able to engage in other forms of industry
– These laws would be very important after the Black death
– Walled cities like Pisa, Florence, and Siena had to keep expanding as their
population increased
– Other Italian cities that rose to tremendous economic importance were:
• Genoa, with its access to the western Mediterranean,
• Venice which would become a trading powerhouse on the Adriatic Sea
– Venice engaged in trade with the Muslim courts of North Africa and the Mediterranean
» In this way Western Europe was slowly exposed to the wealth of goods traveling along the
silk Road and circulating in the Indian Ocean trading system
• Mongol control of the entire Eurasian landmass further opened trade between
Italian ports in the great ports of the East
Trade and Coinage
• Another vibrant center of sea trade in Europe:
– The Hanseatic League – a network of trading cities
centered in the Baltic
• They focused on the fishing industry and the growing trade in
wool and other textiles
• With the increase in trade came increased demand
for coined money
– Most coinage in the ninth and 10th centuries came from
the Muslim world and Byzantium, but with trade
reviving in the Mediterranean, gold and silver coinage no
longer was a luxury
Society and Scholasticism
• As the autonomous trading cities began to flourish, they offered
more opportunities for social mobility and individual opportunity
– Most of Europe’s Jews lived in cities, where they experienced periods of
great tolerance, as in Muslim Spain,
– but also periods of horrific persecution most often during times of
uncertainty and disaster like the Black Death
• Cities also became centers of learning as universities specializing
in fields such as education, law, and theology sprang up across
Europe
– Universities allow for new questions about the relationship between
reason and faith, a pursuit that came to be known as scholasticism
• Scholars like Thomas Aquinas and other pre-Renaissance thinkers tried to
reconcile the Bible with discovered Greek works from philosophers like
Aristotle
– Architecture also flourished; the best example of this is the Gothic
cathedral, which first appeared in France in the 12th century
• By trial and error, European architects mastered the mathematical and
engineering skills required to construct these huge soaring buildings
Setting the Stage for the
Renaissance
• All of the changes in the late medieval period
set the stage for the Renaissance
– A rebirth of classical learning and artistry
stimulated by
• urban revival,
• a growing merchant class,
• renewed economic contact with the Muslim world,
• the rise of new scholarship and artistry in the cities of
Europe,
– the Renaissance began in Italy and spread to
northern Europe over the coming centuries
The Crusades
• Economic revival in Western Europe occurred
alongside of and contributed to the Crusades,
– which had a profound effect on Europe as a whole
and on Western Europe in particular
• The series of military expeditions, spanning
more than 100 years, began with Pope Urban
II’s call in 1095 for Frankish (a broad term
synonymous with Western European) princes
to take back the holy land from Muslim
control
The Crusades
• Many elements of European culture contributed to
the Crusades:
– In an effort to calm the constant warring characteristic of
the feudal system,
• the church had introduced truces – limits to times of fighting
– These truces redirected warring from Christian versus Christian to
Christian versus the enemies of Christendom
• To a much smaller degree, land was inherited only by eldest
sons, so younger sons could participate in religious pilgrimage
and the proceeds provided an opportunity for younger sons to
gain new lands and titles for themselves
– Italian merchants, having reestablished a foothold in
Mediterranean trade, encouraged Crusades as a way to
gain access to ports under the control of Muslims
The Crusades
• By the 11th century, Muslim leaders had long been in control
of the holy Land;
– territory sacred to Christians included cities like Jerusalem,
Antioch, Alexandria
– Christians had been able to make pilgrimages to the cities,
• but as Islamic control continued to expand into Byzantine – and therefore
Christian – territory, the calls for Crusade quickened
• Despite the differences between the Latin Church and the Orthodox Church,
the Byzantine emperor requested help – (both secular and religious) – in
securing the land in the name of Christendom
– Pope Urban II raised the call to fight in 1095 and the first Crusade
resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and the establishment
of four Crusader kingdoms
• The following two crusades focused on holding these territories, but in 1187
Muslim armies took back Jerusalem
– The fourth Crusade had completely new goals;
• the capture of Constantinople was driven by economic incentives;
• it was encouraged by Venetians, who wanted to expand their trading to ports
formally under Byzantine and Muslim control
The Outcome of the Crusades
• The crusades failed in their attempts to take the holy land, but they
had a tremendous, long-lasting impact on European life (and
Really only European Life)
– Exposure to the Muslim world sparked the flow of an enormous amount
of information, ideas, goods, and resources to Europe (which were now
in demand among more classes)
– Crusaders brought back discoveries and manufacturing techniques that
allowed Europeans to make many of the goods they originally could only
import
– Demand for these goods from the Middle East stimulated the markets of
late medieval Europe and also expanded trade between the Muslim
world, Western Europe, and the Byzantine Empire
• The incredible intellectual contributions of Muslims made their
way to Europe in two forms:
– 1st the knowledge of the ancient Greeks preserved by Muslims
– 2nd scientific and technological understanding, which were enhanced in
the Muslim world
• Together they served as the intellectual underpinnings for Western
Europe’s transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Byzantine Empire
• After the fall of the Roman Empire, the eastern portion continued
as the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as its great capital,
and the empire would endure until its defeat by the Ottoman Turks
in 1453
– Geographically centered in Greek and Anatolian areas, the Byzantine
Empire, or Byzantium, used Greek as its language, and the empire
maintained and built upon many of the traditions of the Roman Empire
in terms of both law and economics
• Economically, the Byzantine emperors continued to regulate prices, the trading
of luxury goods, and grain shipments, which may have slowed technological and
economic advancements
• Constantinople received the most economic attention to the detriment of other
Byzantine cities and countryside, where farm tools and practices lagged in
efficiency when compared with those in Western Europe
– Part of Constantinople’s appeal was its ideal location between the Black
Sea and the Mediterranean, which made it an ideal center for trade and
travel, attracting merchants, aristocrats, and journeying pilgrims
• For hundreds of years, this port city – one of the five great patriarchal seats of
Europe – would be envied by many
– Constantinople’s glory hid the reality that the Byzantine Empire was on a
slow and steady decline
Byzantine Empire
• The Byzantine Empire enjoyed many cultural
and artistic achievements, all reflecting the
Greek orthodox interpretations of Christianity
as opposed to the Latin interpretations used in
Western Europe
– The empire reached its height under the Emperor
Justinian who ruled from 527 until 565
• He commissioned the building of the Hagia Sophia,
the greatest example of Byzantine architecture
– Byzantine sacred art had a great influence on preRenaissance painting in Western Europe
Cyrillic & Orthodox
Christianity
• The Byzantine Empire also had a tremendous
impact on the religious and cultural traditions
of Slavic Christians
– Followers of two Byzantine missionaries (Cyril &
Methodius) sent in the ninth century to preach to
the Slavs in their local language developed the
Cyrillic writing system,
• which became the written language of the Slavic and
Russian orthodox Christians
Byzantine Social Structure
• Socially, the Byzantine Empire gradually moved from an
urban way of life to a more rural one,
• although cities, particularly Constantinople, remained important
– Local urban elites holding power up through the seventh century
gave way to an increase in the power of rural landowners and
imperial court aristocrats
• This change could in part be the result of the demographic impact of the
bubonic plague, which hit the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century – much
earlier than in Western Europe – as well as the loss of territory to Muslims
• Byzantine women also saw a change in their position,
– moving from a freer status in the public arena during the Roman
period to a more secluded existence in the home, marked by
wearing the veil in public
– Social interactions with men were limited to family members
– Despite this, there are strong examples of women ruling with their
husbands in the 11th century
– the increasing seclusion of women in the Byzantine Empire can be
compared with the seclusion of women in the neighboring Muslim
empires
The Fall of the Byzantines
• The rising strength of the Muslim empire always proved to be a formidable
challenge for the Byzantine Empire, despite the growing importance of the
military, which was the basis of the aristocratic class by the 11th century
– Arab Muslims quickly took territory away from the Byzantine Empire in the
seventh century
– At the same time, the patriarchal cities of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem
came under Muslim control
– Other groups, such as the Slavic and Turkic peoples, would also serve as
threats to the borders of the Byzantine Empire
– The Seljuk Turks in particular would establish a Turkish Muslim state in the
early 11th century
• It became the main enemy of the Crusaders
• The fourth Crusade in 1204 was a mortal blow for the Empire because Western
European Crusaders sacked and destroyed much of Constantinople
– After 1200, the Byzantine empire declined, largely because of a weak military
– For the next 200 years the empire continued to lose territory
• It would limp along until 1453 when Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople
and ended the Byzantine Empire’s rain of over 1100 years
The Schism
• Not only did the Roman Empire split politically into
east and west; the church would eventually as well
– A series of doctrinal disputes over issues weakened the
relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the
Roman Catholic Church such as:
– the humanity and divinity of Jesus,
– the place of icons,
– the role of Mary
• At one point the patriarch in Constantinople also challenged the
territorial control that the Western Church enjoyed
– These disagreements eventually resulted in schism in 1054, a
formal split of Christendom that has endured through the
centuries
• This split produced two different cultural expressions of
Christianity in the period 600-1450
Kievan Russia
• To the north of the Byzantine Empire, a unique society developed in
Russia that also followed the traditions of the Orthodox Church
– The word Rus, from which Russia derives, came to refer to Slavic
speaking peoples who were ruled by the Varangians,
• Swedish Vikings who sailed down into Russia from the Baltic
• Varangian princes lived in cities and focused on trade while the Slavs worked the
lands
– Kiev was one of the key cities for trade with the Byzantine Empire
– In 980, Vladimir I made himself grand Prince of Russia
• He chose Orthodox Christianity as the religion of the region, married an Orthodox
princess of the Byzantine imperial family, and let in Orthodox missionaries
– Until the arrival of the Mongols in the 13th century, Kievan Russia
stood as an independent state that spread Orthodox Christianity to
Eastern Slavs and prevented the spread of Latin Christianity from
the West
Kievan Russia
• Economic prominence in Kiev came from trade,
– which provided the money to pay soldiers,
– artisans were valued above peasants
• Churches were built in the Byzantine style, and
slowly Christianity obliterated the polytheistic
traditions of the Slavs
– By the 12th century the church had taken over some
economic roles such as tax collection and had also
assumed political responsibilities
• Nonetheless, the large cities of Kiev and Novgorod
never matched the population levels or cosmopolitan
life found in cities like Constantinople and Baghdad