Download World History The Middle Ages / The Rise of Europe

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The period between 500 to 1450 is known as the
Middle Ages because it came between the fall
of Rome and the start of the modern era
The early Middle Ages was a period from 5001000 when Europe stopped advancing
Trade slowed, towns emptied, leaning stopped
Slowly a new civilization emerged called
medieval or Latin for middle age.
A blend of Greco-Roman, Germanic and
Christian traditions
Because Roman roads linked distant European territories
classical ideas, Latin language and Christianity spread
throughout Europe
 Europe is the second smallest in land area of the 7 continents
 It lies on the western end of Eurasia
 From 500-1000 Europe was considered frontier land or a sparsely
populated underdeveloped area on the outskirts of a civilization
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› Resources would include
1. Dense forests
2. Rich earth for growing crops
3. Underground minerals
4. Seas for food or transportation
5. Large rivers for trade
6. Mountain streams good for water wheels
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Germanic tribes who migrated across Europe
were farmers/herders who lived in small
communities governed by unwritten customs
They elected kings to led them into war
They had warrior nobles who swore loyalty to the
king in exchange for weapons and loot
Between 400-700 the Franks emerged as the
strongest of the many kingdoms kingdom
In 486, Clovis, king of the Franks, conquered
Gaul and rule according to Frankish traditions
He converted to Christianity thus earning their
support but also gained a powerful ally in the
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The religion of Islam appears in Arabia in 622
and a huge powerful empire would be created
Muslims or believers in Islam, created a large
empire stunning European Christians when
Muslim armies overran up into North Africa and
Spain
When Muslims crossed into France Charles
“The Hammer” Martel rallied Frankish warriors
and defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours
To Europeans it was a sign that God was on their
side
European Christians felt the Muslims were a
threat and treated them with hostility even
though Europeans would learn much from them
since their learning had exceeded their own.
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Around 800, W. Europe
was united by the
grandson of Charles
Martel, Charlemagne or
Charles The Great
He enjoyed battles
He united much of the old
Roman Empire
His empire reached
across France, Germany,
and part of Italy and
reunited much of the old
Roman empire
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In 800, Pope Leo III called on Charlemagne for help
fighting rebellious nobles in Rome
The pope showed his gratitude by placing a crown
on Charlemagne’s head and proclaiming him
Emperor Of the Romans
The enormous significance of this ceremony was:
A Christian pope had crowned a German king
successor to the Roman emperors
This revived the idea of a united Christian community
It laid the ground for power struggles between future
Roman Catholic popes and German emperors
It outraged the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople
who saw himself as the sole Roman ruler
Helped widen the split between the eastern and
western Christian worlds
Charlemagne tried to exercise control of his
lands and create a united Christian Europe
 He worked closely with the church
 Spread Christianity to the conquered peoples
 He appointed powerful nobles to rule local
regions
 To keep these provincial rulers under control
by sending missi dominici or officials to
check on roads, listen to grievances, and see
that justice was done
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Charlemagne wanted to make his court a
second Rome
 He revived Latin Learning
 He developed a curriculum or formal course
of study
 Alcuin’s system would become the
educational model for medieval Europe
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After Charlemagne died in 814 his empire
The Treaty of Verdun: divided Charlemagnes empire
Charles the Bald: took the western part (France)
Louis the German: took the eastern portion
(Germany)
Lothair: who becomes the Holy Roman Emperor,
took land in the middle from North Sea southward to
Italy
He extended Christian civilization into northern
Europe
He further blended the German, Roman, and
Christian traditions
He set up a strong efficient government
He set an example to later medieval rulers on how to
strengthen their own kingdoms
Muslim forces still pose
threat to Europe as did
the Magyars and Vikings
 The Vikings were from
Scandinavia and looted
and burned communities
along the coasts and
rivers of Europe
 http://www.history.com/t
opics/exploration/vikingshistory/videos/bet-youdidnt-know-vikings
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Ceremonies between nobles and lesser lords,
exchanging vows of loyalty and service are a
common scene and were a part of a new
political and social system that governed
medieval life
 In the face of invasions kings and emperor’s
were too weak to maintain law and order and
people needed protection
 A new system evolved known as Feudalism
 Feudalism was a loosely organized system of rule
in which powerful local lords divided their
landholdings among lesser lords in exchange for
service and loyalty to a greater lord
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The relationship between lords and vassals
was established by custom and traditions
and by an exchange of pledges known as
the feudal contract
 A lord granted his vassal a fief or a estate
 Fiefs ranged from a few acres to hundreds of
square miles and included the serfs living on
it
 As part of the feudal contract, the lord
promised to protect his vassal in return a
certain amount of days of military service
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Everyone has a place in
feudal society
The Monarch
Powerful lords ,dukes
and counts and each
one had
Vassals can hold fiefs
from more than one
lord
Knights: mounted
warriors
Serfs: peasants tied to
the land
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For feudal nobles, warfare was
a way of life battling each
other constantly for power,
many nobles trained from
boyhood to become a knight
or mounted warrior
At the age of seven a boy
became a page learning to
ride, fight, keep up armor and
weapons
Then he becomes a squire
Kneeling before an older
knight the squire is declared a
knight
As battles decreased in the
1100’s tournaments or mock
battles came into fashion
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=wh5tsGQ9KLQ
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Powerful lords fortified
their homes to
withstand attacks with a
keeps or wooden
towers, fences and
moats
They became gradually
became larger and
grander
Wars often centered on
seizing a castle that
commanded strategic
locations
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Noblewomen played active roles since their
husbands or fathers were away fighting
She supervised vassals, managed the
household and performed necessary
agricultural/medical tasks. Even going to war
Some got into politics
Women’s inheritances were severely restricted.
Land usually went to eldest son she could get
land as part of her dowry and her husband
died
Nobles children were sent friends or relatives
for training
In latter Middle Ages knights adopted a
code of conduct called chivalry
 This required knights to be brave, loyal and
true to their work and fight fairly
 Chivalry also dictated how warriors treated
captured knights
 Chivalry placed women on a pedestal,
calling for women to be protected and
cherished
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At the heart of medieval economy was the
manor or lord’s estate
 Most manors included villages and
surrounding areas
 Peasants made up the majority of the
population
 Most peasants on the manor were serf who
were bound to the land, they were not
slaves who could be bought and sold but
they also could not leave the manor without
the lord’s permission
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Peasants and their lords were tied together by mutual
rights and obligations
Peasants had to work the lords land
Peasants paid the lord a fee when they married,
inherited land, used the mill and dues at Christmas
and Easter
Since they had no money they paid with products
such as grain, honey, eggs, or chickens
In return for a life time of labor, peasants had the
right to farm several acres for themselves
They were entitled to the lord’s protection from Viking
raids or feudal warfare
While serfs could not leave the manor they also
could not be forced off
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The manor was generally self-sufficient, meaning
the peasants produced almost everything
They had no schooling, no knowledge of the
world outside
The typical manor included a few dozen one
room huts clustered close together in a village,
Nearby, would be a water mill to grind grain
A tiny church and the manor house
The fields surrounding the village were divided
into narrow strips, each family had strips of land
so that they could share good and bad land
Life was harsh and short working long hours
from sunup to sundown
 + Late winter hunger was common
 Usually slept in a one room hut with the
animals in the winter
 Disease took a heavy toll, few lived past age
35
 Times to celebrate were, marriages, births,
Christmas, Easter, and other festivals in the
Christian calendar
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The Medieval Christian Church emerges as the
most powerful force in Europe
The Church’s teachings and practices shaped
the lives of Christian Europeans
During the Middle Ages the church’s most
important achievement was to Christianize the
diverse peoples of western Europe
In 597, Pope Gregory I sent Augustine to
convert the Anglo Saxons of England
Later missionaries spread their faith
Women also spread the faith with some
marrying pagan kings and converting them to
Christianity
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In the manor villages the priest of the parish or
local region was usually the only contact
people had with the Church
The priest celebrated mass and by
administering the sacraments or the sacred rites
of the Church
Christians believed that faith in Christ and good
deeds would lead them to salvation or
everlasting life with God
Priest also preached the Gospels and teachings
of the church, offered assistance to the sick and
needy
Everyday life: they married peasants and
nobles, members and baptized children and
buried the dead in sacred ground
The church was a social center as well as a
place of worship
 To support itself and its parishes, the Church
required Christians to pay a tithe or tax equal
to a tenth of their income
 Daily life revolved around the
 The Church taught that men and women
were equal before God but on earth women
were viewed as weak and easily led into sin,
thus they needed the guidance of men
 The Church tried to protect women by fining
men who injured their wives
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Both women and men withdrew from their worldly life to
behind monasteries and convents walls devoting
themselves to spiritual goals
About 530 AD, a monk named Benedict organized the
monastery of Monte Cassino Italy
He drew up a set of rules to regulate monastic life was used
by monasteries and convents across Europe
Under Benedictine Rule, monks and nuns took three vows
1. Obedience to the abbot or abess
2. Poverty
3. Chastity or purity
Monks singing chant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBwh1OXw6uI
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Monasteries & convents provided basic services for
people such as hospitals and schools
They gave food and lodging to travelers, especially to
Christian pilgrims
Some monks and nuns became missionaries
St. Patrick: a monk who set up the Irish Church
The Church honored many missionaries by declaring
them
Monasteries and convents also performed a vital role in
preserving the writings of the ancient world, often copying
ancient works as a form of labor
Many manuscripts remained unread for centuries
Venerable Beebe wrote the earliest known history of
England and introduced the use of AD and BC
Educated monks and nuns kept learning alive by
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Although women could not become priest they
could enter convents
It was a place where strong minded women could
escape the limits of society. But as time goes by the
Church will put more restrictions on nuns, many
could needlework, make banners and teach
The pope was the spiritual leader of the Roman
Catholic Church
As a representative of Christ on earth the pope
claimed papal supremacy or authority over all
secular rulers
Bishops and archbishops were usually nobles
Church officials were closely linked to secular rulers
because churchmen were often the only educated
people,
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The Church developed it’s own body of laws know
as Cannon Law
Canon laws applied to religious teachings, the
clergy, marriages and morals
Anyone disobeying canon law could be Heretic
This meant you could not receive the sacraments
or a Christian burial
A powerful noble who opposed the church could
face
The Church tried to use its great authority to end
feudal warfare by declaring periods of truce or
temporary peace known as Peace of God
It demanded that all fighting stop between Friday
and Sunday and on religious holidays.
It may have contributed to a decline in the 1100
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The very success of the medieval Church brought problems, As
the Church’s wealth and power grew more corrupt
Some monks and nuns ignored their vows
Some clergy lived in luxury
Priests could marry and some treated priesthood as a family
inheritance
Throughout the Middle Ages there were calls for reforms in the
church
In the early 900’s Abbot Berno of Cluny monastery set out to end
abuses and revived Benedictine Rule
These reforms swept across Western Europe
He declared that he would no longer allow nobles to interfere in
monastery affairs
In 1073, Pope Gregory VII extended the Cluniac reforms to the
entire church to the entire church
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Over the centuries other reform movements
battled corruption and worldliness
1200’s Francis of Assisi set up an order of Friars
who did not live in isolated monasteries but
traveled around Europe’s preaching to the poor
The Franciscan order he set up preached poverty.
Humility and love of God
Dominic, a Spanish priest set up the Dominican
order whose chief goal was to combat heresy by
teaching official Roman Catholic beliefs
Women joined this reform movement by creating
new
religious groups, most only accepted well born
women whose families gave a dowry or gift
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Jewish communities existed across Europe and in Spain
The Muslims who conquered Spain in 711 were tolerant of both Jews and Christians
Muslim Spain became the center of Jewish culture and scholarship
Jewish farmers migrated to other parts of Western Europe and would be know as
“German Jews”
For centuries Christians and Jews lived side by side in relative peace
German kings gave educated Jews positions at court but taxed them heavily
Late 1100’s Christian persecution of Jews increased with many church leaders
charging that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus
As the church grew more powerful it issued orders forbidding Jews to own land or
practice most occupations yet turned to them as financial advisors and physicians
Anti-Semitism or prejudice against Jews
worsened, with many Christians blaming Jews for disasters or illness they could not
understand
Jews were barred from other professions so rulers turned to them as financial advisers
and physicians
In response to growing persecution, many Jews migrated to Eastern Europe
There the rulers welcomed their skills and knowledge and Jewish communities would
thrived in Eastern Europe until modern times
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The appearance of new towns was a symbol of Europe’s
economic recovery
This revival, which lasted from about 1000 to 1300, is called
the High Middle Ages
In 1000 Europe’s economic recovery was underway
It began in the countryside where peasants adapted
new farming technologies making fields more
By the 800’s, peasants were using iron plows that could
carve deeper
New harnesses so they could use horses rather than oxen
which would be faster and produce more food
Windmills were used where there were no fast moving
streams and would be used to grind the peasants grain into
flour
Feudal lords pushed peasants to clear forests,
drain swamps and reclaim wasteland for farming
and grazing
 Peasants also adopted the three field system
:where one field would be planted with grain,
the second with peas or beans and the third
would be unplanted or fallow
 All these improvements let farmers produce
more food and with more food available
 With the population increasing, more goods
were needed and wanted
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With the population increasing, more goods
were needed and wanted
At first, traders and their customers did business
at local trade fairs with took place each year
near navigable rivers or where busy trade routes
met
People from surrounding villages, towns and
castled came to trade fairs
Peasants traded farm goods and animals but
not luxury items and enjoyed the atmosphere
The peasants had no money to buy the luxury
goods that the nobles could
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Traders formed merchant companies that traveled in armed
caravans for safety
Trade fairs closed in autumn when weather began to turn
bad merchants settled would wait out winter months near a
castle or town with a bishop’s palace which in turn attracted
artisans to sell to the merchants
Slowly small centers of trade and crafts turned into cities
Merchants who set up new towns would ask the local lord
for a Charter or written document setting out the rights and
privileges of the town
In return merchants paid the or a large sum of money or
fees or both
Although charters did vary they almost always granted
towns people the right to choose their own leaders and
control their own affairs
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As trade revived and towns reappeared
Merchants needed money so they borrowed money from money
lenders
In time their need for capital or money for investment
To meet the changing economy, Europeans developed new
ways of doing business
Partnerships: a group of merchants pooled their funds to finance
a large scale venture too costly for any individual
Merchants also developed a system of insurance to reduce
business risks for a small fee an underwriter would insure the
merchant’s shipment so if it was lost or destroyed the underwriter
paid the merchant most of its value. If the good arrived safely the
merchant lost only the insurance payment
Bills of Exchange was when a merchant deposited money with a
banker in his home city and the banker issued a bill of exchange
for cash in a distant city so the merchant could travel without
carrying gold coins which were easily stolen
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As the economy changed so did society
Money undermined serfdom
Lords needed money to buy fine goods, as a result many
peasants began selling farm products to towns people
By 1300, most peasants in Western Europe were either tenant
formers who paid rent for their land or hired for labor
In towns, the old social order of nobles, clergy and peasants
had changed, by 1000 there was a new class called the middle
class that was made up of merchants, traders and artisans
Nobles & clergy despised the new middle class because they
were a disruptive and beyond their control
During the Middle Ages the Church forbade Christians to lend
money at interest
As a result many Jews, who were barred from other professions
became money lenders
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In medieval towns, merchants and artisans formed
associations known as Guilds
Merchant guilds dominated town life, passing laws and
levying taxes, and how town money would be spent
In time artisan guilds resent the powerful merchants and
they organized
Guild members cooperated to protect their own
economic interest
To prevent competition they limited membership
No one but guild members could work in any trade
Guild members made rules to protect the quality of their
goods, regulate hours of labor and set prices.
Guilds also provided social services like operating
hospitals, schools and looked after the needs of their
members
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To become a guild member meant many years
of hard work
At the age of seven or eight a child might
become an apprentice or trainee to a guild
member was not paid but given bed and board
Journeymen or salaried workers did not always
become guild members and were paid low
wages
Master Craftsman or full guild member
Women worked in dozens of crafts
A woman often engaged in the same trade as
her father or husband
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Medieval towns and cities were surrounded by high walls
and as the city grew, space within the walls filled to
overflowing with many living outside the walls
To keep up with the constant growth every few years the
city might rebuild the walls further and further out
A typical medieval city was a jumble of narrow streets with
tall houses and large cathedrals
Even rich towns had no garbage collection or sewer
system. Waste was just flung into the streets so they we
Trade put new ideas as well as money into circulation
New riches revised the social structure
New forces were at work in politics
Europeans would come into contact with civilizations
much more advanced than themselves
From these lands came products, ideas and technologies
that would transform Europe re filthy smelly, noisy and
crowded
1. An estate granted to a vassal
 2. A peasant bound to the lords land
 3. Code of conduct adopted by knights
 4. Frankish king who converted to Christianity
 5. Ruler who led at the Battle of Tours________
 6. Ruler who created an empire in Europe
 7. Fierce raiders from Scandinavia
 8. A boy training for knighthood
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