Download Topic #7 Medieval Christian Europe_ Lessons 1-4

TOPIC #7: MEDIEVAL
CHRISTIAN EUROPE
Lessons 1-4
Byzantine Empire
• Rome capital moved to Byzantium, later named
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Constantinople
330 A.D. - Constantinople named new capital of Rome
As Western Rome falls, Eastern Roman Empire thrives
and Constantinople remains a prosperous city
City built on Bosporus shores, which connect to the
Mediterranean
City becomes the favorite location for trade and soon,
becomes Europe’s busiest market places
Justinian
• Byzantine Empire reaches it height during the rule of
Emperor Justinian, 527 to 565
• Reconquering of lands in North Africa, Italy, and southern
Iberian peninsula
• Due to riots and fire, Justinian rebuilds Constantinople,
making it “greater than ever” – rebuilt the Church of the
Hagia Sophia - “Holy Wisdom” – rebuilt images of
Solomon's temple
Justinian
• Justinian’s Code
• Set out to revive Roman law, revise, collect, and organize laws of
ancient Rome
• Corpus Juris Civils – Body of Civil law – Justinian’s Code
• Justinian’s Code - Massive collection of Roman laws passed by
assemblies or decreed by Roman emperors, as well as writings of
Roman judges and a handbook for students
• Helped Western European monarchs with principles to support their
own code of laws
• Absolute Rule
• Law used to unify empire under him
• Autocrat – sole rile with complete authority
• Emperor claimed to have as much power as the Church – combo or
spiritual and political power
• Theodora – wife, politician who served as advisor to Justinian and
pursued her own policies
Justinian
• Strong central government = flourishing empire
• Byzantine Empire builds one of the strongest military
forces in the world
• Great defense kept the city and empire safe
• After Justinian
• Several attacks made on the city/empire by the Persians, Slavs,
Vikings, Huns, and Turks – largely unsuccessful
• Prevented the spread of Muslim influences to Western Europe
• Byzantines held on to the heartland of Balkans and Asia Minor
Byzantine Empire Falls
• At time of Great Schism, Byzantine Empire already in decline
due to rise of Western European monarchs in feudalism and
new expanding threats, like the Normans and the Seljuk Turks
• 4th Crusade
• Venetian (people from Venice) merchants persuaded Crusader knights
to attack Constantinople
• City plundered and destroyed for three days, Byzantine Empire never
fully recovers
• Fall of Constantinople
• 1453 – Ottoman Turks surround city and after 2 months of siege,
Byzantine Emperor died fighting
• Mehmet II, Ottoman ruler, renamed city Istanbul and converted the city
to Muslim Worship – Haiga Sophia transformed to an Isamic house of
worship
After the Fall
• Roman Empire included most of the Western European world
• Unification of the region came through Roman control, allowed
for the spread of Christianity, Latin, Roman thought, and
Roman customs
• Following the collapse of the empire, Western Europe entered
into a period of social, political, and economical upheaval – due
to not a strong central dominating force in the region
• 500 to 1500 area is politically divided, and cut off from the other
advanced civilizations
• Constant violence, slow trade, population decrease, and halt of
classical learning all led to what is known as the “Dark Ages”
Middle Age
• During this time period, a blending of Greco-Roman,
Germanic, and Christianity occurs allowing for a new
civilization(s) to emerge
• 500 to 1500 – Medieval Age
• Latin – “middle age”
Germanic Tribes
• Goths, Vandals, Saxons, and Franks – all Germanic tribes
that conquered parts of Rome
• Culture is vast different than Rome
• Famers, herders – relying on oral tradition, not written
code of laws – lived in small communities
• 400 to 700 – Western Europe is shaped into small
kingdoms by these tribes
Franks
• 486 – Clovis, king of the
Franks conquers Gaul,
later to become France
• Preserved Roman legacy
• Convert to Christianity to
gain support of the
people of Gaul along
with the support of the
Roman Catholic Church,
the Pope
A New Threat
• Islam establishes itself as a predominant religion in the
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Middle East during the 600s – new believers create new
expanding Empire
Islam overruns Christian lands from Palestine to Spain
Charles Martel – rallies Frankish warriors to stop the
Muslim threat
Battle of Tours – 732 Christian warriors stop the
advancement of the Islamic empire
Beginnings of the Christian/Muslim rivalry which will
dominate medieval politics
Battle of Tours
Charlemagne
• 768 – grandson of Charles Martel became king of the
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Franks
He becomes known as Charles the Great, aka
Charlemagne
Charlemagne becomes known as the next most powerful
man in Western Europe since the Roman Emperor at the
height of Roman power
46 year reign spent fighting Muslims in Spain, Saxons in
northern Europe, Avars and Slavs in east, Lombards in
Italy
Conquests reunited much of the old Western Roman
empire
Charlemagne
“Charles the Great” & “Carolus Magnus “
Charlemagne
• 799 – Charlemagne aides Pope
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Leo III in Rome to put down
rebellion
800 – Christmas Day,
Charlemagne is crowned
Emperor of the Romans,
crowned by the Pope
Germanic successor of the
Roman Emperors
Creates a unified Christian
kingdom known as
Christendom
Charlemagne’s crown
deepened the split between
Eastern & Western Europe (As
a non-roman leading the
“West”)
• Works closely with the
Church in order to
spread Christianity
throughout Europe
• Spread of Christianity is
both a political (power)
and spiritual reason
• Saxons and Slavs in
North and East
converted throughout
Western Europe
Charlemagne
Charlemagne
• In order to maintain order in the provinces throughout
Christendom- Charlemagne sends officials called missi
dominci – job was to check roads, infrastructure, listen to
grievances, and see that justice was done, pretty much
like an assistant coach
• Charlemagne encouraged education throughout the
Empire, created local schools, emphasized record
keeping, brought back the need and use of scholars, a
small rebirth into philosophy under a Christian mindset
Charlemagne
• Charlemagne dies in 814
• Louis I , takes over throne, conflict ensues
• 843 – Treaty of Verdun, empire is split into 3 regions
• Lasting Legacy – responsible for the spread of Christianity
throughout most of Western and Northern Europe , further
blended Germanic, Roman, and Christian cultures,
established an example of how to create and maintain a
strong central government
New Threats
• Muslims forces and attacks do not subside until 900’s
• Magyars – nomadic people that settled in Hungary
overrun eastern Europe and spread throughout Germany,
France, and Italy
• Vikings – origins in Scandinavia, northern region including
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, expert sailors who began
to expand past Scandinavia in late 700s
• Destructive raiders and expert tradesmen & explorers,
sailed Mediterranean and even across Atlantic
Feudalism
• New threats to Western Europe called for people to need
protection – need for protection forms a decentralized
political structure
• Feudalism – loosely organized system of rule in which a
powerful local lord divided their landholdings among
lesser lords
• Lesser lords in feudalism – vassals
• Vassals pledge service and loyalty to the greater lord
Feudalism
• Relationship between lords and vassals based on the
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exchange of land for loyalty and military service
Feudal contract – exchange of pledges
Under feudalism powerful lord granted his vassal a fief or
an estate
Fiefs could be a small piece of land or hundreds of acres,
included peasants to work in the land and any towns or
buildings on it
Lord promised to protect the vassal
Vassal agreed to loyalty to the lord, military service for the
lord, money from land, and advice
Feudalism
• Below monarch, powerful lords like dukes and counts –
held the largest fiefs
• Each lord had vassals, and those vassals would have
their own vassals
• Same man could be lord and vassal, by being a vassal to
a powerful lord above him and lord to a less powerful
vassal below him
• In order to maintain loyalty to different lords, vassals
would have a liege lord – lord who vassal had first loyalty
Knights and Nobles
• Warfare is a constant in medieval life, nobles began
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training at young age to become a knight – mounted
warrior
Difficult training, strict discipline, started at young age
Dubbed knight in public ceremony by lord of the land
Fought on horseback, wearing armor using various
weapons
Often engaged in mock battles to test their skills called
tournaments
Castle Defense
• Homes fortified to
withstand attack
• Homes become
fortresses in order to
defend themselves from
attack
• Due to this,
advancements in siege
warfare
Chivalry
• Adopted code of conduct for knights – chivalry
• Required knights to be brave, loyal, and true to their word
• Far in warfare, do not attack under opponents armor was on
• Treat prisoners well
• Told knights to protect the weak – peasants and noblemen
• In chivalry, women placed high on top of social order – placed
on a pedestal
• Chivalry is a basic/primitive form of international warfare
agreements
• Troubadours – wandering musicians who sang and talked
about noble deeds and devotions done by their knights
• Epic stories and poems are based off the work of troubadours
Manor: Economic System
• Heart of medieval economy – manor, lord’s estate
• Manor included one or more villages and surrounding
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areas
Manor system – manorial system, the lord of the manor
exercised legal and economic power over the peasants
who lived on the estate
Generally self-sufficient
Peasants – majority of the population lived & worked on
the manor
Peasants were serfs, bound to the land
Not slaves but not free, could not leave without
permissions and subjected to local lord
Peasants
• Peasants worked on the manor repairing infrastructure
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like roads, bridges, fences, and farms
Taxes due to the lord
Could not be sold like slaves
Little opportunity to use their own money
Could farm land for themselves
Under the protection of the lord
Were guaranteed food, housing, and land for their service
Peasant life
• Simple – life sucked and was harsh
• Women and children forced to work long hours as well
• Hunger often a problem
• Diseases rampant, life expectancy no higher than 40
• Simple diet, meat reserved for the lord
• Livestock slept in housing with peasant family
• Good times for Christian holidays, marriages, and births
Medieval Church
• Church’s most important achievement during the early
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middle ages is converting Western Europe to Christianity
By the end of the middle ages, Western Europe is a
Christian civilization, if not, you were viewed under
suspicion
Priest – only contact for members of a village to the
Church
Sacraments – sacred rites of the Church, belief was that
participating in the sacraments led to salvation
Mass and teachings of the Church only done in Latin
Medieval Church
• Church was the social center of the town, usually the
largest public building in the village, next to the castle
• Stone churches showed the wealth of a village
• Tithe – tax equal to a tenth of their income to the church,
supported the local church and the Church in Rome
Cathedrals
• Larger, supreme,
luxurious churches called
cathedrals
• Built in Gothic style,
pointed arches, groin
vaults, and flying
buttresses
Monasteries & Convents
• Benedictine Rule – rules created by the 530 Italian monk
Benedict that were used to regulate monastic life – used
by monasteries and convents across Europe
• 3 vows – obedience, poverty, chastity
• Worship, work, study
• Improved techniques to the middle ages’ farming
Monasteries & Convents
• Public places for healing and education
• Shelter to the poor, sick, and traveling
• Key in record keeping
• Monks would translate and re-record works of history,
philosophy, and other educational material
• Women, can’t be priest, but join convents in service to the
Church
Church Power
• Secular – worldly power, outside the realm of spirituality
• Pope – spiritual authority in Western Europe
• Papal Supremacy – authority over all secular rulers,
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including kings and emperors under Christianity
Papal doctrine stated that Papal office was infallible, can
not be argued
Pope control lands known as the Papal states
Churchman & clergy members working with Pope were
often nobles & other feudal lords
Churchmen often educated so they were appointed to
govt. positions, sometimes even relatives
Church Power
• Belief that salvation came through belief in Christ, good works,
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and participating in the sacraments
Since Church controlled sacraments, Church could abuse
power in order to maintain control over the populous - absolute
power on religious matters
Canon law – Church developed body of laws, governed many
aspects of life, wills, marriages, and morals
Excommunication – no longer considered members of the
Church, could not receive sacraments, Christian burial, and
condemned to hell
Interdict – order excluding an entire town, region, or kingdom
from receiving most of the sacraments & Christian burials
Stronger rulers would give in when facing a punishment of this
source
Reform
• Due to the abuses going on
• 1073 – Pope Gregory VII
in the Church, need to
reform becomes apparent
• 900s – Abbot Berno,
reforms monastery in
Cluny, Eastern France
• Revives Benedictine Rule
• Reuses to allow nobles and
aristocracy to interfere with
monastery
made the Church chose
Church officials, not
outside influences
• Outlawed marriage of
priests
• Prohibited simony –
selling of Church offices
Preaching Orders
• Friars – monks who did not live in isolated monasteries,
traveled around Europe preaching to the poor
• Franciscans – first order of the friars, founded by St.
Francis of Assisi – Italian monk who devoted himself
preaching and teaching examples on good works
• Dominicans – founded by St. Dominic, Spanish priest,
founded to teach official beliefs in order to combat
heresies
Jews in Medieval Europe
• Jewish communities live alongside with Christian &
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Muslims – taxed heavily
Jews serve in Muslim courts and lived peacefully
alongside Christians, very tolerant
Anti-Semitism – prejudice against Jews
More Christianized Europe brings more Jewish prejudice,
little interaction with Christians
Jews often used as a scapegoat to problems in towns and
villages
Jews forced to move and flourish in Eastern Europe
Usury – practice of lending money at interests, Christians
for forbidden to this, many Jews became moneylenders
Byzantine Christianity
• Reject of the Pope’s claim to authority in the Church
• Emperors served as a spiritual leader, not priest, still
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appointed positions in the Church
Appointed patriarch – highest Church official
Byzantine clergy kept right to marry
Greek was major language of Church, not Latin
Greatest emphasis placed on Easter than Christmas, like
in Western Europe
Church Divides “Great Split”
• Dispute over use of icons – holy images
• Byzantine Emperor ruled that icons violated God’s
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commandment against worshipping of “graven images”
Dispute leads to more disputes of power between
Byzantine Emperor & Pope
More disputes and resentment lead to the Great Schism –
split between the Western and Eastern forms of the
Catholic Church
Eastern Church becomes Greek Orthodox Church
Pope & Patriarch (Greek Orthodox) excommunicated
each other
Agricultural Revolution
• 800s – peasants using iron plow, better designed to fit soil
make-up in Europe, new harness to attach to horses
making it more possible to plow more in a day
• Three-field system – one field planted with grain, another
with legumes, third field left unplanted
• Legumes allowed for fertility to be returned to the soil & added
protein to diet
• More food available allowed for the population in Europe to grow –
triples from 1100 to 1300
Trade is Back!
• Traders formed large armed caravans for safety, following
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classic trade routes
All of Europe now trading with parts of Mediterranean, not
just towns/villages off the coast
Medieval cities grow as artisans settle where merchants
and traders settle
Populations of cities grow to over 10,000 and even
100,000 in fourteenth century
Richest cities – Northern Italy & Flanders – ends of major
trade routes
Charter
• To protect interests, merchants would ask King, or local
lord for a charter
• Charter – written document that set out the rights and
privileges of the town
• Merchants usually paid for the charter
• Peasants free if lived in town for one year and one day
Commercial Revolution
• Use of money increases as trade increases
• Capital – money for investment
• Partnerships – new form of business in which a group of
merchants would join together, pool their funds together in
order to finance a large scale venture that would have
been too costly for one individual – made capital more
easily available
• First use of insurance to reduce business risks
• Payment could be made from bank to bank, instead of
risking to carry gold coins during travel
Blow to Feudalism
• New business styles changed society
• Use of money undermined serfdom
• Peasants would sell farm products to townspeople and
would pay rent to lord instead of paying with labor
• By 1300s, most peasants are tenant farmers – pay for
land
• Jews become moneylenders due to Church forbidding
Christians to lend money with interest, leads to further
Jewish resentment
Rise of the Middle Class
• Merchants, traders, artisans all form a new social order
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between nobles and peasants – middle class
Guilds – associations that were formed between
merchants and artisans, trade organizations
Would grow to have major economic & political influence
on the town – passed laws, levy taxes, and how to spend
public funds
Merchant and craft guilds fought for power
Guilds worked together for their own economic interests,
limited competition, protecting the quality of their goods,
and regulating their work hours
Guild System
• Apprentice – trainee to guild master
• Seven years learning trader, master must provide food/housing, no
wages
• Journeymen - salaried workers
• Low wages for journeymen made it impossible for them to
open competitive shops
• Women worked in crafts, same as father or husband,
even would take over as guild master
• Women would dominate certain fields like ribbon-making,
papermaking, silk & wool & clothing trades – precursors to
the modern-day textile industry
New City Life
• Protection came in form of high walls, limited space, leads
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to over-crowded areas
Bigger population calls for more space, so second and
third stories are added to buildings
Church is still the center, physically & spiritually
Busy during day, deserted at night
Unsanitary conditions, waste constantly in streets
Filthy, smelly, crowded, noisy – breeding ground for
disease
Crusades
• Religion of Islam stretch from modern day Spain to India,
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Muslims traders responsible for cultural diffusion throughout
many areas – vast Muslim influence in Southwestern Europe,
Mediterranean, and Indian subcontinent
Byzantine Empire – generally prosperous and well-off
1050s – Seljuk Turks invaded Byzantine Empire, Islam
converts
By 1071 – Seljuks had extended power over the Holy Land –
Jerusalem, and other biblical cities in spread through Palestine,
believed to be where Jesus preached and lived
Conflict between Seljuks and Byzantine Empire prevented
many Christian travelers from traveling to the Holy Land
Jerusalem Conflict
• Three major religions lay claim to Jerusalem as their holy
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city
Christians – believe that Christ died in Jerusalem, rose
three days later
Jewish – Great temple of Solomon located at the heart of
Jerusalem
Muslims – Dome of the Rock is where it is believed to be
the place where Mohammad ascended to Heaven
Not just Holy Land for Christians, but for all
The Crusades
• The crusades – a series of “holy wars” wars between
Christian and Muslim kingdoms fighting for control of
areas in the Middle East
• First Crusade: 1096 - 1099
• Second Crusade: 1145 - 1149
• Third Crusade: 1189 - 1192
• Fourth Crusade: 1202 - 1204
• Fifth Crusade: 1217 - 1221
• Sixth Crusade: 1228
• Seventh Crusade: 1248 - 1254
Council of Clermont
• 1095 – Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II, at the request
of Alexius I, Byzantine Emperor, issued the first request
for support for the first Crusade
• Crusade – holy war
• 1096 – knights from various countries unite to “take back
the Holy Land”- all under the banner of Christendom
Motivations
• Pope Urban II – wanted to increase power across Europe and
fix the split in the Catholic Church
• 1054 – split over authority and certain beliefs
• Fighting Muslims instead of violence against each other in Europe
• Some knights went for religious convictions
• Many believed that fighting in the name of Christ was a path for
forgiveness and purity
• Some took up the Crusade to merely become knights
• Ordinary men saw the Crusades as an opportunity to earn the title of a
knight
• Greed & desire
• Knights and Nobles looked to win land/wealth from a new region
• Monetary reasons/greed motivated most Crusaders, the wealth of the
region, not the actual desire to serve God
Lasting Impact of the Crusades
• Increase in lands brought an increase and expansion of
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trade – trade sugar, cotton, and rice with Middle East
countries
Vast convoys of ships/fleets to do this with
Peasants allowed to pay for land with money and not just
grain/labor – undermining serfdom a little bit
Increased power to the monarchy, power to taxation and
power to their own popularity
Split with the Roman and Byzantine Church furthered due
to the outcome of the fourth Crusade
Use of religion as a means of military/political justification
First Crusade
• Kinda the only crusade that actually accomplished its
goals
• Re-conquest of the Holy Land, and of Jerusalem
• Crusaders kill and slaughter all inhabitants of the city –
Muslims & Jews
• Established Crusader States all across the Holy Land
Second Crusade
• Formed in response to the fall of the Crusader state of
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County Edessa
County Edessa is the first Crusader state founded, first to
fall
Unsuccessful in retaking of the area
Following the 2nd crusade, Jerusalem would fall into
Muslim control again
Saladin, Muslim supreme commander, responsible for this
Third Crusade
• King’s Crusade – Philip of France and Henry of England
join up to try to retake Holy Land
• Henry’s death puts England under the command of
Richard the Lionhearted
• Very successful in retaking Muslims states but does
succeed in retaking Jerusalem
• Richard successful in retaking several key coastal cities
defeating Saladin, but left Holy Land after signing a treaty
stating Jerusalem would remain in Muslim control but
allow for safe travel for Christian pilgrims
Third Crusade
• Richard captured while trying to flee Holy Land,
shipwrecked and is forced to pay twice the amount of
England’s worth to get him free
• Saladin becomes a respected chivalrous figure in Europe
• Saladin seen as a unifying force throughout all of the
various Muslims groups
Fourth Crusade
• Called to retake Jerusalem 6 years following the third
crusade
• Only real success is the taking of Constantinople by
Western Europe armies
• Seen as the final split between Western Roman Catholic
Church and the Eastern Orthodox sect
5th, 6th, & 7th
• Fifth Crusade
• Attempt by Christian crusaders to attack and capture Syria, held by
the Ayyubids, to help force only one Christian front – failure
• Sixth Crusade
• Fredrick II politically negotiates to have the throne of Jerusalem
placed on him – more of a politicians crusade
• Seventh Crusade
• Started by Louis IX of France, ultimately unsuccessful as French
troops failed to defeat multiple Muslims threats
The Reconquista
• Moors, North African Muslims, controlled most of present
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day Spain in 700s
“reconquest” of Christian lands by driving off remaining
Muslims forces from the Iberian peninsula
1085 – Christian soldiers capture Toledo
By 1140 – Christians control most of Iberian peninsula
except for Granada
1469 – unified Spanish state formed with marriage of
Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile
1492 – Granada falls, Reconquista complete
The Reconquista
• Under Muslim rule, people allowed to worship
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independently and freely – religious tolerance
Isabella & Ferdinand – religion and form of unity, religious
tolerance ended
Inquisition – a Church court set up to try people accused
of heresy, brutal torture tactics to force confessions and
conversions
Punished for practicing other religions, often burned at the
stake for heresy
150,000 people fled Spain who were Jews and Muslims
Remaining peoples all members of Church & Christianity
End of Lessons 1-4