Download Chapter 10 Urban economy and consolidation of states

CHAPTER TEN
THE URBAN ECONOMY AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF
STATES
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Between roughly 1250 and the Black Death (1348), the expansion of towns, trade, and commerce continued relatively
unabated. The monarchies of England and France continued to consolidate their authority through the expansion of royal
law. At the same time, however, these kings had to increasingly accommodate representative assemblies into their rule,
although during this period neither the Parliament in England nor the Estates General in France challenged royal
authority. After 1250, the Holy Roman Empire had fragmented into smaller polities. In the East, the Nicean Empire
reconquered Constantinople, partially restoring Byzantine power and authority in the region. Nonetheless, Byzantium
continued to face threats from the Mongols and the Ottoman Turks. The princes of Moscow slowly built a Russian state,
which by the mid-fifteenth century was considered the legitimate heir of Imperial Rome and Constantinople. Under
Boniface VIII, the Roman Church and the papacy reached the apex of their claims of authority over the Christian
Commonwealth. However, conflicts with Philip IV of France, shifts in piety in which the laity played an important role,
and the extended residence at Avignon portended trouble for the papacy and demonstrated that its claims were tenuous.
Commercial expansion required increased regulation, but neither feudal nor canon law provided for commercial nature
and complexities of commerce. This flaw required towns to obtain charters that exempted them from these legal codes
and allowed towns to establish their own laws of governance, trade, and regulation. The putting-out system remained the
most important means of production. Craft guilds aided city governments to ensure quality and price of goods, and also
provided apprenticeships to train future artisans in the craft. Guilds also provided a sense of community to its members
through common business, interests, training, and experience. More complex commerce also require more sophisticated
means of keeping track of expenses and income. As commerce increased, larger ships and more accurate means of
navigation through compasses, astrolabe, and rudimentary celestial navigation moved more goods, at a faster speed, and
with increased safety. Life in cities changed during the period also. Most urban families remained small. Males delayed
marriage while completing sometimes lengthy apprenticeships; women, however, married as early as their teens.
Because production remained in the household, women played a considerable role in household economies in addition
to their childrearing and domestic duties.
European monarchs continued to consolidate during this period through both agenda and force of circumstance. In
England, the Magna Carta and the rule of Henry III had encouraged the growth of the power of the nobles. Simon de
Montfort and Edward I expanded the representative power of the Parliament. Additionally, Edward I reformed the legal
system and further enhanced both his and Parliamentary power. In France, Philip IV prevented the emergence of a
representative institution strong enough to challenge his own power. The Estates General ratified the king’s policies but
did not possess the authority to challenge or change those policies. Philip also gathered capable ministers at his court
whose task was to make the French monarch the sole authority, subservient to no one, including the pope. In the Holy
Roman empire, Frederick II's policies ensured the fragmentation of the Holy Roman empire. The situation stabilized,
however, with Charles IV. His Golden Bull established the elective nature of the emperorship and fixed the number of
electors at seven.
While western Europe developed in relative security, conditions in eastern Europe remained unstable. The Nicean
Empire recaptured Constantinople but the Balkanization of the area forced the Palaeogogian dynasty to rely on their
skill as international diplomats rather than on political hegemony or military force. Under the suzerainty of the Golden
Horde, the Principality of Moscow took advantage of the resettlement of the Rus and Slavic populations in Russia's
Mesopotamia. The Muscovites acquired new lands through conquest, marriage, and positioned themselves as the
symbols of Russian unity. With the decline of the Golden Horde during the fourteenth century, these princes asserted
their independence from Mongol rule. Through marriage and the fall of Constantinople, Moscow became the symbol of
a united Russian state and Church as well as the protector and inheritor of the Orthodox Church.
Building on the claims of Innocent III and the papal monarchy, the popes continued to claim preeminence over western
Europe's secular monarchies in this period but crisis both within and without the church limited their efforts. The
conflict between Philip IV and Pope Boniface eventually led to the removal of the papacy from Rome to Avignon,
where the papacy continued to suffer from criticisms of corruption. Even the Dominicans and Franciscans, who had
69
once represented the efforts to reform the church from within, faced crisis. For many, new avenues of spirituality were
found in lay movements such as parish guild associations and the Beguines and Beghars. Spirituality also came to
emphasize the individual spiritual journey. Women often took the lead in these pious movements because ecclesiastical
institutions barred female participation. The Scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas came increasingly under attack. St
Bonaventure, a Franciscan, advocated intuition rather than logic and contemplation rather than dialectic in order to
understand the existence of God. Two English Franciscans, Roger Bacon and William Ockham established the
foundations for western scientific thinking. Concurrent with the philosophic questioning of scholasticism, Dante
Alighieri's Divine Comedy represents perhaps the most moving expression of medieval thought. In the Comedy the
dignity of human reason and the need of divine love combined to express the medieval vision of salvation and the
aspirations of the individual to achieve that salvation.
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Compare the politics, society, and economies of London, Paris, and Venice during the High Middle Ages.
Discuss the changes in the organization of crafts and commercial institutions that transformed economic
activities during this period.
Research marital customs and family life in southern and northern European cities.
Discuss guilds as both economic organizations in the regulation of commerce and as political adjuncts with
ties to republican or communal elites.
Why did towns have to establish political, economic, and judicial mechanisms outside of the feudal system?
Why would a feudal lord encourage or discourage a town on his land?
Compare the efforts of monarchs to consolidate their rule during the late thirteenth century. Why did
representative institutions usually emerge?
Discuss how the kings of England and France used the wool trade and other economic issues to further the
consolidation of their royal power.
Consider the role of religion and the eastern church in the consolidation of Russia under the Muscovites.
Compare conflicts between secular and religious authorities in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth
centuries to previous conflicts. How did Philip IV resolve these conflicts to his own advantage? Why had
previous secular rulers failed to challenge the power of the papacy successfully?
Why did women take the lead in the new movements that emerged in the High Middle Ages? What were the
social, economic, legal, and ecclesiastical reasons for this shift?
Investigate the life and works of St. Bonaventure, Roger Bacon, and William of Ockham. Where did their
ideas part ways with previous notions of Scholasticism? How did they lay the foundations for new ways of
thinking?
Assign students passages of Dante’s Comedy and discuss how his work reflects developments in medieval
culture.
SUPPLEMENTAL FILMS
Europe in the Middle Ages. 272 min. Color. 7 cassettes. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
Medieval Guilds and Trade. 21 min. Color. Examines the role of guilds in medieval production and trade as well as the
internal organization and purposes of guilds.
Medieval Women. 24 min. Color. International Film. Looks at women's depiction in the middle ages as either sinner or
saint as evil as the role of women in commerce and the household.
Socio-Historical Gender Roles: Medieval History. 60 min. Color. 1994. RMI Media. Examines the role of women
across the panorama of medieval Europe.
70
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
The page numbers listed below indicate the correct answers and their locations in the text.
1.
Because of the inadequacies of feudalism in governing commerce, merchants had to turn to
a. Canon law
b. The Decretum
c. The Regulations of St. Louis
d. The Codex Justinianus (p. 330)
e. The Statutes of the Realm
2.
The style of urban government in which members take an oath of permanent association is called a
a. Staple
b. Cortes
c. Parlement
d. Limited partnerships
e. Commune (p. 331)
3.
Which of the following was usually NOT included in town regulations and expenses
a. Street cleaning
b. Curfews
c. The condemnation of prostitution (p.332)
d. The segregation of businesses such as butchering
e. Regulation of weights and measures
4.
The invention of the loom
a. Allowed women to form guilds of spinners
b. Increased the development of fulling mills
c. Removed cloth production from the household to the shop (p.332)
d. Destroyed the cloth monopoly of the Fair of St. Omer
e. Undermined guilds of weavers
5.
Book transfers were
a. A form of credit (p.336)
b. A limited partnership
c. A form of maritime insurance
d. Double-entry accounting
e. Usury
6.
The Medici Bank formed a type of
a. Wool and wool-cloth guild
b. Artisan guild
c. Limited partnership (p. 337)
d. Chambre de Cheque
e. Estates General
7.
Christians were forbidden to loan money at interest because
a. Limited partnerships made it illegal
b. Maritime insurance rates already included profits from interest
c. Money could not make money (p.336)
d. According to canon law, only Italian banks, such as the Medici, could charge interest
e. The Alfonsine Table included profits from interest on bills of exchange
71
8.
Urban males tended to marry later in life because
a. Household sizes were small
b. Urban out-migration
c. Urban in-migration
d. Apprenticeships (p.339)
e. Rural out-migration
9.
Which of the following best describes urban women in the High Middle Ages?
a. Their dower became a significant addition to the household economy
b. Most became servants both before and after marriage
c. Occupations such as merchant and artisan became available to women because of commercial expansion
d. Became valuable assets within merchant and artisan household economies (p.340)
e. Married later
10.
During the High Middle Ages, the bureaucracies of England and France became increasingly staffed with
a. Canon lawyers
b. Bishops
c. Knights of the Shire
d. Merchants
e. University-trained lawyers (p.340)
11.
Meetings of the Great Councils during the reign of Henry III were known as
a. Convocations
b. The House of Lords
c. Parliaments (p.341)
d. King's council (curia regis)
e. Model Councils
12.
The Statutes of the Realm of Edward I changed law in England because
a. The Statutes were printed and marked the first written law in England
b. It marked the precedent of changing law by legislation (p.343)
c. They were the first laws established by Parliament
d. They represented law by declaration and administrative fiat
e. They marked laws legislated separately by the House of Commons and the House of Lords
13.
In order to enlarge his power base against Henry III, this noble included two knights from every shire when he
summoned Parliament in 1265
a. Philip II Augustus
b. Duke of Normandy
c. Philip the Fair
d. Edmund of Northumbria
e. Simon de Montfort (p.342)
14.
The House of Commons consists of
a. Knights of the Shire
b. Representatives for the larger towns
c. Knights of the Shire and Convocations
d. Town representatives and Knights of the Shire (p.342)
e. Lower rank nobility and town representatives
72
15.
Edward I laid the foundation for the American and British legal systems in this field of law
a. Corporate tax law
b. Separation of church and state
c. Real estate (p.343)
d. Inheritance and family law
e. Limited partnerships
16.
Which of the following resisted the consolidation that took place during Philip IV's rule?
a. England
b. Flanders (p.343)
c. The Papal States
d. Brittany and Normandy
e. Ile-de-France and Aquitaine
17.
Philip IV called the Estates General during his reign in order to
a. Inform the assemblies of his policies (p.345)
b. Confiscate property from Jews
c. Vote him new taxes and revenues
d. Seek their approval to confiscate the property of the Knights Templars
e. Receive their advice regarding Boniface VIII and the Unam Sanctam
18.
The Papacy remained in the city of Avignon for 68 years because
a. Of pressure from the Holy Roman Emperor
b. The College of Cardinals kept elected Frenchmen to the position of pope
c. The hostility of Roman nobles (p.352)
d. The War of the Sicilian Vespers
e. The support of the Estates General
19.
The Golden Bull of Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire
a. Confirmed the independence of the Swiss Cantons
b. Splintered south-east Europe into small territories, often called “Balkanization”
c. Set the number of electors of the Emperor at seven (p.345)
d. Invalidated Boniface VIII's bull Clericos Laicos
e. Recognized the payment of tribute to Ghengis Khan and the Golden Horde
20.
The Mongol policy of rule in Russia entailed
a. Removing Orthodox Christianity and replacing it with Roman Christianity
b. Imposition of Mongol culture and language
c. Resettlement of the Slaves in the Lithuanian “Mesopotamia” between the Loire and Volga rivers
d. Self-rule as long as tribute was paid to the Khans (p.347)
e. Assimilation
21.
The rise and eventual independence of the Principality of Moscow came about in part because of
a. The support of the Golden Horde
b. Conquest and the practice of primogeniture (p.347)
c. Support of the Roman Church
d. Conquest, marriage alliances, and partible inheritance
e. Support of the Tsar of Russia and the Orthodox Church
73
22.
Much of the character of Russian tsarist rule comes from
a. Persia
b. The Holy Roman Empire
c. The Khanate of the Golden Horde
d. The Republic of Novgorod
e. The Byzantine Empire (p.349)
23.
“The Third Rome” refers to
a. The rebuilding of Constantinople after attacks by the Mongols
b. The relocation of Byzantine Rule after the invasions of the Ottoman Turks
c. Moscow as the center of the Christian world after the fall of Constantinople (p.349)
d. Ivan the Terrible’s conquest of the Golden Horde
e. The Russian Empire
24.
The Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII
a. Declared that Philip IV must submit to Edward I
b. Recognizes transubstantiation as the one and true nature of the sacrament of the Eucharist
c. Forbid all clergy to make payments to kings without papal approval
d. Damned Philip IV unless he submitted to papal authority (p.351)
e. Declared the Roman Church the only true Church and thus made the schism with the Greek Orthodox
Church formal and final
25.
The two mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans) that had helped the Church reform itself and combat
heresy began to lose effectiveness because
a. Both had become very wealthy (p.353)
b. Both orders had split apart
c. Of rivalries between the Conventual Franciscans and Spiritual Dominicans
d. Mendicant orders began to undermine papal authority
e. Many prospective mendicants became Beguines or Beghars during the fourteenth century
26.
The Beguines were
a. Women in the Dominican order
b. The Third Order of the Franciscans
c. Examples of pious laity formed into semi-monastic groups (p.353)
d. Heretics
e. The elites of the Cathari
27.
Much like St. Anselm's proof of God, St. Bonaventure's was based on
a. Scholasticism
b. Deductive logic
c. Thomism (the system of thought developed by St. Thomas Aquinas)
d. Intuitive principles (346)
e. Aristotle
28.
Beatrice in The Divine Comedy illustrates
a. Papal authority
b. Reason and deductive thought
c. Revelation and grace (p.357)
d. Human spirituality
e. Divine love and passion
74
ESSAY QUESTIONS
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
Why did neither feudal nor canon law provide adequate regulation for trade and commerce? How did
medieval townspeople resolve this problem?
How did guilds protect the interests of their members? What benefits accompanied membership in a guild?
Discuss the challenges facing a maritime merchant in the medieval period. What kinds of technological, legal,
managerial, and organizational ingredients were essential for success?
Describe urban life for women during the High Middle Ages. What kinds of opportunities did urban life offer
women? What kinds of obstacles did they encounter?
What were the responsibilities of the English Parliament. How was the Parliament’s power limited?
How did Philip IV expand and enhance his hold over France? Cite specific examples in your answer.
Compare the expansion of Muscovite control in Russia to the tactics employed by the English or French
monarchs.
How would you evaluate the papacy’s strength in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?
How did people respond to the crisis of the papacy in the High Middle Ages? Why did the response to the
crisis involve lay people?
How did cultural developments in the High Middle Ages resonate with medieval culture on the one hand, but on the
other, herald the emergence of new ways of thinking?
CRITICAL THINKING
Evaluating Evidence
39.
How do the illustrations on pages 333, 334, 336 and 338 reveal the transformations taking place in production
and commerce during the High Middle Ages?
40.
Consider the illustrations on pages 336 and 340. What roles did women play in the medieval economy?
41.
Examine Map 10.2. What challenges did the Muscovites face in the area surrounding their base in Moscow?
How did they overcome those challenges?
42.
What does the illustration on page 355 tell us about the role of women in the new spiritualism that flourished
in the High Middle Ages?
Critical Analysis
The Craft of Weavers of Silk Kerchiefs at Paris
43.
How did guild regulations ensure a quality product at a reasonable price?
44.
How were guild regulations used to limit competition and to ensure dominance of master artisans?
Unam Sanctam
45.
How do these assertions of papal power represent the ongoing struggle between the church and secular rulers
since the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and the German Emperor Henry IV over a century earlier?
46.
Explain the symbolic significance of the “material sword” and the “spiritual sword.” How are they related?
The Beguinage of Saint Elizabeth in Ghent (1328)
47.
In what ways did the members of this community conform to the ways of a traditional Benedictine monastery
or convent?
48.
Why was the ecclesiastical hierarchy both supportive and wary of the Beguines and similar groups?
75
IDENTIFICATIONS
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
royal charter
putting-out system
apprenticeship
usury
double-entry bookkeeping
dowry
Henry III
Simon Montfort
House of Commons
Statutes of the Realm
Estates General
Luxembourgs
balkanization
Ivan I of Muscovy
tsar
Boniface VIII
Unam Santam
Beguines
St. Bonaventure
William Ockham
Dante Alighieri
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
76
commune
guild
book transfer
bill of exchange
Alfonsine Tables
dower
parliament
House of Lords
Edward I
Philip IV
Hapsburgs
Michael VIII Palaeologus
the Golden Horde
Ivan III
Ivan IV, the Terrible
Moscow
Avignon papacy
Catherine of Siena
Roger Bacon
Ockham’s razor
commedia