Download Early Middle Ages - River Mill Academy

Christianity in Western Europe
 Germanic groups after fall of Rome
 Anglo-Saxons in England
 Alfred the Great unites England
 The Franks
 King Clovis
 Adopted Christianity, expands kingdom
 Public baptisms
 Christendom: Christian society of western Europe
 Missionaries: Augustine (Canterbury) and
Patrick (Ireland)
 Gregory the Great: First powerful pope
 Encouraged monasticism (separation from
society, dedicate self to God)
Monks and Monasteries
 Benedictines
 Benedictine Rule: guidelines for
monastic living
 Poverty and obedience, prayer and
labor
 Monks ran schools, copied
manuscripts
 Monasteries were centers of wealth
and power
 Celtic Monasteries (Ireland)
 More severe than Benedictines
 Fasted, solitary contemplation
 Celtic abbots had greater authority
in politics
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
1.
Germanic Kingdoms

Borders changed constantly
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Family ties and personal loyalty were more
important than public government and
written law

Impossible to establish orderly
government
2.
Clovis and the Franks

The Franks had power in Gaul

Clovis was king of Franks

brings Christianity to the region

Clovis and 3,000 of his warriors ask a
bishop to baptize them after battle

By 511, Clovis had united one Frankish
kingdom
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
3.
4.
A Frankish Empire Evolves
a. The Franks now controlled the
largest/strongest of Europe’s
kingdoms
b. Clovis dies in 511
Frankish position of Mayor of the
Palace:
 Official power: Had charge of the
royal households and estates (like
a lord)
 Unofficial power: Led armies and
made policy
 essentially ruled kingdom
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
5.
Charles Martel or Charles the
Hammer

By 719, he held more power
than the king as mayor of the
palace

Part of the Christian Franks

Defeated Muslim raiders at
the Battle of Tours in 732

At death, passed his power to
Pepin the Short

Pope anoints Pepin “King by
the grace of God”

Begins the Carolingian
Dynasty- ruled Franks 751-987
Charlemagne becomes Emperor
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Pepin the Short died in 768
Charles the Great (Charlemagne) takes over, 771
6’4” tall
Most powerful king in Western Europe
Built greatest empire since Rome
Conquests against Muslims spread Christianity
United Western Europe (1st time since Rome)
The empire became known as the Holy Roman
Empire
Strengthened power by weakening power of the
nobles
Sent out royal agents to check on powerful
landowners
Regularly visited his kingdom
Encouraged learning

surrounded himself with scholars, opened new
monasteries
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
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In 800, he traveled to Rome to protect the pope  the pope rewards
Charlemagne by crowning him emperor
This historic coronation showed that the pope had more power than the
king
Charlemagne died in 814, his grand sons split up the kingdom- bad idea
Carolingian kings lost power and authority broke down
This lead to the rise of feudalism
New Invaders
 South – Muslims take over
Italy and Rome
 tried to conquer Europe
 East – Magyars take over
Germany
 good on horseback; took
people as slaves; did not
settle the land
 North – Vikings constantly
attack
Vikings
 From Scandinavia; called Norseman;
Barbarians
 nicknames like Eric the Bloodaxe and
Thorfinn the Skullsplitter
 Quick raids with ships that could carry 300
people (72 oars) and sail in 3 ft. of water
 Looted, traded, explored
 (reached N. America 1000, 500 years
before Columbus)
 Stopped raids as they adopted Christianity
and started farming more
Feudalism
 Feudal System: granting land for
protection and loyalty
 1st instance of Feudalism – Charles the
Simple of France granted Rollo (Viking)
land (Normandy)
 Lord: Landowner; Fief: granted land;
Vassal: person receiving land
 Class System: Feudal Pyramid
 Serfs – peasants that couldn’t leave land
Feudal Economy
 Manor – the Lord’s estate
 Lord provided serfs with housing, strips of farmland, and protection from
bandits
 Serfs tended lord’s land, cared for his animals, and maintained estate
 Manors were self sufficient and peasants rarely left
Hardships on Manors
 Peasants paid high taxes on grinding grain at the mill, marriage, and church
(tithe 1/10 of income)
 One – two room cottages, dirt floors, beds of straw, heated homes by allowing
animals in the house
Chivalry
 Chivalry – set of ideals that a knight
fight for God, feudal lord, the weak, and
his lady; exemplified loyalty, bravery,
and courtesy
 Age of Chivalry brought constant
battling between landowners over more
land
 Inventions of saddles and stirrups
allowed knights on horseback
 Epic poetry (tales of battles),
Troubadours: poetic musicians that
entertained at castles
Knights
 Used code of Chivalry – publicly shamed if
he was cowardly: armor stripped, shield
cracked, sword broken over his head,
thrown into coffin and mock funeral
performed
 Page: age 7, sent to castle and used as
servant to lords and ladies, practices sword
fighting
 Squire: age 14, servant of knight, took care
of horse and weapons
 Knight: age 21, fight in battle
Battles
 Castle battles were intense
 Used boiling water, oil, sand, or
lead to pour on enemy; archers on
roof with bows and crossbows
 Siege towers: allowed soldiers over
castle walls;
 Mantlet: large shields on
wheels;
 Tortoise: portable shelter
 Battering Ram: knock down walls
or draw bridges
Battles (con’t)
 Trebuchet: giant
slingshot-threw burning
objects, human heads,
boulders, diseased cows
and horses, captured
soldiers
 Mangonel: flung huge
rocks into castle walls;
distance of up to 1,300
ft.
 Had to train from
childhood to be an
archer!
Feudal Church
 The Church offered stability and
peace;
 Canon Law – Law of the Church
 Excommunication – worst
punishment banishment from Church
 Otto the Great (Germany) – allied
with pope; made a German-Italian
kingdom – crowned Emperor of
Holy Roman Empire
 Many Emperor/Pope conflicts
 emperors eventually lose power,
popes become stronger
4
Agricultural Revolution
New farming technologies
iron plow harness windmill three-field system
Increase in food production
Population explosion
Between 1000 and 1300, the population of Europe doubled.
Trade Revives
 This population explosion meant that people
needed/wanted new things from other places.
 Armed caravans began to move along new trade
routes.
Trade brings changes
 Trade  Trade Fairs  New Towns
 New money
 Business: Partnerships, insurance, banking, bills
of exchange, etc.
Trade brings changes
 Social Changes
 Serfdom disappears, tenant farmers by 1300.
 Merchants, traders form up the middle class.
 Loans, or usury
Guilds
 Guilds were associations of artisans and
merchants of similar economic interests.
 How to become a guild member?
 Apprentice
 Journeyman
 Women?
Growth of Europe
- Population growth meant need for more food
- Three-field system develops (use 2/3 for crops)
- Cities grow and so does trade
- Merchants organize in guilds (like unions)
- Masters take on an apprentice to teach
- Banking grows (mainly Jews)
- Growth in learning
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Universities grow in cities
Artists start using vernacular (common language)
Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales
Thomas Aquinas – Christian scholar who balanced logic/reason
with faith (Summa Theologica)
Crusades
- Byzantine emperor sends letter asking for help against
Muslims in Constantinople
- Pope Urban II gives speech urging holy war to take back Holy
Land of Jerusalem
- 8 total Crusades, only the 1st was successful
- 1st Crusade
- 50,000 Europeans make it to Constantinople
- 12,000 lay siege to Jerusalem in 1099 CE
- City taken, inhabitants killed (including Jews & Orthodox Christians)
- 3rd Crusade
- Jerusalem was taken by Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 CE
- Attempt to retake Jerusalem in 1192 was unsuccessful
- Called “Crusade of Kings” – included Richard of England, Philip
Augustus of France, and Frederick I of Germany
- Richard signs truce w/ Saladin allowing Christian pilgrims to visit Holy
Land
- Other Crusades
- Attack on Constantinople for trade purposes
- Children’s Crusade
- Spanish Crusade (Reconquista) to rid Spain of Muslims
- Effects of Crusades
- Failure of Crusades weakened power of Popes
- Many nobles lost lives or fortunes
- Trade is stimulated between Europe & Middle East; leads to demand
for “new” goods
- Exploration
- Legacy of hatred and conflict between Christians and Muslims
France and England
- Feudalism is brought to England by William “the Conqueror”
of Normandy in 1066 CE
- Oct. 14, 1066 CE – The Battle of Hastings
- William defeats Harold Godwinson
- Bayeux Tapestry
- Domesday Book – 1st census/survey of England
- Henry II
- King of England & holds land in France; 1st to use juries
- John
- Son of Henry II, took over when brother (Richard) dies
- Bad leader, lost Normandy lands; forced to sign Magna Carta
- Edward I
- 1st to use parliament
- Consisted of House of Commons & House of Lords
End of the Middle Ages
100 Years War (1337-1453 CE)
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116+ years of fighting between France and England (English King Edward claims
French throne)
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1st use of new technologies & professional armies (less need for armored knights)
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Joan of Arc
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Reinvigorates French; captured & burnt as a witch
Leads both countries towards nationalism
Black Death
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Bubonic Plague strikes Europe in 1347 CE
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Carried by merchants (originates from Mongols)
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1/3 of European population killed (20-25 million)
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Serfs leave lands, faith abandoned, prices soar
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Leads to attitude of “live for today” or “eat, drink, & be merry”
 1000 38 million
 1100 48 million
 1200 59 million
 1300 70 million
 1347 75 million
 1352 50 million