Download European Middle Ages

Western European Middle Ages
(Medieval Europe)
I. The “Dark Ages”
CHALLENGE
QUESTION!
• After division of Roman Empire, a new way of life
emerges in the West
–
Mix of old Roman and Germanic customs, authority of Roman
Catholic Church
• End of civilization??? (not really, but…)
– Disruption of trade
– Downfall of cities
Move to the countryside
– Population shift
– Decline of learning
– Loss of common language
• New languages evolve from Latin and Germanic-languages
– French, Spanish, Italian
II. Germanic Kingdoms
• Small, shifting kingdoms become dominant form of
governing
• Loyalty to family and personal relationships more
important than citizenship in an empire
• Church becomes a stabilizing factor in chaotic times
• The Franks
–
Held power in Gaul (France) in late 400s, 500s
•
Clovis – leader of the Franks
–
–
Converted to Christianity
Church supported his campaigns against
other Germanic peoples
III. Expansion of Christianity
• 600 – many Germanic people have converted to
Christianity (sometimes out of fear)
• Monasteries – religious communities started in
rural areas
–
Were primary centers of education – opened schools, small
libraries
 Pope’s authority expands beyond church
 Catholic Church increases authority over secular world
 Uses power to raise armies, negotiate treaties with
kings/enemies
IV. Charlemagne (742-814)
• 4th in line of Carolingian Dynasty
– Charles the Hammer (1st) – extends Frankish kingdom
– Pepin the Short (2nd) – cooperated with the pope
– Carloman (3rd) – brother of Charlemagne
• Known as Charles the Great, Charlemagne
takes throne in 771
• Built Western European empire greater
than any since ancient Rome
• 800 – larger than Byzantine Empire
–
Charlemagne crowned first emperor of Holy Roman Empire
•
Signified the combining of powers of Church and Germanic peoples
IV. Continued…
 United much of Western Europe
 Spreads Christianity throughout
 Centralization of power
 Limited authority of nobles
 Ruled justly through royal agents
 Return to learning
 Promoted education, surrounded himself with scholars
 Died 814
 After death, 3 grandsons fight over empire
 Treaty of Verdun, 843 – breaks up empire into 3 kingdoms
Erodes centralized power structure
 Growth of new way of governing – feudalism

V. Feudalism
 What is it?

CHALLENGE
QUESTION!
A system of governing and landowning based on
specific rights and obligations
 Lord
= landowner
 Fief = piece of land owned by lord
 Vassal = received a fief in exchange for protection and
services to lord
 Serfs = peasants who could not lawfully leave the place
where they were born
Not slaves
 What they produced on the land belonged to the lord

V. Continued…
KINGS
Landowners
NOBLES & BISHOPS
KNIGHTS (VASSALS)
PEASANTS (SERFS)
Plus, the pope.
V. Continued…
 Manor system – the lord’s estate (property) was
called a manor



Basic economic system of middle ages
Serfs provided with housing, farmland,
protection from bandits
Manor life was not easy
No protection against vengeful knights/
nobles
 Taxes – on food, marriage
 Tithe – church tax

VI. Women’s Role
 Women considered inferior to men
 View of Church and general society (patriarchal)
 Noblewoman
 Could inherit estate from husband
 Wife was in charge when husband was away
 Still limited – mostly stayed at home or lived in a convent

Property was not handed down to a daughters
 Peasants
 Life based on raising families, working land
 Daughters not formally educated (unlike noble daughters)
VII. Church Power
 By 800 – Church was looking to strengthen its
power
 Church and kings competed for authority over
population
 Law of Church

Canon law = church law
All medieval Christians were subject to certain religious laws
 Could face punishment for not following canon law

 Excommunication
= banishment from Church
 Interdict = the removal of sacraments/religious services
from a person or region
VII. Continued…
 Emperor clashes with the pope
 Church disliked the practice of lay investiture – kings and
nobles appointed church officials
 Whoever appointed church officials held real power in church
 Concordant of Worms, 1112 – compromise over lay investiture

Only church had power to appoint bishops, but emperor had
power to veto (override)
VIII. Medieval European Economy
 By 900s, new agricultural techniques
 Moldboard plow – curved iron plate, allowed deeper turning
of soil
 New horse collar – would not choke horse
 Three-field system – leave 1/3 of land
unplowed (fallow) to regain fertility
 Political stability began to take hold
in 10th century
 Combination leads to population
growth, which leads to economic
growth (Commercial Revolution)
VIII. Continued…
 Growth of towns and cities, beginning in 900s
 Trade & Banking
 Growth of cities leads to specialization of manufacturing &
artisanal techniques
 Exchange of goods between Europe and Asia


Guilds – Groups of people in the same business/trade


Crusades into Middle East helped bring Asian goods and ideas
into Europe
Offered some level of control over prices, quality
Banks – Helped facilitate long-distance trade by standardizing
monetary system

Banking and profit-making were looked down upon by many
Christian scholars
IX. Changes in Medieval Government
 Conflicts between nobles and kings led to
compromises over power

Magna Carta (Great Charter)

1215 – King John of England agreed to sign the charter,
promising to limit his power over nobles and Church
 No
new taxes w/out nobles’ permission
 Could not appoint bishops w/out Church permission
 Parliaments
Governing
bodies representing interests of
nobles, Church, urban leaders (three estates)
 1265
– first English parliament
IX. Continued…
 Emerging nations
 By 14th century, England and France begin to develop as
independent nations
 Hundred Years War
Battle over territory and feudal rights between England & France
 Lasted more than 100 years, weakened both France & England
 Kings relied less on feudal lords and their knights, more on paid,
professional armies

X. The Crusades
 Crusades represented the most dramatic expansion
effort by the West


First crusade called by Pope Urban II in 1095
 Successful in reclaiming Jerusalem, but would eventually
lose it to the great Muslim leader, Saladin.
 Later Crusades varied in levels of success
Motives
 Reclaim Holy Land, reunite Christendom
 Remove “undesirables” from society
 Profits – merchants made money off of loans, sales of goods,
prospect of opening new trade routes
 A guaranteed spot in heaven, all sins forgiven if died in
battle
X. continued…

Effects of Crusades
 Expanded trade between Europe and Asia
 Weakened the power of the pope, increased power of kings
 People were upset with the Church after Crusades seen as
unsuccessful
 Legacy of intolerance/prejudice between Christians and
Muslims
 Increased persecution of
Jews in Europe
 Women in position of authority –
had a chance to run estates
XI. Leaving the “Dark Ages”
 Rapid population growth causes problems
 Agricultural techniques can’t keep up - famine and starvation
 Black Death/bubonic plague
 Series of plagues, beginning in 1348 – severe decrease in
population (at least 1/3)
 Resulted in increase of peasant rights, decline of feudalism
 Growth of professional armies/weapon technologies
strengthen kings/emerging nations
 Slow development of arts and secular thinking
eventually paves way for Renaissance (thanks to the
Byzantines and Muslims)
CHALLENGE QUESTION
What comes to mind when you hear the term “Dark
Ages?” What’s going on in society? What’s NOT going
on in society?

3-4 complete sentences
BACK
BACK
CHALLENGE QUESTION
What does the painting tell us about life in Medieval
Europe? Address each of the Social Studies themes:
Political, Social, Economic, Technological, Religious.
EXIT TICKET QUIZ, 2/7
Describe two things that plagued western Europe
immediately following the fall of Rome.
2. What was Clovis responsible for?
3. Why were monasteries important in the Middle
Ages?
4. Describe the social organization associated with
feudalism.
1.