Download European Middle Ages

WARM UP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtCxl9leY
Q4
Think about what other movies you have
seen that are set in this time period.
European
Middle Ages
500 - 1200
New Invasions Trouble Western
Europe
• Attacks from Vikings, Magyars, and
Muslims caused widespread disorder &
suffering across Europe.
Vikings
•
•
•
Germanic people from Scandinavia
called Northmen or Norsemen
Traders, farmers, explorers, warriors
Quick raids & back to sea
–
•
Before the local troops could attack
Warships were long holding 300
warriors at 20 tons
–
Could sail in shallow waters
•
–
•
•
Up rivers & creeks
Journeyed toward Russia,
Constantinople, & Western Europe
Believed Leif Ericson reached North
America in 1000
Acceptance of Christianity & shift to
warmer climates in Scandinavia ended
the need for Viking raids
Magyars
• Nomadic
• Attacked Europe from
the East
• Superb horseback
riders
• Never settled in
conquered land
– Just captured people
to sell as slaves
Muslims
• Attacked Europe from South
• Got control of the Mediterranean Sea
– Disrupted trade
Role of the Church
VOCABULARY
• Monastery – religious community
• Secular – “worldly”
• Clergy – religious officials of the church
Charglemane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTTaVnZy
G2g
Takes control of Frank kingdom
- Reunites Europe
- Spreads Christianity
- Encroauges learning
Feudalism in Europe
• Feudalism
– a political and military system of protective
alliances and relationships based on land
ownership and personal loyalty
• Landowners (Lords) granted land (fiefs) to
a vassal, a person receiving the land
Feudalism
Feudalism
• King
– Most powerful vassals
• Church officials/bishops
• Nobles
– Knights (will defend the lord’s land for fiefs)
» Peasants or serfs (will work the land for food)
3 Social Classes
• 1) Nobles & Knights
– Those who fought
• 2) Men & Women of the Church/Clergy
– Those who prayed
• 3) Peasants & Serfs
– Those who worked
Serfs
•
Not slaves
–
•
•
•
•
Could not lawfully leave the place
where they were born
Majority of the population
Paid high taxes for grain & use of land
Paid a tithe, church tax
–
•
•
•
1/10 of income
Believed that God determined a
person’s place in society
–
•
Can’t be bought nor sold
Like most Christians during Medieval
times
Hardly traveled 25 miles from their
manor
Gave a few days labor each week &
portion of the grain to the lord
Women shared the farmwork with her
husband
Manors: The Economic Side of
Feudalism
• Manor
– Lord’s estate
– Self-sufficient community
– Lords provided serfs with housing, strips of
farmland, and protection from bandits
– In return, serfs tended the lord’s lands, cared
for his animals, and performed other tasks to
maintain the estate
The Age of Chivalry
• Feudal lords raised private armies to
defend their territories
• Knights received land for their services
Knights
• Inventions from the
Mongols & India kept
warriors on the horse
– Saddle & stirrups
• Normally fought 40
days a year in battle
for their lord
• Rest of the time, they
trained for battle
Page
• At age 7, young
nobles were sent to a
castle of another lord
to learn
– Courtly manners by
waiting on his host
– War strategies by
playing chess
– Fighting skills by
practicing sword
fighting
Squire
• Around age 14, the
page was raised to a
squire
– Acts as a servant of a
knight
• Takes care of the
knight’s armor,
weapons, & warhorse
• Escorts the knight to
battles
Knight
• Around age 21,
a squire
becomes a
knight
Knights
• Knights live by the code
of chivalry
– Should display loyalty,
bravery, & courteousness
to all
– Cowards = public shame
• Knights entered
tournaments to gain war
skills, recognition, glory,
& money
– Jousting
– Tournaments were never
like the real battles
The Literature of Chivalry
• People glorified Knights
– Literature often depicted a
knight’s undying love for a
lady far away
• Poems
• Songs
– Troubadour
• Poet-musician
– The most celebrated lady
of the times was Eleanor of
Aquitaine for her beauty
and purity
– http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=ysU_ezDYt8A
How to be Chivalrous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IIw
S6XgzR4
Medieval Warfare
Siege Tower
• Had a platform on top that lowered like a drawbridge
• Could support weapons and soldiers
Battering Ram
• Made of heavy timber with a sharp metal tip
• Swung like a pendulum to crack castle walls or to knock
down drawbridge
Trebuchet
• Worked like a giant slingshot
• Propelled objects up to a distance of 980 feet
• Propelled boulders, severed human heads, captured
soldiers, diseased cows, dead horses, pots of boiling lime
Tortoise
• Moved slowly on wheels
• Sheltered soldiers from falling arrows
Mangonel
• Flung huge rocks that crashed into castle walls
• Propelled objects up to 1,300 feet
Mantlet
• shielded soldiers like a wall
The Shifting Role of Women
• The status of women declined during the Middle
Ages to staying at home
– Bearing children, taking care of the family, &
household chores
• Noblewomen could inherit an estate from her
husband
– When the husband was away fighting, the lady of the
castle acted as a military commander & warrior
• Lords passed down their fiefs to their sons, not
their daughters
– Tried to marry their daughters to someone else with
land
Church Gains Power
• Canon Law
– ALL WERE SUBJECT!
– Church rules everything!
- Rituals hold the power to salvation
– Only clergy can administer
- German-Italian Empire = Holy Roman Empire
Church Power
• Lay Investiture
– Power to the kings & nobles
• Concordat of Worms
– Power to the church officials