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Middle Ages
The Middle Ages: 500 – 1500
The Medieval Period
Rise of the Middle
Ages
Decline of the Roman
Empire
Western Europe
Early Middle Ages
450 - 1050
Germanic Peoples
Roman empire overran by Germanic groups with repeated
invasions and constant warfare
• Breakdown of trade: money became scarce.
• Cities abandoned – no longer center of economy or
administration
• Population became rural.
• Decline of literacy – priests and other church officials
were the few that were literate.
• Breakup of unified empire – language began to
change. No longer Latin.
• End of Democracy
End of Democracy
Rome
• Unified by loyalty to public government and
written law
• Orderly government
Germanic
• Family ties and personal loyalty
• People lived in small communities governed by unwritten
rules and traditions
• Ruled by a Chief who led a band or warriors loyal only to
him – not some emperor they’d never seen
European Empire Evolves
After the decline of the Roman Empire small kingdoms
sprang up all over Europe.
The largest and the strongest was controlled by the
Franks
• Lead by Clovis – first Christian king
• Area that is now France
• Greatest king was Charlemagne
• most powerful king in Western Europe
• encouraged learning
Rise of Charlemagne

His father, Pippin, left Charlemagne his Frankish empire when
he died in 768 AD. The Franks were already very powerful
when Pippin died, but Charlemagne made them more powerful
still.

Charlemagne organized a centralized system of governors
(counts) throughout his kingdom, sending out men he knew to
keep order all over his kingdom, and then sending out other
men to check up on the counts.

Charlemagne also greatly expanded the size of his kingdom.
He conquered France down to the Pyrenees mountains, and
even into northern Spain . He crossed the Rhine river and
conquered Germany , Switzerland and Austria , even into
modern Hungary. To the north, he conquered Belgium . And in
774 AD Charlemagne also conquered the Lombards in northern
Italy
Charlemagne on the Rise

On Christmas Day, 800, Pope Leo III repaid
Charlemagne for defeating the Lombards. As
Charlemagne rose from prayer, Leo placed a crown
on his head and proclaimed him "Augustus," emperor
of the "Holy Roman Empire." The coronation united
Christendom under Charlemagne's rule, but it troubled
him. If the Pope had the power to crown Charlemagne
king, did the Pope also have the right to remove the
crown? When Charlemagne named his son as his
successor, he presided over the ceremony himself and
did not invite the Pope. When Napoleon was about to
be crowned Emperor of France in 1804, he took the
crown from Pope Pius VII and set it on his head
himself.
Feudalism
Think of a chess set
Feudalism
Fiefs – land grants
Provide knights in
times of war
Military protection
Fiefs – land grants
service
protection
Based on mutual obligation
Feudalism
Manors
The lords estate –
 The lord
provided the serfs
with housing,
farmland and
protection
 Serfs tended
the lands, cared
for the animals,
maintained the
estate
Feudalism
Manors
Peasants rarely
traveled more than
25 miles from the
manor
Was home to 15
– 30 families
Self-Sufficient
community
 Peasants heavily
taxed, including a
tithe – a church tax
of 1/10 their
income
High Middle Ages
1050 - 1300
A violent society
 Noble’s constantly fought each other
 Defend estates
 Seize new territories
 Increase wealth
 Kept Europe fragmented
 Glorification of warriors
The Age of Chivalry
 The mounted Knights were the most important
part of an Army
 Professional solders – main obligation was to
serve in battle
 Rewarded with land
 Devoted lives to war
The Age of Chivalry
 Chivalry – a complex set of ideals, demanded that a knight
fight bravely in defense of three masters
1. His feudal lord
2. His Heavenly Lord
3. His Lady
 Meant to protect the
weak and the poor
 Be loyal, brave, and
courteous
The Age of Chivalry
Sons of nobles began training at an early age for
knighthood
 Page – at 7 they were sent to another lord
to be trained
 Squire – at 14 they act as a servant to a
knight
 Knight- at 21 they become a knight and
gain experience in local wars and tournaments
The Age of Chivalry
Tournaments – mock battles that combined recreation and
combat training
Fierce and bloody competitions
Castles and Keeps
Stone castles were encircled by
massive walls and guard
towers
 Home to lord and lady,
their family, knights
solders, and servants
 A fortress of defense
Castles and Keeps
High Middle Ages
By the end of the High Middle Ages
• Western European nations gained much of the
shape by which we know them today
• They became more stable and began
concentrating on establishing stronger political
structures
Late Middle Ages
1300 - 1527
5 major developments of the Late Middle Ages
a. The Hundred Years War
•
Fought between the French and English for the
French throne
•
Massively destructive
•
Gun powder and heavy artillery
b. The Papal Schism
•
3 popes
•
Loss of respectability due to political
involvements
c) The Fall of the Byzantine Empire
•
Turks begin assault on Western boarders
d) Famines
•
Climate became colder and rainier
Harvests shrank
Population doubled
Move back to towns
•
•
•
e) Black Death
•
The Bubonic Plague
•
killed 1/3 – ½ of European population