Download Medieval History

Medieval History
Overview of the development of Europe during the Medieval Era
Byzantine Empire, 300-1200
 Location, location, location…
 Created from Justinian’s split of Roman empire
 Ideal for trade (crossroad between Mediterranean and
Black Sea)
 Constantinople is “new Rome”
Byzantine Empire: Rise and Fall
Byzantium Culture and Society
 Preserved Roman traditions
 Emperor appointed patriarch of Constantinople (combination of
Church and State)—Unity?
 Decline in Urbanism
 Family becomes more rigid—women more confined
 Body of Civil Law—compilation of Roman laws and edicts
 Developed techniques of domed buildings (inspiration for Italian
Renaissance architects)—Hagia Sophia
Transition from Rome to Germanic
Kingdoms
 After fall of Roman empire, Europe was politically fragmented.
 Invasions from Muslims and Berbers in Western Europe
 Vikings attacked in 8th and 9th century (most England, France and
Spain). Settled in Iceland and Normandy
 Charlemagne
 Carolingians united Frankish kingdoms in the 8th
century.
 At its height, it included Gaul, Germany and Italy
 Subdivided by Charlemagne’s grandsons,
never united again
Medieval Economic Transformation
 Decline of Urbanization
 Regional elites become more important
 Farming
 Invention of new and heavier plows
 Horses used instead of oxen
 Lord of a manor has unlimited power
 Manorial system—manors primary centers of
agricultural production. Grew out of need for
self-sufficiency
Political Structure of Feudalism
Medieval Society
 Kings—weaker because of their reliance on nobles
 In return for military service, granted fiefs to…
 Nobles
 Knights—need for bigger, stronger horses. Advances in armor,
weapons, stirrups
 Landholding and military service interwoven
 Clergy
 Serfs—agricultural workers of nobles
 Women—some rare women were powerful,
most were pawns and had little rights. Many nonnoble women worked alongside men.
The Western Church
 One unifying (?) force in medieval Europe.
 Pope, the head of the Catholic Church
 Sought to combine religious power with political power
 Legal Traditions: Germanic feudal law, canon
(church) law, Roman law
 Church/King friction
 Investiture Controversy—who has the power to appoint
bishops? Why does it matter?—money!!!
Monasteries
 Monasticism—developed in Egypt in 4th century
 Celibacy
 Devotion to prayer
 Isolation from society
 Benedict of Nursia (480-547)
 Function
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Centers of literacy and learning (copy manuscripts)
Refuge for widows and vulnerable women
Inns and orphanages
Estates of land
Kievan Russia
 United Black and Caspian Seas,
linked to Silk Road
 Inhabited by many people—but 3
main groups: Slavs (E), Finns (N),
Turks (S)
 Varangians active traders on river
(Volga), Turks built trade cities at
mouth of Volga
 Kiev and Novgorod important cities
of trade
Vladimir I
 980—Grand Prince of
Kiev
 Chose Orthodox
Christianity as official
religion
 Imitated culture of
Byzantine empire—
Cryillic alphabet,
architecture, trade
Revival of Western Europe and Crusades
1000-1200
 Agricultural production increases
 New technology—heavy moldboard plow,
horse collar, breast-strap harness
 Where did they get these ideas?
 Self-governing cities
 First in Italy (Venice—major sea power,
traded in Muslim ports)
 and Flanders (Ghent—imported wool and
exported cloth)
 Crusades, 1095-1204
 Political and religious