Download England and France in the High Middle Ages

Chapter 10
A New World of Cities and Kingdoms
Medieval Trade Routes
1. As commerce was revitalized at the turn of the millennium, much of it depended on Jewish merchants who conducted both regional and
international trade. Through contacts with Jewish communities, these merchants linked the West commercially with the wealthier civilizations of
Byzantium and Islam.
2. Shipping by water was done in galleys that utilized sails and/or oars. These small ships usually hugged the coast to avoid the dangers of the
open sea. Navigation was done by both dead reckoning and the astrolabe, an instrument perfected by the Arabs that allowed navigation by the sun
and stars by measuring the angle from the horizon, enabling latitude to be calculated.
3. Leading in the revival of trade in the eleventh century were the Italian cities. Ideally located, Venice not only had easy access to trade by the
transalpine land routes but also the sea lanes of the Adriatic and Mediterranean. From the north came the raw materials of Austria, the
manufactured goods of the southern German states, and the woolen goods of Flanders. To the east, Venice established close commercial relations
with Byzantine and Islamic markets. The products of trade sent to Constantinople included wine, grain, and timber in exchange for silk that could
be traded to other communities. To the west, the Venetians traded with North Africa and into the Atlantic with France and Flanders. As Sardinia,
Corsica, and Sicily were freed from Muslim control, other Italian cities such as Genoa, Florence, and Naples followed the Venetians into the
western Mediterranean trade.
4. Venice cultivated trading relations with both Constantinople and Muslim North Africa thereby creating a triangular trade. Extensive trade
allowed Venice to become the first European state to live by trade alone. Exports of salt from their lagoons and glass from their furnaces together
with the profits generated from trade made it possible to purchase whatever food the community required. Since few of the Venetians were involved
in agriculture, this area of trade was vitally necessary.
5. Flanders was also strategically located. Across from England where wool was the primary product, Flanders evolved as a center of European
textile manufacturing. In addition, Flanders became the logical focus for traders throughout northern Europe as they brought a variety of goods to
trade for woolen products. Also prospering from the northern trade were the Flemish towns as Bruges and Ghent.
6. To encourage trade in northern France, the Counts of Champaign devised a series of six fairs to be held annually. The fairs became the largest
commercial markets in western Europe. Northern merchants brought furs, woolen cloth, tin, hemp, and honey to exchange for southern European
goods such as cloth and swords from northern Italy and silks, sugar, and spices of the East.
7. In northern Germany, Lübeck and Hamburg formed a mercantile association that was the forefather to the Hanseatic League. The league would
come to control central European trade. It included two hundred cities from Poland to Holland. By the fourteenth century the Hanseatic merchants
were reaching into southern Germany and Northern Italy by land and France, Spain, and Portugal by sea.
Questions:
1. What factors drove the expansion of medieval trade?
2. What advantages did Italy have to become a center of trade?
Medieval Trade Routes
 The New World of Trade and Cities
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The Revival of Trade
 Italian cities
 Venitian ties with the Byzantine Empire
 Genoa and Pisa
 Flanders
 Woolen cloth
 Fairs of the counts of Champagne
 Commercial revolution
Growth of Cities
 Revival of commerce
 Artisans and merchants establish settlements
 Along trade routes near castles
 Intersections of two trade routes
 Borough (burgh) and burghers
 Charters
 Communes
 City governments
 Bishops
 Alliance between town residents and rural nobles
 Citizenship
 Regulations and organization
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Life in the Medieval city
 Space at a premium
 Merchants
 Physical environment and pollution
 Women
Industry
 Guilds
 Apprenticeship
 Manufacturing
Intellectual Centers of Medieval Europe
1. As part of the Carolingian Renaissance, several cathedral schools and libraries were established throughout the Carolingian Empire. There were
only twenty such schools in 900 but by 1100 there were at least two hundred. The primary purpose of these schools was the education of priests.
2. The first European university was at Bologna that became a center for the study of law. The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa recognized it with a
charter in 1158. The university was governed by a guild of students. Other law schools developed at Montpelier and Orleans in France and
Oxford in England.
3. In southern Italy at Salerno the first school of medicine was established. The scholars here were able to draw from the medical heritage of both
Islam and Byzantium.
4. In northern Europe the University of Paris became the first recognized university. In 1200 Philip Augustus accorded formal recognition. The
first teachers at the university received their licenses to teach from the cathedral school at Notre Dame. By the thirteenth century there were about
7,000 students at the university.
5. A number of students and masters left Paris and started their own university at Oxford, England, in 1208. Likewise, Cambridge University was
formed in 1209 when students and masters left Oxford.
6. The first university on German soil was established in 1385 at Heidelberg.
7. Medieval philosophers drew nourishment from the translations coming from Spain and Sicily where the Islamic world was already acquainted
with the Greek and Roman writers. Toledo was a center for the translation of works from Arabic to Latin.
Questions:
1. What role did Charlemagne play in the preservation and the transmission of knowledge?
2. How were new universities formed?
Intellectual Centers of Medieval Europe
 The Intellectual and Artistic World of the High Middle Ages
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The Rise of Universities
 Monastic schools
 Cathedral schools
 Irnerius (1088-1125), Bologna
 University of Paris
 Oxford
 Cambridge
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Teaching in the Medieval University
 Liberal arts curriculum
 Trivium and quadrivium
 Lecture
 Exams
 Degrees
 Advanced study in law, medicine, theology
Students
 Middle groups of medieval society
 Male
 Violence
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Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
 Greek science and philosophy
 Muslim preservation of Greek science and philosophy
 Ibn-Rushd or Averroës (1126-1198)
 Muslim science
Development of Scholasticism
 Reconcile faith and reason
 Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
 Sic et Non (Yes and No)
 Contradiction of scripture
 Nature of reality
 Plato and Aristotle
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 Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
 Summa Theologica
 Dialectical method
Revival of Roman Law
 Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law)
 Irnerius of Bologna
Literature in the High Middle Ages
 Vernacular Literature
 Poetry
 Chanson de geste (heroic epic)
 Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland)
 Courtly romance
 Fabliaux (fables)
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Romanesque Architecture: “A White Mantle of Churches”
 Basilica form
 Barrel vaults
 Heavy walls
Gothic Cathedral
 Ribbed vaults and pointed arches
 Flying buttresses and stained glass
 Community construction
England and France in the High Middle Ages
1. The invasion by William of Normandy was occasioned by the death of the childless Anglo-Saxon ruler, Edward the Confessor in 1066. Since
Edward's mother was a Norman princess, he willed the throne to William. The Witan (Anglo-Saxon assembly), however, ignored the wishes of the
deceased king and appointed the Saxon Harold Godwinsson as the new king. Immediately, Godwinsson had to defend his realm from Harald
Hardrada, king of Norway, who also claimed the throne. On September 23, 1066, Godwinsson defeated the Norwegians but then had to rush 300
miles south to meet William who had invaded near Hastings. Godwinsson's army was crushed on October 14, 1066.
2. Henry II (1154-1189) not only wore the crown of England and was lord of Ireland, he was also the duke of Burgundy and count of Anjou
(inherited from his father), the duke of Normandy (inherited from his mother), and through his wife, Eleanor, the duke of Aquitaine. Additionally,
the king of Scotland was Henry's vassal.
3. The marriage of Henry to Eleanor in March 1152 followed the annulment of her marriage to the king of France, Louis VII (1137-1180). With the
marriage, Henry gained considerable French soil just as Louis lost it. The French perceived the English expansion a threat and began pursuing a
policy of containment that would not know complete success until the end of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453).
4. King John (1199-1216) was declared an unfaithful vassal by Philip II Augustus of France (1180-1223) and thus forfeited his right to the territories
in France. In 1204, the French king seized Normandy and within ten years the English lost Maine, Anjou, and Touraine. Only Aquitaine had not
fallen to the French. The English loses were facilitated by the battle at Bouvines on July 27, 1214, where the French defeated the allied forces of
John and the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (1198-1215). The victory unified France around the crown and so weakened Otto that he soon fell from
power.
5. The royal domain of the French king was limited to the territory of Ile-de-France and the immediate territory surrounding the city.
6. By the Treaty of Paris in 1259, Louis IX (1226-1270) surrendered to Henry III (1216-1272) the disputed territories on the borders of Gascony and
confirmed Henry's possession of the duchy of Aquitaine. This will be a cause for The Hundred Years' War.
Questions:
1. How did England come to possess so much territory in France?
2. In what manner would England lose its French possessions?
England and France in the High Middle Ages
 The Emergence and Growth of European Kingdoms,
1000-1300
 Kings
 England in the High Middle Ages
 King Canute, 1016-1035
 Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066
 Harold Godwinson meets Duke William, Battle of
Hastings, October 14, 1066
 William the Conqueror, 1066-1087
 Doomsday Book
 Oath of Salisbury Plain, 1086
 Shires (counties), hundreds, sheriff
 Ties to France
 Henry II Plantagenet, 1154-1189
 Lord of Ireland
 Count of Anjou, duke of Normandy, duke of Aquitaine
 Financial reform
 Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury
 King John, 1199-1216
 Battle of Runnymede, 1215
 Magna Carta
 King Edward, 1272-1307
 Uniting British Isles
 Monarchical rights
 Parliament
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Growth of the French Kingdom
 Capetian dynasty
 Ile-de-France
 King Philip II Augustus, 1180-1223
 War against the Plantagenets
 Government
 Bailiwicks and bailiffs
 Seneschals
 King Louis IX, 1226-1270
 Justice for the people
 Parlements
Christian Reconquests in the Western Mediterranean
1. In 711 a Muslim force crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and defeated the weak Visigothic kings (see Acetate 23, Map 7.3). By 718 the Iberian
Peninsula belonged to the Muslims. Seeking to continue their expansion, Muslim adventurers pushed across the Pyrenees into the lands of the
Franks. In 732 near Poitiers (see Acetate 26, Map 7.5) the fearful Franks met the Muslims in an inconclusive battle. Since the Frankish lands
represented only a periphery, the raiders returned to Spain where Islamic civilization was being established.
2. A civil war brought the fall of the caliph of Cordóba in 1031. As a consequence, Muslim Spain disintegrated into small principalities (taifas) based
on major towns. Ultimately there were twenty-three taifas.
3. The height of the first period of Spanish Christian reconquest came in 1085 when the old Christian city of Toledo was recaptured. Several
Christian kingdoms emerged at this time: tiny Leon in the northeast, the small northern mountain state of Navarre; Portugal in the west; Castile in
the center; Aragon in the northeast; and Catalonia in the extreme east. Aragon and Catalonia united in 1140. Taking advantage of Muslim
disunity, Leon and Castile extended their realms south.
4. Cordóba was chosen in the eighth century to be the capital of the Umayyad caliphate.
5. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, "El Cid," fought for both the Christians and Muslims, changing sides as his own interests required. Ultimately he acquired
Valencia in 1092.
6. Alfonso VIII of Castile defeated the Almohades at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. Muslim towns quickly fell in succession after this battle. When
Sevilla was captured in 1248 only Granada remained in Muslim hands.
7. Located in Granada was the fortified palace of the Alhambra that ruled over the region from 1232 to 1492. This was the last bastion of Muslim
rule on the Iberian Peninsula. On January 2, 1492, Granada fell after a siege by the Christian Spaniards.
8. In 1060 Norman Duke Roger Guiscard, with papal blessing, invaded Muslim Sicily. A prosperous island, the invasion was driven more by
Norman greed than Christian zeal. It would not be until 1091 that the conquest would be completed. In 1072 the Muslim metropolis of Palermo
was conquered. With its bustling harbor, Palermo played a key role in central Mediterranean trade. Equally important, the Normans adopted
many of the Muslim cultural forms (without the religion). Thus, the island became one of the important links in the transmission of Islamic knowledge
to the West.
Questions:
1. How did the people of Spain react to the invasion of the Muslims?
2. Why was the conquest of Sicily desired?
3. What was the importance of Sicily in the transmission of Islamic knowledge?
Christian Reconquests in the Western Mediterranean
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 King Philip IV, the Fair, 1285-1314
 Royal administration
 Council for advice, chamber of accounts, royal
court (Parlement)
 Estates General
Christian Reconquest: The Spanish Kingdoms
 Leon, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Barcelona take the
offensive against the Muslims
 Fueros
The Holy Roman Empire
1. The origin of the Holy Roman Empire was with Charlemagne who was reviving the old Roman Empire of the west with a base in Germany. The
pope on Christmas day 800 confirmed his status as emperor.
2. The main body of Germany was the eastern section of Charlemagne's empire given to Louis the German at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 (see
Acetate 27, Map 8.1). Under the Saxon kings territories were gained east into the lands of the Slavs (see Acetate 30, Map 8.4) and claims were
made both on the Middle Kingdom created by the treaty and on Italy. The Germans, however, could not hold northern Italy and central Italy
remained under the control of the Papal States.
3. With empires expanding and nobles often reluctant to cooperate, it was essential that the kings exercise some control over the church. This was
especially important since clergymen filled offices as royal administrators. This ultimately led to a clash between Henry IV (1056-1106) and Pope
Gregory VII (1073-1085) over the practice of lay investiture that had become essential in governing Germany. By forbidding investiture, Gregory
had deprived Henry of a key element in his bureaucracy. With his kingdom threatened, Henry sought to weaken the pope by getting the German
bishops to declare their independence. For this, Henry was excommunicated. Now facing a general revolt of his nobles, Henry had to seek
absolution that was gained at Canossa in January 1077 with a promise of submission. The pope was ascendant in his power but soon was brought
down when an again excommunicated Henry drove Gregory into exile in 1084 and installed his own antipope (who was never recognized within the
Church). Only in 1122 with the Concordat of Worms was the controversy resolved when Henry V (1106-1125) renounced his power to invest
bishops.
4. By the thirteenth century Frederick II (1215-1250) had united northern and southern Italy with Germany to create the largest empire since
Charlemagne. Actually a Sicilian, Frederick's main interest was the imperial title of Germany for which he was willing to concede undisputed
authority to the German princes. Ultimately, this objective together with struggles with the papacy would lead to the fragmentation of Germany, not
to be united again until 1870.
5. The Normans invaded Sicily and southern Italy in the eleventh century with the blessings of the pope (see Acetate 36, Map 10.4). After thirtyone years of fighting (1060-1091), the Muslim and Greek defenders were subdued.
Questions:
1. How was the Holy Roman Empire created out of the demise of Charlemagne's empire?
2. What was the important relationship between the Church and the ruler of Germany?
3. How did Frederick II affect the future of Germany.
The Holy Roman Empire
 The Lands of the Holy Roman Empire: Germany and Italy

Salian kings in Germany
 Weakened kings rely on churchmen as administrators
 Normans conquer southern Italy
 Frederick I, Barbarossa, 1152-1190
 Build German kingdom
 Opposition of the pope in northern Italy
 Henry VI, 1190-1197
 Frederick II, 1212-1250
 Preoccupation in gaining Italy
 Contest with the pope
Northern and Eastern Europe
1. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden did not develop a significant political structure until the second half of the tenth and first half of the eleventh
centuries. All three converted to Christianity but continuously fought one another in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
2. Novgorod was a prosperous trading city tied to German merchants in the West. It was situated so that fur and amber traders could ship their
goods west in exchange for the products of western Europe.
3. Under Boleslav the Brave (992-1025), Poland extended its authority west across the Oder River, down into Bohemia, and east into the
Kingdom of Rus. Although the kingdom survived after the death of Boleslav, it was truncated with no natural frontiers. As a consequence,
German settlers encroached regularly leading to intermarriage between the Slavs and Germans. The Oder became a linguistic dividing line; west
of the river German predominated while east of it the Slavic language prevailed.
4. In 1386 the reigning queen of Poland married the grand duke of Lithuania thereby doubling the size of Poland.
5. Near the end of the twelfth century the Teutonic Knights were established to protect the Christian Holy Lands. In 1226 East Prussia was given
to the Knights who waged war and brought both the region and the pagan Slavs under Christianity.
6. By the 1230s the Mongols, who previously had conquered China and Persia, were turning their efforts westward and advancing into Poland and
Hungary. The Mongols eventually established a capital for this division of the Mongol Empire at Sarai on the lower Volga River. The Mongol
authority was maintained over the lands of what are now the Ukraine and Byelorussia until the middle of the fourteenth century.
7. The prince of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky, cooperated with the Mongols in the middle of the thirteenth century and thereby won
acknowledgement as the leader of the western part of the Mongol empire.
8. The southern Slavic people came to occupy the Balkans where they ultimately split between Roman Christianity (Croats) and Eastern
Christianity (Serbs).
Questions:
1. What was the impact of the Teutonic Knights on eastern Europe?
2. What role did the Mongols play in the political settlement of eastern Europe?
Northern and Eastern Europe

New Kingdoms in Northern and Eastern Europe
 Scandinavia
 Hungary and Poland
 Tuetonic Knights
 Development of Russia
 Kiev
 Orthodox Church
 Mongols
 Alexander Nevsky (c. 1220-1263)