Download The Middle Ages in Western Europe

I.
The Middle Ages in Western Europe
The Early Middle Ages (ca. 700 – 1000 CE) – Major Themes:
A. The Franks, The Carolingian Monarchs and the Holy Roman
Empire
1. Charles Martel (r. 714 – 752 CE) – halted the spread of
Islam at the Battle of Tours in 732 CE
2. Pepin the Short (r. 752 – 768 CE) – defeated the Lombards
in 754 and gains the favor of the Pope
3. Charlemagne (r. 768 – 814 CE) – rules the Holy Roman
Empire (formed around 800 CE)
4. Louis the Pious (r. 814 – 840 CE) – ineffectively rules Holy
Roman Empire
*. Upon his death, Louis three sons (Louis the German,
Charles the Bald, and Lothair divide the Holy Roman
Empire, ruling separate parts)
B. Major Invaders
1. The Vikings
a. Who they were:
1. Various Scandinavian groups (from what is now Norway,
Denmark and Sweden)
2. Their Culture
a. Mostly Agricultural Villages
b. Polytheistic (later, they convert to Christianity)
c. Superb warriors and shipbuilders
b. What they did that makes them so important:
1. Raiding (“a-viking”) – mostly in the 8th and 9th Centuries
a. Why they did it
1. need for land and resources – overpopulation in
Scandinavia
2. desire for wealth
3. desire for adventure(?)
b. How they did it – surprise raids (using longboats) on
coastal and river towns and monasteries.
2. Exploration and Settlement:
a. Establish Major Settlements in Europe in the 9th and
10th Centuries
1. Kiev – founded as a center of trade in Eastern
Europe
2. Normandy (northern France) – a Viking chief, Rolf,
becomes the vassal of the King of France, Charles the
Simple, in exchange for a stop to Viking Raids
3. York (in Northern England) – starts as a Viking
colony
4. Iceland
b. Exploration and Settlement of the New World
1. a Viking group, under Erik the Red, colonizes
Greenland around 985 CE
2. another Viking group, under Leif Eriksson,
“discovers” America shortly thereafter
*. There is a short-lived Viking colony in
Newfoundland established around 1000 CE
2. The Magyars
a. Who they were – nomadic peoples from Western Asia
b. What makes them so important:
1. Raided into what is now Germany
2. Eventually their raiding stops
*. They settle down, convert to Christianity and
eventually create the Kingdom of Hungary
C. Development of Feudalism
1. Definition – a form of government that stressed alliances of
mutual protection between monarchs (kings and queens) and
nobles of various levels of power.
2. Origins of the Feudal System
a. Started due to the decentralization at the end of the Roman
Empire
b. Used by Charlemagne to reward his bureaucrats
c. Becomes more widespread in practice by the 900s CE as a
result of invasions by Vikings, Magyars, and Arabic groups
into Western Europe
3. How the feudal relationship worked:
a. The Top – Monarch
*. gives fief (land/estates) to a vassal (a noble who
served the noble of the next highest rank
b. Next level – High Ranking Noble
1. Vassal of the king – received a fief from the king (his
Lord) and therefore owes the king the following:
a. total allegiance
b. knights for battle
c. service in the king’s court
d. provide food/lodging if the king visited
e. give funds if the lord’s son became a knight or
daughter got married
f. pay ransom if the lord is captured in battle
2. Also a Lord – grants a smaller portion of his large fief to
a lower-leveled noble
c. Next level – Lower-Leveled Noble
1. Vassal of the High Ranking Noble – received a fief from
his Lord (the High Ranking Noble)
*. Because of this, the noble had to supply the same
six things mentioned above to his lord
2. Also a Lord – grants a smaller portion of his fief to a
lower-leveled noble
3. THE FEUDAL EXCHANGE COULD CONTINUE “DOWN
THE LINE” MANY TIMES
4. What a fief looked like
a. Center – Castle/Manor House
1. House for the Nobleman and his family
2. Defense for all people living on the fief
b. Other Areas around the Castle
1. Lands –farmland/pastures/forest
2. peasant houses/villages
D. Development of Manorialism
1. Definition – system of agricultural production (economics) that
centers around the relationship between a landowner (lord) and
the workers (2 kinds):
a. Peasants – general non-noble people who lived in a fiefdom
b. Serfs – Peasants who were tied to the land (could not leave)
2. Origins of the Manorial System:
a. Started during the later Roman Empire
b. Practice spread and continued due to decreases in trading
and central government structure
3. How the Manorial Relationship worked
a. The Lord provided the following:
1. Land (for farming and living)
2. Protection
3. Services (mills, ovens, roads, bridges, etc.)
b. In exchange, the Peasant provided the following:
1. Services
a. Farming
b. Herding
c. Artisan Services (e.g. blacksmithing, carpentry,
shoemaking, milling, making beer/wine, making
clothing, etc.)
d. General Labor (building and repairing)
2. Payment in the Form of Goods (produce, or products)
E. The Medieval Church
1. Center of Spiritual Life
a. Granted salvation/grace to nobles and peasants/serfs
b. Sacraments (church rituals) – necessary to achieve salvation
2. Church Organization/Hierarchy
a. Secular Clergy – “live in regular” society
a. Pope – leader of all Catholic clergy
b. Archbishop – leader of Catholic clergy in a particular
country
c. Bishop – leader of Catholic clergy in a particular area
d. Priest – head of a specific church
b. Regular Clergy – “live apart from society” in a Monastery
a. Monks (led by an Abbot)
b. Nuns (led by an Abbess)
3. Relationship between the Feudal System and the Church
a. The Church had its own laws – could punish nobles and
kings for breaking these laws with an interdict (banning
their fief or whole country from receiving the sacraments).
b. Secular Clergy’s feudal ties
1. Many high church officials were nobles who were
involved in the feudal system (i.e. same roles and
responsibilities)
2. Kings and nobles chose the Secular Clergy (even the
pope!) – Lay Investiture
*. Because of this, many church officials were family
members of the nobles/kings who appointed them.
F. In Brief: The Lives of Medieval Peoples of Western Europe
1. Nobles
a. Lord – total head of the fiefdom
b. Lady – in charge of raising children and running the household,
making clothing and medicine
c. Entertainment – Jousting Tournaments, Hunting, Feasting,
Listening to Music
d. Men Could Become Knights
*. Governed by the Code of Chivalry
2. Peasants/Serfs
a. Hard Life – lots of work and disease, few comforts, poor diet
b. Some Leisure Time (mostly on Sunday) – dancing, singing,
wrestling, archery, plays, musicals
II.
The High Middle Ages (ca. 1000 – 1350 CE) – Major Themes and Events:
A. The Crusades (ca. 1095 – 1212 CE)
1. The Major Causes:
a. Christian pilgrimages to the “holy land,” especially Jerusalem,
interrupted by its takeover by the Seljuk Turks in the early 1000s
CE)
b. Furthermore, Seljuk Turks had been expanding westward into
Byzantine Territory
*. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, sends a letter to the Pope
asking for some military assistance against the Seljuk Turks
2. The Major Crusades (there are nine in all; we’ll only focus on five)
a. The First Crusade (1096 – 1099 CE)
1. Started when Pope Urban II tells Christians to take up arms
against the “infidel” Muslims.
a. The Pope sees this as a chance to
1. spread (his version of) Christianity
2. gain even more power over the nobility of Europe
b. Why would people go?
1. Pope promises immediate salvation for all who go
2. For the Nobility – a chance to gain in power, prestige,
and wealth
3. For Commoners
a. A chance to escape their dull life (adventure!)
b. A chance to gain wealth
c. A chance to do something really important
2. Three Armies (mostly French), under the command of French
and Norman minor nobles march off toward Constantinople
in 1096 CE.
*. Along the way, these armies manage to rampage through
central and eastern Europe, killing many Jews and even
other Christians
3. Eventually these forces get to Jerusalem in 1099 CE
a. Capture Jerusalem after a two month siege
b. Capture other territories in this region
4. Aftermath:
a. Most crusaders, who were still alive, return home
b. Some stay behind and form feudalistic “crusader
kingdoms”
b. The Second Crusade (1147 - 1149 CE)
1. How it started:
a. Four of the “crusader kingdoms” is retaken by Muslim
armies.
b. Pope Eugenius IV and Bernard of Clairvaux (a monk who
later became a saint) call for a Second Crusade to take them
back.
2. King Louis VII of France and Conrad III, the Holy Roman
Emperor lead forces from their countries to the “holy land”
3. This crusade did not work
a. both leaders bickered constantly
b. Seljuk Turkish armies easily defeated the French and
German armies
c. The Third Crusade, “The Crusade of Kings” (1189 – 1192 CE)
1. How it started:
a. Muslim armies, under Saladin, capture Jerusalem in 1187
b. Three European kings decide to personally lead their
armies to recapture Jerusalem
1. King Richard I (“the Lionhearted”) of England
2. King Philip Augustus of France
3. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman
Empire
2. Major Events:
a. On the way to the “holy land,” Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa drowns, causing his army to return home.
b. King Philip Augustus takes his army home before reaching
Jerusalem
c. English and Saracen forces fight for three years, but
Jerusalem still under Muslim control.
3. Results – Richard I and Saladin sign a peace treaty allowing
Christian pilgrims safe and free access to Jerusalem.
d. The Fourth Crusade (1202 – 1204 CE)
1. Pope Innocent III calls for a Fourth Crusade upon the death of
Saladin in 1193.
2. The leaders of this crusade, the nobility of Venice, decide to
eliminate their biggest trade competitor, The Byzantine
Empire, instead!
3. Constantinople captured and looted by crusaders in 1204.
*. Byzantine armies finally recapture Constantinople in 1261.
e. “The Children’s Crusade” (1212 CE)
1. A youth, named Nicholas of Cologne, announces that God told
him to lead a crusade of children to the “holy land”
2. Nicholas leads an “army” of children from what is now central
Germany all the way to Italy - - where the Pope tells them all
to just go home! (most do so.)
3. Meanwhile, another group of about 20,000 French kids gather
at the port city of Marseilles, demanding passage to the “holy
land”
a. Two of the seven ships sink
b. The other five sail to northern Africa, where the kids are
sold into slavery
3. The Major Effects on Europe:
a. Positive:
1. Rise in trade and contact with other peoples
a. The Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa become
very prosperous trade centers as a result of this!
b. Trading within Europe and with other parts of the world
increases greatly
2. Rise in power of European Monarchs (breakdown of
Feudalism and power of lesser nobles)
3. Increases in technology
1. better ships
2. new navigation techniques
a. better maps
b. the magnetic compass
b. Negative:
1. Rise in bad feelings between Christians, Jews and Muslims.
*. Anti-Semitism gets even stronger in Europe as a result
2. Weakening of the Byzantine Empire.
3. Overall decline in prestige for the position of Pope.
B. The Rise of Centralized European Monarchies
1. General Trend
a. King at the top of the feudal system
1. Control not centralized
2. Local nobles made own local decisions, laws, money, etc.
3. King subject to the practices of the feudal system (or face
rebellion)
b. Kings begin to alter the feudal system in order to bring kingdoms
under their total control
c. Kings incorporate other types of people (especially the middle
class) into advisory roles – further weakening the power of nobles
2. In Focus: England
a. Anglo-Saxon Monarchs (871 – 1066 CE)
1. Alfred the Great (871 – 899 CE)
2. Succession of Weak monarchs ending with the death of
Edward the Confessor in 1066 CE
*. Three claimants to the throne – Harold Godwinson is the
choice of the Anglo-Saxon nobles.
b. Norman Invasion and Conquest
1. William, the Duke of Normandy
a. is a cousin of Edward the Confessor – one of the three
claimants to the English throne
b. Is also a vassal of the French King
2. Battle of Hastings (1066 CE)
a. William, taking 6,000 soldiers, crosses the English
Channel
b. He defeats the forces of Harold Godwinson
c. He becomes the new English King
c. Rule of William the Conquerer (r. 1066 – 1100 CE)
1. Uses the French feudal system to consolidate his power:
a. Takes land away from Anglo-Saxon nobles
b. Gives land to Norman nobles who swear to give military
service and be loyal to him (NOT to other nobles)
*. These fiefdoms were not bordering one another – to
prevent any regional alliances and independence
movements
2. Uses other methods to consolidate power:
a. Develops a Council of Nobles to advise the king
1. Gives nobles more of a stake in the kingdom’s success
2. Keeps control of the nobles
b. Establishes a centralized taxes (payable to the king,
not local nobles) and justice system
1. Orders a census to be taken for tax purposes – collected
in the “Doomsday Book”
2. Appoints local officials, called Sheriffs, to collect taxes
and administer justice throughout the kingdom
3. Keeps his fiefdoms in France
a. so, effectively, the English kingdom includes much of
western France, too
b. but, this effectively means that the English King is still a
vassal of the French king in this regard
d. Other Kings act to consolidate power and authority under the
English Monarchy
1. Henry I (r. 1100 – 1135 CE)
*. Creates the Royal Exchequer (treasury) to officially collect
taxes in the name of the King
2. Henry II (r. 1154 – 1189 CE)
a. Establishes England’s royal court system
1. Common Law (applicable to the whole kingdom)
established
2. Royal court structure
a. Grand Jury – used to determine if there is enough
evidence to put someone on trial
b. Petit Jury – actual trial jury
3. Royal courts now used more frequently to try criminal
and civil cases instead of the local courts
b. Exerts royal power over the Catholic Church – has the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Becket, murdered
because he challenged the kings authority to try clergymen
e. Two important things that limit the power of the English Kings
1. The Magna Carta (1215 CE)
a. The king at that time, John I, was unpopular
1. lost lands to France as a result of war
2. increased taxes
3. punished his political enemies without holding a trial
b. English nobles draft this “Great Charter” and force John I
to sign it
1. Originally intended to protect feudal rights of nobles
a. Guaranteed trial by jury
b. prevented King from collecting taxes without
consent of the Council of Nobles
2. It actually protected the rights of all English people!
2. Parliament - a representative, legislative body
a. First – formed as the Model Parliament in 1295 by King
Edward I
1. basically the same old Council of Nobles, but
expanded to include members of the clergy, knights, and
burgesses (middle class townspeople)
2. advised king on matters of business and government
b. Further developments
1. By 1400 CE – Parliament splits into two branches:
a. House of Lords – comprised of nobles and clergy
b. House of Commons – comprised of knights and
burgesses
2. Parliament also wins the authority to levy taxes and
approve laws by the 14th Century CE
3. The Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453 CE) – on and off war pitting
England vs. France
a. Cause:
1. King Philip VI of France seizes Gascony, the last remaining
French fiefdom belonging to the English monarchy
2. King Edward III of England (who is also Duke of Gascony)
declares war on France
b. Major Battles and Events
1. English longbowmen mow down French knights at the Battles
of Crecy (1346 CE), Poitiers (1356CE) and Agincourt (1415
CE)
2. Joan of Arc – leads the French army to victory at Orleans,
turning the tide of the war in favor of the French.
*. She is later captured by the English and burned at the stake
as a witch in 1431 CE
3. Cannons come into widespread use by the mid-1400s – castles
are not as useful as they used to be!
4. By 1453, French armies capture all French territory, except for
the city of Calais
c. Effects:
1. Devastation of French lands
2. Further consolidation of power by both English and French
monarchies
3. Further decline of feudalism
a. Kings are able to raise their own armies without invoking
feudal relationships
b. knights and castles, the major military conventions of
feudalism, prove to be useless in the face of new technology
(the longbow and cannon) and military strategy
C. Social Developments and Changes during the High Middle Ages
1. Learning and Philosophy
a. Interestingly, a lot of medieval scholarship is due to contact with
Muslim peoples
1. Muslim scholars studied and preserved the writings of the
Greeks and Romans as well as other cultures.
2. Muslim scientific works and development passed along to the
West (spurring the eventual growth in research there)
b. Growth of Universities – developed to teach theology, law,
medicine, and philosophy
c. Scholasticism – philosophical movement of the middle ages that
sought to reconcile Christian doctrine with Classical (GrecoRoman) philosophies (especially the works of Aristotle)
1. emphasized reason as well as faith
2. Famous scholasticists:
a. Peter Abelard – Sic et Non (“Yes or No”)
b. Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica
d. Medieval Literature
1. Epics – Beowulf and the Song of Roland
2. Vernacular Literature – written in the language of everyday
speech
a. Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy
b. Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales
c. Troubadour Poetry
2. Economic Changes
a. Increases in Trade
1. Partially due to the Crusades
2. Rise of Trade Centers
a. Italian City-States of Pisa, Venice, Genoa capitalize on
Mediterranean Sea trade linking Europe and Asia
b. Flanders (a region in Modern-day Belgium) becomes a
center of cloth trade for Northern Europe
c. The Hanseatic League –alliance of cities in
northern Germany and southern Scandinavia to encourage
trade
3. Trade Fairs – gatherings of merchants at medieval towns and
cities to exchange goods
b. Agricultural Advances – allow for the production of more food
1. Three-Field System – crop rotation system
2. Heavier plows – better able to till more types of soil
2. Collar harness – allow horses to pull plows
c. Development of Banking
1. Formed in response to increased merchant activities and the
development of a money economy
2. Served important roles in later medieval economic system
a. Lent money to kings (further weakening feudal system)
b. Lent money to merchants
c. Provided currency exchange for traveling merchants
d. Safeguarded funds – bank accounts
d. The Guild System
1. Guilds are associations of people in a particular type of
business or trade
a. Merchant Guilds – primarily operated to maintain a
monopoly for local merchants
b. Craft Guilds
1. Regulated the work of artisans through strict rules of
training and pricing
2. Made sure that goods were of top quality
2. Provided benefits for its members
a. medical care and unemployment relief
b. social and religious events for members
3. Hierarchical structure of the craft guilds:
a. Apprentice – youth who worked without pay, learning a
trade
b. Journeyman – older, more experienced student of the trade
who received some pay
c. Master – owned shop and tools; trained apprentices and
journeymen
*. Journeymen promoted to master as soon as their
“masterpiece” was judged by the guild masters
3. Town Life
a. Growth of Towns and Cities
1. Towns and cities grow as a result of increasing trade activities
2. Many of these towns are older villages/cities or new ones
a. along roads used for major trade routes
b. along the coasts or navigable rivers
3. Many towns/cities are granted charters – documents granting
freedom of the towns from domination by feudal lords
(breakdown of the manor system)
b. The Rise of the Middle Class
1. Mostly made-up of merchants, bankers and master craftsmen
2. Gained in power – most prominent burgesses included in
kings’ councils
3. Middle class persons develop town councils to run local
affairs
4. Religion
a. Developments in Christianity
1. The Papal States – Territories in central Italy controlled by
the Pope (who acts as a feudal monarch and religious leader)
2. Ending of lay investiture – made illegal by Pope Gregory VII
in 1075
*. The Investiture Controversy
a. Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
challenges the Pope’s order
b. Compromise finally reached in 1122 (by the next
Holy Roman Emperor and Pope!) – Concordat of
Worms
3. The Inquisition – a court designed to find, try, and punish
heretics (those who went against church teachings)
4. Problems with the position of Pope itself
a. “The Babylonian Captivity”
1. Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France in
dispute
a. King Philip IV claims that he can tax the clergy
b. Pope Boniface VIII claims that he cannot without
the Pope’s permission
2. King Philip IV sends army to capture the Pope in
Rome!
*. Pope Boniface VIII escapes but soon dies
3. King Philip IV orchestrates the election of a
Frenchman, Clement V, as the next Pope in 1305
4. Between 1305 and 1378 – Popes reside in Avignon,
France
b. “The Great Schism”
1. Pope Gregory XI returns Papal residence to Rome in
1378, but died in the same year.
2. Roman mobs force the College of Cardinals to elect an
Italian as the new Pope (for fear that he might leave
again, otherwise)
*. The College of Cardinals “elects” Urban VI
3. Soon thereafter, a group of French Cardinals declares
this election invalid, selecting Clement VII as the Pope
4. From 1378 – 1417, there are two Popes (one in Rome
and one in Avignon, France)
b. Judaism and the development of European Anti-Semitism
1. Jews are considered a “nation within a nation”
a. often not considered citizens of the particular kingdom in
which they lived
b. Ghettos – segregated portions of towns or cities in which
Jews were forced to live
2. Some Jews become prosperous merchants, craftspeople and
bankers (Medieval Christian teachings prohibit the seeking of
wealth)
3. Many Jews are targeted and scapegoated
a. by the Inquisition
b. by the Crusades
c. other forms of organized discrimination
1. blamed for Jesus’ death
2. blamed for epidemics (even The Plague) – accused of
poisoning town wells
D. The Black Death (1347-1352 CE)
1. Causes:
a. Origins – brought from the Middle East to Italy via merchants
b. Spread along trade routes
2. Effects:
a. Death for about 1/3 of the population of Europe
b. Widespread fear and panic – many people thought that God was
punishing them
c. Persecution of Jews (see above)
d. Economic problems:
1. Decline of trade and production
2. Shortage of labor