Transcript Medieval Society: - Shelton School District

Medieval Society:
Hierarchies, Towns, Universities, and
Families
The Traditional Order of Life

Three basic social groups existed during the
Middle Ages.


Clergy
Nobility
-Peasants


After the revival of towns and trade and fourth
class emerged:
Traders and merchants
The Church as a State



The medieval church was much like a present-day
government.
Everyone became a member at birth, just as we become
citizens.
The Church had its own laws (cannon law) and courts.


It could enforce these laws, even upon kings, by such means
as interdict and excommunication.
Interdict disallows religious services and sacraments to be
performed within a region.
 Excommunication is to be removed from the Church.


Like a government, the Church had the power of taxation.
Tithe: 10% of a families income was to go to the Church
(tithe)
Entertainment

In peacetime, the nobility had two favorite forms of
entertainment: hunting and tournaments.


Limiting the amount of hunting within the lands of the
noble usually meant good hunting.
This practice brought resentment among the
common people.


Tournaments kept knights prepared for war, and also
brought entertainment to the people.
Tournaments often lead to violence among the
combatants and death.
 Eventually they will be ended because to many knights
were being killed.
 Henry II of France was mortally wounded during a joust.
 The Church declared them barbaric
The Manor System
 Feudalism was essentially a governmental and
military system.


The economic system basis of early medieval life was
a large estate that included a village.
These large estates were called a manor.
 A large fief may have several manors where a small
fief may have only one.

Each manor tried to be self-sufficient.
 To produce everything they needed.
 Most manors produced their own food, clothing, and
leather goods,
 Only items such as iron, salt,and tar were imported.
Peasant Life
 Most of the peasants on a manor were serfs, whose
legal status was less than free but higher than slave.
 Serfs were bound to the land.
 They could not leave without the lord’s permission
and the price of his permission was usually a large
sum of money.
 Serfs were not slaves, for they could not be sold
away from the land.
 There were some freemen on the manor who
rented land from the lord.
 This group included skilled workers necessary to the
village economy such as blacksmiths, millers, and
carpenters.
Castles

When people think of the Middle Ages they think of
majestic castles and knights in shining armor.
 During the early Middle ages, most castles were
relatively simple structures built of earth and wood.


Castles were built for defensive purposes, not for
luxury.
The main part of the castle was called the keep.
 It was surrounded by a high wall.
 If the castle was on flat land it would have a moat
around it with a drawbridge
Life in the Castle
 Within the keep, was the lord’s living quarters.
 In the great hall, the lord held court and received
visitors, and here the family lived during the day.
 The lord and his family had separate sleeping quarters.
 There was little furniture and tapestries covered the
walls.
 Fowl, dogs and other small animals ran everywhere.
 The floors were covered with straw in which filth and
vermin abounded.
The Rise of Towns


During the latter part of the Early Middle ages,
feudal manors grew in size.
Populations grew.
 The castle as well as the Church became the
center of the growing town.
 The economic revival of this period was due
to the growth of these towns.
An Agricultural Revolution



Several improvements in agricultural technology occurred
during this period.
The heavy bottom plow.
A new yoke


The use of horses instead of oxen.
Horses worked faster and ate less than oxen.

Windmill & Watermills
-Provided a power source to grind grains into flour.
 Due to these improvements, feudal lords had new fields cleared
to increase food production.
 With the improvements in agriculture during this period
population began to grow.
 Between 1000 and 1300 the population of Europe doubled.
Trade Revives
 As Europe’s population grew, so did the demand for
new products not provided for them on the manor
estates.
 As Europe became more settled, trade began to
flourish again.



Merchant companies were formed and established
new trade routes throughout Europe.
Along these routes, merchants traded goods from Asia
and the Far East.
Jewelry, spices, perfumes, silks and other products not
found in Europe.
Trade Fairs



In the beginning of this trade revival,
merchants and consumers met at trade fairs.
These fairs occurred where trade routes
crossed.
Local people would trade their goods at these
fairs.
 They were also entertained by jugglers,
musicians, and magicians.
 These fairs were often sponsored by the local
lords who, for a fee, provided the fair
protection while in his domain.
Chartered Towns

To insure the stability and interests of the
towns, the merchants asked for charters
(written document guaranteeing their rights
and privileges as granted by the lord.)
 In exchange the town would pay a yearly fee
to the lord

Most charters allowed for self-government and
control of their own affairs.
A Commercial Revolution


As the growth in trade continued during the
High Middle Ages, a need for capital
developed.
Capital is money used for investment.
 A new banking industry developed to
provided this capital for merchants.
Social Changes


Along with the economy of the medieval society
changing, so did the culture of Europe.
 The increased use of money was detrimental to
serfdom.
 Serfs would sell products to merchants and pay the
lords their dues instead of working them off.
By 1300, most peasants either rented their lands or
were hired laborers.
 In towns, the old social order of nobles, clergy, and
peasants began to change.
 A new middle class began to emerge in the 11th
century.
Role of Guilds

Merchant guilds would dominate the towns of the high
Middle Ages.
 Guilds ran the chartered cities of Europe.
 Artisan guilds soon appeared because the craftsmen
resented the power of the merchants.
 Each guild represented a specific craft.
 Worked to protect the interests of its members.
 Developed stages of membership.
 Apprentice: learn your trade from a master.
 Journeyman: can work for a wage in your craft.
 Master: can start your own shop
 Women were allowed to become masters in their craft.
City Life






Towns of the High Middle Ages were not pleasant
places to live by our standards of today.
Protected by high walls for defensive purposes.
 Narrow streets
No Sewage system.
No regular garbage pickup.
Open air markets.
Disease common and often deadly.
Languages and Literature
 Latin was the language of the educated.
 The common person spoke the vernacular
“everyday” language of their region.
 The first vernacular literature consisted of
troubadour songs.
Dante & Chaucer
 Two great writers, Dante and Chaucer represented the flowering
of medieval vernacular literature.
 Dante-father of modern Italian and Divine Comedy
 Chaucer-father of modern English and Canterbury Tales

Dante’s use of the Tuscany dialect which would eventually
become the language of Italy, is known as the Father of
modern Italian.

His greatest work was the “Divine Comedy.”
 Dante used this work to criticize the society of his time.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales, a series of short
stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.

His use of the Midland dialect became poplar and was the
forerunner of modern English. Father of Modern English
Medieval Universities
 During the Middle Ages only nobles and clergy were
educated.

Gradually, however, schools grew up in which anyone
could study.
 These new schools were located in thriving towns.
 Early schools were simple, with possibly only one
teacher.

As the number of teachers and students increased
they formed guilds for protection and privileges.
 Such guilds were called universities (association of
people).
 During the Middle Ages the liberal arts included:
logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and
music.
Universities & Academic Degrees




Four great universities developed between 1000 and
1200.
University of Bologna (Roman and Canon Law)
University of Salerno (Medicine)
University of Paris (Theology)
University of Oxford (Liberal Arts)

In time, medieval universities established standard
courses of study with uniform academic degrees.

Bachelor of Arts (finished your apprenticeship)
 Master of Arts (allowed to teach the liberal arts)
 Teachers admitted into the guild in a ceremony called
a commencement.
Philosophy
 During the Middle Ages scholars spent much time trying to
reconcile the ideas of Aristotle, whom they revered, and those of
early Church writers.
 The attempts of medieval philosophers to reconcile faith and
reason is often called scholasticism.
 The aim of the scholastic philosopher was to discover how man
could improve himself in this life by reason and insure salvation
in the life to come.
 Two of the leading scholars of this time were Peter Abelard and
Thomas Aquinas
Abelard and Aquinas



Peter Abelard taught at the University of Paris.
In his book Sic et Non (Yes and No), he raised many
questions about Church doctrine.
“perceive the truth. By doubting we come to inquiry,
and by inquiry we perceive the truth.”
 Abelard raised questions about Church doctrine and
discovered that Church doctrine often contradicted
itself.


Thomas Aquinas a Dominican monk, is best known for
his work, Summa Theologica.
Attempted to use logic and reason to support Church
doctrine and teachings.
Science
 There was little scientific progress made
during the Middle Ages.


Many medieval “scientists” practiced a strange
craft called alchemy.
One basic aim of alchemy was to change
other metals into gold.


Believed all metals were the same and could
therefore be changed into one another.
The “Philosopher’s Stone” was a substance
necessary to perform this change.
 Could also prolong life.
Art & Architecture
 Art and architecture of the Middle Ages was
used almost entirely by the Church.
(Cathedrals)
 Building and beautifying of a church was
considered a community project during the
Middle Ages.
 From 1000 to 1200 most medieval churches
were built in the Romanesque style.
 During the mid-1100s, the Gothic style of
architecture emerged.
Romanesque
Mostly barrel-vaults,
some groin-vaults.
Romanesque vs. Gothic Architecture
Gothic
Groin-vaulted cathedrals.
Rounded arches.
Pointed arches.
Thick walls, buttresses.
Exterior flying buttresses.
Small windows.
Large stained-glass
windows.
Horizontal, modest height.
Vertical, soaring.
Plain, little decoration,
solid.
Ornate, delicate, lots of
sculpture.
Dark, gloomy.
Tall, light-filled.
Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque Architecture
Gothic Architecture
Gothic Architecture