Transcript The ordeal of cold water

Serfs Up –
Catch a Wave
to the
Middle Ages
What’s in a name?
Middle Ages –
Dark Ages –
Feudalism –
What ever we call it –
Fall of Rome –
500 A.D.
Feudalism –
a political and
economic way of
governing land
Roughly between 500 - 1500
Powerful warlords
United areas of land
Restored peace
Imposed his law/will
All at a price
Understanding – between warlord and peasant
Land for protection
Give up land and live
or die and still lose land
“Serf” – one who works
the land
Protector - “lord”
For protection you oweTaxes –
Service –
Homage -
“Divine Right of Kings”
Biggest, strongest
Birth right
Father to son
Unquestioned
Unchallenged
Eldest son gets it all
name, land, power
Other sons –
still nobility
knight
clergy
Born to Serf
Part of the land
Could gain freedom
Gained ‘power’ –
after the plague
Governing the land
“Fief” –land given as
a gift
“Vassal”- person receiving
the land
Contract blessed
by the Church
“Contract”
between lord
and his
people
Vassal- lord of his land
Owes- service, taxes, homage
“Manor house” – lord’s home
Subinfeudation
Vassal becomes a lord
Subdivides fief
Contract with new vassal
Acquiring land
wealth, power
How younger sons gain wealth
Role of the Catholic Church
Kings- vassals to the Church
Part of nobility
Early monks and nuns were
wealthy
Monasteries had considerable
wealth
Monks lived apart
from society –
Priests lived within
Benedictine Rule
Mix of manual and
intellectual work
Manuscripts, hospitals,
schools
Major religious orders
Benedictines – St. Benedict
Franciscans – St. Francis
Dominicans – St. Dominic
Importance of the Bible
Education
Laws
Latin
Start of the university system
University of Bologna- 1088
University of Paris- 1150
University of Oxford- 1096
University of Cambridge- 1209
Bologna students hired
and paid for the teachers
Paris teachers were paid by
the church
Oxford and Cambridge
predominantly supported
by the crown and the state
Universities evolved from much
older monasteries
Concerned with performing
the liturgy and prayer;
Relatively few could boast
true intellectuals
Classes were taught wherever
space was available
A university was not a physical
space but a collection of
individuals banded together
Cannon law, business
administration, logic, speech,
theological discussion and
accounting to more effectively
control finances
University studies took six years for a
Master of Arts degree a Bachelor of Arts degree
could be awarded along the way
The studies for this were organized by the
faculty of arts where the seven liberal arts
were taught: arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic,
and rhetoric
At Bologna the students ran everything a fact
that often put the teachers under great stress
In Paris, teachers ran the school; thus Paris
became the premiere spot for teachers from
all over Europe. main subject matter was
theology
In Bologna students chose more secular studies
with the main subject being law
Students were afforded the legal protection of
the church
No one was allowed to physically harm them;
they could only be tried for crimes in a church
court, and were thus immune from any
corporal punishment
This gave students free rein in the cities to break
the laws with impunity, a fact which produced
many abuses: theft, rape and murder were not
uncommon among students who did not face
serious consequences
Not So Dark Ages
Banking
Universities
Common Law
Middle class
Rise of town life
Revived economically
trade grew
population boom
social improvements
Expansion of old towns
building increased
more jobs
extra cash to spend
Three social classes
the clergy
the nobility
the peasantry
Creation of an
artisan or merchant
class
In time they became
the middle class or bourgeoisie
Trade and
travel safer
Culture and
ideas were
exchanged
World began
to grow
Merchant class engaged in manufacturing and trade
Hopes of independence
of lord’s jurisdiction
Towns people represented radical
force for change
Demanded larger role
in political matters
Middle Class Wanted
Larger role in politics
New business techniques
Invest surplus money
Commercial revolution
From rural and farm
to urban and industrial
society
Medieval Courts of Law
Royal Courts of Law
Punished criminals
reduced violence
increased royal income
Weakened feudal barons
strengthen royal authority
Increased respect for
law itself
Lords will borrow money
from merchants – begin
to lose power
1215 Magna Carta
Lord no longer all powerful
English Common Law and the Jury System
became key players in Anglo-American law
English Common Law
Unfair to treat similar facts differently on
different occasions
Court looks to past rulings in past similar cases
The body of similar examples is called
"common law“
Binds future decisions of relevant courts
Early English methods of
proclaiming guilt or innocence
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which
the guilt or innocence of the accused is
determined by subjecting him to an unpleasant,
usually dangerous experience
Classically, the test is one of life or death and the
proof of innocence is survival
Ordeal of fire typically required that the accused
walk a certain distance, usually nine feet, over
red-hot coals or holding a red-hot iron
Wound was bandaged and re-examined three
days later,
If innocent, the wound was healing, if festering
taken as a sign from God of guilt and suspect
executed
Ordeal of boiling water required the accused
to dip his hand in a kettle of boiling water and
retrieve a stone.
Wound was bandaged and re-examined three
days later
If innocent, the wound was healing, if festering
taken as a sign from God of guilt and suspect
executed
The ordeal of cold water has a precedent
in the Code of Hammurabi
A millstone was tied to the neck of the
accused and thrown into a body of water
If he surfaced he was innocent for the
waters did not suck him down since the
weight of the crime did not press upon
his soul
Trial by Combat settle accusations in the
absence of witnesses or a confession in which
two parties in dispute fought in single combat;
the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be
right.