Transcript The Rise of Western Europe - Wappingers Central School District

Dark Ages
• Period of time from
about 500CE to 1000CE
in Western Europe
where most knowledge
was forgotten.
• No central
governments
– Roman government
collapsed
– ruled by barbarian
kings.
• Education declined
– Barbarians were illiterate (Germanic tribes
that conquered Rome)
– People worried about protection more than
accomplishments of Rome
• Trade disappeared
– People made only what they needed
– Travel was dangerous
• The Age of Charlemagne
Charlemagne helped fight the Dark Ages
by: (768- 814)
• Helping to stop barbarian attacks
– His grandfather, Charles Martel stopped a
Muslim attack on France
– Conquered the Avars, Saxon and Lombard
tribes
– Spread Christianity to barbarian people
• Creating a strong central government
– He appointed loyal lords to help him rule
– Made an ally of the pope and was crowned Holy Roman
Emperor
• Promoting education
– Made sure all government officials read
– Built schools at his palace in Aachen
– Hired the scholar Alcuin to preserve learning
• Charlemagne’s Golden Age ends after his death
because
– his grandsons fought over his kingdom and split it up
– New barbarian attacks make life hard again
• Norsemen
• Magyars
• Muslims
Medieval Life
• Medieval/ Middle Ages- period of time between
Ancient and Modern times.
• Due to many invasions by Vikings, Muslims and
Magyars, kings and emperors were too weak to
maintain law and order
– People needed to defend their homes and lands
– In response to the basic need for protection, a new
system, called feudalism, evolved
– Feudalism- system of government where local lords
rule small pieces of land and provide protection in
exchange for work.
Title
Peasants
Serf
Definition
Farmers who were bound to
work a piece of land.
Most vassals were knights.
Knight
They had to fight to protect
their fief
Nobles
Vassal
Lord
Duties
Farm the land
Pay taxes and labor to the
lord
Fight for the lord
Follow the code of chivalry
Landowner who owed
Protect his serfs
allegiance to the person that
Serve in the army of the lord
gave him his fief. (Lord)
Maintain loyalty to the lord
Local leader the owned a fief.
Protect his vassals
Maintain order in his land
• Manor- a village and surrounding farms owned by a
lord.
– Small self-sufficient world
– A typical manor included a few dozen one-room huts
clustered close together in a village
– Nearby was a water mill, tiny church and manor house
– The fields surrounding the village were divided into tiny
strips, each family had strips of land in different fields
• Half the land was left fallow, or unplanted, each year to allow
the soil to regain fertility
• Fief- piece of land.
• Medieval Life
Nobles
Peasants
Men
Ran estate
Defended fief
Farmers or laborers
Women
Could run estate when husband was
away
Raising children, maintaining the
household
Children
Boys educated for future roles
Worked with parents for training in
Girls learned manners and running a
future jobs
household
Diet
Housing
Variety of meat, fish, vegetables
Mostly bread and some vegetables
maybe meat on occasion
Drafty castles or manor houses, very
unclean. Moat was sewage and hay Small, usually one room shared with
was put down to cover garbage on
all of the family and animals
the floor.
• Medieval Church
– Aside from lords and kings, the
most powerful organization was
the Catholic Church
•
•
•
•
Special Powers
Wealth & Power
Education & Charity
Problems
• Special Powers
– Sacraments- every Christian
had to receive these at church
or face going to hell
– Excommunication- sacraments
could be withheld
•
vassals did not have to obey
excommunicated lords
•
Interdict- an area could be
excommunicated
– Canon law- special church law
(church officials could only be
tried by the church)
• Wealth & Power
– Held most land in
– Collected tithes
– Pope had authority over
lords and kings
– united by Christianity
• Education & Charity
– Wanted people to read and
write for the bible
– Most literate people were in
the Church
– Supported hospitals, schools
and poorhouses
– Monasteries
• copied books to preserve
learning
• allowed women and poor to read
• Problems
– Simony- selling of positions
in the church
– Married Priests (ended 1073)
– Nepotism
– Too much wealth & power
led to corruption
– Conflict over who could
appoint church leaders,
kings or Church
Economic Expansion & Change
– Agricultural Revolution
• Europe’s economy recovered
• Began in the countryside, peasants adapted new farming
technologies, made fields more productive
– New Technologies
• By 800, peasants were using iron plows that carved deep in
the heavy soil of Northern Europe
– Previously used wooden plows
• New harnesses allowed peasants to use horses rather than
oxen to pull plows
– Expanding Production
• Feudal lords pushed peasants to clear forests, drain swamps
and reclaim wasteland for farming and grazing
• Peasants adapted the three field system
– Planted grain on one field, a second with legumes (peas and beans,
restored vitality) and left the third fallow
• With more food available the population grew
• Commercial Revolution
– Europe’s growing population
needed goods that were not
available on the manor
• Peasants needed iron for
farming tools
• Wealthy nobles wanted furs
and spices from Asia
– Foreign invasions & feudal
warfare declined
• Traders re-appeared to meet
the demands for goods
• New Trade Routes
– Traders formed
merchant
companies that
traveled armed
caravans for safety
• Set up regular
trade routes and
exchanged local
goods for those
from remote
markets
• Trade Fairs
– Traders and customers
met at local trade fairs
• Took place near navigable
rivers or where trade routes
met
• People from surrounding
villages, towns & castles
flocked to the fairs
• Peasants traded farm good
& animals
• Expensive goods bought by
nobles
• New Towns
– Fairs closed in Autumn when the weather made roads impassible
– Some merchants waited out the winter months near a castle or in
a town with a bishop’s palace
– These tiny settlements attracted artisan’s who made goods for
merchants
– Slowly these small centers
of trade turned into
medieval cities
• Most prosperous cities were
in Northern Italy
– To protect their interests,
merchants who set up a
new town would ask their
local lord, or if possible the
King himself, to set up a
charter, or written
document that set out the
rights & privileges of the
town
• In return the charter
merchants paid lord or King a
sum of money or yearly fee
or both
– As trade revived money reappeared
• Led to more changes
– Merchants needed more money to
buy goods, so they borrowed from
moneylenders
• In time their need for capital, or
money for investment, started the
growth for banking houses
– To meet the needs of the changing
economy, Europeans developed
new ways of doing business
• Merchants joined together in an
organization known as a partnership
→ a group of merchants pooled their
funds to finance a large-scale venture
that would have been too costly for
any individual trader
– Merchants developed a
system of insurance to help
reduce business risks
– Europeans adapted their
business practices from
Middle Eastern Merchants
• The Bill of Exchange– A merchant deposited money
with a banker in his home city
– Banker issued a bill of exchange,
which the merchant issued for
cash in a different city
– A merchant could thus travel
without gold coins, easily stolen
• Social Changes
– The use of money, undermined
serfdom
– Many peasants began selling farm
products to towns people
(merchants) and paid their
obligations of rents to the lords, by
cash, instead of labor
– New Middle class of merchants
emerged
– Nobles and clergy despised the
middle class
• Nobles felt towns were a disruptive
influence
• Clergy thought the profits that
merchants and bankers made from
usury, or lending money at interest, was
immoral
• Role of Guilds
– Merchant guilds, or associations, dominated life in
medieval towns
• Passed laws, levied taxes, and decided whether to
spend funds to pave streets with cobblestones, build
protective walls for the city, or raise a new town hall
– Artisans came to resent the powerful merchants
• Organized craft guilds- Each guild represented workers
in one occupation
– Weavers, bakers, brewers, sword makers & goldsmiths
– Guild members cooperate to protect their own interests
– Only members could be in the guild and they could only work
their specific trade
– Regulated hours of work
– Becoming a Member
• To become a member one had to
work many years in an
apprenticeship, or training
• At age 7 or 8, a child was
apprenticed to a guild master
• Spent seven years learning the
trade
• Only pay received was bed and
board
• Few apprentices became guild
masters, often became salaried
workers called journeymen
Developing Royal Power in Europe
During the High Middle Ages, kings
tried to strengthen their power.
• France
– Kings in France became strong
monarchs by:
• Gaining land
– Changed inheritance to primogeniture
– Taking land for lords and foreign nations
– Collecting money
• Raised taxes and signed charters to earn
money
– Working with the Church
• Influenced who held Church jobs
• Launched Crusades to assist the pope
• Holy Roman Empire
– Never really amounted to
much because
• It wasn’t holy: Emperor worked
with and sometimes fought
with the pope
• It wasn’t Roman: controlled a
vast territory, covering
Germany, Austria and Italy
(very little of the old Roman
Empire.)
• It wasn’t an Empire: Rulers had
very little control of their lords.
Princes ruled their small
domains.
• England
England developed strong kings by:
– Collecting taxes
• King William had a tax book called the Domesday Book. His tax
records were so thorough that people said it was easier to escape
Doomsday than pay taxes.
– Enforcing laws
• Circuit judges went around to hear cases for the king
• They collected decisions into common law so cases with similar
crimes received the same penalties
– But kings lost power thanks to:
• Magna Carta (1215)- a document signed by King John giving rights to
nobles.
–
–
–
–
Nobles threatened him to sign it or they would revolt
It gave them special rights such as:
The king had to consult a group of privileged men to tax
The king had to respect basic rights like trial and the right to property
Crusades
The Mediterranean World of 1100
• Europeans
– made up of Christians headed by the
pope
– most powerful nations included France,
Britain and Holy Roman Empire
• Byzantines
– made up of Orthodox Christians headed
by the emperor Alexius
– The Crusades begin when the emperor
asks Europeans for help
• Arab Middle East
– made up of Muslims headed by local
leaders
– the areas of Muslim control were
divided
Why did people go?
• Religious Reasons:
– People believed they were spreading Christianity and
doing God’s work
– those that died went straight to heaven
• Personal Reasons:
– The pope wanted to unite Christians under him
– nobles could get land
– prisoners could be released
– serfs could be freed
Crusades
• Seljuk Turks invade Asia Minor and the Holy Land
• Emperor Alexius of Byzantium asks the West to help
him fight Turkish invaders.
• Pope Urban II calls for Christians to help retake the Holy
Land and help Byzantium.
• French knights lead soldiers in the First Crusade
• The First Crusaders retake much of the Holy Land and
set up four kingdoms.
• In 1147, a second crusade is called after the city of
Edessa is conquered by Muslims, but achieved little.
• In 1187, a third crusade, led by the kings of Europe, is
called after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin. Little is
achieved
• In 1204, a fourth crusade is diverted to Constantinople
and fails to even make it to the Holy Land.
• First Crusade 1095- 1099
Who lead this crusade?
– led by French nobles
Why did Europeans go?
– To reclaim the Holy Land
Results
– the most successful Crusade, the Crusaders
established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
• Second Crusade 1147- 1149
Who lead this crusade?
– led by king of France and Holy Roman
Emperor
Why did Europeans go?
– To help stop renewed Muslim attacks
Results
– neither army worked together and the
enterprise was a failure
• Third Crusade 1189- 1192
Who lead this crusade?
– Led by the king of England, the king of France and Holy Roman Emperor
Why did Europeans go?
– The Muslim general Saladin had retaken the city of Jerusalem
Results
– Only the English king arrived and fought
– He could have negotiated, but chose to fight and left defeated
• Fourth Crusade 1202- 1204
Who lead this crusade?
– Knights from France
Why did Europeans go?
– To help retake Jerusalem, but decide to attack Constantinople instead
Results
– The participants were excommunicated, but the Crusade was a failure
– The Eastern and Western Churches were permanently divided
– The Crusades lost all of their glory
• The Crusades were a successful failure
because:
Success
Failure
•New weapons- gun
powder, crossbow
•Medicine- infections,
surgery
•New trade goodsspices, silk, fruit,
sugar, cotton, stained
glass
•Roman and Greek
Learning
lost the Holy Land
– in 1291, the last outpost was lost and the Crusades ended
– during this time the papacy held the greatest power
– kings increased power over nobles (they were leaders of
Crusades)
– feudalism was weakened (serfs that fought gained
freedom)
– Trade exploded with new goods from the Mid- East
(spices, cloth, gems, fruit, sugar and cotton,)
– Cultural diffusion- new inventions made their way to
Europe (crossbow, gunpowder, stained glass, lost learning
and medical techniques)
Learning and Arts
• During the High Middle Ages,
improvements in life and contact
with different people led to many
cultural changes.
• Revival of Learning
– Universities- in most major cities,
educational guilds were set up
– Greek and Roman books- came from
Constantinople or Muslims Spain
– Thomas Aquinas- like many scholars he
tried to make ancient learning fit
Christianity
– Arabic numbers, philosophy and
medicine
• Literature
– writers wrote in the vernacular or local
languages of the common people
– Epics came from the heroic stories of
knights
– Stories about religion and common
people written in the vernacular
• Divine Comedy, Canterbury Tales
• Art and Architecture
– Painting was 2D, with limited colors
usually about religion
– Religion also dominated architecture
• Romanesque- buildings with thick walls to
support small domes
• Gothic- huge buildings with domed ceilings
and stained glass windows
– The Church supported art and most
artists never received credit for their
work
The end of the Middle Ages
• Destructive events
brought an end to
the Middle Ages by
targeting the two
most important
parts of Medieval
Life: feudalism and
the Church.
• Black Plague (1347- on)
What is it?
– An epidemic that started in Central
Asia and traveled to Europe.
Why was it so deadly?
– Europeans knew little about medicine
– They were dirty and rats spread the
disease
– Sometimes cures helped the disease
instead of curing it
What were the effects?
– 1/ 3 of Europeans were died
– Farmers demanded higher wages
because labor was scarce (affected
feudalism)
– Kings took power from nobles that
died during the plague
– Some Europeans turned to God for
help, but religious and non- religious
were affected equally(affected the
Church)
• The Great Schism (Babylonian Captivity) (13081378)/ 1378- 1409/ 1409- 1415)
What was it?
– A time when multiple popes ruled and created confusion
of who Christians should follow
How did it happen?
– For various reasons, three popes were elected
– For almost 30 years there were multiple popes
– Finally, at the council of Clermont the issue was settled
and one new pope was selected
What’s the problem with this?
– When people needed him most, the pope was
unavailable (affected the Church)
– Christians were confused and lost faith (affected the
Church)
– Without popes, local kings gained supreme power
• Hundred Years War (1337- 1453)
How did it start?
– It began as a conflict over who would be king of
France. (the English king claimed the crown)
What happened?
– The English tried to claim land in France and
succeeded in the early parts of the war
– The war was interrupted by plague and lack of
soldiers
– Finally the French won with the help of Joan of Arc
What were the results?
– The English were kicked out of France
– Joan of Arc was burned
– New weapons such as the cannon, gun and
longbow (affected feudalism)
• cannon could knock down lord’s castles
• cheap armies of peasants with guns replaced knights
on horseback
– England went into a period of reform while the
French king gained supreme power
Conclusions on the Middle Ages
• Two phases, Dark Ages/ High Middle Ages
• Feudalism and the Church controlled people’s
lives.
• Many changes
– Learning
– Business
– Royal power
– warfare
• Ended violently Black Plague, Great Schism,
Hundred Years’ War