Western European Middle Ages (Medieval Europe)

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Western European Middle Ages(Medieval Europe)
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I. The Dark Ages
CHALLENGE QUESTION!

• After division of Roman Empire, a new way of life
  emerges in the West
• Mix of old Roman and Germanic customs, authority
  of Roman Catholic Church
• End of civilization??? (not really, but)
• Disruption of trade
• Downfall of cities
• Population shift
• Decline of learning
• Loss of common language
• New languages evolve from Latin and
  Germanic-languages
• French, Spanish, Italian

Move to the countryside
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II. Germanic Kingdoms

• Small, shifting kingdoms become dominant form of
  governing
• Loyalty to family and personal relationships more
  important than citizenship in an empire
• Church becomes a stabilizing factor in chaotic
  times
• The Franks
• Held power in Gaul (France) in late 400s, 500s
• Clovis leader of the Franks
• Converted to Christianity
• Church supported his campaigns against other
  Germanic peoples

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III. Expansion of Christianity

• 600 many Germanic people have converted to
  Christianity (sometimes out of fear)
• Monasteries religious communities started in
  rural areas
• Were primary centers of education opened
  schools, small libraries
• Popes authority expands beyond church
• Catholic Church increases authority over secular
  world
• Uses power to raise armies, negotiate treaties
  with kings/enemies

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IV. Charlemagne (742-814)

• 4th in line of Carolingian Dynasty
• Charles the Hammer (1st) extends Frankish
  kingdom
• Pepin the Short (2nd) cooperated with the pope
• Carloman (3rd) brother of Charlemagne
• Known as Charles the Great, Charlemagne takes
  throne in 771
• Built Western European empire greater than any
  since ancient Rome
• 800 larger than Byzantine Empire
• Charlemagne crowned first emperor of Holy Roman
  Empire
• Signified the combining of powers of Church and
  Germanic peoples

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IV. Continued

• United much of Western Europe
• Spreads Christianity throughout
• Centralization of power
• Limited authority of nobles
• Ruled justly through royal agents
• Return to learning
• Promoted education, surrounded himself with
  scholars
• Died 814
• After death, 3 grandsons fight over empire
• Treaty of Verdun, 843 breaks up empire into 3
  kingdoms
• Erodes centralized power structure
• Growth of new way of governing feudalism

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V. Feudalism
CHALLENGE QUESTION!

• What is it?
• A system of governing and landowning based on
  specific rights and obligations
• Lord landowner
• Fief piece of land owned by lord
• Vassal received a fief in exchange for
  protection and services to lord
• Serfs peasants who could not lawfully leave the
  place where they were born
• Not slaves
• What they produced on the land belonged to the
  lord

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V. Continued
Plus, the pope.
KINGS
Landowners
NOBLES BISHOPS
KNIGHTS (VASSALS)
PEASANTS (SERFS)
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V. Continued

• Manor system the lords estate (property) was
  called a manor
• Basic economic system of middle ages
• Serfs provided with housing, farmland,
  protection from bandits
• Manor life was not easy
• No protection against vengeful knights/nobles
• Taxes on food, marriage
• Tithe church tax

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VI. Womens Role

• Women considered inferior to men
• View of Church and general society (patriarchal)
• Noblewoman
• Could inherit estate from husband
• Wife was in charge when husband was away
• Still limited mostly stayed at home or lived in
  a convent
• Property was not handed down to a daughters
• Peasants
• Life based on raising families, working land
• Daughters not formally educated (unlike noble
  daughters)

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VII. Church Power

• By 800 Church was looking to strengthen its
  power
• Church and kings competed for authority over
  population
• Law of Church
• Canon law church law
• All medieval Christians were subject to certain
  religious laws
• Could face punishment for not following canon law
• Excommunication banishment from Church
• Interdict the removal of sacraments/religious
  services from a person or region

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VII. Continued

• Emperor clashes with the pope
• Church disliked the practice of lay investiture
  kings and nobles appointed church officials
• Whoever appointed church officials held real
  power in church
• Concordant of Worms, 1112 compromise over lay
  investiture
• Only church had power to appoint bishops, but
  emperor had power to veto (override)

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VIII. Medieval European Economy

• By 900s, new agricultural techniques
• Moldboard plow curved iron plate, allowed
  deeper turning of soil
• New horse collar would not choke horse
• Three-field system leave 1/3 of land unplowed
  (fallow) to regain fertility
• Political stability began to take hold in 10th
  century
• Combination leads to population growth, which
  leads to economic growth (Commercial Revolution)

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VIII. Continued

• Growth of towns and cities, beginning in 900s
• Trade Banking
• Growth of cities leads to specialization of
  manufacturing artisanal techniques
• Exchange of goods between Europe and Asia
• Crusades into Middle East helped bring Asian
  goods and ideas into Europe
• Guilds Groups of people in the same
  business/trade
• Offered some level of control over prices,
  quality
• Banks Helped facilitate long-distance trade by
  standardizing monetary system
• Banking and profit-making were looked down upon
  by many Christian scholars

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IX. Changes in Medieval Government

• Conflicts between nobles and kings led to
  compromises over power
• Magna Carta (Great Charter)
• 1215 King John of England agreed to sign the
  charter, promising to limit his power over nobles
  and Church
• No new taxes w/out nobles permission
• Could not appoint bishops w/out Church permission
• Parliaments
• Governing bodies representing interests of
  nobles, Church, urban leaders (three estates)
• 1265 first English parliament

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IX. Continued

• Emerging nations
• By 14th century, England and France begin to
  develop as independent nations
• Hundred Years War
• Battle over territory and feudal rights between
  England France
• Lasted more than 100 years, weakened both France
  England
• Kings relied less on feudal lords and their
  knights, more on paid, professional armies

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X. The Crusades

• Crusades represented the most dramatic expansion
  effort by the West
• First crusade called by Pope Urban II in 1095
• Successful in reclaiming Jerusalem, but would
  eventually lose it to the great Muslim leader,
  Saladin.
• Later Crusades varied in levels of success
• Motives
• Reclaim Holy Land, reunite Christendom
• Remove undesirables from society
• Profits merchants made money off of loans,
  sales of goods, prospect of opening new trade
  routes
• A guaranteed spot in heaven, all sins forgiven if
  died in battle

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X. continued

• Effects of Crusades
• Expanded trade between Europe and Asia
• Weakened the power of the pope, increased power
  of kings
• People were upset with the Church after Crusades
  seen as unsuccessful
• Legacy of intolerance/prejudice between
  Christians and Muslims
• Increased persecution of Jews in Europe
• Women in position of authority had a chance to
  run estates

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XI. Leaving the Dark Ages

• Rapid population growth causes problems
• Agricultural techniques cant keep up - famine
  and starvation
• Black Death/bubonic plague
• Series of plagues, beginning in 1348 severe
  decrease in population (at least 1/3)
• Resulted in increase of peasant rights, decline
  of feudalism
• Growth of professional armies/weapon technologies
  strengthen kings/emerging nations
• Slow development of arts and secular thinking
  eventually paves way for Renaissance (thanks to
  the Byzantines and Muslims)

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CHALLENGE QUESTION

• What comes to mind when you hear the term Dark
  Ages? Whats going on in society? Whats NOT
  going on in society?
• 3-4 complete sentences

BACK
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CHALLENGE QUESTION
BACK

• What does the painting tell us about life in
  Medieval Europe? Address each of the Social
  Studies themes Political, Social, Economic,
  Technological, Religious.

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EXIT TICKET QUIZ, 2/7

1. Describe two things that plagued western Europe
   immediately following the fall of Rome.
2. What was Clovis responsible for?
3. Why were monasteries important in the Middle
   Ages?
4. Describe the social organization associated with
   feudalism.