The Rise of Western Europe

1. The Rise of Western Europe Dark and Middle Ages

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

11. 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.

13. Medieval Life

14. Medieval Church • Aside from lords and kings, the most powerful organization was the Catholic Church • Special Powers • Wealth & Power • Education & Charity • Problems

15. 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)

16. Wealth & Power • Held most land in • Collected tithes • Pope had authority over lords and kings • united by Christianity

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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.

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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.

36. 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

37. 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

38. The Crusades were a successful failure because:

39. 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)

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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.

43. 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)

44. The Great Schism (Babylonian Captivity) (1308- 1378)/ 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

45. 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

46. 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