MIDDLE AGES

1. MIDDLE AGES • Began with collapse of Western Roman Empire in the 6th century AD and came to an end sometime in the 14th-15th centuries • Once considered to be one long, bleak period of violence, ignorance, and superstition • The “Dark Ages” • Period did represent regression from achievements of the ancient world but it was not completely dark • Preserved what was best of the ancient heritage and mingled it with new Germanic and, later, Arabic traditions to create a new civilization • One that was capable of further growth and progress • Major contribution to the creation of the foundation for the modern western world

2. MIDDLE AGES • Western Europe • Hodge-podge of loosely organized kingdoms • Became even more fragmented as time went on • East • Highly centralized Byzantine Empire

3. CHARLEMAGNE • Tried to overcome chronic disunity in Western and Central Europe • Approx. 800 AD • Established empire that included France, most of Italy, Germany, and part of Eastern Europe • Took title of “Holy Roman Emperor”

4. BREAKUP OF CHARLEMAGNE’S EMPIRE • Incompetence of his descendants • Charlemagne’s failure to set up an effective administrative system • Invasions of the Magyars • Invasions of the Vikings

5. POST-CAROLINGIAN EUROPE • Hopelessly complex jigsaw puzzle of small states • Each with its own ruler • Sometimes with title of duke or count • Nominally owed allegiance to kings but this allegiance was more theoretical than real • Long-distance trade virtually disappeared • Currency fell into disuse • People reverted to barter system • Cities shrank dramatically and sometimes disappeared • Educational standards declined • Even kings were illiterate • Only form of unity was the Christian Church • But even its intellectual standards had declined due to the prevalent ignorance and isolation of the times • Europe had become a desolate rural world in which petty rulers lorded over tiny pieces of territory and ignorance prevailed everywhere

6. FEUDALISM • Developed in response to the need of local warrior-aristocrats to protect and administer their territories in the absence of any sort of effective central authority • Grant of a piece of land (fief) by a “lord” to a subordinate (vassal) in exchange for the vassal’s promise to provide lord with military service for a specified period of time • Subinfeudation: vassals having vassals of their own

7. FEUDAL PLAYERS (VASSALS) • Feudalism also provided a decentralized form of government • Vassals were supreme within their fiefs • Made own laws • Enforced them as he saw fit • Settled disputes between people who lived on the fief

8. MEDIEVAL PEASANTS • Small scale farmers who devoted their lives to growing enough to stay alive • Lived and worked on manors • Economic subunit of fief

9. MEDIEVAL MANOR and THREE FIELD SYSTEM OF ROTATION Fields divided into narrow strips with each peasant family holding a number of them in each field System designed to avoid complete soil exhaustion Arable land divided into three fields, each in a different state of cultivation Fields rotated each year

10. PEASANT OBLIGATIONS • Paid portion of harvest to lord of the manor as rent • Also had to work a certain number of days a weeks on strips the lord retained for his own use • Had to bring their legal disputes to the lord’s court • Even had to pay a fee for the lord’s approval to marry • Peasants were “serfs” • Bound to the manor and their lord for life • Also had to pay the Church the “tithe” and, later, had to also pay royal taxes • Lot of peasant was one of backbreaking labor, deep poverty, no personal independence, and resigned and hopeless desperation

11. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300) • Cities grew in size and beauty • Local and international trade revived • Kings began to break down feudal system and create nation-states under their direct control

12. REVIVAL OF LOCAL TRADE • Growth in European population after centuries of decline and/or stagnation • Caused by increase in food supply • Made possible by draining of swamps and clearing of forests by monasteries • Created surplus people on manors • Manorial economy could not support them • Moved to long-dormant towns • Created demand for agricultural products from countryside • Stimulated demand for manufactured products • Sparked revival of local trade and commerce

13. CRUSADES • In theory, purpose was to take back the Holy Land from Moslem Turks • Caused tremendous human and material damage– without permanently achieving purpose • Created demand for Middle Eastern luxury products among returned Crusaders—thus stimulating international trade • Revival of local and international trade created Commercial Revolution • Introduced modern capitalism

14. WILLIAM I (“THE BASTARD”) OF ENGLAND • Conquered England in 1066 • Wanted to bypass feudal system and exert direct control over his realm • Divided England into shires, each administered by a “shire-reeve” (sheriff) • Did end run around feudal system by creating an alternative and parallel system • Similar system devised by Philip Augustus in France

15. THE CHURCH • Administration of pope was larger and more sophisticated than that of any king • Wealth of the Church was greater than any king or merchant • Also largest landowner in Europe • Popes contended with kings on a equal basis • Using powerful spiritual weapons • Excommunication • Interdict

16. SUMMARY • High Middle Ages were a period of progress and prosperity • Cities grew in size and beauty • Trade revived • Kings reasserted their power over their realms • Church was at its peak of power and prestige • Then it all came crashing down in the 14th century • Crisis of the Late Middle Ages

17. CRISIS IN THE CHURCH • Babylonian Captivity • 1309-1372 • Popes fell under the control of the French monarchy • Forced to move to the southern French city of Avignon • Lost much power and prestige • Great Schism • Late 1370s • Two, and for a while three, men all claimed to be pope at the same time • Threw the church into confusion • Crisis resolved in 1415 but Church prestige had been permanently damaged and many Christians were left confused and/or cynical

18. 100 YEARS WAR • Caused by dispute over French throne by France and England • Lasted actually 116 years • France won • Introduction of longbow rendered the heavily armored horseman obsolete • Hundreds of thousands people died, decimating the population growth of earlier years • Heavy taxation provoked peasant uprisings (jacqueries)

19. THE BLACK DEATH (BUBONIC) • Started in China in 1331 • Traveled across Asia to Black Sea region • Picked up by Italian merchants and taken to Europe • Spread from Italy to Germany, France, Spain, and England • Europeans could not cure it or prevent it from spreading • Catastrophic results • 25% of population killed • Some cities lost 75% of their population • Plunged Europe into a severe depression

20. ARTISTIC THEMES IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES Danse Macabre Four Horsemen Of Apocalypse

21. BYZANTINE EMPIRE

22. JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA • Conquest of old Western provinces • Justinian’s Code (compilation of Roman law) • Construction of Santa Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom)

23. BYZANTINE ACHIEVEMENTS • Empire renown for its wealth, power, and military strength for centuries • Army threw back or weakened wave after wave of would-be invaders • Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and others • Saved Western Europe from conquest • Civilized barbarian tribes on fringes of Europe • Russians • Converted to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries • Gave them alphabet they still use today • Cyrillic alphabet

24. BYZANTINE CHRISTIANITY • Church had fallen under the control of the emperor • Through his puppet, the bishop of Constantinople • Created tension with the pope • Resulted in split within Christianity in 1054 • Roman Catholic Church • Headquartered in Rome • Led by pope • Eastern Orthodox Church • Headquartered in Constantinople • Led by bishop of Constantinople (and Byzantine emperor) • Shattered unity of ChristianChurch forever

25. END OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE • Territory of empire shrunk over centuries • Only included Constantinople and parts of Asia Minor and southeastern Europe by 1200 • Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks in 1453 • Renamed city Istanbul • End of Byzantine Empire