Slide 1 - Spokane Public Schools

Good News and Bad News

Good News • Next week is a three day week— Thanksgiving is Nov. 24 • Study Session this Thursday—we will begin at 3pm. • There is a quiz on Europe (Eastern and Western) this Friday, 24 MC and 4 terms. • We have PODs on Friday, so classes will be 48 minutes.

Bad News • Next week is a short week and we study one of the hardest chapters in the book, Chapter 11 (Mesoamerica) • You will have a take home test on Chapter 11 over the Thanksgiving Break. • The week of Nov. 27 is another double chapter week ( Chapters 12 and 13—East Asia).

Western Christendom

Impression of Europeans by a Muslim writer 12th Century “ Their bodies are large, their manners harsh, their understanding dull and their tongues heavy. Those who are farthest to the north are the most subject to stupidity, grossness, and brutishness.”

The Beginning 476-962

Geographically Isolate

Divided by mountains and peninsulas

But…

Moderate climate and fertile soils supported a growing population

476 The Fall of the Roman Empire

So What?

So What? • Regional kingdoms arose to replace Roman authority based on the militarized societies. • Prestige of Roman culture and law remained.

Charlemagne of the Carolingian Empire • On Christmas Day in 800, he was crowned the new Roman emperor by the pope, yet fragmented after his death, but it was subsequently divided among his three sons, who waged war on one another

Society • Decentralize society based on feudalism. • Landowning warrior elite exercised power.

The Church • Major element of stability. • Became very rich. • Based on hierarchical organization: popes, bishops, priests, and monasteries. • By 1100, most of Europe embraced Christianity.

• Large-scale centralize rule vanished. • Disease and warfare reduced the population by 25%. • Urban life diminished sharply. • Long-distance trade ended. • Literacy declined. • Germanic peoples (Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, Angles and Saxons) emerged as the dominate groups in Western Europe.

The Middle (High Middle Ages) 1000-1300

Accelerating Change in the West Invasions: Viking, Muslim and Magyar. • What features of Europe’s geography did the Vikings take advantage of during their invasions?

Accelerating Change in the West • Climate change—warming trend in 750. • New agricultural technology—moldboard plow and three field system. • Population Growth from 35 million in 1000 to 85 million in 1340. • Long-Distance trade between northern Europe (Low Countries) and City-States in Northern Italy.

Europeans were fascinated with technology

Accelerating Change in the West • Establishment of Guilds. • Competing territorial states with better organized governments – Magna Carta – Frequent wars and militarism

• Intellectual life flourished (scholasticism) with an emphasis on human reason to understand the divine.

European Expansion: The Crusades

European Expansion: The Crusades • The Crusades had little lasting political or religious impact on the Middle East. • The Crusades had a significant impact on Europe.

The End 14th and 15th Centuries

Problems • One Hundred Years War—weakened France, but ended with a French Victory (Joan of Arc) • Growing population • 1348-Black Death • Aristocracy loses military prowess.

The Legacy • Crusades motivated Spanish and Portuguese explorers. • Merchants’ freedom led to capitalism and industrialization. • Constant military conflicts. • Ongoing “faith and reason” controversy • Division of Christianity

• Cesaropapism vs. ecclesiastical indepedence

Key Moments in Evolution of Western Civilization • • • • •

476 End of the western Roman Empire 590-604 Papacy of Gregory I 711 Muslim conquest of Spain 800 Charlemagne crowned as emperor 962 Otto I crowned as Holy Roman Emperor • 1000 Viking colony in Newfoundland • 1059-1152 Investiture conflict

Misconception • That the era of the Middle Ages in Europe was a “Dark Age.”

• What do the main targets of the crusader attacks tell about western Europeans in the high Middle Ages? • What do the routes taken by different crusaders over time tell you about changes in sea travel during the high Middle Ages?

• 1095 Crusades begin • 12th-13th centuries Translations of Greek and Arab works available in Europe • 1225-1274 Thomas Aquinas • 1271-1295 Macro Polo visits China

• What are various reasons why a civilization could be called “dark”? • Using those criteria, are there any civilizations we have studied that fit the description? • Are there parts of the European Middle Ages that could be defined as “dark”? • If you were to draw a timeline, what evidence in the chapter would fit your defintion?