Western Europe 600 - 1450 C.E. - Yola

Western Europe 600-1450 C.E. Chapter 10

Western Europe’s Timeline

Charlemagne’s Empire and Successor States

Western Europe towards the End of the Middle Ages

Stages of Postclassical Development Europe’s Postclassical Era = Middle (Medieval) Ages 476-1453 CE  Political Fragmentation prevails  Catholic church in Rome remained strong,

but Italy divided politically  Arab Muslims invaded Iberian Peninsula (Spain)

 Core of postclassical West:  France, Low Countries, Germany  Later, England where civilization, in human

organization was new

 Scandinavian “Vikings”  Raids from 8th to 10th centuries  Showed Europe’s weakness  Disrupted life from Ireland to Sicily!

 Literacy declines except among

churchmen & the hierarchy

Politics, Economics, & Culture

The Manorial System  Created an oppressive system that described economic and political relations between landlords and their peasant laborers  Originated: Later Roman Empire Decline  Agricultural economy  Serfs- were agricultural laborers under the jurisdiction of aristocratic landowners  farm work for protection, justice from landlords (Not Slaves, Not for Sale)  Reciprocal obligations tied to the land  In-kind labor for produce  800s agricultural innovation gradually improved with a technological innovation:  Moldboard- better plow, curved metal  plate = deeper turning of the soil Three Field system of Crop rotation  Added acres to production by leaving only a third of the land unplanted, plants rotated to strengthen soil.  In the old two-field system half the land was sown to crop and half left unplanted each season

Religion  The Church: Political and Spiritual Power  Most organized institution in western

Europe

 Popes follow Roman organization  Regulated doctrine (heresy)

 Regional Appointed bishops  Appointed local priests  Sponsor missionaries

 Established chain of monasteries  Benedict of Nursia, founder of Western

Christian monasticism (480-547)  Benedictine rule- help unify western Europe  Spiritual functions Holiness, Network, Pilgrimage centers , Secular functions, Education, Large estates, Shelter travelers, & Universities from 13th century

 Clovis’s conversion to Christianity in

496, helped him gain power and unified the Franks (Germanic Tribe in France)

Religion & Political Power  Frankish Carolingian dynasty  Enormous empire in France & Germany  1st to use the imperial title “Holy Roman

Empire”

 Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer)  Defeated the Muslims, Battle of Tours, 732

 Contained Muslims in Spain

 Charles the Great (Charlemagne)  Dec. 25, 800, crowned emperor

 (Holy Roman Empire)  Copied Roman central administration  After his 814 death the empire does not survive

his death  843, Treaty of Verdun = Three kingdoms

 Europe fragments into regional monarchies  No single language or government could unify

Europe (Latin of the church)

 Holy Roman emperors = hollow empire  Ruled Germany, Italy, but couldn’t control local

lords, which would lead later to states

Economics and Culture  New Economic and Urban Vigor after

900

 Agricultural Techniques  From contact with Eastern Europe and Asian raiders into central Europe  Moldboard plow & 3 field system  New horse collar that allowed horses to be yoked w/out choking  Increased production  Towns grow  Cultural liveliness (People are fed & settled)  Literacy expands (Charlemagne 9th cent)  Surplus wealth – architecture & Medieval Art

 Education  Cathedral schools, from 11th century  Italy, universities in medicine (Muslims & Greek Science), law, (Revival of Roman Law)  Universities, from 12th century  Oxford & Cambridge follow Parisian example

Feudal Monarchies & Political Advances

Key military & political system in the Middle Ages was feudalism  Land ownership & military power  Vassals -Military Elite, service for land

 Political stability & improved agriculture promoted population growth & economic innovation & land expansion 10-13 centuries 

Some lords emerge more powerful  Provided protection & aid to vassals (lesser lords)  Horse collar & stirrups helped military dominance who used horses for combat  End of 10th century, Viking raids tapered off regional governments stronger  Some Viking groups Christianized & Assimilated into the culture  Ex. French Normandy

 Capetian kings of France  Feudalism developed bureaucracies, states slowly until kingship

Feudalism grows quickly in England  William the Conqueror  (Viking descent)

 1066, Norman conquest of England  Introduced feudal monarchy

abruptly  Centralized government  Sheriffs, standardized law, & courts  Feudal monarchy unknowingly copied earlier centralizing societies like China

Limited Government Political fragmentation continues throughout West Europe  Monarchs limited by church, nobles, towns  State not suppose to intrude on matters of faith  Carried out orders from the Pope, or Bishops

1215, Magna Carta  King John recognizes supremacy of written law  Representative bodies/ parliaments serve as further

checks on royal authority  Differed from Japanese Feudal system based on loyalty – Europe developed early checks & Balances  1st parliament England 1265  Kingdom of Catalonia from 1000  3 Estates= Church, Nobles, urban leaders Monarchs continued to increase in power  Small local conflicts became Large conflicts 

Hundred Years’ War 1337-1453 English lands in France  Joan of Arc 1412-1431

Expansionist Spurred by Population Growth?  Germanic knights  From 11th century onward, into eastern Germany, Poland  Iberia (Spain)  Northern Christian states (forces) begin reconquista  Full Expulsion occurred 1492  Spain united under the marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella  Vikings  Cross Atlantic, Iceland, Greenland, America  Crusades (1095-1291) (Super Power? Nope)  Called by Pope Urban II  Crusaders were promised full forgiveness sins if they died in battle  Attracted to winning spoils from rich Arab lands  Initial successes (Controlled Jerusalem about 100 years)  Ended in defeat (Esp. by Saladin in 1187)  New contact with Islam, but no contact with N. Africa until after the start of Exploration (Prince Henry the Navigator)  Exposed to new culture & economics  New possibilities in trade

Religious Reform and Evolution Gregory VII  Gregorian reform, 11th century 

Based in monasteries

 Investiture controversy- most significant

conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. 

Stop the state or, Holy Roman Emperor (Henry IV) from appointing bishops in Germany  Separation of secular and religious spheres

 Reforming monastic orders founded in Assisi

in the 13th century, Mendicants 

St. Dominic - Dominicans = Friars  Vow poverty, chastity & obedience in service to a community



St. France - Franciscans – Poverty/Service  Women’s version- St. Clare’s Order of Saint Clare

 Key tensions- Great Schism (Western)  

(1378-1417) Two rival popes College of Cardinals in Rome & Avignon, France (**Note: Three Popes)

Religious Reform & Evolution Theology: Assimilating Faith and Reason  Exploration of Greek philosophy assimilated into Catholic religious tradition:  Aristotle was known as the philosopher during Charlemagne’s time! (Aristotelian)  Peter Abelard, 12th century  Wrote: “Yes and No” a rational/logical examination of church doctrine  Bernard of Clairvaux, Monk, opposed to Abelard's approach, Mysticism (Mystical union vs. rational)  That rational reason was dangerous  Stressed the importance of mystical union with God, •Roger Bacon- 1220blissful glimpses & Faith 1292  Led to debates in universities (Scholasticism) • Oxford, scientific  By 13th century, Philosopher-theologians emerged experiments on armed with Greek Philosophy & Science, & work Hellenistic (Galen) and from Arab Rationalists & work toward understand Muslim scholars previous God work  The greatest of these: Thomas Aquinas, Italian Catholic Monk who taught at the University of Paris wrote: • Three hundred years “Summas” before Scientific  A careful logic to eliminate all possible objections to Revolution ! truth as reveled by reason & faith

The High Middle Ages Popular Religion  Christian devotion among lay people increased  12th Century, Veneration of Mary  Merciful side of Christianity

 Intermediaries, worship of saints 

Survival of pagan practice/ traditions/festivals continued and blended with their version of church

Medieval architecture, literature, and art reflected religious themes  Intended to serve the Glory of God  Artists painted Christ’s life/cross and the saints, techniques improved slowly  Stained glass windows for churches



Gothic cathedrals rose up around Western Europe with flying buttresses  

At first - Romanesque architecture 11th Century Gothic  Mix of Muslim into Western engineering



Ancient oral sagas, (Vernacular) 



English Beowulf & French Song of Roland

Geoffrey Chaucer, secular literature 

Canterbury Tales Troubadours

Economic and Social Changes Economic Activity, Social Structure Development , & Commercial Zone: 

Trade revived 10th century  Most regions produced for local consumption esp. agricultural areas  Italian merchants sought cloth made in the low countries (present day Belgium/Neth.)  Merchants in many areas traded for wool from England  Timber & Furs from Scandinavia & Baltic Lands  Great ports in France and Low Countries served as a western exchange



New Strains in Rural Life  Peasants v. landlords  Peasants slowly gained more freedom with agricultural advances  Peasant-Landlord battles occurred over high rent or taxes  Peasants wanted natural & traditional rights to the land free and clear



Gap between peasant and landlord was a crucial social inequality in Europe

Economic and Social Gains in agricultural growth promoted medieval economic changes esp. in Trade and Banking  Banking was introduced to the west by Italians for long distance exchange of money and goods  Banks were not only in Italy, but Low Countries, southern Germany & France  Big merchants invested in trading ships and goods carried hoping for large profit 

Commerce expands  Europeans developed a need for Asian goods, Silk and spices (preserving meat & medicine)  Italian Merchants ran Mediterranean zone joined with North Sea, Baltic (see last slide)  Money replaces barter  Banking, insurance merge

Urban growth allowed more specialized manufacturing & commercial activities  This promoted still more trade & commercial alliances & early form of capitalism 

Best example: Hanseatic League  Northern Germany, southern Scandinavia  Cities working together for mutual economic benefit



Guilds: responsible for the regulation of apprenticeship, guarantee of good workmanship, and admission to various trades, Grouped people in the same business or trade in a single city, stressing security, and mutual control:  Craft associations, Protect markets, Ensure standards, & Social role  The Merchants were relatively free, but relatively low status

Social Limited Sphere for Women  Men placed new limits on the condition of women  Patriarchal structure took deeper root  Literature arose stressing women’s roles, tasks, virtues in their sphere  Women generally lost ground, especially her

opinion in the household  Some opportunities as nuns as a alternative to marriage  Some had more higher status than Islam

 Veneration of Mary and other female

religious figures gave women some cultural prestige

 Less segregated in religious services  Cold not lead church.  Counterbalanced with Eve as the source of

human sin

Decline of the Medieval World Widespread warfare from 1300 to 1500 

Hundred Years’ War  The struggle involved several generations of English and French claimants to the crown and actually occupied a period of more than 100 years.  Weakens feudal order  Kings reduced their reliance on feudal forces in favor of paid armies



Population outstrips agriculture  Could not feed increasing population

 





Famines  Bubonic Plague (Black Death) from 1348-1352 Signs of Strain  Aristocracy lose military purpose  Professional Armies  Foot soldiers more important  Increasingly ceremonial lifestyle Church increasingly rigid  Great Schism (West Splits)  Intellectual & Artistic life gradually moved out of church influence The Postclassical West and Its Heritage  Formative period  Dynamic change- Academic institutions, political ideas, change in relationships between west and regions around it

At the end of the Middle Ages? The following issues:  Consequences of the Black Death 1347-1352

 The increasing inability of agriculture to keep

pace with population growth  New social disputes, involving both peasants and landlords and artisans and their employees.  Manufacturing and technology developed more quickly

 Ready for Renaissance, Scientific Revolution,

Exploration, Protestant Reformation, & Enlightenment?