Middle Ages
AP European History is a study of modern Europe. Modern Europe began to emerge around
1450 as Europe began to transition out of the medieval period.
Medieval Europe
o Middle Ages approximately 500-1500 CE
o Early Middle Ages 500-1000 CE
 Germanic tribes settle in Europe following fall of Roman Empire
 Eastern half of Roman Empire continues as the Byzantine Empire
o Centered in Constantinople
o Byzantines heavily involved in trade
 Close contacts with Eastern Europe (Kiev)
o Eastern Orthodox Christianity
o Send missionaries to Eastern Europe; use the Cyrillic
alphabet to convert the people of Kievan Rus
 Government
 Tribal chieftains
 Franks develop a kingdom in Western Europe under leadership of
Clovis (481-511)
o Franks lose power to Charles Martel and the Carolingian
family
 Charlemagne (of Carolingian family) conquers most of western
Europe; Pope crowned him emperor in 800
o Charlemagne’s empire falls apart after his death due to
power struggles
o Treaty of Verdun breaks western Europe into territories
based upon linguistic/cultural boundaries
o Fragmentation into smaller political units and feudalism
develops
 Threats from Viking raids
 Economy
 Minimal trade or economic development
 Manorialism and serfdom
o Self-sufficient manors
 Barter economy
 Pastoralism and subsistence agriculture
o Agricultural productivity improves with three-field system
and moldboard iron plows
 Society
 Most people live as serfs
 Very low literacy
 Christianity increasingly important for cultural identity
 Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe, Eastern
Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe
o Roman Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity in
300’s
Middle Ages
o Missionaries travel throughout Europe and form
monasteries
o High Middle Ages 1000-1500 CE
 Government
 Feudalism begins losing power in favor of more centralized
government
 Catholic Church increased role in governance causes conflict with
secular rulers/monarchs
o Canon law: Church laws for behavior
o Pope crowns the Holy Roman Emperor
 France, England, Spain begin to centralize
 Ideas of limited government begin in England
o Magna Carta (1215)
o Parliaments created to represent nobles and clergy
 Conflict among feudal kingdoms result in warfare
o William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) invades
England in 1066
 Battle of Hastings
o Hundred Years’ War
 England vs. France
 Hostility with Muslims
o Moors in Spain and Portugal, Muslim converts in Eastern
Europe
o Competition for trade
o Muslim threats against Byzantines in Constantinople
o Crusades
 1095: Pope Urban II calls First Crusade
 Temporarily gain Jerusalem, lose it to
Saladin
 Other Crusades called over next couple hundred
years, no permanent success
 Major impact due to interaction with other
civilizations and technologies
 Economic Developments
 Italians (Venice and Genoa) increase trade and gain wealth from
Crusades and interaction with Holy Land
o Banking emerges
o Trade increases
 Hanseatic League
o Trade organization in Northern Germany and Southern
Scandinavia
 Guilds
o Association of craftsmen that control a certain trade
 Merchant class grows in prestige and power, often clash with
landed aristocracy
 Catholic Church bans practice of usury
Middle Ages

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o Jews become money lenders, leads to increased antiSemitism
o Church eventually relaxes restrictions and seek patronage
from wealthy merchants
Catholic Church accumulates land and wealth
Society
 Religious zeal leads to increased missionary activity
o Conflict with other religions
 Crusades
 Anti-Semitism
 Jews secluded (ghettos)
 Violence (pogrom)
 Expelled from countries
 Many Jews flee to Eastern Europe
 Society becomes increasingly male dominated
 Black Death
 Intellectual developments
o Universities created (largely to educate the clergy)
o Knowledge gained from Crusades
o Scholasticism: attempts to incorporate Christian teachings
and Greek philosophy and logic
 Thomas Aquinas
 Vernacular literature begins in 13th century
o Dante, Chaucer
 Gothic Cathedrals