The Formation of
Western Europe
800 - 1500
Church Power
• Problems:
– Village priests married and had kids
– Lay Investiture gave power to ….
– Church positions are being sold!
• (Church needs/wants $$$ )
Gothic Architecture
Flying Buttresses
Gargoyles
High Ceilings
Pointed Arches
Stained Glass
Windows
Ame
Notre Dame
The Crusades
• 1093 Pope Urban II
– Launches “Holy War”
• Causes
– Emotional
– Economic
The Crusades
• Richard the
Lionhearted
Saladin
Muslims had control of Jerusalem, but Christians
could come visit!
Effects of the Crusades
• TRADE between Europe and SW
Asia
• Pope loses power
• Kings gain power
• Christians vs. Muslims & Jews
The Crusades
• Crash Course Crusades:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zud
TQelzI
Growth & Changes
1000 - 1300
• 3 Field System
• Trade
• Financial
Growth & Changes
1000 - 1300
• Town Advantages
– Social
– Economic
• Learning
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- Thomas Aquinas
- Used “vernacular”
England Absorbs Waves of Invaders
• 800’s = England attacked by Danish Vikings
• Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic tribe, battled & defeated the
Vikings
– “England” came from “the land of the Angles”
• 1066 = Battle of Hastings
– Norman conquest
• From Normandy, France
• Descendants from old Vikings
• Spoke French & practiced French traditions
– William the Conqueror (Norman) claimed all of England
King Henry II & Queen Eleanor of
Aquitaine
• Tried to achieve two main goals
– 1) wanted to hold and add onto their French lands
– 2) wanted to strengthen their own power over the
nobles and the Church
England’s Evolving Government
• Strengthened the royal courts
– Sent royal judges to every part of England once a year
• Collect taxes
• Settle lawsuits
• Punish crimes
• Introduced the jury in English courts
– Usually 12 neighbors of the accused
The Time Period of Robin Hood
•
King John
– Lost all of the British controlled land in
France
– Confronted by his nobles
– Mean to his subjects
• Highly taxed the people
• Robin Hood
•
1215 = nobles forced King John to sign
to Magna Carta
– Limits the king’s power
– Safeguards the nobles’ rights
– Guaranteed the following
• No taxation without representation
• Jury trial
• Protection of the law
King Edward I
• King Edward I
– Starts Parliament in 1295
• Legislative group
• Included knights, burgesses,
bishops, lords
– Continued to call Parliament
anytime he wanted a new tax
– Eventually, it forms the
Assembly
– Parliament provides a check
on Royal Power
• House of Commons
– Knights, burgesses, lords
• House of Lords
– Bishops & nobles
Capetian Dynasty Rules France
• Hugh Capet begins the Capetian Dynasty
– 987-1328
– Controlled a small territory in northern France
(Paris) that dominated trade routes
Philip II
• Most powerful Capetian ruler
– 1180-1223
• Known as Philip Augustus
– Augustus means “majestic” in Latin
• Main goal
– Weaken the power of the English kings in France
• He was crafty, unprincipled, and willing to do whatever
necessary to achieve his goal
– He was unsuccessful against Henry II & Richard, but
he beat King John
• Seized Normandy in 1204 & other territories later
Philip II
• King Philip II wanted
a stronger central
government
– Established royal
officials called bailiffs
• Sent from Paris to
every district in the
kingdom
– Preside over the
king’s courts
– Collect the king’s
taxes
Capetian Dynasty
• Philip IV
– 1285-1314
– Starts the Third Estate
• Estates General
– First Estate
» Church leaders
– Second Estate
» Great lords
– Third Estate
» Commoners
– Increases royal power
against the nobility
Great Schism
• Two popes were elected to please mobs
– Pope Urban VI
• Lived in Rome
– Pope Clement VII
• Lived in Avignon
• 1417 = the Council of Constance forced
both popes to resign
– They chose a new pope to end the schism
• Pope Martin I
– Lived in Rome
Scholars Challenged the Church Authority
• John Wycliffe & Jan Hus
– Believed Jesus Christ was the head of the Church
– Believed the Bible was the final authority for
Christians
– Believed both, Jesus Christ & the Bible, were higher
than the Church and the Pope
• People grew tired of Popes & Bishops living lives
of luxury
– Believed the church clergy shouldn’t own land/wealth
The Bubonic Plague Strikes
• Bubonic Plague
– Came to Europe from Asia
– Affected most of Asia, North
Africa, and Europe
– Symptoms
• High fever, chills, & delirium
• Painful swelling of lymph nodes
– Mainly in groin & armpits
• Purplish and Black spots on skin
– Gave the name “Black Death”
WHY??
• People looked for a scapegoat to blame
– Jews were believed to have poisoned the
wells
• Massacred & exiled
– Church loses influence
• Prayers & penances didn’t stop the plague
• Priests abandoned their duties
This Plague is B-U-B-O-N-I-C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZy6XilXD
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Effects of the Bubonic Plague
• Church lost prestige
• Town populations declined
– Within 4 years, 25 million Europeans were killed
•
•
•
•
Trade declined
Prices rose
Shortage of workers
Serfs unpaid/poorly paid
– Left the manors
•
•
•
•
Abandoned farmland
Manors crumbled
Peasant revolts
Pessimism rose
– “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow You may Die.”
• End of the Middle Ages
When the last Capetian King
died without an heir, England’s
Edward III claimed the French
throne because he was the
grandson of Philip IV.
Hundred Years War
• Hundred Years War
– 1337-1453 (on and off)
– Battle of Crecy = English victory
– Battle of Poitiers = English victory
– Battle of Agincourt = English victory
• All 3 of these battles were fought & won by British
archers
• The success of the longbow put an end to the
heavily armored medieval knight
Joan of Arc
• Joan of Arc
– French peasant teenager
– Believed that God told her
to drive the English out &
restore the crown to son of
King Charles VI
– Prince Charles believed
she was sincere
– She led soldiers to relieve
Orleans & France of the
blockade
• Successful
• Afterwards, Charles VII
was crowned King of
France on July 17, 1429
Joan of Arc
• Joan of Arc continued to
drive the English out
• She was captured in
battle by the Burgundians
(English allies)
– Turned over to English
– Turned over to the Church
• Put on trial & condemned
a witch & heretic
– Burned at the stake
• King Charles VII did
nothing to rescue her
Impact of the Hundred Years Wars:
English left France
England only controlled the port of Calais
• France
– Lost lives, property,
and money
– Raised power &
prestige for the
monarch
– Raised nationalism
– King is now the
national leader
• England
– Lost lives & money
– Raised nationalism
– King is now the
national leader
– Goes through the War
of the Roses
• 2 noble houses fought
for throne which
strengthens Parliament
Impact of the Hundred Years Wars
End of the
Middle Ages