Beginnings of
European History
ROMAN EMPIRE
Caesar Augustus
• Octavian became
Augustus (“revered
one”), first Roman
emperor
Strengths of Empire
• strong government
• unifying law code
that could be
updated and
interpreted
• good trade and
transportation (roads
for army)
• could become citizen
by enlisting in the
army
Roman Society
• a few rich people and
many poor people
• slaves were
unnecessary due to
cheap labor, but
showed status
• boys were taught in
schools
• Roman emperor was
the head of the
religion
• gladiators were
entertainment
Technologies
• Aqueducts
• Galen’s medical
knowledge
• Ptolemy’s theory of
astronomy
(geocentric)
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity
• A religion whose followers believe Jesus Christ to be the Savior of
the world.
Spread of Christianity
Spread of Christianity
Constantine
• The first Roman Emperor to
become Christian.
• Issued the Edict of Milan in 313
• Founded a new capital at
Constantinople
Doctrine of Petrine Succession
• Early Christian doctrine that the apostle Peter was the
appointed successor of the Christian church
• Used to justify Papal power (the power of the Pope)
• Avoided caesaropapism- when a leader is the head of state
and the head of the church
Spread of Christianity
Great Schism (1054)
• Split between East and West
• West= Roman Catholic
East= Eastern Orthodox
Spread of Christianity
FALL OF ROME
Diocletian
• Roman emperor that
split the empire into
east and west
• drove out barbarians
• tried to impose wage
and price controls
Inflation
• money loses its value
while prices continue
to rise
• countries unstable
because their
international
standing decreases
(they can get less
stuff)
Decline of Rome
• Germanic invaders
(called barbarians)
• lack of expansion
(no additional flow
of money)
• political and military
weakness
• social change
(apathy toward the
government)
Byzantine Empire
• Became the richest part of the old Roman Empire
• Trade limited to the Arabic World (Middle East and North
Africa)
• Cut off ties with the west
• Famous emperor: Justinian I
• Greek in culture and language
ISLAM
Islam
• A religion whose followers adhere to the teachings of the prophet
Mohammed.
• Mohammed was visited by an angel (Gabriel) who restored the
teachings of God to Earth.
• Born in Mecca, he was driven out because of his teachings.
• Later, he was invited back.
• Translated into heaven in Jerusalem
Five Pillars of Islam
• The Creed (faith in
Allah)
• Pray five times a day
• Fast during the
month of Ramadan
• Almsgiving
• Pilgrimage to Mecca
Islamic Division
• After Mohammed
died, there was
controversy over who
should take his place.
• Those who favor his
son-in-law Ali= Shia
• Those who favor
election= Sunnite
Spread of Islam
• Spread rapidly
throughout the
Middle East and
North Africa.
• Invaded Spain
• Moors at Tours 732
Middle Ages
What was Europe like?
• Governments became more local
• “mini Ice-Age” caused a decline in food production
• People were not as healthy
• Some learning was lost
Middle Ages
• A time between the Classical Period (Greece and Rome) and
the Modern World (RenaissanceNow)
Rise of the Frankish Empire
• Franks came in contact with the Roman Empire in the 200s
• 481- Clovis became king of a Frankish tribe
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He conquered other tribes in northern Gaul
Converted to Christianity
Controlled southwestern Gaul
Started the Merovingian kings
Charlemagne
• Son of Pepin III
• Rule 768-814
• Defeated many in war:
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Lombards (Italy)
Saxons (northern Germany)
Avars (central Europe)
Spain in the Pyrenees
• 800- crowned “Emperor of
the Romans” by Pope Leo III
Carolingian Renaissance
• Emphasis on reading,
writing, and education
• Developed schools
based on the Roman
model
• Alcuin of York taught
Charlemagne’s children
• Written Bible
• Caroline miniscule
• Bishops told to create
libraries
Charlemagne’s Reforms
• Split up his empire
into areas controlled
by counts
• Missi Dominici “the
Lord’s messengers”
• Ensured support of
Charlemagne
• Heard complaints
• Determined
effectiveness of laws
Decline of the Frankish Empire
• Charlemagne gave his
empire to his son, Louis
the Pious
• 840- Louis divided the
empire among his sons:
Lothair, Charles the Bald,
and Louis the German
• 843- Treaty of Verdun
• Split up Charlemagne’s
empire
• 870- Middle Kingdom
split between the
remaining two kingdoms
• Empire weakened by
invasion
• Muslims
• Slavs
• Magyars
Vikings
• 800-900 ADfearsome invaders
• From Scandinavia
• Worshipped pagan
gods
• Raid and loot towns
for slaves to work
their farms
• Good at warfare and
siege techniques
Magyars
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Hungarian tribes
7 tribes came together
Pope sent a crown to St. Stephen to crown him as their king
Thereafter, Hungarians came under the realm of Latin
Christendom
FEUDALISM
How it worked
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A powerful noble had lots of land, more than he could use
He granted this land (called a fief) to a lesser noble to use
This created a contract between the two
The lesser noble promised loyalty while the powerful noble
promised protection
• Land was inherited from father to eldest son (primogeniture)
• Women could have land in their dowry, but it became their
husband’s land when they got married
The people
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Lord= grants land/expects loyalty
Vassal= accepts land/protection
Knights= trained soldiers that work for vassals (nobility)
Peasants (Serfs)= people who live on the land and farm the
land
Manors
• Self-sufficient villages
where peasants
worked the land for a
noble
• Noble kept 1/3 of the
land for private use
(domain)
• Peasants had other
2/3 to work for their
sustenance
• Peasants also had to
work on the noble’s
land to pay for use of
their land
Nobles
• Did not live in luxury
• Often lived in a keep
or a castle (later on)
• Castles had thick
walls for defense and
small windows
without glass
• Marriage was a way
to advance one’s
fortunes
• Men depended on
their wife and
children for help
Peasants
• Worked the land
• Did not get vacations
or holidays
• Could not hunt on
the Lord’s land
• Peasants had a poor
diet (rarely ate meat)
• Victims of warfare
TOWNS
Rights of Townspeople
• Established through a Town Charter- a document indicating
the rights of townspeople
• Rights (called corporate liberties) included:
• Freedom
• A year and a day rule
• Exemption
• Townspeople did not have to work on the manor
• Town justice
• Towns had their own courts
• Commercial privileges
• Townspeople could sell goods freely in the town market
Guilds
• A group of people with the same occupation that had the sole
right to trade in a given area (monopoly)
• Protected against competition from outsiders
• Took care of members of the guild and their families
• Craft guilds set standards for wages, hours, and working
conditions
• Controlled training of workers
Life and Death
• Serfs ran away to towns to improve their lives
• some also went to find work after being forced to leave the
manor
• Towns were in easily defensible places
• Towns were not very clean
• Diseases spread rapidly
Education
• Mainly for nobles and clergy
• Schools were monasteries and churches
• Universitas- “association of people”, basically a guild for
education
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University of Paris- theology
University at Oxford- theology
University of Bologna- civil law and church law
University of Salerno- medicine
Architecture
• Mainly church architecture
• 1000-1150= Romanesque
• Heavy, domed roofs
• Few windows
• Little light
• 1100-1300= Gothic
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Tall spires
Flying buttresses
High, thin walls
Lots of light
Stained-glass windows
Romanesque
Gothic
CHURCH
Hierarchy
Monasticism
• Some people wanted to escape from the world and devote
their life to God
• Initially, monks and nuns lived alone and apart from the world
• Eventually they built monasteries (for monks) and convents
(for nuns)
• Monasticism was the way of life in monasteries and convents
Saints
• Saint Benedict- became a hermit
• Well-known for his holiness
• Established a monastery at Monte Cassino in central Italy
• The standards he set for monks was known as Benedictine Rule
and was later adopted by other monasteries and convents
• Saint Patrick
•
Brought Christianity to Ireland in 432
• Saint Augustine
• Led a group of monks to England
• Archbishop of Canterbury (center of Christian church in England)
Church and Politics
• Canon law- Church’s law code
• Interdict- form of punishment where all churches in a region
were closed and sacraments forbidden
• Heretics- those who opposed the church
• Threat to the church, heretics punished severely
• Tithe- One tenth of a person’s income to be paid to the Church
Society and Economics
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Encouraged equality and dignity for all
Divorce was never allowed
Took care of poor and needy
Sometimes even established hospitals
DECLINE OF CHURCH’S POWER
Problems
• Church gained great wealth and influence
• Simony- people could buy church offices
• Inquisition- search for heretics
• Especially popular in Spain
• Often involved torture of accused heretics
Babylonian Captivity
• Philip IV of France tried to tax the clergy
• Pope Boniface VIII decreed this illegal
• Philip IV had the pope arrested.
• After Boniface died, Philip IV had a French pope elected
• 1309- Clement V moved church headquarters to Avignon,
France
• 1377- Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome
Great Schism
• 1377- Pope Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome
• 1378- cardinals elected an Italian pope and then later a French
pope
• Italian pope stayed in Rome
• French pope moved to Avignon
• Council of Constance 1414-1417- ended the Great Schism
• Elected a new Italian pope
• Removed French and Italian popes
• A third pope resigned
Reformers
• John Wycliffe- 1300s
• Authority of Bible should be greater than the authority of popes
• Individuals should be able to read and interpret scripture
• English translation of Bible
• Jan Hus
• Czech religious reformer
• Attacked the practices of worldly church clergy
• Believed people should have a direct relationship with their God
ENGLISH MONARCHY
Norman Conquest
• 1066- Duke William of Normandy claimed the English throne
after Edward’s death
• He crossed the English Channel and defeated a rival for the
throne at the battle of Hastings
• Resulted in the mixing of French and Anglo-Saxon culture
• William rule from 1066-1087
After the Conquest
• William brought feudalism to England and had the nobles
swear loyalty to him
• He also stopped the nobility from uniting by scattering their
fiefs throughout England
• 1100-1135- Henry I, sent traveling judges throughout England
• 1154-1189- Henry II, allowed nobles to pay a fee instead of
serving in the army, also advocated trial by jury
• He married Eleanor of Aquitaine which gave him feudal lands in
France
King John
• Son of Henry II
• Wanted English nobles to
pay more taxes to support
wars in France
• Nobles banded together to
oppose this
• Forced King John to sign the
Magna Carta
Magna Carta
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Latin for “Great Charter”
Protected the liberties of the nobles
Established rights for ordinary people
King John could not raise taxes without consent of the Great
Council
• It made sure that the king obeyed the law like everyone else.
Parliament
• 1260s- revolt against Henry III threatened the monarchy
• 1265- Simon de Montfort combined the nobles and the
middle class against the king
• This combination led to the English Parliament
• House of Lords- nobles and clergy
• House of Commons- knights and burgesses
Common Law
• 1272-1307- Edward I ruled England
• Common law is based on precedence, how similar situations
were handled in the past
• Divided the courts into three parts:
• Court of Common Pleas- ordinary citizens
• Court of the Exchequer- financial accounts and tax cases
• Court of the King’s Bench- king or government
FRENCH MONARCHY
Capetian Kings
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987- Carolingian kings died out
987- Nobles chose Hugh Capet to be king
Started the Capetian line that ruled for 300 years
Capetians wanted more land, especially land owned by the
English in France
• 1180-1223- Philip II took large land holdings away from the
English
• 1285-1314- Philip IV (“the Fair”) started taxing the clergy
Central Government
• Despite centralizing measures, still very feudal in France
• Nobles had most of the power
• King was stronger than clergy in France
• Dispute with Boniface the VII
• Estates General- representative body made of the three major
social classes in France (peasants, clergy, nobility)
HUNDRED YEARS WAR
Why?
• English king Edward III held lands in France
• He was a vassal of the French king
• 1328- French Capetian king died
• Edward III claimed the throne
• French elected Philip VI to be king
• War broke out
Battles and Weapons
• Battle of Agincourt (1415)
• English used the longbow to cut
down French knights
• Orleans
• Siege led by Joan of Arc
• Weapons
• Cannons
• Gunpowder
• Longbows
Joan of Arc
• A peasant girl that helped France unite to defeat the English
• French royal family was at war
• House of Burgundy sided with the British
• House of Orleans tried to unite France
• Joan of Arc helped secure the throne for Charles VII of Orleans
• After her capture and trial, she was burned at the stake for
unwomanly conduct
Results
• French won the war, but France was deeply hurt
• Kings in France and England gained more power over nobles
• English kings had power limited further by the law
War of the Roses
• 1455- a war between the English
houses of Lancaster (red rose) and
York (white rose)
• 1485- Henry Tudor of the House of
Lancaster defeated King Richard III
of York
• He became Henry VII
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
What does it look like?
Rulers
• 814- Italy fell into disorder after Charlemagne’s death
• 900- Italy was held by the Byzantine Empire, the Church, and
Arab Muslims
• 936- German lords elect Otto I as king
• 951- He attacked northern Italy
• 962-He became the new “Holy Roman Emperor”
• 1054-1056- Henry III, height of imperial power
• 1056- Henry IV came to power
CONFLICTS WITH THE CHURCH
Henry IV
• Henry IV clashed with Pope Gregory VII
• Lay investiture- nobles appointed bishops
• Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV and told the nobles to
elect another emperor
• 1077- Henry pleaded for the pope’s mercy
• 1122- Concordat of Worms solved the controversy of lay
investiture
• Only the pope could appoint bishops
• Emperor could give bishops fiefs
CRUSADES
Why?
• 1000s- Seljug Turks took control of Palestine
• Turks threatened Constantinople and the king asked the pope
for help
• 1095- Pope Urban II called a meeting and urged European
nobles to send knights to regain the Holy Land
• People went because:
• Promise of salvation
• Hope to gain land or wealth
• Opportunities for trade
First Crusade
• 1096-1099- French and Italian lords sent several armies to the
Holy Land
• Captured Antioch and eventually Jerusalem
• The Crusaders slaughtered Jerusalem’s Muslim and Jewish
inhabitants
Other Major Crusades
• Second Crusade- 1147-1149- Turks had taken back some cities
gained in the First Crusade
• Turks held, Crusaders lost
• Third Crusade- Saladin (Turk) gained control of Jerusalem
• 1189-1192- Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II of France, and
King Richard I of England went to capture the Holy Land
• King Richard I secured a truce with Saladin that allowed Christians
to enter Jerusalem freely
Children’s Crusade
• 1212- young people from across Europe decided to march to
the Holy Land
• By the time they reached the Mediterranean coast, they were
disorganized and hungry
• Several thousand boarded ships in France that sold them into
slavery
Results
• New weapons and warfare
• The crossbow
• Catapults
• Political change
• Some lords sold land to go on the
Crusades
• Fewer lords=more power with fewer
people
• Better trade with the Middle East and
beyond
BLACK DEATH
Black Death
• A.k.a. “Bubonic Plague” or the “Black Plague”
• 1347- plague came from Asia and spread along trade routes
• Black rats on ships carried the disease
• Fleas bit rats and then bit humans
• High mortality rate
• About 25 million people died between 1347-1351
• 1/3 the population of Europe
Results of the Black Death
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People lost faith in God
Church lost power and importance
Workers became more valuable and asked for higher wages
Peasant uprisings
Change in relations between the upper and lower class