Medieval Europe:
Moving Towards
Renaissance
Medieval Universities
• By the 1100s, schools had
arisen around the great
cathedrals to train clergy
• Quickly became a status
symbol for European
cities
• Women were not allowed
to attend university
• Knowledge of classical
Greece, which had been
preserved by Muslim
scholars, returned to
Europe during Crusades
University Life
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
6 days a week
5 AM: attend prayers
5 – 10 AM: attend classes
lessons were in Latin, students
sat for hours on hard wooden
benches, expected to
memorize what they heard,
students paid teacher for each
class
10 AM: first meal of day
11 AM – 5 PM: attend classes
5 PM: last meal of day
after dinner, studied until bed
all exams were oral
A Medieval Classroom
St. Thomas Aquinas
• Aquinas used logic and
reason to defend Christian
teachings – united Christian
faith with Greek philosophy
to argue that God rules over
an orderly universe and that
the laws of nature prove
intelligent design
• Marks the return of logic
and reason to European
thinking and a move away
from emotional superstition
Science and Math
• Little truly “European”
development, but
returning Crusaders
brought back:
– Arabic numbers which
replaced outdated
Roman numerals
– Scientific knowledge of
the classical Greeks + the
scientific achievements
of Islamic scholars (like
algebra)
Medieval Literature
• Heroic epics
– France’s Song of Roland
– Spain’s Cantar de Mio
Cid
• Dante’s Divine Comedy,
including its most
famous book, The
Inferno (from Italy)
• Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales (from England)
Gothic Cathedrals
• Massive churches which
major cities constructed
as a sign of their wealth
• Defining features:
– flying buttresses (to carry
weight of stone)
– stained glass windows, bas
relief door panels (to
illustrate Bible stories for
the illiterate)
– built in the shape of a cross
– gargoyles (scared away evil
spirits, helped with water
drainage from roof)
Notre Dame Cathedral
The Black Death
• Plague began in China, killing
35 million there
• Plague spread across Asia,
carried by fleas on Mongol
caravans, killing millions
more at a rate of about 7000
per day
• Rats carrying plague arrived
in Italy via merchant ships in
1347
• By 1348, plague had spread
from Italy to Spain and
France; over the next few
years it reached all corners of
Europe
Plague & The Silk Roads
Consequences of Plague
• Caused a collapse of
social systems
– many lost faith in the
Church
– many blamed the Jews,
deepening religious
persecution
– many abandoned their
families to flee plague
– too many workers died,
damaging the economy
• As many as 50% of
Europeans may have died
A Weakened Church
• Papal seat had been moved
to Avignon, France
• The French popes were
largely corrupt and favored
French interests
• Angered, some bishops
elected a new pope in Rome
in 1378; until 1417 there
were two popes, each
claiming authority over the
Catholic Church
• Eventually the Papal seat
returned to Rome, but power
of the pope had been badly
damaged by the infighting
The Hundred Years War
• 1337-1453 (really, that’s
116 years)
• Fought mainly between
England and France in
French territory
• First European war to
see the use of guns and
cannons thanks to
introduction of Chinese
gunpowder
Joan of Arc
• In 1429, 17 year old Joan of
Arc (a girl) convinced King
Charles VII of France that God
had sent her a vision telling
her to lead his army to victory
• She led French to numerous
victories for the next year, but
then was captured by the
English and burned at the
stake for witchcraft
• The angry French considered
Joan a martyr (someone who
dies for their beliefs) and
rallied to drive the English out
of France
Consequences of War
• Temporarily broke English
power and allowed
France to dominate
Europe
• Cannons made knights
and castles obsolete
because they could not
stand up to them
• Since knights no longer
afforded protection to the
serfs from cannons, the
feudal system in Europe
began to fail