I. Peasants, Trade, and Cities
A. The New Agriculture
1. Peace
a. early invasions of the Middle Ages stopped
b. increased peace and stability increase food production
2. Climate and Geography
a. change in climate improves growing conditions
b. trees cut down and swamps drained
c. more area for agriculture
3. Technology
a. use of water and wind to do jobs
b. iron was used for axes, scythes, and hoes
c. carruca – a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare
◦ much more efficient plow
◦ six or eight oxen needed to pull it
d. horses get new collars and horseshoes
4. Farming Villages
a. iron was expensive, an entire community would buy a plow
b. animals were shared (horses and oxen)
c. shifted from two to three field rotations
◦ one field was planted in fall with a summer harvest
◦ one field was planted in spring with a fall harvest
◦ one field could lie in fallow (not planted)
B. The Manorial System
1. Feudal System
a. lords owned land
b. fiefs were given to vassals and worked by peasants
c. this allowed lords to study the arts of war
2. manor – agricultural estate run by a lord and worked by peasants
3. serf – peasants legally bound to the land
a. provided labor services, pay rent, and be subject to the lord's control
b. by 800, 60% of Europeans were serfs
c. about half of the cultivated land throughout the manor was the lord's
d. serfs worked about three days a week for the lord
e. rent was paid out of the products the serfs raised
f. peasants also paid a tithe – 10% of their earnings to the church
4. Feudal Contract
a. serfs could not leave without the lord's permission
b. serfs could not marry outside of the manor without permission
c. lords could try peasants in their own courts
d. land assigned to the serfs usually could not be taken away
e. the lord had to protect the serfs
C. Daily Life of the Peasantry
1. Houses
a. wooden frames
b. plastered with clay
c. thatched roofs
d. single room for poorer peasants, some had two rooms
e. no chimneys, smoke went through the cracks in walls or thatched roof
2. Cycle of Labor
a. Catholic holidays provided days off (more than 50 days a year)
b. feast days, Sunday mass, baptisms, marriages and funerals were all crucial parts of
manorial life
3. Food and Drink
a. basic staple was bread
◦ highly nutritious
◦ contained wheat, rye, barley, millet, and oats
b. vegetables from household gardens
c. cheese from cow's or goat's milk
d. peasants usually ate meat on great feast days
e. grains were important for making ale
◦ very important since clean drinking water was hard to find
◦ upper class drank wine
D. Revival of Trade
1. trade had declined in the early Middle Ages
2. Venice
a. end of the eighth century developed trading ties with the Byzantine Empire
b. had a mercantile fleet
c. by the end of the 10th century was a major trading center
3. Flanders
a. Northern European trading center
b. known for high quality, woolen cloth
4. Trade Fairs
a. counts of Champagne initiated the fairs to encourage trade
b. allowed northern merchants to trade for goods from Italy and the East
5. Money Economy
a. an economic system based on money, rather than barter
b. commercial capitalism – economic system in which people invested in trade and
goods in order to make profits
E. The Growth of Cities
1. size and population of cities had declined in the early Middle Ages
2. Cities Old and New
a. merchants began to settle in old Roman cities
b. craftspeople or artisans followed
c. new settlements were built near castles
◦ lords could provide protection
◦ if the settlements flourished walls would be built around it
◦ merchants and artisans of these cities were called bourgeoisie
d. Medieval cities were small, numbering around 5 thousand
◦ London was England's largest city at 40,000
◦ Italian cities were bigger at around 80,000
◦ Constantinople and Arab cities were much bigger
3. City Government
a. townspeople could not be treated the same as vassals and serfs
b. needed freedom to move in order to trade
c. paid for freedoms from the lord
◦ buy and sell property
◦ freedom from military service
◦ guaranteed freedom
d. citizens were men who had been born or lived in the town for a long time
e. patricians – members of the wealthiest and most powerful families
f. when towns were able to have their own elections, only patricians won
F. Daily Life in the Medieval City
1. space inside city was tight and valuable
2. houses were crowded, 2nd stories went over streets
3. fire was a major problem
4. pollution
a. burning cheap coal
b. tanning and animal slaughtering dumped into rivers
c. human and animal waste
d. did not drink river water, used wells
5. private and public bath houses were a thing
a. came under some pressure to close
b. plague sealed the fate
6. women
a. less women in medieval cities
b. ran the household
c. helped in husband's trade
G. Industry and Guilds
1. guilds – business associations
2. guilds for almost every craft; tanners, carpenters, and bankers
3. guilds set standards
a. quality
b. methods of production
c. price
4. guilds determined who could join the trade
5. apprentice – usually around 10, learned from a master, was not paid
6. journeymen – worked for wages from other masters, usually 5 to 7 year as an apprentice
7. master – had to produce a masterpiece (finished piece in their craft), other masters
would judge if they could join
II. Christianity and Medieval Civilization
A. The Papal Monarchy
1. popes claimed supremacy over the affairs of the church since the 5th century
2. controlled the Papal States (territories in central Italy)
3. the church and the Feudal system
a. church became very involved in the feudal system
b. bishops and abbots were appointed by nobles
c. carried out the same duties as other vassals
d. typically chosen from other noble families
4. Reform of the Papacy
a. lay investiture – secular (not an official of the church) rulers chose church officials
and gave them the symbols of their office
b. Pope Gregory VII decided to fight this practice
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
claimed only the pope was God's “vicar on earth” (vicar – representative)
the pope's authority extended over all the Christian world, including the rulers
only the Church could appoint clergy
if this was not respected than those rulers would be removed
faced opposition from Henry IV of Germany
Concordat of Worms – a bishop in Germany was first elected by the Church, the new
bishop paid homage to the German king and his lord, the king gave him the symbols
of his earthly office, and the Church gave him the symbols of his spiritual office
5. The Church Supreme
a. Pope Innocent III thought the pope was the supreme judge of European affairs
b. allowed the papacy to reach the height of its power
c. interdiction – forbids priests from giving the sacraments (Christian rites) to a group
of people
d. people put pressure on rulers
B. New Religious Orders
1. rise in the number of monasteries and new monastic orders
2. A New Activism
a. Cistercians – strict order of monks who lived very simply
b. unhappy with Benedictine monastery
c. spent fewer hours at religious services allowed for more prayer and physical labor
3. Women in Religious Orders
a. convents were convenient places for aristocratic women who didn't marry or widows
b. convents full of intellectual women
c. Hildegard of Bingen
◦ abbess of a religious house for females in Germany
◦ one of the first important women composers
◦ contributor to Gregorian chant
4. The Franciscans and the Dominicans
a. Franciscans
◦ founded by St. Francis of Assisi
◦ experienced a spiritual awakening as a prisoner
◦ gave up worldly good, preached in poverty
◦ rejected all property
◦ preached repentance and helped the poor
◦ lived in the world, undertook missionary work
b. Dominican Order
◦ wanted to defend the Church teachings from heresy (the denial of basic Church
doctrines)
◦ spiritual revival of the High Middle Ages led to heretics within the Church
◦ preached in poverty
5. The Inquisition
a. Inquisition – Holy Office, court that found and tried heretics within the Church
b. those who confessed were flogged
c. those who did not were tortured until they did confess
d. many who did not confess were considered guilty and turned over to the state for
execution
e. relapsed heretics were also executed
f. using force to save souls from damnation
C. Popular Religion in the High Middle Ages
1. Catholic Rites
a. baptism, marriage, the Eucharist (Communion)
b. crucial part of people's lives
c. means for receiving God's grace, necessary for salvation
d. only clergy could administer the sacraments
2. veneration of saints
a. saints – men and women who were considered especially holy and had earned a
special place in heaven
b. saints could ask for favors from God for people who prayed to them
c. Mary was the most highly regarded in the High Middle Ages
3. relics
a. relics – usually bones or object connected with saints that were considered worthy of
worship because they provided a link between the earthly world and God
b. relics were believed to heal people or produce other miracles
4. pilgrimages
a. pilgrimage to a holy shrine produced a spiritual benefit
b. Holy City of Jerusalem was the greatest shrine, but difficult to reach
c. Rome, relics of Saints Peter and Paul
d. Santiago de Compostela, believed to be when Apostle James is buried
III. The Culture of the High Middle Ages
A. The Rise of Universities
1. medieval universities were corporations that produced educated trained individuals
2. the first university in Europe was in Bologna
3. University Curricula
a. grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy
b. teaching done by the lecture method
◦ lecture is from the Latin “to read”
◦ teachers would read from books and add their own explanations
c. no tests after a series of lectures
d. test at the end of a 4- or 6-year period
e. theology – the study of religion and God
f. the study of law, medicine, or theology could take 10 or more years
g. if you passed that oral exam you got a doctor's degree and could teach
B. The Development of Scholasticism
1. scholasticism – tried to reconcile faith and reason, to show what was believed in was in
harmony with what could be learned through reason and experience
2. harmonize Christian teachings with the works of Greek philosophers
3. Aristotle's works upset some
C. Vernacular Literature
1. Latin was the universal language of medieval civilization
a. used in church and in school
b. could communicate anywhere in Europe
2. 12th century new literature written in the vernacular
a. vernacular – the language of everyday speech in a particular region
b. educated laypeople took an interest in new types of entertainment
c. troubadour poetry
d. chanson de geste – heroic epic
◦ focus on battles and political contests
◦ women play little to no role in this literature
D. Architecture
1. 11th and 12th centuries, lots of building
2. Romanesque Churches
a. rounded barrel vault ceilings
b. basilica shape (rectangular building)
c. cross vault (cross shaped church)
d. massive pillars
e. these churches were dark
3. Gothic Churches
a. combine ribbed vaults and pointed arches
b. flying buttress – heavy arched support of stone, built onto the outside of the walls
c. distributed the weight, didn't need heavy walls
d. walls had magnificent stained glass
IV. The Late Middle Ages
A. The Black Death
1. bubonic plague
2. spread by black rats with fleas
3. brought from Caffa on the Black Sea to Sicily
4. travelled along trade routes
5. spread throughout Europe
a. first seen in 1347
b. by 1351 38 million of 75 million Europeans dead
c. Italy hit hard, 50%-60% of city populations die
6. many though it was a punishment from God or curse of the Devil
7. anti-Semitism - hostility towards Jews
8. Jews were accused of causing the plague
9. economic consequences
a. labor more expensive
b. food and goods less expensive
c. some peasants bargained with landlords to pay just rent, no services owed
d. freed from serfdom
B. The Decline of Church Power
1. The Popes at Avignon
a. King Philip IV needed new revenues, so he wanted to tax the clergy
b. Pope Boniface VIII said no (Pope had authority over state and church)
c. Philip sent troops to Italy to bring the Pope back for trial
d. Pope escapes but dies
e. Philip gets Pope Clement V elected as pope
f. popes live in Avignon from 1305-1377
g. resented grows for these popes
h. Pope Gregory XI returns to Rome
2. The Great Schism and its Aftermath
a. Roman citizens warn college of cardinals to elect an Italian
b. Pope Urban VI
c. French cardinals declare election invalid and elect a Frenchman (who will live in
Avignon)
d. Great Schism - period where there were two popes, very divisive time
e. damaged church
f. ended in a church council held in Switzerland
g. all popes were deposed or resigned and one that was acceptable to all was elected
h. church lost much of its spiritual authority
C. The Hundred Years’ War
1. King of England (Edward III) had a small claim in France
2. seized by French King (Philip VI)
3. War begins
4. the armies
a. both armies relied on heavily armored cavalry
b. English relied more on paid foot soldiers
c. armed with pikes and longbows
5. Crecy and Agincourt
a. Crecy was the first major battle
◦ French were a larger force, but followed no plans
◦ English won mainly through its archers
◦ was not decisive
b. Battle of Agincourt
◦ heavily armored Knights try to attack across a muddy field
◦ doesn’t go well for them
◦ England controls northern France
6. Joan of Arc
a. deeply religious, peasant woman
b. had visions that her favorite saints commanded her to free France
c. convinced the King of France to let her accompany the French army to Orleans
d. France captured Orleans
e. was captured and turned over to the Inquisition
f. condemned to death for heresy
g. French won in 1453 aided by the cannon
D. Political Recovery
1. new monarchies - new rulers in Europe during the 15th century that attempted to
reestablish the centralized power of monarchies
2. France
a. King Louis XI used taille to give him a steady revenue source
b. taille - an annual direct tax, usually on land or property
c. allowed him to establish a strong French monarchy
3. England
a. Hundred Years’ War strained the English economy
b. War of the Roses - civil war in which nobles fought for control of England
c. Henry Tudor emerges as King Henry VII
d. did not overburden citizens with taxes
4. Spain
a. Isabella and Ferdinand marry, major step towards unifying Spain
b. expelled Jews and Muslims
c. goal of religious uniformity
5. Holy Roman Empire
a. German states which were loosely unified
b. emperor was held by the Hapsburg dynasty
6. Eastern Europe
a. Poland nobles elect their kings
b. Under Ivan III, Russia is not long dominated by Mongols