Good News and Bad News
Good News
• Next week is a three day week—
Thanksgiving is Nov. 24
• Study Session this Thursday—we will
begin at 3pm.
• There is a quiz on Europe (Eastern and
Western) this Friday, 24 MC and 4 terms.
• We have PODs on Friday, so classes will
be 48 minutes.
Bad News
• Next week is a short week and we study
one of the hardest chapters in the book,
Chapter 11 (Mesoamerica)
• You will have a take home test on Chapter
11 over the Thanksgiving Break.
• The week of Nov. 27 is another double
chapter week ( Chapters 12 and 13—East
Asia).
Western Christendom
Impression of Europeans by a
Muslim writer 12th Century
“ Their bodies are large, their manners
harsh, their understanding dull and their
tongues heavy. Those who are farthest to
the north are the most subject to stupidity,
grossness, and brutishness.”
The Beginning
476-962
Geographically Isolate
Divided by mountains and peninsulas
But…
Moderate climate and fertile soils
supported a growing population
476
The Fall of the Roman Empire
So What?
So What?
• Regional kingdoms arose to replace
Roman authority based on the militarized
societies.
• Prestige of Roman culture and law
remained.
Charlemagne of the Carolingian Empire
• On Christmas Day in
800, he was crowned
the new Roman
emperor by the pope,
yet fragmented after
his death, but it was
subsequently divided
among his three sons,
who waged war on
one another
Society
• Decentralize society
based on feudalism.
• Landowning warrior
elite exercised power.
The Church
• Major element of
stability.
• Became very rich.
• Based on hierarchical
organization: popes,
bishops, priests, and
monasteries.
• By 1100, most of
Europe embraced
Christianity.
• Large-scale centralize rule vanished.
• Disease and warfare reduced the
population by 25%.
• Urban life diminished sharply.
• Long-distance trade ended.
• Literacy declined.
• Germanic peoples (Goths, Visigoths,
Franks, Lombards, Angles and Saxons)
emerged as the dominate groups in
Western Europe.
The Middle
(High Middle Ages)
1000-1300
Accelerating Change in the West
Invasions: Viking, Muslim and Magyar.
• What features of Europe’s geography did
the Vikings take advantage of during their
invasions?
Accelerating Change in the West
• Climate change—warming trend in 750.
• New agricultural technology—moldboard
plow and three field system.
• Population Growth from 35 million in 1000
to 85 million in 1340.
• Long-Distance trade between northern
Europe (Low Countries) and City-States in
Northern Italy.
Europeans were fascinated with
technology
Accelerating Change in the West
• Establishment of Guilds.
• Competing territorial states with better
organized governments
– Magna Carta
– Frequent wars and militarism
• Intellectual life
flourished
(scholasticism) with
an emphasis on
human reason to
understand the divine.
European Expansion: The Crusades
European Expansion: The Crusades
• The Crusades had
little lasting political or
religious impact on
the Middle East.
• The Crusades had a
significant impact on
Europe.
The End
14th and 15th Centuries
Problems
• One Hundred Years War—weakened
France, but ended with a French Victory
(Joan of Arc)
• Growing population
• 1348-Black Death
• Aristocracy loses military prowess.
The Legacy
• Crusades motivated Spanish and
Portuguese explorers.
• Merchants’ freedom led to capitalism and
industrialization.
• Constant military conflicts.
• Ongoing “faith and reason” controversy
• Division of Christianity
• Cesaropapism vs. ecclesiastical
indepedence
Key Moments in Evolution of
Western Civilization
•
•
•
•
•
476 End of the western Roman Empire
590-604 Papacy of Gregory I
711 Muslim conquest of Spain
800 Charlemagne crowned as emperor
962 Otto I crowned as Holy Roman
Emperor
• 1000 Viking colony in Newfoundland
• 1059-1152 Investiture conflict
Misconception
• That the era of the Middle Ages in Europe
was a “Dark Age.”
• What do the main targets of the crusader
attacks tell about western Europeans in
the high Middle Ages?
• What do the routes taken by different
crusaders over time tell you about
changes in sea travel during the high
Middle Ages?
• 1095 Crusades begin
• 12th-13th centuries Translations of Greek
and Arab works available in Europe
• 1225-1274 Thomas Aquinas
• 1271-1295 Macro Polo visits China
• What are various reasons why a civilization
could be called “dark”?
• Using those criteria, are there any civilizations
we have studied that fit the description?
• Are there parts of the European Middle Ages
that could be defined as “dark”?
• If you were to draw a timeline, what evidence in
the chapter would fit your defintion?