Chapter 15
Chapter Focus Question: How did a series of
conflicts leave their mark on Europe in the
Middle Ages?
Section 1 Focus Question:
How did popes try to
establish authority over
kings?
Medieval Conflicts and Crusades
(700-1500)
Chapter 15, Sec. 1

A Study in Cooperation
 After Roman Rule collapsed in Europe,
the Christian Church became the
center of Medieval life.
 Gradually
kings restored law and order,
but the popes claimed authority over all
of Christendom.
A Christian Ruler

Charlemagne
Devout Christian
 Victories were proof of God’s blessing
 Ordered priests and nuns to live strictly by
Church rules
 Scholars edited manuscripts to create a
library
 His advisors were drawn from the clergy
 Encouraged all his subjects to live in perfect
peace and charity


Charlemagne wanted the title “emperor”. The
title gave the ruler a special relationship with
God. The only emperor recognized by the
Church was the emperor of the Byzantine
Empire.
A Pope in Trouble


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Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor during a
coronation or crowning ceremony in appreciation for
being given protection when rivals tried to blind and
remove him from office.
The coronation strengthened the power of the Church
in W. Europe by establishing the principle that only the
pope could crown an emperor.
The Byzantine emperor saw the above as an insult and
created a growing division between the Eastern and
Western Churches.
Pope Leo III
Empress Irene of
Constantinople
was upset that
Charlemagne was
crowned Emperor
of Rome, when
she felt that was
really her role.
A Study in Conflict
Pope v. Emperor


Charlemagne believed that God made him
emperor in order to do God’s work and the
Pope’s duty to assist him.
Pope Leo believed that the Church had made
Charlemagne emperor, and therefore the
emperor’s duty to assist the Church.
These views, 200 years later, led to a clash
between the Emperor and Pope…
The Holy Roman Empire

After the collapse of Charlemagne’s empire,
the German lands to the east were divided
among a number of dukes.
 The German king had little power over the
nobles.
 Otto the Great decided to increase his
power.
 He built a small empire by making
alliances with other nobles.
 He persuaded the pope to crown him
Holy Roman Emperor.
 He used the Church to support his
authority.
A Strong-Willed Pope

1073 a monk named Hildebrand became Pope
Gregory VII. He had strong ideas and issued a
list of rules.
He declared his supreme authority over both Church
and secular leaders.
 He declared that the pope alone had the power to
choose bishops.
 He claimed the power to remove emperors from the
throne.

A Defiant Ruler




A clash between the Pope and Henry IV
occurred when Henry ignored the pope’s rules
and named his own bishop for Milan, Italy.
In response the Pope appointed a rival bishop.
Henry tried to remove the Pope.
The Pope excommunicated Henry and feed his
subjects from their feudal oaths of loyalty.


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Across Europe, members of the clergy and secular
rulers took sides.
In an effort to end his (Henry’s) excommunication,
Henry visited the pope and, as the story goes, was made
to wait three days in the snow. The pope finally forgave
him, but the conflict continued long after Pope
Gregory and Henry had died.
In 1122 the Church and the Holy Roman Empire
reached an agreement called the Concordat of Worms.
This agreement gave the Church the sole authority to
appoint bishops. Emperors could give fiefs to bishops
in order to win their loyalty.
Kings, Nobles, and the Magna Carta
Sec. 2
Section Focus Question: How did the Norman
Conquest set in motion a chain of events that
changed English rule and law?
The Norman Conquest

During the Viking
expansion Norman’s
settled in Normandy,
France and the dukes
became great feudal
lords. In time they
wanted new lands to
rule…
Norman Claims on England

The Normans were interested in England…
England was ruled by a weak king, Edward the
Confessor whose grandfather had been a Norman
duke and he had grown up in Normandy.
 The noble family the Godwins held the real power.
 On Edward’s deathbed he promised the crown to
Harold Godwin, but William, duke of Normandy,
claimed that Edward had already promised him the
crown. Harold became king, but he faced rivals.

William the Conqueror

In late September 1066, William of Normandy,
became William the Conqueror.
Invaded southern England.
 He fought King Harold, killing Harold and his
brothers, ending Anglo-Saxon rule in England.
 On Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned king
of England.

Norman Influence

The Norman Conquest transformed England.
King William introduced a strong feudal system.
 The Battle of Hastings wiped out many great AngloSaxon noble families.
 William gave their lands to 180 Norman barons,
concentrating wealth and power in a very small
group.
 England now had a new ruling class.

Limits on Royal Power

King John – King of England
Descendant of William the Conqueror.
 1199, a new ruler became king of England.
 Claimed to rule Normandy in France.
 By 1204, John had lost control over most of his
French lands.


He needed an army; he needed $. To get $ he increased
taxes which led to a conflict with his barons…

By 1215, England's leaders had had enough of
King John’s high taxes and military failures.
Barons forced the king to approve a document, The
Magna Carta (meaning “Great Charter”) that
promised them certain rights.
 After signing the Magna Carta he could no longer
collect more taxes without the approval of the
barons. It made it clear that even a king must abide
by the law of the land.

English Law

In England, the law of the land was a mix of old
Anglo-Saxon common law, Norman French
feudal law, and Church law.

Important ideas to come out of English common
law:

Habeas corpus – “produce the body” – A jailer who
receives a “writ” (court order) must either release the
prisoner or present good reason for keeping that person
in jail.
Parliament

The Magna Carta gave birth to Europe’s oldest
representative assembly, the English Parliament
(an assembly of representatives who make laws).
It is a law-making body divided into two houses:
The House of the Lords – represented nobles
 The House of the Commons – represented knights and
town leaders

Religious Crusades – Sec.3
Section 3 Focus Question: What were the causes
and effects of the Crusades
Crusades Against Muslims


Palestine is the Holy Land: the place where
Jesus lived and died.
Three groups claimed Palestine: Christians,
Jews, and Muslims.
40 years Muslim caliphs let Christian pilgrims visit
holy places in peace.
 1071, the Turks took over Jerusalem – frequent
harassment of Christians occurred. The Seljuk
Turks marched on Constantinople.

Call for Crusade

The Byzantine emperor asked Pope Urban II for help.



The pope was eager to join the fight…he called for a crusade
(Christian religious war), with him as the head of the army.
1095 Pope Urban II called for a crusade to reclaim the Holy
Land.
150,000 people hurried to join the crusade.

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Made up of a ragged mob of peasants, including women and elderly
men.
Few reached Jerusalem.
Next came armies of knights.
By 1099 the First Crusade had captured Jerusalem.
The Crusader’s Creed

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Since Jesus was every Christian’s Lord, his
vassals were obliged to defend his lands and
shrines…so, a crusade was a just or righteous
war.
Crusade comes from the Latin word “cross”
Crusaders were promised forgiveness for sins if
the became a pilgrim on a crusade.
People who “took the cross” made many
sacrifices.
Later Crusades

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Europeans mounted three more crusades, but none matched the
victories of the First Crusade.
Second Crusade: Tried to take the state of Edessa – King Louis
VII of France and the German emperor organized this crusade.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was also on this crusade – the crusade
failed.
Third Crusade: Rules of England, France, and Germany –
fought against Muslim leader Saladin.
Fourth Crusade: Disgraced the ideas of crusades. Soldiers
never reached the Holy Land.
1212 The Children’s Crusade: Attracted people of all ages.
Most never got farther than Italy. Many children were sold as
slaves.
Effects of the Crusades



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Opened the eyes of Europeans to the rest of
the world.
Peasants and some nobles saw new lands,
peoples, and ways of life.
Encouraged trade with the East.
Prompted Europeans to explore other parts of
the world.
Religious Persecutions
Crusades also brought
terror, destruction, and
bloodshed.
Persecution of Jews



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The Jews were the main target of attacks in
Europe. They were viewed as enemies of the
Christian faith.
During the First Crusade, bands of knights
terrorized the Jewish communities.
A few churchmen tried to protect the Jews.
Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and
from France in 1306.
The Inquisition

Other targets of religious persecution included groups of Christians who
followed various heresies.
 Heretics were considered “lost sheep” and doomed for eternity and
dangerous because others might follow their beliefs.
 Heretics were first excommunicated, but this didn’t stop
them….so….
 In the 1200s, Pope Gregory IV created the Inquisition, which was a
Church court designed to investigate and judge heretics.
 Heretics were punished in various ways:
 Fasting
 Whipping
 Fines or Imprisonment
 Executed
Christians and Muslims in Spain –
Sec. 4
Section Focus Question:
How did the rise and fall
of Muslim rule alter life
in Spain?
Spain Under Muslim Rule

The Umayyad rulers of
the Islamic Empire were
overthrown and
murdered in 750. One
survivor fled to Spain
and in 756, he, Abd alRahman, established a
new dynasty at Cordoba.
This dynasty ruled most
of Spain for nearly 300
years.
Moorish Culture

Muslims in Spain were known as Moors.
Moorish Spain became one of the most advanced
medieval civilizations in Europe.
 In the 10th century, the Muslim capital of Cordoba
was Europe’s largest city.

A Multicultural Society


The Golden Age of Moorish culture reached its
peak in the ninth and tenth centuries.
Foreign students flocked to Cordoba.


Studied philosophy, music, and medicine.
Cordoba was home to two of the most famous
philosophers of the Middle Ages.
Ibn Rushd
 Averroes



Most of Spain’s Muslim were quite tolerant of
Jews and Christians.
Non-Muslims only had to follow certain rules
and pay a special tax.
The Reconquista

Decline of Muslim rule in Spain began in about
1002 with a Civil war.
Cordoba caliphate was split into small weak
kingdoms.
 The Christians kingdoms in northern Spain were
united by 1050. The pope encouraged them to win
back the rest of Spain for Christendom. The
movement to drive the Muslims from Spain was
called the RECONQUISTA.

Military Campaigns



The first step was the
capture of the city of
Toledo in 1085.
Cordoba fell in 1236.
By the middle of the 13th
century, all that was left
of Moorish Spain was
the kingdom of
Granada.
Unification of Spain

In 1469 and important royal marriage took
place…

Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of CastileLeon.
Marriage unified Spain’s largest Christian kingdoms.
 They concentrated on conquering Granada, the last
Muslim territory. When it fell in 1492, the pope was
delighted.

Religious Persecutions

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
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Until the late 1300s, Jews had lived quite safely
in Christian kingdoms.
Anti-Jewish attacks began – terrified, many Jews
converted.
Isabella and Ferdinand were determined to unite
Spain as a Catholic country.
They brought in a Dominican monk to head the
Spanish Inquisition. It used terror and torture
against Jews and Muslims.

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In 1492, the rulers ordered all Jews to leave
Spain. Portugal did the same.
Many Spanish Jews moved to Italy and the
Ottoman Empire.
Later the Muslims were asked to leave.
The loss of these two groups caused economic
harm to Spain’s economy.