Western Europe
600-1450 C.E.
Chapter 10
Western Europe’s Timeline
Charlemagne’s Empire and Successor States
Western Europe towards the End of the Middle Ages
Stages of Postclassical Development
Europe’s Postclassical Era = Middle
(Medieval) Ages 476-1453 CE
 Political Fragmentation prevails
 Catholic church in Rome remained strong,
but Italy divided politically
 Arab Muslims invaded Iberian Peninsula
(Spain)
 Core of postclassical West:
 France, Low Countries, Germany
 Later, England where civilization, in human
organization was new
 Scandinavian “Vikings”
 Raids from 8th to 10th centuries
 Showed Europe’s weakness
 Disrupted life from Ireland to Sicily!
 Literacy declines except among
churchmen & the hierarchy
Politics, Economics, & Culture
The Manorial System
 Created an oppressive system that described economic
and political relations between landlords and their peasant
laborers
 Originated: Later Roman Empire Decline
 Agricultural economy
 Serfs- were agricultural laborers under the jurisdiction
of aristocratic landowners
 farm work for protection, justice from landlords
(Not Slaves, Not for Sale)
 Reciprocal obligations tied to the land
 In-kind labor for produce
 800s agricultural innovation gradually improved with a
technological innovation:
 Moldboard- better plow, curved metal
 plate = deeper turning of the soil
Three Field system of Crop rotation
 Added acres to production by leaving only a third of the
land unplanted, plants rotated to strengthen soil.
 In the old two-field system half the land was sown to
crop and half left unplanted each season
Religion
 The Church: Political and Spiritual Power
 Most organized institution in western
Europe
 Popes follow Roman organization
 Regulated doctrine (heresy)
 Regional Appointed bishops
 Appointed local priests
 Sponsor missionaries
 Established chain of monasteries
 Benedict of Nursia, founder of Western
Christian monasticism (480-547)
 Benedictine rule- help unify western Europe
 Spiritual functions Holiness, Network, Pilgrimage centers , Secular
functions, Education, Large estates, Shelter
travelers, & Universities from 13th century
 Clovis’s conversion to Christianity in
496, helped him gain power and unified
the Franks (Germanic Tribe in France)
Religion & Political Power
 Frankish Carolingian dynasty
 Enormous empire in France & Germany
 1st to use the imperial title “Holy Roman
Empire”
 Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer)
 Defeated the Muslims, Battle of Tours, 732
 Contained Muslims in Spain
 Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
 Dec. 25, 800, crowned emperor
 (Holy Roman Empire)
 Copied Roman central administration
 After his 814 death the empire does not survive
his death
 843, Treaty of Verdun = Three kingdoms
 Europe fragments into regional monarchies
 No single language or government could unify
Europe (Latin of the church)
 Holy Roman emperors = hollow empire
 Ruled Germany, Italy, but couldn’t control local
lords, which would lead later to states
Economics and Culture
 New Economic and Urban Vigor after
900
 Agricultural Techniques
 From contact with Eastern Europe and Asian
raiders into central Europe
 Moldboard plow & 3 field system
 New horse collar that allowed horses to be
yoked w/out choking
 Increased production
 Towns grow
 Cultural liveliness (People are fed & settled)
 Literacy expands (Charlemagne 9th cent)
 Surplus wealth – architecture & Medieval Art
 Education
 Cathedral schools, from 11th century
 Italy, universities in medicine (Muslims &
Greek Science), law, (Revival of Roman Law)
 Universities, from 12th century
 Oxford & Cambridge follow Parisian example
Feudal Monarchies &
Political Advances
Key military & political system in the
Middle Ages was feudalism
 Land ownership & military power
 Vassals -Military Elite, service for land
 Political stability & improved agriculture
promoted population growth & economic innovation & land expansion
10-13 centuries

Some lords emerge more powerful
 Provided protection & aid to vassals (lesser lords)
 Horse collar & stirrups helped military dominance who used horses for
combat
 End of 10th century, Viking raids tapered off regional governments stronger
 Some Viking groups Christianized & Assimilated into the culture
 Ex. French Normandy
 Capetian kings of France
 Feudalism developed bureaucracies, states slowly until kingship
Feudalism grows
quickly in England
 William the Conqueror
 (Viking descent)
 1066, Norman conquest of England
 Introduced feudal monarchy
abruptly
 Centralized government
 Sheriffs, standardized law, &
courts
 Feudal monarchy unknowingly
copied earlier centralizing
societies like China
Limited Government
Political fragmentation continues throughout West Europe
 Monarchs limited by church, nobles, towns
 State not suppose to intrude on matters of faith
 Carried out orders from the Pope, or Bishops
1215, Magna Carta
 King John recognizes supremacy of written law
 Representative bodies/ parliaments serve as further
checks on royal authority
 Differed from Japanese Feudal system based on
loyalty – Europe developed early checks & Balances
 1st parliament England 1265
 Kingdom of Catalonia from 1000
 3 Estates= Church, Nobles, urban leaders
Monarchs continued to increase in power
 Small local conflicts became Large conflicts

Hundred Years’ War 1337-1453 English lands in France
 Joan of Arc 1412-1431
Expansionist
Spurred by Population Growth?
 Germanic knights
 From 11th century onward, into eastern Germany, Poland
 Iberia (Spain)
 Northern Christian states (forces) begin reconquista
 Full Expulsion occurred 1492
 Spain united under the marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella
 Vikings

Cross Atlantic, Iceland, Greenland, America
 Crusades (1095-1291) (Super Power? Nope)
 Called by Pope Urban II
 Crusaders were promised full forgiveness sins if they
died in battle
 Attracted to winning spoils from rich Arab lands
 Initial successes (Controlled Jerusalem about 100 years)
 Ended in defeat (Esp. by Saladin in 1187)
 New contact with Islam, but no contact with N. Africa until
after the start of Exploration (Prince Henry the Navigator)
 Exposed to new culture & economics
 New possibilities in trade
Religious Reform and Evolution
Gregory VII
 Gregorian reform, 11th century

Based in monasteries
 Investiture controversy- most significant
conflict between Church and state in
medieval Europe.

Stop the state or, Holy Roman Emperor (Henry IV)
from appointing bishops in Germany
 Separation of secular and religious spheres
 Reforming monastic orders founded in Assisi
in the 13th century, Mendicants

St. Dominic - Dominicans = Friars
 Vow poverty, chastity & obedience in service to a
community

St. France - Franciscans – Poverty/Service
 Women’s version- St. Clare’s Order of Saint Clare
 Key tensions- Great Schism (Western)


(1378-1417) Two rival popes
College of Cardinals in Rome & Avignon, France
(**Note: Three Popes)
Religious Reform & Evolution
Theology: Assimilating Faith and Reason
 Exploration of Greek philosophy assimilated into
Catholic religious tradition:
 Aristotle was known as the philosopher during
Charlemagne’s time! (Aristotelian)
 Peter Abelard, 12th century
 Wrote: “Yes and No” a rational/logical examination
of church doctrine
 Bernard of Clairvaux, Monk, opposed to Abelard's
approach, Mysticism (Mystical union vs. rational)
 That rational reason was dangerous
 Stressed the importance of mystical union with God,
•Roger Bacon- 1220blissful glimpses & Faith
1292
 Led to debates in universities (Scholasticism)
• Oxford, scientific
 By 13th century, Philosopher-theologians emerged
experiments on
armed with Greek Philosophy & Science, & work
Hellenistic (Galen) and
from Arab Rationalists & work toward understand
Muslim scholars previous
God
work
 The greatest of these: Thomas Aquinas, Italian Catholic
Monk who taught at the University of Paris wrote:
• Three hundred years
“Summas”
before Scientific
 A careful logic to eliminate all possible objections to
Revolution !
truth as reveled by reason & faith
The High Middle Ages
Popular Religion
 Christian devotion among lay people increased
 12th Century, Veneration of Mary
 Merciful side of Christianity
 Intermediaries, worship of saints

Survival of pagan practice/ traditions/festivals continued
and blended with their version of church
Medieval architecture, literature, and art reflected
religious themes
 Intended to serve the Glory of God
 Artists painted Christ’s life/cross and the saints, techniques
improved slowly
 Stained glass windows for churches

Gothic cathedrals rose up around Western Europe
with flying buttresses


At first - Romanesque architecture
11th Century Gothic
 Mix of Muslim into Western engineering

Ancient oral sagas, (Vernacular)


English Beowulf & French Song of Roland
Geoffrey Chaucer, secular literature

Canterbury Tales Troubadours
Economic and Social Changes
Economic Activity, Social Structure Development , & Commercial Zone:

Trade revived 10th century
 Most regions produced for local consumption esp. agricultural
areas
 Italian merchants sought cloth made in the low countries
(present day Belgium/Neth.)
 Merchants in many areas traded for wool from England
 Timber & Furs from Scandinavia & Baltic Lands
 Great ports in France and Low Countries served as a western
exchange

New Strains in Rural Life
 Peasants v. landlords
 Peasants slowly gained more freedom with agricultural
advances
 Peasant-Landlord battles occurred over high rent or taxes
 Peasants wanted natural & traditional rights to the land
free and clear

Gap between peasant and landlord was a crucial social inequality
in Europe
Economic and Social
Gains in agricultural growth promoted medieval economic changes esp. in Trade and Banking
 Banking was introduced to the west by Italians for long distance exchange of money and
goods
 Banks were not only in Italy, but Low Countries, southern Germany & France
 Big merchants invested in trading ships and goods carried hoping for large profit

Commerce expands
 Europeans developed a need for Asian goods, Silk and spices (preserving meat & medicine)
 Italian Merchants ran Mediterranean zone joined with North Sea, Baltic (see last slide)
 Money replaces barter
 Banking, insurance merge
Urban growth allowed more specialized manufacturing & commercial activities
 This promoted still more trade & commercial alliances & early form of capitalism

Best example: Hanseatic League
 Northern Germany, southern Scandinavia
 Cities working together for mutual economic benefit

Guilds: responsible for the regulation of apprenticeship, guarantee of good workmanship, and
admission to various trades, Grouped people in the same business or trade in a single city,
stressing security, and mutual control:
 Craft associations, Protect markets, Ensure standards, & Social role
 The Merchants were relatively free, but relatively low status
Social
Limited Sphere for Women
 Men placed new limits on the condition
of women
 Patriarchal structure took deeper root
 Literature arose stressing women’s roles,
tasks, virtues in their sphere
 Women generally lost ground, especially her
opinion in the household
 Some opportunities as nuns as a alternative
to marriage
 Some had more higher status than Islam
 Veneration of Mary and other female
religious figures gave women some
cultural prestige
 Less segregated in religious services
 Cold not lead church.
 Counterbalanced with Eve as the source of
human sin
Decline of the Medieval World
Widespread warfare from 1300 to 1500

Hundred Years’ War
 The struggle involved several generations of English and French claimants to the
crown and actually occupied a period of more than 100 years.
 Weakens feudal order
 Kings reduced their reliance on feudal forces in favor of paid armies

Population outstrips agriculture
 Could not feed increasing population




Famines
 Bubonic Plague (Black Death) from 1348-1352
Signs of Strain
 Aristocracy lose military purpose
 Professional Armies
 Foot soldiers more important
 Increasingly ceremonial lifestyle
Church increasingly rigid
 Great Schism (West Splits)
 Intellectual & Artistic life gradually moved out of church influence
The Postclassical West and Its Heritage
 Formative period
 Dynamic change- Academic institutions, political ideas, change in
relationships between west and regions around it
At the end of the Middle Ages?
The following issues:
 Consequences of the Black Death 1347-1352
 The increasing inability of agriculture to keep
pace with population growth
 New social disputes, involving both peasants and
landlords and artisans and their employees.
 Manufacturing and technology developed more
quickly
 Ready for Renaissance, Scientific Revolution,
Exploration, Protestant Reformation, &
Enlightenment?