Post-Classical period

• 476 AD Rome invaded
• Adios to:
– centralized gov’t
– Loss of Greek and
Roman learning
– common language
– Transportation and communication halts

• Constant warfare and invasions
• Cities abandoned as economic and political centers
• Population becomes mostly rural
• Political, economic, and cultural face of Europe changes
• Feudalism develops

The 4 Stages of Middle Ages in
Europe
• Stage 1 (476-750) –
– Several smaller kingdoms form after Rome:
• Franks in France
• Visigoths in Spain
• Saxons in Germany
– No unity.
• Stage 2 (750-814) –
Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne defeats Muslims who had invaded France through Spain.

• Stage 3 (815-1050) –
– Carolingian Empire falls apart
– Feudal system.
• Stage 4 (1050-1300) –
– Rise of national monarchs
– First agricultural revolution allows for population increase.
– Trade resumes
– Cities repopulated.

• Central economic feature of Medieval
Europe: strong agricultural base for a warrior society
• Charles Martel (Carolingian Dynasty)
– grants nobles rights over tracts of land, to yield the income with which they can provide fighting men for his army
– requires an oath of loyalty in return (8 th C)
• Full-fledged European system by the end of the 10 th
C.

What exactly is Feudalism anyway?
• System of land holding that dominated
Western Europe
• Essential part of the political organization: militarily and economically
• Appears to have origins in Germanic tribes  Frankish?

• System at the top:
• King owned the land (manors); contracted to noblemen
(lords/vassals)
– Fielty (aka Oath of
Fidelity)
– Fief

Feudalism for the
Uppercrust
Relationship based on:
1. Regular supply of troops (Castle Guard)
2. Financial aid in exchange for the lands (from the vassals to the lord)
3. Advice and participation in judgments (court service to the lord)

• Large estates that were able to meet all of their own needs
• Smaller farmers ceded land to nobles for protection
• Made up of fields, a small town with a mill and workshops, a church, and a castle

• Seignoralism: Relationship between vassals and serfs
– They worked the vassal’s land and owed him a percentage of their food.
Sometimes, they had to work 1-5 weeks a year in the manor, among other duties.
– He provided military protection.

• Above all these, is the
POPE

• Late Middle Ages
• Developed near monasteries
• Formed by artisans, craftsmen, merchants (beginning of guilds): protection
• Formed near junctions of: rivers, roads, ports  TRADE
• Created the Bourgeoisie

•
Purse cover, from the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk, England, ca. 625
Chi-rho-iota page, folio
34 recto of the Book of
Kells, 8 th or 9 th century

•
Gospel of St. John title page, Lindisfarne Gospels ,
Northumbria, England, ca.
698-721
Initial R with knight fighting a dragon, folio 4 verso of the
Moralia in Job,
Citeaux, France, ca.
1115-1125
Saint Matthew, folio
18 verso of the Ebbo
Gospels, Hautvillers,
France, ca. 816-835

Scene One, Bayeux Tapestry, Bayeux Cathedral, Bayeux, France, ca. 1070-1080.
Ambrogio,
Lorenzetti,
Peaceful City,
Palazzo
Pubblico,
Siena, Italy,
1338-1339

• Not much is known about Japan until around the 5 th C. CE
• The evolution of SHINTO (the way of the spirits)—native Japanese religion; name adopted to distinguish it from Chinese influences
• Around the 5 th /6 th C, rapid adoption of
Chinese influences in Japan
• Beginning around 1165, the feudal epoch  Shogun Period (Kamakura Period)

• DECLINE of centralized government by the 11 th C
– Bakufu
• Emperors still reigned, but didn’t rule: provincial lords named shoguns had power

• After the 11 th C, the warrior-elite gave out land in exchange for gathering groups of retainers who owed loyalty & service to the lords
– Samurai

• Controlled the ineffective/puppet emperors
• Regional leaders’ families; hereditary titles
• Reciprocal relationships with
daimyos b/c of loyalty oaths and obligations

• 1 st (Kamakura Bakufu) was weakened by
Mongolians & fell
• 2 nd (Ashikaga Bakufu) became weakened by regional wars from
1467-1568
• 3 rd (Tokugawa) after initial strengthening fell into total decline and ended by the 18 th C.

• Bushido (Japan)
– Stressed:
• Self-denial
• Indifference to adversity
• Generosity to the less fortunate
• Chivalry (Europe)
– Stressed:
• Honesty
• Courtesy
• Defense of the helpless

• Europe: • Japan: