CHANGES IN EUROPE
1200-1450
Political Changes
• Prior Condition: Most of Europe
Feudalistic, with few exceptions:
– Holy Roman Empire
– England
– Papal States – Ruled by pope in Italy
– Spain and Portugal ruled by Moors (Umayyad
Caliphate)
Initial Condition (cont)
• Power of monarchs very limited:
– “Zero Sum Game”
– Nobles - castles and knights
– Kings - limited $
-- Pope Boniface VIII issued Bull Unum
Sanctum, claiming overlordship
Political Transformations
• New military tech (crossbows, firearms)
eliminated armor and castles as advantages:
• Rise of partially independent trading cities
• Great Western Schism undermined pope
• Constitutionalism - Magna Carta
Ending condition -- 1450
Kings able to assert more power from
nobles, but not unlimited:
Catholic Church lost most of power
Bourgeoisie gained power – became
dominant in some areas (i.e. City-States)
Economic Changes
• Prior condition: Europe relatively isolated
from world trade systems
– Barter economy
– Unsafe infrastructure
– Manorialism
– Serfdom for most Europeans
Economic Transformation
• Crusades & Pax Mongolica
• Re-connection of Europe to
World Trade
• Sack of Constantinople - 4th
crusade
• Increase in regional trade
organizations
• Black Death brought decline of
Serfdom
New technologies meant more
efficient manufacturing:
-- Wool from Flanders
Economic Transformation
• Shift in military to expensive
weaponry and mercenaries =
$$$$$
• Jews as money-lenders
• Banking
– Medici
– Fueggers
Guilds controlled most industries,
some ran whole cities (e.g.
Traders guild of Venice)
Cosimo De Medici
Ending Condition
• Fall of Mongols = Venetians shifted
suppliers
• New land and sea routes
• Discovery of gold trade by Spanish &
Portuguese  exploration of W.
African Coast
• Empowered city-states could flexibly
deal in new economy
Religion – status quo
• Catholic church powerful:
– English King Henry’s murder of
Archbishop of Canterbury
– Investiture Controversy
– Pope able to call Crusades
– Support of Holy Roman Emperor
– Orders of Knights
Changes in Religion
• Pope challenged by French King Phillip II
– Kidnapped & died
– Replaced by new pope in Avignon
– New pope elected in Rome (actually, two!)
– “Great Western Schism”
– Split between Pope and Holy Roman Emperor
– Catholic church never recovered its power.
Ending Condition: Religion
• Focus on architecture to display power
and majesty of church
• Rise of Gothic Architecture
• Cathedrals played part in urban revival:
drew pilgrims who purchased goods and
services
• New translations of classical and biblical
texts prompted Vatican Library
Military – Existing condition
• Nobles - independent power
based on armored knights &
stone castles
• Knights and peasants served
as part of feudalistic
agreement
• Kings not strong enough to
subdue nobles
Military Changes
• 100 Years War (1337 – 1453) between England
and France meant development and adoption of
new technologies:
– Crossbow
– English Longbow
– Swiss Pike
– Firearms
SPANISH RECONQUISTA: CRUSADE AGAINST
MOORS
Ending Condition: Military
• Knights and Castles no longer as important
• Castles easily destroyed, nobles lost
independent military power
• Peasants armed with crossbows, longbows,
firearms the new backbone of military – but
EXPENSIVE
• Military hired for money (mercenary)
• Spain and Portugal controlled by Christians
Social Changes
• Existing condition: Feudalism
– No real middle class
– Most peasants rural, lived hard lifestyle
– Jews persecuted but also used as source of
money
– Heavy reliance on Church for meaning and
help
Social Changes
• Black Death meant labor shortage, end of
serfdom
• Loss of faith in church and renaissance
humanism brought more secular culture
• Urbanization brought increasing
sophistication of middle class
• Jews still blamed for problems,
persecuted: 100,000 Jews driven out of
Spain & Portugal as part of reconquista
Ending Condition -- Social
• New Middle Class, urban culture in cities
(esp. City-States)
• Rise of secularism
• End of Serfdom
Intellectual Changes
• Prior Condition:
– Slow buildup of scholarship
– Scholasticism attempted to reconcile Greek
Rationalism (esp. Aristotle) with Christianity
– Most scholarship happening in monasteries
– Limited knowledge of scientific advances of
rest of world
Transformations
• Crusades and Pax Mongolica brought new
knowledge
• Black Death and Great Western Schism
broke hold of church
• Rise of bourgeoisie brought new
intellectual currents
• Renaissance Humanism
Ending Condition: Intellectual
• Renaissance Humanism and Classical
Education
• Re-interpretation of texts, revival of Greek
and Latin
• Literature in Vernacular Languages, e.g.
Dante and Chaucer
• Rise of Universities as centers of learning
• Printing press meant explosion of
information
Francesco
Petrarch
St. Thomas
Aquinas
Desiderius
Erasmus
Geoffrey
Chaucer
Dante Algieri
Artistic Changes
• Medieval Art focused on religious themes
and symbolism
– Lack of perspective
– Limited color palate
– Limited themes – few secular or classical
– Patronage mostly by Church or kings
– All art anonymous
Cosimo
De
Medici
Transformation
• Italian Renaissance
– Perspective
– New colors
– New medium, e.g. Oil painting
– Contraposto and Chiaroscuro
– Secular and classical themes
– New patronage by bourgeoisie
– Credit given to individual artists
Art- Ending condition
• Revival or Greco-Roman styles and
standards of beauty
• Famous artists and schools productive
• Sponsorship by Church used new art to
glorify, e.g. St. Peters Cathedral
• Art both sacred and secular
• New mediums developed into established
fields, e.g. Oil Painting
Giotto’s
Lamentation
(1305)
Jan Van Eyck
SelfPortrait(?)
Altarpiece at Ghent
Altarpiece at Ghent -- Closed
Ghent Altarpiece detail
Ghent
altarpiece
-- detail
da Vinci –
Mona Lisa
da Vinci –
Vitruvian Man
Piazza of
St.
Peters
Bernini
Sistine
The Sistine
Chapel
Chapel
Michelangelo’s
David
Michelangelo
-
David