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Chapter 12 – Lesson 2 – The Middle Ages
The Big Picture
Following the end of the western Roman empire around A.D. 500, Europe entered a new era of history.
This period became known as the Middle Ages. It lies between the Roman period and about the 1400s. The
Roman empire left behind many legacies, including the Latin language and a large network of roads. The
Christian religion also continued to grow and spread. However, the breakdown of Roman rule brought great
changes for the people of Europe. Many small kingdoms developed. Along with changes in government, the
end of the Roman empire also brought about economic changes in Europe. Trade declined, after which
ownership of land came to mean wealth and power. Large estates owned by wealthy nobles were called
manors. Workers, called serfs, became bound to work on the manors. Serfs had little more freedom than
slaves. Unlike slaves, however, serfs could not be bought or sold.
The Frankish Empire
Of the many small kingdoms in western Europe, one rose to great power in the 700s. This kingdom,
ruled by a people called the Franks, was based in present-day France. The Romans called this region Gaul. The
Franks built an empire that was the largest and richest in Europe since Roman times.
A Powerful Ruler
The greatest leader of the Franks was called Charles the
Great, or Charlemagne. He conquered lands in southwestern
parts of what is now France and in Italy and Germany.
Charlemagne was a Christian. As his armies spread across
Europe, they also spread Christianity. Charlemagne’s biggest
achievement came in 800, when he arrived with his army in
Rome. The leader of the Roman Church, Pope Leo III, placed a
golden crown on Charlemagne’s head and declared him
Emperor. For a while, it appeared to western Europeans that the
old Roman empire had risen again.
Charlemagne’s Court
Charlemagne set up his capital in the city of Aachen in what is today Germany. His court became a
lively political and cultural center. Charlemagne was very tall for his time – over 6 feet. He loved to ride
horses and swim in a pool he had built in Aachen. Perhaps most remarkably for his time, he also loved
learning. During the Middle Ages books were scarce and very few people could read. Charlemagne filled his
court with scholars, poets, and musicians. One scholar at Charlemagne’s court wrote this about the emperor:
You know very well how sweet is arithmetic in its reasoning, and how pleasant is a
knowledge of the heavenly stars in their courses. And yet how rare it is to find a man
who takes the trouble to know these things!
Question Time: Answer the following questions based on what you just read above.
1. When did the Middle Ages take
place?
2. Who were the Franks?
3. What did Charlemagne achieve?
4. How did Charlemagne make his
court a center of learning?
Life in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, the manor was almost a world within itself. Some manors were so large that
they included several villages as well as many acres of farmland. Often things that were needed were grown or
made right on the manor. This meant that money was not needed to buy goods. It also meant that most people
seldom left the manor during their entire lives. Starting around A.D. 800 a system called feudalism developed
in Europe. Feudalism is a way of organizing and governing society, based on land and service. Like the laws
of ancient Rome, feudalism required that people behave in certain ways.
Lords and Ladies
At the top of feudal society was the noble, called the lord, who owned the manor. The lord had total
control over his manor. In some parts of Europe, the lord also had to serve a king. The lord’s wife was the lady
of the manor and was in charge of castle affairs. When the lord was away, she often led the defense of the
castle if it was attacked. As you can see on the diagram, the lord’s castle was the center of all activity on the
manor. The castle served both as a house for the lord’s family and as a fort to protect the manor in case of
attack.
The Lord’s Vassals
Manor lords chose nobles who did not own land to serve as vassals. Vassals took an oath of loyalty to
the lord, pledging to serve him. In return, the lord gave each vassal a fief. A fief was usually a separate manor.
The vassal often did not own his fief, but he had authority over its serfs. Next to the lord, vassals were the most
powerful people in feudal society. The most important duty of a vassal was to serve as the lord’s knight.
Knights were soldiers who protected the manor. Sometimes they traveled with their lords to fight in distant
lands.
The lady of a manor ran daily affairs, while knights defended the lord and his lands. The lord’s castle was located at the
center of a manor.
A Knight’s Training
The son of a noble began preparing for knighthood when he was young. First he learned to ride and care
for horses. At the age of seven he left home to live and train in a knight’s household. There he learned to
behave with courtesy and to handle small weapons. From the ages of 15 to 20, the young noble began to ride
into battle alongside the knight. After this experience he was ready to become a knight himself. In a special
ceremony he knelt before a lord and was declared a knight.
Life of a Serf
In Europe during the Middle Ages, only about one person in a hundred was a noble. Most Europeans
were serfs or village craftworkers. Craftworkers were free, but they had to follow the rules of the nobles. Serfs
were given some land to farm for themselves, but they had to work the lord’s land too. Serfs also had to pay
rents and taxes to the lord. They even had to ask the lord’s permission to get married. Serfs usually lived in
small one-room houses with a fire in the center for cooking and warmth. The whole family slept in one large,
straw bed. Most shared their houses with animals. One observer said, “The livestock use the same entrances as
the people, and they are not far from sleeping together.” Life was short and difficult – few serfs lived past the
age of 40. Most people married while they were in their early teens. Serfs’ lives revolved around work in the
manor fields. Everyone, including young children, gathered wheat and picked vegetables. The village church
bell rang every hour and signaled breaks for meals.
Question Time: Answer the following questions based on what you just read above.
5. What was the system of feudalism?
6. What was the role of the lord and
lady?
7. What was a vassal? How did the
manor lord bind his vassals to him?
8. What duties did serfs have to their
feudal master?
Growth of Towns
Around A.D. 1000 Europe’s economy began to change. The nobles began to spend less time in battle
and more time on the manors. Nobles increased their farmlands, clearing forests and draining swamps. This
created crop surpluses for the manor lords. Towns developed to provide a marketplace for the surpluses.
European traders exchanged goods like grains, wool cloth, and wine for spices and silk from Asia and Africa.
They also used coin money for the first time since the days of ancient Rome. With more to eat, people lived
longer and the population grew. So did the towns. By the 1200s many towns had become crowded and dirty.
Houses were so close that upstairs neighbors could shake hands across the street. Many serfs saw towns as
places where they could escape from the manors. They came to the towns because they said the “air was freer.”
In fact, serfs could win their freedom if they remained in a town without being caught for a year and a day.
Town Craftworkers
The narrow town streets were lined with shoemaking, saddle making, and other craft shops. Most shops
were family-owned businesses on the ground floor of a house. The father might have been an expert
craftsman, or master. He ran the business while his wife and children helped. If her husband died, the wife
often took over the business. Traders and craftworkers organized themselves into groups called guilds. Each
craft, such as carpentry, had its own guild that made rules about quality and prices. The guild also set the path
by which an apprentice, or a beginner craftworker, became a master.
Europe’s Cities
Some towns, such as London, grew into cities. In 1175 one London resident, William fitz Stephen,
wrote:
Among the noble and celebrated cities of the world, London, the capital of the
kingdom of the English, extends its glory farther than all others and sends its
wealth and (goods) more widely.
Not everyone agreed that London was a glorious city. Some people thought that London was very dangerous.
One trader from France who visited there said,
If you go to London pass through it quickly…Every evil or (vicious) thing
that can be found anywhere on earth you will find in that one city.
Popular Songs
Some of the people passing through Europe’s towns and cities during this time were traveling musicians.
These people of the 1100s and 1200s were called troubadours and minstrels. Troubadours and minstrels wrote
and performed songs about love and life for Europe’s nobles. These traveling musicians usually accompanied
themselves on the guitar or lute. Both instruments had actually been introduced to Europe by Arab musicians in
the 700s. Although many troubadour songs praised the idea of love, some of them were funny. This song, by a
woman troubadour named Isabella, tells about a man she once loved.
Elias Cairel, you’re a phony if I ever saw one,
Like a man who says he’s sick when he hasn’t the slightest pain.
If you’d listen I’d give you good advice:
Go back to your (home) and don’t dare pronounce my name again.
Minstrels often had to wander form court to court looking for work.
Question Time: Answer the following questions based on what you just read above.
9. What was the role of the guilds?
10. Who were the troubadours and
minstrels and what kind of music
did they make?
11. Why did these musicians find it
necessary to travel?
Conquerors and Kings
The growth of towns and
trade had greatly changed the
economy and social life of Europe
by the 1200s. At the same time,
western Europe’s political life
was also undergoing
developments.
These Viking chess
pieces were carved
from walrus ivory.
Invasions from the North
At the end of Charlemagne’s reign, in the early 800s, mainland Europe had come under attack by people
from the north. These invaders were called Vikings, or Norsemen. The name Norsemen means “Northmen.”
The Norsemen sailed from Scandinavia in search of riches and land. For hundreds of years they made surprise
attacks across Europe. Their invasions were part of the reason that the Frankish empire fell apart after
Charlemagne’s death. By 900 some Norsemen began setting up villages around the mouth of the Seine River.
These Norsemen became known as Normans. The region in which the Normans settled was called Normandy.
The Normans adopted Christianity, the French language, and many Frankish customs.
Normans Invade England
In 1066 Norman forces crossed the English Channel and conquered the Anglo-Saxon people of
England. The Norman leader became known as William the Conqueror. William, the first Norman king of
England, established a strong and well-organized rule in England. As a result, Norman and English cultures
blended. In fact, the English language we speak today comes from a mix of French and the language of the
Anglo-Saxons.
The Power of English Kings
One of the kings who ruled England after William was King John I. King John was crowned in 1199.
Like other kings before him, he tried to increase his power over England’s lords. John demanded money from
the lords to pay for wars. He also claimed the power to imprison a person without a trial. In 1215 a group of
lords took action to limit the king’s power. They wrote a charter, or legal document, which stated that they had
certain rights, such as the right to a fair trial. This charter was called the Magna Carta, which means “great
charter” in Latin. With the support of their knights, the lords forced the king to sign the Magna Carta. Some of
the laws are shown below. Which one guarantees that even the king would have to follow the laws?
Excerpts from the Magna Carta, by the lords of England, 1215
* We have granted to all free men of our kingdom for us and our heirs forever, all the
liberties written below.
* No widow shall be forced to marry so long as she wishes to live without a husband.
* A free man shall not be fined for a small offense.
* No sheriff, or anyone else, shall take horses or wagons of anyone without permission.
* No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or banished, or in anyway injured, except
by the law of the land.
* To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, rights or justice.
* All merchants shall be safe and secure in leaving and entering England…both by land
and by water, for buying and selling.
* All these customs and liberties…shall be observed by all men of our kingdom.
Why it Matters
The Magna Carta was a beginning toward limiting the power of a ruler by law. It gave rights mainly to
nobles. Eventually, it would serve as an example of rights for all people. As you will read in the next lesson,
the Christian Church also had great effects on the lives of Europeans during the Middle Ages.
Main Ideas:
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Charlemagne, a king of the Franks, built an empire in Europe in the 800s.
The manor was the center of life for most Europeans in the Middle Ages.
In the late Middle Ages towns grew and trade expanded.
Normans, a people from Scandinavia, invaded many parts of Europe and eventually conquered England.
King John I was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, protecting certain rights of England’s nobles.
Question Time: Answer the following questions based on what you just read above.
12. Who were the Vikings?
13. Why did the lords oppose King
John I and how did they get him to
change his ways?
14. How did the Normans change
the history of England?
15. What was the Magna Carta and
what effects did it have on the
relationship between England’s
lords and kings?