Corresponds to Chapters
13 and 14

• The Vikings invade the North
• Warlike Vikings raid Europe from
Scandanavia
• Viking long ships sail in shallow water, allowing raids inland
• Eventually, many Vikings adopt
Christianity & become farmers
• Magyars & Muslims Attack from the
East & South
• Magyars (Hungarian nomads) invade W. Europe in late 800s
• Muslims strike north from Africa, attacking through Italy & Spain
• Viking, Magyar, Muslim invasions cause widespread disorder, suffering

• Feudalism Structures Society
• 850 – 950, feudalism emerges – political system based on land control
• A lord (landowner) gives fiefs (land grants) in exchange for services
• Vassals – people who receive fiefs – become powerful landholders
• The Feudal Pyramid
• Power in feudal system much like a pyramid, w/ king at the top
• Kings served by nobles who are served by knights; peasants at bottom
• Knights defend their lord’s land in exchange for fiefs

• The Feudal Pyramid
• Power in feudal system much like a pyramid, w/ king at the top
• Kings served by nobles who are served by knights; peasants at bottom
• Knights defend their lord’s land in exchange for fiefs

• Social Classes are well defined
• Medieval feudal system classifies people into 3 social groups
– Those who fight: nobles & knights
– Those who pray: monks, nuns, leaders of Church
– Those who work: peasants
• Social class is usually inherited; majority of people are peasants
• Most peasants are serfs – people lawfully bound to place of birth
• Serfs aren’t slaves, but what they produce belongs to their lord

Manors: The economic side of feudalism
The Lord’s Estate
• The Lord’s estate, a manor, has an economic system (manor system)
• Serfs & free peasants maintain the lord’s estate, give grain
• The lord provides housing, farmland, protection from bandits

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• Medieval manors include lord’s house, church, workshops, village
• Manors cover a few square miles of land, are largely selfsufficient

• Peasants pay tax to use mill & bakery; pay a tithe to priest
• Tithe – church tax – is equal to
1/10th of a peasant’s income
• Serfs live in crowded cottages with dirt floors, straw beds
• Daily life consists of raising crops, livestock; feeding & clothing family
• Poor diet, illness, malnutrition make life expectancy 35 years
• Serfs generally accept their lives as part of God’s Plan

• The Warrior’s role in feudal society
• By 1000s, W. Europe is a battleground of warring nobles
• Feudal lords raise private armies of knights
• Knights rewarded w/land; provides income needed for weapons
• Knights’ other activities help train them for combat

• By 1100s knights obey code of chivalry – a set of ideals on how to act
• They are to protect weak & poor; serve feudal lord, God, chosen lady
• A knight’s training
• Boys begin to train at 7; usually knighted at 21
• Knights gain experience in local wars & tournaments – mock battles

• Castles are huge fortresses where lords live
• Attacking armies use wide range of strategies & weapons
• See page 366 in textbook

• Epic poems recount a hero’s deeds & adventures
• Troubadours – traveling poet-musicians – write & sing short verses
• Most celebrated woman of the age is Eleanor of
Acquitaine
• Eleanor’s son, Richard the Lion-Hearted

Status of women
• According to the Church & feudal society, women are inferior to men
• Noblewomen
• Can inherit land, defend castle, send knights to war on lord’s request
• Usually confined to activities of the home or convent
• Peasant Women
• Most labor in home & field, bear children, provide for family
• Poor, powerless, do household tasks at young age

• The Pope
• Head of the Church was called “pope”
• The Pope gets name from Latin word for
“father”; considered the father of the church
• In beginning of the
Church, nobles could pick the Pope

• sacraments = church rituals done to get God’s grace.
Without God’s grace, you couldn’t get into Heaven
• Examples of sacraments are
baptism, penance, & the
Eucharist (Communion)
• If you did something wrong, the church could
excommunicate you (kick you out); can’t receive sacraments, won’t go to
Heaven

• Mass = name for church services
• Mass conducted in Latin, most peasants did not understand it; gave priests a lot of power over the people
• Peasants got info from statues, paintings, & windows

• The Church supposed to be a religious institution; nobles used church for their own gain
• “Donations” of land & money to church could result in a position as a bishop or other church official
• People that the king or a noble didn’t like could be threatened w/ excommunication unless agree w/ nobles

• Monks/ nuns tried to avoid problems w/ taking money from nobles & lived simple lives
• took vows of silence & lived separate from rest of world
• spent lives making schools & hospitals, providing for poor/needy, producing beautiful copies of books by hand

• The regular church was still very powerful & had courts in which it could try people for crimes against the church
• One of the biggest crimes was called heresy (denial of church teachings)
• Heretics (people who committed heresy) were excommunicated from the church
• Heresy considered as bad as treason

• a court set up to prosecute heretics
• People could be accused of heresy by their enemies, investigated by the church
• Sometimes heretics tortured to try & get them to confess to their crimes

• Goals of the Crusades
• Pope wants to reclaim
Jerusalem & reunite
Christianity
• Kings use Crusades to send away knights who cause trouble
• Younger sons hope to earn land or win glory by fighting
• Later, merchants join
Crusades to try to gain wealth through trade

1
2
• Pope promises Crusaders who die a place in Heaven
• 1st Crusade: 3 armies gather at Constantinople in 1097
• Crusaders capture Jerusalem in 1099
• Captured lands along coast divided into 4 Crusader states
• Muslims take back one in
1144; 2nd Crusade fails to retake it
• 1187: Saladin – Muslim leader
– retakes Jerusalem

3
• 3rd Crusade led by 3 powerful rulers
• Richard the Lion-Hearted: king of England
• Phillip II of France abandons
Crusade after arguing w/
Richard
• Frederick I of Germany drowns during journey
• 1192: Richard & Saladin make peace
• Saladin keeps Jerusalem but allows Christian pilgrims to enter city

• 4th Crusade:
Crusaders loot
Constantinople in
1204
• 2 other Crusades strike
Egypt, but fail to weaken Muslims

• Most of Spain controlled by the Moors (a Muslim people)
• Christians fight Reconquista – drive Muslims from Spain, 1100-
1492
• Spain has inquisition – court to suppress heresy; expels non-
Christians
• The Crusades change life
• Crusades show power of Church in convincing thousands to fight
• Women who stay home manage estates & business affairs
• Merchants expand trade, bring back many goods from SW
Asia
• Failure of later Crusades weakens pope & nobles, strengthens kings
• Crusades create lasting bitterness bt Muslims & Christians

• Changes in agriculture
• Harnessed horses replace oxen in pulling plows & wagons
• Horses plow 3 times as much a day, increasing food supply
• The 3-field System
• Around 800, 3-field system used: plant 2 fields, let one rest
• This produces more food & leads to population increase

• Guilds develop – organization of people in the same occupation
• Merchant guilds begin 1st; they keep prices up, provide security
• Skilled artisans form craft guilds
• Guilds set standards for quality, wages, prices, working conditions
• Guilds supervise training of new members of their craft
• The wealth of guilds influences govt.
& economy

• Fairs & Trade
• Europe sees Commercial Revolution
– changes in business & trade
• Trade fairs held several times a year in towns
• Trade routes open to Asia, N.Africa,
& Byzantine ports
• Business & Banking
• Merchants develop credit to avoid carrying large sums of money
• Merchants take out loans to purchase goods, & banking grows
• Society Changes
• Economic changes lead to the growth of cities & of paying jobs

• Growing urban population
• 1000-1150, Europe’s pop. rises from
30-42 million
• Most towns are small, but they help drive change
• Trade & towns grow together
• Towns are uncomfortable: crowded, dirty, fire hazards
• Serfs can become free by living in a town for a year & a day
• Merchant class shifts the social order
• Feudal lords tax & govern towns, causing resentment
• Towns are taken over by town merchants (burghers)

• The Norman Conquest
• In 1066, England is invaded by
William the Conqueror
• He defeats his rival & becomes king
• William hands out land to his supporters
• Juries & Common Law
• Henry II – king of England – sends judges to all parts of England & institutes juries
• The judges’ decisions form English
common law – unified body of laws
• Common law forms the basis of law in many English-speaking countries

• 1215: English nobles force King John to sign Magna Carta
• Magna Carta – limits king’s power & guarantees basic political rights
• English people argue the rights are for all people, not just nobles
• The Model Parliament
• 1295: Edward I summons wealthy townsmen & knights to raise taxes
• Together w/ bishops & lords, they form a parliament – legislative body
• Parliament has 2 houses: House of
Lords, House of Commons

• 1295: Edward I summons wealthy townsmen & knights to raise taxes
• Together w/ bishops & lords, they form a parliament – legislative body
• Parliament has 2 houses:
House of Lords, House of
Commons

• Hugh Capet and family rule small territory around
Paris, power spreads and their rule last over 300 years.
• Est. heriditary rule, eldest son…
• Phillip II
– 15 yo, reigned for 45 years
– Doubled lands through marrage
– Created royal army

• Louis IX Phillip II’s grandson.
– Puts a ban on private warfare Why?
– Creates common currency Kings own.
Why?

• Phillip IV, Phillip the Fair.
Louis IX grandson
• Called forth the Estates
General to pay for wars.
• EG assembly of clergy nobles and towns people. Never as powerful as parlaiment.

• Has a major fight with Pope
Gregory VII, the Pope condemned
lay investure (the giving of symbols of office such as a ring or staff).
King Henry refused to stop the practice. Pope proclaimed Henry deposed and urged the Germans to select another ruler. Henry went to the pope and begged for forgiveness. For 3 days he stood outside the gate begging for mercy. He was forgiven. In 1122 church officials and representation known as the Concordat of Worms allowed the King to name bishops and grant them land. Also gave the
Pope the right to reject unworthy candidates.