Chapter 9
The High Middle Ages
1050-1450
Royal Power
Kings were heads of society
 Had limited power–relied on vassals for
military support
 Church & nobles had just as much power
 Each collected their own taxes
 Each had own courts
 Each had own army
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Kings centralize power
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Royal courts
Government bureaucracy – hired middle-class
workers
Taxes – merchants paid for protection
Built armies – used tax money to hire
mercenaries
Strengthened ties to middle class
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Protected roads
Reduced tolls
Freed them from feudal obligations
Royal power in England
Edward the Confessor – died without an
heir
 Harold of Wessex & William, Duke of
Normandy claimed the crown

1066: The Battle of Hastings
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror

Grants land to Church & Norman lords
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Kept large amount for himself
All vassals had to swear allegiance to
William
Domesday Book

A complete census – listed everything of
value in England
Other Kings of England

Henry I – created the Royal Exchequer
Replaced nobles with paid officials
 Nobles pay taxes with money not military
service
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Other Kings of England

Henry II- one of England’s great kings
Made royal law the law of the land
 Created royal judges – circuit court system
 Decisions became English Common Law
 The law the same for everyone
 Created the grand jury system & trial jury

Thomas Becket
Archbishop of Canterbury
 Henry II wanted to try clergy in royal courts
 1170 Becket murdered
 Created power struggle between
monarchs of England & church
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King John
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Very greedy, cruel, untrustworthy, & incompetent
warrior
Loses most of England’s land in France to
Philip II
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Becomes known as John Softsword
Dispute with Pope Innocent III - John
excommunicated

Forced England to become a papal fief – pay annual
fee to pope
Magna Carta – Great Charter

1215 John forced to sign by group of nobles
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Limited king’s power
No imprisonment without judge by peers
Right to face accuser
King must obey laws
No taxation without consent
Become the basis for the U.S. Constitution
The Great Council
By 1200s evolves into Parliament
 1295 – Edward I summons Parliament –
wanted money for wars in France
 Model Parliament – sets up frame work
for English legislature
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House of Lords
 House of Commons
 “Power of the Purse”
 England now a limited monarchy
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France
Early French kings – very little power
 987- Hugh Capet – Count of Paris – start
of absolute monarchy in France
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Capetians ruled for next 300 years
Slowly Capet & his heirs increased power
Won support of Church
 Played nobles against each other
 Built effective bureaucracy
 Gained support of middle class

Philip II – Philip Augustus
Paid government workers – all middle
class
 Created new national taxes
 Organized standing army
 Used trickery, war and diplomacy to
increased lands
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Louis IX
Declared a saint by Catholic Church
 A model monarch
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Noble, Generous, Devoted to justice
 Persecuted heretics and Jews
 Fought against Muslims
 Ended serfdom
 Expanded royal courts
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Philip IV
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Clashed with Pope Boniface VIII over taxing of
the clergy in France
Sent troops to capture the pope
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Pope escaped but was badly beaten and died shortly
Gained support of the people through the
Estates General
Persecuted the Order of the Knights Templar –
April 13, 1307 – Friday the 13th
Babylonian Captivity

A 67 year period when the pope lived in Avignon, France
 Philip
IV got College of Cardinals to
elect a French archbishop pope
 New pope called Clement V
 Moved the papacy to Avignon,
France
 Popes became viewed as pawns of
French kings
Holy Roman Empire
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936 – Otto I took the title of king of
Germany
Close to Church – appointed
bishops & abbots to high
government jobs
Gained the right of lay investiture
Defeated the Magyars – Battle of
Lechfield

Pope crowned him Emperor of the
Romans
Holy Roman Empire
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Holy Roman Emperor could have been
strongest monarchy in Europe
Claimed authority over most of central &
eastern Europe, parts of Italy & France
 Elected monarch not hereditary
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Control really in the hands of the
emperor’s vassals
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Emperor needed to control nobles
Holy Roman Empire
Emperors thought they were protectors of
Italy & pope
 Constantly interfering in Italian affairs
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Wanted to control rich cities of northern Italy
Results: conflict between emperors and
popes over lay investiture – appointing of
church officials by a lay person
Holy Roman Empire
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Gregory VII – 1073 – issue erupted
Wanted the Church to be independent of
secular rulers
 Said only the pope could appoint & install
bishops
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Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV refused to
agree
 1076 Pope excommunicates Henry IV
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Henry IV forced to beg forgiveness
Holy Roman Empire

1122- issue settled with the Concordat of
Worms
Church sole power to elect & invest bishops
 Emperor had the right to invest them with their
fief
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Holy Roman Empire

Frederick I – Frederick Barbarossa tried
& failed to gain control of Italy
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Defeated by the Lombard League
Holy Roman Empire
Frederick II – also tried to control Italy
 Spent most of his time in Italy
 Result: nobles within Holy Roman Empire
grew independent & Germany will remain
fragmented (united in mid 1800s)
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Catholic Church

Pope Innocent III – Pope in 1198
Claimed supremacy over all rulers
 Clashed with all the powerful rulers of his day
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With help of Philip II of France launched a
crusade against the Albigensians of
southern France – tens of thousands killed
 After his death the power of the popes
starts to decline
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The Crusades
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Byzantine Emperor – Alexius I
asked pope Urban II for help
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Seljuk Turks – new converts to
Islam had invaded Constantinople
and the Holy Land
1095 – Council of Clermont Called for Christian knights to
reclaim Holy Land
The Crusades
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Reason to join Crusades:
Religious zeal
 Lure of land & wealth
 Adventure/escape from troubles at home
 Those who fought & died received salvation
 Church protected family & property while
away
 Debtors had debts forgiven & criminals
relieved of punishment
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The Crusades
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Pope Urban II reasons:
Thought it would increase church power &
prestige
 Unite the 2 branches of the Christian church
 Reduce feudal warfare in Europe
 Lands in Middle east provide outlet for
Europe’s growing population
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The Crusades
1095- Peasant Crusade – Peter the
Hermit
 Convinced the poor they were going to
heaven
 In Asia Minor – massacred by the Turks
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The First Crusade
The Crusades
The First Crusade – 1096-1099
 Only successful crusade
 Captured Antioch, Jerusalem
 Created 4 small Crusader states
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The Crusades
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The Second Crusade – 1147- started
after Muslims recaptured Edessa and
threatened Jerusalem – poor planning and
division among the nobles caused it to fail
The Crusades
Third Crusade – 1189-1199
 Started when Saladin, Seljuk Turk leader
recaptured Jerusalem
 Known as the Crusade of the Three
Kings – Frederick I, Philip II & Richard the
Lion Hearted

Frederick I – Barbarossa – drowns on the way
 Philip II of France gets mad at Richard the
Lion Hearted & goes home
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The Crusades
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Richard fails to capture Jerusalem but
forces a truce which allowed Christians to
visit Jerusalem
The Crusades
Fourth Crusade – 1202 – called by Pope
Innocent III
 Crusaders attack the Christian city of Zara
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All excommunicated
1204 attacked Constantinople
Seriously weakened the Byzantine Empire
 Crusaders looted the city
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The Crusades
1212- Children’s Crusade – 20,000 kids
 All sold into slavery in North Africa
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Results & Impact of the Crusades
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Crusades were unsuccessful in reclaiming
the Holy Land but they had a big impact
on Western Europe
Left a bitter legacy & religious hatred
 Increased trade between Near East & Europe
 Power of Roman Catholic Church decreased
 Increased power of the monarchs
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 New
taxes
 Death of many feudal lords
Results & Impact of the Crusades
Encouraged the growth of money economy
 Europe gained wider view of the world
 New weapons & military tactics
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 Crossbow,
catapults, carrier pigeons & possibly
the use of gunpowder
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Status of women changed – controlled land
while husbands were away
Spain
The Muslims had conquered most of
Spain in the 700s
 Spain became a center of Islamic
civilization
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Scholars preserved Greek & Roman texts
Spanish Reconquista
1100s & 1200s Spanish knights launched
their own crusade known was the
Reconquista or the reconquest
 By 1250 Muslims held only kingdom of
Granada
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Spanish Reconquista
Central Spain – Kingdom of Aragon
 Northeast Spain – Kingdom of Castile
 1469 – Queen Isabella of Castile married
Ferdinand of Aragon
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Unites Spain
 They use the common people to get power
from nobles
 1492 capture last Muslim city of Granada
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Spain
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United Spain both politically & religiously
Ended the policy of religious toleration of
Muslims & Jews
 Caused economic problems
 Revived the Inquisition
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Medieval Education
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Universities – many will be taken over by
the Church
Most students trained for high positions in the
Church/government
 Took courses in all areas- Math, Science,
Language, etc.
 Very similar to guilds
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Medieval Education
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Student life at these universities hard
Long hours sitting on hard benches in
unheated rooms
 Books scarce & expensive
 Student day from 5AM till 5PM
 No regular classrooms
 Took 3 to 5 years to complete the work
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Medieval Medicine
Some had read Hippocrates
 Most used folk medicine
 Believed illness caused by the devil or evil
spirits
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Conflict in Learning
Debate between faith & reasonScholasticism – used reason & logic to
support Christian beliefs
 Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica
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Man’s ability to reason was a gift from God
Medieval Literature
1100s & 1200s – new style – writing in the
vernacular – everyday language
 Townspeople enjoyed fables
 Nobility liked chanson de geste
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Song of Roland – France
 El Cid – Spain
 Siegfried – German
 Beowulf –England
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Medieval Literature
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Dante- Italian poet – The Divine Comedy
Medieval Literature
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Geoffrey Chaucer – English – The
Canterbury Tales
Medieval Architecture
Cathedrals – starting in 1100s – towns
competed for the best
 Projects could take 30 years or more to
complete
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Medieval Architecture
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Two styles:
Romanesque – influenced by Romans –
rounded arches, domed roof, columns, slits
for windows, few statues
 Gothic – very tall & airy, flying buttress, many
windows made of stained glass, lots of
statues in relief, pointed arches
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Black Death
Also known as the bubonic plague-buba
 Arrived in Genoa, Italy in 1347 by way of
Sicily—fleas on rats carried disease
 Between 1347 & 1352 – kills 25 million or
1/3 of Europe’s population
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Effects of the plague
Society torn apart as a result of plague
 Whole towns & villages disappeared
 People turn to witchcraft & magic for
protection
 Flagellants-traveled from town to town
beating themselves
 Christians blamed Jews- forced to flee
into eastern Europe
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Effects of the plague
Decline in population = labor shortage
 Serfdom disappears as the manor
economy is destroyed
 Trade declines
 Workers demand higher wages
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Church Troubles
Monarchs opposed Church’s political
power
 Monarchs could not tax church land
 Church’s were getting involved in
politics
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Great Schism
1378 – Pope Gregory XI died
 College of Cardinals elected Pope Urban
VI
 13 French Cardinals then elect another –
Pope Clement VII
 1417 – ends with the election of Pope
Martin V
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Church Reformers
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John Wycliffe – English
theologian- wanted to reform the
Church
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Bible not pope final authority for
Christians
Jesus head of the Church not the
pope
Priest/sacraments not necessary for
salvation
Clergy needed to practice poverty
Translated New Testament into
English
Church Reformers
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Jan Hus – German
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Authority of Bible higher than
pope
Preach in common language
not Latin
Arrested, tried for heresy &
burned at the stake by
Roman Catholic Church
The Hundred Years War
1337-1453

Between England & France – Edward III
of England claimed the throne of France
The Hundred Years War
1337-1453
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War had four major stages;
 England invades France captures
French king & most of France
 French take back almost all the land
they lost
 English invade again – Henry V forced
the French to sign humiliating treaty
 French rally under Joan of Arc,
Charles VII crowned king of France
NEW WEAPONS
Longbow-developed by the English
which put an end to the age of feudal
knights
Cannon-used to destroy fortifications
(castles)—castles became outdated