France:
• Charlemagne’s
kingdom split in
thirds.
• Hugh Capet
founded
“Kingdom of the
French,” the
western section.
• Philip IV (r. 1285-1314) created the Estates-General.
• Assembly to advise king.
• All three classes, or estates, were represented; the clergy, nobility,
and commoners.
Holy Roman
Empire:
• Modern day Germany
• Founded by Otto I
(962).
England:
• Vikings settled in northern France (Normandy).
• Normand king William the Conqueror invaded England (1066).
Limits on English king’s
power:
• The Magna Carta (1215)
signed by King John.
• Required the king to
observe certain rights, like
the right to a jury trial
before a noble could be
imprisoned.
• Hundred Years War (13371453); England and France.
• England loses all lands in
France.
Crusades:
• An attempt to reclaim the Holy Land of Palestine.
• Besides Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church was also a target of
Western European crusaders
•
•
•
•
Four Crusades only the first was a Christian victory.
Captured Jerusalem (1099).
Saladin regained the city (1187).
Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), Crusaders sacked Constantinople.
Long-term impact of the
Crusades:
• Spain, and Sicily joined
Western Christendom.
• Egyptian state changed attitude
toward its Christian subjects
from tolerance to persecution.
• Demand for eastern goods
opened up global trade.
• Global trade led to Black
Death.
• Plague caused shortage of
people weakening feudal
• Roughly 5 percent of the population lived in towns.
High Middle Ages:
• Wealth towns built Gothic style
Cathedral.
• Lighter, airier, with feature like
arches and stained glass.
• Latin developed into
French, Italian, and
Spanish.
• Remained formal language
of Church.
•
Pope Gregory stated, in reference to nonChristians in England, “that while they offered the
same beasts which they were wont to offer, they
should offer them to God, and not to idols; and thus
they would no longer be the same sacrifices.” This
suggest that non-Christian practices were
incorporated into Christian practice.
•
•
•
•
Roman Catholic Church hierarchy:
Pope, supreme bishop of Rome
Regional bishops, supervised local priests.
Local priest.
Lay person, non clergy
• Monastic Order:
• Monks and nuns lived in communities, or religious orders.
• These communities kept learning alive, by copying the classic
Greek text into Latin.
• Long-distance trade ended
in Western Europe after the
collapse of the Roman
Empire in 476.
• It was limited only to Italy.
Close to Byzantium.
• High Middle Ages Europe’s
expansion and growth led to
increased long-distance
trade.
•
•
•
•
Manorial System:
Fiefs, or estates known as manors.
Were economic self-sufficiency.
Serfs, not slaves, but were tied to the land.
For protection provided by the lord with crops, or labor.
Agriculture improvements during the late Middle Ages:
•
•
•
•
Three-Field System, divide land in three parts and plant two
Windmills
The heavy plow with wheels
Horse collar to yoke teams of horses.
• Commerce:
• Crusades reconnected Western Europe to the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean
trade routes.
• Long-distant trade made European innovation possible by borrowing
technologies from other civilizations. Knowledge of gunpowder led to
creation of cannons.
• Marco Polo, Italian merchant, visited the court of Kublai Khan (late
thirteenth century).
• His writings increased curiosity about Asia.
• Stimulated interest in cartography (mapmaking).
•
•
•
•
•
Guilds:
Originated in towns.
Associations of craftspeople and merchants.
Regulated rules for apprenticeships, and exercised quality control.
Held economic power in towns.
High Middle Ages:
•
Growth in commerce led to
the development of a middle
class, also known as
burghers.
•
Only possible as Europe
joined in long-distant trade.
•
Emphasis on economics
rather than on purely
Christian ideals.
•
Economic growth during the High Middle Ages affect women
in that they practiced trades and sometimes trained female
apprentices.
•
Technological changes in weaving limited women’s
opportunities in Western Europe by the fifteenth century.
Renaissance:
•
A revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman literature,
art, civic virtue, and culture.
•
A focus on individuals rather than God.
That concludes
Medieval Europe
Any questions before the quiz on the next
slide?