Medieval Revival
Middle Ages: General Timeline
10951291C.E.
Crusades
1066 C.E.
Norman
invasion of
Britain
450 C.E.
AngloSaxons
invade
England
476 C.E.
Fall of
Rome
306 C.E.
Constantine
comes to
power in
Eastern
Roman
Empire;
beginning of
Byzantine
Empire
Beowulf
Composed
sometime
between
850 C.E.
900 C.E.
1306-1321
Dante’s
Divine
Comedy
1347
Bubonic
Plague
1375-1400 Sir
Gawain &
Green Knight
1386 C.E.
Chaucer
begins
writing
Canterbury
Tales
1337-1453
100 Years War
France &
England
1455 C.E.
Printing
Press
1517
Protestant
Reformation
1453
Fall of
Byzantine
Empire with
invasion of
Ottoman
Turks
Reduction in Violence
• Magyars defeated in 955
and began to settle in
Hungary
• Infighting among
Muslims
• Vikings simply stop
marauding and settle
down
Reduction in Violence
• Walls built around
towns
• Church attempts
to tame warfare
– “Pax Dei”
Agricultural Revolution
• Improvement in climate
• Three field system
• New technologies
– Carruca (iron plow)
– New yoke and harness
system for draft animals
• Windmills
• Watermills
Agricultural Revolution
• Better farming led to
more crops
• More food led to
population growth
• Population growth
increased town growth
Population Increase
• Birth rate up/Death rate down
• European-wide population explosion
– 1100 AD = 42 million people
– 1300 AD = 72 million people
– Population of England, Scotland and Wales tripled
to 5 – 6 million
– Population of France grew to 20 million
– London – 70,000
– Florence, Milan, Venice – 100,000
– Paris – 200,000
Population Increase
• No major famines or
plagues between 10001200 AD
• More people for the
lords to tax
Revival of Town Life
• “Burg” and “Ghetto”
• Overcrowded
–
–
–
–
Air & water pollution
Begging
Prostitution
Law enforcement
• Guilds – regulation of
businesses
• Great differences in
social classes
Revival of Town Life
• By 1300, 10% of the
population of western
Europe lived in cities
• Towns were centers
for reemerging long
distance trade
Revival of Long Distance Trade
• Medieval Guilds –
opposed to trade
• Development of
contracts
• Development of
banking
Rise of the Medieval University
• Knowledge transferred
from Church to
Universities
– Trivium – grammar, logic,
rhetoric
– Quadremmium – arithmetic,
astronomy, geometry,
music
• Medical Schools
Religious Reform
• The growth of religious
abuses
• “Lay investiture”
• Selling “indulgences”
Religious Reform
• Crusades
• Inquisition
• Pope Innocent calls the
Fourth Lateran Council
in 1215
–
–
–
–
4th Crusade
Heretics
No new denominations
No marriage outside
church
Emerging European Monarchies
France
• Philip Augustus (French)
attacked King John (English) and
won French lands back.
• Philip the Fair – created a
national assembly called the
Estates General.
– First Estate: the church
– Second Estate: the nobility
– Third Estate: the townspeople
England
• The “Domesday Book”
(1086)
• Henry II conquered part
of Ireland and made the
King of Scotland his
vassal
Magna Carta
• King John got greedy, so his nobles revolted.
• They forced him to sign The Magna Carta.
–
–
–
–
Limited the power of the King.
Provided protection of law to everyone.
Guaranteed trial by jury.
No taxation without representation.
• Became the basis for modern English and
American law.
100 Years War
• England versus France
• Henry V (English) wins part of France after
Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
• Joan of Arc (French) wins it back.
• Results:
–
–
–
–
–
France’s power increased
England slipped into civil war
The Church continued to lose power
Chivalry was dead
End of the Middle Ages