Middle Ages
1
The Manorial System
 a Manor was an agricultural estate
run by a lord and worked by the
peasants
 peasants who became bound to a
manor were called serfs
 by the 800s, 60% of western
Europe had become serfs
2
Daily life in the High Middle Ages
 Less fear of invasion
 Populations soared (from 38 to 74 million)
 Agricultural production improved
 cleared more forest for farms
 Iron was made into tools for farming
 “Carruca”-- a heavy wheeled plow
 Moldboard – curved iron plate
 mills using water and wind power
 switched to a 3 plot crop rotation
3
Charlemagne & His Successors
 Clovis converts the Franks to Christianity
 Charles Martel (the hammer) helps out by stopping the Muslims from
invading Gaul in 732 at the Battle of Tours (they are now stuck in Spain).
 Charles the Great = Charlemagne
 In 800, Charlemagne is crowned the “Holy Roman Emperor” by Pope Leo III
 This was an important and public event that set in motion the Holy Roman Empire
(Europe’s rise + Papal Supremacy)
4
France
 In 843, the Carolingian Empire was split into sections:
 West side: what is now France
 East side: what is now Germany
 In 987, the last Carolingian king died
 The western dynasty chose Hugh Capet at their new king (he has
little real power)
 Phillip II Augustus (1180-1223) changed the French monarchy
 He fought and won against the British for land (Normandy, Maine,
Anjou, Aquitaine)
 He started the French royal bureaucracy
 Phillip IV (1285-1314) continued to expand the French kingdom
 He strengthened the French monarchy
 He created the French parliament (the Estates General) in 1302
by asking for representatives from
 the clergy (first estate)
 the nobles (second estate)
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 the townspeople (third estate)
the Holy Roman Empire
 The Saxons became kings of the east side of the Frankish
kingdom (now Germany)
 The first important Saxon king was Otto I (936-973)
 He helped the pope with a struggle in Italy
 This earned him the title of Holy Roman Emperor in 963
 Otto and his followers tried to use Italy for power and
resources
 but this often backfired
 Frederick I tried to take northern Italy but failed
 Frederick II won some battles but also lost the war for
Italy
 For these reasons, neither Germany nor Italy gained a
strong national monarchy during the Middle Ages
6
The Slavic Peoples
 The Slavs broke up into 3 groups along the eastern European plain
 western Slavs = Polish and Bohemian, Magyars (Hungary) --converted to
Christianity
 eastern = Moravia (modern Ukraine and Russia)-- converted to Eastern
Orthodox Christianity and developed the Cyrillic alphabet
 southern = split between Croats (Catholic) on one side and Bulgars and
Serbs (Orthodox) on the other
7
The Rus
 Swedish Vikings dominated what is now Russia
 The native people called them “the Rus” (hence the name
Russia)
 Oleg (873-913) settled in Kiev and created a state
 this state spread over time as leaders conquered more
land and married into Slavic families
 Vladimir I (980-1015) married a Byzantine princess and
accepted Orthodox Christianity
 The Russian state reached a pinnacle at the beginning of the
1100s
 It fell to northern Russian princes in 1169 and later to the
Mongols
 One Russian prince, Alexander Nevsky, worked with the
Mongols to defeat invading Germans
 He was awarded the title of “grand-prince” which set
his family up to rule Russia later
8
New Economic & Urban Vigor
 In the 11th to 12th centuries, Europe saw:
 A revival in trade
 Cities in Italy, like Venice, took the lead on trade
 *there is a primary source on this on page 329
 Flanders (in northern France) also became a center for trade
 Trading and banking companies grew to aid trade
 The emergence of specialized artisans
 The growth of towns
 Usually settled near a monastary or castle for protection
 Burough (burg/burgh) means “fortress”
 The townspeople came to be known as burghers or bourgeois
o The people needed more mobility than peasants or serfs
o This changed the way nobles dealt with people on their land
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Daily Life for the Bourgeois
 Stone wall around the entire town
 This made space cramped
 Narrow streets
 2 or 3 story buildings
 People living there were either merchants or artisans
 Pollution was everywhere
 People used wells instead of rivers for this reason
 There were also public baths
 Again, women were expected to run the household and
help their husbands with the family trade
 Some women developed their own trade and gained independence
10
England: Limited Government
11

Oct. 14th, 1066: William of Normandy takes control of England by defeating King Harold
and the Anglo-Saxons
 He combined his Norman traditions with Anglo Saxon ones to create a new English
culture
 He established a strong centralized monarchy

The next great leader of England was Henry II (1154-1189)
 He expanded the power of the monarchy by:
 strengthening the power of the royal courts
 * This gave him more power/money, but also unified the legal codes

By the time King John was in charge (1199-1216) some people were angry with the new
and strong monarchy
 In 1214, King John was forced to put his seal on the Magna Carta
 The Magna Carta solidified the relationship between lord and vassal
 It would later be used to limit the power of the monarchy

Edward I (1272-1307) is credited with the creation of the English Parliament
 the word “parliament” originally meant meetings of the King’s Council
 Edward needed money, so in 1295, he invited 2 knights from each county and 2
residents from each town to agree to new taxation ~~~first Parliament
 Eventually, the Parliament became
 Hose of Lords: barons and church lords
 House of Commons: knights and burgesses
The West’s Expansionist Impulse
 Kings and the Church saw the Crusades as an opportunity to
get rid of quarrelsome knights who fought each other.
 Many sons who had no opportunity to gain land volunteered.
 Knights who died during the Crusade were assured a place in
heaven.
 VERY bloody and VERY costly, but hey, spare no expense for
power ( I mean, a spiritual calling…..)
The Crusades
 Pope Urban II issues a decree for a holy war to gain control of the
Holy Land.
 The Crusades (1-4) were aimed at recovering Jerusalem from the
Muslim Turks.
 Urban’s call brought a tremendous outpouring of religious feeling and
support for the Crusades.
 Over 60,000 knights became crusaders.
 1st
 Hugely unorganized
 Only 25% of the Crusaders actually made it to Jerusalem
 Still managed to take the Holy City
 2nd
 Fought to recapture some off the cities lost to the Muslims
 Saladin ends up taking Jerusalem during the 2nd Crusades.
3rd Crusade
 Both Richard and Saladin respected each other tremendously.
 After many battles, called a truce.
 Jerusalem stayed under Muslim control
 Pilgrims of any religion had free access to Jerusalem
FYI: Saddam Hussein thought of himself as a new Saladin, i.e. protector
of Islam and the Middle-East. Ironically, though, Saladin was
Kurdish, a people who Hussein oppressed during his tyranny.
4th Crusade
 Pope Innocent III (sure he was…) called for a 4th Crusade.
 However, religious fervor for Crusading was diminishing.
 4th Crusade ended in the pillaging and plundering of Constantinople
(not a Muslim city)
 Caused a further breach between Eastern and Western Catholicism
Reconquista
 The Spanish version of the Crusades
 Tried to rid Spain of Muslims
 Finally pushed out in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella.
 Led to the Inquisition
The Church: Political and Spiritual Power
 By the end of the 4th Century, the Christian church had come to dominate the Roman
empire
 It had also developed a system of government
 Each city had a bishop (his land was called his diocese)
 All the bishops were led by the archbishop
 The bishops of Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch had special powers
 Since Peter was the chief apostle and he was in Rome, all Roman bishops came to be
known at the most important = Pope
 Monks (from monachus=someone who lives alone)
 Evolved from people alone to a life of community
 Community life started by Saint Benedict (480-543)
 Became the superheroes of the medieval people
 Pope Gregory: made the papacy secular (focused on non-religious activities)
 Used church $$$ to create armies, pave roads, help the poor, etc.
Religious Reform and Evolution
 Beginning in the 1000’s, a spiritual revival spread across Europe.
 Many problems troubled the church at that time.
 Village priests were marrying
 Simony
 Lay Investiture (Fight between Pope Gregory VII & HRE Henry IV)
 Reforms begin at Cluny.
 Monks there followed Benedictine rule
 Cluny’s reputation grew and inspired over 300 monasteries
 Pope Leo IX vows to stamp out simony and marriage of priests
 Gregory and future popes extend these reforms.
 The Church collected tithes (10%).
 Because of these new reforms and added taxes, the church grew and so did the Pope’s power.
 Friars spread the message
St. Francis of Assisi
 Started the Franciscan order of friars, who were
traveling preachers (as opposed to monks cloistered
in monasteries).
 Was the son of a very wealthy businessman who
didn’t think of much of Francis’s resolution of his
spiritual crisis.
 Francis eventually renounces his father and his fortune (even some of the
clothes he was wearing) and strikes out for a life of poverty.
 Gained approval from the pope for his order after
the pope has a dream of a poor man holding up a
crumbling church.
 St. Clare forms the Franciscan order for women
(women gaining independence through
monasticism)
Theology: Assimilating Faith & Reason
 Theology (the study of religion) was called the “Queen of the
sciences”
 Scholasticism was the theological system of the middle ages that
sought to blend Christian teachings with the philosophies of
Aristotle
 Peter Abelard supported skepticism
 Bernard of Clairvaux said not to doubt (God through faith
alone)
 The most famous attempt was made by Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
 wrote “Summa Theologica” (summa=highest work)
 Popular religion is more complicated
 Raoul de Cambrai (sorry about forgetting Lent, but
not sorry about killing nuns…..)
 Mary gets merciful
20 Pagan rituals blend with Christian festivals
Religious Themes in Art and Architecture
 There was an explosion of construction in the 11th -12th cent.
 Romanesque Style: basilica shape from the Late Roman Empire
 Gothic Style: 12th-13th century style with ribbed vaults and pointed
arches.
 The first fully gothic church was the abbey of St. Denis near Paris and
was inspired by Abbot Suger
 Writing in the vernacular became popular
 Beowulf (English)
 Song of Roland (French)
 Canterbury Tales (English and makes fun of Christianity)
 The Romance of the Rose (French and scandalous)
21
New Strains in Rural Life
 Lived in 2 room wood and straw houses
 Women were expected to work the fields and run the home
 Diet
 Bread (baked at the community oven)
 Vegetables
 Dairy from goats or cows
 Fruit and nuts foraged in the woods
 Eggs and meat from chickens
 Lords pressed their farmers for more taxes to
afford the high lifestyle of the new urban sphere.
 Large gap between rich and poor
22
Growth of Trade and Banking
 Cities became centers for the manufacturing of
 Cloth
 Metalwork
 Shoes
 Leather goods
 People organized themselves into guilds
(unions) and the Hanseatic League for trade
 This established standards for manufacturing and
pricing
 Those wanting to enter the trade had to be an
apprentice starting at age 10
 After 5-7 years they advanced to a journeyman
 They could be come a master if they created a
“masterpiece”
23
Oops…It’s the Plague
 1300s, the Black Death Comes…..You can guess how that
turns out. Here is Remy to explain how it went down.
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Review and Reflect
 Pick one person, place, thing from the chapter and create a
superlative (ex. “moldboard: most likely to dig deep”). Submit on
grade book by Friday
 Complete reading study guide for Chapter 10. Submit in person
by Friday.
 Watch “Filthy Cities: London” and draw a political cartoon that
shows the chain of cause and effect that led London in (and out of
) filth. Must include at least 5 identifiable facts/points from the
documentary. Submit in person or on grade book by Friday.
 Extra Credit: use the slides that follow to learn more about the
changes in architecture during the High Middle Ages. Create a
infographic that explains these change in a way that is simple and
easy to understand. Submit in person or on the grade book by
25
Friday.
• The two big innovations were ribbed vaults and flying
buttresses.
• Vaults
• A vault is the arched shaped that helps hold up the roof.
The Romanesque cathedrals used barrel vaults. These
were simple arch-type structures.
• Here’s a comparison of the barrel vault of the Romanesque
Saint-Sernin Cathedral in Toulouse with the ribbed vault of the
Gothic Amiens Cathedral
• Compare these cross-sections of Saint-Sernin and
Amiens.
• Here’s the difference it makes to the interior lighting:
• The later Gothic cathedrals also tended to have tall
spires on the towers and pinnacles on top of the
buttresses.
• Here is a comparison the floor plans of Saint-Sernin and
Amiens.
• And finally, here’s a comparison of the exteriors.
Here are other examples of Romanesque styles.
• Now, Gothic:
• Cathedrals were usually oriented along an east-west
axis. The main entrance was on the west end while the
liturgical stuff (altar, bishop’s throne, etc.) was located
in the east end. They had the shape of a Latin cross.
Narthex
Nave
Aisles separated by arcades
Choir
Transept
Apse
• Here’s an assortment of pictures of the most wellknown Gothic cathedral: Notre Dame de Paris