WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

THE RISE OF REGIONAL STATES

 Holy Roman Empire  Loose confederation of states  Tense relationships with the papacy prevents creation of powerful state  Capetian Dynasty in France  Regional states form in Italy and Spain  Powerful Italian city-states: Florence, Genoa, Milan, Venice  Lays foundation for the Renaissance

Europe 1000-1300 C.E.

RISE OF FEUDAL ENGLAND

 William of Normandy conquers England in 1066  Feudalism with centralized approach  Monarchy limited by church & aristocracy  Magna Carta signed by King John in 1215  Creates parliamentary system  Parliament must approve changes in taxation  Does NOT create democratic system

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIVAL

 Growth of Agricultural Economy  Population pressure causes increase in land devoted to agriculture  Crop rotation and three-field system  New technology: horse collar and horseshoe  Population growth  800 CE—29 Million  1100 CE—44 Million  1300 CE—79 Million

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIVAL

 Revival of Towns and Trade  Food surplus & population growth led to urbanization  Urbanization brought increase in specialization of labor  Guilds  Specialization of labor caused increase in manufacturing  Manufacturing focused on wool textiles  Manufacturing led to increase in trade  Brings Western Europe back into Afro-Eurasian trade network

Venetian and Genoese merchants established colonies in major trade ports of Alexandria, Constantinople, Cairo, Damascus, etc.

CHRISTIANITY IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

 Cathedral schools become universities  Rediscovery of works of Aristotle  Increased commerce with Byzantine Empire provided the West with access to Greek works  Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas  Combining Aristotle’s logic with Christianity to create the most truthful system of thought possible

CHRISTIANITY IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES  Increased devotion to the saints  Virgin Mary was ideal of womanhood, love, and sympathy  Built magnificent cathedrals to honor Virgin Mary  Gothic architecture  Notre Dame “Our Lady”

MEDIEVAL EXPANSION OF EUROPE

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Viking Conquests

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Spanish Reconquista

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The Crusades

VIKING EXPANSION AND CONVERSION

 Feudalism forced Vikings to turn attention to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland (Canada)  Leif Ericsson  Vikings convert to Christianity in 9 th -10 th centuries

Viking Expansion

SPANISH RECONQUISTA 1060S-1492

    Began in small Christian states in northern Spain By 1150 Christians had recaptured over half of Muslim Spain Ended in 1492 with conquest of Granada Successful due to organization and wealth of Christian Church

THE CRUSADES

CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES

 Byzantine emperor asked Pope for help in regaining territory lost to Seljuk Turks  Religious zeal  Pope Urban II calls for 1 st Crusade in 1095  Forgiveness of sin for those who die in battle  Knights’ willingness to engage in church sanctioned warfare  Feudal wars in Europe were coming to an end

ECONOMIC MOTIVES?

 Attraction of gaining spoils from rich Arab lands  Italian merchants desired to gain control of trade routes in the Mediterranean from Muslims  Italian merchants provide needed supplies to Crusaders

IMPACT OF THE CRUSADES

 The impact of the Crusades on the West is a source of debate among historians   The Crusades “helped expose the West to new cultural and economic influences from the Middle East, a major spur to further change and to [increase] the West’s interaction with the larger world” –Peter Stearns “Italian merchants had begun to travel well beyond Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to avoid Muslim middlemen and deal directly with the ultimate producers of silks and spices in India, southeast Asia, and China” –Jerry Bentley, et. al.

IMPACT OF THE CRUSADES

 Brian Tierney presents an opposing view to causes and impact of the Crusades  “But one cannot claim that without the crusades the Italian cities would not have not sought the markets of the East or that they could not have taught the peoples of Europe to like sugar and spices… Although some individuals undoubtedly went crusading in search of fiefs and plunder…it seems clear that the majority were moved by genuine religious enthusiasm and complete confidence that the crusade was the path to salvation”

THE CALAMITOUS 14

TH

CENTURY

The Burning of Joan of Arc

BUBONIC PLAGUE “THE BLACK DEATH”

 In October 1347 a ship from the Crimea sailed into Messina. The crew had a "sickness clinging to their very bones.“  Rats carrying fleas got on shore spreading disease  25 million people died in the next several years, 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of Europe  Ports cities were hit first  Close proximity, unsanitary conditions facilitated the spread into cities

Bubonic Plague

“…and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."

Spread of the Black Death

Victims “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise” -Geovanni Boccaccio

REACTIONS TO THE BLACK DEATH

 Did it lead to a decline in moral standards?

   Rampant Hysteria—Plague “God's Punishment” Fear—People locked themselves away; some fled their homes  Probably carried fleas from town to town Scapegoats—Any kind of "ungodly" behavior could result in swift and harsh punishment   Widows or strange old men might be singled out and stoned to death Foreigners, especially Jews, were persecuted, in some places burned at the stake in mass executions

IMPACT OF THE BLACK DEATH

  Profound impact on manorial economy  Labor became scarce in some places    Tenants, rent payers, made gains as feudal obligations were lowered Some serfs were freed to keep them from running away to better opportunities Wages rose in towns to keep workers happy Landlords and some towns continued to prosper

HUNDRED YEARS WAR (1337-1453)

 From 1337 to 1453 England and France periodically engaged in a series of military campaigns  Fought with new military technology  Crossbows, longbows, pikes, firearms, and cannons Joan of Arc, martyred in 1431

IMPACT OF HUNDRED YEARS WAR

 End of Feudalism?

 Monarchs centralized authority  More stable permanent boundaries  Kings began to levy direct taxes  Weakened the authority of feudal lords  Firearms led to the knight and castle being outdated  Monarchs maintained permanent armies

BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Bentley, Jerry and Herbert Ziegler.

Traditions and Encounters

. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Bulliet, Richard, et al.

The Earth and Its Peoples

. 2 nd Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2001.

ed. Boston: Stearns, Peter, et al.

World Civilizations

. 3 rd Ed. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 2001.

Tierney, Brian and Sidney Painter.

Western Europe in the Middle Ages

. 5 th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.