Chapter 8: The High Middle Ages 1050-1450

1

• Chapter 8 The High Middle Ages 1050-1450
• Section 1 Growth of Royal Power in England
  France
• Monarchs, Nobles and the Church
• Feudal Monarchs had limited power
• Nobles and the Church had more power than the
  monarch
• They both had
• -own courts
• -collected own taxes
• -their own armies

2

• Monarchs did their best to undermine the church
  and nobles
• They developed better ties with the middle class
• Strong Monarchs in England
• Despite feudalism in England, English rulers kept
  their kingdoms united
• In 1066 William of Normandy became the King of
  England
• William ruled England strictly, even compiling a
  census known as the Domesday Book

3

• The Domesday Book was an efficient way for the
  king to levy taxes
• In 1154 Henry II became King of England
• He expanded the legal system and laid the
  foundation for common law
• Common Law applied to all of England, and
  included a jury system
• The jury system consisted of a grand jury and a
  trial jury
• Henry came into conflict with the Church by
  trying to override their power

4

• Evolving Traditions of English Government
• English monarchs clashed with nobles over issues
  such as taxes
• In 1215 King John was forced to sign a document
  of rights known as the Magna Carta
• The Magna Carta established important principles
• -due process of law
• -no taxation w/o representation
• -civil rights
• -rulers must obey the law
• -limited government
• The Magna Carta also paved the way for the
  English Parliament
• Vocab pg 244, 3-6 pg 249

5

• Successful Monarchs in France
• French monarchs did not rule over a unified
  empire
• This began to change when Hugh Capet became king
  in 987
• Capet increased the power of the monarch by
• -making the throne hereditary
• -adding land to the empire
• -winning the support of the church
• -built an effective bureaucracy
• He also won the support of the middle class

6

• Philip Augustus (Philip II), also increased the
  power of the monarch
• -used paid middle class officials instead of
  nobles
• -organized a standing army
• -greatly expanded territory
• By the time he died he had become the most
  powerful ruler in Europe
• Louis IX was a great political and spiritual
  leader
• -expanded royal courts
• -outlawed private wars
• -ended serfdom in his lands

7

• Philip IV also try to expand royal power
• He attempted to tax the clergy which cause
  conflict with the church
• Philip had Pope Boniface VIII beaten and killed
  to prove his superiority over the church
• Philip also established the Estates General,
  representatives from all three estates
• -clergy
• -nobles
• -townspeople
• It was similar to the English Parliament in
  nature, but lacked the power of Parliament
• section 1 worksheet

8

• Section 2 The Holy Roman Empire the Church

9

• The Holy Roman Empire
• After Charlemagne's Empire collapsed, Duke Otto I
  became King of Germany
• Otto and his successors became Holy Roman
  emperors
• The German empire was large and made up of many
  nobles and church officials
• Holy Roman emperors tried to exert power over the
  church
• Conflict Between Popes Emperors
• Pope Gregory VII tried to end conflict between
  emperors and the Church

10

• Pope Gregory VII wanted to make the Church
  completely independent of secular rulers
• He banned lay investiture
• This caused German emperor Henry IV to become
  infuriated
• Many German princes supported the Pope, and Henry
  was excommunicated
• This caused Henry to make peace with the church
• This peace did not last and Henry led an army
  against Gregory and sent him into exile
• An agreement on lay investiture, the Concordat of
  Worms, helped achieve some peace between the
  church and secular rulers

11

• The Struggle for Italy
• A new struggle between popes and emperors emerged
  as German Emperors tried to control Italy
• German Emperor Frederick I had his son marry the
  heiress to Sicily and Southern Italy
• Their son, Frederick II, became a ruthless ruler
• He spent so much time in Italy that German nobles
  became more independent, and many feudal states
  emerged
• The Height of Church Power
• Pope Innocent III claimed supremacy over all
  other rulers
• Innocent and Philip II launched crusades against
  people who wanted to return the Church to simple
  ways

12

• Thousands of people were slaughtered in these
  crusades
• As French and English monarchs grew stronger,
  papal supremacy began to decline
• Vocab pg 251, 3-6 pg 254, section 1 2
  worksheets

13

• Section 3 Europeans Look Outward
• The Crusades

14

• The Crusades were fights between Muslim invaders
  and Christian Knights
• The goal was to free the Holy Land from the
  Muslims
• Thousands of Christian Knights fought, very few
  lived

15

• There were many reasons people went on crusades
• -religious zeal
• -wealth and land
• -adventure
• The Christians only won the first Crusade, and
  capped it off by massacring Jews and Muslims
• Over the next 200 years more crusades were
  launched, and the Muslims were victorious
• At the last crusade, the victorious Muslims
  slaughtered the Christian Knights

16

• Effects of the Crusades on Europe
• The Crusades left bad feelings as both sides
  committed atrocities
• The crusades did quicken changes that Europe was
  going through
• -increased trade
• -increased ship building
• -increased money system
• -decline of serfdom
• -increased power of monarchs

17

• The Reconquista
• Despite defeat, the crusading spirit was not
  crushed
• When Muslims conquered most of Christian Spain a
  new movement to expel Muslims was started
• For the next 200 years crusaders slowly drove
  Muslims out of the Spanish peninsula
• Ferdinand and Isabella went a step forward and
  outlawed any non Christian religion
• They used the inquisition to purge out any
  religion that was not Christian
• Vocab pg 255, 3-6 pg 260

18

• Section 4 Learning, Literature and the Arts
• Medieval Universities
• Economic and political changes caused the need
  for education to expand
• The first universities sprung up around the year
  1100
• Students in these first universities traveled
  from city to city to study various subjects
• Despite obtaining a good education, university
  life was not easy
• Students sat for hours on uncomfortable benches
  memorizing teacher lectures

19

• The universities offered a liberal arts program
  with two types of degrees
• -bachelors
• -masters
• Women suffered during this time because they were
  not permitted to go to the universities
• A handful of women were permitted to achieve an
  education however
• Europeans Acquire New Learning
• In addition to the liberal arts courses, many
  ideas were coming to Europe from ancient Greece
• Greek thinking and Philosophy was being
  translated into Latin

20

• A new method known as Scholasticism used reason
  to support Christian beliefs
• Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest Scholastic
  Thinkers
• He argued that faith and reason existed in
  harmony
• Medieval Literature
• New writings began to appear in the vernacular
• Common people began to read epics
• -Divine Comedy
• -Canterbury Tales

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• Architecture and Art
• New found wealth led to an architectural
  explosion
• Monasteries and towns built structures with a
  Roman influence
• There were few windows for structural
  reasonsdark and gloomy
• Around 1140 the Gothic Style of architecture
  emerged
• Gothic churches were large and bright since they
  had stained glass windows
• During this period churches became decorated with
  scenes from the Bible
• Vocab pg 262, 3-6 pg 267,

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• Section 5 A Time of Crisis
• The Black Death
• The mid 1300s saw a horrible plague infect
  Europe, the Black Death
• It was so devastating that 1 out of three people
  died
• This epidemic was caused by the fleas on rats
  traveling on merchant ships
• Europe, Asia and North Africa lost millions of
  people because of the traveling fleas
• The plague caused a social upheaval and people
  reacted in many different ways
• Jews were unfairly blamed for the plague, and
  many were slaughtered

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• The plague also had an economic impact as many
  workers died
• This had several effects
• -decline in production
• -demand for higher wages
• -inflation
• It took over 100 years for Europe to fully
  recover from the Black Death
• Upheaval in the Church
• Many people questioned why God would let the
  plague happen
• During this time some popes led worldly, lavish
  lifestyles

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• Because of this, church reformers elected their
  own pope
• This caused a schism in the church which resulted
  in 2 or 3 popes at a time
• During this time people began to challenge the
  spiritual authority of the church
• Reformers stated that the bible, not the church
  was the true authority
• The church treated these people at heretics
• Heretics were burned alive, but their ideas could
  not be suppressed

25

• The Hundred Years War
• This war between France and Britain lasted from
  1337-1453
• The wars were fought over economic rivalry and
  national pride
• Due to the longbow the English won many early
  victories
• This changed when 17 year old Joan of Arc told
  the King that God sent her to save France
• She led the French military to several victories,
  and raised their morale
• She was captured and killed by the English, and
  later named a saint

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• Her death inspired the French to victory
• France was able to push England out of most of
  France
• The War had several lasting effects
• -Parliament winning power of the purse
• -loss of English continental empire
• -new weapons replacing need for knights
• -decline of castles and feudalism
• The 1400s saw many new positive changes for
  Europe
• Vocab pg 269, 3-5 pg 273, section 5 worksheet
• Pg 278 1-14