Medieval Europe at Its Height

1
Medieval Europe at Its Height
A.D. 1050-1500

• Chapter 13
• By Michel Kernizan

2
The Crusades
Section 1

• Early Middle Ages were characterized by
  decentralized government, warfare, cultural
  isolation, famine, and wretched living
  conditions, but by A.D. 1100, the conditions in
  Europe had begun to improve.
• Strong central governments have been built by
  some succeeded European monarchs.
• Better farming methods developed, town and trade
  began to reappear, and the church held a powerful
  sway over the emotions and energies of the
  people.
• Changes in religion, society, politics, and
  economics made the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1050 to
  A.D. 1270) a springboard for a new and brilliant
  civilizations in western Europe.

3
Continued

• The transformation of medieval society began with
  a holy war over Jerusalem between the European
  Christians and the Muslims.
• The European Christians undertook nine series of
  military expeditions to recover the Holy Land
  from the Muslims.
• These expeditions were known as the Crusades.

4
Call For a Crusade

• Jerusalem was a holy city for the Jews,
  Christians, and the Muslims.
• The Jews regarded it as Zion, Gods own city, and
  as the site of Solomon's temple.
• The Christians stated it was holy because it was
  the place were Jesus was crucified and
  resurrected.
• The Muslims said it was the third holiest city
  after Makkah and Madinah. It was the place were
  Muhammad ascended to heaven from Jerusalem.

5
Jerusalem

• Fell to Arab invaders in A.D. 600s.
• Late in A.D. 1000s, the Seljuk Turks (central
  Asian Muslim people) took Jerusalem and left
  Palestine in chaos. Hazards of pilgrimage
  increased.

6
First Crusade
1096A.D.-1099A.D.

• 1095 A.D., Pope Urban II asked for a volunteer
  army to take Jerusalem and Palestine form the
  Seljuks.
• The Crusade was a welcome chance for the knights
  to employ their fighting skills.
• The Crusade meant freedom from feudal bonds for
  the peasants.
• All were promised immediate salvation if they
  were killed.
• Adventure and a possibility of wealth were other
  reasons to join.
• Red crosses of cloth were stitched on clothing as
  a symbol of service to God.

7
Continued

• The First Crusade marked the onset of a long
  period of Christian persecution of the Jews.
• French nobles led three armies of Crusader
  knights and volunteers that traveled separately
  from western Europe to the eastern Mediterranean.
• The three armies met in Constantinople in 1097
  A.D. and made there way to Jerusalem, enduring
  the hardships of desert travel as well as
  quarrels among their leaders.
• In 1099 A.D., the crusaders reached the city.
  After almost two months, Jerusalem fell. Most of
  the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants were massacred.
• Success of the First Crusade reinforce the
  authority of the Church and strengthened the
  self-confidence of western Europe.

8
Continued

• Contact between the Crusaders and the relatively
  more sophisticated civilizations of the
  Byzantines and Muslims would continued for the
  next 100 years and become a major factor in
  ending the cultural isolation of western Europe.

9
Second Crusade

• Less than 50 years after the First Crusade, the
  Seljuks conquered part of the Crusader states in
  Palestine.
• The Second Crusade was called a pond by Pope
  Eugenius IV to regain the territory.
• Monk Bernard of Clairvaux persuaded King Louis
  VII of France and the Roman Emperor Conrad III to
  lead armies to Palestine.
• Second Crusade lasted from 1147 A.D. to1149 A.D..
• Was unsuccessful because Louis VII and Conrad III
  constantly quarreled and had an ineffective
  militarily.
• Were easily defeated by the Seljuks.

10
Third Crusade

• Also so know as the Crusade of Kings lasted
  from 1189 A.D. to 1152 A.D.
• A diplomatic and forceful leader named Saladin
  united the Muslim forces and captured Jerusalem
  in 1187 A.D. which stunned and horrified people
  of western Europe.
• Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of
  Germany, King Philip Augustus of France, and King
  Richard I of England assembled warriors for the
  Third Crusade.
• Not more successful than the Second Crusade.
• Frederick Barbarossa died on his way to Palestine
  and his army returned home.
• Philip Augustus returned home before his army
  reached Jerusalem, which left Richard to struggle
  alone.

11
Continued

• Richards army defeated the Muslims in several
  battles but could not win a decisive victory over
  Saladins well-trained forces.
• After three years of fighting, Richard signed a
  truce with the Muslims.
• Tried to persuade Saladin to return to Jerusalem
  to the Christians but was denied.
• Saladin allowed Christians pilgrims access to
  Jerusalem.

12
Effects of the Crusades

• Crusades helped to speed up the pace of changes
  already underway in western Europe.
• Helped break down feudalism and increase the
  authority of kings.
• European monarchs levied taxes, raised armies,
  and cooperated on a large scale.
• Dead nobles without heirs, lands were pasted to
  kings.
• Many lesser nobles sold their estates of allowed
  their serfs to buy their freedom to become
  freeholders on the land or artisans in towns, to
  raise money for weapons.
• Contact with more advanced Byzantine and Muslim
  civilizations broadened European view of the
  world.

13
Continued

• The European presence in the East heightened
  demand at home for Eastern luxury goods spices,
  sugar, melons, tapestries, silk, and other items.
• Commerce increased in the Eastern Mediterranean
  area.
• Muslims learned how to build better ships, make
  more accurate maps, use magnetic compass, and
  improve their weaponry.
• Religious military orders of knights primarily
  aided pilgrims, but they were also bankers for
  both princes and merchants.
• Crusader states were relatively weak.
• The arrive of the Crusaders united the Muslims
  against a common enemy.

14
Economic and cultural Revival
Section 2

• Economy of western Europe begun to thrive around
  1000 A.D.
• Opportunities in trade encouraged the growth of
  towns in turn stimulated creative thought and
  innovations in art.
• Heavier plows were invented which enabled farmers
  to cultivate new lands and increased food
  production. Nobles and freeholders migrated to
  new areas clearing forest, draining swamps, and
  building villages.
• Collar harness replaced the ox yoke. The ox yoke
  choked the horse, but the new collar shifted
  weight allowing the horses to pull the plow
  faster than the oxen, also allowing the farmers
  to grow more crops.
• As the land began to feed more people, the
  population increase.

15
Expansion of Trade

• Revival of towns caused a rapid expansion of
  trade.
• Important sea and river routes connected western
  Europe, and Scandinavia.
• The Roman road system was rebuilt and carried
  international traders to and from Europe.
• Italian towns such as Venice, Pisa, and Genoa and
  controlled the Mediterranean trade after A.D.
  1200, bringing silks and spiced from Asian to
  Europe.
• Flanders (present-day northern France) and
  southwestern Belgium became the center of trade
  on Europes northern coast. Textiles were
  produced there and were sent to the Black sea and
  then traded at the Middle Eastern markets for
  porcelain, silk, and silver.

16
Continued

• Towns along the Baltic coast form the Hanseatic
  League, which controlled trade between eastern
  Europe and the North Atlantic.
• In a town, merchandise was varied and seemingly
  endless.
• Hundreds of traders met at trade fairs each year
  at places convenient to the land and water
  routes.
• Feudal lords charged the merchants fees, charged
  taxes on goods, and offered protection to the
  merchants.
• Champagne was the most famous fair in eastern
  France located almost in the exact center of
  Europe.

17
Banking

• Early merchants used the barter system.
• Merchants found that system impractical and would
  only accept money on luxury goods such as silk.
• The rise of money economy lead to the growth of
  banking.
• Since the traders came from different countries
  they had different currencies.
• Moneychangers (often Jews or Italians) determined
  the value of currencies and exchanged one
  currencies for another.
• They also developed procedures for transferring
  funds from one place to another, received
  deposits, and arranged loans, which made them
  become the first bankers in Europe.

18
Continued

• The word bank comes from banca, or bench that the
  moneychangers set up at fair.
• Kings, clergy, and nobles became dependent on
  money to pay their expenses.

19
Growth of Towns

• Towns grew tremendously between 1000 and 1100
  A.D. beside well traveled roads or beside
  waterways.
• Townspeople built walls (made out of stone with
  a guard tower at the gate) around there city to
  protect themselves from bandits.
• Medieval towns had almost no sanitation and a
  constant stench.
• Garbage and sewage were tossed into the streets.
  These conditions lead to a rapid spread of
  diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, influenza,
  and malaria. These diseases turned into epidemics
  such as the
• Bubonic plague a.k.a. Black Death was the worst
  epidemics between 1348 A.D. and 1350 A.D. which
  killed one-third of the population.

20
Medieval Towns

• Inside the walls narrow, winding streets bustled
  with people, cart drawn by horses and oxen, and
  farm animals on the way to the market.
• Church bells chimed the hours carts piled high
  with goods creaked and rumbled through streets
  about the size of alleys.
• Shop lined the streets at ground level, and the
  shop owners live above the shops.
• Most building were made of wood and thatch roofs
  which made fire a constant hazard.

21
Guilds

• Guilds are business associations that merchants
  and artisans organized themselves into during the
  1100 A.D..
• The guilds primary function was to maintain a
  monopoly of the local market for its members.
• Guilds restricted trading by foreigners in their
  city and enforced uniform pricing.
• Craft guilds, regulated the work of artisans
  carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, masons,
  tailors, weavers. Women worked as laundresses,
  seamstresses and embroiders, and maidservants and
  had their own trade associations.
• Craft guilds established strict rules concerning
  prices, wages and employment. Craft guilds also
  prohibited competition.
  

22
Continued

• Craft guilds were controlled by masters which
  were artisans who owned their own shops and tools
  and employed less skilled artisans as helpers.
• Artisans severed an apprenticeship to become a
  master at a particular craft. The length of
  apprenticeship varied according to the
  difficultly of the craft.
• Apprentices worked for a master with no pay.
• After being an apprentice they became a
  journeyman, which received pay. Journeyman could
  only work under a master.
• Journeyman then submitted a work of art to the
  guild for approval, if it was approved, the
  journeyman could set his shop.
• Guilds also provided medical and unemployment
  relief to its members.
• They also organized social and religious life by
  sponsoring out door plays, banquets, and holy day
  processions.

23
Rise of the Middle Class

• In medieval towns or burgs, a name for a new
  class of people was created. In German it was
  burghers, in France it was bourgeoisie, in
  England its was burgesses.
• The name originally referred to anyone who live
  in a town, but it eventually came to mean the
  people who made money through the money economy.
• The middle class included bankers, artisans who
  no longer had to rely on the land to make a
  living, and merchants.
• The middle class turned towns into organized
  municipalities.
• Kings began to rely on the middle class for loans
  and income taxes they paid.

24
Town Government

• Conflict developed between the feudal classes and
  the burghers,
• The burghers wanted to run there own affairs,
  while the feudal lords began to strictly enforce
  feudal laws to keep the burghers in line.
• In A.D. 1000 the money gave the towns the income
  and power they needed to win the struggle against
  the lords.
• Italian towns formed groups called communes which
  made the Italian towns independent city-states.
• In other parts of Europe, the kings and nobles
  granted charters which allowed the cities to
  control their own affairs.
• Many town also remained a part of a kingdom or
  feudal territory.

25
Education

• Education was controlled by the clergy.
• As town grew, the need for educated officials
  increased.
• The growth of courts and other legal institutions
  created a need for lawyers.
• Around A.D.1150, students and teachers began
  meeting away form monastery and cathedral and
  formed universities.

26
Universities

• Began as a guild of scholars organized for
  learning.
• Classes were held in rented rooms, churches, or
  outdoors and met regularly.
• Teachers read the text and discussed it while the
  students took notes on slates.
• Universities spread throughout Europe by the end
  of 1200 A.D.
• Most southern European universities were modeled
  after the law school at Bologna, Italy, and
  specialized in law and medicine.
• Northern Europe specialized in theology and
  liberal arts and were modeled after the
  University of Paris.

27
New Learning

• Medieval scholars studied the works of Aristotle,
  Muslim writing, and Roman law.
• Much information was reached by Muslim and Jewish
  scholars in European Muslim strongholds.
• European contact with Muslim scientific thought
  sparked an interest in the physical world led to
  the rise of western science.
• Church leaders opposed Aristotles works because
  his ideas threatened Christian teachings.
  Although some scholars used Aristotles works to
  theological questions and developed a system of
  thought called scholasticism which emphasized the
  interpretation of the Christian doctrine.

28
Continued

• Thomas Aquinas was the most important scholastic
  thinker in 1200 A.D..
• Wrote the Summa Theologica in which he claimed
  that reason was Gods gift that could provide
  answers to basic philosophical questions. Reason,
  he said, exited in harmony with faith, both
  pointing to God and the orderliness of creation.
• Catholic Churches accepted and promoted his way
  of thinking.

29
Strengthening of Monarchy
Section 3

• England fought to keep French lands inherited
  from the Normans.
• Frances king wanted to unite these lands to
  their kingdom.
• In 1337 A.D. warfare began when Englands Edward
  III claimed the French crown.
• Between 1337 A.D. and 1453 A.D., England and
  France fought a series of conflicts, known as the
  Hundred Years War.

30
Major Battles
Joan of Arc

• England defeated France at Crécy in 1346 A.D. and
  Agincourt in 1415 A.D.
• England basically won because of better weaponry
  such as a firearm that was the forerunner of the
  cannon and the longbow.

• In 1429 A.D., a 17-year-old Joan of Arc told King
  Charles VII that heavenly voices had told her to
  save France.
• She inspired a French army to a victory at
  Orléans, which had been a town under siege by
  England.
• Joan fell into English hands and was burned at
  the stake for witchcraft.
• However, her courage led the French to gradually
  drive the English out of France.
• Calais was the only French territory in English
  hands at the end of the war.

31
Effects of the War

• Since the war occurred on French soil, France
  suffered much worse than England.
• The war gave France a new sense of unity.
• Englands defeat lead to bitterness among the
  nobles who had lost French lands. Fro the rest of
  the 1400 A.D., England was divided by social
  conflict.
• Englands defeat also allowed England to focus on
  problems at home.
• The Hundred Years War hasted the decline of
  feudalism.
• Longbows and firearms made feudal warfare based
  on castles and mounted knight became outdated.
• Feudal soldiers were replaced by national armies
  which were expensive and monarchs turned to
  townspeople for a source of revenue.
• These groups willingly paid taxes and made loans
  in return for security and good government.

32
France

• In the late 1400s, Frances monarchy won much
  prestige and power.
• Louis XI the son of Charles VII, strengthened the
  bureaucracy, kept the nobles under royal control,
  and promoted trade and agriculture, and worked to
  unite all French feudal lands under his crown.
• Louis also gained partial control of Burgundy,
  which is one of Europes most prosperous areas by
  encouraging quarrels between Burgundy and the
  neighboring Swiss.
• When Burgundys ruler, Charles the Bold died in
  battle with the Swiss, in 1477, Burgundy was
  divided between his daughter Mary and the French
  king.

33
England

• During the Hundred Years War English monarchys
  power was limited by the Parliament, which had
  won the right to levy taxes, approve laws, and
  provide advice.
• Royal authority decreased because of nobility for
  control of the throne. This began in 1455 A.D.
  and was known as the Wars of the Roses because
  the symbols of the rival families were roses. The
  royal house of Lancaster bore the red roses and
  its rival family, the hose of York, bore the
  white roses.
• During this war Edward, duke of York, overthrew
  the Lancaster dynasty and became King Edward IV.
• He worked to strengthen royal government and to
  promote trade.
• His death in 1483 A.D. brought uncertainty to
  England.

34
Continued

• The heirs to the throne were his two sons,
  however Edwards brother Richard proclaimed
  himself king and locked his young nephews in the
  Tower of London where they probably were
  murdered.
• Richard III lacked widespread support and fell to
  the forces of Henry Tudor, a Lancaster noble, on
  the Bosworth Field in A.D. 1485 and became the
  first Tudor king and was known as King Henry VII.
  
• He eliminated royal claimants to the throne,
  increased royal power over the nobles, and
  avoided costly foreign wars.
• English monarchy emerged from the War of the
  Roses strengthened with few challengers.

35
Spain

• In 1469 A.D. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of
  Castile were married, but there kingdoms
  maintained separate governments, and royal power
  was limited by local interest.
• Christians, Jewish, and Muslims settling in
  Muslim areas had their own laws and officials in
  Castile and Aragon and were also royal charters
  allowed many towns to keep there courts and local
  customs.
• In Castile, the two monarch worked to strengthen
  royal power by sending out officials to govern
  the towns and set up special courts in the
  countryside to enforce royal laws.
• In A.D. 1492 their armies forced the surrender of
  the last Moorish stronghold at Granada.
• Ferdinand and Isabelle wanted all Spaniards to be
  Catholic.
• Spanish Jews and Moors were ordered to convert or
  leave.

36
Continued

• The persecution and departure of many Jews and
  Moors weakened Spains economy and culture.
• The Spanish monarchy set the Spanish Inquisitions
  to enforce Catholic teaching.
• It tortured, tried, and punished anyone suspected
  of heresy. This strengthened the power of Spanish
  monarchs over their people.

37
The Holy Roman Empire

• Made up of largely of German, Italian, and Slavic
  lands, and was Europes largest political unit.
• This empire was farthest from achieving unity
  under a strong monarch.
• Emperors were elected by a diet, or assembly of
  mostly German princes who governed their local
  territories as independent rulers.
• The German princes could reject or accept the
  emperors request for taxes and soldiers.
• In 1356 A.D. seven princes participate in the
  imperial elections.
• In 140s they began choosing emperors from the
  Hapsburgs, which is a family of nobles based in
  Austria.

38
Continued

• The Hapsburg emperors could not unify the empire,
  but were able to increase their prestige by
  securing other areas of Europe.
• One of Hapsburg most ambitious emperors was
  Maximilian I.
• He was elected emperor in 1493, married Mary or
  Burgundy and acquired present-day Belgium, the
  Netherlands, and Luxembourg as part of Hapsburg
  inheritance.
• His grandson, Charles, became emperor as Charles
  VI and under him, the Hapsburg became the most
  powerful European royal family, ruling Spain,
  Austria, Germany, the Low countries (present-day
  Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), and
  much of Italy.

39
Eastern Europe

• In eastern Europe, between present-day Germany
  and Russia, the largest and most powerful
  kingdoms were Poland and Hungary.

40
Poland

• Poland was formed in the 900s A.D. by the West
  Slavs, and had accepted Roman Catholicism and
  close ties with western Europe.
• The Poles fought groups of Teutonic Knights for
  controls of areas of Poland near the Baltic sea
  around about 1000s A.D.
• Polands golden age was around 13002 under King
  Casmir III, who reduced the power of local nobles
  and formed a strong central government.
• In 1386 A.D. one of Casmir's successors, Queen
  Jadwiga married Wladyslaw Jagiello who was the
  duke of neighboring Lithuania.
• Their married united Lithuania and Poland
  creating one of the largest states in medieval
  Europe.
• This unity allowed Polish forces to defeat the
  Teutonic Knights at the battle of Tannenburg in
  1410 A.D.

41
Hungary

• Hungary is south of Poland and is made of
  Magyars, Germans, and Slavs.
• In 1000 A.D. King Stephen I became a Roman
  Catholic and introduced his people to western
  Europe ways and he marked the beginning of a
  strong Hungarian monarchy.
• Mongols from central Asia invaded Hungary in 1241
  A.D. and caused widespread destruction, but soon
  withdrew and the kingdom was able to rebuild
  itself.
• The Ottoman Turks periodically attacked Hungary
  during 1400 and 1500 A.D.
• Hungarys King Louis II was defeated by the
  Ottoman ruler Suleiman I at the battle of Mochas.
• Most of Hungary was ruled by the Ottomans, and
  the rest was ruled by the Hapsburg emperors.

42
The Troubled Church
Section 4

• Many people turned to the Church for comfort and
  reassurance because of warfare, the plague, and
  religious controversy in the Late Middle Ages.
• Thousands of religious people went on pilgrimages
  which are journeys to holy places and religious
  ceremonies multiplied.
• However the authority of the Church was weakening
  because of the influences of strong monarchs and
  national government.
• A growing educated middle class towns people and
  questioning of the Churchs teachings contributed
  to its decline.

43
Babylonian Captivity

• The papacy came under the influence of the French
  monarchy during the early 1300s A.D.
• In A.D. 1305 a French archbishop was elected Pope
  Clement V.
• Clement moved his court from Rome to Avignon, a
  small city in southern France to escape the civil
  wars that were disrupting Italy. The pope
  appointed only French cardinals and he and his
  successors remained in Avignon until 1377 A.D.
  This became known as the Babylonian Captivity
  after the Jews exile in Babylon.
• The people feared the papacy would be dominated
  by French monarchs while the pope was in France.
• The Avignon popes showed for increasing church
  taxes and making church administration more
  efficient.
• The people believed the popes had become
  corrupted by worldly power and were neglecting
  their spiritual duties.

44
The Great Schism

• Pope Gregory XI left Avignon and returned to Rome
  in 1477 A.D.
• After his death, Roman mobs forced the College of
  Cardinals to elect an Italian as pope.
• The cardinals later declared the election
  invalid, saying that they voted under pressure.
• The cardinals then elected a second pope, who
  settled in Avignon.
• The Italian pope refused to resign, the Church
  faced being led by two popes. This became known
  as the Great Schism (which lasted from 1378 to
  1417) because it caused serious divisions in the
  Church and seriously undermined the popes
  authority.

45
Calls for a Council

• Many kings, princes, and church scholars called
  for a reform of church government.
• The most popular idea was a general council, but
  this idea had problems such as that councils were
  traditionally called by popes and different
  rulers in Europe supported different popes.
• Many western Europeans were committed to the
  church council.
• The council met at Pisa, Italy, to unite the
  church under one pope.
• This resulted in the election of a third pope.
• In 1414 A.D. another council met at Constance,
  Germany to force the resignation of the three
  popes and elected Pope Martin V, ending the Great
  Schism.
• However the Great Schism weakened the political
  influence of the Church.
• Europeans felt a greater sense of loyalty to
  their monarchs than to the pope.

46
Calls for Reform

• Church authority was also weakened by the
  peoples disliked of abuses within the Church.
• The clergy used many unpopular means to raise
  money by fees charged for almost every type of
  service the Church performed.
• The clergy also sold church positions (which was
  called simony) which was disliked by many common
  people.
• The princely lifestyle of the clergy further
  deteriorated regard for the Church.
• Many Europeans called for a reform and to of the
  voices were an English scholar and a Bohemian
  preacher.

47
John Wycliffe

• A scholar at Englands Oxford University.
• Criticized the Churchs wealth, corruption among
  the clergy, and the popes claim to absolute
  authority.
• He wanted to remove church officials who corrupt
  or immoral.
• Translated the bible to English.
• His followers were known as the Lollards who
  destroyed images of saints, ridiculed the Mass,
  and ate communion bread with onions to show that
  it was no different from ordinary bread.
• Widespread antipapal feeling made it difficult
  for the English government to suppress the
  Lollards.
• Queen Anne, wife of Richard II supported the
  Lollards.
• Wycliffe died peacefully in 1384 A.D.

48
Jan Hus

• The Slavs of Bohemia became known as the Czechs
  and wanted to end German control of their country
  and supported reforms in the Catholic Church in
  Bohemia.
• The leader of the Czech religious reform was Jan
  Hus, a popular preacher and professor at the
  University of Prague.
• When his works were condemned by the Church and
  political leaders, a violent wave of riots swept
  across Bohemia.
• The council at Constance demanded that Hus appear
  before them to defend his views and the Holy
  Roman emperor promised safe conduct to Constance,
  however this was ignored and Hus was burned at
  the strake as a heretic.
• His death caused many Czechs to rally around
  their new martyr.
• From 1420 to 1436 A.D. his supporters known as
  the Hussites, resisted the Church and the Holy
  Roman emperor.

49
Continued

• The Church launched five crusades against the
  Hussites which the Hussites won.
• In 1436 A.D. representatives of the pope and the
  Holy Roman emperor reached a compromise with the
  Hussite leaders.
• They gave the Hussites certain liberties in
  return for their allegiance to the Church.
• The ideas of Jan Hus continued throughout Europe
  and influenced radical reformers.
• The Church successfully met the challenges to its
  authority, nut the basic spiritual questions
  raised by Hus and others did not go away.

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