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CHAPTER 13 - European Middle Ages (500-1200) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 13 - European Middle Ages (500-1200) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 13.1: Charlemagne Unites Germanic Kingdoms

  • 5th Century: Germanic invaders overran western half of Roman Empire
    • Changes:
      • Disruption of trade
        • Merchants faced invasion from land/sea, their businesses collapsed
        • Breakdown of trade destroyed Europe's cities as economic centers, with money becoming scarce as a result
      • Downfall of Cities
        • Cities became abandoned as centers of administration
      • Population shifts
        • Nobles retreated to rural areas as Roman centers of trade/government collapsed 
        • Cities were left without strong leadership and other city dwellers left to the countryside, where they grew their own food
        • Population of Western Europe became mostly rural
  • The Germanic invaders who stormed Rome couldn't read or write 
  • Between Romans, the level of leaning depleted and more families left for rural areas
  • Few people were literate and knowledge of Greek was nearly lost
  • Germanic tribes had rich oral tradition of songs and legend with no written language 
  • German speakers moving into a Roman population caused Latin to change
    • Different dialects were created and new words/phrases became the norm 
    • 800s: French, Spanish, and other Roman-based languages evolved from Latin 

  • Between 400-600, small Germanic kingdoms replaced Roman provinces
    • The borders of the kingdoms changed constantly with the fortunes of war, the church as an institution surviving the fall of the Roman Empire
    • The Church provided order and security
  • The concept of government changes along with the shifting boundaries
    • The unificiation of Roman society made with loyalty to public government and written law. 
    • Unification of German society held together through family ties and personal loyalty instead of citizenship in a public state 
      • They lived in small communities that were governed by unwritten rules and traditions
    • Each Germanic chief led a band of warriors that pledged their loyalty to him
      • Germanic warriors did not feel an obligation to obey a king that they did not know or an official that was sent to collect taxes/administer justice in the name of an unknown emperor
        • This made it impossible to establish orderly government for large territories
  • Gaul (mainly present-day France/Switzerland): Germanic group of people called the Franks held power
    • Their leader was Clovis; he would bring Christianity to the region
    • The Church in Rome accepted Clovis' conversion and supported his military campaigns against other Germanic peoples. 
    • 511: Clovis had united the Franks into one kingdom and the strategic alliance b/t Clovis' Frankish kingdom/Church created the start of a partnership
  • By 600, the Church (with assistance from Frankish rulers) converted many Germanic peoples
  • The new converts settled in Rome's former lands, with missionaries also spreading Christianity
    • They often risked their lives trying to convert others in different lands 
  • 300s-400s: They worked alongside the Germanic/Celtic groups bordering the Roman Empire
  • 600s: In Southern Europe, the fear of coastal attacks by Muslims led many people to convert to Christianity
  • Church built monasteries to adapt to rural conditions
    • Christian men (monks) gave up private possessions and devoted their lives to serving God 
      • Women who followed this lifestyle are nuns and lived in convents
  • Approx. 520, Benedict (Italian mink) started writing a book of strict, practical rules for monasteries 
    • His sister, Scholastica, headed a convent and adapted the same rules for women
    • The guidelines became a model for many other religious communities in western Europe
  • Monasteries became Europe's best educated communities
  • Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books 
  • 600s-700s: monks made beautiful copies of religious writings decorated with ornate letters/brilliant pictures (illuminated manuscripts) 
  • 590: Gregory I (Gregory the Great) became pope
    • He broadened the authority of the papacy (the pope's office) beyond its spiritual role 
    • The papacy became a secular, or worldly power involved in politics
      • The Pope's palace was the center of Roman government
      • Gregory used church revenues to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor
      • He also negotiated peace treaties with invaders such as the Lombards 
  • The region from Italy-England and from Spain-Germany were under Gregory's responsibility
  • Gregory strengthened the vision of Christendom
    •  It was a spiritual kingdom that fanned out from Rome to the most distant churches
  • Secular kingdoms expanded their political kingdoms 
  • After the Roman Empire dissolved, small kingdoms were established all over Europe 
    • Ex) Europe split into seven tiny kingdoms
  • The Franks controlled the largest and strongest of Europe's kingdoms, the area formerly part of Gaul 
  • Clovis died in 511; he extended Frankish rule over most of present-day France
  • 700: An official known as major domo, or mayor of the palace, became the most powerful person in the Frankish kingdom
    • He officially had charge of the royal household and estates
    • He unofficially led armies and made policy, ruling the kingdom in effect 
  • Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer) held more power than the king
    • Martel  extended Franks' reign to the north, south, east, and west
    • He defeated Muslim raiders from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732, which was highly significant because of the Muslims had won, western Europe might have been part of the Muslim Empire
  • Martel dies, passes his power to his son, Pepin the Short, who shrewdly cooperated with the pope
    • He agreed to fight the Lombards, who invaded central Italy/threatened Rome
    • In exchange, the pope anointed Pepin king "by the grace of God"
    • This exchange created the Carolingian Dynasty, the family that would rule the Franks from 751-987
  • Pepin died in 768, strengthening the Frankish kingdom to his sons Carloman and Charles 
  • Carloman dies in 771, Charlemagne (Charles the Great) ruled the kingdom 
  • Charlemagne builds empire greater than any known since ancient Rome 
    • He fought Muslims in Spain/other tribes from other Germanic kingdoms 
    • He also conquered new lands to both the south/east
  • Charlemagne spread Christianity through these conquests and reunited western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire 
  • By 800: Charlemagne's empire was larger than the Byzantine Empire 
    • Charlemagne traveled to Rome to crush an unruly mob that attacked the pope. As a result, Pope Leo III crowned him emperor 
    • Important coronation because it shows that a pope had claimed political right to confer the title of "Roman Emperor" on a European king
    • It signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman empire 
  • Charlemagne strengthens royal power by limiting the authority of the nobles
    • To govern his empire, he sent out royal agents to make sure that counts, (powerful landlords), governed their counties justly.
    • Charlemagne was heavily involved in administration, he regularly visited each part of his kingdom and kept a close watch on management of his huge estates, which housed Carolingian wealth and power 
  • One of Charlemagne's greatest accomplishments was the encouragement of learning
    • He surrounded himself with English, German, Italian, and Spanish scholars
    • He opened a palace school for his sons and daughters and ordered monasteries to open schools to train future monks and priests 
  • Charlemagne dies 814, but before he died he crowned his only surviving son, Louis the Pious emperor
    • Louis was an ineffective ruler and left three sons: Charles the Bald and Louis the German, who fought one another for control of the empire
  • 843: The brothers signed the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the empire into three kingdoms
    • This led to the Carolingian kings losing power and central authority breaking down
    • The lack of strong rulers led to feudalism -- A new system of governing and landholding. 

CHAPTER 13.2: Feudalism in Europe 

  • From approx. 800-1000, invasions destroyed the Carolingian Empire
  • Muslim invaders from the south seized Sicily and raided Italy and in 846, Rome was sacked 
  • Magyar invaders came in from the east and terrorized Germany/Italy
  • Vikings came in from the North
    • They set sail from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden)
  • Vikings were Germanic peoples that worshipped warlike gods and took pride in nicknames like Eric Bloodaxe/Thorfinn Skullsplitter 
    • They carried out their raids with alarming speed and wielded swords and heavy, wooden shields
    • They beached their ships, attacked quickly, then went back out to sea again 
  • Viking warships held 300 warriors, who took turns rowing the ship's 72 oars, weighing roughly 20 tons when fully loaded
  • Vikings looted inland villages and monasteries 
  • Vikings were also traders, farmers, and explorers that ventured far beyond western Europe
    • Went down rivers into Russia, Constantinople, and the North Atlantic 
  • Leif Ericson reached North America roughly at around year 1,000, which was almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus 
  • Around the same time, Vikings gradually accepted Christianity and stopped raiding monasteries 
  • A warming trend in Europe's climate made farming easier in Scandinavia, which led to fewer Scandinavians adopting the Viking lifestyle 
  • Magyars, A group of nomadic people, attacked from the east from present-day Hungary 
    • They went from the plains of the Danube River and invaded Western Europe in the late 800s
    • They attacked isolated villages/monasteries and overran northern Italy/reached as far west as the Rhineland/Burgundy 
  • Magyars did not settle conquered land and instead took captives to sell as slaves
  • Muslims attacked from the South, beginning their encroachments from their strongholds in North Africa, invading present-day Italy and Spain
  • 600s-700s: The Muslim plan was to conquer and settle in Spain
  • 800s-900s: Muslim plan was to plunder
  • Muslims were expert seafarers and were able to attack settlements on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts
  • Invasions by the Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims caused widespread disorder and suffering and many Europeans lived in constant danger
  • Kings were unable to effectively defend their lands from invasion and as a result, people no longer looked up to a central ruler for security and instead turned to local rulers that had their own armies 
  • Worst years of the invaders' attacks were roughly from 850-950
  • Rulers and warriors like Charles and Rollo made similar agreements in many parts of Europe
  • Feudalism emerged in Europe with a similar feudal system that had existed in China under the Zhou Dynasty (11th cent. BC - 256 BC)
  • Feudal system was based on rights and obligations
    • In exchange for military protection and other services, a lord, or landowner granted land called a fief
    • The person receiving a fief was a vassal
    • Feudalism depended on the control of land 
  • Feudal society is similar to a pyramid
    • At the top was the king, next being the most powerful vassals (wealthy landowners like bishops and nobles), beneath them were knights
      • Knights were mounted horsemen who pledged to defend their lords' lands in exchange for fiefs
    • At the base of the pyramid were landless peasants who toiled in fields
  • Status determined a person's prestige and power in the feudal system
  • Medieval writers classified people into three groups:
    • Those who fought (nobles and knights)
    • Those who prayed (men and women of the Church)
    • Those who worked (Peasants) 
  • Social class was usually inherited 
  • The vast majority of people were peasants
  • Most were serfs
    • Serfs: people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born
    • Serfs were not slaves even though they were bound to the land. The lords cannot sell or buy them. However, what their labor created belonged to the lord
  • Manor: the lord's estate
    • The manor system was the basic economic arrangement
    • It rested on a set of rights and obligations between a lord and his serfs
    • The lord provided serfs with housing, farmland, and protection from bandits 
      • In return, serfs tended to the lord's lands, cared for his animals, and performed other tasks to maintain the estate
    • Peasant women shared farmwork with their husbands 
  • Peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles from their own manor 
  • A manor usually covered only a few square miles of land and typically consisted of the lord's manor house, a church, and workshops 
  • Usually 15-30 families lived in the manor village 
  • The manor was a largely self-sufficient community 
    • Serfs and peasants raised or produced nearly everything that they or their lord needed for daily life-- crops, milk, cheese, fuel, cloth, leather goods, and lumber 
  • The only outside purchases made were salt, iron, and objects such as millstones (used to grind flour) 
  • Crops typically grown on a manor included grains (wheat, rye, barley, and oats) and vegetables (peas, beans, onions, beets) 
  • Peasants paid a tax on all grain ground in the lord's mill and attempts to avoid taxes by baking bread somewhere else was treated as a crime 
    • They also paid a tax on marriage and weddings could only take place with the lord's consent 
  • After all the payments to the lord, peasant families owed the village priest a tithe, or a church tax, which represented 1/10 of their income
  • Serfs lived in crowded cottages close to their neighbors, which had only one or two rooms.
  • They warmed their dirt-floor houses by bringing pigs inside and at night, they would huddle on a pile of straw that often had insects inside of it 
  • Peasant diet consisted of mainly vegetables, coarse brown bread, grain, cheese, and soup 
  • Peasant daily life revolved around raising crops/livestock and taking care of home and family 
  • When children were old enough, they were sent to work in the fields or at home
  • Many children did not survive to adulthood and the average life expectancy was about 35 years old 
  • Most peasants did not travel more than 25 miles from their homes 
  • Serfs accepted their life as a part of the Church's teachings and believed that God determined a person's place in society just like most Christians during the medieval times. 

CHAPTER 13.3 - The Age of Chivalry (364) 

  • Leather saddles/stirrups changed warfare conduct in Europe during the 700s
    • Both developed in Asia approximately 200 BC
  • Stirrups allowed a warrior to ride/handle heavier weapons, without it he might topple off his own horse
  • Warhorses played a key military role
  • By the 11th century, western Europe was full of nobles seeking power
  • Feudal lords raised private armies of knights to defend territories
  • Feudal lords used land to their advantage:
    • They rewarded knights with fiefs from estates
    • Wealth from fiefs let knights devote themselves to warfare
  • Knight's main obligation was to serve in battle
  • Chivalry = Established in the 1100s: a complex set of ideals that demanded a knight fight bravely in defense of three masters
    • He devoted himself to his feudal lord, God, and his chosen lady, protecting the weak and poor
    • Ideal knights were loyal, brave, and courteous (many did not meet these standards, as they treated lower classes poorly)
  • Training for knighthood started at an early age
  • After being dubbed a knight, most young men traveled for 1-2 years
  • Tournaments = Mock battles that combined recreation with combat training
  • By the 1100s, castles were surrounded by massive walls and stone castles, dominating western Europe's countryside
  • Castle doubled as a fortress for defense
  • 1100s medieval literature idealized castle life, glorified knighthood/chivalry, tournaments, and real-life battles
  • Epic poems popular amongst feudal lords and ladies 
  • The Song of Roland is one of the earliest/most famous medieval epic poems
  • A knight's duty to his lady was just as important as his duty to his lord 
  • Troubadors were traveling poet-musicians at castles and courts in Europe
    • They composed short verses about romantic love
  • Eleanor of Equitaine (1122-1204) was the most celebrated woman of her age
  • Most women in feudal society were powerless but were burdened with the widespread belief that they were inferior to men
    • This was the view of the Church and was overall accepted in feudal society
  • A noblewoman could inherit an estate from her husband and could also send his knights to war
  • When the husband was off fighting, the lady can act like a military commander and a warrior
  • Noblewomen sometimes played a key role in defending castles
  • Most lives of noblewomen were limited and generally confined to activities in the home or convent
  • Noblewomen held little property because lords passed down their fiefs to sons and not daughters
  • Life for women in lower classes remained unchanged for centuries
    • Peasant women performed endless labor at home/the fields, bore children, and took care of families
    • Young peasant girls learned practical household skills from their mother 
    • Women in peasant families were poor and powerless 

CHAPTER 13.4 - The Power of the Church

  • The Church wanted to influence both spiritual and political matters 
  • 300 years earlier, Pope Gelasius I recognized potential conflicts between the Church/State
    • He suggested an analogy to solve such conflicts:
      • God had created two symbolic swords: one was religious and the other political
      • The pope should bow to the emperor in political matters
      • In turn the emperor should bow to the pope in religious matters
      • If each ruler kept authority in their own areas, they could coexist peacefully
  • However, this analogy wasn't realistic as both powers disagreed on the boundaries of either area 
  • In the Church, power was based on status
  • The pope in Rome headed the Church
  • Clergy = members of the Church that fell under the Pope's authority, including bishops and priests
  • Bishops supervised priests, the lowest ranking members of the clergy
  • Bishops settled disputes over Church teachings and practices
  • Local priests served as the main contact with the Church 
  • The shared beliefs in the teachings of the Church bonded people together
  • The church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare/political turmoil, giving Christians security/sense of belonging in a religious community
  • Sacraments are important religious ceremonies administered by priests and other clergy members
    • The rites paved the way for salvation
  • The village church was a unifying force in the lives for most, serving as a religious/social center
  • The Church's authority provided a unifying set of spiritual beliefs and rituals 
    • It created a system of justice to guide behavior 
  • Canon law: Church law in matters such as marriage and religious practices
  • The Church established courts to try people accused of violating canon law 
  • Popes threatened ex-communication from the Church to wield power over political rulers
    • Excommunication freed all the king's vassals from their duties to him 
    • If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the people, the pope could interdict
  • Under an interdict, many sacraments and religious services couldn't be done in the king's lands
    • The king's subjects believed that without sacraments, they would be doomed to hell as devout Christians 
  • In the 11th century, excommunication and potential interdicts would force a German emperor to submit to the pope
  • Otto I (Otto the Great) was crowned king in 936 and was the most effective ruler of medieval Germany 
  • Otto formed a close alliance with the Church
    • He sought help from the clergy to limit strength of the nobles
    • Otto built up his power base by gaining the support of the bishops and abbots (heads of monasteries)
  • He also used his power to defeat German princes
  • He invaded Italy on the pope's behalf, being crowned emperor in 962 as a reward by the pope
  • The German-Italian empire Otto created was first called the Roman Empire of the German Nation, later becoming the Holy Roman Empire
    • It remained the strongest state in Europe until about 1100
  • Otto's attempt to revive Charlemagne's empire caused trouble for future German leaders
  • The Church didn't like that kings such as Otto controlled clergy and the offices
    • They resented lay investiture, a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials 
    • Whoever controlled lay investiture held real power in naming bishops
  • Church reformers felt that kings shouldn't have that power
  • 1075: Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture 
  • Henry IV called a meeting of German bishops he appointed and with their approval, ordered Gregory to step down from the papacy
  • Gregory excommunicated Henry and afterwards, German bishops and princes sided with the pope
    • Henry tried to win pope's forgiveness to save his throne
  • Gregory and Henry's successors continued to fight over lay investiture until 1122
  • Representatives of Church/emperor would meet in Worms (German city) 
  • They reached a compromise (Concordat of Worms) 
    • The Church alone could appoint a bishop, but the emperor could veto the appointment 
  • German princes regained lost power under Otto during Henry's struggle
  • By 1152, seven princes who elected the German king realized that Germany needed a strong ruler 
  • They elected Frederick I (Barbarossa) 
    • He was the first ruler to call his lands the Holy Roman Empire
    • The region was a patchwork of feudal territories
    • He was able to dominate the German princes but when he left, disorder returned
  • Frederick repeatedly invaded rich Italian cities
  • Italian merchants united against him because of his brutal tactics
  • He also angered the pope, who joined the merchants in an alliance group called the Lombard League
  • 1176: the foot soldiers of the Lombard League faced Frederick's army at the Battle of Legnano
    • Italians take the victory for the first time in history
  • 1177: Frederick made peace with the pope and returned to Germany 
    • His defeat undermined his authority with German princes
  • He drowned in 1190, his empire fell apart
  • German kings after Frederick continued to attempt to revive Charlemagne's empire/his alliance with the Church
  • The policy led to wars with Italian cities and further clashes with the pope, which is why feudal states of Germany didn't unify during the Middle ages
  • The system of German princes electing the king weakened royal authority
  • German rulers controlled a fewer royal lands to use as a base of power than French/English kings of the same period

CHAPTER 13 - European Middle Ages (500-1200) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 13.1: Charlemagne Unites Germanic Kingdoms

  • 5th Century: Germanic invaders overran western half of Roman Empire
    • Changes:
      • Disruption of trade
        • Merchants faced invasion from land/sea, their businesses collapsed
        • Breakdown of trade destroyed Europe's cities as economic centers, with money becoming scarce as a result
      • Downfall of Cities
        • Cities became abandoned as centers of administration
      • Population shifts
        • Nobles retreated to rural areas as Roman centers of trade/government collapsed 
        • Cities were left without strong leadership and other city dwellers left to the countryside, where they grew their own food
        • Population of Western Europe became mostly rural
  • The Germanic invaders who stormed Rome couldn't read or write 
  • Between Romans, the level of leaning depleted and more families left for rural areas
  • Few people were literate and knowledge of Greek was nearly lost
  • Germanic tribes had rich oral tradition of songs and legend with no written language 
  • German speakers moving into a Roman population caused Latin to change
    • Different dialects were created and new words/phrases became the norm 
    • 800s: French, Spanish, and other Roman-based languages evolved from Latin 

  • Between 400-600, small Germanic kingdoms replaced Roman provinces
    • The borders of the kingdoms changed constantly with the fortunes of war, the church as an institution surviving the fall of the Roman Empire
    • The Church provided order and security
  • The concept of government changes along with the shifting boundaries
    • The unificiation of Roman society made with loyalty to public government and written law. 
    • Unification of German society held together through family ties and personal loyalty instead of citizenship in a public state 
      • They lived in small communities that were governed by unwritten rules and traditions
    • Each Germanic chief led a band of warriors that pledged their loyalty to him
      • Germanic warriors did not feel an obligation to obey a king that they did not know or an official that was sent to collect taxes/administer justice in the name of an unknown emperor
        • This made it impossible to establish orderly government for large territories
  • Gaul (mainly present-day France/Switzerland): Germanic group of people called the Franks held power
    • Their leader was Clovis; he would bring Christianity to the region
    • The Church in Rome accepted Clovis' conversion and supported his military campaigns against other Germanic peoples. 
    • 511: Clovis had united the Franks into one kingdom and the strategic alliance b/t Clovis' Frankish kingdom/Church created the start of a partnership
  • By 600, the Church (with assistance from Frankish rulers) converted many Germanic peoples
  • The new converts settled in Rome's former lands, with missionaries also spreading Christianity
    • They often risked their lives trying to convert others in different lands 
  • 300s-400s: They worked alongside the Germanic/Celtic groups bordering the Roman Empire
  • 600s: In Southern Europe, the fear of coastal attacks by Muslims led many people to convert to Christianity
  • Church built monasteries to adapt to rural conditions
    • Christian men (monks) gave up private possessions and devoted their lives to serving God 
      • Women who followed this lifestyle are nuns and lived in convents
  • Approx. 520, Benedict (Italian mink) started writing a book of strict, practical rules for monasteries 
    • His sister, Scholastica, headed a convent and adapted the same rules for women
    • The guidelines became a model for many other religious communities in western Europe
  • Monasteries became Europe's best educated communities
  • Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books 
  • 600s-700s: monks made beautiful copies of religious writings decorated with ornate letters/brilliant pictures (illuminated manuscripts) 
  • 590: Gregory I (Gregory the Great) became pope
    • He broadened the authority of the papacy (the pope's office) beyond its spiritual role 
    • The papacy became a secular, or worldly power involved in politics
      • The Pope's palace was the center of Roman government
      • Gregory used church revenues to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor
      • He also negotiated peace treaties with invaders such as the Lombards 
  • The region from Italy-England and from Spain-Germany were under Gregory's responsibility
  • Gregory strengthened the vision of Christendom
    •  It was a spiritual kingdom that fanned out from Rome to the most distant churches
  • Secular kingdoms expanded their political kingdoms 
  • After the Roman Empire dissolved, small kingdoms were established all over Europe 
    • Ex) Europe split into seven tiny kingdoms
  • The Franks controlled the largest and strongest of Europe's kingdoms, the area formerly part of Gaul 
  • Clovis died in 511; he extended Frankish rule over most of present-day France
  • 700: An official known as major domo, or mayor of the palace, became the most powerful person in the Frankish kingdom
    • He officially had charge of the royal household and estates
    • He unofficially led armies and made policy, ruling the kingdom in effect 
  • Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer) held more power than the king
    • Martel  extended Franks' reign to the north, south, east, and west
    • He defeated Muslim raiders from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732, which was highly significant because of the Muslims had won, western Europe might have been part of the Muslim Empire
  • Martel dies, passes his power to his son, Pepin the Short, who shrewdly cooperated with the pope
    • He agreed to fight the Lombards, who invaded central Italy/threatened Rome
    • In exchange, the pope anointed Pepin king "by the grace of God"
    • This exchange created the Carolingian Dynasty, the family that would rule the Franks from 751-987
  • Pepin died in 768, strengthening the Frankish kingdom to his sons Carloman and Charles 
  • Carloman dies in 771, Charlemagne (Charles the Great) ruled the kingdom 
  • Charlemagne builds empire greater than any known since ancient Rome 
    • He fought Muslims in Spain/other tribes from other Germanic kingdoms 
    • He also conquered new lands to both the south/east
  • Charlemagne spread Christianity through these conquests and reunited western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire 
  • By 800: Charlemagne's empire was larger than the Byzantine Empire 
    • Charlemagne traveled to Rome to crush an unruly mob that attacked the pope. As a result, Pope Leo III crowned him emperor 
    • Important coronation because it shows that a pope had claimed political right to confer the title of "Roman Emperor" on a European king
    • It signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman empire 
  • Charlemagne strengthens royal power by limiting the authority of the nobles
    • To govern his empire, he sent out royal agents to make sure that counts, (powerful landlords), governed their counties justly.
    • Charlemagne was heavily involved in administration, he regularly visited each part of his kingdom and kept a close watch on management of his huge estates, which housed Carolingian wealth and power 
  • One of Charlemagne's greatest accomplishments was the encouragement of learning
    • He surrounded himself with English, German, Italian, and Spanish scholars
    • He opened a palace school for his sons and daughters and ordered monasteries to open schools to train future monks and priests 
  • Charlemagne dies 814, but before he died he crowned his only surviving son, Louis the Pious emperor
    • Louis was an ineffective ruler and left three sons: Charles the Bald and Louis the German, who fought one another for control of the empire
  • 843: The brothers signed the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the empire into three kingdoms
    • This led to the Carolingian kings losing power and central authority breaking down
    • The lack of strong rulers led to feudalism -- A new system of governing and landholding. 

CHAPTER 13.2: Feudalism in Europe 

  • From approx. 800-1000, invasions destroyed the Carolingian Empire
  • Muslim invaders from the south seized Sicily and raided Italy and in 846, Rome was sacked 
  • Magyar invaders came in from the east and terrorized Germany/Italy
  • Vikings came in from the North
    • They set sail from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden)
  • Vikings were Germanic peoples that worshipped warlike gods and took pride in nicknames like Eric Bloodaxe/Thorfinn Skullsplitter 
    • They carried out their raids with alarming speed and wielded swords and heavy, wooden shields
    • They beached their ships, attacked quickly, then went back out to sea again 
  • Viking warships held 300 warriors, who took turns rowing the ship's 72 oars, weighing roughly 20 tons when fully loaded
  • Vikings looted inland villages and monasteries 
  • Vikings were also traders, farmers, and explorers that ventured far beyond western Europe
    • Went down rivers into Russia, Constantinople, and the North Atlantic 
  • Leif Ericson reached North America roughly at around year 1,000, which was almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus 
  • Around the same time, Vikings gradually accepted Christianity and stopped raiding monasteries 
  • A warming trend in Europe's climate made farming easier in Scandinavia, which led to fewer Scandinavians adopting the Viking lifestyle 
  • Magyars, A group of nomadic people, attacked from the east from present-day Hungary 
    • They went from the plains of the Danube River and invaded Western Europe in the late 800s
    • They attacked isolated villages/monasteries and overran northern Italy/reached as far west as the Rhineland/Burgundy 
  • Magyars did not settle conquered land and instead took captives to sell as slaves
  • Muslims attacked from the South, beginning their encroachments from their strongholds in North Africa, invading present-day Italy and Spain
  • 600s-700s: The Muslim plan was to conquer and settle in Spain
  • 800s-900s: Muslim plan was to plunder
  • Muslims were expert seafarers and were able to attack settlements on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts
  • Invasions by the Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims caused widespread disorder and suffering and many Europeans lived in constant danger
  • Kings were unable to effectively defend their lands from invasion and as a result, people no longer looked up to a central ruler for security and instead turned to local rulers that had their own armies 
  • Worst years of the invaders' attacks were roughly from 850-950
  • Rulers and warriors like Charles and Rollo made similar agreements in many parts of Europe
  • Feudalism emerged in Europe with a similar feudal system that had existed in China under the Zhou Dynasty (11th cent. BC - 256 BC)
  • Feudal system was based on rights and obligations
    • In exchange for military protection and other services, a lord, or landowner granted land called a fief
    • The person receiving a fief was a vassal
    • Feudalism depended on the control of land 
  • Feudal society is similar to a pyramid
    • At the top was the king, next being the most powerful vassals (wealthy landowners like bishops and nobles), beneath them were knights
      • Knights were mounted horsemen who pledged to defend their lords' lands in exchange for fiefs
    • At the base of the pyramid were landless peasants who toiled in fields
  • Status determined a person's prestige and power in the feudal system
  • Medieval writers classified people into three groups:
    • Those who fought (nobles and knights)
    • Those who prayed (men and women of the Church)
    • Those who worked (Peasants) 
  • Social class was usually inherited 
  • The vast majority of people were peasants
  • Most were serfs
    • Serfs: people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born
    • Serfs were not slaves even though they were bound to the land. The lords cannot sell or buy them. However, what their labor created belonged to the lord
  • Manor: the lord's estate
    • The manor system was the basic economic arrangement
    • It rested on a set of rights and obligations between a lord and his serfs
    • The lord provided serfs with housing, farmland, and protection from bandits 
      • In return, serfs tended to the lord's lands, cared for his animals, and performed other tasks to maintain the estate
    • Peasant women shared farmwork with their husbands 
  • Peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles from their own manor 
  • A manor usually covered only a few square miles of land and typically consisted of the lord's manor house, a church, and workshops 
  • Usually 15-30 families lived in the manor village 
  • The manor was a largely self-sufficient community 
    • Serfs and peasants raised or produced nearly everything that they or their lord needed for daily life-- crops, milk, cheese, fuel, cloth, leather goods, and lumber 
  • The only outside purchases made were salt, iron, and objects such as millstones (used to grind flour) 
  • Crops typically grown on a manor included grains (wheat, rye, barley, and oats) and vegetables (peas, beans, onions, beets) 
  • Peasants paid a tax on all grain ground in the lord's mill and attempts to avoid taxes by baking bread somewhere else was treated as a crime 
    • They also paid a tax on marriage and weddings could only take place with the lord's consent 
  • After all the payments to the lord, peasant families owed the village priest a tithe, or a church tax, which represented 1/10 of their income
  • Serfs lived in crowded cottages close to their neighbors, which had only one or two rooms.
  • They warmed their dirt-floor houses by bringing pigs inside and at night, they would huddle on a pile of straw that often had insects inside of it 
  • Peasant diet consisted of mainly vegetables, coarse brown bread, grain, cheese, and soup 
  • Peasant daily life revolved around raising crops/livestock and taking care of home and family 
  • When children were old enough, they were sent to work in the fields or at home
  • Many children did not survive to adulthood and the average life expectancy was about 35 years old 
  • Most peasants did not travel more than 25 miles from their homes 
  • Serfs accepted their life as a part of the Church's teachings and believed that God determined a person's place in society just like most Christians during the medieval times. 

CHAPTER 13.3 - The Age of Chivalry (364) 

  • Leather saddles/stirrups changed warfare conduct in Europe during the 700s
    • Both developed in Asia approximately 200 BC
  • Stirrups allowed a warrior to ride/handle heavier weapons, without it he might topple off his own horse
  • Warhorses played a key military role
  • By the 11th century, western Europe was full of nobles seeking power
  • Feudal lords raised private armies of knights to defend territories
  • Feudal lords used land to their advantage:
    • They rewarded knights with fiefs from estates
    • Wealth from fiefs let knights devote themselves to warfare
  • Knight's main obligation was to serve in battle
  • Chivalry = Established in the 1100s: a complex set of ideals that demanded a knight fight bravely in defense of three masters
    • He devoted himself to his feudal lord, God, and his chosen lady, protecting the weak and poor
    • Ideal knights were loyal, brave, and courteous (many did not meet these standards, as they treated lower classes poorly)
  • Training for knighthood started at an early age
  • After being dubbed a knight, most young men traveled for 1-2 years
  • Tournaments = Mock battles that combined recreation with combat training
  • By the 1100s, castles were surrounded by massive walls and stone castles, dominating western Europe's countryside
  • Castle doubled as a fortress for defense
  • 1100s medieval literature idealized castle life, glorified knighthood/chivalry, tournaments, and real-life battles
  • Epic poems popular amongst feudal lords and ladies 
  • The Song of Roland is one of the earliest/most famous medieval epic poems
  • A knight's duty to his lady was just as important as his duty to his lord 
  • Troubadors were traveling poet-musicians at castles and courts in Europe
    • They composed short verses about romantic love
  • Eleanor of Equitaine (1122-1204) was the most celebrated woman of her age
  • Most women in feudal society were powerless but were burdened with the widespread belief that they were inferior to men
    • This was the view of the Church and was overall accepted in feudal society
  • A noblewoman could inherit an estate from her husband and could also send his knights to war
  • When the husband was off fighting, the lady can act like a military commander and a warrior
  • Noblewomen sometimes played a key role in defending castles
  • Most lives of noblewomen were limited and generally confined to activities in the home or convent
  • Noblewomen held little property because lords passed down their fiefs to sons and not daughters
  • Life for women in lower classes remained unchanged for centuries
    • Peasant women performed endless labor at home/the fields, bore children, and took care of families
    • Young peasant girls learned practical household skills from their mother 
    • Women in peasant families were poor and powerless 

CHAPTER 13.4 - The Power of the Church

  • The Church wanted to influence both spiritual and political matters 
  • 300 years earlier, Pope Gelasius I recognized potential conflicts between the Church/State
    • He suggested an analogy to solve such conflicts:
      • God had created two symbolic swords: one was religious and the other political
      • The pope should bow to the emperor in political matters
      • In turn the emperor should bow to the pope in religious matters
      • If each ruler kept authority in their own areas, they could coexist peacefully
  • However, this analogy wasn't realistic as both powers disagreed on the boundaries of either area 
  • In the Church, power was based on status
  • The pope in Rome headed the Church
  • Clergy = members of the Church that fell under the Pope's authority, including bishops and priests
  • Bishops supervised priests, the lowest ranking members of the clergy
  • Bishops settled disputes over Church teachings and practices
  • Local priests served as the main contact with the Church 
  • The shared beliefs in the teachings of the Church bonded people together
  • The church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare/political turmoil, giving Christians security/sense of belonging in a religious community
  • Sacraments are important religious ceremonies administered by priests and other clergy members
    • The rites paved the way for salvation
  • The village church was a unifying force in the lives for most, serving as a religious/social center
  • The Church's authority provided a unifying set of spiritual beliefs and rituals 
    • It created a system of justice to guide behavior 
  • Canon law: Church law in matters such as marriage and religious practices
  • The Church established courts to try people accused of violating canon law 
  • Popes threatened ex-communication from the Church to wield power over political rulers
    • Excommunication freed all the king's vassals from their duties to him 
    • If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the people, the pope could interdict
  • Under an interdict, many sacraments and religious services couldn't be done in the king's lands
    • The king's subjects believed that without sacraments, they would be doomed to hell as devout Christians 
  • In the 11th century, excommunication and potential interdicts would force a German emperor to submit to the pope
  • Otto I (Otto the Great) was crowned king in 936 and was the most effective ruler of medieval Germany 
  • Otto formed a close alliance with the Church
    • He sought help from the clergy to limit strength of the nobles
    • Otto built up his power base by gaining the support of the bishops and abbots (heads of monasteries)
  • He also used his power to defeat German princes
  • He invaded Italy on the pope's behalf, being crowned emperor in 962 as a reward by the pope
  • The German-Italian empire Otto created was first called the Roman Empire of the German Nation, later becoming the Holy Roman Empire
    • It remained the strongest state in Europe until about 1100
  • Otto's attempt to revive Charlemagne's empire caused trouble for future German leaders
  • The Church didn't like that kings such as Otto controlled clergy and the offices
    • They resented lay investiture, a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials 
    • Whoever controlled lay investiture held real power in naming bishops
  • Church reformers felt that kings shouldn't have that power
  • 1075: Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture 
  • Henry IV called a meeting of German bishops he appointed and with their approval, ordered Gregory to step down from the papacy
  • Gregory excommunicated Henry and afterwards, German bishops and princes sided with the pope
    • Henry tried to win pope's forgiveness to save his throne
  • Gregory and Henry's successors continued to fight over lay investiture until 1122
  • Representatives of Church/emperor would meet in Worms (German city) 
  • They reached a compromise (Concordat of Worms) 
    • The Church alone could appoint a bishop, but the emperor could veto the appointment 
  • German princes regained lost power under Otto during Henry's struggle
  • By 1152, seven princes who elected the German king realized that Germany needed a strong ruler 
  • They elected Frederick I (Barbarossa) 
    • He was the first ruler to call his lands the Holy Roman Empire
    • The region was a patchwork of feudal territories
    • He was able to dominate the German princes but when he left, disorder returned
  • Frederick repeatedly invaded rich Italian cities
  • Italian merchants united against him because of his brutal tactics
  • He also angered the pope, who joined the merchants in an alliance group called the Lombard League
  • 1176: the foot soldiers of the Lombard League faced Frederick's army at the Battle of Legnano
    • Italians take the victory for the first time in history
  • 1177: Frederick made peace with the pope and returned to Germany 
    • His defeat undermined his authority with German princes
  • He drowned in 1190, his empire fell apart
  • German kings after Frederick continued to attempt to revive Charlemagne's empire/his alliance with the Church
  • The policy led to wars with Italian cities and further clashes with the pope, which is why feudal states of Germany didn't unify during the Middle ages
  • The system of German princes electing the king weakened royal authority
  • German rulers controlled a fewer royal lands to use as a base of power than French/English kings of the same period