Middle Ages: 500-1500

1. Middle Ages: 500-1500 • Between the Roman Empire and the Early Modern Period. • 500-800: Dark Ages: little cultural or scientific advancement. • 1050 - 1450: High Middle Ages: social institutions matured; era of greater creativity. • The culture of Western Europe was a blend of classical (Greco-Roman), Christian, and Germanic elements.

2. Feudalism • Political System • Through interdependence and mutual responsibilities, feudalism provided people with protection and stability. • A lord gave each of his vassals a parcel of land called a fief in exchange for military service and payments called relief. • A vassal protected the inhabitants of his fief, collected revenue (taxes), and dispensed justice

3. Manor System • A great fief was subdivided into hundreds of smaller estates called manors, which were the basic social and economic units of the Middle Ages. • Most were about 1,000 acres and supported 200-300 people. • Peasants were not allowed to leave the manor. • The lord could not evict them from the land. • They were required to do any labor the lord demanded. • They also had to work a plot of land for the church, God’s acre. • The lord of the manor traditionally took half the produce.

4. Roman Catholic Church • With both spiritual and secular power, the church dominated life and was the primary institution of medieval society. • The church was believed to be the only way to salvation and possessed great influence. • Secular clergy were the parish priests. • Regular clergy lived in monasteries and kept literacy alive. • It was a time of Church corruption. • Vows of poverty and chastity were ignored. • Nobles often sold the offices of Bishops and Archbishops.

5. Crusades: Causes • Goal: to liberate the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims • 1071: Seljuk Turks took over Palestine and were allegedly torturing Christians. • 1095: Byzantine Emperor asked Pope for help. • Between 1096 and 1270, there were multiple crusades, but only the 1st Crusade in 1099 was successful.

6. Crusades: Appeal • The crusades appealed to people’s desire for wealth, honor, sense of adventure, freedom from serfdom, freedom from debts, and hope for spiritual salvation. • Encouraged by Venetian merchants, the 4th Crusade attacked and looted Constantinople. • The Crusades failed in their chief goal - the conquest of the Holy Land.

7. Political Outcome • briefly increased the power and prestige of the pope • increased the power of monarchs who levied taxes to support the Crusades • increased trade between east and west • rise of towns

8. Economic Outcome • encouraged the growth of a money economy in Western Europe • selling goods for a profit became acceptable • Italian merchants and shipbuilders got rich by maintaining supply lines and transportation to the Holy Land

9. Social & Cultural Outcome • contact with other civilizations opened minds to new ideas • sparked an interest in exploration • increased persecution of Jews • thousands were slaughtered & much property was destroyed

10. Weapons

11. High Middle Ages 1050-1350 • Agricultural Revolution • iron plows • horse harness • windmill to grind grain • Expanding Production • peasants cleared forests, drained swamps, reclaimed waste land • Led to population increase • Towns grew up around castles and monasteries to provide them with goods and services. 

12. Trade Revives • people began to desire more than what was produced on the manor • peasants wanted iron for tools • nobles wanted fine wool, furs, and spices from Asia • regular trade routes were set up • traders formed merchant caravans for safety • local goods (honey, furs, fine cloth, tin, lead) were exchanged for imported goods (Chinese silks, Byzantine gold jewelry, Asian spices) • Constantinople to Venice to Flanders to England

13. Trade Fairs • located near navigable rivers and where trade routes met • people from nearby villages, towns, and castles attended • entertainment included jugglers, acrobats, and dancing bears

14. New Towns • merchants would wait out the winter near a castle or bishop’s palace • artisans came to live • eventually populations reached 10,000 • most prosperous cities were in northern Italy and Flanders – which were centers of the wool trade and prosperous textile industries • charter - merchants would ask the local lord for a written document that set out the rights and privileges of the town • in return the merchants paid the lord a large sum of money, a yearly fee, or both • charters usually allowed townspeople to choose their own leaders and control their own affairs • most had a clause declaring any serf who lived in the town a year and a day to be free

15. Commercial Revolution • money reappeared • merchants borrowed from moneylenders to buy goods • clergy felt the practice of usury (lending money at interest) was immoral • capital – money for investment • new business practices • partnerships – merchants pooled their funds to finance a large-scale ventures • insurance was created to compensate for lost or destroyed merchandise • bills of exchange used – deposit money in a bank in one city and cash in the paper in another city

16. Social Changes • use of money undermined serfdom • lords needed money to buy goods • peasants sold produce to townspeople and paid the lord’s rent with money rather than labor • by 1000 – middle class of merchants, traders, and artisans emerged between nobles and peasants • nobles resented middle class for being a disruptive influence • by 1300 – few serfs were left in Western Europe

17. Guilds • associations of merchants and artisans • dominated life in medieval towns by passing laws, levying taxes, and deciding how to spend funds • guilds limited membership, monopolized labor, made rules to ensure quality, regulated hours of labor, regulated prices, provided social services • apprentice (trainee) began around age 7, spent 7 years learning the trade, and only received bed and board • most became journeymen (salaried workers), a few became guildmasters • in some cities a third of all guildmembers were women

18. City Life • cities were surrounded by walls for protection • narrow streets and tall houses • larger cities had a great cathedral or a splendid guild house • hawkers sold stuff during the day • unlit streets were deserted at night • no garbage or sewage collection • people yelled “gardyloo” as they flung their waste out a window into the street • filthy, smelly, noisy, crowded • facilitated the spread of disease • wooded buildings were a fire hazard

19. Major Changes • return of a money economy • trade brought new products, ideas, and technology • middle class changed the social structure • monarchs increased their power • increased contact with other cultures

20. Learning & Literature • 1100s - first universities evolved out of cathedral schools • Literature began to be written in the vernacular (everyday language of the people) rather than in Latin only. • Scholasticism was developed by Christian scholars to resolve the conflict between faith and reason.

21. Medieval Art • Theme was religion. • illuminated manuscripts • great cathedrals

22. Painting

23. Tapestry

24. Bayeux Tapestry

25. Romanesque: 1000 - 1150 • thick walls, rounded arches and domed roofs • narrow slits for windows • simple, solid, dark, gloomy fortress • flat, masculine, and simply adorned

26. Gothic: 1150 - 1300 • tall, light, and airy • flying buttresses • large stained glass windows • complex, lacy, richly embroidered, feminine

27. Flying Buttresses

28. Rose Window

29. Science • Despite the lack of scientific observation and experimentation and the unquestioned authority of the Catholic Church, some scientific progress was made. • 1200s - Roger Bacon : founder of experimental science • Medicine was still poor - illness was the work of the devil • Cures = herbal folk medicine, prayer, and pilgrimages to holy shrines

30. 1200s - Rise of Towns • The growth of towns and a middle class weakened the position of the nobility. • Increased trade created a money economy, which replaced the barter economy. • Monarchs were able to hire soldiers for standing armies to protect the people, and they no longer relied on vassals for support. • Strong monarchs undermined feudal nobility.

31. Black Plague • illness and death - killed 1/3 of the population

32. 1300s - Challenging Century • social unrest = peasant revolts • bad weather & crop failures early in the century = hunger and starvation • divisions in the Church • Babylonian Captivity: 1309 – 1378 = 2 Popes • heresies : Wycliffe and Hus

33. Hundred Years’ War ~ 1337-1453 • military conflict ~ England v. France • New weapons such as the longbow and cannons made armored knights obsolete and castles indefensible. • Many nobles died during the war.

34. Economic Transformation • growth of banking and capitalism • decline of feudal and manorial systems • weakening of the guild system • emergence of the domestic system - merchants hired laborers who were paid for piecework

35. 1400s - Time of Change • Strong national monarchies arose in England, France, and Spain to form centralized governments. • Most serfs were emancipated. • Flourishing in the arts and literature = the Renaissance. • Inquisition - court established by the Catholic Church in the 1200s to locate and try heretics - actively persecuted Jews, Muslims, and alleged witches.