Europe In the Middle Ages 1000-1500

1. Europe In the Middle Ages 1000-1500

2. The New Agriculture • Population in Europe doubledbetween 1000-1300. • Food production increased because of: • Increased stabilityand peace • Climate changes which improvedgrowing conditions • More landwas cleared for cultivation. • Technological advances: • Waterand windpower • The use of iron to make scythes, axes, hoes, saws, hammers, and nails. • The iron carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare pulled by animal teams.

3. Growth of Farming Villages • Crop Rotation: shift from 2-field to 3-field system of crop rotation.

5. The Manorial System • Social Hierarchy: • Medieval landholding nobles: Knights (needed time to train for war). • Peasants : worked the lords’manorson the fiefs(land) of the vassals. • Serfs: Peasants legally bound to the land. • By 800, probably60%of western Europeans were serfs. • Land Usage • Up to one-halfof a manor’s lands typically belonged to the lord. • Serfs paid rent by giving a share of what they raised for themselves. • They also paid to use the lord’s pasturesand fishing ponds, and paid for services like having their grain milledinto flour. • Obligations and Rights • The serfs obligated to titheto the village church (usually 10% of produce). • Serfs, however, were not slaves.

7. Daily Life of the Peasantry • Homes • European peasant life was simple with little privacy. • The peasants’ one or two-room cottages were built with wood frames surrounded by sticks. • Spaces in between filled with Straw and rubble and plastered over with clay.

8. Seasonal life • The seasons largely determined peasant life and work. • Holidays • A peasant’s life was not all labor because of the numerous Catholic feast days, or holidays. • More than 50days a year were essentially holidays. • Church • The village church was a crucial part of the manorial system. • Probably they saw God as a force to be appeased to help with the harvest. • Women • Women worked the fields and had children.

9. Diet • The staple was breadbaked in community ovens. • Peasants usually ate meat only on feast days such as Easter and Christmas. • Peasants raised vegetables and fruit, and made cheese. • Grains were important also for making ale, the most common drink of the poor in Northern Europe.

10. The Revival of Trade • Growth of towns and cities • Italian cities especially Venice). • Flanders – the area along the coast of present-day Belgium and northern France – traded in northern Europe. • To encourage exchange between Flanders and Italy, the counts of Champagne in northern France held six trade fairs a year.

11. Commercialism • Demand for gold and silver arose at trading fairs and markets. • A money economy – an economic system based on money rather than barter –arose. • Trading companies and banks began to manage the exchange and sale of goods. • These new practices were part of the rise of commercial capitalism.

14. The Growth of Cities • Expanding trade led to a revival of cities. • Merchants began to settle in the old Roman cities. • Merchants settled near castles for protection and proximity to trade routes. • Artisans followed. • The merchants and artisans of these cities later came to be called burghers or bourgeoisie, from the German word burg, which means “a walled enclosure.”

15. Medieval cities were comparatively small (5000 people). • Exceptions: • London (40,000) • Venice, Florence, and Milan (more than 80,000) • The towns were tied to the lords and land around them. • Lords wanted to treat the townspeople as vassals or serfs, but the inhabitants saw things differently. • By 1100, townspeople had: • The right to buy and sell property • Freedom from military service to lords • Laws guaranteeing their freedom. • Escaped serf became free person after living a year and a day in a town • Some towns had the right to governthemselves. • Only male citizens could vote (born in city or lived there a long time) • Elections rigged so that only “patricians” (wealthy/powerful families) were elected

17. Daily Life in the Medieval City • City walls • Medieval towns were surrounded by stonewalls, which were expensive. • Space inside was tightly filled.

18. Fire: wooden houses up to the 14th century • The cities and towns were dirty and smelled of human and animal waste. • Blood from slaughtered animals and chemicals from activities such as tanning went into the rivers. • Rivers not used for drinking water, relied on wells instead. • Baths • Medieval cities had private and public baths. • The greatplague closed them in 14th century • Women • Supervise household, raise children • Help with husband’s craft • Women carried on trade when husband died

19. Industry and Guilds • Rise of Guilds • Beginning in the 11th c., craftspeople organized into business associations called guilds. • Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production process • Set standards for quality & fixed prices • Ranks • Apprentice: A person who wanted to learn a trade (not paid but provided for). • Journeymen: After learning for 5-7 years, apprentices became journeymen (paid). • Masters: After journeymen produced a masterpiece.

20. The Papal Monarchy • Popes gained control of territories in Italy called the “papal states.” • The Church became increasingly involved in the feudal system. • Lords chose them as vassals • They carried out military duties and other feudal services (not spiritual) • Lay Investiture • Secular (“lay”) rulers often chose nominees to Church offices • By the 11th c. Church leaders realized the need to be free from the interference of lords in the appointment of Church officials.

21. Investiture Controversy • Pope Gregory VII decided to ban lay investiture. • Henry IV, the German king, replaces Gregory’s choice for bishop of Milan • Pope Gregory excommunicates Henry IV • Henry apologizes • Henry dethroned by German princes • Pope supports new German “king” • Henry names “antipope” Clement III • Civil War – Henry wins and marches on Rome • Pope Gregory flees • Henry IV abdicates thrown due to his unpopular support for Clement III • In 1122 a new German king and a new pope reached an agreement called the Concordat of Worms (compromise: elected by Church, submitted to king as his lord)

22. Interdict • The 12th c. popes wanted to strengthen papal power • Pope Innocent III • The Catholic Church reached the height of political power • Innocent III especially used the interdict to strengthen his power • Interdict: prohibited priest from giving sacraments (Christian rites) to particular group of people. • People would then put pressure on ruler to get these rites back

23. New Religious Orders • Cistercians • Extremely strict (dissatisfied with lack of discipline in Benedictine monetary) • Activists in spreading Christianity • Women • The number of women joining religious houses grew dramatically • Most nuns came from the landed aristocracy • Convent gave women freedom to pursue academic and other pursuits • Female intellectuals like Hildegard of Bingen • Hidegard had gift of prophecy (visions) • Hildegard contributed to music, especially Gregorian chant

24. Franciscans • The Franciscans emerged in the 13th c. • Saint Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscans. • Was rich and gave away his belongings – became a monk. • Franciscans rejected all property and lived by working and begging for food. • Unlike many other religious orders, the Franciscans lived in the world and undertook missionarywork. • Dominicans • The Dominicans also emerged in the 13th c. • The Spanish priest Dominic de Guzman founded the Dominicans to defend Church teachings from heresy. • Heresy: The denial of basic Church doctrines.

25. Inquisition • The Church’s wish to discover and deal with hereticsled to the Inquisition, or Holy Office. • This court was instituted to try heretics, and it developed a regular way to deal with them. • Christians of the 13th c. believed: • Using forceto save souls from damnation was the right thing to do. • Those accused were typically tortured until they confessed. • If confessed: public penance such as flogging. • If did not confess: execution

29. Popular Religion in the High Middle Ages • Sacraments • The sacraments of the Catholic Church, such as baptism, marriage, and Communion, were very important to ordinary people. • The sacraments were a means for receiving God’s grace and were necessary for salvation. • Only clergycould give the sacraments, which made people dependent on the clergy.

30. Saints • Venerating saints (worshipping them) was also important to people. • Relics • Emphasis on the saints was tied to the use of relics, usually bones of saints or objects connected with the saints, because they believed that saints could ask favors of God. • Pilgrimage • Medieval Christians also believed that a pilgrimage to a holy shrine produced a spiritual benefit. • Especially to holy city of Jerusalem