The Impact of the Middle Ages: From Fragmentation to Progress

1. Chapter 9 The Middle Ages

2. The Impact Today The events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today. • Ancient Roman literary works exist today because they were copied by monks. • The influence of English common law is seen in our American legal system. • Byzantine architecture inspired building styles in eastern Europe and Southwest Asia.

3. A Turning Point in History:The end of Ancient Times –Into the Middle Ages • Middle Ages, period in the history of Europe that lasted from about AD 350 to about 1450. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the western half of the Roman Empire began to fragment into smaller, weaker kingdoms. By the end of the Middle Ages, many modern European states had taken shape. During this time, the precursors of many modern institutions, such as universities and bodies of representative government, were created. • No single event ended the ancient world and began the Middle Ages. In fact, no one who lived in what is now called the Middle Ages ever thought of themselves as living in it. In the Middle Ages, people thought they were living in modern times, just as people do today.

4. MIDDLE AGES cont. • Began with collapse of Western Roman Empire and came to an end sometime in the 14th-15th centuries • Once considered to be one long, bleak period of violence, ignorance, and superstition • The “Dark Ages” • Period did represent regression from achievements of the ancient world but it was not completely dark • Preserved what was best of the ancient heritage and mingled it with new Germanic and, later, Arabic traditions to create a new civilization • One that was capable of further growth and progress • Major contribution to the creation of the foundation for the modern western world

5. The New Germanic Kingdoms • Germans and Romans intermarried and created a new society in which German customs had an important role. • The extended family was the center of German society. • They worked the land together and protected each other in violent times.

6. Western Europe • Hodge-podge of loosely organized kingdoms • Became even more fragmented as time went on • East • Highly centralized Byzantine Empire

7. Europe’s Feudal States

8. CHARLEMAGNE • Tried to overcome chronic disunity in Western and Central Europe • Approx. 800 AD • Established empire that included France, most of Italy, Germany, and part of Eastern Europe • Took title of “Holy Roman Emperor”

10. CHARLEMAGNE • The breakup of the Empire • Incompetence of his descendants • Charlemagne’s failure to set up an effective administrative system • Invasions of the Magyars • Invasions of the Vikings

11. POST-CAROLINGIAN EUROPE • Hopelessly complex jigsaw puzzle of small states • Each with its own ruler • Sometimes with title of duke or count • Nominally owed allegiance to kings but this allegiance was more theoretical than real • Long-distance trade virtually disappeared • Currency fell into disuse • People reverted to barter system • Cities shrank dramatically and sometimes disappeared • Educational standards declined • Even kings were illiterate

12. POST-CAROLINGIAN EUROPE • Only form of unity was the Christian Church • But even its intellectual standards had declined due to the prevalent ignorance and isolation of the times • Europe had become a desolate rural world in which petty rulers lorded over tiny pieces of territory and ignorance prevailed everywhere

13. FEUDALISM • Grant of a piece of land (fief) by a “lord” to a subordinate (vassal) in exchange for the vassal’s promise to provide lord with military service for a specified period of time • Subinfeudation: vassals having vassals of their own

15. FEUDAL PLAYERS (VASSALS) • Feudalism also provided a decentralized form of government • Vassals were supreme within their fiefs • Made own laws • Enforced them as he saw fit • Settled disputes between people who lived on the fief

16. MEDIEVAL PEASANTS • Small scale farmers who devoted their lives to growing enough to stay alive • Lived and worked on manors • Economic subunit of fief

17. Women • Feudalism saw many strong women who advised, and sometimes dominated, their husbands. • One of the most famous was Eleanor of Aquitaine. • An heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine in southwestern France, at 15 she married King Louis VII of France.

18. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)Kings: • William I ofNormandy • In 1066, won Battle of Hastings over King Harold of England • William was crowned king of England. • He gave fiefs to Norman knights, and all nobles had to swear loyalty to him as the ruler of England. • The French-speaking Normans and the Anglo-Saxon nobility gradually merged into a new English culture.

19. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300) • William took the first census in western Europe since Roman times, known as the Domesday Book. • He also developed the system of taxation and royal courts earlier Anglo-Saxon kings had begun.

20. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)Kings: • Henry II, who ruled from 1154 to 1189, enlarged the power of the English monarchy. • He expanded the royal courts’ powers to cover more criminal and property cases. • Because royal courts were all over the land, a body of common law–law common to the whole kingdom–began to replace varying local codes.

21. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)Kings: • Henry claimed he had the right to punish the clergy in royal courts. • Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, disagreed. • The angry king expressed his desire to be rid of Becket. • Four knights took the challenge and killed the archbishop in the cathedral. • An outraged public caused Henry to back off his struggle with the Church.

22. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)Kings: • Resenting the monarchy’s expanding power, many nobles rebelled against King John. • In 1215 at Runnymede, John was forced to agree to a document of rights called the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. • The Magna Carta (it) recognized the longstanding feudal idea of mutual rights and obligations between lord and vassal.

23. Magna Carta

24. Magna Carta • limited the power of English Monarchs, specifically King John, from absolute rule • Magna Carta was the result of disagreements between the pope and King John and his barons over the rights of the king • Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights and respect certain legal procedures, and to accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. • Magna Carta is widely considered to be the first step in a long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law.

25. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300)Kings: • Edward I, In the thirteenth century the English Parliament emerged. • Parliament was an important step in developing a representative government. • Under Edward I it granted taxes and passed laws. • It was composed of two knights from each county, two people from each town, and all of England’s nobles and bishops. • The two houses still make up the British Parliament.

26. HIGH MIDDLE AGES (1000-1300) • Cities grew in size and beauty • Local and international trade revived • Kings began to break down feudal system and create nation-states under their direct control

27. REVIVAL OF LOCAL TRADE • Growth in European population after centuries of decline and/or stagnation • Caused by increase in food supply • Made possible by draining of swamps and clearing of forests by monasteries • Created surplus people on manors • Manorial economy could not support them • Moved to long-dormant towns • Created demand for agricultural products from countryside • Stimulated demand for manufactured products • Sparked revival of local trade and commerce

28. BYZANTINE EMPIRE

29. The Roman Empire never “fell”

30. JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA • Conquest of old Western provinces • Justinian’s Code (compilation of Roman law) • Construction of Santa Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom)

31. Justinian & Theadora

32. The Reign of Justinian • Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in 527. He wanted to restore the full Roman Empire. • By 552 he almost had, but only three years after his death in 565, the Lombards had conquered much of Italy. • Justinian’s most important contribution was his codification of Roman law inThe Body of Civil Law. • It was the basis of imperial law until the Eastern Roman Empire ended in 1453. • It also became the basis for much of the legal system of Europe.

33. CRUSADES • In theory, purpose was to take back the Holy Land from Moslem Turks • Caused tremendous human and material damage– without permanently achieving purpose • Created demand for Middle Eastern luxury products among returned Crusaders—thus stimulating international trade • Revival of local and international trade created Commercial Revolution • Introduced modern capitalism

34. THE CHURCH • Administration of pope was larger and more sophisticated than that of any king • Wealth of the Church was greater than any king or merchant • Also largest landowner in Europe • Popes contended with kings on a equal basis • Using powerful spiritual weapons • Excommunication • Interdict

35. BYZANTINE ACHIEVEMENTS • Empire renown for its wealth, power, and military strength for centuries • Army threw back or weakened wave after wave of would-be invaders • Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and others • Saved Western Europe from conquest • Civilized barbarian tribes on fringes of Europe • Russians • Converted to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries • Gave them alphabet they still use today • Cyrillic alphabet

36. END OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE • Territory of empire shrunk over centuries • Only included Constantinople and parts of Asia Minor and southeastern Europe by 1200 • Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks in 1453 • Renamed city Istanbul • End of Byzantine Empire

37. SUMMARY • High Middle Ages were a period of progress and prosperity • Cities grew in size and beauty • Trade revived • Kings reasserted their power over their realms • Church was at its peak of power and prestige • Then it all came crashing down in the 14th century • Crisis of the Late Middle Ages

38. Constantinople named Istanbul

39. Chapter 10

40. CRISIS IN THE CHURCH • Babylonian Captivity • 1309-1372 • Popes fell under the control of the French monarchy • Forced to move to the southern French city of Avignon • Lost much power and prestige • Great Schism • Late 1370s • Two, and for a while three, men all claimed to be pope at the same time • Threw the church into confusion • Crisis resolved in 1415 but Church prestige had been permanently damaged and many Christians were left confused and/or cynical

41. 100 YEARS WAR • Caused by dispute over French throne by France and England • Lasted actually 116 years • France won • Introduction of longbow rendered the heavily armored horseman obsolete • Hundreds of thousands people died, decimating the population growth of earlier years • Heavy taxation provoked peasant uprisings (jacqueries)

42. THE BLACK DEATH (BUBONIC PLAGUE) • Started in China in 1331 • Traveled across Asia to Black Sea region • Picked up by Italian merchants and taken to Europe • Spread from Italy to Germany, France, Spain, and England • Europeans could not cure it or prevent it from spreading • Catastrophic results • 25% of population killed • Some cities lost 75% of their population • Plunged Europe into a severe depression

43. BYZANTINE CHRISTIANITY • Church had fallen under the control of the emperor • Through his puppet, the bishop of Constantinople • Created tension with the pope • Resulted in split within Christianity in 1054 • Roman Catholic Church • Headquartered in Rome • Led by pope • Eastern Orthodox Church • Headquartered in Constantinople • Led by bishop of Constantinople (and Byzantine emperor) • Shattered unity of Christian Church forever