Final Review: The Middle Ages 1250-1500

1. Final Review: The Middle Ages 1250-1500

2. Geography

3. Europe in 800

4. Europe in 1346

5. European Rivers  Barriers or Highways?

6. Political

7. Pope Crowned CharlemagneHoly Roman Emperor: Dec. 25, 800

8. Charlemagne’s Empire Collapses:Treaty of Verdun, 843

9. Relationships between lord and vassal based on specific contractual obligations of loyalty and protection Peasants provided labor in return for security Controlled through an intricate set of obligations, fees, rituals and taxes Only the wealthy could engage in warfare, and society became divided Those who fought (nobles and knights) Those who prayed (the clergy) Those who worked (peasants and artisans) Feudalism

10. Feudalism A political, economic, and social system based on loyalty and military service.

11. Feudalism

12. City-states lacked complexity of modern nations Rulers began to establish hereditary claims to the thrones Bureaucracy of modern nation-state can be seen in several nations Monarchs had to establish the power to tax subjects Usually had to get support and approval from other political bodies National Monarchies

13. Magna Carta • “Great Charter” • Signed in 1215 • Monarchs were not above the law • Eventually led to the creation of Parliament • Other nation-states created councils and representative bodies to limit power of monarchs

14. A series of wars fought by England and France over the French throne Challenged ideas of medieval warfare as English longbows and infantry destroyed French mounted knights 1429 – Joan of Arc helped the French Army break the siege of Orleans Her success threatened the French Dauphin, so Joan was killed By 1453, England held only the city of Calais The Hundred Years’ War1337 to 1453

15. Intellectual

16. Growth of cities quickened intellectual life Universities taught a variety of subjects, without the separation of spiritual and material subjects Theology was the “queen of the sciences” and liberally borrowed from other disciplines to elaborate its truths Led to the creation of Scholasticism Schools and Universities

17. Medieval Universities

18. Mid-13th Century: Aristotle’s philosophies were rediscovered Pagan ideas regarding logic and the natural world were synthesized into Christian dogma to explain divine truths This intellectual system came to dominate the universities until the 18th century St. Thomas Aquinas – Christian scholar who embraced scholasticism Note: much of the Renaissance was directed against what was perceived as the Scholastics’ focus on stale logic and impractical learning Scholasticism

19. Religious

20. At the height of its political, spiritual and cultural influence Pope and Holy Roman Emperor vied for power in Central Europe, essentially checking each other Growing criticisms of the behavior of the clergy and the lack of regularity in church doctrine and practice Led to the crisis of the Babylonian Captivity The Medieval Catholic Church

21. 1307 – Pope began exile in France Not a captive of the French, but prestige of the pope decreased due to increased bureaucratic apparatus necessary to run the Church and increased material wealth Great Schism (1378-1417) resulted from efforts by French and Italian cardinals to elect a pope Ended up with two popes, then three Nations of Europe were forced to chose sides The Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism

22. Reformers used the Great Schism as an example of why the Church had to change John Wyclif (the Lollards) – England Jan Hus (the Hussites) – Bohemia Attacked the institutional power and wealth of the church and began a call for a simpler Christianity Council of Constance ended the Great Schism, but the foundation was laid for the Protestant Reformation Opposition to the Catholic Church

23. Artistic

24. Illuminated Manuscripts

25. Pointed arches. High, narrow vaults. Thinner walls. Flying buttresses. Elaborate, ornate, airier interiors. Stained-glass windows Designed to educate the illiterate population “Flying” Buttresses Gothic Architectural Style

26. Obsession with Death and Dying • Representations of death became a prominent theme in European arts throughout the plague years • Apocalyptic images featuring the allegoric figure of Death attempted to explain the importance of the Black Death for European society

27. The “Danse Macabre”

28. Technology

29. Petrarch wrote "these instruments which discharge balls of metal with most tremendous noise and flashes of fire...were a few years ago very rare and were viewed with greatest astonishment and admiration, but now they are become as common and familiar as any other kinds of arms.“ Beginning of the end for walled fortifications Allowed New Monarchs to consolidate power by eliminating fortified towns and castles of nobility Cannons

30. High rate of fire and penetration power Contributed to the eventual demise of the medieval knight Used particularly by the English to great effect against the French cavalry during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). Longbow helped New Monarchs to create cost-effective standing armies, to maintain and expand power Longbow

31. Developed in 1439 by Johann Gutenberg Made possible the dissemination of knowledge to a wider population Lead to more egalitarian society Laid the foundation for the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment Printing Press

32. Economic

33. Towns acted as magnets for skilled labor, ideas, and goods Typically lay outside of the feudal structure Banded together in leagues to protect independence and promote commerce Hanseatic League – German trading centers in the Baltic region, controlled the herring market Towns and Commerce

34. Hanseatic League

35. Medieval Trade

36. Medieval Guilds Guild Hall Medieval Guilds: A Goldsmith’s Shop • Central institutions of most towns • Commercial Monopoly: • Controlled membershipapprentice journeyman  master craftsman • Controlled quality of the product [masterpiece] • Controlled prices [No Free Market!]

37. Three-crop field rotation Iron plow Windmills More land brought under cultivation Helped produce a food surplus Increased trade networks Agricultural Improvements By 1300, population at an all-time high of 75 million

38. Social

39. A new social order had evolved by 900 that was distinctively medieval. Alfred the Great of England: a kingdom needs “men of prayer, men of war, and men of work.” Tripartite view of society The Clergy The Landed Nobility (knights) The Peasantry and Village Artisans A fourth emerged after the 13th century: middle class merchants & townspeople burgesses in English, bourgeoisie in French, burghers in German Social Order

40. Women’s roles limited by legal and economic prescriptions Many women did find ways to express autonomy, initiative, and talent within these parameters Noblewomen often ran the manors in the absence of their warrior husbands Younger noblewomen joined convents Allowed them to pursue intellectual and spiritual pursuits outside the control of men Ideal of courtly love and chivalry placed women at the center of an important cultural tradition Gender Roles

41. Chivalry began as the code of conduct for mounted warriors. Chivalry highly esteemed certain masculine, militant qualities. Military prowess Generosity Loyalty, the glue that held feudal society together. Chivalry: A Code of Honor and Behavior

42. Cities and towns relied upon the labor of women in the food preparation, brewing and the production of cloth Peasant and serf women labored alongside husbands in mowing hay, tending the vegetables, or harvesting Domestic chores actually played a minor role for most women Gender Roles

43. A powerful lord controlling the lives of an often large number of dependents. He required payments and services from them and regulated their ordinary disputes. The structure of individual manors, and the dues owed by peasants, varied tremendously across Europe. Parallel sets of vertical bonds of associations: Feudal lords and vassals entered into political bonds Lords and peasants entered into economic bonds. The Medieval Manor

44. The Medieval Manor

45. Life on the Medieval Manor Serfs at work

46. By 1300, the large population explosion had outgrown the food supply. Progressively weakened by malnutrition, Europe’s population was highly vulnerable to disease Devastation resulted from the Black Death (1348-1351) Killed about 40% of the European population More important were the psychological and social costs of the disease The Black Death: Causes

48. Disease carried by fleas on rats, so urban areas were devastated Many believed that this was God’s punishment for living too well 60% of theclergy diedtreating thedisease, causingpeople toquestion thepower of thechurch The Black Death

49. Led to persecutionof Jews, who wereblamed forpoisoning the wells Caused a laborshortage that undermined the feudal structure Allowed peasants to bargain for improved labor conditions and payment Note: Did not affect Eastern Europe as much as Western/Central Europe, which allowed the feudal system to last much longer The Black Death

50. Attempts to Stop the Plague Flagellants:Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!