Chapter 10: A New Civilization Emerges in Europe

1. Chapter 10:A New Civilization Emerges in Europe Mr. Toma AP World History

2. Overview • Middle Ages: fall of Rome (4th c.) - decline of Europe’s feudal and religious institutions (15th c.) • Age of great faith (Christianity) • Strong participation • Spread of beliefs (missionaries) • Civilization spreads, cover all of W Europe • Participates in growing trade and contact with Asia and Africa • Contact with Byzantines and Arabs taught Western scholars math, science, philosophy

3. Stages of Postclassical Development in Western Europe • 6th to 10thcenturies 500-1000 • Fragmentation prevails • Several key problems • Catholic Church advances – most powerful institution in West • Iberia: Arab Muslims control territory for much of period • Core: France, Low Countries, Germany • Later, England • Scandinavian Vikings • Raids from 8th to 10th centuries • Intellectual life and literacy declines except among churchman

4. Stages of Postclassical Development: Manorial System (Obligations and Allegiances) • Local politics with regional aristocrats is most common form of organization • Manorialism • System of political and economic organization between landlords and peasant laborers (serfs) • Serfs (agricultural workers who live on estates called manors) • Reciprocal obligations • Peasants were obligated to give their lord a portion of their produce • Lords protected peasants and provide everyday needs • Levels of production = low, technology = limited

5. Stages of Postclassical Development: Manorial System (Obligations and Allegiances) • 800s • Agricultural innovation and improvements • Moldboard: curved iron plate, allowed deeper turning of soil • Crop rotation: leave half of land uncultivated each year to restore soil, but limits productivity • Three-field system: Only 1/3 of land left unplanted

6. Illustrated: Moldboard and Crop Rotation

7. Stages of Postclassical Development: The Church (Political and Spiritual Power) • Popes follow Roman organization • Clear hierarchy of Church power like Roman government • Appoint bishops to head regional churches • Popes regulate doctrine • Sponsor missionaries • Early German kings interested in Christianity • 496 CE, Clovis , conversion helps him gain power over Franks, Germanic tribe

8. Stages of Postclassical Development: The Church (Political and Spiritual Power) • Monasticism • Aide in discipline of intense spirituality of devout Christians • Enables monks to escape ordinary life • Example of holy life to ordinary people • Pilgrimage centers • Centers of education, promote literacy • Benedict of Nursia, 6th c. • Creates Benedictine rule for monks

9. Stages of Postclassical Development: Charlemagne and His Successors • Frankish Carolingian dynasty grows in power • Charles Martel defeats Muslims in Battle of Tours, 732 • Confines Muslims to Spain • Charles the Great (Charlemagne), 800 • 800, establish empire in France and Germany • Pope’s coronation – precedent that church approval is necessary for Western state • 814, death, and empire fragments(Treaty of Verdun, 843) • Three kingdoms • Holy Roman emperors • Rulers of Germany, Italy from Treaty of Verdun • Merge classical and Christian claims

10. Stages of Postclassical Development: Charlemagne and His Successors

11. Stages of Postclassical Development: New Economic and Urban Vigor • Agricultural improvements • Increased production • Surplus, wealth, population growth • Greater regional political stability (decrease of Viking raids) • Towns grow and population increases • Growing economy and markets • Literacy expands in urban centers • Education • Cathedral schools, from 11th century • Train children to be future clergy members • Universities, from 13th century • Train students in theology, medicine, and law • Help to create economic and cultural vitality in Europe after 900

12. Stages of Postclassical Development: Feudal Monarchies and Political Advances • Key military and political system = feudalism • Greater lords provided protection and aid to lesser lords, called vassals • Vassals owed lords military service, some goods or payments, and advice, sometimes receive land • Military service for land • Growth of strong feudal monarchy in France took many centuries • William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy • 1066, Norman conquest of England • Introduced feudal monarchy to England following invasion in 1066 • Gives estates to English lords for military service and loyalty • Centralized government

13. Stages of Postclassical Development: Limited Government • Political fragmentation continues • Political life consisted of regional monarchies with strong aristocracies • Monarchs limited by church • Growth of monarchy cut into aristocratic power • 1215, Magna Carta • King John recognizes supremacy of written law • Forced by noblemen • Representative bodies (parliaments, represent privileged groups) • Serve as further check on royal authority • England, from 1265 • Three Estates (Church, Nobles, Urban leaders) • Rights according to estate in which you were born • Monarchs continue to increase in power, esp. with war • Large conflictslike Hundred Years War (France vs. England over territories the English king controlled in France)

14. Stages of Postclassical Development: The West’s Expansionist Impulse • Germanic knights • From 11th century, into eastern Germany, Poland • Iberia • Northern Christian states begin reconquista • Conquer Muslim centers, with full expulsion of Muslims in 1492 • Vikings • Cross Atlantic, settlements in Iceland • First European steps in Americas, Hudson Bay area • Explorers • 13th century, Spaniards and Italians enter Atlantic, get lost

15. Stages of Postclassical Development: The West’s Expansionist Impulse • Crusades • Called by Urban II, 1095; end Muslim control of Holy Land • Initial success but ultimately end with defeat • New contact with Islam and open western Europe’s eyes to new possibilities, especially trade • Show aggressive spirit of Western Europe

16. Stages of Postclassical Development: Religious Reform and Evolution • Church is extremely wealthy; easy to abuse power • Several reform movements aim to fight this • Gregorian reform, 11th century • Gregory VII • Separation of secular and religious spheres • Try to free church from interference from states • Prove Church is superior to state • Quarrels with HRE Henry IV over investiture (state appointment of bishops) • Mendicants, 13th century • St. Francis (Franciscans) – devoted to poverty and service • St. Clare and Order of St. Clare – women’s Franciscan order • St. Dominic (Dominicans)

17. Stages of Postclassical Development: The High Middle Ages • 12th and 13th centuries: series of tensions • Feudal political structures vs. Emerging monarchies • Authority of Church and cultural dominance of Christianity vs. intellectual vitality and diversity from universities • Strict social order and agricultural economy vs. Social mobility and merchants in cities

18. Western Culture in the Postclassical Era: Theology (Assimilating Faith and Reason) • Exploration of Greek philosophy and assimilation into Catholic religious tradition • Peter Abelard, 12th c., rational examination of doctrine, use logic • Bernard of Clairvaux, monk • Opposed to Abelard’s approach of integration of Greek philosophy into Catholic tradition • Mysticism; receive truth through faith and union with God • Debate in universities: how to combine rational philosophy with Christian faith? • Thomas Aquinas, Summas (faith primary, reason leads to understanding) • Scholasticism, 13thc., logic to resolve theological problems

19. Western Culture in the Postclassical Era: Popular Religion • Survival of pagan practice (dancing, merriment) • Christian devotion among lay people increased • Rise of cities saw formation of lay groups to develop spirituality and express love for God • 12th c., veneration of Mary and various saints growing in popularity

20. Western Culture in the Postclassical Era: Religious Themes in Art and Literature • Architecture, literature, and art reflect religious themes • Painting: wood panels, religious scenes, no perspective • Romanesque architecture (monastic buildings) • Built for pilgrimages, “Roman”-like • Gothic, 11th c. • Emphasis on verticality, light, intricacy • Growing technical skills, very expensive • 12th century • Latin: law, education • Vernacular: secular literature (Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Beowulf) • Troubadours and court poetry

23. Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries: New Strains in Rural Life • Region became a growing commercial zone • Cloth from Low Countries; wool from England; timber and fur from Scandinavia • Tension between commercial exchange and religious commitment • Peasants v. landlords • Peasants slowly gain more freedom with agricultural advances, some become free farmers with no landlord • Landlords want improved conditions; make serfs pay higher rent and taxes

24. Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries: Growth of Trade and Banking • Commerce expands and manufacturing becomes more specialized • Money replaces barter, and bankingand insurance merge • Luxury goods and spices from Asia • Hanseatic League • Northern Germany, southern Scandinavia • Cities working together for mutual economic benefit • Merchants relatively free • Weak governments allowed merchants to assert considerable power in semi-independent trading cities • Relatively low status though despite ability to amass great fortunes

25. Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries: Growth of Trade and Banking • Concerns about capitalism raised by Christians; selfish nature • Guilds – grouped people in the same business or trade in a single city, stressing security and mutual control • Craft associations • Protect markets, set prices • Ensure standards, regulate apprenticeships, provide training

26. Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries: Limited Sphere for Women • Women lose ground as men place new limits on the condition of women • Opportunities as nuns; alternatives to marriage • Veneration of Mary and female saints give women cultural and religious prestige • Counterbalance emphasis on Eve as source of sin • Patriarchal structures taking deeper root • Not assured of property rights • Growing literature discussing women’s roles as comforters to men, list docile virtues

27. The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis: Signs of Strain • After 1300, overpopulation, warfare, and disease • Agriculture cannot sustain increasing population, severe famines • Bubonic Plague (Black Death), 1348 – disrupts social structure • Aristocracy lose military purpose • Foot soldiers more important • Increasingly decorative • Growth of professional armies; shook authority of feudal lords • New weaponry (cannons, gunpowder); traditional methods (fortified castles) irrelevant • Example: Hundred Years War • Aristocracy do not disappear, but choose to live in rich ceremonial style • Court lifestyle and chivalry

28. The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis: Signs of Strain • Church increasingly rigid • Series of controversies over papal authority distance Church from everyday devotion (rival claimants) • Reformers and mystics emerge (no longer need Church to have direct experience with God) • Intellectual and artistic life move out from under Church influence • Church declares writings, individuals, etc., heretical (Aquinas) • Art = realistic portrayals of nature, growing interest in the body

29. The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis: The Postclassical West and Its Heritage • “Middle Ages” implies lull between glory of Rome and glitter of Renaissance • Formative period • Backwardness and vulnerability • Dynamic change (trade, intellectual activity, Gothic) • Legacy of Medieval period includes: • Academic institutions • Political ideas • Marked change in relationship between West and regions around it (Crusades)

30. Global Connections: Medieval Europe and the World • Europe originally at mercy of invasions (Vikings, nomadic groups from central Asia) • Nervous about power of Islam (false religion, deep threat) • Crusades: Holy Land • Actively copied features from Islam (law, science, art) • Increasing contact through trade

31. Chapter 10 Homework Questions • How was post-classical Western Europe affected by the collapse of the Roman Empire? • How did feudalism and the Church help to shape political development in Europe during the Middle Ages? • How did Christian culture dominate European philosophy and art, and how did it generate change and conflict? • How did the growth of trade and banking influence urban and rural life in Europe? • What problems did medieval society face in terms of disease and overpopulation? • How did Christianity develop during this period? Who were major Christian thinkers or Christian groups?