Western Europe During the High Middle Ages

1. Western Europe During the High Middle Ages

2. The Establishment of Regional States • While German princes established the confederation of states known as the Holy Roman Empire, western monarchs consolidated power over France and England. • On the Iberian Peninsula, there were five regional kingdoms and the Italian cities worked toward independence from regional authority. • These states frequently clashed with one another but were very effective at organizing their own territories.

3. The Establishment of Regional Kingdoms • The Holy Roman Empire • German King of Saxony, Otto, had defeated so many of his neighbors that by 962 the pope named him the Holy Roman Emperor. • However, there was enormous tension between the succeeding emperors and popes as emperors sought to control the Catholic church and the popes attempted to exert their own authority over all monarchs. • Example – Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII for attempting to name his own regional bishops. (Known as the Investiture Contest Controversy) • Voltaire (18th Century Philosopher) – Liked to say, “The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” • Really, it was secular, German, and a group of states!!!

4. The Establishment of Regional States • Regional Monarchies in France and England • Both the French and English consolidated their feudal estates into the centralized governments of French kings. • France • Hugh Capet and his descendents formed strong monarchy • England • William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo Saxon King of England in 1066. • Normans (William the Conq) reorganized the English government to maintain strong central authority • Successive generations of French and English kings fought each other and faced internal challenges as well.

5. The Establishment of Regional States • The Regional States of Italy and Iberia • Italy • Decentralized during the High Middle Ages • Popes influenced most Italian States, but ruled central Italy as the Papal State • Florence, Bologna, Genoa, Milan, and Venice grew prosperous from trade and dominated the northern regions of Europe. • Naples (formed out of old Byzantine empire) also became powerful • Iberian Peninsula (Present day Spain and Portugal) • Split b/t Catholics in the North and Muslims in the South • By 13 Century Christian armies had pressed south and conquered the regions that became Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. • Only Granada Remain Muslim

6. Economic Growth and Social Development • In the middle of all the political warfare, Europe experienced notable growth in trade which changed the social hierarchy. • Growth of the Agricultural Economy • Horseshoes, horse collars, crop rotation, field rotation, and animal fertilizer • Experimented with many new crops • Publicized agricultural improvements to spread knowledge. • Improvements led to significant population growth between 1000 and 1300 CE. • Fueled urbanization and trade

7. Economic Growth and Social Development • The Revival of Towns and Trade • Increased trade and economic activity encouraged peasants to make their way to towns. • Roman cities like London, Paris, and Toledo became regional trading centers • Italian cities along the Mediterranean and northern cities along the Baltic and North Seas were cross cultural trading ports • Hanseatic League – Port city trading network along the Baltic and North Seas • Banking and credit helped enhance European trade

8. Economic Growth of the Agricultural Community • Social Change • Three Estates of medieval Europe (those who pray, those who fight, those who labor) changed as the High Middle Ages set in • Code of Chivalry implemented – governed the manners and actions of the fighting classes of Europe • Merchants became more powerful and demanded charters – agreements that exempted them from the control of local feudal lords • Craftsmen for guilds – Associations to protect prices and standardize production • Women had more opportunities due to urbanization – Opportunities to work the same jobs as men.

9. European Christianity During the High Middle Ages • The Roman Catholic church dominated the lives of medieval Europeans. • Served as the major cultural influence on literature and the arts as well as dominating the city scene with its churches and cathedrals. • Average Europeans adopted a new form of popular religion that challenged the church while Catholic scholars adopted the long forgotten ideas of Aristotle.

10. European Christianity During the High Middle Ages • Schools, Universities, and Scholastic Theology • As Europeans grew wealthier, education became more available. • Cathedral Schools – Northern Italy and France, people studied Latin, the Bible, and Christian Theologians. • Universities – Bologna, Paris, Salerno – People specialized in medicine, law, and theology • Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote books that merged Christianity with Greek philosophy (Aristotle) • Helped people better understand the complex ideas of Christianity.

11. European Christianity during the High Middle Ages • Popular Religion • Common people were interested in the vibrant and emotional brand of Christianity that venerated saints, relics, and the Virgin Mary. • People would travel all over seeing artifacts left behind by the saints who they often prayed to. • Led to a sort of travel industry and inns sprang up along popular routes travelled by Christians paying homage to their favorite saints. • Most popular saint was the Virgin Mary

12. European Christianity During the High Middle Ages • Reform Movements and Popular Heresies • As wealth increased and pilgrimage sites raked in the riches, reformers within the church became concerned with the materialism of the church. • St. Dominic and St. Francis founded orders of mendicant monks who preaches messages of simple faith and begged for donations of food and clothing. • In parts of northern Italy and France people rejected the Catholic Church: • Waldensians • Cathers

13. The Medieval Expansion of Europe • A strengthened medieval Europe began to expand into new regions of the Atlantic, Baltic, and Mediterranean. • Colonies established in Iceland, Greenland, and Canada and Christianity was introduced in the Baltic. • Christian Spain conquered Muslim Spain.

14. The Medieval Expansion of Europe • Atlantic and Baltic Colonization • When the Vikings of Scandinavia were turned back from continental Europe, they began to expand westward to the islands of the north Atlantic • While they were exploring, the Scandinavian monarchs converted to Christianity and began to press it on their subjects. • The Teutonic Knights (Christian Soldiers) conquered the Baltic regions of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

15. The Medieval Expansion of Europe • The Reconquest of Sicily and Spain • As European interest in the Mediterranean increased, they confronted the Muslim states of Sicily and Granada. • By the mid-thirteenth century Christians had conquered Sicily and almost all of Granada. • Dominican friars played a large part in the conversion of Spaniards from Islam to Catholicism.

16. Medieval Expansion in Europe • Crusades • Attempts by European Christians to retake the Holy lands of the Bible which were controlled by Muslims • First Crusade – Jerusalem captured from Muslims, but later retaken • Second Crusade – Attempt to retake Jerusalem after Muslims regained control following the first Crusade • Series of Crusades followed that were never as successful as the first • Although they were largely unsuccessful, the crusades were beneficial for Europe because it exposed them to Muslim ideas (math, theology, medicine) and new goods, which reinvigorated Europe’s trade with the rest of the world.