The Middle Ages

1. The Middle Ages

2. The High Middle Ages (1000-1300) • Period of recovery and growth for Western civilization • Characterized by a greater sense of security and a burst of energy and enthusiasm.

3. Land and People in the Middle Ages • Improved climate • (slightly) Warmer temperatures = better and longer growing seasons. • Increase in population • Dramatic rise in population: from 38 million to 74 million between 1000 – 1300. • Fertility rates increased to counterbalance infant mortality. • Security from stable and peaceful conditions • Increase in agricultural production

4. The New Agriculture • Technological Changes – most depended on the use of iron • 1) Carruca – the heavy wheeled plow. Very important in the areas north of the Alps • 2) Aratum – a nonwheeled, light scratch plow. Important in the Mediterranean and Near East. • 3) Windmills, watermills, and dams – did the labor traditionally done by humans • 4) Three-Field System – crop rotation between fields. Fallow land able to regain fertility. Maximized potential.

5. Life of the Peasantry • Activities revolved around the seasons. Summer and Fall were especially hectic because of harvests. • October – prepare the fields for winter crops • November – slaughter animals and salt to preserve for the winter • February/March – plow for the spring crops

6. Holidays • All holidays revolved around the village church. • Included: feast days, Sunday Mass, baptisms, marriages, and funerals.

7. Households • Wood-frame houses, thatched roofs. • Poorer peasants had only one room, but most had two • One for cooking, one for sleeping and activities • Husband, wife, and 2 or 3 kids • Role of women • Raise kids, tend gardens, keep up the home, weave clothing, provide meals, work w/ men in the fields. • Diet • Bread, legumes, bacon, cheese, fruits, veggies, sometimes eggs. Ale

8. The Aristocracy of the High Middle Ages • “Men of war” • Variations of wealth among its members • Shared a common ethos and distinctive lifestyle

9. Significance of the Aristocracy • Lords and vassals of medieval society. • Kings, dukes, counts, barons, and viscounts that held extensive lands and political power • Relied on knights for military help • War-like qualities of the nobles justified because they were the “defenders of society” • Church frowned on violence, but channeled that energy into the crusades.

10. Aristocratic Women • Could legally hold and inherit property, but many remained under the control of men. • Duties: • Manage castle • Supervise financial accounts • Oversee food supply • Teach daughters wifely duties • Check other supplies needed for castle

11. Eleanor of Aquitane

12. Blanche of Castile

13. Ways of the Warrior • Boys (age 7-8) sent to clerical schools or noble’s castle for education. • *occasionally learned basic reading and writing • Chief lessons were military related: joust, hunt, ride, and handle weapons properly • Age 21 enter the adult world by a knighting ceremony • Chivalry – ideal of civilized behavior • Defend the church and defenseless, fight only for glory, do not attack the unarmed, etc.

14. Role of Tournaments • Alternative to the socially destructive fighting among knights. • “Melee” = warriors on horseback fought with blunted weapons in free for all combat • Goal was to take prisoners for ransom • Jousts = individual combat between two knights • Seen as a good way to train for war. It was frowned upon by the church.

15. Marriage Patterns of the Aristocracy • Marriages were expected to establish alliances w/ other families, bring new wealth, and provide heirs. • Usually large discrepancies in the ages of marital partners • Girls: 15-16 • Boys: 30s or 40s • Divorce, in general, was not allowed. Marriage was a sacrament and meant to last a lifetime. • Annulment • Not consumated, unable to consumate, related by blood (closer than 3rd cousins)

16. The New World of Trade and Cities

17. In the 11th and 12th centuries there was a revival of trade, considerable expansion in the circulation of money, a restoration of specialized craftspeople and artisans, and the growth of towns. • Why was this possible? • NEW AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND SUBSEQUENT INCREASE IN FOOD PRODUCTION

18. Revival of Trade • Gradual process • Italy led the way in the revival – began in Venice in the 8th century. • Flanders (along the coast of present-day Belgium and Northern France) also began trading a high-quality woolen cloth. • By the 12th century there was a regular exchange of goods between Flanders and Italy.

19. As trade increased, so did the demand for gold and silver. Thus, a money economy began to emerge. • All of these practices contributed to commercial capitalism– an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods in order to make a profit.

20. Growth of Cities • Merchants needed a place to live and store their goods. • Craftspeople and artisans saw the opportunity to ply their trade producing objects that could be sold by the merchants. • Usually a group of them would establish a settlement near some fortified stronghold, such as a monastery or castle. • Usually located on trade routes • Offered protection

21. If the settlement prospered, it expanded and walls were built around it to protect it. • The merchants or artisans of these boroughs or burghs came to be called burghers or bourgeoisie.

22. Rights of Townspeople • Made enough money to buy freedoms from their lords. Lords were okay with this because they saw it as another way to make a profit • Rights: • Bequeath goods and sell property • Freedom from military obligation to their lord • Written law that guaranteed their freedom • Right for serfs to be free after residing for one year and one day in the town

23. If towns people had difficulty obtaining privileges, they often swore an oath, forming an association called a commune, and resorted to force against their ecclesiastical lords.

24. City Governments • Citizenship was only awarded to males who had been born in the city or who had lived there for a long time. • City councilors (known as consuls in Italy and southern France) not only enacted legislation but also served as judges and city magistrates. • Electoral process was carefully engineered so that only members of wealthy families were elected. That became known as patricians.

25. Guilds • Directed almost every aspect of the production process. • Set standards for the articles produced • Specified the actual methods of production to be used • Fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold • Could determine the number of people who could enter a specific trade and the procedure they must follow to do so.

26. Universities • Centered around the traditional liberal arts curriculum. • Grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. • After completing the liberal arts portion, a student could go on to study law, medicine, or theology. • Students were typically from the families of lesser knights, merchants, or artisans. • They started when they were 14-18 and received their bachelor’s or master’s degrees by their early 20s.

27. Revival of Classic Antiquity • Refers to the works of the Greeks and Romans. • Aristotle’s works were translated into Latin – the West now had a complete set • Looked to Galen and Hippocrates for medicine • Euclid on mathematics

28. Theology • The formal study of religion • Reigned as “queen of the sciences” • Scholasticism – the philosophical and theological system of medieval schools. • Tried to reconcile faith with reason to demonstrate that what was accepted on faith could be harmonized with what was learned by reason.

29. Universals • What constitutes what is real? • Theologians divided into two main groups • 1) Realists– followed Plato. Took the position that the individual objects that we perceive with our senses our not real but merely manifestations of universal ideas that exist in the mind of God. • 2) Nominalists – followed Aristotle. Believed that only individual objects were real. Saw universal ideas and concepts simply as names.

30. Literature • Latin was the universal language of medieval civilization. • Troubador Poetry – product of nobles and knights. Focused on themes of courtly love • Heroic Epic – also known as the chanson de geste. Typically describe battles and political contests. • Courtly Romance – composed in rhymed couplets and dwelt on romantic subjects

31. Romanesque • International style of architecture popular in the 11th and 12th centuries. Typically, churches had a barreled ceiling.

32. Gothic • Another type of architecture popular in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.