1. Europe in The Middle
Ages
800 CE – 1500 CE

2. Section 1: Peasants, Trade &
Cities
 The near doubling of Europe's population, combined with more peaceful
and settled conditions, contributed to major improvements to life in
Europe. Reasons for the change included:
 the development of labor-saving devices,
 improvements in farming that increased food production, and a revival of trade.
 Trade, in turn, contributed to the development of a money economy, the
resettlement of ancient cities, and the emergence of new cities.
 Many people still lived as peasants. They combined agricultural and craft
work to provide for their families, while turning over part of what they
produced to the lord of the manor.
 The cities, meanwhile, were crowded, dirty places that nevertheless
provided new opportunities for men and women. In the cities, guilds
regulated employment in many crafts and professions.

3. Manorialism: The Lord of the Manor
 For safety and
defense, people in
the Middle Ages
formed small
communities around
a central lord or
master.

4. Manorialism: The Manor
 Most people lived
on a manor, which
consisted of the
castle (or manor
house), the church,
the village, and the
surrounding farm
land.

6. Manorialism: Self-Sufficiency
 Each manor was largely self-
sufficient, growing or producing
all of the basic items needed for
food, clothing, and shelter.
 To meet these needs, the manor
had buildings devoted to special
purposes, such as:
 The mill for grinding grain
 The bake house for making bread
 The blacksmith shop for creating
metal goods.

7. Isolation
 These manors were
isolated, with
occasional visits
from peddlers,
pilgrims on their way
to the Crusades, or
soldiers from other
fiefdoms.

8. The Feudal System
 Under the feudal
system, the king
awarded land grants or
fiefs to his most
important nobles,
barons, and bishops,
in return for their
contribution of soldiers
for the king's armies.

9. Nobles and Vassals
 Nobles were the
highest ranked people
on the manor. They
divided their land
among the lesser
nobility, who became
their vassals. Many of
these vassals became
so powerful that the
kings had difficulty
controlling them.

10. The Peasants
 At the lowest level of
society were the
peasants, also called
serfs or villeins.
 The lord offered his
peasants protection in
exchange for living and
working on his land.

11. Hard Work & High Taxes
 Peasants worked hard to
cultivate the land and
produce the goods that
the lord and his manor
needed.
 They were heavily taxed
and were required to
relinquish (give to the
noble) much of what they
harvested.

12.  In peasant families, the
wife did the cooking and
baking. The peasant diet
consisted of breads,
vegetables from their own
gardens, dairy products
from their own sheep,
goats, and cows, and pork
from their own livestock.
 Pantries were hung with birds and beasts,
including swans, blackbirds, ducks, pigeons,
rabbits, mutton, venison, and wild boar. Many
of these animals were caught on hunts.

13. Women: Household Chores

Whether they were noble or
peasants, women held a difficult
position in society.
 They were largely confined to
household tasks such as cooking,
baking bread, sewing, weaving, and
spinning.
 However, they also hunted
for food and fought in
battles, learning to use
weapons to defend their
homes and castles.

14. MEDIEVAL LIFE
Cooperation and
Mutual Obligations
KING
MANORIALISM:
FEUDALISM: ECONOMIC SYSTEM
POLITICAL SYSTEM Fief and Peasants
 Agriculture the basis for wealth
 Decentralized, local Loyalty Military Aid
 Lands divided up into self-
LORDS (VASSALS TO KING)
government sufficient manors
 Dependent upon the  Peasants (serfs) worked the
relationship between land and paid rent In exchange
members of the nobility for protection
 Lord and his vassals  Barter the usual form of
Food Protection Shelter
administered justice and exchange
were the highest authority Homage Military Service
in their land KNIGHTS (VASSALS TO LORDS)
Food Protection Shelter
Farm the Pay
Land PEASANTS (SERFS) Rent

15. The Magna Carta
 Under Manorialism, nobles often
became quite powerful and kings
would have difficulty controlling
them. As a result, the nobles would
question the decisions of the king and
challenge his power.
 In 1215, the English barons formed
an alliance that forced King John to
sign the Magna Carta. It limited the
king's powers of taxation and
required trials by jury.
 The powerful nobles were able to
force the King to be subject to the law
for the first time in European history.

16. Section 2: Christianity and
Medieval Civilization
 A sign of the Church's growing role in European affairs was the
Concordat of Worms.
 By barring monarchs from investing (nominating or creating) bishops, this document
marked a victory for Pope Gregory VII in his bid to reform the Church and assert papal
power.
 The importance of the sacraments for ordinary Christians gave the Church
a central role in people's lives.
 The veneration of saints was also popular and spurred interest in a long list
of saints who Christians believed could intercede in heaven on their behalf.
 Religious fervor prompted new monastic orders to spring up for men and
women. The new orders developed an activistic spiritual model.
 Finally, the Inquisition gave the Church a tool for discouraging heresy.
Those who failed to do proper penance for heresy could face execution.

17. The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church was the only church in
Europe during the Middle Ages, and it had its own
laws and large income.
Church leaders such as bishops and archbishops
sat on the king's council and played leading roles
in government.
The PAPACY is the office of the Pope, the head
of the Catholic church. During the middle ages,
the pope became more powerful than the kings of
their day. Corruption was rampant with this
power. Offices of the church were sold to the
highest bidder and a token was given to show this
power, known as lay investiture. Pope Gregory
VII tried to end this

18. Bishops
 Bishops, who were often
wealthy and came from
noble families, ruled
over groups of parishes
called dioceses.
 Many times, they were
part of the feudal system
and in exchange for a fief
and peasants had to
provide homage and
military aid to a liege
lord.

19. Parish Priests
 Parish priests, on the other
hand, came from humbler
backgrounds and often had
little education.
 The village priest tended
to the sick and indigent
and, if he was able, taught
Latin and the Bible to the
youth of the village

20. Monasteries, Monks & Nuns
 Monasteries in the Middle Ages were
based on the rules set down by St.
Benedict in the sixth century. The monks
became known as Benedictines and took
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
to their leaders.
 Monks were required to perform manual
labor and were forbidden to own
property, leave the monastery, or
become entangled in the concerns of
society.
 Daily tasks were often carried out in
silence.
 Monks and their female counterparts, nuns, who lived in
convents, provided for the less-fortunate members of the
community. Monasteries and nunneries were safe havens
for pilgrims and other travelers.

21. Section 3: The Culture of the
High Middle Ages
 The first universities were established in twelfth-century Italy, France, and England
as educational guilds.
 Most students received a liberal arts education.
 Theology was the most prestigious subject and was heavily influenced by scholasticism.
 Scholasticism sought to reconcile faith and reason and to harmonize Christian
teachings with recently rediscovered works of Greek philosophers.
 The best-known practitioner of scholasticism was Saint Thomas Aquinas.
 Although Latin was the universal language of medieval civilization, new literature
—mainly poetry—was appearing in regional languages, such as French, English,
and Spanish; this is called vernacular literature because it is written in the
everyday language of the people.
 An eleventh- and twelfth-century building boom produced many new churches.
Innovations in architecture made it possible to build soaring Gothic cathedrals,
one of the artistic triumphs of the High Middle Ages.

22. Architecture
 Early Christian: Flat roofs, and long
rectangular shapes used in Roman
basilicas.
 Romanesque: Replaced flat wooden
roofs with rounded barrel vault ceilings.
 Gothic: The use of flying buttresses
allowed architects to create a feeling of
upward movement in the Gothic
cathedrals.

23. The Canterbury Tales
 Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales is a series of stories
told by 30 pilgrims as
they traveled to
Canterbury. It is an early
example of vernacular
literature (literature
written in the common
language of the day).

24. Peasants Home Architecture
 Many peasant families ate,
slept, and spent time together
in very small quarters, rarely
more than one or two rooms.
The houses had thatched
roofs and were easily
destroyed.
 Most medieval homes were cold, damp,
and dark. Sometimes it was warmer and
lighter outside the home than within its
walls.

25. Woolen & Linen Clothing
 Most people in the Middles Ages
wore woolen clothing, with
undergarments made of linen.
Brighter colors, better materials, and
a longer jacket length were usually
signs of greater wealth.
 The clothing of the aristocracy and
wealthy merchants tended to be
elaborate and changed according to
the dictates of fashion. Towards the
end of the Middle Ages, men of the
wealthy classes sported hose and a
jacket, often with pleating or
skirting, or a tunic with a surcoat.
 Women wore flowing gowns and elaborate headwear,
ranging from headdresses shaped like hearts or butterflies
to tall steeple caps and Italian turbans.

26. Section 4: The Late Middle Ages
 Europe's fortunes sank as bubonic plague carried by infested rats
decimated Europe's population.
 In a wave of anti-Semitism, many people attacked Jews, accusing them of causing the
plague by poisoning the wells.
 The plague devastated Europe's economy as well and accelerated the end of serfdom.
 Church power declined as European kings rejected papal claims of
supremacy.
 Popular respect for the papacy was undermined by the Great Schism, a
nearly forty-year papal crisis during which a rival papacy was set up in
France.
 The Hundred Years' War introduced new methods of warfare, adding to
the problems of the late Middle Ages.
 The "new monarchies" of the fifteenth century reestablished the centralized
power of the monarchies in England, France, and Spain.

27. Medicine was often a risky business. Bloodletting
was a popular method of restoring a patient's health
and "humors." Early surgery, often done by barbers
without anesthesia, must have been excruciating.
Medical treatment was available mainly to the
wealthy, and those living in villages rarely had the
help of doctors, who practiced mostly in the cities
and courts. Remedies were often herbal in nature,
but also included ground earthworms, urine, and
animal excrement.
Many medieval medical manuscripts contained
recipes for remedies that called for hundreds of
therapeutic substances--the notion that every
substance in nature held some sort of power
accounts for the enormous variety of substances.
BLACK DEATH…The PLAGUE…Bubonic Plague
People did not know what caused the plague
and blamed others, like the Jews. People were
afraid to gather together or travel. This hurt the
economy.

28. Hundred Years’ war
The plague contributed to an economic crisis in Europe. It also contributed to
political instability (along with the end of feudalism). The Hundred Years’ War
began when King Philip VI of France seized Gascony, which had been held by the
English. The duke of Gascony – King Edward III of England – declared war
against the French. The war over English territory in France lasted until 1453.
The Hundred Years’ War changed warfare forever; it was peasant foot soldiers who
helped win the war, not the Knights who had been fighting in the Crusades.

29. Hundred Years’ War
 There were several major battles in the war:
 1346: Crecy; the English won because their
archers were able to damage the French lines,
which were in disarray
 1415: Agincourt; the French lost when their heavy
armor-plated soldiers and horses were bogged
down by heavy mud
 1450s – Normandy & Agincourt: The French,
using a new weapon, the cannon, defeated the
English (thanks to the invention of gunpowder!)

30. Joan of Arc
 Joan of Arc – born in 1412, she was the
daughter of peasants; deeply religious,
she came to believe that she was
commanded by god to free France
 She persuaded the king to accompany the
army to Orleans; inspired by her faith,
they recaptured Orleans
 She was captured by the English and
turned over to the Inquisition on charges
of witchcraft; she was burned at the stake
 The war dragged on for another two
years, but her death inspired the French,
who defeated the English in Normandy
and Aquitaine, resulting in a French
victory in 1453

31. Political Recovery: France
 By the 15th century, Europe was beginning to recover
from hundreds of years of violence and disease. After
the Crusades, plague, and other wars, “new
monarchies” began to reassert control over the
European states
 After the Hundred Years’ War, France was
exhausted, but united as a nation
 King Louis XI took advantage of this spirit to establish his
power
 He used the taille – an annual tax on land or property, as a
regular source of income, which helped create the
foundations of a strong monarchy

32. Political Recovery: England
 The cost of the Hundred Years’ War strained the
English economy
 The English were also vulnerable to an internal conflict –
The War of the Roses – which was a fight over the
monarchy
 In 1485, the Tudors won control of the monarchy and established a
new dynasty
 Henry Tudor created a strong royal government, ended
wars between the nobles by outlawing private armies, and
helped refill the treasury through his saving measures and
tax revenues

33. Political Recovery: Spain
 Spain also experienced the growth of a strong
monarch
 Throughout the middle ages, Spain fought to remove
the Muslims from their lands
 Two kingdoms rose out of the wars to remove the Muslims:
Aragon and Castile
 Spain was united when Isabella of Castile married
Ferdinand of Aragon
 They were strict Catholics and helped the Catholic Church run the
Inquisition, trying to root out heretics in Spain

34. Central & Eastern Europe
 The Holy Roman Empire was unable to find a strong monarch;
by the 15th century, Germany was divided into many
independent states
 After 1438, the Holy Roman Emperor came from the
Hapsburg dynasty, who ruled the Austrian lands along the
Danube
 Religious differences caused problems in Eastern Europe, as
the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches fought for
influence in places like Poland and Hungary
 Finally, Russia was able to throw off the Mongols and a new
Russian state was born, rules by the great prince Ivan III