Europe in the Middle Ages• What led to the rise and fall of feudalism?

• How did the Crusades affect European society?

• What was the Renaissance?

Setting the Scene

A.D. 500 the Roman Empire (western Europe) was in ruin – nomadic tribes from northern Europe and Asia. Small kingdoms developed

Laws, literature, and learning from the Empire was lost

Cities shrank, trade slowed (too dangerous to travel), peasants fled from invaders

Vikings were the most feared attackers Raid and colonize – Northern England and Ireland

900s – settled in northern France (“Normans”), Iceland, and Greenland

Feudalism

European leaders enlisted nobles for: Military assistance and loyalty

In return for: Land and protection

Manor (land a noble received) Self-sufficient estate

Serfs – men and women bound to the land by their labor (worked in exchange for a share of the crops and protection from attackers)

Rigid Class System

Noble Class – managed estates, hunted, engaged in battle Men held most of the power (some women inherited land

from male relatives)

Serfs – unending physical labor Lords received the largest portion of the crops, but

sometimes also required workers to pay fees (marriage or inheritance taxes)

Some obtained their freedom, but most remained tied to the land

Considered property and their status was passed down to their children.

Church

No sense of national identity in feudal Europe and little awareness of the outside world (manor and church only)

Roman Catholic Church – political and social force

Led by the pope

Center of activity

Only institution to carry on traditions from the Roman Empire

Art, culture (music, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, cathedrals)

Politically – settled disputes between kingdoms and negotiate political alliances

Monks and Nuns lived in monasteries or convents

Worshiped, studied scripture, preserved ancient Greek and Roman writing

Decline of Feudalism

New farm equipment increased the amount of land that could be farmed Farm laborers could not produce enough food for large

armies and townspeople

Military strength grew Vikings would no longer take by force, what they couldn’t

get by trade

Trading towns and cities replaced manors as the focus of economic activity

Serfs moved from manors to towns – work for wages or farm rented plots

Crusades

1096-1200s – waves of Christian crusaders fought Muslims for control of the Holy Land Southwest Asia – sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims

Muslims groups had held the Holy Land since the 600s

Fell to the Seljuk Turks (Muslims from central Asia) in 1071 Prevented Christians from visiting the holy city of Jerusalem

1st Crusade: European Christian invaders captured Jerusalem – retaken later by Muslims

Later Crusades were never as successful for the Europeans, but they had important consequences for trade…

Trade

Banks and merchants in the Italian city-states funded the Crusades in return for trading privileges. Italian traders brought back rare spices, fine silks, etc. from

Muslim lands… Europeans demanded more.

Trade changed Europe’s political and social order

Merchants and bankers formed the bourgeoisie (middle class)

Political stability was necessary for trade to flourish (fighting feudal nobles could not provide this)

But a central government under a strong king or queen could – bourgeoisie supported monarchs

Renaissance Rebirth of European learning and artistic creativity.

Crusades had helped end the isolation Europe had faced from the rest of the world.

Brought back classical Greek and Roman works and new ideas in science, technology and philosophy from the Byzantine Empire (eastern half of the former Roman Empire) and the Islamic world.

European scholars wanted to understand the physical world

Clues from Arab mathematics and sciences

Arab maps and geographic studies – world beyond Europe

Compass and Astrolabe invention

Began in Italy (14th century) and spread across Europe

Johannes Gutenberg –invention of the printing press (cultural diffusion)

Commerce (banks and treasuries continued to try and outdo one another to make profit) – funding building projects and individual artists (da Vinci and Michelangelo)