High Middle Ages 1000-1260 AD

England in the Middle Ages

• England is a Province of Rome inhabited by Britons and Celts

• Scotland and Ireland are Celtic and Pict-never dominated by Rome

• Rome falls/leaves • Germanic tribes invade• Britons disappear as a

entity

• Angles and Saxons come to dominate England

• Ireland is dominated eventually in part by Normans ,eventually by Cromwell

• Scotland and England fight almost until the American Revolution

Ireland and the Normans

Are these modern day Picts?

Anglo-Saxon England

• Winners in England-the Angles and the Saxons, originally Germanic invaders

• Many Small independent kingdoms that

Combine into Three larger kingdoms• These kingdoms divided into shires in order

to rule more efficiently and a shire - reeve (?) placed in power over them

• Eventually Wessex rules most of England• And then it was time for what goes around

comes around…

Alfred the Great of Wessex

• Vikings invade• Alfred spends 10 years beating them back• Eventually he partially succeeds• His successors win back the rest of England• And then…• It’s the Vikings again !• 1013 -they re-conquer England and Canute

rules England as part of Scandinavia• 1042 -Vikings are poor rulers and the Anglo-

Saxons are back in the driver’s seat again with Edward the Confessor

Alfred commissions the first British Navy

The seeds of modern England

• Edward the Confessor dies childless

• His cousin in Normandy claims the throne

• The Saxon nobles want Harold of Wessex , a relative of the Confessor by marriage, on throne, because he is pure Saxon

• Harold wants it too • Harold made King and

immediately has to fight off the Vikings and soon thereafter, William of Normandy

• Normans are originally of Viking descent from the French coast

• See themselves losing England after all that trouble with their one previous victory in England

• William the Conqueror feels it is his right through Edward’s oath to him and by birth

• William also has an axe to grind• William invades England and

kills Harold• Becomes William I

William I

• Illegitimate son of a Duke and a tanner’s daughter

• Childhood and teens spent escaping people wanting to kill him

• Occasionally placed with strangers to hide

• Married Matilda of Wessex, who was 4 ft. tall

• Edward the Confessor stated he was heir when he was “held” at William's manor

The Bayeau Tapestry Linen tapestry commissioned to document the Battle of Hastings and William’s victory from his

viewpoint (spin) by Bishop Otto in England

William’s take on Life

• Minimize everyone's power but especially the nobles

• Keep the power in your hands

• Watch closely for problems that will arise

• Knowledge is power so get the goods on everyone

• People try to cheat the system

• Get the data on them so they can not cheat you

• Never trust anyone

Results in…

• Altering feudalism so King holds the power• Weakens the nobles by scattering their fiefs

wide and far• Swear allegiance to the King and no one else• All nobles are William’s vassals and no one

else's• Gather data via the Doomsday book• Monitor the nobles by having them to court

and going to their homes and letting them put you up

“there was no single hide nor a yard of land, nor indeed one ox nor one cow nor one pig which was left out". 

Evolution of England’s Evolution of England’s Political SystemPolitical System

Evolution of England’s Evolution of England’s Political SystemPolitical System

Henry I:

William’s son.

set up a court system.

Exchequer dept. of royal finances.

Henry II:

established the principle of common law throughout the kingdom.

grand jury.

trial by jury.

Thomas Beckett’s Murder

Canterbury Cathedral

Richard the Lionhearted

• Succeeded his father Henry II as King

• Spent less than 10 months in England as king because he was in the Crusades

• England functioned well without him

• Ask me about his wife’s eyes

• His brother , King John succeeds him as King

King John (the one in Robin Hood)

• Nobles revolted regarding taxes John put on them

• Forced John to sign the Magna Carta or die• He signed at Runnymeade in 1215 and

agreed to

1. not place any new taxes without the approval of the Great Council2. not take property without paying for it3. not to sell, buy, refuse or delay justice4. to trial by a jury of peers

Why is the Magna Carta important?

• To the nobles?

• To the common people?

• To The West?

• To you?

The Beginnings of the British ParliamentThe Beginnings of the British Parliament

• 1260’s nobles revolt against Henry III• Simon de Montfort rules England for a bit• Wants the King’s council to be more

representative• He called a council that included nobles

and middles class, knights and citizens• Revolt crushed and Montfort killed • But… this becomes the basis of today's

House of Lords and Commons in England and our Senate and Congress

The Organization of the first The Organization of the first British ParliamentBritish Parliament

The Organization of the first The Organization of the first British ParliamentBritish Parliament

Great Council:

middle class merchants, townspeople [burgesses in Eng., bourgeoisie in Fr., burghers in Ger.] were added at the end of the 13c.

eventually called Parliament.

by 1400, two chambers evolved:

o House of Lords nobles & clergy.

o House of Commons knights and burgesses.

Copy of Medieval drawing of Simon Montfort made in 1244 that was destroyed

Edward I

• English Legal system divided into three branches:

having to do with taxes and financial accounting

having to do with cases between private citizens

having to do with the King or government

William Wallace• Led revolt of the

Scots against Edward I, or Edward Long Shanks the Spider King

• Movie “Braveheart”• Executed 1305

Owen Glendower• Led revolt of Welsh

against Henry IV • Revolt foundered

when the New French King withdrew his financial support

• Owen failed but was never captured

• Last Prince of Wales

Revolts against England

Henry IV.

• Brutal King• Didn't learn from Henry II and murdered an

archbishop• Married a second wife (Joan) who was rumored to

have poisoned his first and who was later convicted of witchcraft by Henry V

• Many rebellions because he was so hated• Needed money for the military and Parliament had to

approve so they said “Ok, if you agree that we are free to voice dissenting opinions and will not be punished by arrest for it, we’ll give you the money you want”

• Basis of our right to freedom of speech

Joan and Henry

Meanwhile in France….

• France is bigger and more diverse than England

• Small dukes of Frankish descent hold power

• There is no central government that matters until the last of Charlemagne's descendents dies

Capetian Dynasty

• Last of the Frank kings dies • Hugh Capet elected

by nobles to rule in 987• Only rules a small island-

The Ile-de-France• Holds on to power by cultivating

their right to rule through

hereditary and divine right

• Louis the Fat has the most power and land of any of the Capetians

Germany Italy

• Different from England and France

• Strong tradition of elected kingship and power held in the hands of large wealthy land blocs

• Strong desire to expand territories, gather wealth, and allegiance to one’s “motherland”

• Strong desire to rebuild Charlemagne's empire

• Chaos and anarchy• Papal state, many other

small states and the Byzantium empire rule over the peninsula

• Muslims hold Sicily• German princes view Italy

as an extension of Charlemagne's empire and their responsibility

Otto I (Otto the

Great)

• German Feudal nobles elect Otto as King, in 936 AD• Otto has a thing about Italy; he wants it “bad”• He conquers a bit of it and later joins with the Pope to

help him control other Italian lords• In return he gets to rule northern Italy and is crowned by

Pope as the Holy Roman Emperor• The rule of Otto and his sons lasts 800 years

Otto’s descendents

Henry III-• Saw Church as a tool of

his government that should do as he said

• Three popes objected so he got rid of them and had his man elected as Pope

Henry IV-• Saw the Church in the

same light as his father, Henry III. Conflict with Pope Gregory VII over lay investiture. Both Gregory and Henry wanted to appoint bishops. Gregory excommunicated Henry who suddenly realized he was up a creek without a paddle and had better “fix” the situation

The Climb to Canossa

Henry at the Door

Concordat of Worms

• Henry V ( the miscreant Henry IV’s son) and the Pope later settle the issue of lay investiture

• King grants only worldly powers to church officials such as land or appoint them as his counselors

• Church grants only spiritual powers and can elect their bishops, popes and such

The Actual Concordat in the Vatican Library

Worms Cathedral

http://www.organisten.de/oberlinger/e-worms-dom.htm

Frederick Barbarossa 1152 to 1190. • He liked Italy too• Milan declined his request to govern them

so he destroyed it and drove the people out

• Lombard League was formed and fought against Frederick

• Peace settlement said the Lombard city states could govern themselves but had to recognize Frederick as overlord

• Cities are growing in power in Europe. • The Times they are a-changing

Three views of Frederick Barbarossa

Pope Innocent III • The Height of Medieval Papacy and Church Power

• He said Pope is over all temporal and spiritual powers

• Believed all blessing, coronation, and investiture of rulers dependent upon the Pope

• Supported genocide against heretics-Cathars

• Used interdict and excommunication to control Kings

• Called for two crusades

Germany and Italy in a nutshell

• Italy remains split into small kingdoms

• Germany remains a jumble of independent city states and feudal states

• Neither unified until the 1800’s

• How did this affect other European countries? Such as England or France?

• How did it affect Italy and Germany?

So, as we go into the High Middle Ages

• Germany and Italy split and disorganized

• The Church has reached the height of it’s Power and Prestige

• England and France-Feudal nobles and Kings struggle for power. Weak king and the nobles gain some power. Strong King and the nobles lose power.

• Cycle of war and conquest

• Most people are serfs legally tied to a manor

• Minimal trade• Simplest of economies• Few artisans, artists,

scientists, educated• Short, Brutal lives for

majority of people on earth at this time

Better things are coming though by unexpected and undesirable

agents.

Pope Urban II: Preaching a Pope Urban II: Preaching a CrusadeCrusade

Pope Urban II: Preaching a Pope Urban II: Preaching a CrusadeCrusade

1095 AD

Why crusade?

• Economics

• Healing the east-West religious schism

• Religious fervor

• Oversupply of Knights

• The Turks and trade

Setting Out on CrusadeSetting Out on CrusadeSetting Out on CrusadeSetting Out on Crusade

Christian Crusades: East and Christian Crusades: East and WestWest

Christian Crusades: East and Christian Crusades: East and WestWest

Knights Templar

Results

• Better weapons and warfare techniques evolved including the astrolabe

• Trade increases with the East and other Europeans

• Exploration increased in an effort to reach the place where silk was made

• Better medical techniques, hygiene, the concept of zero, spices enter the Europeans world

• The Muslim world views any verbal or physical interest in their affairs as the sign of another Crusade