Europe to the Early 1500s

Ottto I (936-973 AD)

• Henry the Fowler (918-936 AD), King of Germany

• Otto I (936-973 AD)– Conquers Part of Italy– Defeats Magyars at Lechfeld (955 AD)– Enlists churchmen into government– February 2, 962, Pope John XII crowned him

as Emperor.

Cluny Reform Movement (10th-11th century AD)

• 910 AD—Count of Auverne founds new monastery (Benedictine)

• Leaders of Western Monasticism • Uniqueness:

– organizational structure– the prohibition on holding land by feudal

service – its execution of the liturgy as its main form of

work.

Cluny Organization

• Abbot of Cluny is the boss

• Daughter Houses (Priories) are run by priors, appointed by the Abbot of Cluny

• Priors meet at Cluny to make account for service yearly

Customs of Cluny

• Old monasteries combined physical labor and prayer to achieve economic independence

• By 9th century, Prayer was main business of monks

• Donations now paid for servants who worked while the monks prayed and performed masses for the dead in purgatory

• Monks now lived like wealthy nobles with gold cups, drinking wine and eating roast chicken and cheese and wearing silken and linen robes

• This inevitably leads to corruption

Calls for Reform

• Pushed for independence of Church from Secular authority

• Called for clergy under Papal authority only

• Better educated priests; make all celibate too.

• An attack on poorly educated peasant priests with mistresses / wives

Investiture Struggle

• Gregory VII (1073-1085 AD) – He attacks the investment of bishops and priests by

secular authorities

• Henry IV(1056 (King)/84 (Holy Roman Emperor)-1105 AD– He attacks Papal authority but his nobles sell him out,

forcing him to grovel before the pope at Canossa in 1076 AD

• 1122— Concordat of Worms compromises —King invests with land rights, Pope with religious power

The Crusades

The Crusades

• Outlet for heightened religosity

• Also a way for younger sons to get land

• 1071—Manzikert

• Byzantines ask pope for help

• Pope gives a call for a holy crusade at the Council of Claremont.

The Pope Calls For Holy War

• "Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves out in both body and soul now work for a double honor." -- From Fulcher of Chartes' account of Urban II's speech

First Crusade

1. The People’s Crusade—Peasants + Knights,led by Peter the Hermit of Amiens -- 100,000

2. The German Crusade—Jew-Slaughtering Knights

3. The Baron’s Crusade—French, Norman, and Italian knights, 7000 strong, another 20-30,000 footmen

Constantinople and Beyond

• By May 1097, all three armies reach Constantinople– People’s Army attacks Turks, dies in droves– Germans and French unite, head south

• Capture Antioch and Edessa• South to Jerusalem

– Five week siege– According to Fulcher of Chartres: "Indeed, if you had

been there you would have seen our feet coloured to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared".

Crusader States• The first Crusader state, the County of Edessa, was founded in 1098 and

lasted until 1144.• The Principality of Antioch, founded in 1098, lasted until 1268.• The County of Tripoli (the Lebanese city, not the Libyan capital), founded

in 1104, with Tripoli itself conquered in 1109, lasted until 1288.• The Kingdom of Jerusalem, founded in 1099, lasted until 1291, when the

city of Acre fell. There were also many vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the four major lordships (seigneuries) being:

– The Principality of Galilee– The County of Jaffa and Ascalon– The Lordship of Oultrejordain– The Lordship of Sidon

• The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia had its origins before the Crusades, but was granted the status of a kingdom by Pope Innocent III, and later became semi-westernized by the (French) Lusignan dynasty.

Crusader States

Crusader Orders

• Knight-Monk Orders founded to defend Outremer– Order of the Hospital of St. John or The Hospitallers -

Founded c.1070. Papal Order 1113– Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or

Knights Templar - Founded c.1118. Papal Order 1128 - the first purely military order.

– Knights of St Lazarus - Founded early 12th Century. Militarised c.1123. Most likely an offshoot of the Hospitallars.

– Order of Montjoie - Founded c.1180.– Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem or

The Teutonic Knights - Founded 1190. Papal Order 1198.– Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre or Knights

of St Thomas Acon - Founded 1191. Militarised c.1217.

Second and Third Crusades

• The Second Crusade (1147-49) – Response to Fall of Edessa; not very impressive

• Third Crusade (1189-92 AD) – Saladin (1138-93) conquers Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187– Kings of France (Philip Augustus), Germany (Frederick

Barbarossa), England (Richard the Lion Hearted) unite to take on Saladin

– Barbarossa drowns in a river– France and England fall out; French leave and attack England– Richard fights to a tie, takes Acre– Richard goes home and is taken hostage in Germany for 2 years

The Fourth Crusade: 1202-4

• 30,000 crusaders sack Zara for Venice to pay for transit to Holy Land

• Civil War in Byzantium; exiled Prince Alexius Angelus asks Crusaders for help

• Crusaders install him on throne; he sells them out, so they sack the city in 1204 and take over

• Never gets to the Holy Land

More Futile Crusades

• Fifth Crusade (1217-1221): Austria, Hungary, Dutch vs. Egypt. Flop

• Sixth Crusade (1228-9): HRE Frederick II buys Jerusalem

• The Seventh Crusade (1248-54) : Saint Louis invades Egypt. Flop.

• The Eighth Crusade (1270) : Saint Louis invades Tunisia; Disease wins.

• The Ninth Crusade (1271-2): Edward I of England makes minor gains; goes home to inherit the throne.

• 1291 AD: Fall of Acre ends the Crusades

Towns and Townsfolk

• 5% of population in 11th-12th centuries

• Town Charters: Money for Freedom

• Rise of the Merchants

• Cities + King vs. Nobility

• Town Councils: Nobles + Merchants

• Trade Guilds: Artisans United– Master / Journeyman / Apprentice

• Rise of City-States in Germany and Italy

• Urban Jews—Some Financiers, Many Poor

Education

• 12th Century—Return of Greek Philosophy via Muslim Spain

• Rise of Universities:

• Bologna (1158)– Roman Law Focus– Model for Spain, Italy, South France

• University of Paris (late 12th century)– Theology Focus– Model for North France, Germany, England,

Scandanavia

Scholasticism

• Synthetic Learning: You study the received wisdom, debate it, then draw your conclusions, synthesizing a conclusion

• The goal is to rediscover past knowledge and to preserve past wisdom, rather than achieving new knowledge

• Students write commentaries on older works:– Summary: Boiling down older works into shorter

versions

– Annotation: Adding to older works with commentary, observations, contemporary incident, etc.

Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and Héloïse (1101-16 May

1164)

• Peter Abelard = Brilliant Theologian; Heloise = his student, niece of Canon Fulbert of Notre Dame

• Abelard was a rigorous scholastic and a huge supporter of the study of Greek Philosophy and its integration with Catholic Theology

• Enemy of Saint Bernard, who emphasized faith and said 'Greek Philosophy ' = Pagan = Evil

• Abelard said that motives behind an act determine its morality more than the act itself (subjective morality)

Abelard and Heloise: The Love Tragedy I

• University Professors required to be celibate

• He takes a side job tutoring Heloise, niece of Canon Fulbert of Notre Dame

• They become lovers

• She becomes pregnant; their son is named Astrolabius.

• Affair is exposed. Her family has him castrated.

Abelard and Heloise: The Love Tragedy II

• He flees to a monastery; she becomes a nun

• They maintain decades of correspondence which we still have today

• 1121: Saint Bernard has all his books burned and condemned as heresy

• 1140: All his teachings condemned as heresy.

Abelard and Heloise: The Love Tragedy III

• He dies bitter and burnt out in 1142, trying to appeal his condemnation

• Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) would later elevate Abelard's articulation of the idea of Limbo into Catholic theology.

• Heloise spent her last years working to improve the life of monastic women and studying theology

The Three Orders

• Nobility: Those Who Fight

• Clergy: Those Who Pray

• Peasantry: Those Who Work

• Merchants and the like didn't fit well in this scheme but were very small in numbers

The Nobility

• By 1200, a hard to enter nobility of hereditary status emerged– Noble Title: Some held specific titles (Duke,

Count, Baron, etc). – Noble Status. Larger group held 'noble status'

without a formal title or just as 'Sir Whatever'– England: Only Noble Title holders were nobles– Germany: Many, many noble titles, some ruled

little more than a good sized ranch. – Poland: By 1700, 30% of population held noble

status, but most were dirt poor

Those Who Fight

• To be a noble was to have the obligation of military service in return for holding land and serfs.

• Mounted Cavalry rules the battlefield

• As it becomes harder to afford the gear, the nobility becomes closed

• But in late middle ages, rising merchants marry noble families who need MONEY

• After 1300, Pike, Cannon, and Musket begin to undercut military role of knights

Clergy

• Upper Rank = Educated upper class Bishops, Abbots, Canons, etc.

• Lower Rank = Barely literate peasant priests

• Regular Clergy = Priest-Monks

• Secular Clergy = Non Monk Priests; many became royal or noble administrators if educated

Monasticism

• Cloistered Orders = Withdraw from world to pray

• Friars = Do Charitable work in the world or teach

Power and Temptation

• Clergy = “First Order”

• Church owns 1/3rd of land

• Theology = “Queen of the Sciences”

• Church has to struggle with conflicting temporal and spiritual imperatives and its leaders are men from the class of luxury, not humility or poverty

Peasantry

• Serfs were bound to the land and owed traditional rents and work duties to the lord, but married as they chose and owned property of their own.

• Lord holds judicial and police powers over them

• Some families accumulated private land and rose

• By late middle ages, rising trade led to fixed payments of money taking place of labor duties and rents.

• After Black Plague, even better terms could sometimes be reached due to labor shortage.

Medieval Women

• Traditional Roles: Wives or Nuns

• Cult of Mary and Courtly Love Literature = Women as Moral Exemplars, Inspiring Men

• Nuns had more freedom than most women, but usually only noblewomen could pay to enter

• Monogamy gives women more dignity and security but also means more pressure, shorter lives

• Most women worked side by side with husband in aspects of same trade

England Vs. France: Emergence of National Monarchies (1066 to 1214)William the Conqueror (c. 1028 – 1087): • Edward the Confessor (1042-66) –

Heirless King• Claimants:

– Earl Harold Godwinson of Mercia– William, Duke of Normandy– William gets Papal backing

1066 And All That (Hastings)

• Harold calls out the Anglo-Saxon Levy: A Farmer Militia of footmen with leather, shields, spears and simple bows

• Vikings invade Northern England; Harold Defeats them

• Norman Knights and Italian Crossbowmen invade England– Battle of Hastings, October 14– Harold is slain

William the Conqueror (Rules England 1066-1087)

• Saxons gradually driven from power, replaced with French and Norman nobles

• Well organized feudalism– Noble estates scattered to weaken them– High noble titles kept limited in number– But Kings consult with nobles to reduce

conflict

Ongoing Instabilities

• Kings of England also Dukes of Normandy; drawn into French politics vs. French kings slowly growing in power

• Henry II (1154-89) married Eleanor of Aquataine and obtained control of most of southern France; Kings of France = not happy– French play Henry's sons (Richard

the Lionhearted, John, etc.) against him

Fall of Normandy

• Richard (1189-1199 AD) the Lionhearted's crusade forces Regent John to tax heavily for no real gain

– Source of Robin Hood Legend

• Once John (1199-1216) is King, France crushes him and the English lose most lands in France

• Nobility revolts; John signs Magna Carta in 1215 AD

• Magna Carta meant neither King nor Nobles would dominate England entirely

France Rising

• At height of dark ages, France was lost in many states and feudal anarchy

• French Kings only really ruled 'Ile de France' around Paris– Replaced nobles with appointed Baillis,

who governed land for wages and a term of office (Balliwick)

• Philip II Augustus(1180-1223 AD): Defeats the English at Bouvines (1214 AD)

Saint / King Louis IX (1226-1279)

• Embodied Medieval Ideal of the Just, Generous Monarch AND was a pillar of religious devotion – Ended private wars– Eased access to royal justice– Fairer taxes

• Golden Age of Scholasticism and Architecture

• 2 crusades (BIG FLOPS)

Saint Louis

• Builds Sainte Chapelle ("Holy Chapel")– a shrine for the Crown of Thorns and

a fragment of the True Cross (worth 135,000 livres)

– Relics were a sign of prestige and a target for pilgrims

– Showed France was “The New Jerusalem”

The Hohenstaufen Empire (1152-1272 AD)

• Holy Roman Empire Dynasty• Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190

AD): – Strong ruler; fought with Popes– Papacy tried to bring him down to

protect their Italian lands– Drowned in Turkey during third

crusade

Frederick II (1212-50)

• Captured by Papacy when young, raised as ward

• Cynical about religion.

• Preferred to stay home in Sicily where he grew up

– Leaves Germany to sink into anarchy

• Repeatedly excommunicated

– Went on Crusade WHILE excommunicated and freed Jerusalem. BY BUYING IT.

• After his death, the central government of the HRE collapses, replaced by Elected Monarchs.

Hundred Years War (1337-1453 AD)

Causes of the 100 Years' War

• Charles IV Capet dies, last of the Capets – His sister Isabella married Edward II of

England, begat King Edward III of England (1327-1377)

• Philip VI (1328-50), founder of the house of Valois, was his cousin, argued you couldn't trace descent through women under the 'Salic Law'.

• 1337: Philip launches the war, invading Gascony

French Problems

• 17 million Frenchmen vs. 4 million English

• France has more knights but England has much better archers and its knights are more disciplined

• French Knights despise their own mercenary archers

• French fight stupidly until 1430s.

Edwardian War (1337-1360)

• Early fighting = inconclusive• Crecy (1346)

– 10,000 English vs. 35,000 French– Total English Victory– Fall of Calais to English

• 1347 - 1351: Black Plague kills 30-60%

Poitiers (1356)

• Black Knight Edward (son of Edward III) crushes French– Imagine Knights charging in a vinyard– French Countryside collapses into anarchy– King of France captured

– English control half of Brittany, Aquitaine (about a quarter of France), Calais, Ponthieu, and about half of France's vassal states as their allies

Caroline War (1369-1389)

• French adopt Fabian Tactics• Edward III too busy dying by inches• Black Prince goes to Spain in giant waste

of time, dies leaving a small child (Richard II)

• Peace ensues

Lancastrian War (1415-1429)

• King Henry V of England (1413 to 1422) invades and claims the throne of France again– Victory at Agincourt (25 October

1415)• 5,900 men against 21,000

– Allies with Burgundy; controls half of France

Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) and English Decline (1429-1453)

• English under a regency for Henry VI • 1429: Jeanne d'Arc rallies the French,

saves New Orleans• Jean later burned as a witch, but now the

tide turns because the English are divided increasingly by domestic strife and French FINALLY get their act together.

• 1453: French storm Calais

Consequences

• English expelled from continent• French state grows much stronger with

centralized taxes, government, and army• English turn on each other in disorder

under weak King Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 AD)

The Black Death (1347-51)

The Black Death: Before Death

• Population doubled 1000-1300 AD• Now was too high relative to food supply• 1315-7: Worst famine of Middle Ages• Poor Hygiene + rising towns + trade =

ideal for a plague• Plague rides the Silk Road from Asia

The Black Death Comes

• Asia: 1330s• Middle East: 1346• Europe: 1347-51• 75 million die in world; 20 million or so in

Europe• Recurs several times• Europe down 40% or so by 1400

Consequences

• Superstitions and Religious Extremism• Less workers = higher wages,

renegotiation of serf terms• But also crackdowns by lords and lords

shifting to pasture• Jacqueries (Peasant revolts ensue)• Balance of power tends to shift towards

Kings

Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival

• Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303 AD) vs. Philip the Fair (King of France, 1285-1314 AD) – Kings now stronger than Popes– King and Pope clashed over taxes

and appointment of Bishops– Philip the Fair invades Italy, kidnaps

the Pope, abuses him, which soon leads to death

Avignonese Captivity (1305-1377)

• Pope Clement V (1305-1314) ends up moved to Avignon

• Series of French Puppet Popes• Pope Urban VI (1378-89) tries to reform

election of Popes, stay in Rome• Great Schism Ensues

Great Schism (1377-1417)

• Rival French and Italian Popes– English, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary,

Bohemia, Poland back the Italian– Naples, Castile, Scotland, Aragon back

French Pope

• 1409 Council of Pisa choses THIRD pope• Council of Constance deposes all three,

choses Martin V (1417-31) • 15th century Popes struggle vs. Church

Councils for power, often rather corrupt

The Renaissance in Italy (1375-1527 AD)

• Renaissance Italian City-states made big profits on Mediterranean Trade, allowing culture and war at home– the Duchy of Milan, the Republics of

Florence and Venice, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily

• Ruled by despots because of divisions in internal elites

• Venice has a united oligarchy, though

Humanism

• Scholarly study of Church Fathers, Greek, and Latin texts

• Orators and poets who write in classical AND contemporary languages

• Went back to the original sources and tried to draw own conclusions and tried to EXPAND knowledge.

Francesco Petrarch (1304-74), the Father of Humanism

• Perfected the Sonnet• Attacked those in past ages who let old

knowledge die• Created the idea of the 'Dark Age'• Strong poet in Italian• Many scholarly works, including 'letters' to

famous dead figures

Petrarch's Secretum Meum

• Sought to combine classical culture and Christian Philosophy

• God gave man capacity for reason so he would use it.

• Reason and Faith both lead to same knowledge of truth

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

• Part of a political family in Florence; he lost out in Imperial vs. Papal faction struggles and fled into exile

The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradisio)-- 1308-21• A poetic trip through hell, purgatory, and

heaven• It became the most influential view of the

geography, nature of the three• Full of him putting people he hated in

hellfire• In Poem, he travels through the three, led

first by Virgil, then Beatrice (his love)

The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradisio)-- 1308-21• Hell is a terraced pit with each terrace for

a different sin, from the limbo of the virtuous pagans down to the bottom where Devil, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius are all frozen in ice

• Purgatory is a mountain of punishments for sins

• Heaven is a series of concentric spheres ascending to the Presence of God

Renaissance Art

• Increasing amounts of secular art as well as religious

• Funded by Church and urban families• Realism of classics is the style• New Methods:

– the use of slow drying oil paints– of constrast of light and shade to enhance

realism (chiaroscuro)– of linear perspective to give the illusion of

three-dimensional space.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 AD)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 AD)

• The very essence of a renaissance man—classical scholar, scientist, inventor, engineer, and artist– He conceptualized many modern devices,

though he couldn't make his ideas work yet

– Advanced anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics

– Brilliant painter of complex, emotion revealing faces

Leonardo's Military Inventions

Leo's Art

Leo's Art

Raphael (1483-1520)

• Friend of Leonardo and Michelangelo• Most noted for Virgin Mary and Jesus

Images• But also The School of Athens• Head Architect for Saint Peter's in Rome

The School of Athens

Michelangelo (1475-1564 AD)

• Fluent in many forms of Art• Worked for 4 popes• Most famous for Sistine Chapel and his

statue of David and his statue The Pieta• He was very arrogant.• Asserted he 'found the images he carved

already inside the stone; he only set them free'

The Pieta

Homages

Italy Declines: French Invasions (1494-1527 AD)

• In 1494, the leader of Milan appeals to French for aid against Naples, Florence, and the Pope.

• Wars now wreck France• 1516 AD: Concordat of Bologna signs

away much Papal power in France

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

• Italian nationalist• He hoped the de Medicis of Florence

would unite Italy against foreigners• Idealized Roman virtues• In his own corrupt time, only a despot

could unite and save Italy• Il Principe (The Prince) (1513/32) is

advice for that ruler

Italy Prostrate

• Charles V (1519-56) sacks Rome In 1532• Italy is now a pawn of outside powers

until 1860s.

15th Century Nation Building: The End of Feudalism

• Increasingly, feudal nations either centralized or slid like Germany and Italy into chaos and fragmentation

• Feudal Assemblies either crippled the king or were crushed by Kings

• Professionalizing of warfare reduced role of nobles and knights

• Royal revenue grew at expense of commoners

• Sale of office and honors was common

Rise of Russia

• Vladimir of Kiev (972-1015 AD) – Marries Byzantine Princess Anna in 988, becomes Christian.

• Mongol invasion wrecks Kievan state• Mongol Domination (1243-1480 AD):

– The Golden Horde holds power– Russia is divided– Grand Princes of Moscow grow in

power

Russian Liberation

• 1380: Kolikov Meadow: Grand Duke Dimitri of Moscow defeats Mongols

• Ivan the Great (1440-1505)– Consolidates Northern Russia– Ends Tribute payments in 1476– Great Standoff on the Ugra river (1480

AD). Mongols back down.

Rise of Tsar's Power under Ivan III

• Government becomes more autocratic• After fall of Byzantium, Tsars style

themselves as heirs of Rome• Tsar is from 'Caesar', the Roman title• After first wife dies in 1467, Ivan marries

Sophia Paleologue of the Byzantine dynasty. Her son Vassily inherits after Ivan III dies.

• .

France

• Defeat of English leaves France strong• Death of Charles the Bold of Burgundy

(1467-77) facilitates take over of Burgundy by King Louis XI (1461-83)

• But Italian Wars were damaging– 1525: Pavia, King Francis I is

captured, a third of French nobility is killed allegedly

• By 1550, on verge of religious civil war

Spain

• The marriage of Ferdinand of Argorn (1479-1516) to Isabella of Castille (1474-1504) united both kingdoms for a final push on the Moslems, taking Grenada in 1492.

• Aragon = Mercantile Kingdom• Castille = Religiously devout pastoralists

and farmers• Found a new empire in New World

England Goes Downhill

• Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1, crowned at age 9 months) – Bungling Child Monarch– Dominated by his wife but sometimes

major nobles– Sometimes went crazy– France is lost in his youth by his kin

The House of Lancaster

• Edward III had too many kids• Direct line dies out in 1399 with overthrow

of Richard III (1377-1399)• Henry IV (1399–1413) overthrows him• Henry V (1413-1422) tries to conquer

France and fails• Weakness of Henry VI leads Richard of

York, cousin of Henry, to make a play for power

Wars of the Roses (1455-85)

• Richard of York rises in 1455• 1461: Lancastrians deposed after Battle

of Northhampton– Edward IV (1461-1483), son of Richard of

York, takes the throne

• 1470-1: Brief Lancastrian comeback; Edward IV and his brothers flee to Burgundy, then return with Burgundian help.

War of the Roses II

• Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 kills Prince Edward, son of Henry VI

• Henry VI is then murdered• Edward V rules briefly in 1483, usurped by

his uncle Richard III (1483-5)• Henry Tudor, related distantly to Edward

III, now comes in and defeats Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485, ending the wars