High medieval europe

Chapter Introduction
Section 1 Peasants, Trade, and Cities
Section 2 Christianity and Medieval
Civilization
Section 3 The Culture of the
High Middle Ages
Section 4 The Late Middle Ages
Chapter Summary
Chapter Assessment

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The Impact Today
The events that occurred during this time
period still impact our lives today. 
• The revival of trade brought with it a
money economy and the emergence of
capitalism, which is widespread in the
world today. 
• Modern universities had their origins in
medieval Europe. 
• The medieval history of Europe can be
seen today in Europe’s great cathedrals.

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Peasants, Trade, and Cities
People to Identify
• bourgeoisie 
• patricians 

Places to Locate
• Venice 
• Flanders


Preview Questions
• What changes during the High Middle Ages
enabled peasants to grow more food? 
• What were the major features of the manorial
system?


Preview of Events

The New Agriculture
• The number of people almost doubled in
Europe between 1000 and 1300, from 38
to 74 million people. 
• One reason is that increased stability and
peace enabled food production to rise
dramatically. 
• Food production increased also because
a climate change improved growing
conditions and more land was cleared for
cultivation. 
• Europe had more farmland in 1200 than it
does today.
(pages 315–317)


The New Agriculture (cont.)

• Technological changes also aided
farming. 
• Water and wind power began to do jobs
once done by humans or animals. 
• Also, iron was used to make scythes,
axes, hoes, saws, hammers, and nails. 
• Most importantly iron was used to make
the carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow
with an iron plowshare pulled by animal
teams.

(pages 315–317)



• A new horse collar, which distributed the
weight throughout the horse’s shoulders,
and the horseshoe allowed horses to
replace the slow oxen to pull the
extremely heavy carruca. 
• The shift from a two-field to a three-field
system of crop rotation also increased
food production.

(pages 315–317)



Why does crop rotation enrich a field’s
soil?

Using different crops and letting fields lie
fallow allow the soil’s nutrients to be
replenished or not be used up so fast.

(pages 315–317)

Space Bar to display the answer.

The Manorial System
• Medieval landholding nobles were a
military elite who needed the leisure
to pursue the arts of war. 
• Peasants worked the lords’ landed
estates on the fiefs of the vassals. 
• These estates provided the needed
economic support for the nobles.

(pages 317–318)


Daily Life of the Peasantry
• European peasant life was simple with
little privacy. 
• The peasants’ one- or two-room cottages
were built with wood frames surrounded
by sticks. 
• Spaces between the sticks were filled with
straw and rubble, and then plastered over
with clay. 
• Roofs were thatched. 
• A central hearth was used for heating
and cooking.
(pages 318–319)


Daily Life of the Peasantry (cont.)
• There were few windows and no
chimney. 
• Smoke escaped out cracks and through
the thatch.

(pages 318–319)


• Meat was preserved with salt. 
• February and March brought plowing for
spring planting. 
• Summer was a time for lighter work on the
estates.

(pages 318–319)


• A peasant’s life was not all labor because
of the numerous Catholic feast days, or
holidays. 
• The three great feasts were Christmas,
Easter, and Pentecost. 
• Other feast days were dedicated to saints
or the Virgin Mary. 
• More than 50 days a year were essentially
holidays.

(pages 318–319)


• The village church was a crucial part of
the manorial system. 
• The priests taught the basic Christian
ideas to enable peasants to achieve
salvation. 
• However, most priests were peasants who
could not read, so just how well the
Christian message was communicated to
the serfs is not known. 
• Probably they saw God as a force to be
appeased to help with the harvest.
(pages 318–319)


• Women had a difficult but important role in
manorial life. 
• They worked the fields and had children. 
• Their ability to manage the household
could determine if the family survived hard
times.

(pages 318–319)


• The peasant’s diet was adequate. 
• The staple was bread baked in community
ovens. 
• The dark, heavy bread was nutritious
because it contained wheat, rye, barley,
millet, and oats. 
• Peasants usually ate meat only on feast
days such as Easter and Christmas. 
• Peasants raised vegetables and fruit,
and made cheese. 
• Chickens provided eggs.
(pages 318–319)


• Grains were important also for making ale,
the most common drink of the poor in
northern Europe.

(pages 318–319)

The Revival of Trade
• In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a
revival of trade and the associated growth
of towns and cities changed the economic
foundation of Europe from being almost
exclusively agricultural. 
• Italian cities took the lead. 
• Venice developed a mercantile fleet and
became a major trading center by the end
of the tenth century. 
• The Italian cities traded mainly in the
Mediterranean area.
(pages 319–320)


The Revival of Trade (cont.)
• The towns of Flanders–the area along the
coast of present-day Belgium and northern
France–traded in northern Europe. 
• These were most known for woolen
cloth. 
• Flemish towns like Bruges and Ghent
became centers for the trade and
manufacture of this cloth.

(pages 319–320)


• To encourage exchange between
Flanders and Italy, the counts of
Champagne in northern France held
six trade fairs a year. 
• Northern merchants exchanged furs,
woolen cloth, tin, and honey for the cloth
and swords of northern Italy and the silks,
sugar, and spices from the East.

(pages 319–320)


• Demand for gold and silver arose at
trading fairs and markets. 
• A money economy–an economic
system based on money rather than
barter–arose. 
• Trading companies and banks began
to manage the exchange and sale of
goods. 
• These new practices were part of the
rise of commercial capitalism–an
economic system in which people
invested in trade and goods to make
profits. (pages 319–320)



What are the advantages of a money
economy over a barter economy?

The chief advantage is that to barter,
one must find a person who has what
you want and wants what you have,
which is quite economically inefficient.

(pages 319–320)


The Growth of Cities
• Expanding trades led to a revival of
cities. 
• Merchants began to settle in the old
Roman cities. 
• Artisans followed. They brought skills to
make goods that merchants could sell.

(pages 320–321)


The Growth of Cities (cont.)
• New cities and towns were founded,
especially in northern Europe. 
• Typically, a group of merchants built a
settlement near a castle for the trade and
the lord’s protection. 
• If the settlement prospered, walls were
built to protect it. 
• The merchants and artisans of these
cities later came to be called burghers or
bourgeoisie, from the German word
burg, which means “a walled enclosure.”
(pages 320–321)


• Medieval cities were comparatively small. 
• A large trading city would have only about
five thousand inhabitants. 
• In the late 1200s, London had more than
40,000 people. 
• The large Italian cities had more than
80,000 inhabitants. 
• Constantinople and the major Arab cities
were much larger, however.

(pages 320–321)


• The towns were tied to the lords and land
around them. 
• Lords wanted to treat the townspeople as
vassals or serfs, but the inhabitants saw
things differently. 
• By 1100, townspeople had the right to buy
and sell property, freedom from military
service to the lord, and laws guaranteeing
their freedom.

(pages 320–321)


• Some towns had the right to govern
themselves. 
• Over time the cities developed their own
governments. 
• Only males born in the city or who had
lived there a long time were citizens. 
• These often elected a city council, who
served as judges and local legislators.
Elections were carefully rigged to make
sure only the patricians, members of the
wealthiest and most powerful families,
won.
(pages 320–321)



Why do you think elections were rigged
to elect the patricians?

The elections were rigged so that the
interests of the wealthy and powerful
were protected.

(pages 320–321)


Daily Life in the Medieval City
• Medieval towns were surrounded by
stone walls, which were expensive. 
• Therefore, the space inside was filled
tightly. 
• Houses were close to one another,
and the streets were narrow.

(pages 321–322)


Daily Life in the Medieval City (cont.)
• Fire was a great danger because houses
were wooden up to the fourteenth
century. 
• It was also a constant threat because
candles and wood fires were used for
light and heat. 
• Once a fire started, putting it out was
difficult.

(pages 321–322)


• The physical environment of the towns
was unpleasant. 
• The cities and towns were dirty and
smelled of human and animal waste. 
• Air pollution from the ubiquitous wood
fires was a problem. 
• Blood from slaughtered animals and
chemicals from such activities as tanning
went into the rivers. 
• Cities relied on wells for drinking water.

(pages 321–322)


• Medieval cities had private and public
baths. 
• The great plague closed them in the
fourteenth century.

(pages 321–322)


• There were many more men than women
in medieval cities. 
• Women could lead quite independent
lives even though they were expected to
fulfill the usual roles of taking care of the
house and raising children. 
• They could lead fairly independent lives
because they helped their husbands at
their trades and sometimes carried on his
trade after his death.

(pages 321–322)



What would bother you most about living
in a medieval town or city?

(pages 321–322)

Industry and Guilds
• Medieval cities became important
manufacturing centers for such goods
as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather
goods. 
• Beginning in the eleventh century,
craftspeople organized into business
associations called guilds. 
• They played a leading role in urban
economic life. 
• Almost every craft had a guild, as did
some kinds of merchants.
(page 322)


Industry and Guilds (cont.)
• Craft guilds directed almost every aspect
of the production process. 
• They set quality standards, specified
methods of production, and fixed the
prices for the finished products. 
• Guilds determined how many people
could enter a guild and the procedure
for entering.

(page 322)


• A person who wanted to learn a trade
first became an apprentice to a master
craftsperson at around age 10. 
• Apprentices received room and board,
but no pay. 
• After learning for five to seven years,
apprentices became journeymen.
They worked for wages for other
masters. 
• To become masters, the journeymen
had to produce a masterpiece, a
finished product in their craft.
(page 322)


• The journeyman was admitted to the guild
based on this work.

(page 322)


What contemporary institution resembles
the medieval guild in some ways?

The contemporary union bears a
resemblance to the medieval guild.
Unions look out for the interests of
workers, and many unions have
apprenticeship programs.

(page 322)


Checking for Understanding
Explain the process of becoming a
master in a guild. What do you think
motivated people to participate in and
endure this demanding process?

The process of becoming a master
in a guild includes starting as an
apprentice to a master, then becoming
a journeyman, then a master. People
did this for financial security.


List the economic developments of
the Middle Ages that allowed for the
emergence of commercial capitalism.

A money economy, new trading
companies, and banking firms allowed
for the emergence of commercial
capitalism.


Critical Thinking
Explain Why were the three-field
system and heavy iron plows so
important to increased food production?

They were important because one-
third, rather than one-half, of the land
lay fallow, and they allowed more land
to be cultivated.


Analyzing Visuals
Examine the illustration of peasants
working in a field shown on page 319
and the chart shown on page 318 of
your textbook. Use the illustration and
chart to help you describe the major
characteristics of the economic
system of manorialism.
Manorialism depended on agriculture.
The serf’s livestock provided food and
clothing for the manor. Excess could
be traded or sold.


Close
Summarize how the focus of medieval
life gradually shifted from the feudal
manor to the towns.

Christianity and Medieval Civilization
Preview of Events

The Papal Monarchy
• The papal control of the Papal States in
central Italy kept the popes involved in
politics, often at the expense of their
spiritual duties. 
• The Church became increasingly involved
in the feudal system. 
• Bishops and abbots came to hold their
offices as grants from nobles, and so
were vassals. 
• These bishops and abbots often cared
little about spiritual duties.
(pages 323–325)


The Papal Monarchy (cont.)
• By the eleventh century Church leaders
realized the need to be free from the
interference of lords in the appointment
of Church officials. 
• Pope Gregory VII decided to fight the
practice of lay investiture.

(pages 323–325)


• When an individual became a Church
official he was given a ring and a staff as
symbols of the authority he was invested
with. 
• Secular, or lay, officials began granting
this investiture. 
• Pope Gregory VII saw the need to stop
this practice. 
• Only then could the Church regain its
freedom, the sole right to appoint clergy
and run its own affairs.
(pages 323–325)


• If secular rulers did not accept this, the
pope would remove them. 
• Gregory VII believed the pope’s authority
extended over all rulers.

(pages 323–325)


• Gregory VII found himself in conflict with
Henry IV, the German king, over his
views. 
• The German kings had appointed high-
ranking Church officials for years and
made these officials vassals, to fight the
power of the nobles. 
• Gregory finally issued a decree forbidding
lay investiture.

(pages 323–325)


• The struggle between Gregory VII and
Henry IV became known as the Investiture
Controversy. 
• In 1122 a new German king and a new
pope reached an agreement called the
Concordat of Worms. 
• Church officials first elected the German
bishop. 
• The new bishop then paid homage to the
king as his lord, and the king invested him
with the symbols of earthly office.
(pages 323–325)


• A representative of the pope then invested
the bishop with symbols of his spiritual
office.

(pages 323–325)

• The twelfth-century popes were most
interested in strengthening papal power
and building a strong administrative
system. 
• The Catholic Church reached the height
of its political power during the papacy of
Pope Innocent III. 
• He believed the pope was the supreme
judge and ruler of European affairs.

(pages 323–325)


• To exercise his power, Innocent III
especially used the interdict. 
• An interdict forbids a priest to give the
sacraments (Christian rites) to a
particular group of people. 
• People under interdiction lost the comforts
and blessing of religion, and so they
exerted pressure against their ruler to
follow the pope’s wishes.

(pages 323–325)



On what basis might Gregory VII and
other popes have believed they had
authority over secular monarchs?

Their argument was that they were the
representative of God’s power and
authority, and God’s power and authority
outweighed human power and authority.

(pages 323–325)


New Religious Orders
• A wave of religious enthusiasm seized
Europe in the first half of the twelfth
century and led to a spectacular growth
in the number of monasteries and new
orders.

(pages 325–327)

New Religious Orders (cont.)
• The most important new order was the
Cistercians, founded by a group of
disgruntled Benedictine monks in 1098. 
• The order spread rapidly throughout
Europe. 
• Cistercians were strict. They had only one
robe and ate a simple diet; their churches
and monastic buildings had no
decorations.

(pages 325–327)


• Cistercians were more active in the world
than Benedictine monks. 
• They took their religion to the people
outside of the monastery.

(pages 325–327)


• The number of women joining religious
houses grew dramatically. 
• Most nuns came from the landed
aristocracy. 
• Female intellectuals like Hildegard of
Bingen found convents a haven for their
activities. 
• Hildegard of Bingen became abbess of a
convent, and she was also one of the first
women composers. 
• She contributed to the genre called
Gregorian chant. (pages 325–327)


• She was also sought out for her advice as
a mystic and prophetess.

(pages 325–327)

• The Franciscans and Dominicans
emerged in the thirteenth century. 
• Each had a strong impact on the lives of
ordinary people. 
• Saint Francis of Assisi founded the
Franciscans. 
• Born into wealth, he had a series of
spiritual experiences that led him to
abandon material pursuits and preach
poverty. 
• His simplicity, joy, and love attracted
followers. (pages 325–327)


• Franciscans rejected all property and lived
by working and begging for food. 
• The Franciscans became popular with the
poor, among whom they lived and whom
they helped. 
• Unlike many other religious orders, the
Franciscans lived in the world and
undertook missionary work.

(pages 325–327)


• The Spanish priest Dominic de Guzmán
founded the Dominicans to defend Church
teachings from heresy–the denial of basic
Church doctrines. 
• People who denied Church doctrines
were called heretics. 
• Dominic believed that the best way to
combat heresy was to have an order of
men who lived in poverty and preached
effectively.

(pages 325–327)


• The Church’s wish to discover and deal
with heretics led to the Inquisition, or
Holy Office. 
• This court was instituted to try heretics,
and it developed a regular way to deal
with them. 
• Heretics who confessed performed public
penance and were punished, for example
by flogging.

(pages 325–327)


• From 1252 on, those who did not confess
voluntarily were tortured until they
confessed. 
• Many who did not confess were considered
guilty and were executed by the state. 
• Relapsed heretics were also subject to
execution. 
• For Christians of the thirteenth century,
using force to save souls was the right
thing to do. 
• Heresy was a crime against God, and
people’s salvation hung in the balance.
(pages 325–327)



Why did most nuns in the High Middle
Ages come from the aristocracy?

Convents were convenient for families
who were unable or unwilling to find
husbands for their daughters, for
aristocratic women who did not wish to
marry and had the option not to, or for
widows.

(pages 325–327)


Popular Religion in the High
Middle Ages
• The sacraments of the Catholic Church,
such as baptism, marriage, and
Communion, were very important to
• The sacraments were a means for
receiving God’s grace and were
necessary for salvation. 
• Only clergy could give the sacraments,
which made people dependent on the
clergy.

(pages 327–328)


Middle Ages (cont.)
• Venerating saints was also important to
• Saints had a special position in Heaven
and could ask for favors before the throne
of God. 
• The apostles were recognized throughout
Europe as saints. 
• Local saints such as Saint Nicholas, the
patron saint of children and the inspiration
for Santa Claus, sprang up.
(pages 327–328)


Middle Ages (cont.)
• The Virgin Mary was the most highly
regarded saint of the High Middle Ages. 
• Many European churches in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries were dedicated
to her.

(pages 327–328)


Middle Ages (cont.)
• Emphasis on the saints was tied to the
use of relics, usually bones of saints
or objects connected with the saints. 
• They were worshipped because it was
believed that they offered a connection
between the earthly world and God,
they could heal, or they produced other
miracles.

(pages 327–328)


Middle Ages (cont.)
• Medieval Christians also believed that a
pilgrimage to a holy shrine produced a
spiritual benefit. 
• The Holy City of Jerusalem was the
greatest such site. 
• Rome, with its relics of Saints Peter and
Paul, and the Spanish town of Santiago
de Compostela, supposedly where the
Apostle James is buried, were also
important pilgrimage destinations.

(pages 327–328)


Middle Ages (cont.)

Medieval Christians believed that relics
produced miracles, especially of healing.
What is a miracle in the religious sense?
In the religious sense a miracle is an
event that occurs but does not adhere to
the laws of the realm of nature. The
event’s cause must be divine grace, it is
believed.

(pages 327–328)


Explain the use of the interdict.

The Interdict deprived people of
sacraments and pressured rulers
to submit to the pope.


List the new religious orders created
during the Middle Ages.

Cistercian, Franciscan, and Dominican
were the new religious orders created
during the Middle Ages.


Critical Thinking
Explain Why was the Catholic
Church such a powerful influence in
lay people’s lives during the Middle
Ages?

The Church and sacraments were
essential to salvation.


Analyzing Visuals
Identify the figures pictured in the
cathedral window shown on page 328
of your textbook. What central ideas of
the Roman Catholic Church does the
window from Chartes illustrate?

The window illustrates the mediating
role of the Virgin Mary and saints.


Close
Discuss the dominant role of the
Church in the lives of medieval
people. How dominant are the major
religions today in people’s lives?

The Culture of the High Middle Ages
Main Ideas
• An intellectual revival led to the formation of
universities. 
• In the High Middle Ages, new technical
innovations made it possible to build Gothic
cathedrals, which are one of the great artistic
triumphs of this age. 

Key Terms
• theology 
• scholasticism 
• vernacular

People to Identify
• Aristotle 
• St. Thomas Aquinas 

Places to Locate
• Bologna 
• Paris 
• Oxford


Preview Questions
• What were the major cultural achievements of
European civilization in the High Middle Ages? 
• What role did theology play in the European
intellectual world?


Preview of Events

The Rise of Universities
• The modern-day university is a product of
the High Middle Ages. 
• The word university comes from the Latin
universitas, meaning “corporation” or
“guild.” 
• Medieval universities were guilds that
produced educated and trained
individuals.

(pages 329–330)


The Rise of Universities (cont.)

• The first university appeared in Bologna,
Italy. 
• A great teacher of Roman law named
Irnerius attracted students there from all
over Europe. 
• To protect their rights, students at Bologna
formed a guild, which was chartered in
1158. 
• The charter gave the guild the right to
govern its own affairs.

(pages 329–330)



• The first university in northern Europe was
the University of Paris. 
• In the second half of the twelfth century,
some students left Paris and went to
England, founding a university at Oxford. 
• There were 80 European universities by
1500.

(pages 329–330)



• Students began their university education
with the traditional liberal arts: grammar,
rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry,
music, and astronomy. 
• Medieval universities taught through the
lecture method. 
• Teachers read from the few existing
copies of books and added their
commentary. 
• There were no written exams. To
graduate, the student had an oral
examination with a committee of teachers.
(pages 329–330)



• The student would receive a bachelor of
arts and later might earn a master of arts,
if he passed. 
• No women attended these universities. 
• A student could go on to study law,
medicine, or theology–the study of
religion and God. 
• A student who passed the oral exam in
one of these received a doctoral degree. 
• Universities provided the teachers,
administrators, lawyers, and medical
doctors for medieval society. (pages 329–330)



In 1500, there were 80 universities in all
of Europe. Thousands of universities now
exist in the United States. What accounts
for the difference?
Possible answers: A larger population,
democratization, and the need to train
a large workforce account for the
thousands of universities in the United
States today.

(pages 329–330)


The Development of Scholasticism
• Theology was the most highly regarded
subject at medieval universities. 
• The philosophical and theological system
known as scholasticism became very
important in the twelfth century. 
• The main point of scholasticism was to
harmonize Christian teachings with Greek
philosophy, especially Aristotle.

(pages 330–331)


(cont.)
• The works of Aristotle were
introduced to Europe in the twelfth
century, largely through the work
of Muslim and Jewish scholars. 
• Aristotle had arrived at his conclusions
through rational thought, however,
not faith, and some ideas contradicted
Church teachings.

(pages 330–331)


(cont.)
• Saint Thomas Aquinas made the
most important attempt to reconcile
Aristotle with Christianity, or to reconcile
the knowledge through Scripture with the
knowledge gained through reason and
experience. 
• Aquinas is best known for his Summa
Theologica (a summa was a summary
of all knowledge on a given subject). 
• This masterpiece was organized by the
logical method of investigation used by
scholasticism.
(pages 330–331)


(cont.)
• Aquinas first posed a question, then
cited sources offering opposing opinions
on the question, and then reconciled them
and arrived at his own conclusions. 
• Aquinas believed that the truths of reason
and the truths of faith did not contradict. 
• Reason and experience could arrive at
truths about the physical universe, but
reason and experience unaided by faith
could not grasp spiritual truths.

(pages 330–331)


(cont.)

What was the main goal of scholasticism?

The main goal was to harmonize Christian
teachings with the works of the Greek
philosophers and to show that what was
accepted through faith was in harmony
with what could be learned through
reason and experience.

(pages 330–331)


Vernacular Literature and
Architecture
• Latin was the universal language of
medieval civilization. 
• In the twelfth century, new literature was
being written in the vernacular–the
everyday language of particular regions,
such as Spanish or English. 
• Educated people at courts and in the
cities took an interest in vernacular
literature, often as a new source of
entertainment.

(pages 331–333)


Architecture (cont.)
• The most popular vernacular literature
was troubadour poetry, chiefly the product
of nobles and knights. 
• It told of a knight’s love for a lady who
inspired him, usually from afar, to be a
braver knight.

(pages 331–333)


• The chanson de geste, or heroic epic,
was another type of vernacular literature. 
• The earliest and finest example is the
Song of Roland, which appeared written
in French around 1100. 
• Heroic epics describe battles and political
contests. 
• The epic world was one of combat. 
• Women played little or no role in this
literature.
(pages 331–333)


• In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, an
explosion of building in medieval Europe,
especially of churches, took place. 
• Initially, these cathedrals were in the
Romanesque style, built in the basilica
shape favored in the late Roman Empire. 
• The Romanesque basilica was topped
with a long, round, stone-arched structure
called a barrel vault.

(pages 331–333)


• Because stone roofs were so heavy, the
churches needed massive pillars and had
little space for windows. 
• The Romanesque churches, therefore,
were dark and resembled fortresses. 
• In the twelfth century, a new Gothic style
appeared. 
• The Gothic cathedral is one of the artistic
triumphs of the High Middle Ages. 
• Two innovations made it possible.
(pages 331–333)


• One innovation was replacing the barrel
vault with ribbed vaults and pointed
arches. 
• The Gothic cathedrals rose higher,
therefore, creating an impression of the
building reaching towards God.

(pages 331–333)


• The other innovation was the flying
buttress–a heavy, arched, stone support
on the outside of the building. 
• This distributed the weight of the church’s
vaulted ceilings and eliminated the thick,
heavy walls of the Romanesque style. 
• Since Gothic cathedrals had fairly thin
walls, they could have windows, which
were filled with magnificent stained glass.

(pages 331–333)


• The windows also created a play of
natural light inside the cathedral; natural
light was believed to be a symbol of the
divine light of God. 
• With its soaring towers and light-filled
interior, the Gothic cathedral testifies to
an age when most people believed in a
spiritual world.

(pages 331–333)



Troubadour poetry was the dominant
form of love poetry for its time. Where do
we principally get something like love
poetry in modern culture?
Today’s popular music is similar to love
poetry.

(pages 331–333)


Define Match each definition in the left column with the
appropriate term in the right column.
__ 1. a medieval philosophical and A. theology
B
theological system that tried B. scholasticism
to reconcile faith and reason
C. vernacular
__ 2. the study of religion and God
A
__ 3. the language of everyday
C
speech in a particular region

Space Bar to display the answers.

Explain the origin of universities
in Europe.

Universities were created as
educational guilds to produce
educated, trained men.


Describe the possibilities open to a
student who had completed the liberal
arts curriculum at a medieval university
in Europe.

Students could go on to study law,
medicine, or theology.


Critical Thinking
Explain How did the architecture of
the Gothic cathedral reflect medieval
religious values?

Pointed arches and ribbed vaults
focused upward toward God. Sunlight
through stained glass symbolized
God’s light.


Analyzing Visuals
Examine the image on page 331 of
your textbook. What does it convey
about the role of the troubadour in
European society during the Middle
Ages?

Troubadours performed for wealthy,
private audiences.


Close
Discuss how Christian Europeans of
the Middle Ages demonstrated their
faith and spirituality through their
architecture.

The Late Middle Ages
Main Ideas
• Europe in the fourteenth century was
challenged by an overwhelming number
of disastrous forces. 
• European rulers reestablished the centralized
power of monarchical governments. 

Key Terms
• Black Death  • new monarchies 
• anti-Semitism  • taille
• Great Schism 


People to Identify
• Pope Boniface VIII  • Henry V 
• King Philip IV  • Isabella 
• John Hus  • Ferdinand 

Places to Locate
• Avignon  • Agincourt 
• Crécy  • Orléans


Preview Questions
• How did the Black Death impact European
society? 
• What were the “new monarchies”?


Preview of Events

The Black Death
• In the fourteenth century, some
catastrophic changes took place in
Europe. 
• The worst was the Black Death. 
• It was the most devastating natural
disaster in European history. 
• It horrified people and seemed an
incomprehensible evil force.

(pages 335–336)


The Black Death (cont.)
• Bubonic plague was the most common
form of the Black Death. 
• Black rats infested with fleas carrying a
deadly bacterium spread it. 
• Italian merchants brought it from Caffa,
on the Black Sea.

(pages 335–336)


• Usually, the Black Death followed trade
routes. 
• Between 1347 and 1351, it ravaged most
of Europe. 
• Possibly as many as 38 million people
died in those four years, out of a total
population of 75 million. 
• The Italian cities were hit hardest, losing
50 to 60 percent of their population.

(pages 335–336)


• Many people believed the plague was a
punishment sent by God for their sins or
was caused by the devil. 
• The plague led to an outbreak of anti-
Semitism–hostility toward Jews. 
• Persecution was the worst in Germany. 

• Some people thought that the Jews had
caused the plague by poisoning their
towns’ wells. 
• Many Jews fled eastward, especially to
Poland, where the king protected them.
(pages 335–336)


• The death of so many people had strong
economic consequences. 
• Trade declined. 
• The shortage of workers made the price
of labor rise. 
• The lowered demand for food resulted in
falling prices.

(pages 335–336)



The Black Death caused some people to
persecute Jews. Some say that AIDS is
a similar epidemic of our time. Has it
caused persecution or something
comparable?

Possible answer: AIDS has not caused
widespread persecution like that of the
Jews during the Middle Ages, but it has
caused widespread discrimination.

(pages 335–336)


The Decline of Church Power
• The Roman Catholic popes reached the
height of their power in the thirteenth
century. 
• A series of problems in the next century
lessened the Church’s political position. 
• European kings grew unwilling to accept
the papal claims of supremacy over both
religious and secular matters, as the
struggle between Pope Boniface VIII and
King Philip IV of France shows. 
• Their struggle had serious consequences
for the papacy.
(page 337)


The Decline of Church Power (cont.)
• Philip claimed he had the right to tax the
clergy. 
• The pope said that in order to pay taxes,
the clergy would need the pope’s
consent. 
• Philip rejected this position and sent
troops to bring Boniface to France for
trial. 
• The pope escaped but soon died from
shock. 
• Philip then engineered to have a
Frenchman, Clement V, elected pope
in 1305. (page 337)


• The new pope established himself at
Avignon, not Rome. 
• The popes lived there from 1305 to 1377. 
• The pope not living in Rome seemed
improper, as did the splendor of how the
popes lived in Avignon. 
• Pope Gregory XI recognized the decline
in papal prestige and returned to Rome
in 1377. He died soon after his return.

(page 337)


• The citizens of Rome told the cardinals to
elect an Italian pope or fear for their lives. 
• The terrified cardinals elected one–Pope
Urban VI. 
• Soon a group of French cardinals declared
the election invalid and chose a
Frenchman as pope. He went to Avignon. 
• There now were two popes, beginning
what has been called the Great Schism
of the Church.

(page 337)


• The Great Schism lasted from 1378 to
1417 and divided Europe politically. 
• It also damaged the Church. 
• Each pope denounced the other as the
Antichrist, and people’s faith in the papacy
and the Church was shaken. 
• At a council in 1417, a new pope
acceptable to all parties was elected,
ending the Great Schism.

(page 337)


• This crisis in the Catholic Church led to
cries for an end to the clergy’s corruption
and the papacy’s excessive power. 
• One protesting group was the Czech
reformers led by John Hus. 
• He was accused of heresy and burned at
the stake in 1415.

(page 337)


• By the early 1400s, then, the Church had
lost much of its political power. 
• The pope no longer could assert
supremacy over the state. 
• The papacy and Church also lost much
of their spiritual authority.

(page 337)



How could the French king have
engineered the papal election?

Possible answer: The king engineered
the election through intimidation and
through promising rewards like power
and position.

(page 337)


The Hundred Years’ War
• In addition to economic crises, plague,
and the decline of the Church, political
instability was also a problem for the late
Middle Ages. 
• In the thirteenth century, England still had
a small possession in France, the duchy
of Gascony. 
• King Philip VI of France tried to take it
back, and King Edward III of England
declared war on Philip in 1337. 
• Thus began the Hundred Years’ War
between England and France. It
continued until 1453. (pages 337–339)


The Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
• The war began in an explosion of knightly
enthusiasm. 
• However, the war was a turning point in
the history of warfare because peasant
foot soldiers won the chief battles in this
war. 
• The English foot soldiers were armed not
only with pikes, but the deadly longbow,
which replaced the formerly favored
crossbow. 
• The longbow had great striking power,
long range, and a rapid rate of fire.
(pages 337–339)


• The war’s first major battle was at Crécy
in 1346. 
• The arrows of the English archers
devastated the French cavalry. 
• The English king, Henry V, was eager to
conquer all of France even though the
English did not have the resources. 
• At the Battle of Agincourt (1415), 1,500
French nobles died on the battlefield. 
• The English were masters of northern
France.
(pages 337–339)


• Joan of Arc, a French peasant woman,
stepped in to aid France and the timid
ruler of southern France, Charles. 
• Joan of Arc was born in 1412. She was
deeply religious and experienced visions. 
• She believed her favorite saints
commanded her to free France. 
• In 1429 Joan’s sincerity and simplicity
convinced Charles to let her accompany
the French army to Orléans. 
• Inspired by Joan’s faith, the army captured
the city. (pages 337–339)


• Joan was captured in 1430. 
• The Inquisition tried her for witchcraft. 
• She was condemned as a heretic and
executed. 
• Even so, she inspired the French army,
which, after defeats of the English at
Normandy and Aquitaine, won the war in
1453. 
• The French success was also helped by
the use of the cannon, made possible by
the invention of gunpowder.
(pages 337–339)



What weapons significantly changed
warfare in the twentieth century, as the
longbow once did?

Possible answers: The airplane, because
of bombing, and the automatic weapon,
because of how many rounds it can shoot
in a row, significantly changed warfare in
the twentieth century.

(pages 337–339)


Political Recovery
• The fourteenth-century European
monarchies experienced many difficulties
over succession and finances. 
• The fifteenth century saw a recovery of
the centralized power of monarchies,
however. 
• Some historians refer to these
reestablished states as the new
monarchies. 
• This term applies especially to France,
England, and Spain.
(pages 339–340)


Political Recovery (cont.)

• The Hundred Years’ War left France
exhausted. 
• Even so, the kings used the new French
national feeling to reestablish royal
power. 
• King Louis XI, who ruled from 1461 to
1483, greatly advanced the French state. 
• He strengthened the use of the taille–an
annual direct tax on property or land–as
a permanent tax imposed by royal
authority.
(pages 339–340)



• This gave Louis the income that helped
create a strong foundation for the
monarchy.

(pages 339–340)


• The Hundred Years’ War also strained
England’s economy. 
• England faced more turmoil when the civil
conflicts known as the War of the Roses
broke out. 
• Noble factions tried to control the
monarchy until 1485, when Henry Tudor
(Henry VII) established a new dynasty.

(pages 339–340)



• Henry VII tried to establish a strong royal
government. 
• He abolished the nobles’ private armies. 
• He won support for his monarchy by his
thrift and by not overtaxing the nobles and
middle class.

(pages 339–340)



• A strong national monarchy also emerged
in Spain. 
• Muslims had conquered much of Spain by
725. 
• During the Middle Ages, several Christian
rulers had tried to win back Spain. 
• Two of the strongest kingdoms were
Aragon and Castile. 
• When Isabella of Castile married
Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, it was a big
step towards unifying power in Spain.
(pages 339–340)



• The two rulers also had a policy of
adhering strictly to Catholicism. 
• In 1492, they expelled all Jews from
Spain. 
• Muslims were “encouraged” to convert
to Catholicism. 
• Within a few years, all professed
Muslims were also expelled from Spain. 
• To be Spanish was to be Catholic.

(pages 339–340)



• The Holy Roman Empire did not develop
a strong monarchical authority. 
• After 1438, the Hapsburg dynasty held the
position of Holy Roman emperor. 
• By the mid-fifteenth century, these
wealthy rulers were playing an important
role in Europe.

(pages 339–340)



• Religious differences made it hard for
rulers in eastern Europe to unify their
states. 
• In Poland, the nobles established the right
to elect their king, which weakened the
monarchy. 
• Since the thirteenth century, Russia had
been under the control of the Mongols. 
• Gradually the princes of Moscow gained
power by using their relation with the khan
to increase their wealth and landholdings.
(pages 339–340)



• The great prince Ivan III established a
new Russian state. 
• By 1480, he had thrown off the yoke of
the Mongols.

(pages 339–340)



Which religions were so much at odds
with each other in eastern Europe that a
strong monarchy did not develop in the
area?

The three principal religions were
Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and
Islam.

(pages 339–340)


Describe the origins of the Hundred
Years’ War.

Philip VI of France seized Gascony.


List the religious groups in conflict in
eastern Europe.

Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox
Christians, and Muslims were in conflict
in eastern Europe.


Critical Thinking
Analyze What were the economic and
social results of the Black Death in
Europe?

Economic results of the black death
were loss of labor, a decline in trade,
falling prices, and a decline of rent
income. Social results included anti-
Semitism and the decline of serfdom.


Analyzing Visuals
Identify the two armies pictured in
the illustration on page 338 of your
textbook. How can you tell the two
armies apart? What details did the
artist include to describe the outcome
or significance of the battle?
The French army is on the left with
crossbows, and the English army is
on the right with longbows. The artist
included images of fallen warriors,
and weapons.


Close
Discuss some of the consequences
of the Black Death, especially the
destruction of the stable social order
and the end of the feudal state.

Chapter Summary
The Middle Ages was a period marked by
cultural diffusion, innovation, and conflict.

Reviewing Key Facts
History How did the Great Schism
divide Europe?

France and its allies supported the
pope in Avignon, while England and its
allies supported the pope in Rome.


Reviewing Key Facts
Culture What was the role of women
in medieval cities?

Women supervised the household,
raised the children, managed the
family’s finances, and helped or took
over their husbands’ trade.


Reviewing Key Facts
Science and Technology Why was
the longbow superior to the crossbow?

The longbow had greater power,
range, and speed.


Reviewing Key Facts
Government What steps helped
Spain to become a strong centralized
monarchy?

The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon
and Isabella of Castile was a step
toward the reunification of Spain. They
worked to strengthen royal control of
the government and pursued a policy of
conformity to Catholicism.


Reviewing Key Facts
Geography What impact did
geographic factors have on the
population of the High Middle Ages?

Climate change led to increased food
supply and population growth.
Farmland expanded as trees were cut
and swamps were drained.


Critical Thinking
Analyzing What forces led to
Europe’s economic growth during the
Middle Ages?

The development of a money economy,
improved agriculture methods, and
increased trade led to Europe’s
economic growth.


Critical Thinking
Evaluating How did the continual
conflict between England and France
strengthen the monarchies of those
two countries?

In France, animosity toward a common
enemy reestablished royal power. In
England, civil conflict led to a strong
Tudor dynasty.


Analyzing Maps and Charts
Study the chart below and answer the questions on the
following slides.

Select an event or
invention from each
category on the chart.
What was the effect
of that event or
invention?

Items in the first
category led to
population increase. Items in the
second category led to growth of cities.
Items in the third category led to the
decline of the feudal system.

How did farming
practices affect
population?

As a result of
farming practices,
there was a greater
food supply, so
population grew.


The longbow was as tall as the man who carried it.
He would draw it by stooping over the bow parallel
to the ground and then straighten up, using his leg
and back muscles. The arrow was drawn to the ear.
Bowmen could drive a thirty-inch shaft tipped with a
dagger through three inches of oak. In battle, the
arrow storm was reported to darken the sky.

Book of Hours
Trade Fairs

Click on a hyperlink to view the corresponding slide.

Book of Hours One of the most famous works of
the Middle Ages, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de
Berry (Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry), is a
book of hours, or devotional prayer book. It includes
a beautiful painting for each of the twelve months of
the year.

Trade Fairs Fairs served as centers of trade in
medieval Europe, attracting merchants from all
over the continent. There were four major fair
seasons per year: one in the winter, one at Easter,
one in midsummer, and one in October.

Hildegard of Bingen
Giotto

Click on a hyperlink to view the corresponding slide.

Hildegard of Bingen For women like Hildegard of
Bingen, entering a convent was the only means of
acquiring an education and pursuing a life as a
writer. Hildegard composed musical plays and wrote
treatises on natural history and medicine. Her
influence extended to advising bishops, popes, and
kings. Compare Hildegard’s story with that of Sor
Juana Inés de la Cruz, who joined a convent in
Mexico when she was refused university admission
in the seventeenth century.

Giotto Florentine painter Giotto (c.1266–c.1337)
painted a series of frescoes based on the life of
Saint Francis of Assisi. The frescos are in the
cathedral at Assisi, Italy. In September 1997, a
severe earthquake damaged the cathedral and
some of the frescoes. The one on page 326 of
your textbook is called “Preaching to the Birds.”

Not until the early 1900s were rats carrying bacteria-
infected fleas identified as the carriers of bubonic
plague. Today, knowledge of disease prevention and
the development of vaccines have largely isolated
plague outbreaks and reduced their devastating
impact on societies.

Analyzing Historical Maps

Why Learn This Skill?
What changes have you noticed in your town the past few
years? Has the corner bank been replaced by an ethnic
restaurant? Would a map of your town that was drawn today
look different from one drawn 15 years ago? 
Changes take place on a larger scale across nations and
continents. Wars, economic troubles, and natural disasters
change borders and landscapes; once-powerful nations
crumble; displaced people move from one country to another,
taking their language and their culture with them. These
political, social, and cultural changes can be clearly traced
and interpreted through the use of historical maps.
This feature can be found on page 334 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.


Learning the Skill
Follow the steps below to learn how to analyze a historical
map. 
• Read the title of the map to identify its theme. 
• Read the map’s key, labels, and captions to determine what
time periods and changes appear on the map. 
• Identify the chronology or order of events on the map.
Many historical maps show changes over time. For example,
a map may use colors to show land acquisitions of different
rulers over a period of time. On the map of France on page
334 of your textbook, however, the colors represent areas
controlled by different rulers at the same time.


Learning the Skill
• To compare historical maps of the same region in different
time periods, first identify the geographic location and time
period of each map. Identify the features that have remained
the same and those that have changed. For example, has
the country’s size changed over time? 
• After analyzing a map, draw conclusions about the causes
and effects of the changes it shows.



Practicing the Skill
Analyze the map on the
right and answer the
questions on the following
slides.



What geographic region and time period are
represented in the map?

France in the 1400s is represented in this map.

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.


What information is shown in the map’s key
and labels?

Battles, Burgundian lands, French lands, and
English possessions are shown in the map’s key
and labels.



Find a present-day map of this region to
compare with the map on page 334 of your
textbook. How has the region changed since
the 1400s?
Possible answer: Borders and countries have
changed.


Somersaulting was done for entertainment
and leisure in medieval London
This medieval manuscript page shows a
London scene

Read Life in London on page 314 of your textbook.
Then answer the questions on the following slides.


What qualities make London such a “happy”
place to William Fitz-Stephen?

Healthy fresh air, Christianity, strong defenses,
its site on the river, and the activities and
honor of its citizens make London such a
happy place.


Why do you think Fitz-Stephen fails to mention
London’s foul air, overcrowding, epidemics, and
fires?


Click the image on the
right to listen to an
excerpt from page 341
of your textbook. Read
the information on
page 341 of your
textbook. Then answer
the questions on the
following slides.

Click the Speaker button to listen to the audio again.

Who was blamed for causing the Black Death?
Were these charges economically motivated?
Why or why not?

The Jews became the scapegoats in many
areas, blamed for causing the Black Death.
Yes, the charges were economically motivated.
If the feudal lords had not been in debt to them,
the Jews would have been spared.


Can you provide examples of discrimination
today that are similar to what the Jews
experienced in medieval times?


Harnessing the Power
of Water and Wind
Watermills use the power of running
water to do work. The watermill was
invented as early as the second
century B.C. It was not used much
in the Roman Empire because the
Romans had many slaves and had
no need to mechanize. In the High
Middle Ages, watermills became
easier to build as the use of metals
became more common. In 1086, the
survey of English land known as the
Domesday Book listed about six
thousand watermills in England.
Read the excerpt on page 316
of your textbook and answer the
question on the following slide.


Comparing How are water and wind power
used today?

Dams harness water for hydroelectric power,
and windmills are used to produce electricity.


Chaucer’s England

Objectives
After viewing “Chaucer’s England,” you should: 
• Realize that studying the art and architecture of past ages
tells us much about the lives and values of the people who
lived in those times. 
• Understand that surviving
architecture from the Middle Ages
attests to the great influence of
Christianity in medieval Europe. 
• Recognize the value of Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales as a record of
English life in the Middle Ages.
Click in the window above to view a preview of the World History video.

Chaucer’s England

What social institution was central to life in
medieval Europe?

The Roman Catholic Church was the focal
point of life in this devout period.


Chaucer’s England

What is the overall structure of The Canterbury
Tales?

The Canterbury Tales tells about a group of
people making a pilgrimage, or a religious
journey, to visit a shrine.


three-field
600 to avoid wearing
450 out the soil


1. Mayor, Justice of the Peace; 2. local government, private institutions;
3. vocational schools, apprenticeship; 4. printers, publishers


Most were
administrators of kings study 4 to 6 years and
and princes. pass an oral examination question, sources with
opposing opinions,
reconciliation, and
conclusions


People would not know The clergy were
whom to believe; how People might not corrupt and too
could two or three accept either pope. fond of worldly
popes each be an power and wealth.
absolute authority?


High medieval europe

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