After the Collapse of the Roman Empire

• 476- Roman Empire fell and Europe split into many small independent kingdoms

• Middle Ages: period after Rome fell & Europe formed.– Early Middle Ages (Dark Ages)– Late Middle Ages

Feudalism

• Know chart

• Vassals: owed the lord military service in exchange for land

• Fiefs: vast lands

• Serfs: peasants who are tied to the land

The Medieval Knight

• Warrior/noble, wore armour, rode on horseback, sword and lance

• Code of chivalry1. Behave honourably

2. Fight fairly

3. Defend Christianity

4. Treat noble prisoners well

5. Be generous to the poor

6. Respect and cherish ladies

Kingdom of the Franks

• Clovis: king who established the Frankish Kingdom

• Charles Martel: Mayor of the Palace, in charge of Frankish kingdom, alliance with the Roman Catholic Church

• Charlemagne: grandson of Charles Martel’s, increased the size of the Frankish Kingdom, “Emperor of Romans”

• Carolingian Renaissance: Charlemagne set up schools and libraries to revive learning and literacy

Vikings

• Sailors from Norway, Sweden and Denmark

• Leif Ericson: 1st to find Newfoundland

• Normandy: part of northern France the Vikings took from the Franks

Britain

• Angles, Jutes, Saxons controlled Britain

• Canute: Danish king who took control of England

• Norman Conquest: **1066**, William the Conqueror conquered England

• Battle of Hastings: William defeated Harold the Saxon king and took control of England.

France

• Western part of the former Frankish kingdom

• Hugh Capet: elected king of France

Holy Roman Empire

• Eastern part of the former Frankish

• Otto: king of Holy Roman Empire, “Holy Roman Emperor”

• Holy Roman Empire: Germany and most of Italy

Crusades

• Crusades: holy wars against the Muslim to regain Jerusalem, launched by Pope Urban II

• 1st Crusade = 34 000 knights, success• 2nd Crusade = failure• 3rd Crusade = Saladin (Muslim Leader) vs. King Richard the

Lionheart (King of England and Christian leader); truce in the end, Christian pilgrims allowed back in Jerusalem

• 4th Crusade = Venice attacks Constantinople, embarrassment because both Christian cities

• Results1. Pope and Church highly esteemed 2. Kings more powerful b/c rivals dead3. Eastern products introduced

Decline of Medieval Europe

• European society began to decline due natural disaster and wars

1. Famines (1314-1317)

2. Hundred Years’ War

3. Black Death

Hundred Years’ War

• Series of conflicts that lasted more than 100 years between England and France

• King Edward III of England claimed the French throne and attacked France in 1337

• English many victories early b/c of long bow• English close to winning and laid siege to Orleans in

1428• English defeated at Orleans; French led by Joan of Arc

(17 year old peasant girl who said God told her to save France, eventually burnt at the stake when captured by English)

• At end of wars borders have barely changed from the start

Black Death

• Population has tripled in Europe but several crises had weakened the population (famines, war)

• Black Death (1347-1351): ¼ to 1/3 died• Three Types:

1. Bubonic (transmitted by fleas with Y-pestis bacilli, enlarge lymph nodes and buboes)

2. Pneumonic (in lungs)3. Septicaemic (in bloodstream)

• Effects: fewer workers = more jobs = higher pay• Medieval Theories on cause of Black Death

1. Unusual planetary conjunction2. God is angry3. Minorities (Jews, Lepers, witches) poisoned the wells

Medieval Government

England• Monarchy: gov’t headed by a king or queen• Juries: group of men in each village had to swear a solemn oath

about the value of their property to the royal envoys of William the Conqueror

• Domesday Book: every person, animal and piece of property recorded for tax purposes

• Henry I: increased royal power by improving cash flow and royal bureaucracy

• Magna Carta: “The Great Charter”, the barons force Kind John to sign the document, limited the king’s power, king no longer above the law

• Parliament: meetings of Great Council and later most citizens represented, advised the king

Medieval Government continued…

France

• Hugh Capet: founded dynasty that would last 300 years

• Estates General: French Parliament, no real power

Holy Roman Empire

• Otto I: united duchies of Holy Roman Empire

Religion in Medieval Europe• Middle Ages = “Age of Faith”• Doctrines = church teachings• Roman Catholic Church very powerful (own gov’t, courts, laws,

lands, etc…)• Know chart• Excommunicate: remove someone from the religion• Inquisition: special court set up to investigate heretics (those who

disagreed or disobeyed church teachings), torture them to renounce beliefs, if not burnt at the stake

• Factors that led to the decline of the Church in the 13th and 14th century

1. Fourth Crusade2. Black Death3. Babylon Captivity (Papacy moved to Avignon, France by Philip IV

where he elected a French pope – 70 years)4. Great Schism (period where there were 2 and then 3 popes)

Reformation• Religious movement in Europe that began with Roman Catholic

reforms and ended with the establishment of Protestant churches in the 16th c (started in Germany)

• Causes1. Babylon Captivity and Great Schism2. Sale of church offices3. Sale of indulgences4. Extravagant Church spending5. Difference in how church should be run

• Martin Luther: leader, German monk who wrote 95 theses or statements about his outrage with indulgences and Roman Catholic Church

• Luther’s ideas spread via the printing press (Gutenberg)• Pope excommunicated him but protected by German prince• Caused a split and Protestant church will begin to form in Europe

Renaissance

• A great revival of Classical (Greek and Roman) art, literature and learning in Europe in 14th – 16th

• Where: Florence and other Italian cities• Who: artists, writers, scholars and great

patrons who paid them• Philosophy: Humanism (focus on human

concerns and the Classics), see beauty in human form, optimistic and creative

• Renaissance men:1. Michelangelo: “David” and Sistine Chapel2. Da Vinci: “Mona Lisa” and “Last Supper”