Sully-sur-Loire, a medieval castle visited by (among others) Joan of Arc, Louis XIV

Notre-Dame church in Orleans, France

Giotto “Madonna and child”

Introduction to the

The Middle Ages

Middle Ages• Middle Ages/Medieval Period: 476 to 1453 C.E. Also known as

the Dark Ages• "Middle Age:” invented by Italian scholars in the early 15th

Century. Before this, it was believed there had been two periods in history, the “Ancien” times and the "Dark Age.“

• Renaissance means “rebirth”– The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture,

literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe.

– The period of this revival, roughly the 14th through the 16th century, marking the transition from medieval to modern times.

Ancient “Classical” Period

Middle Ages

Renaissance

Medieval Europe5th century to 1453

Three Elements

– Graeco-Roman civilization and culture• the oldest and most important

– Christianity• the newest

– Germanic culture•Most adaptable

Origins

• Roman empire: private retainers and soldiers

• Germanic society: the comitatus– a warrior band

• gifts of land for service or surrendering control of your land or talents to a superior for his protection

Germanic Tribes and Kingdoms

• Italy - numerous invasions (Visigoths and Vandals)

• Britain - Anglo-Saxon invasions

• Spain - Visigoths, then the Islamic Moors

• Gaul - by the Franks

Roman Invasion of Britain

Britain conquered in 43AD

• North Britain (Scotland) was not conquered.

• In 122 A.D., Emperor Hadrian built a wall separating North and South.

Hadrian’s Wall

Social Structure

• Anglo-Saxon invasion

– a complex class system– lower classes must work on the

noble’s farm– Britain divided into seven kingdoms,

always fighting– United under King Alfred to defend

against the Danes

Medieval Period in a Historical Nutshell• Rome attacked in 476 C.E. • beginning of the Middle Ages often called the "Dark

Ages”– Fall of Greece and Rome– Life in Europe during the Middle Ages was very hard.– Few people could read or write – Only hope: strong belief in Christianity; heaven would be

better than life on earth. • In contrast:

– The Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa studied and improved on the works of the ancient Greeks

– Civilization flourished in sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, and the Americas.

• Great change by about 1450– Columbus & America– printing press - spread literacy – Scientific discoveries– Great works of art – The Renaissance is the beginning of modern history.

The Renaissance

With the Fall of Rome…..

• Barbarian* tribes invading Britain and Western European lands

• Emperors became more like kings

• Feudalism: involuntary peasant labor on lands not their own; personal bonds and personal law replaced impersonal law common to large expanses of territory

With the Fall of Rome…..

• Medieval Guilds

• Catholic Church, would provide spiritual and moral direction, as well as leadership and material support, during the darkest times of the early Medieval period.

Barbarian - first applied to any foreigner, one who did not have a recognized culture or degree of polish with the speaker or writer employing the term. It is a Greek word, and expresses with mocking duplication ("bar-bar") alleged attempts by outsiders to speak a "real" language.

Key Concepts of the Middle AgesWar

ReligionTURMOIL

Crusades

Feudalism: The Middle Ages’ social order

• Church deeply involved in government

• Christianity - basis for a first European "identity," unified in a religion common to most of the continent until the separation of Orthodox Churches from the Catholic Church in 1054.

• Crusades: Popes, kings, and emperors unite and defend Christendom from the perceived aggression of Islam

Social Structure

• Norman invasion– the development of a feudal system:

• Feudalism: nobles received land from their lord, and had to fight in his army

• Manorialism: “villeins” (serfs) received land from a noble, and had to do work for him

– feudalism declined in the 14th century• peasants had more freedom• they paid rent to the noble who owned

the land

Why Feudalism Was Needed…

• No central government, therefore a new political system - Feudalism.

• Feudalism - loosely organized system of rule where powerful local lords divided their landholdings among lesser lords. In exchange, lesser lords, or vassals pledged service and loyalty to the greater lord.

Feudalism cont…• Political system based on social class and

duty. Then be rewarded (paid): • FIEFS: included the land and peasants to work it.

It was granted to warriors, counts, and local officials

• LORD: the noble who granted the land and promised to protect the vassal

• VASSAL the person who received the land and promised loyalty and military service ---

• SERF: work three or four days a week for the lord as rent. Spend the rest of their week growing crops to feed their families. Other serfs worked as sharecroppers. A sharecropper had to turn over most of what he grew in order to be able to live on the land.

Economic Revival

Changes in medieval society: • Rise of merchant class and larger middle

class• People had greater skills• Inhabitants in town played

larger role in politics • Townsfolk no longer

dependent on manorial lord • Rise of ghettos • Crusades

The Church

• Christianity became the universal faith of almost all of the people of Europe.

• The Church was often the only way to get an education.

• Monks: men who lived in monasteries, or small communities of religious workers.

Middle Ages: General Timeline

476 C.E.Fall of Rome

1066 C.E.Norman invasion of Britain

1095-1291C.E. Crusades

1306-1321 Dante’s Divine

Comedy

1386 C.E.Chaucer begins writing

Canterbury Tales

1455 C.E.Printing Press

Beowulf Composed sometimebetween

850 C.E.

900 C.E.

1453Fall of

Byzantine Empire with invasion of Ottoman

Turks

306 C.E.Constantine comes to power in Eastern Roman Empire; beginning of Byzantine Empire

1347 Bubonic Plague

450 C.E.

Anglo-Saxons invade

England

1375-1400 Sir Gawain

& Green Knight

What was the Renaissance?

What was the Renaissance, and where did it begin?

•Italy

•Italian Cities

•Urban Societies

•Major Trading Centers

•Secular

•Moved away from life in the church

•Focuses more on material objects and enjoying life

The Renaissance was a time of renewal

Renaissance means rebirth and Europe was recovering from the Dark

ages and the plague.

People had lost their faith in the church and began to put more focus

on human beings.

The Crusades and the Renaissance

• Increased demand for Middle Eastern products

• Stimulated production of goods to trade in Middle Eastern markets

• Encouraged the use of credit and banking

• Church rule against usury and the banks’ practice of charging interest helped to secularize northern Italy.

• Letters of credit served to expand the supply of money and expedite trade.

• New accounting and bookkeeping practices (use of Arabic numerals) were introduced.

Political Ideas of the Renaissance

Niccolò Machiavelli

The PrinceMachiavelli believed:

“One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit”

Machiavelli observed city-state rulers of his day and produced guidelines for the acquisition and maintenance of power by absolute rule.

He felt that a ruler should be willing to do anything to maintain control without worrying about conscience.

• Better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved• Ruler should be quick and decisive in decision making

• Ruler keeps power by any means necessary• The end justifies the means

• Be good when possible, and evil when necessary

Renaissance Economics

• “Cottage Industry”

• Art became the way to advertise economic success – Patronage

• Intensified commercial competition created the need to be efficient– Medici Bankers

Renaissance Economics

• Profit-making became more important than Church doctrine

• To overcome guilt, profit-makers indulge in philanthropy

• Influence of guilds declining

• High profits led to economic diversification

The Renaissance produced new ideas that were reflected in the arts, philosophy, and literature.

Patrons, wealthy from newly expanded trade, sponsored works which glorified city-states in northern Italy.

Education became increasingly secular.

Medieval art and literature focused on the Church and salvation

Renaissance art and literature focused on individuals and worldly matters, along with Christianity.

Renaissance Artists embraced some of the ideals of Greece and Rome in their art

They wanted their subjects to be realistic and focused on humanity and emotion

New Techniques also emerged

Frescos: Painting done on wet plaster became popular because it gave depth to the paintings

Sculpture emphasized realism and the human form

Architecture reached new heights of design

Born in 1475 in a small town near Florence, is considered to be one of the

most inspired men who ever lived

David

Michelangelo created

his masterpiece David in

1504.

Sistine ChapelAbout a year after

creating David, Pope Julius II summoned

Michelangelo to Rome to work on his most famous project, the ceiling of the Sistine

Chapel.

Creation of Eve Creation of Adam

Separation of Light and Darkness

The Last Judgment

La Pieta 1499Marble Sculpture

Moses

1452-1519

Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Engineer

“Renaissance Man”

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

Notebooks

RaphaelPainter

1483-1520

The School of Athens

How did classical knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans foster humanism in the

Italian Renaissance?

Humanism

• Celebrated the individual

• Stimulated the study of Greek and Roman literature and culture

• Was supported by wealthy patrons

Northern Renaissance

• Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.

• Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity.

• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of books - 1455

(Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate ideas.

Northern Renaissance writers

• Erasmus—The Praise of Folly (1511)

• Sir Thomas More—Utopia (1516)

Northern Renaissance artists portrayed religious and secular subjects.

Literature flourished during the RenaissanceThis can be greatly attributed to Johannes

GutenbergIn 1455 Gutenberg printed the first book

produced by using moveable type.

The Bible