Friday, November 18, 2016

Middle Ages 376-1500






_______________________________________________________________________ Chapter 6: Western Kingdoms, Byzantium, and the Islamic World, ca. 376-1000
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The Making of Western Kingdoms, ca. 376-750
·         Germanic Clan and Family; Heroic Society
·         Infiltrate the Roman Empire 376-476
o   Huns carrying compound cross-bows galloped out of the east starting in 375 on small, seemingly tireless ponies
o   Federate treaties made encroaching tribes allies = live within Empire in exchange for fighting Rome’s enemies.
o   Arian Christians (Visigoths & Ostrogoths converted by Ulfila ca 310-381 whose ideas were based on Arius’s teachings before they were condemned by the 325 Council of Nicaea.  These Christians differed greatly from Roman Catholics and was a source of religious strife.
o   Germanic Invasions, fifth century: map 6.1 p.175 West in the World
o   Loss of provinces 407 Roman legions recalled from Britain
§  Battle of Baden - victory for Christian Celtic Britons against Anglo-Saxon invasions for a while.  Legend of King Arthur
·         Did Rome “Fall”?  NO  it transformed PP. 176-178 Germans transformed
o   330 AD Constantine moves capital of Rome to Byzantium Names It Constantinople;  Beginning of the Eastern Roman Empire. Constantine converts to Christianity.
o   In 410 AD, Alaric the Visigoth famously sacked the "Eternal" City.
o   In 455 AD, Vandals and African allies under the command of Gaiseric and Huneric sacked Rome with much more violence than the Goths.
o   476 AD conquest of Rome      ; transformation  of the Western Roman Empire; http://www.ancient.eu/image/4131/  “Invasions of the Roman Empire” map
o   500s The Early Middle Ages begins The decline of Europe was caused by the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Invaders swept across the region; trade, travel, towns, and learning all decrease; Germanic kingdoms (such as the Franks) carved up a once-unified empire.1 This in turn led to poverty and lack of safety. 2
·         Rise and Fall of Frankish Dynasty, ca 485-750
o   Christian Merovingians : The Germanic Franks (in the old Roman province of Gaul) were ruled by the Merovingian Family. King Clovis vowed to converted to Christianity if he won a significant battle. He and his country became Catholic and established a link with the Popes.
o   Queen Radegund founded a convent.
o   Pope Zachary r. 741-752 favored Pepin (the mayor of the palace) and proclaimed him the first Carolingian King.
·         Accomplishments and Destruction in Italy, ca. 490-750
o   Fostered learning & historical writing – ex. Boethius,high official in Theodoric’s court, translated Aristotle into Latin (basis of Logic), created a water clock, wrote The Consolation  while in prison on a false treason charge.
o   Fall of Ostrogoths – Theodoric  r. 493-526 ousted Odovacar who had deposed the last Roman Empire.  Theodoric’s daughter, Amalasuintha, ruled as first regent for her young son then as queen.  Internal intrigue. Byzantine Emperor Justinian used her death as a reason for his short -term expansion into Italy.
o   Lombards (long-beards, Germanic tribe) moved south into Itay. Justinan was over extended his resources.  Lombards in Northern Italy were taken over by the Carolingian King Pepin in the 700’s . “The Donation of Pepin” was his returning Northern Italy to the Pope=beginning of the Papal States.
·         Visgoths in Spain, 418-711 (Arian Christians; federates of Rome; two cultures: Roman & Goth)
o   Weaknesses : #1 “The Visigothic Curse” (political assassination), #2 Persecution Jews
o   The Muslims crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and took over most of the Iberian Penninsula.
·         Growing Power of the Popes
o   Petrine doctrine = papal supremacy
o   Gregory the Great (r.590-604) administered Rome, managed estates; fed the poor; negotiated truce with Lombards; settled disputes & offered financial assistance to distant churches
·         Monasteries: Peaceful Havens
o   Benedict of Nursia  “Saint Benedict” (c. 480-c.547)
o   Irish Christianity: Saint Patrick (ca. 390-461) Briton, kidnapped, slave in Ireland, escaped, became a bishop in Briton, returned to Ireland as a missionary, established a monastery, founder of Irish Christianity. Irish monks then became missionaries to pagan Anglo-Saxons= Conversion of Britain
o   Irish monks discover Iceland (Vikings too)
Byzantine Empire, c. 400-1000
·         Justinian and Theodora, r. 527-565 
o   Nika riot
o   Rebuilding
o   Legal codification
o   Reconquering the west
o   537 Justinian commissioned the Hagia Sophia  in Constantinople
·         Constantinople
o   Lucrative industries,; chariot races at the Hippodrrome;
·         Military Might and Diplomatic dealings through provincial organization, bribes, spies, and counterintelligence
·         East Breaking Away from the West
o   Justinian last Eastern Emperor to use Latin as the official language- changed to Greek.
o   Religious controversy: Caesaropapist (led both church & state)
o   Emperor Leo III r. 717-741 ordered iconoclasm (icon breaking) led to century of controversy
o   Orthodox church
·         Converting the Slavs, 560-ca. 1000
o   Cyril and Methodius
o   Conversion of Russia
o   Golden Age
·         Greek Fire, a now lost Secret formula, a flammable liquid that was pumped by tubes onto enemy ships and even burned on the surface of the water. It was a sort of flame thrower. Constantinople with its wall and … was saved.  Stirrups were also invented, which kept Knights on horseback.
Islam, 600-1000
·         570, Prophet Muhammad born in Mecca         ;  622, Beginning of Islam; Muhammad d. 632 in Medina
·         Islam means “surrender to God” ; after saying a creed they follow the Five Pillars of Faith(1private behavior/faith within 2 pray 5x/day, 3 almsgiving, 4 fast during month of Ramada, 5 pilgrimage(Haj))
·         Images forbidden Use of calligraphy and geometric shapes: holy book for Muslims is the Qur’an (Koran). Qur’an was not to be translated thus Arabic became the official and unifying language.
·         “Jihad”: several meanings and different interpretations:  “greater Jihad” is the struggle within and “lesser Jihad” military struggle against infidels
·         661, “Ali (Caliph) ruler, was cousin and son-in-law to the Prophet Mohamed. He wanted to be more of a spiritual leader than a governor & tax collector. He was assassinated in 661.  Those who follow him are Shi’ite Muslims.
·         661-750 Umayyad dynasty rules from Damascus
·         Umayyad Caliphate held power in Spain
·         ‘Abbasid caliphate  not supported by Shi’ites
·         673, Islamic Expansion & the Siege of Constantinople
·         ca. 691 Dome of the Rock built in Jerusalem
·         711, Muslims conquer Spain
·         732, Battle of Tours/ Battle of Pointers-- Charles “The Hammer” Martel saved the Franks from invasions ….  He pushed the Muslims out of France.   Christian armies stop the Muslim advance in Europe.
·         Hellenistic Learning; cultivated, translated, blended traditions. .  Libraries, Universities; 
o   Avicenna (Ibn Sina) 980-1037 Muslim scientist; prolific writing; “scientific method”
o   Mathematics  “Arabic Numerals” from India; algebra; astrolabe invented;

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Chapter 7: The Struggle to Bring Order: The Early Middle Ages, ca.  750- 1000
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RULE OF LAW
·         Compurgation (value in the community)=12 honorable men witnessed as to the accused’s character.
·         Ordeal: “judgement”:  a physically harmful test was given, with the belief if accused were innocent then God would protect them (or) they would not be injured if innocent.
·         Legal codes: Ancient German laws combined with Roman Law were written in Latin.
·         Wergeld = “man gold” = monetary compensation instead of feuds; Visigoths wrote customary laws by 600s.
·         Common Law: arising from customs, rather than legislation. (Originally, German Kings just recorded customs as laws)
·         Statutory Law: laws established by legislature or king
ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND: FORWARDING LEARNING AND LAW
·         Ca. 731 Bede, Ecclesiastical History of English People; He adopted BC/AD & thereafter it became norm; history of ALL of England
·         Witan a circle of wise men of the realm who approved the next king. (Wittenagemot: full assembly)
·         Royal Offices: Kingdom divided in Shires with a official appointed by the King were Earls; Sherriffs were appointed and reported directly to the King
·         Alfred the Great: King and Scholar
o   Built the first English Navy after Danish invasions (The Jarrow Monestary in the north was looted and destroyed, and London was looted by some 350 ships)
o   Danelaw : treaty in 884 between Alfred and Danish king Guthrum divided England: agreed to have different laws but  the same religion. Guthrum converted to Christianity.
o   Alfred’s translations from Latin into Old English, “It seems better to me for us also to translate some of the books which are most needful for all men to know into the language which we can all understand”.
o   Common law
o   Statutory law
CHARLEMAGNE AND THE CAROLINGIANS: A NEW EUROPEAN EMPIRE (r.800-d.814)
·         Administering the realm  by “missi dominici”= traveling agents, a bishop and a nobleman; attended 2 assemblies a year to hear the kings dictates; Thus centralized control maintained
·         Linking Politics & Religion. He converted the Saxons to prevent further rebellions
·         Charlemagne’s coronation 800 Christmas day. Grandson of Charles Martel, Charlemagne, Charles the Great, reunited much of the Western Roman Empire.  He aided Pope Leo III by capturing rebellious Roman nobles. The resulting alliance occurred:  Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor.  This outraged the Eastern Roman Emperor and created a unified (European/West) Christian Empire.  The revival in learning also unified the Kingdom.  Palace School at Aachen was run by a respected York scholar, Alcuin [AL kwin] for Charlemagne, his sons, and his nobles. 2
·         Negotiating with Byzantium & Islam: Charlemagne was on friendly terms with the caliph in Baghdad, Harum al-Rashid (r. 786-809), their mutual enemy was the Byzantium (ruled by Queen Irene who refused to marry Charlemagne).
·         Intellectual Rebirth, educational reforms, establishing schools (free schools in villages); handwriting reforms to make texts legible
·         Trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and  logic,
·         Quadrivium: arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy
·         Louis the Pious (r.814-840), Charlemagne’s only son; following his death the Kingdom amongst his three sons: Charles the Bald, Lothair I, and Louis the German.
ORDER IN THE CHURCH
·         Monasteries: manuscripts copied and preserved; monastic learning; missionary work
·         Cluniac reform: monastery exempt from local control; owing only prayers to the donor of the land
·         910 Monastery at Cluny founded; directly subordinate to the pope = increased papal authority
VIKINGS AND OTHER INVADERS
·         Charlemagne’s three grandsons started civil war
o   (Charles the Bald, Lothair I, and Louis the German)
o   Treaty of Verdun (843) divides Carolingian Empire; western Europe no longer unified.
o   Mismanagement of the kingdom, civil war, evaporation of trade, and invasions from the north, south, and east led to the end of the Carolingians
·         “The Wrath of the Northmen”: Scandinavians: raids, trades, and settlements
·         Invasions of Europe 800s and 900s (map 7.5, p.219) Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims
·         Viking Ships: long keel, large sail, 50-100 oarsmen, skilled navigators, often built of oak that would flex in rough waters, fast and easy to beach and launch in raids
·         Treasure Hoards 1,700  found (300 primarily eastern silver coins) (gold was either hidden or used in status jewelry)
·         Sagas: old oral stories “Norse prose narratives” preserve history
·         Western explorations (Yes, they returned & didn’t fall off the edge of the horizon): Iceland, Greenland (no, it isn’t green), and Vinland (North America)
o   Ca. 100 Leif Erikson travels to North America
·         European settlements: northern France (Normandy), Sicily, northeast England
o   (871-901) Alfred the Great rules England
§  Alfred stopped the southward expansion of the Viking, Danes.
·         (1016-1035) Canute rules Denmark and a united England     
o   King Swein of Denmark and son Canute with a great fleet beat Anglo –Saxon King Edmund Ironside 1016.
·         1060 Norwegians convert to Christianity
o   Farming and trade were easier in times of peace.
MANORS AND FEUDAL TIES: ORDER EMERGING FROM CHAOS
·         Peasants and Lords: Mutual Obligations on the Medieval Manor
·         Serf’s obligation to vassal  of another vassal to the king
·         Feudal Obligations; noble warriors; lords and vassals
·         Vassal receiving fief = land and workers in exchange for service and soldiers for battle
·         Feudalism in Europe rose out of a necessity for a walled fortress that the people could run to for protection. The people in return gave a portion of their produce, time, and a man to fight.
·         Marriage ties were alliances; the church regulated monogamous marriages; increased status of legal wife and the heir she produced
·         Medicine; women were in charge of medicinal herbs and healthful diet.
·         Liege lord: the lord who deserved unreserved loyalty, above all other vassal relationships (usually unsuccessful)



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Chapter 8: Order Restored: The High Middle Ages, 1000-1300
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AGRICULTURAL LABOR
·         Water Mill: major source of mechanical power, ground grain
·         Three-field cultivation increased crop production: one field planted in spring, another in fall, and the third was left fallow (unplanted).
·         Population doubles (estimated) 37,000,000 to 74 million
·         Life span as long as today if one survived disease, accidents, childbearing and warfare.
·         Windmills:  generate power from the wind
o   vertical Persian design (simpler and more efficient)
o   horizontal European design (would need to pivot to catch shifting winds)
·         New freedoms gained by serfs in feudal relationships, if they moved to a region in need of workers. (Count Adolf II of Holstein (1128-1164) advertised with incentives, for farming families to move to his lands.)
·         Environmental consequences:
o   Slash & burn forrest clearing
o   Waste dumped in rivers (human waste and slaughtering by-products)
o   Coal burning ash in the air of cities and lowlands
THOSE OUTSIDE THE ORDER: TOWN LIFE
·         Communes: semi-independent communities that obtained charters from the lords who owned the land. They sometimes revolted if they did not get the liberties they felt deserving of.
·         Guilds: tradesmen protected their interests: controlled trade, quality of goods, set prices, and number of members. Women participated in the guild, because they typically outnumbered men in urban locations.
·         Urban Jews were important members of towns: first they were artisans, merchants, and landowners.  When Christians began viewing them as competition, they became moneylenders in many towns, because it was forbidden by the Christian Church. Jews thus made necessary contributions to expanding commerce.  The Christians and Jews lived in urban settings in uneasy codependence.
·         German migration Eastward  (map 8.1) 1000-13000 in search of farmland.
·         Widening Web of trade routes. Growth of towns not because of increased manufacturing, but trade of new goods as commercial centers and trading network hubs.
o   Champagne fairs: the Earl of Champagne hosted fairs that brought merchants from three zones and provided space, booths, police, and moneylenders. Each day a different product was presented, in exchange for sales tax collection.
o   Hanseatic League: replaced the Champagne Fairs and Flanders.  The Hanseatic League monopolized northern (Baltic) trade with a group of 70-80 cities which controlled politics and economics of the region.
·         Cathedrals
o   Romanesque architecture: thick walls; rounded arches directed roof weight down walls;  The earlier style
§  La Madeline at Vezeley in Burgundy (ca. 1104)
o   Gothic architecture: soaring heights, pointed arches directed roof weight down columns
§  Flying buttresses: exterior braces supported walls
§  Amiens Cathedral, France 1220-1270 building years
§  Stained glass: colorful glass pieces held together by lead-webs to make magnificent story pictures
§  So large; the entire population of the town could be present + visiting pilgrims
·         Universities
o   Scholasticism: the medieval philosophy that reconciled faith and reason
o   Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) “faith seeking understanding”; wrote Why God Became Man; explained the proof of God’s existence.
o   Peter Abelard (1079-1142)wrote Yes and No (Sic et Non) 150 theological questions with relevant Bible passages for students to analyze and reconcile
§  Abelard’s adversary was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) who disapproved of inquiry and discussion.
o   Guibert of Nogent describes his education document 8.1 autobiography, excerpt on medieval education for youth  (enforced self-control
o   Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)  taught that faith and reason are compatible. Great scholar. 
o   Ramon Lull (ca. 1232-1316) Missionary to the Muslims
o   Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) wrote a book on women’s health,…
o   Jacoba Felicie, a female, Jewish physician in Paris- order to stop practicing medicine
o   Experimental Science
·         1200s   orders of Christian friars founded
o   Domincan (order of preachers)
o   Franciscan (Fancis of Assisi said “Let us begin again”), ‘communal life of poverty, prayer, and service; devoting their lives in search of God. 7
NOBLES, KNIGHTS AND CASTLES
·         Chivalry: an elaborate code of conduct. Some knights, however, did not live up to the code of honor and bravery. 8
·         Jousts: two knights in full armor on horseback charged at each other, each with a lance & shield
·         Tournaments were staged one-on-one combat in which knights were often injured
·         Courtly love = romantic love of the nobility, included loyalty and great deeds.
CRUSADES
·         The Crusades were a series of battles in which European Christians battled Muslims for control of the Holy Land.1
·         1096 -1204 Christians launch the First Crusade in 1096.
o   Pope Urban II called for the first crusade to liberate Jerusalem form the Muslims, “can substitute this journey for all penance” (as payment of sins).6
RISE OF CENTRALIZED MONARCIES
ENGLAND: from conquest to Parliament
·         1066    William the Conqueror completes the Norman Conquest of England.
            He consolidates royal power; limiting power of lords.1
·         Henry I, youngest of William the Conqueror’s sons
o   Achieved peace in England
o   Advances in administration (modernized)
·         Henry II (5 March 1133 -6 July 1189) 9
o   Born near Tours (France)
o   First of Plantagenet dynasty
o   King of England from 1154;strengthened  royal adminiatraion in England.
o   Married Eleanor of Aquitaine
o   Quarrels with Thomas Becket , archbishop of Canterbury and his family
§  Richard 1 (r.1190-1999) “the Lion-Hearted”
§  John (r. 1100-1216)
·         Magna Carta limited royal power in England
·         Parliament
·         Edward I
SPAIN:
·         Reconquest of Iberia from the Muslims, by the Christians (900- 1250) map 8.5
FRANCE:
·         Capetian dynasty
·         Louis IX
·         Philip IV
·         Estates General
RUS
·         1236-1241 Mongol armies called the Golden Horde conquer Russia.

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Chapter 9: The West Struggles and Eastern Empires Flourish: The Late Middle Ages ca. 1300-1500
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ECONMIC AND SOCIAL MISERY
FAMINE
·         Bad Weather
BLACK DEATH PANDEMIC
·         The Black Death was an epidemic of the bubonic plaque [spread through bites of an infected flea] that swept Europe from 1347-1353, killing about one-third of the population.1
·         The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third [to one-half] of the continent’s population. 5
·         The Black Death affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens as well as people. One of the consequences of the Black Death was a European wool shortage. 5
·         Flagellants believed the plaque to be caused by the wrath of God; they beat (whipped) themselves; ritual parades
·         Jews attacked; accused of causing the plague because they were not dying of it, because of their strict food laws, etc. The Jews fled east to Poland, Russia, and further; where they received protection.
PEASANTS AND TOWNSPEOPLE REVOLT
·         John Bull
·         Urban revolts
IMPERIAL PAPACY BESIEGED
POPES MOVE TO AVIGNON
·         “Babylonian Captivity” breach of tradition
·         Return to Rome
THE GREAT SCHISM, 1378-1417
·         This is not the Schism (division) of 1054 which divided the Latin west with the Orthodox east.
CONCILIAR MOVEMENT
NEW CRITICS OF THE CHURCH
·         John Wycliffe
·         Jan Huss (ca. 1373-1415) Czech reformer
o   Burned at the stake
o   Followers called Lollards
HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR (1337-1453)
·         England v. France
o   New weapons
o   English Victories
o   Agincourt
o   Dauphin
o   Joan of Arc 1431 After leading French troops to victory, Joan of Arc is executed by the English. 1 Joan of Arc hears the guiding voice, gathers an Army, wins battles against the English for France, is captured by the English, tried by the Inquisition, found guilty, recants and renounces the voices that guided her, puts on women’s clothing (symbol of gender roles and obedience), relapsed (renounced recanting, “never truly abandoned her errors”) showing thus by putting men’s clothing back on, final adjudication (“WE DECREE THAT YOU ART A RELAPSED HERETIC”), and received the death sentence (burned at the stake).4, 3 (p.277)
·         Results of the War
·         In England during the Hundred Years’ War, monarchs ask Parliament for funds, increasing Parliament’s power.    In France during the Hundred Years’ War, English are expelled from most of France, increasing French national feeling.  England lost control of most of its territory in France.1
WAR OF THE ROSES
·         1455-1485 War of the Roses: The English Civil War between two branches of the royal family: Lancaster and York.
·         Richard III (r. 1483-1485) attempted to end the conflict by imprisoning his nephews in the Tower of London, where they were murdered. 
·         This resulted in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 in which the forces of Henry Tudor won (Henry VII   r. 1485-1509). He married Elizabeth of York as an alliance “to heal the breach between the noble factions.” Henry VII restored centralized control, prohibited private armies, and confiscated lands of rebellious nobles.3
RESPONSES TO THE DISRUPTION OF MEDIEVAL ORDER
·         William of Ockham Reconsiders Scholasticism
·          New Literary Giants
o   Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
§  The Divine Comedy
o   Illuminated, Book of Hours (Fifteenth Century)
o   Boccaccio
o   Chaucer
§  The Canterbury Tales (29 pilgrims on a journey)
·         Precision painting
o   Jan van Eyck (ca. 1395-1441)
§  Among first to use oil paint
§  Realistic details
o   Realism and symbolism
EMPIRES IN THE EAST
·          The Mongols (map 9.4 ca.1300)
o   Genghis Khan
o   Marco Polo, Venetian merchant, and emissary of Genghis Khan
o   Franciscan priest, John of Monte Corvino (1247-1328) missionary to China
·         Ottoman Empire (1300-1566) map 9.5
o   Conquest of Constantinople: 1453 Constantinople falls to the Turks: End of the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire
o   Suleiman I
·         Russia: The Third Rome
o   Tsar Ivan III, Ivan the Great, (r.1462-1505),expanded  Russia and centralized power.  1
·         Vlad III  Dracula, Vlad the Dragon, (the Impaler), King of Wallachia (a principality within modern day Romania) 1431-1476
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Endnotes:
1        Ellis & Esler. World History.  Pp. 210-323
2        …. The Middle Ages in 3-1/2 minutes
3        Sherman & Salsibury. The West in the World.
4        Saint Joan of Arc Center, Albuquerque, NM, “the Relapse, the final abjudication and the sentence of death,” http://www.stjoan-center.com

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