1. After the Roman Empire fell, Europe split. 2. Unsafe and insecure period a. Middle Ages – between fall of Rome and 1400s 3. Charles the Great or Charlemagne a. ruled the Franks b. conquered territory in present-day France, Italy, and Germany

1. Middle Ages = Dark Ages 2. Charlemagne a. built schools b. hired judges to write down his laws c. spread Christianity

3. Charlemagne visited Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas 800. a. Pope declared him emperor b. known as the “Holy Roman Emperor” c. empire split after his death

1. Life was hard and short. 2. Periods of war and hunger 3. Diseases killed thousands of people.

1. Feudalism – political and economic system based on loyalty to a lord a. kept order 2. Land was divided into manors. a. large areas of farmland controlled by local leaders called lords. 3. Lord divided land among vassals – one who swore loyalty to a lord

a. part of a manor controlled by a vassal – fief 4. Vassals a. served as knights to the lord at the manor i. some traveled with lords b. armored soldier on horseback

5. Serfs – peasants - at the bottom of the feudal society a. farmed the manor’s land i. in return received protection by lord and knights b. had few rights i. could not leave manor ii. could not marry without lord’s permission c. shared huts outside manor i. could come inside castle walls if enemies attacked

1. Sons of lords and vassals a. age 7 sent to knights b. taught how to ride, fight, and follow the knight’s code of conduct – chivalry 2. Daughters of nobles a. taught how to run the manor b. taught how to defend the manor in times of war 3. Children of serfs a. no formal education, joined parents in fields at early age

4. Knights – fought on horseback with heavy armor 5. Knight’s servants a. carried pieces of armor (feet, arms, legs, chest, hands, and head) i. weighed up to 80 pounds ii. difficult to get on the horse

1. Towns begin around year Manors sold surplus to towns. 3. Lords made roads safer for traders. 4. Craft workers a. formed guilds – an organized group of artisans in the same industry or trade during the Middle Ages in Europe i. set prices and rules for businesses

5. Serfs went to towns. a. would not be returned to manor if avoided capture for 1 year and 1 day 6. Towns were not pleasant. a. waste and garbage in streets b. Pigs and rats fed on garbage and spread diseases. c. polluted water d. criminals

1. Norsemen or “North men” a. came from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden b. robbed towns c. settlement in northern France (Normandy) i. Normans or Norsemen lived there d. followed other cultures i. became French-speaking Christians

1. Greatest Norman leader = William the Conqueror – William became king of England a. took land from English lords and gave it to Norman knights b. to learn more – took a census i. resource to understanding Middle Ages in England

1. King John a. raised taxes and sent his enemies to prison without fair trials 2. English nobles i. demanded John sign the Magna Carta or the “Great Charter” 1. first document gave nobles and others basic rights even a king could not take away

1. A.D – church split a. East – Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox b. West – Rome and Rome Catholicism

1. Monks a. men devoted to religion b. monastery – building housing a group of monks 2. Nuns a. women who chose a life devoted ro religion b. convents – a building housing a community of nuns

3. Both a. dedicated to prayer and learning b. made necessities c. most educated people in Europe (could read and write) 4. Monks copied ancient texts and preserved ideas for future scientists and thinkers

1. Showed faith by building great churches 2. Cathedrals – a large Christian church led by a bishop (leader who controls many smaller churches) a. expensive and time consuming b. Cologne, Germany – took more than 600 years i. stained-glass windows

– Turks (Muslims) capture Jerusalem a. city holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims b. feared that Muslim Turks would stop Christian pilgrimages (religious journeys) to the city

– Pope Urban II called on European Christians to march to Jerusalem to take the city a. 100,000 Christians (knights, working men, women, children, and elderly people) b. holy war – Crusades i. soldiers = Crusaders

3. Crusaders a. wore red cross on clothes (sign of obedience to the pope) b. difficult i. traveled by foot or horseback ii. ½ died of hunger or sickness or got lost c. finally reached Jerusalem 1099 and captured the city

– Gen. Saladin and Muslims recapture city 5. Nine Crusades occurred in all – all lands back under Muslim control

1. Changes a. Nobles sold their estates. b. freed serfs c. march off to war d. growth of port cities on Mediterranean Sea (Venice) i. Crusaders rest stop

1. Marco Polo a. Venetian explorer b. traveled the Silk Road c. stayed in China – 21 years d. returned home with stories and inventions e. sparked trade with China

s – plague struck Europe a. plague – terrible disease that spreads quickly 2. Black Death or bubonic plague i. killed millions ii. carried from rats to humans by fleas. iii. Dirty cities = disease

3. Began in Gobi Desert in Asia and spread along Silk Road s – China and Middle East – hit Europe a. 1 in 3 Europeans died 6. Lasted 130 years

1. Death changed the economy. a. food demand dropped and prices for farm food fell. b. Trade declined. i. merchants died c. serfs died – lords paid workers to plant crops i. serfs asked for higher pay and freedom ii. workers rented land and earn money iii. feudalism began to disappear