Europe in the Middle Ages What led to the rise and fall of feudalism? How did the Crusades affect European society? What was the Renaissance?

Setting the Scene  A.D. 500 the Roman Empire (western Europe) was in ruin – nomadic tribes from northern Europe and Asia.  Small kingdoms developed  Laws, literature, and learning from the Empire was lost  Cities shrank, trade slowed (too dangerous to travel), peasants fled from invaders  Vikings were the most feared attackers  Raid and colonize – Northern England and Ireland  900s – settled in northern France (“Normans”), Iceland, and Greenland

Feudalism  European leaders enlisted nobles for:  Military assistance and loyalty  In return for:  Land and protection  Manor (land a noble received)  Self-sufficient estate  Serfs – men and women bound to the land by their labor (worked in exchange for a share of the crops and protection from attackers)

Rigid Class System  Noble Class – managed estates, hunted, engaged in battle  Men held most of the power (some women inherited land from male relatives)  Serfs – unending physical labor  Lords received the largest portion of the crops, but sometimes also required workers to pay fees (marriage or inheritance taxes)  Some obtained their freedom, but most remained tied to the land  Considered property and their status was passed down to their children.

Church  No sense of national identity in feudal Europe and little awareness of the outside world (manor and church only)  Roman Catholic Church – political and social force  Led by the pope  Center of activity  Only institution to carry on traditions from the Roman Empire  Art, culture (music, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, cathedrals)  Politically – settled disputes between kingdoms and negotiate political alliances  Monks and Nuns lived in monasteries or convents  Worshiped, studied scripture, preserved ancient Greek and Roman writing

Decline of Feudalism  New farm equipment increased the amount of land that could be farmed  Farm laborers could not produce enough food for large armies and townspeople  Military strength grew  Vikings would no longer take by force, what they couldn’t get by trade  Trading towns and cities replaced manors as the focus of economic activity  Serfs moved from manors to towns – work for wages or farm rented plots

Crusades  s – waves of Christian crusaders fought Muslims for control of the Holy Land  Southwest Asia – sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims  Muslims groups had held the Holy Land since the 600s  Fell to the Seljuk Turks (Muslims from central Asia) in 1071  Prevented Christians from visiting the holy city of Jerusalem  1 st Crusade: European Christian invaders captured Jerusalem – retaken later by Muslims  Later Crusades were never as successful for the Europeans, but they had important consequences for trade…

Trade  Banks and merchants in the Italian city-states funded the Crusades in return for trading privileges.  Italian traders brought back rare spices, fine silks, etc. from Muslim lands… Europeans demanded more.  Trade changed Europe’s political and social order  Merchants and bankers formed the bourgeoisie (middle class)  Political stability was necessary for trade to flourish (fighting feudal nobles could not provide this)  But a central government under a strong king or queen could – bourgeoisie supported monarchs

Renaissance  Rebirth of European learning and artistic creativity.  Crusades had helped end the isolation Europe had faced from the rest of the world.  Brought back classical Greek and Roman works and new ideas in science, technology and philosophy from the Byzantine Empire (eastern half of the former Roman Empire) and the Islamic world.  European scholars wanted to understand the physical world  Clues from Arab mathematics and sciences  Arab maps and geographic studies – world beyond Europe  Compass and Astrolabe invention  Began in Italy (14 th century) and spread across Europe  Johannes Gutenberg –invention of the printing press (cultural diffusion)  Commerce (banks and treasuries continued to try and outdo one another to make profit) – funding building projects and individual artists (da Vinci and Michelangelo)