1. Fall of the Western Roman Empire

2. In the East, the Byzantine Empire became a center for trade & Greco-Roman culture

3. Also known as the “Dark Ages” or “Medieval” era
The Middle Ages
In the West, Europe grew weak & fell into the Middle Ages from 500 to 1300
Also known as the “Dark Ages” or “Medieval” era

4. Europe After the Fall of Rome
When barbarian kingdoms conquered Rome, Europe was plagued by constant warfare
Warfare disrupted trade, destroyed Europe’s cities, & forced people to rural areas
Learning declined; Few people could read or write
Greco-Roman culture was forgotten
• Disruption of Trade Merchants faced invasions from both land and sea. Their businesses collapsed. The breakdown of trade destroyed Europe’s
cities as economic centers. Money became scarce.
• Downfall of Cities With the fall of the Roman Empire, cities were
abandoned as centers of administration.
• Population Shifts As Roman centers of trade and government collapsed, nobles retreated to the rural areas. Roman cities were left without strong leadership. Other city dwellers also fled to the countryside, where they grew their own food. The population of western Europe became mostly rural.
The Decline of Learning The Germanic invaders who stormed Rome could not read or write. Among Romans themselves, the level of learning sank sharply as more and more families left for rural areas. Few people except priests and other church officials were literate. Knowledge of Greek, long important in Roman culture, was almost lost. Few people could read Greek works of literature, science, and philosophy. The Germanic tribes, though, had a rich oral tradition of
songs and legends. But they had no written language.
Loss of a Common Language As German-speaking peoples mixed with the Roman population, Latin changed. While it was still an official language, it was no longer understood. Different dialects developed as new words and phrases became part of everyday speech. By the 800s, French, Spanish, and other Roman-based languages had evolved from Latin. The development of various languages mirrored the continued breakup of a once-unified empire.
Europe lost a common language; Latin mixed with local languages to form Spanish, French, Italian

5. Germanic Tribes in the Middle Ages
Without the unity of the Roman Empire, Europe became divided into a series of Germanic kingdoms
Germanic people lived in small communities led by chiefs & his loyal warriors
Family ties & loyalty were more important than citizenship
The Concept of Government Changes Along with shifting boundaries, the entire concept of government changed. Loyalty to public government and written law had unified Roman society. Family ties and personal loyalty, rather than citizenship in a public state, held Germanic society together. Unlike Romans, Germanic peoples lived in small communities that were governed by unwritten rules and traditions. Every Germanic chief led a band of warriors who had pledged their loyalty to him. In peacetime, these followers lived in their lord’s hall. He gave them food, weapons, and treasure. In battle, warriors fought to the death at their lord’s side. They considered it a disgrace to outlive him. But Germanic warriors felt no obligation to obey a king they did not even know. Nor would they obey an official sent to collect taxes or administer justice in the name of an emperor they had never met. The Germanic stress on personal ties made it impossible to establish orderly government for large territories.

6. Germanic Successor States
Decentralized Society
German chieftains replace Roman rule
Germanic tradition replaced Roman law
Peasants turn to local lords for safety
Subsistence Agriculture
Power shifts from Italy to France

7. The Spread of Christianity
During the early Middle Ages, the Germanic kingdoms were slowly converted to Christianity
The Catholic Pope became involved in secular (non-religious) issues like road repair, aiding the poor, & helping Christian kings expand their power

8. The Spread of Christianity
The Franks were the largest & most powerful of the Germanic kingdoms in the early Middle Ages
Frankish kings allied with the Catholic Church & expanded their power
In 771, Charlemagne (“Charles the Great”) became king of the Franks

9. The Franks Clovis I (466-511) Charles Martel (688-741)
United the Franks
Converted to Christianity
Charles Martel ( )
Defeated Muslim at Tours
Charlemagne ( )
Centralized authority
Temporary revival of learning
Empire fell less than 30 years after his death
Battle of Tours, 732

10. Charlemagne & the Frankish Empire
Charlemagne was the greatest Medieval king because he did something no other king was able to do…create an organized empire – The Holy Roman Empire (First Reich)
He spread Christianity – Missi Dominici
He created schools to train future priests
Charlemagne expanded the Frankish empire
He valued learning & built schools in his empire

11. Charlemagne & The Holy Roman Empire
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, his Frankish Empire was divided & lost power…
…This was the last opportunity to provide unity in medieval Europe

12. External Invasions
External invasions by Vikings (purple), Magyars (green), and Muslims (red) completed the destruction of centralized rule in Western Europe.
European lords built a system of military and political relationships to protect their land. This system is called feudalism.

13. From 800 to 1000, a 2nd major wave of invasions struck Europe led by Vikings, Muslims &Magyars
Text
These invasions caused widespread fear & suffering
Kings could not defend against invasion
People stopped looking to kings for protection
The invasions by Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims caused widespread disorder and suffering. Most western Europeans lived in constant danger. Kings could not effectively defend their lands from invasion. As a result, people no longer looked to a central ruler for security. Instead, many turned to local rulers who had their own armies. Any leader who could fight the invaders gained followers and political strength.

14. Feudalism Feudalism began in Europe as a way to offer protection
Feudalism is based on land & loyalty
Land-owning lords offer land (called a fief) to knights in exchange for their loyalty & promise to protect the lord’s land
Feudalism came to England with Norman Invasion in 1066
Bayeaux Tapestry

15. European Feudalism
Kings and nobles gave land (fief ) to vassals (nobles) in exchange for military service
Control of land was hereditary
Vassals gave land to knights in exchange for military service
Knights were bound by a code of chivalry

16. Some peasants were serfs & could not leave the lord’s estate
Feudal Structure
Knights were specially trained soldiers who protected the lords & peasants – vassals took an oath of fealty (loyalty)
Some peasants were serfs & could not leave the lord’s estate
Kings had land but very little power
Lords (also called Nobles) were the upper-class landowners; they had inherited titles (“Duke,” “Earl,” “Sir”)

17. Knights and Castles The Knight The Castle
Castle Rising in England was built in 1138

18. Lords built castles to protect their territory from outside invasions

19. The Manorial System
During the Middle Ages, the manorial system was the way in which people survived
The lord’s land was called a manor
The lord provided peasants with housing, farmland, & protection
In exchange, peasants repaid the lord by working his land & providing a portion of the food they produced

20. Serfs and Manorialism
Agricultural manors were essential for maintaining the feudal system
Manors included a mill, church, workshops, and a village
Serfdom
Bound to the land
Cultivated land for lords in exchange for protection and a small plot of land
Also were responsible for weaving, building, etc.
Serfs were required to work their lords land three days a week. The rest of the time they could work the small plots of land provided to them by their lord.

21. Peasant life was hard: They paid taxes to use the lord’s mill, had to get permission to get married, & life expectancy was about 35 years old
Manors were self-sufficient communities; Everything that was needed was produced on the manor

22. Manorialism

23. The Christian Church Created moral standards
Owned extensive land throughout Western Europe
Struggled with secular rulers to be the dominant authority in Europe
Supported monasticism
Monks preserved literacy and learning
Nuns provided an additional opportunity for women

24. The Pope Papal authority grew during early medieval period
Canon law
Excommunication
Investiture
Frequent power struggles between monarchs and the papacy
Henry IV and Gregory VII
A symbol of papal authority, Pope Gregory VII declared the church infallible and capable of removing emperors

25. Expansion of Europe
Vikings
Spanish Reconquista
The Crusades

26. Viking Expansion

27. Spanish Reconquista Began in small Christian states in northern Spain
By 1150 Christians had recaptured over half of Muslim Spain
Aided by organization and wealth of Catholic Church
Ended in 1492 with conquest of Granada
Drove Jews and Muslims from Spain
The Spanish Inquisition

28. The Crusades

29. High Middle Ages (1000-1500) Establishment of regional states
European Economic Revival
social developments
Christianity during the high middle ages

30. Rise of Regional States
Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
“neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire”
Conflicts with church prevented creation of a powerful state
France
Capetian dynasty consolidated feudal estates into a centralized government
Feudal monarchy
Italy
Dominated by powerful city-states: Rome (papal state), Florence, Genoa, Milan, Venice, etc.

31. Europe in the High Middle Ages

32. Rise of Monarchy in England
William of Normandy conquered England in 1066
Feudalism with centralized approach
Magna Carta signed by King John in 1215
Created parliamentary system
Parliament must approve changes in taxation
Does NOT create a democratic system
King John, enemy of Robin Hood, was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215

33. European Economic Revival
Changing Agricultural Economy
Technology: improved plows, watermills, the horse collar, and the horseshoe
Crop rotation and the three-field system
Population growth
800 CE—29 Million
1100 CE—44 Million
1300 CE—79 Million
Population growth led to urbanization
London, Paris, Toledo, etc.
Some towns challenged the authority of their feudal lord

34. European Economic Revival
Urbanization increased specialization of labor
Guilds created regulations between craftsmen
Protect prices, regulate production, etc.
Specialized labor increased manufacturing
Manufacturing focused on wool textiles
Woolen textiles dominated by Italy and Flanders (Belgium)
Increased manufacturing led to increased trade
Italian merchants dominated trade in the Mediterranean
Increased involvement in the Afro-Eurasian trade network
Silk Roads, Trans-Saharan, etc.
Hanseatic League promotes trade in northern Europe

35. Trade in the High Middle Ages
Venetian and Genoese merchants established colonies in major trade ports of Alexandria, Constantinople, Cairo, Damascus, etc.

36. Social Developments Status of women improved
Chivalry promoted respect for women
Urbanization created more job opportunities for women
All-female guilds
Worked same jobs as their husbands
Increased veneration of the Virgin Mary
Mary symbolized ideals of womanhood, love, & sympathy
Cathedral of Notre Dame or “Our Lady”

37. Christianity in the High Middle Ages
Cathedral schools become universities
University of Paris, Oxford University, etc.
Rediscovery of works of Aristotle
Increased commerce with Muslims provided the West with access to Greek works
New intellectual movements
Thomas Aquinas and scholasticism
Combining Aristotle’s logic with Christianity to create the most truthful system of thought possible
Some reformers within in the church were worried about the materialism of the church

38. The Italian Renaissance
End of the Middle Ages
Bubonic Plague
Hundred Years War
The Italian Renaissance

39. Bubonic Plague
Silk Roads spread bubonic plague across Eurasia in the 14th century
In October 1347 a ship from the Crimea sailed into Messina. The crew had a "sickness clinging to their very bones.“
Rats carrying fleas got on shore spreading disease
Increased trade helped spread the plague
Close proximity, unsanitary conditions facilitated the spread into cities
25 million people died in the next several years, 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of Europe
Population rebounded within 200 years

40. Spread of Bubonic Plague

41. The Black Death
Victims “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise”
-Geovanni Boccaccio

42. Impact of the Bubonic Plague
Profound impact on manorial economy
Labor became scarce in some places
Tenants, rent payers, made gains as feudal obligations were lowered
Some serfs were freed to keep them from running away to better opportunities
Wages rose in towns to keep workers happy
“The path to the Industrial Revolution began with the Black Death. The population fall increased labor mobility by creating many vacant farms, and that mobility undermined serfdom.” - Robert Allen

43. Hundred Years War ( )
A series of periodic military campaigns between England and France
New technology
Crossbows, longbows, pikes, firearms, and cannons
Castles & knights outdated
Monarchs maintain permanent militaries
Burning of Joan of Arc, 1431

44. Italian Renaissance Started in Italy during the 13th century
Why Italy?
Urban Growth & Wealth
Merchant Class Values
Classical Heritage
Main Idea: humanism
Study of human beings and human potential
Celebration of human life
Many different approaches to humanism
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.