1. High and Late Middle Ages
Chapter 8

2. Royal Power Grows
Nobles and Church had as much power as monarchs and in some cases more.
, this begins to shift.
William the Conqueror of Normandy
Defeats England and becomes king on Christmas, 1066
Monitored everything (who and where people built)
Made every vassal swear first allegiance to him.
Henry II inherits thrown in 1154.
King John inherits it from his father Henry II
Cruel and untrustworthy (lost a lot of battles and power)
Angers nobels with taxes
Magna Carta- nobels force him to sign in 1215
1st- Nobles had certain rights
2nd- Monarch must obey the law
Due Process of Law comes (Habeas Corpus- need charges)
Rulers need councils for advice- turns into Parliament

3. Holy Roman Empire Theme- Struggle of who rules, Pope or Emperor
Henry IV (HR Emperor) & Pope Gregory VII
Gregory VII wanted to end lay investiture
Process in which a ruler would appoint bishops
Henry IV gets upset and loses support from German Princes
He is excommunicated and faces revolts from people
Repents as sinner to the pope (Gregory must forgive)
Henry comes back later with an army; forces pope into exile
Concordat of Worms, 1122
Both sides agreed to treaty
Church had sole authority to choose bishops
Emperor still invested them with fiefs (land or area to control)

4. Crusades
Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I asks Pope Urban II for knights to fight off Muslim Turks.
Urban agrees and incites nobles and bishops to action.
Called for a Crusade to free the Holy Land
First Crusade ( )
Christian Knights took Jerusalem and massacred Muslims and Jews in the city.
Crusaded continued off and on until Muslims took back Jerusalem in 1187 led by Saladin.
Muslims captured last Christian outpost in 1291.

5. The Black Death
Probably originated in Asia and made its way to the port in Caffa (major trade center)
Rats hopped on ships with the disease and made their way to Sicily and into Italy then to the rest Europe.
The disease spread as fleas spread from rats to human
Two types (Bubonic & Pneamonic)
Bubonic more common but less deadly
High fevers, bleeding underneath skin (50-60% killrate)
So deadly, noone kept records of number of deaths
Estimate 25-50% of European population (19-38 million in 4 yrs.)
Flagellant (subjecting oneself or others to flogging)
Beating of oneself to win God’s forgiveness
Jews are blamed and many flee to Russia & Poland