1. WHAT WAS “MEDIEVAL” ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES? 1.ECONOMIC: Agriculture had such low productivity that no more than 10% of the population could live in cities. Most people were “peasants” or handicraft artisans. 2.DEMOGRAPHIC: Very high birth rates, high mortality rates, and short life expectancy. 3.POLITICAL: Poor communications and transport promoted decentralization. 4.RELIGIOUS: The “catholic” (universal) church claimed everyone as a member, supported itself through compulsory tithes, and suppressed heresy. 5.Intellectual: Most people were illiterate. Scholars and the clergy spoke Latin and answered most scientific questions by referring to a few ancient authorities.

2. Pieter Breughel the Elder, “The Harvesters” (1565): Most peasants lived in villages, surrounded by fields where strips of land were owned privately but worked collectively.

3. An open-field village in England around 1300: The “demesne” and “glebe” are set aside for the lord and priest

4. The peasant economy allowed for much leisure time: Pieter Breughel the Elder, “The Peasant Dance” (1568)

5. AUGSBURG in 1493 (most cities were small and walled)

6. THE THREE ESTATES OF SOCIETY: Those who pray, those who fight, and those who work In France the “Estates General” represented these groups: 1 st Estate (clergy)= about 1% of pop. 2 nd Estate (nobility)= about 2%. 3 rd Estate (commoners)=97%.

7. Peasants relied for protection on professional armored knights, such as these Normans in chain mail at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

8. Steel armor for man & horse, Nuremberg, 1548

9. A virtually impregnable castle: Burg Eltz, built around 1200 on a cliff overlooking the Mosel River

10. Europe in the year 1000; Germany conquered Rome in 962

11. The “Roman” Emperor Otto III (reigned 980-1002) receives tribute from all of Europe

12. But the foundations of royal power were weak: 10 th -century Germany, with the royal domain in dark gray

13. MEDIEVAL CATHOLICISM’S MOST BELOVED SAINT Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) Renounced his inheritance and even his clothes. Began his ministry by rebuilding a ruined church. Founded the itinerant order of the Friars Minor and the cloistered Poor Clares. Received the stigmata of Christ in 1224. Sainted in 1228.

14. Pope Innocent III endorses the rule of St. Francis, 1209 (painted by Giotto in the Upper Basilica of Assisi, 1290s)

15. St. Dominic of Castile (1170-1221): Painted around 1500 as judge during the ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE in southern France.

16. “The Church Militant and Triumphant,” 1365-68 (Dominican cloister of Santa Maria Novella, Florence): domini canes=“hounds of the Lord”

17. “Augustine of Hippo refutes a heretic” (13 th -century illuminated manuscript)

18. The Ptolemaic, geocentric theory of the universe

19. Angels turning the wheels of the universe (14 th -century manuscript)

20. A European map of the world, ca. 1464

21. CATASTROPHES OF THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 1348/49: The Black Death Bubonic plague sweeps through Europe, killing at least 1/3 of the population 1309-1377: “Babylonian Captivity” of the Church The king of France compels the pope to reside in Avignon 1378-1417: The Great Schism Rival popes in Rome and Avignon excommunicate each other 1339-1453: Hundred Years’ War Devastating conflict between the kings of France & England

22. The arrival of bubonic plague from Central Asia

24. “The Triumph of Death” (fresco from the Campo Santo, Pisa, ca. 1350)

25. During the Great Schism, each Pope excommunicated all supporters of his rival

26. Pieter Brueghel the Elder, “Triumph of Death” (1562)

27. Many Europeans yearned for a powerful state to maintain peace and order: Frontispiece for Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)