The Medieval Ages

A B R I E F O V E R V I E W

THE MEDIEVAL AGES

PEACE AND PROSPERITY FACTORS

• Revitalization of the Church (Crusades)

• Agricultural revolution and rise of feudalism

• Revival of trade and the urban revolution

• Rise of national monarchies

• Development of universities

• Architecture: cathedrals

and castles

King John

of England

Flying

Buttress

THE CRUSADES 1095-1291 CE

• Effects

• Reduced internal warring in Europe

• Papacy gains prestige as defender of Christendom

• Rise of trade in Italy (transporting men, supplies)

• Contact with Muslims

• New foods, bathing, fine Asian goods

• Scientific and cultural knowledge

• Islamic learning schools established in France and Spain

THE BUBONIC PLAGUE

• Aka – the black death/bubonic plague

• 1300’s killed between ¼ and 1/3 of population in Europe

• Estimates of death toll: 75-200 million people

• Came from ships that originated from the orient, carried by fleas on black rats

• Symptoms: Buboes (swollen lymph nodes) would appear in the groin, neck and armpits• Oozed puss and blood when opened

• Next the sick would develop a fever and vomit blood

• Most victims died two to seven days after infection

ACCOUNT OF THE PLAGUE

• By Boccaccio, medieval writer:

In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg...From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now minute and numerous. As the gavocciolo had been and still was an infallible token of approaching death, such also were these spots on whomsoever they showed themselves

THE BUBONIC PLAGUE

• Its spread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death#mediavie

wer/File:Blackdeath2.gif

• Poor sanitation and lack of bathing meant it spread

quickly

• Jews, foreigners, beggars, pilgrims and Roma were

all blamed and persecuted

• Most of the art and literature from the time focus on

the effects of the plague.

MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS

• Medieval Warriors on horseback, most sought after military weapon, bought by Lord

• Had Armour (chain mail and plate)

• Lived by a Code of Chivalry• Moral Code tied to religion

• Squire: Knight’s aid

• Watch: Terry Jones' Medieval Lives: The Knight

• Take notes on other aspects of the life of a Medieval Knight• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhWFQtzM4r0

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtjSS5FmQc0

CHURCH AND KINGS

Church

• Was granted favours by

Roman Emperors/Kings

• land

• exemption from taxes

• immunity in courts

• positions in courts

• In return church helped

kings secure control of

territory

• Most influential

organization in Europe

Kings

• Got a supply of

educated administrators

from Church

• In return kings would

enforce laws that

prohibited other religions

MONASTICISM

• Most dynamic and significant institution in the Early

Middle Ages

• Impulse to withdraw from the world and devote

one’s self to God

• Regarded as the most perfect form of the Christian

life

• “And every man that has forsaken home, or

brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or

children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive

his reward a hundredfold, and obtain everlasting

life.” Matt. 19:29

MONASTICISM

• Started with St. Anthony from Egypt

• Retired to the desert to live the ascetic life of

a good hermit

• A colony of would-be ascetics gathered

around him to draw inspiration from his holiness

• The colony lived together but did not

communicate to one another

• Soon other colonies grew in Egypt and other

areas of the Roman Empire

• St. Simeon Stylites lived atop a 60 ft

pillar for 30 years!

MONASTICISM

• St. Benedict of Nurisa (c. 480-544)

added common sense

• Changed from severe fasting, hair shirts, and lashings

• Benedict was born into a rich family

and had keen psychological insight

• Well organized and learned from experiences

• Founded a number of monasteries

(Monte Cassino)

• Became a model monastery

• Focused on comprehensive, practical

and compassionate rule

MONASTICISM AND SAINTS

• Monasteries grew 400 -700 CE • centres of education, literacy and

learningSaints

• performs miracles as evidence of a special relationship with God

• Must be canonized after death

• St. Augustine• wrote “Confessions”

• ideas of ethics, self knowledge, and the role of free will

• Wrote treatise allowing violence against heretics – the “just war”

THE FLAGELLANTS

• Religious sect seeking

salvation through self

abuse

• Tied to Christianity,

used psalms, hymns

• Spread word as an

act of piety

• Worked towards

spiritual goals through

our actions in this world

THE CHURCH TAKES CHARGE

• Peace of God: 989 CE• No stealing from church

• No assaulting clerics, women, peasants• Excommunication

• Truce of God: 1027 CE• No fighting Thursday to Monday, feast days, holy

days

• No killing Christians

• Led to justification for Crusades

Truce created a paradox: Peace & Truce of God created to bring order and civility to society, yet this peace movement also contributed to idea of the righteousness of holy war.

CHURCH TAKES CHARGE, CONT’D

• Church Schism: 1054 CE• Pope and Patriarch excommunicate each other

• Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox split

• War of Investitures: 1075 CE• Who gets to appoint bishops? Pope or King?

• 50 years of bloodshed

• Concordat of Worms: 1112 CE• King appoint bishops and abbots as vassal

of empire

• Pope then gives staff and ring• Kings gave up religious influence

CHURCH TAKES CHARGE, CONT’D

• Pope Innocent III

• Believed in supreme power of the papacy

• Emperors and kings were servants of the church

• Involved himself in disputes all over Europe

• Freely used his power of excommunication

• Placed kings in France and England were

placed under interdict (removing sacramental

and burial privileges).

• Other kings were overthrown and replaced by

rulers of his choice

• Innocent started the trend of using the

faith of various kings to their people to their

advantage

WITCHES

• An estimated 1 million were executed

• Trial by water – frown = innocent, float = guilty/burned at the stake

• Initiated by Catholic Church• they were thought to be

connected with the devil but most think they were used as a scapegoat

• Blamed for the plague, drought and other problems

• Martin Luther supported hunting for witches

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• Three-field rotation

• Heavy plough and horse collar

• Windmills and water power

• Led to population growth and urban renewal

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

TRADE AND URBANIZATION

Rise of

Guilds

Medieval

Street

Increased

Trade

Walled City

of

Carcassone,

France

UNIVERSITIES

12th century Renaissance

• Greek and Roman classics rediscovered

• Universities established in Bologne, Paris, Oxford

• Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and Quadrivium (math, geometry, music, astronomy)

ARCHITECTURE

• Romanesque to Gothic

San

Pantaleo

Italy

Last

Judgement at

Conques,

France

Flying

Buttress

Chartres

Cathedral

, France

MEDIEVAL CASTLES

• Defensive fortress of

Kings and Lords

• Fight by laying “siege”

(towers/rams/ladders)

• Defended with hot

oil/water, arrows,

catapults

• Catapults: fire dead

animals, heads,

burning objects

CASTLES

Motte & Bailey

Castle

Stone Castles

Bamburgh

Castle, England

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F

qGZbJEL21Q

100 YEARS WAR: ENGLAND VS FRANCE

• Edward III of England claimed the throne of France

• Edward married the king’s daughter but rules state it can’t be passed down through the female line

• England won early battles at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt with longbow

• In 1429, 17 yr old Joan of Arc was inspired by God to save France

• Defeated the English at the Battle of Orleans

• She was captured by the English and burnt at the stake for heresy, her legend grew

• War lasted from 1337-1453 and had 4 stages

• End result was that the French Kept their land

100 YEARS WAR