AP Euro Unit I

V. The Middle Ages: Feudalism (500-1450)

• focus on "Survival"

• there was no govt so people had to fend for themselves

A. Feudalism

• The political Structure arising in Europe aster the fall of Rome for the purpose of survival

• Lord

  • Owner of land

• Estate

  • A big chunk of land

• Manor

  • House on the estate

  • Fortified → can become a castle

• Vassal

  • Fights/ works for the lord in exchange for a piece of land called a fief

  • Feudal Contract

    • An (oral) agreement between a lord and vassal

• Serf

  • Works for the lord in exchange for protection

  • Attached to the land

• Knights

  • Soldiers on horseback

  • Highly trained warriors

•   "Feudal elements" of Unit II

  •   Kings vs. Lords

  •   Power struggle

  • Land owning aristocracy

• Code of Chivalry

  •   Code of conduct for Knights

  •   Examples:

    •   Cant attack Someone unarmed

    •   Always wear the colors of your lord

    •   Respect women

      •   Open doors, pull out chairs, men walk on the street side

    •   Protecting People

•   500-1000 → Known as the "Dark Ages"

  • Not a lot written down

  •   Not a lot of art

B. Rise of the Franks

•   Franks→ Germanic tribe settling in what is now northern France

•   Clovis → "King”of the Franks

•   500- baptized Christian

• 1st Germanic King to convert to Christianity

  • Wins the Support of the Pope

• Founder of Merovingian dynasty

• Islam

  •   622 founding in Arabia by Muhammad

  •   622-750 rapid expansion

    •   Spread by armies

• Conquest of Iberian Peninsula

  • Spain is filled by Muslims 700-1300s

* 732 Battle of Tours (on Loire R.)

• Franks(Christian) vs. Aralos (Muslims)
  → Franks led by Charles Martel

•   Franks won

  • The dominant religion of Europe will remain Onristian

•   Charles Martel

  • Steward/ Mayor of the Palace

  •   Wanted to be king but never was

  • Fought many battles for the Franks

•   Pepin the Short

  •   Son of Charles Martel

  •   Also wanted to be king so he helped the Pope

  •   Donation of Pepin

    •   Pepin donated land to the Pope that he conquered

      • Papal States → Popes land (lord) in Central Italy

        •   Became Vatican City

      •   Pope becomes a political leader

    •   Pepin becomes King of the Franks

• Charlemange "Charles the Great" (768-814)

  •   Son of Pepin the Short

  • Creates a huge western European empire

  • Promotes learning and the arts→ revival

  • Promotes Christianity as the unifying element of his diverse lands- "Christendom" (Christian kingdom)

  •   Tries to improve life

    •   Said people couldrit smash grapes wi their feet to protect people's health

  • 800 is crowned by Pope Leo III "Emperor of the Romans”

    •   Seems like the Pope is trying to recreate the Roman Empire

    •   Creates Holy Roman Empire (mostly German) - lasts 1000 years

    •   Origin of the church-state conflict

      • Pope crowns emperor so he is more powersul

• Louis the Pious (814-840)

  • Son of Charlemagne

  • Treaty of Verdun, 843

    • Divides Charlemagnes empire amoungst his sons

    • Creates France and Germany

• 800s-900s invasions by Vikings, Magyars, Arabs

VI. The Middle Ages: The Church

• Basic church teaching

→ we humans are not perfect → sin → seperates us from god → we get peace through Jesus → salvation→ saved from sin + access to heaven

• Roman Catholic

→ based in Rome "catholicus" → universal →only church

• Church

→ denotes christianity

• Western Christendom

  • " the area of the Catholic church → Western Europe

Church Basics

A. The Pope

• head of the RCC

• plays a big role after the fall of Rome

• the pope has:

1. ecclesiastic (spiritual) power

• based on the Doctrine of Petrine Supremacy

• the Pope can Keep you from going to heaven

2. Secular power

• based on the Donation of Constantine

• Rules the Papal States

• church hierarchy

  • pope, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests

• popes are elected by the College of Cardinals

• powers of the pope

  • excommunication → heresy usually

→ spiritual pumishment → banned from sacraments

→ die an excommunicate → you die+ go to hell

• interdict

→ the excommunicating of a group of people

• How this relates to unit 2

→ people start questioning the RCC

B. The Saccraments

• any church practice adminstered by an ecclesiastic

• 6 of 7 -> the way you get the grace of god -> heaven

• baptism, communion, marriage, or holy orders (priest/nun)

C. Benefits of the Clergy

• no taxes to lay (secular) lords

• No lay trials -> tried in their own court

D. The Crusades (1095-1291)

• Religious wars

• Cause: conquest of the Middle East by the Seljuk Turks

• Fight over the "Holy Land”

  • Seljuk Turks were not tolerant to christians + Jews

• First Causade - captures Jerusalem and sets up 4 Crusader States (1099)

• Other crusades

  • Only 3 made it to Jerusalem

  • None of them are sucessful for Christians

• Significance

  • the later crusades were failures, it hurt the credibility of the Church

  • Europeans go to Middle East and start to build trade routes in Asia

E. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)

• The most powerful pope

• Claimed power over all Kings

• Claims the pope can let people in heaven

F. Religion for the Common Person

• People want to know how to get into heaver

• Saints

• Role models to show how to live as Christians

• Mary is the most popular and important

• Notre Dame is for Mary

• Relics

  • Believed to have the power to pardon us of the penalty of our unconfessed sins

  • Object thats associated with a religious person or church

• Indulgences

  • Also could pardon you from unconfessed sins

  • Certificate from the church (Sold by the church

  • Martin Luther gets upset w/ indulgences

G. Early Reform Movements

• All are concerned with:

  • Church materialism

    • Church was very wealthy and it could become obsessed with money

  • Church secularism

  • Monks/ Nuns

    • Monasticism

      • The withdrawi from society for personal spiritual

      • Vows of poverty, obedience, celibacy, and silence

    • Recopied and recreated books

    • Monasteries and convents

    • Many different "orders"

  • Friars

    • Also take vows of celibacy and poverty

    • Work to improve life

    • Franciscans - St. Francis of Assisi

      • People Should embody Jesus

      • Started the 1st hospitals

      • Founded orphanages

    • Dominicans - St. Dominicas Castile

      • Enforcers of the inquisition

      • Encouraged education

  • Heretics

    • Heresy

    • Criticized the church and its practices

    • Arnold of Brescia

      • Priest of 42 years

      • Dismissed by the Church when he went for help

      • Started preaching against Church materialism

      • Followers founded the Humiliati to spread his teachings after he was burned at the stake

* 1066 Battle of Hasting

• William, Duke of Normandy becomes William I, King of England "The Conqueror"

• New Dynasty

  • Created the ancestor of the 1st parliment

    • A body of people from England + Normandy

*1215 Magna Carta (King John)

• Puts limits on John

• King can’t tax w/o the consent of parliment

• King can't seize property w/o the consent of parliment

• King can’t make arbitrary arrests

• King can’t sell pardons for crimes

• The 1st time in history that the power of a ruler is limited by law (limited govt.)

VIII. The Late Middle Ages (1200-1450)

  A. Countries in 1200

• England

• France - 981 Hugh Capet-new dynasty (Paris is capital)

• Holy Roman Empire - mostly German

B. Disasters of the 14th Century (1300s)

• Europe finally recovers from invasions but then the disasters Started

1. The Black Death (1348-1352)

• bubonic plague

• Came from a flea on a rat potentially

• Fever and swelling, bruises on your skin maybe 1/2 of the population of Europe dies

• Killed off workers/farmers → Surfs got to negotiate better deals = decrease in serfdom

2. Peasant Uprisings

• Surfs and peasants felt oppressed by lords

• Mostly in France

3. Hundred Years War (1331-1453)

• France vs. England

• Dispute over who gets to rule

• England wins all major battles, but France wins the war

• First use of gunpowder and cannons in Europe

• Decline in feudalism (cannons beat castles)

• Decline in Knights

• All this leads to the decline of serfdom

• What is the HRE Doing?
  → HRE had many distractions

C. Troubles of the Church

1. Taille-Tithe Controversy (1294-1302)

• Pope v. King of France

• Church didnt want to be taxed

• Taille->land tax

• Tithe->10% tax for HRE/RCC

• Result: Pope dies and Church is in a bad spot

2. Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1309-1317)

• Allusion→ Israel was invaded by babylonians and jews were taken captive

• King (French) told French cardinals to make the new Pope french

• Pope moves the papacy to Avignon, France

• Called the Avignon Papacy

• Goes against petrine supremacy → people questioned the pope’s power

3. Great Schism (1377-1415)

• France was mad there was a new italian pope so they elected a new French Pope

• Caused people to question the church → who's the right pope?

• A council elected a new pope but the other 2 wouldn’t step down

• The Church loses a lot of Credibility

• Low point of the Catholic church

4. Popes

• "Cultivated Gentlemen"

• Educated, wealthy, sophisticated

• Didnt really Solve problems

5. The Conciliar Movement

• Church can call councils to meet and address issues

• Popes didnt like calling council

6. Criticism

• John WyCliffe (1330-1384)

  • Oxford, England

  • Said the church was too materialistic

  • Questioned the popes power

• John Huss (1369-1415)

  • Praque, Bohemia

  • Same ideas as Wycliffe

• Both critics were kicked out of the Church

7. How This Relates to Unit Il

• Church’s habit of avoiding criticism festers

D. The Intellectual Revival

• Prelude to the Renaissance

  1. Growth of towns after 1000

  2. The building of the great cathedrals

     • Gothic Architecture

  3. Cathedral Schools

  4. The First Universities

  • Paris

  • Oxford

  • Bologna

  • Cambridge

  • Salerno

  • Study: Roman (Latin) lit., Greek lit. translated into Latin

5. Peter Abelara (1079-1142)

• Paris- Heloise

• Wanted to become a pope

• Sic et Non (Yes and No)

  • Creates scholasticism

  • Looked at church teachings to see if they were logical or necessary

  • Challenged the Church

• Scholasticism

  • The philosophical school of thought that tries to reconcile faith and logic

6. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

• Florence

• Beatrice → symbol of perfection

• La Commedia Divina (The Divine Comedy)

  • Creates humanism

• Humanism

• The philosophical School of thought based on human’s ability to find the truth

• Describes Hell as an inferno → despair

  • Sees pope Innocent III

• Purgatory→"Labor"→ hope

  • Constantine

• Heaven → "Paradise" → perfection

  • Arnold of Brescia

• Disagrees with the Church

• Questioning the Church