The Black Death

1. 1346-1353; left ⅖ of the population dead

2. Preconditions and Causes of the Plague

   1. Overpopulation and malnutrition

   2. 9/10 of the population live in the countryside

   3. 3-field system of crop produciton increased arable land and food supply

      1. Population doubled between 1000-1300

      2. More people than food and jobs

   4. 1315-1317

      1. Crop failures created greatest famines of Middle Ages

      2. Densely populated urban areas suffered the most

         1. industrial towns in the Netherlands

   5. Factors that weakened Europe

      1. Overpopulation

      2. Economic depression

      3. Famine

      4. Bad health

   6. Left Europe vulnerable to a bubonic plague that struck in 1348

      1. “The Black Death”

      2. Referenced the discoloration of its victims

      3. The plague-infested fleas on rats came from the Black Sea area on ships on trade routs from Asia to Europe

      4. Appears in Constantinople in 1936 and entered in the ports of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa by 1347 and went through Spain and southern France to Northern Europe

         1. Not/little in Russia

3. Popular Remedies

   1. Plague reached the lungs

      1. Sneezing and wheezing ould spread the plague by direct contact (person-to-person)

   2. Physicians, academics, and educated laypeople ways

      1. Advice literature 

         1. By punishment for sin and penance was the best solution

      2. Physicians

         1. Used natural herbal medications 

         2. Had good effects

      3. “Green measures”

         1. Fumigating rooms

         2. Aerating city spaces with herbs and smoke to lower flea numbers

         3. Washing and cleansing with scented water

   3. Corruptions in atmosphere caused plague

      1. Poisonous fumes released by earthquakes

         1. Protection taken in aromatic amulets

   4. Giovanni Boccaccio 

      1. Recorded reactions in The Decameron (1358)

      2. Best remedy- flight and seclusion, migration to non-infected lands, and faith

      3. Some people- escape moderation and temperate life or gave themselves over to their passions

   5. Flagellants

      1. Religious fanatics who beat themselves in ritual penance to bring divine help

      2. With dirty, bleeding bodies, they probably spread the disease and increased terror

      3. The church outlawed the processions because of disruptions and threats

      4. Jews were scapegoats

         1. Christian propaganda bred hatred

         2. Role as society’s moneylenders

      5. Pogroms 

         1. Organized riots against Jews

         2. Incicded by flagellants

   6. Bacterium, Yersinia pestis

      1. Caused the plague

      2. Still unknown strands

      3. Don’t know if it was the sole lethal agent or how the bacillus, fleas, rats, and humans interacted at various temperatures, humidity, and geographical locations to spread the epidemic

4. Social and Economic Consequences

   1. High depopulation with shrunken labor supply and decline in nobility’s estate values

   2. Farms Decline

      1. Farm laborers decreased

      2. Wages increased especially for skilled artisans

      3. Agricultural prices fell

      4. Prices of luxury and manufactured goods rose

      5. Noble landholders suffered the freatest decline

         1. Paid more for products and farm labor with litter return

      6. Rents declined everywhere after the plague

   3. Peasants Revolt

      1. Arable land was converted to sheep pasture

         1. More profitable wool production

      2. Farms were abandoned and leased

      3. New repressive legislation

         1. 1351- English Parliament passed the Statute of Laborers

         2. Forced peasants to stay on farms while freezing wages at low levels

         3. In response, peasants’ revolt in 1381

      4. Direct tax on peasantry, the taille, increased

         1. Opposition to it ignited the French peasant uprising 

            1. Jacquerie

         2. In France

   4. Cities Rebound

      1. Cities and skilled industries prospered from its effects

      2. Protected interests by passing legislation to regulate competition and contorl immigration from rural areas

      3. Laws extended beyond the cities to lands of noble and landlords after plague

      4. Omnipresence of death increased want for goods skilled industries produced

         1. Also expensive clothes and jewlery, furs from north, and silks from south in demand

         2. Demand could not be met

         3. Basic unit of urban industry (master and 1/2 apprentices) keep numbers low, guarding privileges

         4. Prices of luxury items rose and encouraged works to migrate to the city and learn the skills

         5. Townspeople profited and wealth poured into cities

         6. Per capita rose and prices of agricultural products declined

5. New Conflicts and Opportunities

   1. Economic and political power of local artisans and trade guilds grew steadily with demand for goods and services

   2. Mechants and patrician classes did not keep their traditional dominance and hated giving guild masters a voice in city government

   3. Guilds won political power

      1. Pushed for restrive legislation to protect local industries

         1. Conflicts between master artisans who wanted low numbers and expand very very slowly

   4. After 1350, traditional monarchy- nobility and Church- on defensive

      1. Kings exploited national sentiment to centralize governments and economies

      2. Plague killed many members of the clergy

      3. Pope move from Rome to Avignon in southeastern France (1309-1377) and the Great Schism (1378-1417) divded the Church

   5. Hundred Years’ War

      1. Paid professional armies over old noble cavalry

The Hundred Years’ War and the Rise of National Sentiment

1. Medieval governments were not secure

   1. Petty lords kept lands in turmoil 

   2. Dynastic rivalries plunged entire lands into war

      1. Specifically when power was transferred

      2. Doubled woes of ruling dynasty when no male heir

   3. Needed alliances among lesser powers to field armies and get revenues

      1. Feudal government

         1. Norman kings of England and the Capetian kings of France fine-tuned traditional feudal relationships by stressing the sacred duties of lesser powers to higher ones and loyalty noble vassals owed their king

         2. Created a sort of centralized royal power

         3. Prepared France and England for war

2. The Causes of the War

   1. May 1337- October 1453 (on-and-off)

   2. cause- English king Edward III (Phillip the Fair of France grandson) asserted his claim to French throne after French king Charles IV (last of Philip the Fair’s surviving sons) dies without a male heir

      1. French didn’t want 15 year-old Edward on the French throne 

      2. Chose Philip VI of Valois (1st cousin of Charles IV)

         1. First of new French dynasty of 16th century

   3. Cause- England and France, two emergent territorial powers in close proximity

      1. Edward (vassal of Philip VI) controlled several French territories as fiefs (land) from France’s king, dating back to Norman conquest

      2. English possession was repulsive to the French

         1. Threatened royal policy of centralization

      3. Also quarrel over control of Flanders

         1. A French fief subject to political influence from England because of principal industry, the manufacture of cloth, depended on supplies of imported English wool

   4. Long animosity between England and French who fought on the seas and in ports

   5. The war became a struggle for national identity and control of territory

   6. French Weakness

      1. French population was three times England’s

      2. Wealthier land

      3. Fought on own soil 

      4. Major battles had English victories

      5. French failures because of internal endemic social conflict

         1. Still struggling to transition from splintered feudal society to centralized “modern” state

      6. Raise money for war

         1. French kings had financial policies as depreciating the currency and borrowing heavily from Italian bankers (aggravating interal conflicts)

         2. In 1355, turned to Estates General

            1. Representative council of townspeple, clergy, and nobles

            2. Levied taxes at king’s request, independent members exploited the king’s plight to broaden regional sovereignty and deepen territorial divisions

      7. English military superiority

         1. English infantry was more disciplined

         2. English archers mastered the longbow, capable of firing six arrows a minute with enough force to pierce an inch of wook or armor at two hundred years

      8. Mediocrity for its rulers 

         1. English kings were more astute in state building

3. Progress of the War

   1. The Conflict During the Reign of Edward III

      1. Edward embargoed English wool to Flanders, creating merchant urban rebellions and trade guilds

      2. Jacob van Artevelde, the Flemish cities, led by Ghent, revolted against France 

         1. In 1340 signed an alliance acknowledging Edward as king of France

         2. On June 23, 1340, the first great battle where Edward defeated Franch in the Bay of Sluys but did not invade France through the Flanders

      3. 1346- Edward attacked Normandy and had victories that led to the Battle of Crécy, gaining the port of Calais

      4. Exhaustion and the Black Death led to a truce in late 1347

      5. 1356- English routed the Frech cavalry and took French king captive after a complete breakdown of France political order

         1. Estates General has power

         2. Powerful merchants of Paris took advantage of royal weakness, demanding and receiving rights similar to English privilege class

            1. Too divided to be an instrument for effective government

            2. Forced peasantry to pay increasing taxes and repair war-damaged properties without compensation

            3. Jacquerie of 1358

               1. Bloody rebellions

               2. Named for peasant revolutionary Jacques Bonhomme (simple Jack)

            4. Nobility put revolt down matching the rebels atrocity

      6. May 9, 1360- England forced the Peace of Brétigny-Calais on France

         1. Agreement declared an end to Edward’s vassalage to the king and affirmed his sovereignty over English territories in France

         2. Both sides knew it would not last

      7. France struck back in 1360s

      8. Edward died in 1377 when France had beated the English back to coastal enclaves 

   2. French Defeat and the Treaty of Troyes

      1. During Richard II reign, England had a Jacquerie version

         1. June 1381- long-oppressed peasants and artisans followed John Ball, a secular (not religious) priest, and Wat Tyler, a journeyman, into a revolt of underprivilege class

         2. Brutally crushed within a year and divided the country for decades

      2. England started up the war under Henry V

         1. Routed the French at Agincourt on October 25, 1415

         2. Burgundians closed ranks with French royal forces

            1. Duke of Burgundy was assassinated in September 1419 stopping victory dreams

      3. Treaty of Troyes (1420)

         1. Stated Henry V was the successor to French king, Charles VI

         2. Both kings died within months of each other (1420)

         3. Infant Henry IV of England became king of England and France

            1. Edward III’s dream of one ruler launched great war into motion

      4. Son of Charles VI became king Charles VII after his father died ignoring the Treaty of Troyes

         1. Rallied his cause and had a victorious coalition after inspiration of Joan of Arc

   3. Joan of Arc and the War’s Conclusion

      1. Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

         1. Peasant from Domrémy in Lorraine in eastern France

         2. Gave France many victories and proud enraged sense of national identity and destiny

      2. March 1429

         1. Told Charles VII that the King of Heaven had called her to deliver the besieged city of Orléans from the English

         2. Charles was skeptical but willing to take the risk

            1. Desperation to control territory south of Loire River overcame skepticism

      3. English force was exhausted by 6-month siege

         1. Fresh French troops drove the English from Orléans

      4. Charles IV got his crown in Rheims, ending 9 year “disinheritance” by Troyes Treaty

      5. May 1430- Burgundians took Joan captive

         1. Charles IV did nothing to get her released

         2. Burgundians and English discredited her to discredit King Charles IV and demoralize French resistance

         3. Joan was given to Inquisition in English-held Rouen

         4. Broke the courageous “Maid of Orléans” after 10 weeks

      6. May 30, 1431- Joan was executed as a relapsed heretic

      7. 1456- Charles reopened her trial to declare her innocent of all charges

         1. 1920- Roman Catholic Church made her a saint

      8. 1435- Duke of Burgundy made peace with Charles 

         1. Pushed English back

      9. 1453- war ended

         1. England only had coastal enclave of Calais

   4. 68 years of nominal peace and 44 years of hot war

      1. Left lasting political and social consequences

      2. Devastated France and awakened French nationalism, transitioned from feudal monarchy to centralized state

      3. Burgundy became a major European political power

Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival: The Late Medieval Church

1. The Thirteenth-Century Papacy

   1. Papal power reached its height during early reign of Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216)

   2. Papal Plenitude of Power

      1. Declared Church’s saints, disposed benefices to clergy, and created a centralized papal monarchy with a strong political mission

   3. Innocent transformed the papacy into a secular power

      1. Weakened spiritually but strengthened politically

      2. Papal monarchy church parted from church as “body of the faithful”

   4. Successors continued Innocent’s actions

      1. Urban IV (r. 1261-1264)

         1. Papacy had its own court, Rota Romana, that centralized the church’s legal proceedings

      2. End of 13th century

         1. New elaboration of clerical taxation system

         2. Reform as an emergency measure to raise funds for the Crusaders but became a fixed institution

         3. Papal power determined all appointments to major and minor church officers

            1. “Reservation of benefices” broadened

         4. Papal office was a powerful, political institution governed by its own laws and courts, serviced by international bureaucracy, preoccupied with secular tasks and goals

      3. Papal centralization of the Church

         1. Undermined diocesan authority and popular support

         2. Rome’s interests controlled church appointments, policies, and discipline

            1. Discontented lower clergy made Rome address the lax discipline of local bishops

      4. 2nd Half of 13th century

         1. Bishops and abbots protested undercutting of powers

         2. The church in Rome was nothing more than a legalized, fiscalized, bureaucratic institution

         3. Heretical movements of Cathars and Waldensians appealed to the biblical ideal of simplicity and separation from the world

         4. Other reformers were loyal to the church also protested perceived materialism in official religious garb

            1. Francis of Assisi

   5. Political Fragmentation

      1. Spiritual undermining of the 13th century church

      2. Demise of imperial power

         1. Papacy in Rome was not the leader of anti-imperial (Guelf) sentiment in Italy

         2. Popes now on the defensive against old allies since not being the center of Italian resistance

            1. Price papacy paid to vanquish the Hohenstaufen rulers

      3. Rulers directed intrigue from the emperor to College of Cardinals

2. Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair

   1. Boniface ruled when France and England were maturing as nation-states

      1. England

         1. Long tradition of consultation created formal parliaments during Henry III (r. 1216-1272) and Edward I (r. 1272-1307)

         2. Created unified kingdom

      2. France

         1. Philip IV the Fair (r. 1285-1314) made France an efficient, centralized monarchy

            1. He was ruthless politician

            2. Tried to end England’s continental holdings, control wealthy Flanders, and establish French hegemony within Holy Roman Empire

      3. Brough the papal throne memories the same way earlier popes brought kings and emperors to their knees

         1. Papal monarchy of 13th century was no match for new political juggernauts (large, powerful force) of late 13th century

   2. The Royal Challenge to Papal Authority

      1. 1294- France and England close to war

         1. Boniface became pope

         2. Edward I’s preoccupation with Scotland rebellion prevented France invasion and Hundred Years’ War

         3. Both countries used preparing for Crusade to heavily tax clergy

      2. Boniface took strong stand against taxation

         1. Believed Pope Innocent III’s decree (1215) where clergy should pay no taxes without papal consent

         2. English and French taxation was an assault on traditional clerical rights

         3. Feb. 5, 1296- issued Clericis laicos

            1. Forbade lay taxation of the clergy without papal approval

            2. Revoked papal dispensations (The method or scheme according to which God carries out his purposes towards men)

      3. Edward I retaliated by denying the clergy the right to be heard in royal court

         1. No protection of the king

         2. Philip the Fair (August 1296) forbade money exportation from France to Rome

            1. Denied papacy the revenues necessary to operate

            2. Boniface came to terms quickly with Philip

      4. Boniface under siege of Italian enemies

         1. Noble family (the Colonnas) wanted to invalidate Boniface’s election as pope because Celestine V had been forces to resign

         2. Charges of heresy, simony, and even Celestine’s murder on Boniface

      5. Boniface’s fortunes revived in 1300 (“Jubilee year”)

         1. Catholics fulfill conditions to have unrepented sins remitted

         2. Tens of thousands of pilgrims flocked to Rome

         3. Boniface reinserted himself into international politics with the popular religiosity display

         4. Championed Scottish resistance to English

            1. Outraged Edward I

      6. Philip arrested Boniface’s Parisian legate, Bernard Saisset

         1. Philip opposed his independence

         2. Accused of heresy and treason

         3. Philip demanded Boniface to recognize Saisset’s royal process

            1. Boniface would have to surrender his jurisdiction over French episcopate

         4. Boniface champion Saisset as a defender of clerical, political independence within France

            1. Revoked all previous agreements

               1. Clerical taxation

               2. Ordered French bishops to convene in Rome

            2. Sent bull Ausculta fili (“Listen, My Son”) to Philip in December 1301 to inform that “God has set popes over kins and kingdoms”

   3. Unam Sanctam (1302)

      1. Philip launched an antipapal campaign

      2. Royal apologists, Pierre Dubois and John of Paris, rebutted papal claims to intervene in temporal (secular) matters

3. The Avignon Papacy (1309-1377)

   1. Sometimes under strong French influence

   2. With Pope Clement V, the French controlled the College of Cardinals, testing the papacy’s politically and economically

      1. Clement expanded papal taxes (annates- 1st revenue of church office) or (benefice- bestowed by pope) for funds after being cut off from Roman estates

      2. Also sold indulgences (pardons) for sins

         1. Church doctrine on purgatory (punishment place for souls with venial sins) developed that century

         2. By 15th century, induglences were extended to people already dead

            1. Living could buy a reduced sentence for deceased

         3. Contributed to Avignon papacy’s reputation for materialism and political scheming

            1. Reformers got new ammunition against the Church

   3. Pope John XXII

      1. R. 1316-1334

      2. Most powerful Avignon pope

      3. Tried to restore papal independence and return to Italy

         1. Ended up at war with the Visconti, Milan ruling family, and Emperor Louis IV (r. 1314-1347)

         2. Challenged Louis’s election by being in favor with rival Habsburg candidate

         3. Replay of Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII

         4. Refused to recognize Louis’s election

            1. Louis replaced him with a antipope and gained Spiritual Franciscan support (absolute poverty view)

            2. William of Ockham

               1. John excommunicated 

            3. Marsilius of Padua 

               1. Heretical teaching

               2. Defender of Peace (1324)

                  1. Independent origins and autonomy of secular government

                  2. Clergy- only spiritual functions 

                  3. Pope- no coercive judgment 

                  4. Spiritual crimes need eternal punishment

                     1. Transgression of divine law

                  5. Challenged pope to excommunicate rulers and interdict countries

                  6. The pope is a subordinate member of society and temporal peace is highest god

      4. Made papacy an international agency and integrated it into the European money economy

         1. Curia (papal court) mastered the economy, it became vulnerable to secular criticism

         2. Papacy became established in the city of Avignon under Benedict XII (r. 1334-1342)

            1. John’s successor

            2. Built great Palace of the Popes

               1. Aimed to reform papal government and religious life

         3. Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1452)

            1. Placed papal policy with French

            2. Successor of Benedict

      5. Cardinal period was lobbyists for policies their secular patrons favored

   4. National Opposition to the Avignon Papacy

      1. Latter half of 14th century had legislation restricting papal jurisdiction and taxation in France, England, and Germany

         1. England- parliament passed several statutes to restrict payments and appeals to Rome and pope’s power to make appointments

         2. France- Gallican (“French liberties”) regulated ecclesiastical (church) appointments and taxation

            1. Church legally acknowledge them in Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges
               (1438)

               1. Recognized French church's right to elect clergy without papal interference, prohibited annates payment to Rome, and limited appeal rights from French courts to the Curia

            2. National rights over religion

         3. Switzerland and Germany- local city governments limited and overturned clerical privileges and immunities

4. John Wycliffe and John Huss

   1. Lollards

      1. English religious movement

      2. John Wycliffe (d. 1384)

         1. Oxford theologian and philosopher of high standing

         2. Anticlerical policies of the English government

         3. Spokesman for royalty rights against secular pretensions of popes

            1. Believed in reducing Avignon papacy power

         4. Clerical poverty- followed Franciscan ideals and justified government restriction and confiscation of church properties

            1. Only needs food and clothing

         5. Personal merit and morality over rank and office for authority

            1. “Good” people should get money and power over “immoral” people

            2. Directly threatened civic-secular dominion and governance

         6. Wycliff accused of Donatism

            1. Teaching of success of church sacraments depended on true performance and clergy’s moral character

         7. Challenged papal infallibility, indulgence sales, Scripture authority, and transubstantiation dogma

      3. Preached incomplete Holy Scripture translations and defended clerical poverty

         1. Joined in confiscating clerical property

      4. Became a capital offense in 1401 because of the English peasants’ revolt fo 1381 leading them to be subversive

   2. Hussites

      1. Bohemia

         1. University of Prague was the center for a new religious reform movement within the bounds of orthodoxy

      2. John Huss

         1. Rector of Prague after 1403

         2. Leader of pro-Wycliffe faction at Prague

         3. 1410- excommunicated (excluded from Christian church) and Prague is under papal interdict

         4. 1414- talked to Council of Constance

            1. Traveled with safe-conduct pass form Emperor Sigismund

            2. Didn’t convince his strongest critics

         5. November 1414- arrived

            1. Weeks later was accused of heresy and imprisoned

         6. July 6th, 1415- died at stake

            1. A year later so did Jermone of Prague (colleague)

            2. Caused a revolt 

            3. Militant Hussites and Taborites fought to transform Bohemia against John Ziska

            4. 10 years later, Hussites won religious reforms and controlled Bohemian church form Council of Basel

      3. Czech reformers

         1. Vernacular translations of the Bible and critical of ceremonies and superstitious practices (Eucharist sacrament)

         2. Lay communion with bread and wine

            1. Usually wine was only clergy as spiritual superiority

      4. Bread and wine remained bread and wine after priestly consecration

      5. Questioned sacraments validity

      6. Influenced the movement since marriage of Anna of Bohemia ot King Richard II of England in 1318 and bohemian students at Oxford 

5. The Great Schism (1378-1417) and the Conciliar Movement to 1449

   1. Reestablished papacy in Rome in January 1377 (“Babylnian Captivity”- church in Avignon) by Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370-1378)

   2. Urban VI and Clement VII

      1. Urban VI (r. 1378-1389) was the successor

         1. Aimed to reform the Curia

      2. Cardinals (most French) and French King Charles V (r. 1364-1380) wanted the papacy to return to Avignon/French influence

         1. led to Great Schism

      3. 5 months after Urban VI was elected, 13 cardinals elected Pope Clement VII (r. 1378-1397)

         1. Said they voted for Urban in fear because they were surrounded by a Roman mob demanding an Italian pope election

         2. Papacy now had two popes (scandal to Christendom)

            1. England + allies = Urban VI

            2. France + allies = Clement VII

      4. End schism (2 plans)

         1. Mutual firing to open election 

         2. Secure resignaiton of one 

         3. Both failed because popes thought they were legitimate and did not want a concession

         4. Final way- special church council deposes both

            1. Competing popes did not want to summon one

            2. Removing legitament pope was very serious as removing monarchy

      5. Conciliar deposition of pope

         1. Debated for 30 years

         2. Conciliar theory

            1. Fashion a church for a representative council to effectively regulate pope’s actions

            2. The followers, conciliarists

               1. Church- whole body of the faithful (pope only a part)

                  1. Popes felt threatened

               2. Council of the church had better authority

            3. Maintain unity of church unlike the schismatic popes

      6. Cardinals representing both popes made a council on their own in Pisa in 1409

         1. Deposed both popes

            1. They didn’t accept it

         2. Elected Alexander V

            1. Widely accepted along with John XXIII (r. 1410-1415) successor

         3. Christendom now had 3 popes

      7. Schism ended

         1. Emperor Sigismund prevailed on John XXIII to create new council in Constance in 1414

            1. Roman pope Gregory XII also recognized

         2. Sacrosancta declaration had council declare supremacy and elected new pope, Martin V (r. 1417-1431)

            1. The other popes resigned or were deposed

            2. Made regular meetings of church councils (was 5, then 7, now 10)

   3. The Council of Basel (1431-1449)

      1. Council directly negotiated church doctrine with heretics

         1. Conciliar government of church peaked then

      2. 1432- Hussites presented Four Articles of Prague

         1. Basis for negotiation

         2. Requested

            1. Laity the Eucharist with cup and bread

            2. Free, traveling preaching

            3. Exclusion of clergy holding secular offices and owning property

               1. Not accepted

            4. Punishment for clergy who commit mortal sins

      3. 1433- agreement among Emperor, council, and Hussites for Bohemian jurisdiction over the church

      4. 1438- unpleased pope upstaged the Council of Basel by reuniting Eastern church

         1. Signed in Florence in 1439

         2. Restored papal prestige and downfall of conciliar movement

      5. Council of Basel collapsed in 1449

         1. Pope Pius II (r. 1458-1464) 10 years later issued papal bull Execrabilis (1460) for appeals to council to be void

      6. Consequence of short-lived conciliar movement

         1. Devolving of religious responsibility onto laity and secular governments

         2. No effective papal authority and leadership

         3. Lots of secular control of churches

      7. But papacy became limited, Italian territorial regime

         1. Papal states can now be opposed on grounds of “national” policy for religious reasons

Medieval Russia

1. Prince Vladimir of Kiev (r. 980-1015) of Russia received delegations from different religions to persuade the Russians to embrace a religion

   1. Chose Greek Orthodoxy because of strong cultural bonds and close commercial ties with the Byzantine Empire

2. Politics and Society

   1. Vladimir’s successor Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1016-1054) made Kiev a polical and cultural center with stunning architecture

      1. Tried to pursue West contacts to counter Byzantine political influence

      2. After his death rivalry divded Russia

         1. Great Russians

         2. White Russians

         3. Little Russians (Ukrainians)

   2. Principalities challenged Kiev’s dominance

      1. Government with principalities

         1. Monarchy (prince)

         2. Aristocracy (prince’s nobleman council)

         3. Democracy (assembly of free adult males)

            1. Clergy, army officers, boyars (wealthy landowners), townspeople, peasants

            2. Slaves were prisoners of war

            3. Debtors made up large, semifree group

3. Mongol Rule (1243-1480)

   1. 13th century- Mongol (Tatar) armies swept through China, Islamic world, and Russia

      1. Grassland people with strongholds in south

      2. Devastated Russia and compelling obedience of Moscow

      3. Glengis Khan (1155-1227) invaded Russia in 1223

         1. Kiev fell to Batu Khan in 1240

   2. Russia cities were dependent, tribute-paying principalities of Mongol Empire, Golden Horde (color of Batu Khan’s tent in Tatar)

      1. Included grassland (steppe) of modern southern Russia nad capital of Sarai o blower Volga

      2. Had own officials to oversee taxation and enlist Russians into Tatar armies

      3. Got Russian women as harems (wives)

         1. Under influence of Islam (Golden Horde religion) were forced to wear veils and have secluded lives

      4. Sold Russians who disobeyed

      5. Left political and religious institutes intact

      6. Brought some Russians into prosperity

   3. Mongol integration culturally divided Russia and the West

   4. Princes of Moscow

      1. Collected tribute and grew wealthy

      2. Took control of surrounding territory- “Gathering of the Russian Land”

   5. Principality of Moscow

      1. Expanded through land purchases, colonization, and conquest

   6. 1380- Grand Duke Dimitri of Moscow (r. 1350-1389) defeated Tatar forces at Kulikov Meadow

      1. Marked beginning of Mongol hegemony declline

      2. Took a centry for Ivan III, the Great, to bring northern Russia under Moscow’s control and end Mongol rule (1480)

   7. Moscow became political and religious center of Russia

      1. After Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, Moscow became the “3rd Rome”