Developments in Europe Flashcards

Historical Context and Philosophical Foundations

• Essential Question Context: European society from c. 1200 to c. 1450 was shaped by the beliefs and practices of predominant religions, agricultural developments, and political decentralization.
• Background of the Middle Ages:
  • As the Roman Empire declined in power in the 5th and 6th centuries, Western Europe entered the Middle Ages, also known as the medieval period.
  • Trade across Europe declined significantly during this transition.
  • Intellectual life receded throughout the region.
  • The unified Roman state was replaced by smaller kingdoms that engaged in frequent wars for territorial control.
  • European kings, lords, and peasants created agreements to provide for common defense.
  • Only the Roman Catholic Church maintained significant power across most of Europe from Roman times until the 16th century.
• High Middle Ages (1000 to 1450):
  • Characterized by a revival of learning and trade across Europe.
  • Scholars during this era studied classical thinkers such as Aristotle.
  • Peter Abelard reflected the intellectual climate of the period, writing in Letter 17 to Heloise (1141): "I should not wish to be Aristotle if this were to separate me from Christ."
  • Although Abelard examined classical philosophy and occasionally criticized the Church, he remained a faithful Christian throughout his life.

Feudalism: Political and Social Systems

• Nature of Feudalism:
  • European civilization in the Middle Ages was structured around a decentralized political organization based on a system of land exchanges for loyalty, known as feudalism.
  • Lacking a centralized government, people relied on feudal agreements for protection against bandits, rival lords, and invaders such as the Vikings from northern Europe.
  • System benefits provided security for peasants, equipment for warriors, and land to individuals serving a lord.
  • Wealth was measured strictly in land rather than in cash, as the entire system was rooted in agriculture.
• System of Mutual Obligations:
  • Monarchs (usually kings) granted tracts of land, called fiefs, to lords.
  • A lord receiving land became the king's vassal, defined as a person owing service to someone of higher status.
  • Lords granted land to knights; in return, knights became vassals of the lord and pledged to fight for the lord or king.
  • Lords provided land and protection to peasants.
  • Peasants were obligated to farm the lord's land, supply the lord with crops and livestock, and obey the lord's orders.
• Code of Chivalry:
  • An unwritten code of conduct focusing on honor, courtesy, and bravery, utilized as a mechanism to resolve disputes.
  • Dictated that women be protected and placed on a pedestal, though it did not grant them significant additional importance or practical legal rights.

The Manorial System and Agricultural Innovations

• Manorial System Structure:
  • Large fiefs or estates were referred to as manors.
  • The manorial system provided economic self-sufficiency and localized defense.
  • Manors produced everything required by their inhabitants, limiting the need for trade or external contact.
  • Manor grounds operated as small villages containing a church, a blacksmith shop, a mill, wine presses, and peasant housing.
  • Serfs were peasants tied to the land; while not legal slaves, they could not travel or marry without explicit permission from their lord.
  • Serfs paid tribute to the lord of the manor in exchange for protection using crops, labor, or, in rare instances, coins.
  • Serfdom was hereditary, meaning children born to serfs automatically became serfs.
  • Many serfs spent their entire lives on a single manor, possessing little knowledge of events in the rest of Europe.
• Agricultural Advances:
  • Gradual improvements in climate and technology expanded the amount of arable (farmable) land and enhanced agricultural efficiency near the end of the Middle Ages.
  • The Three-Field System:
  • Field 1: Planted with food crops such as wheat or rye.
  • Field 2: Planted with legumes such as peas, lentils, or beans, which added nitrogen to the soil to increase fertility.
  • Field 3: Left fallow (unused) each year to preserve soil quality.
  • Technological Advances:
  • Windmills were introduced for power.
  • Heavier plows equipped with wheels were developed to work the dense soil north of the Alps.
  • Lighter plows were utilized in southern Europe.
  • These agricultural changes led directly to population growth.

Political Trends in the Later Middle Ages

• Centralization of Monarchies:
  • Monarchs grew more powerful at the expense of feudal lords by establishing their own bureaucracies and professional militaries.
  • Bureaucrats and military employees worked directly for the monarch, contrasting with modern countries (such as the United States) where bureaucrats and soldiers serve the country rather than the chief executive.
  • Centralized monarchies in England and France began to resemble modern European countries.
• Institutional Developments in France:
  • King Philip II (ruled 1180–1223) was the first French monarch to establish a functional bureaucracy.
  • King Philip IV (ruled 1285–1314) convened the first Estates-General, an advisory body consisting of representatives from the three legal classes (estates):
  • First Estate: Clergy.
  • Second Estate: Nobility.
  • Third Estate: Commoners.
  • Because French kings consulted the Estates-General only when necessary and did not exact regular taxes from the clergy and nobility, the body held little actual power.
  • The clergy and nobility felt minimal responsibility to protect a government they were not financing, contributing to systemic problems that persisted up to the French Revolution of 1789.
• The Holy Roman Empire:
  • German king Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962, linking his reign to Charlemagne's designation as Emperor of the Romans.
  • Lay Investiture Controversy (11th and 12th centuries): A power struggle between Holy Roman Emperors and the papacy over whether secular leaders or the pope had the authority to invest bishops with symbols of office.
  • The controversy was resolved by the Concordat of Worms in 1122, which granted the Church autonomy from secular authorities.
  • The Holy Roman Empire remained vibrant until it was virtually destroyed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).
  • The Empire lingered with limited power until its formal end in 1806, when French leader Napoleon invaded central Europe.
• Norman England and Constitutional Limits:
  • Normans were descendants of Vikings who settled in Normandy, a region in northwestern France.
  • In 1066, Norman king William the Conqueror successfully invaded England, acquiring territory on both sides of the English Channel.
  • William established a tightly organized feudal system using royal sheriffs as administrative officials.
  • The fusion of Norman and Anglo-Saxon cultures created the modern English identity.
  • In 1215, English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, requiring the king to respect specific rights, including trial by jury before a noble could be imprisoned.
  • Nobles secured the right to be consulted on scutage, a tax paid by knights who chose to pay money instead of providing military service.
  • The first English Parliament was formed in 1265:
  • House of Lords: Represented the nobility and Church hierarchy.
  • House of Commons: Consisted of elected representatives of wealthy townspeople.
  • The legislative power of Parliament eventually became stronger than that of similar institutions in continental Europe.
• The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453):
  • A series of military conflicts fought between the rival monarchies of England and France.
  • English archers armed with longbows (measuring approximately $6\,\text{feet}$ in length) secured early battlefield victories.
  • By the end of the war, England retained only the French port of Calais.
  • Impact on Identity: Military service under a single monarch fostered national unity among soldiers speaking distinct regional dialects, shifting self-identity toward being "English" or "French."
  • Impact on Warfare: Accelerated the widespread adoption of gunpowder weapons, which were originally invented by the Chinese and spread westward by the Mongols.
• Mediterranean Reconquest:
  • Normans conquered the Mediterranean island of Sicily from Muslim control.
  • Muslims had conquered Spain in the 8th century; Christian states launched the reconquista, a multi-century effort to reclaim the peninsula that concluded in 1492.

The Role and Power of the Roman Catholic Church

• The Great Schism of 1054:
  • The Christian Church in Europe split into two branches.
  • The Roman Catholic Church dominated most of Western Europe for the following five centuries.
  • The Orthodox Church maintained power farther east, stretching from Greece to Russia.
• Cultural and Educational Functions:
  • The Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful institution in a European continent divided into hundreds of small political states.
  • Church staff were frequently the only literate individuals in communities, assisting common people with reading and writing.
  • Most manors maintained a small church and a priest, providing a shared Christian identity as local vernacular languages replaced Latin.
  • The Church established the first universities in Europe; consequently, most medieval philosophers, writers, and scholars were religious leaders.
  • All artists worked for the Church, producing artwork focused on religious themes to help illiterate serfs understand the Bible.
• Church Hierarchy and Political Influence:
  • Structured around a hierarchy similar to the Roman Empire: regional leaders known as bishops owed allegiance to the pope in Rome, and bishops supervised local priests.
  • The Church held immense leverage over feudal lords; for example, a local bishop could pressure a lord by canceling religious services for his serfs, prompting the serfs to demand the lord submit to the bishop.
• Monasticism and Reform:
  • Christian clergy who retired to monasteries for meditation and prayer remained integrated into the Western European economy.
  • Monasteries performed the same economic functions of agriculture and protection as feudal manors.
  • Women were permitted to become nuns, exercising influence within Catholic monastic communities.
  • Although clergy took vows of poverty and funded local charities, political influence and accumulated wealth led to widespread monastic corruption during the 13th and 14th centuries.
  • Corruption and theological disagreements ultimately prompted reformers such as Martin Luther to take actions that fractured the unity of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century.

Religious Pressures and the Christian Crusades

• Origins and Goals of the Crusades:
  • European Christians launched military campaigns to reclaim control of the Holy Land, a region in Palestine containing sites of spiritual significance to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
  • European Christians had maintained access to these holy sites for centuries, including periods when the region was under Muslim rule.
• Social and Economic Pressures:
  • 11th-century social and economic developments increased European pressure to invade the Middle East.
  • Rules of primogeniture dictated that the eldest son in a family inherited the entire estate, leaving younger sons with minimal access to land and wealth.
  • Landed nobles viewed military campaigns as a way to direct restless younger nobles and unemployed peasants, who frequently pillaged the lands of neighboring territories.