The Formation of Western Europe

The Formation of Western Europe

Learning Objectives

• Why did the Church undergo reform and how did this lead to the Crusades? Define Crusade and explain the impact of the Crusades on the future of the world.
• How did the development of agriculture, trade, finance, and universities lay the foundation for modern Europe?
• How did the early kingdoms of England and France develop and establish many of the modern political concepts seen in those countries today, as well as the United States?
• How did the events of the 1300s lead to a change in attitudes toward religion and the state?
• What is the significance of the Magna Carta in today’s world? Use specific examples in your explanation.

Towns and Social Order

People would leave the manors for life in towns, challenging the traditional ways of feudal society in which everyone had his place.

At first, towns came under the authority of feudal lords, who used their authority to levy fees, taxes, and rents. As trade expanded, the burghers (town dwellers) resisted this interference in their trade and commerce. They organized themselves and demanded privileges, including freedoms from certain kinds of tolls and the right to govern the town.

Agriculture, Trade, and Finance Foundations

Trade and Finance

Most trade took place in towns. Peasants would come from nearby manors on fair days, with items to trade. The most common of these items would be cloth.

Fairs were made possible by guilds. Guilds are an association of people who worked at the same occupation. They would control all the wages and prices in their craft.

Merchants could make a profit selling his goods at a fair, but he first had to purchase good from distant places.

No money to buy goods from distant lands? Need a loan?

The Church forbade loaning money at interest, so merchants only options were Jewish moneylenders. Moneylending was one of the few ways a Jew could make money in Medieval Europe.

Revival of Learning

University originally designated a group of scholars meeting wherever they could. People, not buildings made up medieval university. By the end of 1100s, scholars began meeting at and Bologna, Italy and Oxford, England.

Most students were trying to get jobs in government or the Church.

Bachelor's degree in theology- 5 to 7 years

Master of theology- minimum of 12 years

Serious scholars wrote in Latin.

Some poets began to write in the vernacular.

Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy around 1321.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales around 1387.

Few knew Greek, prompting Jewish scholars to translate Greek literature that had been translated into Arabic to Latin, opening up a new body of knowledge in science, philosophy, law, math, etc. for Europeans.

Thomas Aquinas began to apply Aristotle's logical approach to truth to prove basic religious truths, writing the Summa Theologica to back this claim.

Aquinas was an example of a scholastic, as he would meet with other scholars at the great universities to debate and discuss the issues of their time.

Growing Food Supply

Started to use horses to pull plows instead of oxen. This resulted in more land plowed in a day and more time to clear forests to create more farm land.

Went from a two-field system to a three-field system.

With a three-field system, farmers could grow crops on two-thirds of their land each year, not just on half of it. This caused food production to increase.

More food = Larger families, better resistance to diseases, and longer lives = Population Increases

Cities got bigger. Europe's population increased

from 30 million to 42 million between 1000- 1150.

Church Reform

Beginning in the 1000s, monks wanted to reform the Church and return the basic principles of the Christian religion.

As support grew for reform, the popes began to reform the Church in what would be known as the Age of Faith.

Cathedrals- Cities of God

Between 800 and 1100, churches were built in the Romanesque style, where round arches and a heavy roof were held up by thick walls and pillars. Tiny windows let in little light.

In the early 1100s, a new style evolved, known as Gothic.

These new Gothic cathedrals would thrust upwards as if reaching toward heaven, light coming in from huge stained glass windows, with ceilings reaching upwards to 100 feet or higher.

Cathedrals represented the City of God, and would be decorated with all the richness that people on earth could offer.

Problems in the Church: 1) many village priests married and had families, 2) positions in the Church were sold by bishops in a practice called simony, 3) the practice of lay investiture put kings in control of church bishops.

Reforms began in 910 with the founding of the Benedictine monastery at Cluny, France. The monks strict following of the Benedictine rule influenced the papacy.

Pope Leo IX began to enforce Church laws against simony and the marriage of priests when he was elected pope in 1049.

Pope Gregory VII (elected in 1073) would extend the reforms begun by Leo IX.

In the 1100s and 1200s, the Church was restructuring to resemble a kingdom, with the pope at its head. The pope's advisers were known as the papal Curia. The Curia would develop canon law and decided cases based on these laws. Diplomats for the pope traveled through Europe dealing with bishops and kings. The Church would collect taxes in the form of tithes (one tenth of the yearly income from every Christian family).

The reforms extended the power of the Pope.

The Hundred Years' War

Philip II- one of the most powerful Capetians who would rule from 1180 to 1223.

Watched his father lose land to King Henry II of England, so when he became king at 15, he would set out to weaken the power of the English kings in France.

He will seize Normandy from King John in 1204 and gain other territory within two years.

He will triple the lands under his direct control by the time of his death, and for the first time, making a French king more powerful than any of his vassals.

Wanted a stronger central government, established royal officals called bailiffs, who were sent from Paris to every district in the kingdom to preside over the king's courts and collect the king's taxes.

The English will repeat their victory ten years later at the Battle of Poitiers. Near the French town of Poitiers, the French believed they had caught the English at a disadvantage. Overconfident French knights charged on foot, English longbowmen greeted them with volleys of arrows so thick that the air grew dark. The French king John and his son Philip would be captured and held for ransom.

The Battle of Agincourt (1415) would see the English army outnumbered again, 6,000 troops to 20-30 thousand French troops. King Henry V would led the English archers to another victory over the heavily armored French knights. The success of the longbowmen would spell the end for the era of the knight.

Phillip II's Expansion

The Impact

The long, exhausting war finally ended in 1453, with the English left with only the French port of Calais.

For France, the war- despite its terrible costs in lives, property, and money- ultimately raised the power and prestige of the French monarch.

The war gave birth to a feeling of nationalism in both countries, with the king being seen as a national leader fighting for the glory of the country.

Following the war, the English suffered a period of internal turmoil known as the War of the Roses, in which two nobles fought for the throne. The war also strengthened the English parliament's power, as Edward III's constant need for money led to Parliament being called together 27 times for new taxes, leading to the foundation of Parliament's "Power of the Purse."

The end of the Hundred Years' Wars is considered by many to be the end of the Medieval Ages as intense religious devotion and the code of chivalry crumbled.

The whole meeting will be known as the Estates General. It will help increase royal power against nobility but never become an independent force that limited the king's power.

France's central government was even stronger under Philip's grandson Louis IX, who ruled from 1226 to 1270. Louis IX was known as the ideal king.

Created a French appeals court, with these royal courts of France strengthening the monarch while weakening feudal ties.

The formation of the Estates General will occur 1302 when King Philip IV begins a quarrel with the Pope over the issue of taxing priests and the Pope's power to control Church affairs in France. The French king will call together his lords and bishops to garnish support for his policy. In order to gain more support, he will invite commoners to the meeting.

Church leaders- First Estate

Lords- Second Estate

Commoners- Third Estate

When the last Capetian king died without a successor, England's Edward III claimed the right to the French throne as grandson of Philip IV. He would launch a war that would continue on and off from 1337 and 1453. This will become known as the Hundred Years' War.

Victory passed back and forth between the two countries. Finally, between 1421 and 1453, the French rallied and drove the English out of France entirely, except for the western port city of Calais.

The Battle of Crecy- English victory in France. English and French forces met near the town of Crecy on August 26, 1346. English men-at-arms and their longbowmen were outnumbered 3 to 1. French knights, mounted on warhorses and heavy armor, attacked. English longbowmen let fly thousands of arrows at the oncoming French. French crossbowmen retreated as they were out of range and receiving heavy causalities from the English arrows. They would be trampled by the knights trying to get to the English. French knights would be peppered with arrows, killing their horses and leaving them helpless on the ground in their heavy armor, allowing English foot solders to attack and slaughter the French. More than a third of the French force will die in this battle.

After the breakup of Charlemange's empire, French counts and dukes ruled their lands independently under the feudal system.

By year 1000, France was divided into about 30 feudal territories.

987- Louis the Sluggard dies. Last remaining member of the Carolingian family. Hugh Capet, a duke from the middle of France, succeeded him.

Capet's family ruled a small territory, but contained the city of Paris.

This begins the Capetian dynasty of French kings that ruled France from 987 to 1328.

Paris and other territory controlled by the Capetian dynasty sat aside important trade routes in northern France.

The Capetian kings would tighten their grip on this area for 200 years, gradually spreading their power outward from Paris, with this growth of royal power uniting France.

Philip's II Heirs

Five years after Agincourt, the French and English signed a treaty stating that Henry V would inherit the French crown at the death of French king Charles VI.

1429- a teenage French peasant girl named Joan of Arc felt moved by God to rescue France from its English conquerors. She believed God wanted her to drive the English out of France and give the French crown to France's true king, Charles VI's son.

On May 7, 1429, Joan led the French army into battle against an English fort that blocked the roads to Orleans, where the English had been besieging the city for over six months. In a hard fought battle by both sides for the forts, the French finally retreated in dispair, but suddenly, Joan and a few soldiers charged back at the fort with the entire army soon following, breaking the siege.

After the victory, Joan convinced Charles to go with her to Reims, where he would be crowned king on July 17, 1429.

1430- Joan will be captured in battle by the Burgundians, England's ally. They will turn her over to Church authorities to stand trial. Charles will do nothing to help her. Joan will be condemned as a witch and a heretic. She will be burned to death at the stake on May 30, 1431.

Ruling France

William the Conqueror's descendants owned land in both Normandy and England. English King Henry II added to these holdings by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine. She brought with her more lands from France.

Henry ruled England from 1154 to 1189. Sent royal judges to collect taxes, settle lawsuits, and punish criminals. Also introduced a jury in English courts. Only the King's courts could use juries.

A jury in medieval England was a group of loyal people who answered a royal judge's questions about the facts of a case.

The rulings of England's royal judges formed a unified body of law that became known as common law. Basis for law in many English-speaking countries.

When Henry dies, his son Richard the Lion-Hearted succeeds him. When Richard dies with no heir, his brother John takes the throne.

John rules from 1199 to 1216. He was a failed military leader, losing Normandy and all his lands in northern France to the French. He was mean to his subjects and tried to squeeze money out of them, raising taxes to an all time high to finance his wars.

This angers his nobles, who will revolt.

On June 15, 1215, they will force him to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteed certain basic political rights such as, no taxation without representation, a jury trial, and protection of the law.

1295- King Edward I needs to raise taxes for war against the French. Summoned the two burgesses (citizens of wealth and property) from each borough and two knights from every county to serve as a parliament, or legislative group.

This group of knights, burgesses, bishops and lords met at Westminster in London.

From 1300 to 1400, the king called the knights and burgesses when a new tax was needed. These two groups gradually formed the House of Commons while the nobles and bishops formed the House of Lords.

In Media

England Evolves

The papacy will be further challenged in the late 1300s and the early 1400s by two professors.

One Englishman John Wycliffe preached that Jesus Christ, not the pope, was the true head of the Church, and that the Bible was the final authority for Christian life. He was offended by the wealth and worldliness that many clergy displayed, including the pope. He believed that the clergy should own no land or wealth.

His writings would influence John Huss, a professor in Bohemia. He will teach that the authority of the Bible was higher than that of the pope. He will be excommunicated in 1412. In 1414, the German emperor Sigismund arranged the Council of Constance and urged Huss to attend. When he arrived at the meeting, he will be seized and tried as a heretic, sentenced to burn at the stake in 1415.

One of the most remarkable women in history

Married to Louis VII of France. Accompanied him on the Second Crusade in 1147. Annulled their marriage shortly after. Then married Henry II of England. Had 4 sons, two becoming English kings, Richard the Lion-Hearted and John.

England and France

800s- Britain was battered by Danish Vikings. Only Alfred the Great was able to turn back the Vikings during his reign from 871-899.

Gradually Alfred's successors united the kingdom under one rule, calling it England - "land of the Angles"

1016- Danish king Canute conquered England and molded the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings into one people.

1042- King Edward the Confessor took the throne. He would rule until 1066.

The Normans invaded, led by William, duke of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror. Claimed the crown as he was King Edward's cousin.

Battle of Hastings- battle in which William the Conqueror was able to defeat his rival for the throne, Harold Godwinson. Took place on Oct. 14. 1066. Harold dies after taking arrow to the eye.

William claims all of England as his personal property following this win. Took lands from those who supported Harold, and gave fiefs to 200 Norman lords who were loyal to William.

1378- Pope Gregory XI died visiting Rome. The College of Cardinals will meet in Rome to choose a successor. They will choose an Italian- Pope Urban VI.

Urban VI will have a passion for reform and his arrogant personality will cause French cardinals to elect a new pope a few months later- Clement VII (Robert of Geneva)

Two popes- each declaring the other a false pope, excommunicating the other.

French pope lived in Avignon. Italian pope lived in Rome. This begins the split in the Church known as the Great Schism.

Council of Constance would meet to end the schism by choosing a new pope. With help, all popes will resign, and in 1417, Martin V will be selected by the council.

England Forms

Pope Urban VI

Pope Clement VII

The Plague Strikes

Approximately 1/3 of the population of Europe will die from the bubonic plague, also known as Black Death. It will kill almost 25 million people in Europe.

Beginning in Asia, it would travel trade routes through Asia and the Muslim world before reaching Europe. It would take four years to reach almost every corner of Europe.

The disease will be so frightening that it will rip society apart at its seams, as people began to look for a scapegoat.

The Jews of Europe will have the blame placed on them for starting the plague by poisoning wells. They will be driven from their homes or killed.

Populations fell, trade declined, prices rose, farmland was abandoned or used to pasture sheep, the old manorial system began to crumble, nobles fiercely resisted peasants demands for higher wages as revolts broke out all over England, France, Italy, and Belgium, the Church began to lose power as prayers and penances failed to stop the plague, and many Europeans saw how abruptly life could end and became pessimistic about life itself, fearing the future.

The Crusades

1093- Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus sent an appeal to Robert, Court of Flanders asking for help against the Muslim Turks that were threatening his capital, Constantinople. This letter would be shared with Pope Urban II who would call for a "holy war," or a Crusade, to gain control of the Holy Land. For the next 200 years, a number of such wars would be launched to try and gain control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks.

A Church Divided

First Crusade

Third and Fourth Crusades

Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was held to recapture land captured by the Turks in 1144.

This crusade will be a failure.

Jerusalem will fall to the Muslim leader Saladin in 1187.

Motivated by economic and religious motives, support would come from great lords and humble peasants. By 1096, 50,000-60,000 knights would become Crusaders.

If knights died, according to Pope Urban II, they would assured a place in heaven.

1097- three armies of knights and people of all classes gathered outside of Constantinople. Mostly French, but also included Germans, Englishmen, Scots, Italians, and Spaniards.

Problems facing Crusaders- knew nothing of the geography, climate or culture of the Holy Land, no grand strategy to capture Jerusalem, nobles argued among themselves and could not decide on a leader, and no adequate supply lines.

12,000 strong, besieged city for a month, capturing the city on July 15, 1099. Set up four feudal Crusader states, ruled by European nobles.

Third Crusade would be led to recapture Jerusalem, led by three of Europe's most powerful monarchs.

French king Philip Augustus, German emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), and English king Richard the Lionheart.

Barbarossa drowns. Philip goes home. Richard gets a truce with Saladin in 1192.

Pope Innocent III asked for another crusade in 1198.

Knights who went on this Fourth Crusade end up getting involved in Italian and Byzantine politics. They end up burning down the Byzantine capital Constantinople and looting it.

Along with other issues, this causes a rift in the Church, with Byzantine churches eventually becoming known as Eastern Orthodox churches.

Other Crusades

Pope Boniface VIII faced off with King Philip IV over papal authority on kings.

"Kings must always obey Popes"- Pope Boniface VIII

Instead of obeying, Philip IV had the Pope held prisoner, planning to bring him to France for trial. Boniface would be rescued but will die within the month.

1305- Philip will persuade the College of Cardinals to choose a French archbishop as the new pope, selecting Clement V. He will move from Rome to the French city of Avignon. Popes will live here for the next 67 years. This move will badly weaken the Church.

French king Louis IX will lead two crusades to North Africa. He will be celebrated a hero and later declared a saint by the Catholic Church, despite gaining much land.

Children's Crusade (1212) saw thousands of children set out for the Holy Land with no weapons for a peaceful crusade. Many will die from cold and starvation, with others drowning at sea or being sold into slavery. Only one group survived after turning back.

Reconquista- effort by Christian leaders to drive the Muslims out of Spain, lasting from the 1100s until 1492.

By the late 1400s, the Muslims only held the tiny kingdom of Granada, falling to King Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.

Inquisition- Roman Catholic tribunal for investigating and prosecuting charges of heresy, especially the one active in Spain during the 1400s.

Jews and Muslims would be subject to heresy and be questioned and/or tortured for weeks before confessing and being burned at the stake.

By 1492, all practicing Jews and Muslims had been expelled from Spain.

A Century of Turmoil