Andrew Lockard

Mr. Haskell

World History E Core

3 October 2003

The Rise of Europe – Study Guide

I. The Early Middle Ages

A. A Land of Great Potential

1. Europe lies on the western end of Eurasia, the giant landmass that stretches from present-day Portugal all the way to China.

2. Dense forests covered much of the north, and the region’s rich black earth was better suited for raising crops than the dry soils around the Mediterranean.

3. Seas surround Europe and large rivers were ideal for trade.

B. Germanic Kingdoms

1. Germanic tribes that migrated across Europe were farmers and herders.

2. They lacked cities and written laws and were ruled by warrior kings.

3. Between 400-700, Germanic tribes carved up Western Europe into small kingdoms.

C. Islam: A New Mediterranean Power

1. Islam emerged as a religion from Arabia in 632.

2. Within 200 years, Muslims had built a great empire and created a major new civilization.

3. Muslim armies conquered Christian kingdoms in North Africa and Spain, until being defeated at the battle of Tours in 732 by Charles Martel.

D. The Age of Charlemagne

1. The grandson of Charles Martel, Charlemagne, built a united empire reaching across France, Germany, and part of Italy.

2. He spent much of his 46-year reign fighting the Muslims in Spain, the Saxons in the north, the Avars and Slavs in the east, and the Lombards in Italy.

3. First Germanic king named successor to the Roman Emperors.

E. A Revival of Learning

1. Charlemagne founded his capital at Aachen, and hoped to make it a “second Rome.”

2. Although he himself could only read, but not write, he saw the importance in officials keeping complete and accurate records and writing clear reports.

3. Charlemagne founded a palace school run by Alcuin, a respected scholar, who set the educational model for medieval Europe.

F. Charlemagne’s Legacy

1. After Charlemagne died in 814, his empire soon fell apart.

2. In 843, Charlemagne’s grandsons drew up the Treaty of Verdum, which split the empire into three regions.

3. Charlemagne extended Christian civilization into northern Europe and furthered the blending of German, Roman, and Christian traditions.

G. New Attacks

1. After being defeated at Tours in 732, Muslim forces kept up their pressure on Europe.

2. About 896, a new wave of nomadic people, the Magyars, settled in what is today Hungary, and from there they moved on to plunder Germany, parts of France, and Italy.

3. The most destructive raiders were the Vikings, who were expert sailors and ferocious fighters that looted and burned communities along the coasts and rivers of Europe, from Ireland to Russia.

II. Feudalism and the Manor Economy

A. A New System of Rule

1. In the face of invasions by Vikings, Muslims, and Magyars, kings and emperors were too weak to maintain law and order.

2. A new system of government, Feudalism, was formed which was a loosely organized system of rule in which powerful local lords divided their large land holdings among lesser lords.

3.  Feudalism provided a basic need for protection from outside invaders.

B. Lords, Vassals, and Knights

1. Monarchs held the most power, and ruled over everybody.

2. Under the monarchs were the most powerful lords, dukes and counts, who held the largest fiefs, and each lord had vassals, which often had their own vassals.

3. Feudal relationships could often grown very complex, with vassals pledging allegiance to several lords.

C. World of Warriors

1. Feudal lords battled constantly for power, and for feudal nobles warfare was a way of life.

2. At age 7, a boy could be sent to a castle to learn to ride and fight, as well as keep his armor and weapons in good condition.

3. In the later Middle Ages, knights adopted a code of conduct called chivalry, which required knights to be brave, loyal, and true to their word.

D. The Manor

1. The manor, or lord’s estate, was the heart of medieval economy.

2. Most of the peasants on a manor were serfs, who were bound to the land; they were not slaves who could be bought and sold but were not free.

3. The medieval manor was small and self sufficient, and produced almost everything they needed, from food and clothing to simple furniture and tools.

E. Daily Life

1. For peasants, life was harsh, and work from sunup to sundown.

2. European peasants worked and farmed according to the seasons, and for a rare few celebrations they got a week off of work.

3. On the Sabbath, peasants might attend chapel and afterwards gossip or dance.

III. The Medieval Church

A. A Spiritual and Worldly Empire

1. After the fall of Rome, the Christian Church split into eastern and western churches, the western church being headed by the pope became known as the Roman Catholic Church.

2. The pope ruled vast lands in central Italy, and the pope claimed to have authority over all secular rulers.

3. The Church had its own body of laws, known as canon law, which dealt out penalties of excommunication and sometimes worse.

B. The Church and Daily Life

1. Local priests supervised peasant religious life and provided comfort during times of trouble.

2. For peasants, religion was linked to the routines of daily life.

3. To support itself, the Church required all Christians to pay a tithe, or tax equal to a tenth of their incomes.

C. Monks and Nuns

1. Behind the thick walls of monasteries and convents, monks and nuns devoted their lives to spiritual goals.

2. The Benedictine Rule, setup up by a monk named Benedict, spread to monasteries and convents around Europe.

3. The chief duties of monks and nuns were prayer and worship of god, as well as provide basic social services.

D. Hildegard of Bingen: Adviser to Popes and Kings

1. Hildegard was a composer, writer, abbess, and adviser to the great men and women of her day.

2. Hildegard had visions that she believed were the commanding voice of God.

3. In 1147, Hildegard founded a new convent, near Bingen, in Germany.

E. Reform Movements

1. As the medieval Church’s wealth and power grew, discipline weakened, with the clergy tending to be worldly, and living in luxury.

2. In the early 900s, Abbot Berno at Cluny revived the Benedictine Rule and announced that he would not permit nobles to interfere in the running of the monastery.

3. In 1073, a new pope, Gregory VII, extended the Cluniac reforms throughout the entire church to prohibit simony, and outlawed marriage for priests.

F. Jews in Western Europe

1. After the Romans expelled them from Palestine, the Jews had scattered all around the Mediterranean.

2. Many Christian rulers in northern Europe protected or tolerated hardworking Jewish communities, although they taxed them heavily.

3. The Church charged that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, thus laying the foundations for anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jews.

IV. Economic Expansion and Change

A. An Agricultural Revolution

1. By 1000, Europe’s economic recovery was underway, and new farming technologies made peasant’s fields more productive, which resulted in an agricultural revolution that transformed Europe.

2. By about 800, peasants were using new iron plows that carved into the heavy soil of northern Europe and a new kind of harness allowed peasants to use horses rather than oxen to pull the plows.

3. Between 1000 and 1300, the population of Europe doubled.

B. Trade Revives

1. Europe’s growing population needed goods that were not available on the manor, and as a result, trading increased between European nations and other countries.

2. Merchant companies began traveling in caravans for safety and set up regular trade routes, and trade fairs began arising.

3. Small centers of trade could boom into populations of 10,000, and some even topped 100,000.

C. A Commercial Revolution

1. As trade revived, money reappeared, and this led to the need for moneylenders and capital.

2. Europeans adapted business practices from Middle Eastern merchants, and merchant insurances and partnerships began to form.

3. The use of money undermined serfdom, and feudal lords needed money to buy fine clothes, weapons, furniture, and other goods, and as a result, many peasants began selling farm products to townspeople and fulfilling their obligations to their lords by paying their rent with money rather than with labor.

D. Role of Guilds

1. Merchant guilds dominated life in medieval towns by passing laws, levying taxes and deciding whether to spend funds to pave the streets with cobblestones, build protective walls for the city, or raise a new town hall.

2. Artisans began to organize craft guilds, similar to merchant guilds, but only workers in one occupation could join.

3. Guild members cooperated to protect their own economic interests, and to prevent competition, they limited membership in the guild and set rules to ensure the quality of their goods.

E. City Life

1. Medieval towns and cities were surrounded by high, protective walls, and as the city grew, space within the walls filled to overflowing, and newcomers had to settle in the fields outside the walls.

2. Medieval cities were a jumble of narrow streets lined with tall houses, and upper floors hung out over the streets, making them dim even in the daytime.

3. Even a rich town had no garbage collection or sewer system, and towns remained filthy, smelly, noisy, and crowded.

F. Looking Ahead.

1. By 1300, slow but momentous changes were sending shock waves through medieval life.

2. Trade had put ideas as well as money into circulations and new riches revised the social structure, as well as a change in politics.

3. Economic revival brought Europe into contact with other civilizations, and from these lands came products, ideas, and technologies that would spark an even greater transformation in how Europeans thought and lived.