Western+Europe+development


 * Western Europe



Outline:
 * The post classical period in western Europe, known as the Middle Ages, stretches between the fall of the Roman Empire and the fifteenth century. Civilization spread gradually beyond the Mediterranean zone.
 * Christian missionaries converted Europeans from polytheistic faiths.
 * Medieval Europe participated in the emerging international community.
 * New tools and crops expanded agricultural output; advanced technologies improved manufacturing. Mathematics, science, and philosophy were stimulated by new concepts.
 * Although western European society was not as commercially or culturally developed as the great world civilizations, it had its own distinctive characteristics.
 * Western political structures had many similarities with those of the other more recent civilizations of Japan, Russia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Europeans long lived under threat of intrusions from the stronger Islamic world.
 * There were many indications of a developing, vital society: population growth, economic productivity, increased political complexity, technological innovation, and artistic and intellectual complexity.
 * Major contributions to the development of Western civilization occurred in politics and social structure; in intellectual life medieval striving produced the university and Gothic architectural forms.
 * The center of the post classical West was in France, the Low Countries, and southern and western Germany.
 * England later joined the core. Continual raids by Scandinavian Vikings reduced political and economic development.
 * Intellectual activity sharply diminished; most literate individuals were Catholic monks and priests.
 * Manorialism was a system of reciprocal economic and political obligations between landlords and peasants. Most individuals were serfs living on self-sufficient agricultural estates (manors).
 * In return for protection, they gave lords part of their crops and provided labor services.
 * Inferior technology limited agricultural output until the ninth century introduction of the moldboard plow and the three-field cultivation system increased production.
 * The popes headed a hierarchy based on the Roman imperial model; they appointed some bishops, regulated doctrine, and sponsored missionary activity.
 * The conversion of Germanic kings, such as Clovis of the Franks, around 496, demonstrated the spiritual and political power of the church.
 * The Carolingian dynasty of the Franks ruling in France, Belgium, and Germany grew stronger during the eighth century.
 * Charles Martel defeated Muslim invaders at Tours in 732. Charlemagne built a substantial empire by 800. He helped to restore church-based education and revived traditions of Roman imperial government.
 * The empire did not survive Charlemagne's death in 814. His sons divided the territory and later rulers lacked talent.
 * New agricultural techniques—the moldboard plow, the three-field system—significantly increased production. Horse collars, also useful for agriculture, and stirrups confirmed lordly dominance.
 * Viking intrusions diminished as the raiders seized territorial control or regional governments became stronger. Both factors allowed population growth and encouraged economic innovation.
 * Expanding towns emerged as regional trade centers with a merchant class and craft production.
 * From the sixth century, feudalism, a system of political and military relationships, evolved in western Europe. Military elites of the landlord class could afford horses and iron weapons.
 * The greater lords provided protection to lesser lords (vassals) who in return supplied military and other service. Feudal relationships first served local needs, but they later were extended to cover larger regions.
 * William the conqueror in 1606 invaded England and set up a feudal centralized type of government.
 * Western Europe remained politically divided. The Holy Roman Empire’s territories in Germany and Italy were controlled by local lords and city-states.
 * The pope ruled in central Italy. Regional units prevailed in the Low Countries. In strong feudal monarchies, power was limited by the church, aristocratic military strength, and developing urban centers.
 * King John of England in 1215 was forced to recognize feudal rights in the Magna Carta//.//

Notes
 * Impact of Christianity** (490-600)
 * The Church became the new information center, the place that controls beliefs and attitudes. The clergy were the people in charge focusing on their own religious beliefs and ideas.
 * They ignored science, literature, and art development, which contributed to the dark ages.
 * The church became more influential in medieval Europe.
 * It gained land, wealth, and power, for Christianity was the absolute authority kings had to ally with pope if they want to have influence.
 * Frankish king Clovis converts Christianity, also France maintained close ties with the Catholic Church it was a compiling advantage to their unification and they dominance over Western and central Europe.


 * Reign of Charles Martel & Viking Raids** (600 - 755)
 * He was the founder of the Carolingian dynasty, which expanded the Frankish empire to cover most of Europe who consolidated their power.
 * He is the grandfather of Charlemagne who introduced the concept of heavy infantry, permanent army and newly advanced stirrups.
 * Vikings from Scandinavia began raiding the unprotected in coastal lands of Britain, and northern mainlands.
 * Monasteries were common targets and slaves were captured too.


 * The Rise of the Franks** (755-850)
 * Military excellence- pioneered use of advanced stirrups for better control of swords while riring horses.
 * Franks were in closer contact with Romans, learning about their military technology.
 * Created the first professional army in Europe.
 * Geo-politics- They simply expand from their home territory unlike the Germanic invaders, quick to convert to Catholicism, and they were away fro the largest threats the vikings.
 * Politics, there was the real heavy taxation very fair procedures.
 * Centralization under capable leaders in Clovis, Martel and Charlemagne while they system was divisions among heirs.


 * Feudalism** (840 - 967)
 * The pre-843 Frankish empire unified much of west and central Europe. The subdivisions among the three sons of Louis I drove Europe into fragmentation that resulted in the process of feudalism.
 * It was a military, economic, social order where a monarch grants feudal lords land in exchange for their military support, taxes, and protection.
 * Knights and peasants were also given land in exchange for their loyalty under the lord.
 * The peasants were like property to the land lord because they were in power.


 * Christianity and the High Middle Ages & Expansion of Holy Roman Empire** (967 - 1060)
 * The petty kingdoms began forming a nation state in the high middle ages, a response to Barbaric raids throughout Europe.
 * Christianity still dominating the continent helped the Barbaric people to convert.
 * The christian crusades revived the interest in Asia, stimulating the trade and introducing Islamic achievement to Europe. The promises of glory, salvation and riches served as the motivation.
 * Most of Europe was Christianize, which then helped the church dominate the holy empire.
 * Starting with Otto I the great (953) of the Germanic empire, had appointed a clergy and exercised power and gained support for the expansion in Bohemia, Austria, and Italy and into the Dutch.


 * Effects of the Crusades, Norman conquest of England and Magna Carta** (1060-1240)
 * Livonia order conquest- an on-going crusades of Livonia and surrounding areas.
 * German conquest- the pope approved of crusade into the balt and Slav lands to the east of the holy empire, forcing them to convert.
 * A step toward democracy when the nobles of England reaching breaking points marched into London and forced king John to agree to certain rights (the magna carta 1215).
 * Normandy ruled over England.

Video notes
 * Why the Golden Horde was able to dominate Europe and the Black Death Plague** (1240 - 1350)
 * The great famine (1315-1317)- bad weather resulted in crop failures throughout Europe.
 * It was a severe famine that struck Europe with high level of criminal activity, disease, ect.
 * The Black Death killed 75 million people, half European population cause by a bacterium found in rats in central Asia introduced by Mongol invasions.
 * The consequences were in the increase of persecution of Jews and ethnic hatred.
 * Peasant revolts due to inability of the government to solve the problem.
 * The papal authority weakens the church authority, it became powerless because the virus was not understood to humanity, and religious prayers didn't protect them from the disease.
 * When the Roman empire collapsed and before the rebirth of the renaissance, it was the dark ages.
 * 410 A.D Rome fell, under siege, burned arts, the Gothic warriors (Visigoths) were the foes invaded the empire arlitic looked for power, and couldn't find food.
 * Power and glory was turned into starvation the mother of the world had died.
 * Personal gains were in most of the new emperor, the treatment of slaves turned against the aristocrats,
 * Barbarians invasions, crusades is time for disease, wars and scale of life became smaller.
 * Less luxury and intellectual life couldn't sustain the achievements of the previous empires.
 * trade, weapons and progress was no longer there.
 * A new form of unity was the priests and monks in terms of Christianity, the frank king Clovis converted to Christianity was a strategic way to unite his great empire.
 * Christianity gave hope to the people in these dark ages, it would be to their advantage.
 * Clovis gave new allied and helped him get support from the church.
 * Clovis was 15 when he led an army, recruited the man that he conquered, Clovis emerged as the supreme ruler of France.
 * Frankish kings had to have heirs for the leadership.
 * God justice were idals that were strange, that god is in the good side.
 * 511A.D Clovis died by an unknown cause, 533 A.D places like Italy, France and England was invaded by Barbarians.
 * East and west of the Roman empire west didn't have the resources, and barbaric rule, Justinian brought the dream back, reconstitute the lost land and territory.
 * Nika conquered Justinian was scared from the people who were against him, Theodora was a source of the Justinian's wife 527 got her to have equal sovereignty, she saved him from throwing his empire.
 * Black death, killed half of the Enrollment empire in urban cities Justinian among them, ruined Justinian's dream of reuniting the Roman empire that he was close to achieving, long terms affect that took a long time to restore it.
 * Built Hagia Sofia to built the greatest symbol of Christianity, by 542 A.D the Mediterranean was again under the Romans.
 * The Byzantine empire couldn't financially pull up itself, and Theodora died of cancer.
 * Europe was in a rough situation warfare, no trade returned to agricultural, no movement by most people misery, loss and death were the shadow, the one light in the monasteries, center of commerce, political authority was the church, bid was the person who write a book to link the past with his knowledge in England.
 * No one outside the priesthood was literate, Benedick was the head of the monasteries, but the monks tried to poison him twice. Monks are forbidden to speak or have a will, many families went to the monasteries to escape, religious places and life was the dominate culture in Europe.
 * The Muslims competed with the christian stood on their way in invading Europe, Spain was taken by Spain, christian taught they were a threat, the Muslims went to France in the war with Franks Charles Martel was the commander in chief of the army waiting for the people to stop their conquest, money was a disadvantage and he went to the church to train his army, abdu AL rahman was the commander of the Muslim army, wasn't prepared for the army he is going to face.
 * Charles nailed down his victory behind battle, Abdu was surrounded by the enemy, Battle of the Tours that he got the Nick name of of Martel the Hammer, and he gained power into an empire of Christians.
 * Charlemagne, the greatest emperor the pope was crowned to be king, he never lost a military conquest, built education and political structures, was a renaissance man who tried to pull Europe again.
 * He and his brother were in power of separate kingdoms, but his brother died, and he was the only ruler, embracing the Christian church and military conquest.


 * Mind-maps**

Until the tenth century, most political organization was local. Manorialism was a system of ongoing economic and political obligations between landlords and peasants. Most individuals were serfs living on self-sufficient agricultural estates (manors). In return for protection, they gave lords part of their crops and provided labor services.



Manorialism was characterized by the vesting of legal and economic power in a lord, supported economically from his own direct landholding and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of the peasant population under his jurisdiction. These obligations could be payable in several ways, in labor. The lord held a manor court, governed by public law and local custom. Not all territorial leaders were secular; bishops and abbots also held lands that entailed similar obligations. Like feudalism which, together with Manorialism, formed the legal and organizational framework of feudal society, manorial structures were not uniform. In the later Middle Ages, areas of the manorial economy underwent substantial development with changing frameworks.


 * Marked up "Magna Carta" document**

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The Magna Carta is a medieval charter commonly used to convey land, authorized in 1215 by King John of England (1167–1216) under threat of civil war from his barons. Since that date, significant constitutional principles have been attributed to the Magna Carta, even though it was a document drawn up in the midst of a violent political crisis by selfish men gifted neither with nor political genius. It was the king's important subjects, including the clergy, nobility, and merchants who got together to force him to sign an agreement in order to limit his power over the land. It issued that civil disputes would go under royal courts and something about tax revenues should only come from the feudal government. Also John promised the church that he would not interfere with its elected officials, their duties, and their lands. What the main importance of this medieval document is establishing royal error, promising to follow the law, and did so in writing.

ESPIRIT Chart


 * Political**
 * MI: At the beginning, the political was based on feudalism as the political basis, but later emperors and parliament in addition to monarchies and aristocrats.**
 * The Holy Roman Empire’s territories in Germany and Italy were controlled by local lords and city-states. The pope ruled in central Italy.
 * Regional units prevailed in the Low Countries. In strong feudal monarchies, power was limited by the church, aristocratic military strength, and developing urban centers.
 * King John of England in 1215 was forced to recognize feudal rights in the Magna Carta//.//
 * Parliaments, bodies representing privileged groups, emerged in Catalonia in 1000.
 * feudalism, a system of political and military relationships, evolved in western Europe. Military elites of the landlord class could afford horses and iron weapons.
 * The greater lords provided protection to lesser lords (vassals) who in return supplied military and other service.
 * Feudal relationships first served local needs, but they later were extended to cover larger regions. Charlemagne acted in that fashion. Later rulers, notably the Capetian kings of France.
 * William the conqueror who took feudalism to England in 1066 where then we started seeing estates, nation-states.
 * Social**
 * MI: The social status organized in the king then the lords who own lands then the serfs who are not called slaves, women were living in patriarchal families customs.**
 * Some peasants got to shake off the biggest restraints from Manorialism, and became almost free from obligations,after agriculture improved.
 * vassals lower class of the lord and owe military service.
 * Noble landlords still served military functions and pushed serfs to pay more taxes.
 * Wealthy Europeans developed a taste for luxury life.
 * Expanding towns emerged as regional trade centers with a merchant class and craft production.
 * Increasing complexity of social and economic life limited woman's roles.
 * Woman's work remained vital to families. Christian emphasis on spiritual equality remained important, while female monastic groups offered a limited alternative to marriage.
 * Veneration of the Virgin Mary and other female religious figures provided positive role models for women. Still, even though women were less restricted than those within Islam, they lost ground.
 * They were increasingly dominated by male-dominated organizations. By the close of the Middle Ages, patriarchal structures were firmly established.
 * Economic**
 * Merchant capitalism trade revived after a long period of struggle and famine, trade returned and banking that came from the Italians profit and capitalist of investemnent.**
 * Merchant capitalist trade revived in the 10th century, the west became a common commercial zone.
 * They traded wool, timber, furs and spices.
 * The crusades helped in specialization and commercial activity.
 * banking was introduced by the Italians to the west by business people in exchange for money and goods.
 * Profit making and investment funds were common hoping to get large profit of such capital.
 * The crusades helped bringing out these products.
 * Merchants developed their own law administered by city court, rising an independent role.
 * Guilds grouped people in the same business or trade of a single city, stressing on mutual control
 * Religion**
 * Christianity was the main religion, the church was sending missionaries and spiritual power, also theologians began to question and use reason and logic to teach people about god.**
 * Christian rituals and christian morals, were cooperated missionary activities by the clergy who continued the effort of preserving past wisdom of church father Augustine.
 * Church's political and spiritual power during the dark ages.
 * Logical ideas were reflected on the concern of many organizations.
 * Theologians say that it is possible to prove the existence of god.
 * Bernard of Clairvaux challenged Abelard and believes that importance of religious faiths.
 * Rational philosophy and salvation dominated religious life.
 * Thomas Aquinas the Italian monk who taught at the University of Paris maintained the belief of faith through reason, natural order, moral law, and nature of law.
 * Suminas knowledge or highest works that used logic to eliminate all the possible objections.
 * Scholasticism as the medieval philosophical beliefs after the emergence of schools.
 * Roger Bacon did an experimental work with optics, gaining a chemistry and astronomy knowledge.
 * Intellectuals**
 * Literature, philosophy, and art were all rising in terms of praising the church and religious ideas and beliefs that served to glorify god's power amd nature.**
 * Peter Abelard in Paris wrote treatise called Yes and No in which he showed several logical religious interpretations.
 * Raoul DE Cambrai, was a hero of a French epic poem in the late 12th century.
 * Art was another cultural area served the glory of god.
 * Use of rectangular Romanesque style by domes.
 * Gothic architect built soaring church spires and tall arched windows.
 * Literature and music reflected their religious interest, dealing with points of philosophy and law.
 * Development of vernaculars literature of spoken languages helped developed a separate European languages.
 * In English it was Beowulf and in French The song of Roland. Adventure stories such as Canterbury tales.
 * Poem of Romance of the rose used vivid imagery to show tragedy and love.
 * Development of philosophy, science, and artistic representations of nature.
 * Artisans regulated apprenticeships to guarantee good training.
 * Interactions**
 * Contacts as a result of trade and economiuc expansion that expanded the goods that get exchanged and grouped in terms of League of Hanseatic in hand of Mediterranean.**
 * Contact with the Mediterranean mainly in the hands of the Italians in which European cloth was exchanged for more polished goods from the East.
 * Cities of Northern Germany and southern Scandinavia grouped together in the Hanseatic League to encourage trade.
 * Technology**
 * The major technological advancement of three-field system an d the moldboard that helped increase production and also horse collars that produced better military service.**
 * The moldboard plow, the three-field system—significantly increased production.
 * Horse collars, also useful for agriculture, and stirrups confirmed lordly dominance.

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 * Glogster on the economy of Western Europe**


 * Notes on reading**




 * Decline of Medieval Synthesis**
 * After 1300, Post-Classical Western civilization declined.
 * A major war the Hundreds years War embroiled France and England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
 * The fighting spread economic distress and demonstrated the weaknesses of the feudal order, as kings reduced reliance’s on their feudal vassals.
 * ew military ideas that challenged the monopoly of the lord.
 * The war ended with the French victory sparked by the heroic leadership of peasant woman Joan of Arc
 * Agriculture could not keep up with population growth famines followed.
 * Further losses came from the Black Death in 1348 and succeeding plagues.
 * Tensions between landlord and peasants, and artisans and their employees, intensified.
 * There were increasing challenges to medieval institutions. The landowning aristocracy, the ruling class, lost its military role as professional armies and new weapons transformed warfare.
 * Aristocrats retreated into a ceremonial style of life emphasizing chivalry.
 * The balance of power between church and state shifted in favor of the state.
 * As the church leaders struggled to retain authority, they lost touch with individual believers who turned to popular religious currents emphasizing direct experience of God.
 * Intellectual and artistic synthesis also declined. Church officials became less tolerant of intellectual boldness and retreated from Aquinas' blend of rationalism and religion.
 * In art, styles became more realistic because they saw that prayers couldn’t save them from the plague.
 * The crusades revealed a distinctive expansionist spirit in Europe for the the outside world.
 * Europeans, for the first time, were building appropriate institutions and culture. Medieval thinkers linked classical pride within a strong Christian framework.

Although western European society was not as commercially or culturally developed as the great world civilizations, it had its own distinctive characteristics. From the middle of the sixth century C.E. until about 900, disorder prevailed in western Europe. Rome's fall left Italy in economic, political, and intellectual decline. The Catholic Church remained strong. Not until the tenth century, most political organization was local. Manorialism was a system of economic and political obligations between landlords and peasants. The popes headed a hierarchy based on the Roman imperial model; they appointed some bishops, regulated doctrine, and sponsored missionary activity. The Carolingian dynasty of the Franks ruling in France, Belgium, and Germany grew stronger during the eighth century. Charles Martel defeated Muslim invaders at Tours in 732. Charlemagne built a substantial empire by 800. He built a centralized estate and recruited on the importance of education. During the ninth and tenth centuries, new agricultural technique the moldboard plow, the three-field system. Viking incursions diminished as the raiders seized territorial control, as they converted to Christianity. Also later a type of system f eudalism came along to help provide order, where the greater lords provided protection to lesser lords (vassals) who in return supplied military and other service. Life slowly began to change as urban growth promoted more specialized manufacturing and commerce. Banking was introduced by Italian businessmen. The use of money spread rapidly. Not until after 1300, Post-Classical Western civilization declined. A major war embroiled France and England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The fighting spread economic distress and demonstrated the weaknesses of the feudal order. Europe then brought about its progression and new way of life.
 * Summary of the Chapter **