Medieval Europe
New Germanic Kingdoms
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, a new civilization emerged in western Europe. This civilization was formed by the convergence of three elements: the Germanic peoples, the Roman legacy, and the Christian church. European civilization developed during the Middle Ages or medieval period (500–1500). Historians used the term Middle Ages to refer to the middle period between the ancient world and the modern world. A number of states ruled by German kings had replaced the Western Roman Empire by 500. The only German kingdom to endure was the Frankish kingdom. Its founder, Clovis, converted to Christianity around 500. By 510 he had established a kingdom that reached from the Pyrenees to present-day France and western Germany.
Charlemagne and the Carolingians
In 768 Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, became ruler of the Frankish kingdom. He was a strong statesman and pious Christian. Although illiterate, he supported learning. Charlemagne ruled from 768 to 814. During this time, he expanded the kingdom into what became known as the Carolingian Empire. This empire covered much of western and central Europe and was unsurpassed until the time of Napoleon. Charlemagne’s power and prestige grew. In 800 he was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pope. This coronation symbolized the coming together of the Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements that forged a new European civilization. The spiritual leader of western Christendom had crowned a German king Roman emperor.
Feudalism
The Carolingian Empire fell apart soon after Charlemagne’s death. People began to turn to local land owning aristocrats or nobles to protect them. Nobles exchanged protection for service. This exchange led to a new political and social system called feudalism. At the heart of feudalism was the idea of vassalage. It came from Germanic society where warriors swore a loyalty oath to their leaders and fought for them. The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors’ needs. By the eighth century a man who served a lord militarily was known as a vassal. By the 700s, warriors on horseback wore coats of mail and used long lances as battering rams. For the next five hundred years, heavily armored cavalry (knights) dominated warfare. They had great prestige and formed the backbone of the European nobility. Owning a horse, armor, and weapons was expensive. As royal governments disintegrated, powerful nobles acquired large areas of land. When nobles needed men to fight for them, they granted pieces of land to a vassal in return for military service. The vassal used the land to support himself and his family. By the ninth century the land the lord granted to a vassal was known as a fief. Vassals had political authority in their fiefs. The number of separate powerful lords and vassals increased; many different people were now responsible for keeping order. Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rules known as the feudal contract. These rules determined the relationship between lord and vassal. The major obligation of a vassal was military service, about 40 days a year.
Manorial System
Between 1000 and 1300, the number of people in Europe almost doubled, increasing from 38 to 74 million. Increased stability and peace enabled food production to rise dramatically. A change in climate improved growing conditions. More land was cleared for cultivation. Technological changes aided farming. Water and wind power began to do jobs once done by humans and animals. Iron was used to make the carruca, a plow that could turn over heavy soil. The shift from a two-field to a three-field system of crop rotation increased crop yields. This ensured a summer and fall harvest while allowing a third of the land to be replenished.
The manorial system consisted of an agricultural estate (a manor) run by a lord and worked by peasants. The land-holding nobles (lords and vassals) depended on free peasants and serfs to provide economic support by working the land so that they (the nobles) could pursue the arts of war. Free peasants continued to exist, but, by 800, probably 60 percent of the people of western Europe were serfs. Serfs were peasants legally bound to the land; they had to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord’s control. Serfs also grew food for themselves. Peasant cottages had wood frames surrounded by sticks, with the spaces between sticks filled with straw and rubble and plastered over with clay. Roofs were thatched. Peasant women had a difficult and important role. They worked in the fields and bore children. They were also responsible for managing the household. Peasant activities were determined by the seasons. August and September required a good harvest of grains for making bread, which was crucial for winter survival. In October, peasants worked the ground for the planting of winter crops. Animals were slaughtered in November and the meat was preserved with salt. In February and March, land was plowed for spring planting. Shearing and weeding were done in the summer months.
Growth of European Kingdoms
The feudal system gave power to many different lords. Gradually, kings began to extend their own powers, and their actions laid the foundations for the European kingdoms that still dominate Europe. The political institutions created by one kingdom, England, impacted the formation of democracy in the United States.
In 1066 an army commanded by William of Normandy defeated King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings. William was crowned king of England and began to combine Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutions. Henry II, who ruled from 1154 to 1189, enlarged the power of the English monarchy. He expanded the royal courts’ powers to cover more criminal and property cases. Because the royal courts were all over the land, a body of common law—law common to the whole kingdom—began to replace varying local codes. Resenting the monarchy’s expanding power, many nobles rebelled against King John. In 1215 at Runnymeade, John was forced to sign a document of rights called the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. The Magna Carta gave written recognition to the longstanding feudal idea of mutual rights and obligations between lord and vassal. The Magna Carta was used to strengthen the idea that the monarch had limited power, and it later helped support the concept that individuals are entitled to trial by jury.
The English Parliament emerged in the 1200s during the reign of Edward I and was an important step in developing a representational government. It came to be composed of two knights from every county, two people from every town, and all of England’s nobles and bishops. Later, nobles and church lords formed the House of Lords, and knights and townspeople formed the House of Commons. The Parliament imposed taxes and passed laws.
After the death of the last Carolingian king in 987, Hugh Capet became king and founded the Capetian dynasty of French kings. The French monarchy’s power grew under King Philip II Augustus, who ruled from 1180 to 1223. Philip took back by force the French territories ruled by the English. He thereby greatly increased the income and power of the French monarchy.
In the tenth century powerful Saxon dukes became kings of the eastern Frankish kingdom. The best known of these kings was Otto I, who was crowned emperor of the Romans in 962 in exchange for protection. As leaders of a new Roman Empire, the German kings tried to rule both German and Italian lands. Frederick I considered Italy the center of a “holy empire,” hence the name Holy Roman Empire. His attempt to conquer northern Italy was opposed by the pope and the northern cities. Frederick II wanted to establish a centralized state in Italy but met with the same resistance. While the emperors were fighting, Germany was left in the hands of powerful German lords who created many independent states. These many small states kept the German ruler from maintaining a strong central monarchical state.
Role of the Church
By the fourth century, the Christian church had developed a system of organization. Priests headed local communities called parishes. A group of parishes was headed by a bishop, whose area of authority was called a bishopric, or diocese. The bishop of Rome came to claim he was the leader of what was now called the Roman Catholic Church. Later Roman bishops came to be called popes, from the Latin word papa, “father.” The Church also developed a body of doctrine. Church councils, including representatives from the entire Christian community, met to define Church teachings. Monks played an important role in the Church. A monk is a man who separates himself from worldly life to dedicate himself to God (this practice is called monasticism). In the sixth century, Saint Benedict founded an order of monks (the Benedictines) and wrote rules for their practice. The Benedictine rule was used by other monastic groups. Monks’ social work in their communities made them the new heroes of Christian civilization.
Papal Monarchy
Papal control over the territory in central Italy known as the Papal States involved the popes in politics, often at the expense of their spiritual duties. Increasingly, the Church became involved in the feudal system. Bishops and abbots held their offices as grants from nobles. Therefore they were vassals with allegiance to a secular authority. They were even obliged to carry out military duties. In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII claimed that the pope’s authority extended over all the Christian world (including rulers) and asserted the Church’s right to appoint clergy and run its affairs. In 1075 Pope Gregory issued a decree forbidding high-ranking clerics from receiving their offices from lay (secular) leaders. This action lessened the power of kings such as King Henry IV of Germany. The Church reached the height of its political power in the thirteenth century during the reign of Pope Innocent III, who believed he was the supreme judge of European affairs. He even ordered Philip Augustus to take back his wife after Philip had sought an annulment.
Revival of Trade
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a revival of trade and the associated growth of towns and cities changed the economic foundation of Europe from basically agricultural to a mix of agricultural and commercial. Italian cities took the lead. By the end of the twelfth century, goods were being regularly exchanged between Flanders and Italy. Instead of a barter economy, as the demand for gold and silver coins arose, a money economy developed. Trading companies and banking firms were established. They managed the exchange and sale of goods. These new practices led to the rise of commercial capitalism—an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods to make a profit. Some refer to this as the beginning of the Commercial Revolution.
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, a new civilization emerged in western Europe. This civilization was formed by the convergence of three elements: the Germanic peoples, the Roman legacy, and the Christian church. European civilization developed during the Middle Ages or medieval period (500–1500). Historians used the term Middle Ages to refer to the middle period between the ancient world and the modern world. A number of states ruled by German kings had replaced the Western Roman Empire by 500. The only German kingdom to endure was the Frankish kingdom. Its founder, Clovis, converted to Christianity around 500. By 510 he had established a kingdom that reached from the Pyrenees to present-day France and western Germany.
Charlemagne and the Carolingians
In 768 Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, became ruler of the Frankish kingdom. He was a strong statesman and pious Christian. Although illiterate, he supported learning. Charlemagne ruled from 768 to 814. During this time, he expanded the kingdom into what became known as the Carolingian Empire. This empire covered much of western and central Europe and was unsurpassed until the time of Napoleon. Charlemagne’s power and prestige grew. In 800 he was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pope. This coronation symbolized the coming together of the Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements that forged a new European civilization. The spiritual leader of western Christendom had crowned a German king Roman emperor.
Feudalism
The Carolingian Empire fell apart soon after Charlemagne’s death. People began to turn to local land owning aristocrats or nobles to protect them. Nobles exchanged protection for service. This exchange led to a new political and social system called feudalism. At the heart of feudalism was the idea of vassalage. It came from Germanic society where warriors swore a loyalty oath to their leaders and fought for them. The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors’ needs. By the eighth century a man who served a lord militarily was known as a vassal. By the 700s, warriors on horseback wore coats of mail and used long lances as battering rams. For the next five hundred years, heavily armored cavalry (knights) dominated warfare. They had great prestige and formed the backbone of the European nobility. Owning a horse, armor, and weapons was expensive. As royal governments disintegrated, powerful nobles acquired large areas of land. When nobles needed men to fight for them, they granted pieces of land to a vassal in return for military service. The vassal used the land to support himself and his family. By the ninth century the land the lord granted to a vassal was known as a fief. Vassals had political authority in their fiefs. The number of separate powerful lords and vassals increased; many different people were now responsible for keeping order. Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rules known as the feudal contract. These rules determined the relationship between lord and vassal. The major obligation of a vassal was military service, about 40 days a year.
Manorial System
Between 1000 and 1300, the number of people in Europe almost doubled, increasing from 38 to 74 million. Increased stability and peace enabled food production to rise dramatically. A change in climate improved growing conditions. More land was cleared for cultivation. Technological changes aided farming. Water and wind power began to do jobs once done by humans and animals. Iron was used to make the carruca, a plow that could turn over heavy soil. The shift from a two-field to a three-field system of crop rotation increased crop yields. This ensured a summer and fall harvest while allowing a third of the land to be replenished.
The manorial system consisted of an agricultural estate (a manor) run by a lord and worked by peasants. The land-holding nobles (lords and vassals) depended on free peasants and serfs to provide economic support by working the land so that they (the nobles) could pursue the arts of war. Free peasants continued to exist, but, by 800, probably 60 percent of the people of western Europe were serfs. Serfs were peasants legally bound to the land; they had to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord’s control. Serfs also grew food for themselves. Peasant cottages had wood frames surrounded by sticks, with the spaces between sticks filled with straw and rubble and plastered over with clay. Roofs were thatched. Peasant women had a difficult and important role. They worked in the fields and bore children. They were also responsible for managing the household. Peasant activities were determined by the seasons. August and September required a good harvest of grains for making bread, which was crucial for winter survival. In October, peasants worked the ground for the planting of winter crops. Animals were slaughtered in November and the meat was preserved with salt. In February and March, land was plowed for spring planting. Shearing and weeding were done in the summer months.
Growth of European Kingdoms
The feudal system gave power to many different lords. Gradually, kings began to extend their own powers, and their actions laid the foundations for the European kingdoms that still dominate Europe. The political institutions created by one kingdom, England, impacted the formation of democracy in the United States.
In 1066 an army commanded by William of Normandy defeated King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings. William was crowned king of England and began to combine Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutions. Henry II, who ruled from 1154 to 1189, enlarged the power of the English monarchy. He expanded the royal courts’ powers to cover more criminal and property cases. Because the royal courts were all over the land, a body of common law—law common to the whole kingdom—began to replace varying local codes. Resenting the monarchy’s expanding power, many nobles rebelled against King John. In 1215 at Runnymeade, John was forced to sign a document of rights called the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. The Magna Carta gave written recognition to the longstanding feudal idea of mutual rights and obligations between lord and vassal. The Magna Carta was used to strengthen the idea that the monarch had limited power, and it later helped support the concept that individuals are entitled to trial by jury.
The English Parliament emerged in the 1200s during the reign of Edward I and was an important step in developing a representational government. It came to be composed of two knights from every county, two people from every town, and all of England’s nobles and bishops. Later, nobles and church lords formed the House of Lords, and knights and townspeople formed the House of Commons. The Parliament imposed taxes and passed laws.
After the death of the last Carolingian king in 987, Hugh Capet became king and founded the Capetian dynasty of French kings. The French monarchy’s power grew under King Philip II Augustus, who ruled from 1180 to 1223. Philip took back by force the French territories ruled by the English. He thereby greatly increased the income and power of the French monarchy.
In the tenth century powerful Saxon dukes became kings of the eastern Frankish kingdom. The best known of these kings was Otto I, who was crowned emperor of the Romans in 962 in exchange for protection. As leaders of a new Roman Empire, the German kings tried to rule both German and Italian lands. Frederick I considered Italy the center of a “holy empire,” hence the name Holy Roman Empire. His attempt to conquer northern Italy was opposed by the pope and the northern cities. Frederick II wanted to establish a centralized state in Italy but met with the same resistance. While the emperors were fighting, Germany was left in the hands of powerful German lords who created many independent states. These many small states kept the German ruler from maintaining a strong central monarchical state.
Role of the Church
By the fourth century, the Christian church had developed a system of organization. Priests headed local communities called parishes. A group of parishes was headed by a bishop, whose area of authority was called a bishopric, or diocese. The bishop of Rome came to claim he was the leader of what was now called the Roman Catholic Church. Later Roman bishops came to be called popes, from the Latin word papa, “father.” The Church also developed a body of doctrine. Church councils, including representatives from the entire Christian community, met to define Church teachings. Monks played an important role in the Church. A monk is a man who separates himself from worldly life to dedicate himself to God (this practice is called monasticism). In the sixth century, Saint Benedict founded an order of monks (the Benedictines) and wrote rules for their practice. The Benedictine rule was used by other monastic groups. Monks’ social work in their communities made them the new heroes of Christian civilization.
Papal Monarchy
Papal control over the territory in central Italy known as the Papal States involved the popes in politics, often at the expense of their spiritual duties. Increasingly, the Church became involved in the feudal system. Bishops and abbots held their offices as grants from nobles. Therefore they were vassals with allegiance to a secular authority. They were even obliged to carry out military duties. In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII claimed that the pope’s authority extended over all the Christian world (including rulers) and asserted the Church’s right to appoint clergy and run its affairs. In 1075 Pope Gregory issued a decree forbidding high-ranking clerics from receiving their offices from lay (secular) leaders. This action lessened the power of kings such as King Henry IV of Germany. The Church reached the height of its political power in the thirteenth century during the reign of Pope Innocent III, who believed he was the supreme judge of European affairs. He even ordered Philip Augustus to take back his wife after Philip had sought an annulment.
Revival of Trade
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a revival of trade and the associated growth of towns and cities changed the economic foundation of Europe from basically agricultural to a mix of agricultural and commercial. Italian cities took the lead. By the end of the twelfth century, goods were being regularly exchanged between Flanders and Italy. Instead of a barter economy, as the demand for gold and silver coins arose, a money economy developed. Trading companies and banking firms were established. They managed the exchange and sale of goods. These new practices led to the rise of commercial capitalism—an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods to make a profit. Some refer to this as the beginning of the Commercial Revolution.