Middle Ages: 500 A.D.- 1350A.D.

Today’s Essential Questions:

1. What are some factors that led to the downfall of the Roman

Empire?2. What are some changes that

came about in western Europe as Roman rule “fell” and life

transitioned into what we know as the “Middle Ages” or

Medieval Times 3. Why is the time after Rome

called the “Middle Ages”?

• Spending too much $$$• Not enough money spent on

technology and development• No one wanted to serve the Senate• Lack of desire to preserve the

greatness of Rome- serving self instead of Rome

• Civil Wars between generals and emperors

• Moving the capital to Byzantium made Rome the “ex-capital”

• Barbarians defeating Roman armies• Christians caring for their religion

and did not caring for preserving Rome

Changes as the Roman Empire Declined and life transitioned into the DARK AGES

(1st part of the Middle Ages)• As cities were the targets of

invasion people left cities took refuge on manors or large estates where they could grow their own food

• Trade massively declinedSo people had to farm to eat

• Money became scarce and people bartered (traded)

• With cities’ populations down there were no cohesive administration centers (loss of government structure)

• Education declined• The Latin language began to

change or not be spoken at all• Small kingdoms replaced Roman

provinces• Loyalty and respect for Roman

law and institutions was forgotten

• People looked to the Church not Rome as a unifying or defining culture

• The POPE (leader of the Catholic Church) was sort of the new Roman Emperor

BARBARIAN KINGDOMS

Atilla The Hun

Feudalism: the government system of the Middle

Ages. A system where a King gives land (fief) to a

Baron or Lord (vassal) in exchange for loyalty and a certain number of days of military service.

FEUDALISM• KING (Top Lord)

• Noble /Baron/ Lord (vassals)

• Knights (lower vassals)

• Common workers (blacksmith, weavers, bakers, etc.)

• Peasants/serfs

• Gives pieces of land to his vassals (loyal generals)

• Owes loyalty and soldiers to fight for king

• Train and fight for their lords

• Work on the manor for the lord

• Farm the land and gets small amount of food to survive

•Druglords•Warlords•Landlords

The Lord’s Manor• The Lord was the law of

the manor whatever he said - went

• Manors were self-sufficient – you did not go to the store. Everything you needed was produced on the manor

• The manor had bakers, blacksmiths, clothes makers – even a church

• SERFS: were peasant farmers who were so much in debt to the Lord that they could never leave

The peasants started to work at 4 years old and never went to school Most serfs never left the manor their entire livesThey lived in small huts and hardly ever took bathsThey could marry at 14 and most did not live past 50 years

Training of a Knight “I dub thee knight” • Boys of Noble (rich) birth

only• PAGE: 7-14 • Learned sword skills

(wooden), archery, manners, the code of Chivalry

• SQUIRE: 14-21• Practiced with real weapons• Took care of knight’s horses• Attended to knight’s armor• Attended knight in battle • * could be knighted on battlefield

if the squire distinguished self in battle

• GRADUATION ceremony: • At 21 if he completed all

training the knight-in-training would spend the night before his ceremony locked in a church to pray

from a poem ‘song of Roland’

Chivalry: a complex set of ideals (code of honor) that knight’s were supposed to live by

some of the ideals as written in the Song of Roland

• Serve diligently your 3 masters• 1.God 2.your earthly Lord 3.your

lady• Be brave and valiant• Never attack an unarmed foe. • Never attack from behind. • Keep your word – be honest • Do justice. • Protect weak and innocent. • Respect women. • Destroy evil in all of its monstrous

forms. • Avenge the wronged. • Never abandon a friend, ally, or

noble cause. • Die with valor. • Exhibit manners• Many exaggerated stories were

written about knights that added to the hype: things like slaying dragons, pulling swords out of stone, etc.

Is Chivalry Dead?

The Church of the Middle Ages • Missionaries• Communion• Monasteries• relics• Tithe (10%)• Excommunicatio

n• Heretic (heresy)• The Inquisition

Missionaries

Relics“Holy Grail”

Romanesque - Gothic• Gothic = non Roman• Mostly in France –

some in England and Germany

• Took 50 – 100 years to build and the equivalent of millions of dollars

• Gothic cathedrals attempted to be pointed not rounded

• The flying Buttresses heald up the walls to allow huge windows

Sentence starters

Christianity spread all over Europe because….

The Church became rich during the Middle Ages because….

Ways that the Catholic Church abused some of its power was…..

Sentence starters

The Crusades…During the Crusades the European

knights…The Muslim warrior Saladin…The Children’s Crusades ….

The Inquisition • Church courts

that investigated and prosecuted persons accused of heresy

• Many times they used torture to get accused persons to ‘recant’ or take-back what they had said or taught

Heresy or heretics

• People who taught things that were different from official church teaching

• Heretics were taken before the Inquisition and given opportunities to recant – many times tortured

• If they did not recant they were declared a heretic – (devil/witch) and burned at the stake

Islam

MuhammadArabiaMedinaMeccaKa’abaMosqueQur’anSunni/ShiiteThe 5 Pillars*Faith*Prayer*Alms (charity)*Fasting (Ramadan)*Hajj (pilgrimage)Jihad “duty”

In 1093, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus sent an appeal to Robert, Count of

Flanders (Near France) The emperor ask for help against the Muslim Turks who were threatening the area around his capital Constantinople

“Come then with all your people and give battle with all your strength so that all this treasure

will not fall into the hands of the Turks (Muslims)…Therefore act while there is still time lest the kingdom of the Christians shall vanish from your sight and what is more the Holy Sepulcher (tomb of Jesus) shall vanish.

And in your coming you will find your reward in heaven, and if you do not come, May God

Damn you”

Speech by Pope Urban II

November 1095 A.D. “…On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this

everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor

and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent.

Moreover, Christ commands it…”"All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans (Muslims),

shall have immediate remission (forgiveness) of sins. This I grant them

through the power of God with which I am invested.

Therefore I say to you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you.

Let this then be your war-cry in combats, because this word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let

this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!

• A series of wars

during the 1100-1200s where European Christians, following the call of the Pope, went to wage war with Muslims in the Middle East in hopes of taking back Jerusalem (the place where Jesus was killed)

People from Morocco

Reconquista Re-conquering Spain from the Muslims• In the 700’s Muslim Moors from

North Africa conquered Spain • They were stopped before they

took France• From the years 800-1492

Muslims ruled Spain and set a prosperous trade network and many Muslim cultural and learning centers

• The major regions/cities were Cordova, Seville, and Andalusia, Granada

• In the 1490s Spanish Christian warriors began a huge struggle to regain Spain for Christianity

• SPAIN fought a Crusade for their own country!!!!

• After the “reconquista” The Catholic Church, being hyper paranoid about other religions, set up “inquisition” courts

• This time period was called the “Spanish Inquisition” and courts tortured all kinds of Muslims and Jews to purify their country of non-Catholics

• This helps explain why wherever the Spanish colonized they were hyper catholic

outcomes (RESULTS) of the CRUSADES• Distrust and bad feelings between the Muslims in

the Middle East and Christians in the West• Loss of many knights, and their manors because they left

Europe to go to the Middle East and they NEVER held the LAND – MUSLIMS took it all back

• Trade begins between Europe the Middle East • (spices, tea, silk, oranges, salt, medicines)• Because of the trade; Merchants from the Italian cities of

Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence become very wealthy $$$$$ – banks open – new businesses start

• Peasants begin leaving the manors and start coming back to the cities to look for jobs other than farming (bakers, tailors, construction workers)

• RE- population of cities• Rich merchants and government officials begin to spend

their money beautifying their cities • There’s a demand for fine clothes, good food, entertainment• Europeans see that Muslims have kept alive the knowledge

of the Greeks and Romans. This brings about a revival of learning for Europeans

• There is a demand for books and desire to learn to read again

• There’s revival of art, painting and sculpture again • Europe is doing what it did under ROME -it’s a rebirth a

RENAISSANCE

Bazaars in the Middle East

Imperialism SE Asia

Sentence starters

One result that came out of the Crusades was….

Another result that came from the Crusades was

Marco Polo: travels the “silk road”

• the Venetian trader who traveled via caravan through Silk Roads, executed, government missions on behalf of Kublai Khan for 17 years and was immortalized by a fellow prisoner in a book

• European ships drop off Crusaders and pick up Middle Eastern goods to sell

• Trade make Merchants wealthy$$$$$

• Money and trade brings people back to the

cities • Rich people want beautiful

houses, churches and cities

• ART• They also want to READ

• It’s a RENAISSANCE

MEDIEVAL FOOD: Got Flavor?

On your notesheet instead of notes answer these questions, discuss with your group, use pages 361-400 and write your answers

to these questions1. How does Feudalism work?2. What was a serfs life like?3. List 3 things about knights?

4. What is Chivalry – give an example?5. List 3 things about Church of the

Middle Ages6.What is a heretic?

7. What were the Inquisitions8. What were the Crusades?

9. What was the Reconquista?10. What are some outcomes of the

crusades?11.What happened during the Bubonic

Plague?

Complete this sentence

The Bubonic Plague…..

Bazaars in the Middle East

The Bubonic Plague a.k.a. Black Death

• Had been around for centuries

• Thought to have come from China through trade routes

• Returned to Europe in 1347

• Bites from fleas on rats or other animals

• Spread through Europe through trade routes

• In 4 years killed 1/3 of the population (25 million)

• Results: population massively decreased

• Trade declined• Not enough workers• Peasants demand higher

wages-revolts• Jews were

blamed/persecuted• Church lost prestige when

their prayers failed• Priests overworked by

funerals

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc)

1. With your group come up with 3 reasons you think that so many people from Europe decided to leave their manors and go on these Crusades?

2. What do you think was going on in a child’s head that he would leave his manor with no armor or sword and think that he was going to win? What do you think his parents thought?

3. What do you think was going on in the Crusaders’ heads when they thought that it was OK to slaughter men women and kids?

4. If you believe in Christianity what do you think that Jesus thought of the Crusades?

5. Spain had to fight a Crusade (Catholics against Muslim Moor rulers) to get their country back; They later set up The Inquisition -a church court that questioned and tortured Jews and Muslims to get them to convert to Catholicism. They burned many of the non Catholics at the stake and later just decided to make all non Catholics leave their country – Give your take

6. Think back to your work sheets and then come up with at least 3 results of the Crusades

Bayeux tapestry

• long embroidered cloth which explains the events leading up to the 1066 Norman invasion of England as well as the events of the invasion itself.