MIDDLE AGES READING NOTES
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
- Later scholars dated the beg. of the Middle Ages
to the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in the
West
- In 800, Charlemagne was crowned the Holy
Roman Empire
 After his death, his empire was divided
among his grandsons
 Their kingdoms were weakened by noble
vying for power
INVASIONS & MIGRATIONS
“SAVE US O GOD, FROM THE VIOLENCE OF THE
NORTHMEN
- Ninth century prayer that arose from the moors
of Scotland to the mountain of Sicily
VIKINGS
- Pagan Germanic ppl from Norway, Sweden &
Denmark
- Viking is derived from the Old Norse word vik,
meaning “creek”
- Someone who waited in a creek or bay to attack
passing vessels
- MID-10TH CENTURY: brought large sections of
continental Europe & Britain under their sway
- Sailed the rivers of Russia as far as the black se
- WEST: established permanent settlements in
Iceland & short-lived ones in Greenland &
Newfoundland in Canda
- Superb seamen w/ advanced methods of
boatbuilding
- Carolingian empire was helpless against Vikings
- At first, Vikings would attack and sail off w/ booty
- Will come back to settle down & colonize the area
they had conquered
 Marry local women
 Adopt the languages & some customs of
their new homes
MAGYARS
- Central European stepp people
- Raided villages in the late 9th century
- Take plunder & captives
- Force leaders to pay tribute in an effort to
prevent further looting & destruction
- Subdued northern Italy
- compelled Bavaria & Saxony to pay tribute
- penetrated into Rhineland & Burgundy
- Western Europeans thought of them as returning
Huns
- Came to be known as Hungarians
- Settled in an area now known as Hungary
 Became Christian in the 11th century allied
w/ the papacy
MUSLIMS
- From north Africa
- Began encroachments in the 9th century
- Already ruled most of spain & now conquered
sicily, driving northward into central Italy & the
south coat of france
EFFECTS
- Contributed to increasing disorder and violence
- Described as a period of terror & chaos by French
& English scholars
- Muslim Spain and Sicily worked in thriving cities
 New crops (cotton & sugar) enhanced
ordinary lives
- EASTERN EU: Moravia and Hungary became
strong kingdoms
FEUDALISM & MANORIALISM
- Large-scale division of Charlemagne’s empire led
to decentralization of power at the local level
- Aristocratic families increased their authority
during the 9th & 10th century
 Common ppl turned to local nobles for
protection
- Aristocratic fams gained warriors’ allegiance
 Symbolized by an oath-swearing ceremony
of “homage & loyalty”
 A warrior swore his loyalty as a VASSAL to
the more powerful individual who became
his Lord
 The lord promised him protection & matl
support  more likely land of the vassal’s
own: FIEF
FIEF
- May contain forests, churches, towns
- Technically still belonged to the lord
- The vassal had only use of it
- Peasants living on the fief produced the food &
other goods necessary to maintain the knight
- Appeared to be granted extensively first by
Charles Martel
 Fiefs went to the most powerful nobles
 Later came to be known as FEUDALISM
FEUDALISM
- System based on personal ties of loyalty
cemented by grants of land rather than on
allegiance to an abstract state or gov’t
MANORIALISM
- System peasants worked under
- Free farmers surrendered themselves & their
land to their lord’s jurisdiction in exchange for
protection
- A peasant lost his/her freedom & became a SERF,
part of the lord’s permanent workforce
 Personally free but were bound to the land
 Unable to leave w/o permission
 800: 60% of western EU population
RESTORATION OF ORDER
- invasions gradually declined
- in some parts of EU lords in control of large
territories built up their power even further
 became kings over growing & centralizing
states
 developed large bureaucracies, armies,
judicial systems, taxation systems
 laid the foundations for modern national
states
- Anglo-Saxon England kingdoms united under 1 king
 engalnd was divided into shires/counties under a
sheriff appointed by the king
DUKE WILLIAM OF NORMANDY
- cousin of Edward the Confessor
- French-speaking descendant of the Vikings
- Won the English throne at the Battle of Hastings
- Later dubbed “the Conqueror”
- Distributed land to his Norman followers
- Required all feudal lords to swear an oath of
allegiance to him as king
- Conducted a systematic survey to determine
how much wealth there was & who had it
o Called the “Doomsday Book”
o Completed in 1068
- Granddaughter, Matilda, married a powerful
French noble, Geoffrey of Anjou
o Son: Henry II of England ingerited
provinces in northwestern France from
his father
o Married Eleanor of Aquitaine: gain
lordship over Aquitaine & other
provinces in Southwestern France
PHILIP II
- Started the unification of France
 - Called “Augustus” o Spent rest of his reign trying to win it
o Vastly enlarged the territory of the back
kingdom - Tried to squeeze more money from nobles &
- Added most of the provinces of modern France town dwellers  atmosphere of resentment
by marriage, diplomacy, war & inheritance MAGNA CARTA
OTTO I - Result of a revolt of barons in 1215
- German king - “the Great Charter”
- Defeated many other lords to build up his power, - became the cornerstone of English justice and
based on alliance w/ the Church law
- Had the right to control church appointments - intended to redress the grievances that particular
- Bishops & abbots had to perform feudal homage grps had against King John
for the lands that accompanied the church - everyone + King must obey that law
position - a person may not be arrested & held indefinitely
- Confederation stretched from the North sea- in prison w/o being accused of crime & brought to
Mediterranean Sea trial
o Later called the Holy Roman Empire TRIAL BY ORDEAL
FREDERICK BARBOSSA - cases w/ little evidence
- From the house of Hohenstaufen - accused might be tied hand & foot and dropped
- Valiantly tried to make the Holy Roman Empire a in a lake
united state - water = pure substance; rejects anything foul &
- Made alliances w/ high nobles; compelled the unclean
great churchmen to become his vassals - FLOAT = guilty
- Formed a league against him in alliance w/ the - SINK = innocent
pope - Use declined as courts favored more rational
- His absence from the german part of his empire procedures
 princes & other rulers consolidated their - Violent crimes = execution
powers there o Normally by hanging
LAW & JUSTICE o Nobles = beheading
LOUIS IX o Executioners were feared figures; well-
- French King paid legal officials
- Famous for his concern for justice THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
- Each French province retained its unique laws & PAPAL REFORMS
procedures - Although the roman church encouraged clerical
- Created a royal judicial system, establishing the celibacy, there were still priests who were
Parelement of Paris married/ living w/ women
HENRY II - Popes were chosen by wealthy families among
- England developed and extended a common law their members
o Common to and accepted by the entire o Paid more attention to their families’
country political fortunes
- Sent out CIRCUIT JUDGES each year -
o Royal officials who travelled in a given
circuit or district to hear civil & criminal SIMONY
cases - selling of church offices
- The king’s court gained jurisdiction over all
property disputes & criminal actions
JOHN
- Henry’s son
- Met disappointment
- Lost Normandy to Philip Augustus in 1204