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The High Middle Ages. Name: The Power of The Catholic Church 1. The majority of people in Europe in the Middle Ages were what religion?

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The High Middle Ages

The Power of The Catholic Church 1. The majority of people in Europe in the Middle Ages were what religion?

2. What is piety?

3. Why did piety grow during the late Middle Ages?

4. What were some of the new powers the Pope gained in the late Middle Ages?

5. Describe what this group’s visual shows.

The Crusades 1. Why was Jerusalem important to different religious groups (Christians, Jews, Muslims)?

2. What happened and was decided on at the Council of Clermont?

3. What was the goal of all the crusades?

4. What happened regarding trade and trade routes due to the Crusades? 5. Describe what the group’s visual shows.

Rebirth of Towns and Cities in Western Europe 1. What event led to the growth of trade routes between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in the Middle Ages?

2. What enticed many people to leave their feudal farms and come to centers of trade (towns)?

3. What is a guild?

4. What were the steps members of guilds went through for training? 5. Describe what the group’s visual shows.

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Gothic Architecture

1. What did the term “gothic” originally mean and why was the term used to describe “gothic architecture?”

2. What are two details of gothic architecture that make it different/distinct from previous architecture styles?

3. Why were flying buttresses important to gothic architecture?

4. What are two unique features that were used on the interior of gothic churches? 5. Describe what the group’s visual shows.

The Black Death 1. During what years did the first wave of the Black Death occur?

2. How did the plague originally come to Europe ?

3. How many people were killed in Europe by the plague? How many in China?

4. What was a reason/explanation Europeans had for the disease at the time that it spread into Europe?

5. Describe what this group’s visual shows.

Magna Carta 1. What did King John of England do in 1215 that angered his nobles?

2. Who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta?

3. What did the Magana Carta do to King John’s power?

4. What ideas were in the Magna Carta that influenced the creation of later governments? 5. Describe what the group’s visual shows.

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The Power of the Catholic Church and The Pope in the Middle Ages

A Growth in Piety

The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Early popes in the church’s history were seen as spiritual leaders, but during the Middle Ages they became powerful political figures as well. How did this change occur?

While feudalism encouraged local loyalties (noble to king, knight to noble, peasant to noble, etc.), Christianity brought people across the whole of Europe to-gether in a unified system of religion. The majority of people in Europe were Christian, and those who were not often pretended to be in public in order to avoid being persecuted. In most of Europe, there was one type of Christianity— Catholicism (The Catholic Church).

Around the year 1000 CE, the influence of the Catholic Church in everyday peoples’ lives increased dramatically. There was a swell in the level of piety amongst Europeans. Piety is a person’s level of devotion to his or her religion. For centuries Europeans had been members of the Catholic Church, but at this time many believers became more devout and dedicated to the Catholic Church’s ways. Across Europe, people’s participation in religious services increased, and thou-sands flocked to monasteries to become monks or nuns. This swell in piety is partially due to waves of inquisitions which occurred throughout Europe in the centuries before 1000 CE. In isolated parts of Europe where Christianity/Catholicism had not been the most prevalent religion, members of the Church worked in cooperation with feudal lords and kings to persuade non-Christians to convert (sometimes by way of particularly brutal methods).

The Pope’s Power Grows

The common people of Europe were not the only ones inspired by a new sense of piety in the Middle Ages. Within the Christian Church itself, many clergy members sought ways to improve conditions and increase the power of the church.

In the 800s and 900s, the Pope’s power was not as extensive at it would eventually become. Although the Pope was considered the head of the entire church, local bishops and priests and sometimes even the nobles of an area actually made most of the major decisions that governed the local churches of each town. However, beginning in 1049, Pope Leo IX began to increase the level of power the Pope had. He implemented a system whereby bishops, priests, nobles, knights, and others who were seen as guilty of particularly bad offenses were excommunicated (cast out of the church for life). A person who was excommuni-cated was no longer able to take part in communion— a sacrament of the Catholic Church. The belief was that if one did not take part in communion, there was no way their soul could be saved after death. In earlier years, the Catholic Church had set up a court system. Popes in the late Middle Ages asserted their authority by being the head of this court system (a one man Supreme Court so to speak). This allowed popes to make it legal for them to punish those they saw fit. Also, popes used their position at the head of this court system to make it legal for them to do other things, like raise armies. (Many of the armies raised by popes during this time went off to fight in the Crusades.) With these powers in hand, popes continued to gain power over the people of Europe and influence the daily affairs of local towns and cities across the continent.

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The Power of the Pope and the Catholic Church Increases Case Study: Emperor Henry IV vs. Pope Gregory VII

During the late Middle Ages, often times local feudal kings made decisions regarding the churches in their communities. Decisions such as who would be the priest of the local church, who would be selected to become monks and nuns at the monasteries, and who would be the local bishop, were all decided by feudal kings or nobles.

In 1075, Henry the IV was one such feudal king. He was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (approximately modern-day Germa-ny). He chose a bishop for a city within his empire. The Pope at the time, Gregory VII, did not approve of this selection and he moved the bishop Henry selected. In re-sponse, Henry sent a letter to Gregory, telling the Pope that he did not have the right or au-thority to overturn his decisions. He also told him to be, “damned throughout the ages!” Pope Gregory responded to this note by ex-communicating Henry. He also threatened excommunication for nobles and bishops in Henry’s empire and called on them to find a replacement emperor.

Fearing he would lose his throne, Henry trav-elled by foot in winter to Italy where Gregory was located, to beg for forgiveness. He ar-rived at the pope’s door barefoot and wearing just a tattered shirt.

The picture to the left shows an artist’s rendi-tion of the event. Henry is on one knee kiss-ing the foot of Pope Gregory. (When you’re kissing another person’s foot, that really lets you know who is in charge doesn’t it?)

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The Crusades

During the Middle Ages, European Christians launched a series of religious wars called the Crusades. The goal of each crusade

was the same: to take Jerusalem and the area around it, known as the Holy Land, away from the Islamic kingdom that held it.

(Muslims also believe Jerusalem to be a holy site.)

Jerusalem is holy to Jews because it the site of their First and Second Holy Temples. (Remember the temple the Romans

de-stroyed and only left the western wall of up? This was mentioned in your Edict of Milan reading.) Jerusalem is holy for

Chris-tians because it is the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. Jerusalem is also one of the holiest sites in Islam, because it

is where Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven.

During the late 11th century CE, the Seljuk Turks conquered Palestine and much of the Middle East. The Seljuks, who were

Muslims, interfered with Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land in order to visit where Jesus was crucified. In 1095 CE,

Christian leaders appealed to the pope in Rome for help. Pope Urban II called for leaders of the church to meet in Clermont,

France. Here, at the Council of Clermont, the Pope and these leaders called for a holy war, or crusade against the Turks. The

nobles of Western Europe answered the pope's call. Pope Urban's plea for a crusade began a series of military campaigns

against the Muslims that lasted for about 200 years.

There were seven Crusades by the Christians of Europe. During the First Crusade, European nobles defeated Muslim armies

and conquered the Holy Land. However, the Muslims soon counterattacked. They destroyed the states the Europeans

estab-lished 12th century. Later Crusades did not succeed in recapturing the Holy Land. The Crusades failed in their purpose of

re-capturing the Holy Land from Muslim kingdoms. However, they did bring widespread changes to Europe. Western Europeans

came into contact with the advanced cultures of Muslims and the Middle East. An exchange of ideas occurred that increased

scientific knowledge in Western Europe. Muslims had safeguarded much of the knowledge of ancient civilizations in the

cen-turies after the Roman Empire collapsed, while the feudal kingdoms in Western Europe had lost this knowledge and not

placed an emphasis on education. Also, crusaders sampled the luxury goods of the East -- spices, silks, perfumes, a variety of

foods, among other things. When crusaders returned home, they spread stories of these goods. The demand for these goods

increased and helped to stimulate a revival of commerce and towns in Europe. This led to the opening of new and prosperous

trade routes between Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe.

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Since armies were raised at the Pope’s calling, and the purpose of The Crusades was to reclaim the Holy Land, crusaders often adorned themselves with em-blems of Christian faith, like the sign of the cross on the soldier to the left.

Islamic soldiers, like the one on the right, were well equipped and trained. Alt-hough defeated in the First Crusade, Muslims recaptured the Holy Land from European Crusaders in the Second Cru-sade and never relinquished control again.

The Crusades

The First and Second Crusades:

The First Crusade (1096-1099 CE)- A trained group of knights set out from Europe to begin the First Crusade. Although these knights were unprepared for the hardship of the journey (food and water ran low, and many knights resorted to looting towns and farms to get needed supplies), after three years of travel-ling they arrived in Jerusalem. Faced with a well-prepared Muslim army, the Crusaders laid siege to several cities in the area, including Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem, while eventually a victory for the Crusaders, involved terrible fighting and ended in disaster for the citizens of Jerusalem (see the quote below).

“It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses… In the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins… The city was filled with corpses and blood.”

—Raymond d’Aguliers, History of the Franks W ho Captured Jerusalem After the conquest of Jerusalem, the Crusaders created four states in the Holy Land. Centered on the cities of Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli, these states were intended to be Christian strongholds against future Muslim conquests in the region.

The Second Crusade (1145-1149 CE)- Within a few years, Muslims began to recapture lands that they had lost in the First Crusade. In 1144, they took the city of Edessa, the capital of one of the Crusader states. Upon learning that Edessa was lost, European leaders called for a second Crusade. This Crusade turned out to be a large failure for the Christians. The Crusaders took no lands from Muslims and were forced to return to Europe empty handed, having suf-fered heavy losses.

A great Muslim leader, named Saladin would later conquer and recapture all of the lands of the Christian Crusader states, and drove Christians out of the city of Jerusalem. In future Crusades, famous Christian kings (such as King Richard III “The Lion Hearted” of England) embarked upon these quests, but every time they were defeated by Muslim

armies.

Christian army surrendering to

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Rebirth of Towns and Cities in Western Europe

In the centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire, many of Europe’s biggest urban areas were deserted and fell into disrepair and decay. Those who lived in the centuries following the Roman Empire’s end instead lived on feudal manors, or within small villages within a castle’s walls. In the late Middle Ages, after the Crusades, trade routes opened up between Western Europe and kingdoms of the Middle East and Asia. As trade began to grow, it attracted people to central areas where goods could be traded. Hoping to make money, many peasants left their feudal farms and villages for these trading centers. As a result, larger towns and cities began to reappear across Western Europe.

As merchants moved into towns, they were sometimes subjected to the rules of corrupt local nobles. These nobles could charge the mer-chants fees or taxes on the goods they sold. Seeking to avoid these taxes and fees, mermer-chants appealed to kings for charters to begin their own towns— these towns founded by merchants became known as free towns. Towns grew quickly under the leadership of merchants. In the late Middle Ages, more people than ever began to migrate to European cities. By 1300 CE, Paris and Rome each had populations of 100,000. (Remember though, at its peak, ancient Rome had been home to 1,000,000 people.) Meanwhile, London and Florence each had about 75,000 people living within their limits.

With so many people living in towns and cities, craftspeople and merchants began to see a need to organize themselves in order to make profits and protect themselves. Eventually they created organizations known as guilds. All the members of a guild had the same occupa-tion (so, shoemakers were in a shoemakers’ guild; blacksmiths were in a blacksmiths’ guild; etc.) One of the primary funcoccupa-tions of guilds was to restrict competition. Working together, members of a guild set prices and standards of quality for their products. (Example: If blacksmith Charles of Charlotteshire makes awesome swords, he would not keep his sword-making formula secret from other Char-lotteshire blacksmiths. It would be shared with the guild so all CharChar-lotteshire could benefit. However, the blacksmiths of Kannapolisshire can try to figure it out on their own, blacksmith Charles ain’t giving them nothin.)

Guilds also protected themselves by ensuring they had a stable workforce: children of guild members were trained in the crafts of the old-er guild membold-ers. A child who wanted to learn a craft started out as an apprentice. The child would spend sevold-eral years working with a master, learning the skills of the craft. Most apprentices lived in their master’s home. Once an apprentice learned the basics, he became a journeyman. Guild rules and restrictions would decide whether a journeyman ever became a master or not. Some journeymen never be-came masters and instead spent their whole careers working underneath a master.

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Streets in tows in the Middle Ages were often cramped and crowded due to being built quickly. Also, in free towns, with merchants seeking to start and build towns quickly, city plans were often rushed and not completely thought out. This led to conditions unlike a Roman city, known for organization, grid-pattern streets, and open forums, among other features. In guilds, apprentices would spend many hours

over the course of several years honing and perfect-ing their craft in hopes of one day becomperfect-ing a mas-ter themselves (#StarWars #NowIAmTheMasmas-ter)

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Gothic Architecture

Roman architecture was admired by those who lived under Roman rule. Buildings like the Colosseum, the Forum, aqueducts, The Circus Maxi-mus, and others left a lasting impression of people for centuries to come. Even in the years after the Roman Empire collapsed, many architects tried (many times unsuccessfully due to a lack of formal training, education, or appropriate tools and manpower) to keep Roman building tech-niques alive. In the early Middle Ages, round, thick-walled, enclosed, dome-like structures with large towers, and few windows were made (think about your stereotypical image of a Medieval castle, and see the images on the other sheet). Buildings in this style were called Rom-anesque, due to their reliance on Roman techniques for construction.

In the late Middle Ages, a new form of architecture began to spread across Europe. This type of architecture became known as Gothic. The term “Goth” or “gothic” originally simply implied something that was not Roman. (Goths were a tribe of barbarians from northern Europe; just like we might say something that is not cool is “wack,” something that wasn’t Roman was “gothic.”)

Over time, Gothic architecture would surpass Romanesque architecture in complexity and splendor. One of the most common forms of Gothic architecture were churches built in the late Middle Ages. As the power of the Church and the Pope grew across Europe, the level of piety (devotion to one’s religion) grew. More and more people were more strongly dedicated and devoted to the Catholic Church. As a result, both leaders of the church and common people of Europe desired to build structures that would reflect their level of devotion to God.

Gothic cathedrals were taller and brighter than their Romanesque counterparts. The reason they were taller and brighter were due to a few key reasons. First, cathedrals were taller due to a new type of support pioneered in the Middle Ages known as flying buttresses. Previous churches depended on columns and braces inside the building for support. Flying buttresses supported a cathedrals walls from the outside. They acted as braces to keep the walls upright. This allowed builders to build church towers higher than ever before. Also, due to the supports being on the outside of the cathedral walls, Gothic cathedrals felt much more open and airy on the inside. The roofs were higher, spaces were large and open, and air circulated throughout.

Second, due to the support of flying buttresses, with less stress on the walls of cathedrals builders could design spaces in the walls for large, ex-travagant windows. These large windows allowed light to flow in more freely and keep cathedrals well illuminated. Seeking to take advantage of this light, church officials hired artists to create panels of stained glass for the windows. Many of these stained glass windows showed scenes from the Bible or depicted the lives of saints. The interior of Gothic cathedrals also included a number of other decorative elements. Gargoyles often adorned walls and corners and large frescoes (murals painted on plaster) of religious scenes often decorated the insides of churches. (Sound familiar to your? Or similar to your church? Guess where lots of the ideas you have of “what the inside of a church looks like” come from…)

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Romanesque architecture. Notice the heavy, flat walls, limits on height of towers, and smaller windows.

Flying buttresses.

Larger windows. Taller cathedrals.

Gothic architecture. Notice the elaborate detail and “non-flatness” of the walls and the other features (indicated with arrows).

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The Black Death

Between the years of 1347 and 1351 Europe, along with many other areas of the world, was ravaged by a horrible disease known as the Black Death. The first wave of the plague struck Europe in 1347. Historians are still not quite sure whether the Black Death was a single dis-ease or a string of epidemics of different disdis-eases. One theory is that the disdis-ease took two forms. One, called bubonic plague was spread by fleas that lived on rats and other animals. The other form, called pneumonic plague, could spread through the air from person to person. In 1346 plague struck Mongol armies laying siege to a port on the Black Sea in Eastern Europe. From there, infected rats and fleas made their way onto ships. Infected fleas bit humans, transferring the disease to them, As merchants travelled so did the plague. It spread quickly throughout Europe, first striking coastal regions and then moving inland. By 1351, almost no part of Europe remained untouched by the Black Death.

The Black Death was almost always fatal. Usually, a sign that a person was infected was the development of large black splotches on the skin. These splotches were often quite grotesque, and even if someone was lucky enough to survive a bout with the plague, scars would remain on their body where some of the splotches had once existed. Accompanying the splotches were other symptoms, including high fever with fatigue, profuse sweating, vomiting, and severe headaches. Most people who caught the plague displayed minor symptoms for a few hours before more serious symptoms set in. Most died within a few days of catching the disease. Because it spread so easily, priests and doctors who tended to the sick usually caught the plague and died themselves.

Historians estimate as many as 25 million Europeans— 1/3 of the population of the continent at the time (or 1 in every 3 people)— died dur-ing the Black Death. The plague not only devastated the European population, but it took hold in Central Asia, East Asia, and North Africa too (regions you could locate on a map due to your map quiz knowledge, right?). In China, the population dropped from about 125 million in the late 13th century CE to about 90 million in the late 14th century due to the plague.

People had varying responses to the plague. For most Europeans at the time, a common reaction was to think God was punishing people for their sins. Some people turned to witchcraft in the hope of using magic to cure themselves. In other areas, various groups were scape-goated (or blamed) for the spread of the plague. For example, some towns in Europe blamed Jewish people for the plague, believing there was a conspiracy by Jews to poison drinking water in towns. Despite various attempts to explain the Black Death, a lack of scientific knowledge due to a decline in levels of education in the years after Rome collapsed, meant no real progress or cures were ever discovered to help the populations of Europe as the Black Death left its toll on the continent.

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The Dance of Death: Mur als such as this one became popular themes on the walls of chur ches or other buildings/locations in Eu-rope during the outbreak of the plague. In the picture a black skeleton represents the plague and death. He “dances” with all of the other townsfolk. This is one of the few times in the Middle Ages where a bishop or king may have been thought of as an equal with common townsfolk, but the plague was indifferent to “royalty” or “nobility.” It “danced” with all.

Plague doctors: Without scientific knowledge or capabilities to diagnose and treat the Black Death, plague doctors wore masks such as this one on the left when treating patients. Some doctors and othrs suspected the disease was spread throught the air. So, the nose of the mask was often stuffed with herbs the doctors believed would protect them from catching the dis-ease when they breathed.

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Magna Carta

By around 1200 CE, the Pope and Catholic Church were gaining more and more political power and influence in Western Europe. Howev-er, the power of feudal kings over their nobles and other subjects was still very high. In England, in particular, this was the case. The lev-el of power of the English king was a serious concern for some of the unhappy nobles of England. They feared that kings would abuse their power and take away the nobles’ rights and abilities to rule subjects.

The nobles’ concerns reached a crisis point in 1215 under King John of England. Caught up in a war against the French in which the Eng-lish were suffering setback after setback, John found himself short of money to continue to fund the war effort. He tried to raise money with a new tax on the nobles of England, but the nobles refused and, instead, took up arms against John.

Eventually, the rebellious nobles put enough pressure on John, that the king accepted to create a document that would outline and en-force the nobles’ rights. This document was called Magna Carta (Latin for “Great Charter”). It contained many provisions that weakened the King of England’s power. For example, Magna Carta stated that the king had to obtain the consent of the nobles before raising tax-es. The document also ended the king’s ability to arrest and punish people without cause or to take their property without proper legal procedures (so much for King Charles’ give me a chicken for my party policy :( ).

Today’s general public often has a flawed interpretation of Magna Carta. Often, people say, “Magna Carta was where the people of Eng-land limited the power of the king.” This is not necessarily true. Indeed, the king of EngEng-land’s power was limited, but not by the com-mon people of England— peasants, farmers, and other comcom-mon-folk were certainly not considered to be worthy or capable of criticizing the king in the 13th century in England— it was the nobles of England, those with incredible wealth and entitlement, who limited the power of the king. Likewise, Magna Carta did not grant revolutionary rights to the common people of England, again the conditions of Magna Carta protected the rights of the nobles.

However, Magna Carta is significant and has an impact on people living today in that it set a precedent (an event or action that is a guide to be considered in later similar situations). For the first time in Western Europe since perhaps the Roman Republic, absolute authority on the part of an emperor or monarch was limited (if only by a little). It set forth ideas about limiting government power that would be adopted by later societies. For example, by restricting the king’s power, Magna Carta suggested that even kings were not above the law. Because of this many people draw the connection between this historical document and the formation of modern democratic govern-ments, like the United States.

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Magna Carta

To the left: an artists rendition of what the signing of Magna Carta may have looked like. Notice the people in the picture. What groups of people are not present at the signing?

To the right: a picture of a preserved copy of Magna Carta from a museum in England.

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