The Legacy of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages in the West (ca AD 500-

1450/1500)

The World in Transition, AD 395-1500

Introduction

The Three Heirs to the Roman Empire: 6th-7th centuries: a new period in the history of world
civilization; clear that no one empire would rule the Mediterranean world; by the 7th century, three
successor civilizations, the Byzantine, the Islamic, and the western European, had developed, each
with its own culture, its own religion, and its own language; these three civilizations quickly became
rivals.

The
Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean World at the Death of Justinian I.

Byzantine civilization: (5th century-1453) descended from the eastern half of the Roman Empire;
capital was Constantinople; language was Greek; it combined Roman imperial traditions of
government with intense pursuit of the [Orthodox] Christian faith; aspects of this culture (including
the Orthodox religion) spread into Eastern Europe and Russia during the Kievan Rus period (AD 882-
1240) and the Appanage Period (1054-1480).

Islamic civilization: (7th century-ca. 1500) founded by the prophet Muhammad; language was Arabic;
government and culture permeated with this dynamic new religion; it created an Empire in the old
Near East, along the African coasts of the Mediterranean, & it spread into the Indian subcontinent.

Western Christendom (6th century-1500); its language was Latin for the educated, most often the
clergy; the laity spoke one of many vernacular languages descended from Latin or Germanic tongues;
economy & governmental structures were weak; it slowly moved toward political and religious
cohesiveness based on the Christian religion; became dynamic, expansionistic, and creative during the
High Middle Ages (1050-1300).

The Eastern Heirs of the Roman Empire

Byzantine Civilization (5th century-1453)

Chronology of the Byzantine Empire from the fall of Rome to 1453:

1) ca. ad 500, the Empire consisted of Greece and the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Palestine, and
Egypt;

2) in 527, Justinian became emperor (ruled to 565), and tried to revive the Roman Empire; result was
30 years of wars to oust the Ostrogoths and other Germans from Italy and North Africa; war exhausted
the human and material resources of the empire and devastated and divided Italy; 3) following
centuries, the Byzantines lost most of their territory around the eastern & southern edges of the
Mediterranean; hence, the Empire consisted of Asia Minor, the Balkans, parts of Italy, and Crete and
Cyprus; 4) decline of the Byzantine Empire took centuries: attacks from the east by the Turks
weakened it; during the Fourth Crusade (1204), Europeans sacked Constantinople; the Empire
recovered under the Paleologi Dynasty (1261-1453), but it lacked unity and was fragmented;
Constantinople finally fell to the Moslem Turks in 1453, an event considered shattering by Europeans.

Character and Achievements of the Byzantine Empire: 1) its capital was the defendable
Constantinople, a rich and sophisticated city of 1,000,000;

2) it developed separately from Western Europe; the language was Greek; and its culture was an
ethnically diverse blend of the Roman, the Hellenistic, the Persian, and the Semitic; 3) its church also
moved away from the West; doctrinal disputes; unwillingness to acknowledge the authority of the
Roman pope, recognizing instead the Patriarch of Constantinople; church and secular state were
linked, and according to the doctrine of Caesaropapism, the emperor was both a secular and religious
leader; matters involving religion were also political, such as the iconoclastic controversy of the 8th-
9th centuries; this effort to remove images from the church failed, but it helped bring about the split
from the Western Church in 1054; 4) Orthodox missionaries like Cyril and Methodius carried the faith
into the Balkans and invented the Cyrillic script so the Bible could be written in Slavic; 5) Byzantine
works of art and architecture include mosaics, like the portraits of Justinian and Theodora in San
Vitale (Ravenna) or the Hagia Sophia (=Holy Wisdom);

6) Byzantines helped preserve Roman law and Greek culture: laws were codified by Justinian (the
Corpus juris civilis): laws from the reign of Hadrian to that of Justinian=the Code; a summary of
opinions of great jurists=the Digest; legal principles=the Institutes; & some of Justinian's laws=the
Novels; the Byzantines also helped preserve Greek learning, like the teachings of Aristotle; Western
Europeans in part learned of it from them.

Kievan Rus and its Culture, AD 882-1240

Eastern Europe and the migration of the Slavic Peoples: When the Slavs arrived is uncertain; they
mixed with peoples like the Huns, the Bulgars, and the Magyars; three distinct Slavic groups emerged:
 Slavic Migration Before ca. AD 700.

1) Western Slavs: in the 7th century, they migrated west, founded Kingdoms of Poland & Bohemia;
converted to Catholicism by German missionaries in the 9-10th centuries; also converted were the
non-Slavic Magyars, who founded the Kingdom of Hungary; Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians
henceforth linked to Western European culture; 2) Southern Slavs in the Balkans; some, like the Serbs
converted to Orthodox Christianity and hence linked to Byzantine cultural tradition; other, like the
Slovenes and Croats became Roman Catholic and were more European oriented; 3) Eastern Slavs and
the Origins of Kievan Rus: Eastern Slavs migrated into European Russia and Ukraine in the 6th
century; contact with the Vikings who traded along Russian rivers from the Baltic to the Black and
Caspian Seas and built cities like Novgorad (=new fort).

Origins of Kievan Rus uncertain; over time, its grand princes came to rule the Dnieper region and
came into contact with the Byzantines to the south; Orthodox Christianity arrived in the 980s, when
Vladimir I converted and married Anna, sister of a Byzantine ruler; the new faith grew and became a
unifying factor for the Russian people and a foundation of the Russian state; also meant that Russia
moved along a different path of cultural development than the West; high point of Kievan Rus was the
reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054); Kievan Rus declined in part because succession problems led
to civil wars and the Mongol invasions.

Appanage and Mongol Russia (1054-ca. 1500) followed, a period of extreme fragmentation; 1) a
number of important states (Moscow, Novgorad, Vladimir-Suzdal, etc) arose and competed for power;

2) invasions by the Mongols from Central Asia and Teutonic knights from the West; and 3) ethnic
divisions within Russia grew (Great Russians around Moscow, Ukrainians, White Russians, etc.). 4)
most important: Moscow rose in political & religious importance;

a) political rise possible because the Muscovite princes cooperated with the Mongols; in 1328, Ivan
Kalita named Grand Prince; during the reign of Ivan the Great (r. 1462-1505), northern Russia was
united under a single ruler, the foundations of a strong central government were established, and
Mongol rule ended (1480); his most important successor: Ivan the Terrible (r. 1533-1584), the first
Russian Tsar.
b) religious importance because the metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church settled in Moscow;
over the years, the Orthodox Church increased its power and wealth; the Metropolitan of Moscow was
crowned Patriarch in 1589; Moscow proclaimed the “third Rome,” the rightful successor of Rome and
Constantinople. “Two Romes have fallen, the third Rome will be Moscow and a fourth is not to be.”
This new confidence in their faith inspired the building of great churches like the Cathedral of the
Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin.

By the 16th century, political & religious foundations of the future Russian state laid and clear that
Russian civilization would develop in isolation from the West and be different from it and a
competitor with it; nonetheless, the Russians would often envy Western European civilization and
borrow wholesale from it.

Islamic Civilization and the Islamic Empire, AD 622-1453

Introduction: Arabs conquered a major Empire, which extended from the Indus River to the north
African coast of the Mediterranean to Spain and southern France (632 and 732): they brought their
language, their culture, and their religion to these territories, 50% of the once great Roman Empire.
What gave this people the energy that made possible these accomplishments?

The
Expansion of Islam.

Birth of Islam: Creator was the prophet Muhammad (b. ca. 570 in Mecca); a merchant, he converted
to a monotheism in 610 and preached a new religion that drew on and completed Judaism and
Christianity. Muhammad's message angered local officials, many of who were polytheistic; he and his
followers fled to Medina in 622 (hijra and the first year of the Muslim calendar); converts found in
Medina; returned to Mecca 8 yrs later captured the city. He destroyed idols in the Ka'ba, making it
into a Moslem shrine; today the Ka'ba is goal of pilgrims who embark on the Haj; Muhammad's died
in AD 632; most of Arabia had accepted or been forced to accept Islam and had been united.
Muhammad's religious teachings: Koran contains God's revelations to the Prophet Muhammad;
further, it contains much that is found in the Old Testament and the Torah. Koran teaches Muslims
The Five Pillars of Faith: 1) Recite the words of witness, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad
is His prophet”; 2) Pray five times a day facing Mecca; 3) Give alms to the poor; 4) Fast from dawn to
sunset during the holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Moslem year; and 5) Make a
pilgrimage or Haj to Mecca during one's lifetime.

The Ka'ba at Mecca.

No institutionalized church or clergy or elaborate ritual; the mosque was a place of worship and
teaching by scholars; no statues or religious images; a strict moral code, the virtues of temperance,
humility, justice, generosity, tolerance, obedience, and courage; a ban on alcohol and pork; polygamy
was permitted, with four wife limit; slavery was practiced, but Muhammad encouraged the freeing
slaves; a Day of Judgment; religion and politics mixed, hence the holy war, or a Jihad. The sacred
books: the Koran; the Hadith (sayings and traditions of the Prophet); and the Shari’a (Islamic law).

The Spread of Islam: 632-661: conquest of Persia and parts of India, the Middle East, and North
Africa as far as Tripoli. 662-750, Moslems conquered Armenia, the rest of North Africa, Spain and
the southern parts of France. Muslim expansion into Europe at Battle of Tours (732), but failed to take
Constantinople. The conquests meant that the Moslems controlled the Mediterranean Sea and its trade
routes.

Islamic Doctrinal Split: Issues involved selection of Muhammad's successors (the caliph), and the
interpretation of the Koran; result: the Shi'ites and Sunnis; both agreed on law and religious practices.
Shi'ites: only a direct descendant of Muhammad could rule and be an intermediary between man and
God and strict fundamentalists about the Koran. Sunnis: any capable Muslim could be elected caliph
and they were liberal on the interpretation of the Koran. A third group emerged later, the Sufis, or
mystics believed they could communicated directly with God and receive special inner knowledge.
They also lived an austere life of withdrawal from this world.

Government and Economy: Muslim empire divided into provinces; originally had a strong central
government under a caliph, who held supreme civil, military, and religious power; first caliph was
Abu Bakr; 4th caliphate was Ali (656–61); afterwards problems over succession developed and no one
caliph ruled the Islamic world. Most important caliphates: the Umayyads (660-750; Damascus) and
the Abbasids (750-1258; Baghdad). After the Abbasids massacred the Umayyads in 750, one member
escaped to Spain, where he established the Caliphate of Córdoba; it lasted until 1031. Additional
caliphates were established in North Africa, including the Fatimids (968-1171) and the Ayyubids
(1173-1250) in Egypt, the Alids (788-985) and the Almoravids (1056-1147) in Morocco, and the
Almohades (1130-1269) in Tunsia, Algeria, Morocco, and parts of Spain. Economy based on
commerce (China to the Mediterranean) and on manufacturing (silk, cloth, tapestries, and carpets;
jewelry, perfumes, and spices; precious metals and swords from Damascus and Toledo).

Culture contributions of Islam: Learning valued; works of ancient Greek, Roman, and Asian
science and philosophy were preserved, many of which later reached western Europe; scientists and
geographers invented the astrolabe; mathematicians perfected algebra and transmitted the system of
Arabic numbers, first developed in India, to the West; philosophers included Avicenna, (Canon of
Medicine); the 12C philosopher Averroës wrote commentaries on Aristotle and Plato and tried to
reconcile the teachings of Aristotle with those of Muhammad; he taught that religious truth was
accepted by faith, while philosophical truth was reached through reasoning. Islamic religious art is
highly decorative; no representation of human or animal forms for religious purposes; found
frequently were geometric or floral designs. Secular art, humans and animals were represented, often
hunting or fighting battles. Islamic Architecture: the arch, the dome, and the minaret.

Collapse of the Muslim Empire: 1) almost inevitable; empire extended from Spain to India and
encompassed many different peoples; nothing in common save their religion and Arabic; no lasting
political unity. 2) Further the invasion of the Seljuk Turks reduced the Abbasids to religious leaders in
1055. These Turks defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert (1071) and seized much of Asia Minor,
Syria, and Mesopotamia. Their power declined when the Mongols defeated them at Kösedagh
(1243). Then, during the 14th and 15th centuries, the Ottoman Turks, who had converted to Islam in
the 9th and 10th centuries, won control of Asia Minor and eventually conquered Constantinople itself
in 1453. Their empire in Asian Minor, southern Europe (the Balkans), and North Africa lasted until
World War I. 3) Moreover, the advance of Islam had alarmed European Christians, and they launched
crusades against Moslem control of the eastern Mediterranean and the Holy Places in Palestine.
During the same period, Christians retook most of Spain and the island of Sicily. Islamic religion of
course survived the collapse of the Empire, and it is firmly rooted in North Africa, parts of southern
Europe and Russia, the Near East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. 4) Nonetheless, today some
935,000,000 people practice Islam, about 22% of the world's population.

Western Christendom During the Middle Ages

Introduction: Medieval Civilization (at first the least promising of the three heirs to the Roman
empire), fused three great cultural traditions: the Greco-Roman (or Classical), with its emphasis on
man and the use of Reason; the Judaeo-Christian, with its emphasis on God and Faith; and the
Germanic, with its literature, its languages, and its political practices. Because many of the essential
components of western civilization are almost mutually exclusive, this civilization has been dynamic
and open to change.

Three Periods of the Early Middle Ages

The Early phase (ca 500-750): violence and chaos

Five Themes: a) barbarian Germans like the first Frankish king Clovis (481-511) seek to create
monarchies; b) these struggling monarchies fought each other for domination, ending the peace and
unity of the Roman world and beginning to establish the basis for the nations of modern Europe; c) a
drastic political, economic, cultural (even surviving works, like Gregory of Tours' History of the
Franks, evidence this decline), and urban decline (population of Rome drops to 40,000); d) invasions
and threats of invasions from the Byzantines (Italy, 6th century), Slavs, and Scandinavians; and

e) the Church undertakes a major effort to convert barbarians like Clovis (496) with the missionary
work of St Boniface (?680-754) and others, asserts that the spiritual authority of the church was
superior to political authority (Pope Gelasius I [r. 590-604] and the Theory of the Two Swords) and
preserve learning and civilization (monastic libraries, the Book of Kells and Gregorian chant).

The Frankish Empire.

The Carolingian Period, ca 750-987

Introduction: By 750, institutions & culture of the Germanic West were still modest; then a revival
for about a century; called the Carolingian Renaissance, and it was largely due to Charlemagne and his
royal family; a lesser but similar revival associated with the English kings of Wessex like Alfred the
Great.

The Carolingians: important in Frankish history from 714 [Charles Martel] to 987 [the coronation of
Hugh Capet], began as an ambitious family of feudal landowners. They held the hereditary office of
Mayor of the Palace = the Chief Administrators of the Frankish kingdom; under Charles Martel, they
halted the Muslim advance at the Battle of Tours (or Poitiers, 732); they collaborated with other nobles
to undermine the Merovingians, and, under Pepin the Short, deposed (with the aid of the church) them
in 751. Close ties between the Frankish Monarchy and the Church are important, so it is worth asking
why the Pope supported Pepin in deposing the old kings. The answer is simple: the Pope and the
Church needed a military protector like Pepin and Pepin sought to use Christianity to justify his claim
to the throne and unify the Franks. Pepin offered the so-called “Donation of Pepin”, a promise to
guarantee papal control over various lands in Italy, and in return the Pope reanointed him as King of
the Franks and gave him the title Protector of Rome. Both sides gained from this new alliance of
convenience. The Frankish kings could claim to rule by the grace of God while the Church gained
military protection, security in its own lands, and Frankish support for missionary work.

The Age of Charlemagne, 768-814: Pepin died in 768; his sons, Charles and Carloman, divided the
Frankish kingdom; Carloman died in 771, allowing Charles, or Charlemagne, to become the
undisputed ruler. 1) Natural leader and a man of great energy, Charlemagne transformed the Frankish
kingdom into a great empire and he then presided over a remarkable cultural flowering. Charlemagne
enjoyed success as a military leader, and he succeeded in conquering the Lombards in northern Italy,
the Saxons in the east, the Muslims in northern Spain, not to mention numerous other peoples. By
about 800, he had created the largest state in Europe after the fall of Rome.

The Empire of Charlemagne.

2) Within his kingdom, Charlemagne provided good government. Royal commands (capitularii) were
usually issued after consultations with the great nobles and the clergy; these commands were carried
out by missi dominici, royal officials who served as representatives of the kings and who prevented
abuses by local officials; and officials and nobles were bound to Charlemagne by an oath of allegiance
- they provided service, especially military service, and were rewarded with land (the benefice or fief).
3) Charlemagne a genuinely religious man who believed that God made kings responsible for the
Church; encouraged missionary work, converting the Saxons by the sword when necessary; and he
enhanced the prestige of the papacy by advocating reform of the Church under papal guidance. Pope
Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor in Saint Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day, 800; some
historians see this coronation as the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, which, in various guises,
will exist until 1806.

4) the Carolingian Renaissance: Remarkable cultural flowering that received royal support. Palace
School at Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle; Alciun its director; it soon attracted the best minds of Europe,
making Charlemagne’s capital at Aachen a great cultural center. Scriptoria at Aachen produced books
in a new and clear script, Carolingian miniscule, which later became the basis for modern script and
typefaces.

Charlemagne also encouraged the opening of schools at monasteries and bishoprics, many of which
sustained the Carolingian Renaissance in the centuries to come. Important books from the Carolingian
Renaissance include Einhard's biography of Charlemagne, one of our few primary sources for his
reign. Representative of Carolingian achievements in the arts are Charlemagne’s palace church at
Aachen, illuminated manuscripts, and religious carvings; these works are in a new style, one derived
from a mixture of classical, Byzantine, Germanic, and Celtic styles.

The Disintegration of the Carolingian Monarchy, 814-987: Charlemagne’s Empire did not survive
for long after his death; its failure may be easily explained: 1) The Empire itself was never truly
unified; it contained ethnicly and linguistically diverse peoples; its relationship to the Church was
ambiguous, for Church leaders wanted independence; it was threatened by enemies on all its frontiers
(Muslims to the south; Slavs and Magyars to the east; Vikings and Norsemen to the north); and the
great Frankish nobles asserted themselves against Charlemagne’s successors, thus undermining the
power of the central government. 2) Worse, Charlemagne's heirs not outstanding; his son, Louis the
Pious, was indecisive, and he divided the empire into thirds, giving each son a kingdom, and he made
the eldest Lothair emperor and gave him vague authority over the others. Not unexpectedly, civil war
resulted, and by the Treaty of Verdun (843) Charlemagne’s empire was split into three parts: Charles
the Bald ruled the West Franks [France], Louis the German ruled the East Franks [Germany], and
Lothair ruled the central lands. 3) The central kingdom quickly disappeared, leaving the West Franks
and the East Franks as the dominant groups (Treaty of Mersen, 870) To a certain extent, the history of
Western Europe from the 10th to the middle of the 20th centuries has been dominated by the struggle
between the descendants of these groups over the old Frankish Middle Kingdom.
 Europe
after the Division of Charlemagne's Empire.

Ninth and tenth centuries marked by: 1) the decline of the monarchy and the rise of great nobles; 2)
feudalism and manorialism develop; 3) the Church to become bolder in its claims for power and
independence and in its effort to assert its superiority over the state, thus setting the stage for one of
the great struggles of the High Middle Ages; 4) invaders from the north devastated Europe in the 9th
and 10th centuries, bringing about a political, economic, social, and cultural decline almost as severe
as that which followed the fall of Rome. Some of these invaders, we might note, claimed land and
settled down, like the Normans in Normandy in 911 and others in England and Ireland. Only about
987, when Hugh Capet is crowned king of France, does it appear that this general decline will be
halted and then reversed

Feudalism and Manorialism

Feudalism as a political institution and manorialism as the socio-economic system that supported
emerged from the wreckage of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries. Feudalism
necessary due to decline of a powerful centralized government in the years after 814; political,
military, judicial, and other functions of government exercised at the local level; feudalism was a
political arrangement that provided for the performance of these functions of government by a class of
landed nobles. Nobles bound by an interdependent system of personal ties; the heart was the feudal
contract, which established relations between lord and vassal, the most important of which were
protection and service. The noble class developed a value system (later called chivalry); knights were
to be Christian, brave, faithful, generous, and protective of women and the poor; evidence of this code
may be found the French epic The Song of Roland and the Spanish El Cid.
 The Feudal System

Manorialism: Power and prestige of the noble class based on land (the fief), which supported the
lord, his family, and his soldiers. Landed estate organized as manors; each a self-supporting economic
unit; the lord provided the land and protection; serfs provided the labor.
 A Typical Medieval Manor.

Serfs (=landless peasants) bound to the soil; could not be bought or sold individually; they passed new
owners when land changed hands. Medieval farming methods primitive; yield was low. Three-field
system was used, with one field planted in the autumn, one in the spring, and one fallow. Cultivated
fields were farmed in strips, largely because of the turning radius of the heavy plow. Serf's life was
difficult and usually short; a serf usually lived out his entire life without leaving the manor upon which
he was born. He owed his lord labor on the lord's land; he paid the lord in kind to have his wheat
ground, his bread baked, and his grapes pressed; he owed his lord labor on roads and buildings; he
could not leave the manor without his lord’s permission; and his marriage might be arranged by his
lord. In return, the serf had the right to live on the manor and to farm his strips of land. A certain
degree of security and order governed the serf's existence.
 The High Middle Ages, 1050-1300

The 11th Century European Agricultural Revolution: it helped make the High Middle Ages
possible and had long been in preparation; 4 factors prepared ground for it: the end of the wave of
raids that swept Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries; the clearing and cultivation of new land and
the spread of the three-field rotation system; technological innovations like the heavy plow and the
horse collar; and the use of wind & water mills for power.

Results: a dramatic increase in the supply of food in western Europe; dramatic population growth; a
revival of trade and the rebirth of towns (the medieval urban revolution). Economic prosperity
produced an energy that drove Medieval Europeans to make numerous political, economic, social, and
intellectual advances.

The Medieval Revival of Trade: Two sorts of commercial activity after 1050: local: surplus grain
and products from small industries in markets and long distance trade, especially in textiles, wine, and
luxury items. How & why? Mediterranean reopened after Italians defeated Muslim raiders; Italian
cities, which took a leading role in the revival of commercial activity, traded with the Byzantine
Empire. Europeans wanted silks, spices, and other luxury items from the east; Venice, Genoa, Milan,
and Pisa (on routes between E and W) became market centers. Elsewhere: trade developed between
Scandinavian cities and cities along the Atlantic coastline; between England, northern France, and
Flanders; and along the rivers linking the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea and Constantinople. Results:
Trade expansion made necessary the creation of new forms of business organization (partnerships); a
money economy; and a money-changing or banking system. Trade stimulated the development of
trade fairs in the Champagne (France) and elsewhere. Medieval trade revival laid foundations for the
development of a modern market economy which eventually evolved into capitalism. This greater
commercial activity also stimulated the growth of towns which in turn stimulated even greater
economic growth.

The Medieval Urban Revolution: Urban life declined significantly declined after the fall of Rome,
though less so in Italy. Urban life revived during the 11th century. Why? increased food supply
produced by the Medieval agricultural revolution, population growth, and the revival and expansion of
trade. Where? Towns either revived or were founded where merchants gathered: along
communication links like seacoasts, rivers, and roads; near places of security like castles; or where
fairs were sponsored, like monasteries. Some medieval towns (Paris [150,000], London [40,000], or
Florence [100,000]) were Roman in origin; others newly built.

Impact of such towns and their economic and political activities: 1) Introduced a new class, the
bourgeoisie, which had no place within the medieval system of lord, church, and peasant; the
bourgeoisie were master artisans, merchants, and their families; their world was governed by market
relationships; they believed in bettering their lot in this world through individual initiative; the affluent
demanded a role in government. 2) Merchant and craft guilds developed; organizations of local
artisans and businessmen, and their purpose was to control, protect, and promote specific economic
activities by ensuring a stable market; quality; and prices (the “just price”). Guilds also controlled
admission to specific crafts by establishing a complex series of steps--apprenticeship, journeyman, and
master--through which an aspirant had to go.

Merchants established international trading groups were established; i.e. the 13th-century Hanseatic
League of London, Bruges, Novgorod, Danzig, and Bergen.
 3) In cities the bourgeoisie developed concepts of self-government and freedom from the feudal
system; many cities gained either by fighting or by purchase charters which granted them self-
government, individual freedom; an exemption from manorial obligations; urban rather than feudal
justice, and commercial privileges. According to one medieval phrase: “Stadtluft macht frei”. Serfs
often fled their manors, finding refuge in cities. In cities religious and intellectual life flourished; their
wealth made possible the building of great universities and cathedrals of the High Middle Ages.

The Rise of National Monarchies, 1050-1300: two themes dominate the political life of the High
Middle Ages: 1) the successful development of national monarchies in England and France, with
medieval England laying the foundations for a parliamentary monarchy and France establishing the
basis for absolutism; 2) the failure to develop national monarchies in Germany and Italy.

The Holy Roman Empire (the Germanies): Holy Roman Empire in 1050: the most centralized and
best governed territory in Europe; by 1300. its central government had lost its power and the Empire
had fragmented into a large number of warring states; the resulting power vacuum lasted until 1871,
when modern Germany was created; and it is this Germany that helped bring about two world wars
and was from 1945-1990 a divided country. One explanation: the 11th century Investiture
Controversy.
 The
Holy Roman Empire.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century: Germanies least
affected by invaders from the N &E after Charlemagne’s death; nevertheless, no central government
and real power in the hands of dukes and other nobles who elected their king. Ottonian Dynasty (919-
1024): determined to provide good government, to retard feudalism, and to protect their lands from
foreign attack, especially from the east. Greatest Ottonian: Otto the Great (936-973), crowned king in
Aachen and then Holy Roman Emperor in Rome (962). Ottonian’s weakness: elected & lacked own
lands, a secure income, & his own military forces; accordingly dependant on the great nobles and the
Church for resources and for military & administrative personnel. Control over the Church depended
on the practice of "lay investiture," (=practice of investing high church officials with the symbols of
their office). Century after Otto, no major problems; high point of the Holy Roman Empire reached in
the reign of Henry III (1039-1056).

Church reformers & popes attack lay investiture. Result: bitter conflict between Pope Gregory
VII (1073-1085) and Henry IV (1056-1106): the Investiture Controversy (1074-1122)—at its height,
the Pope banned lay investiture and threatened Henry with ex-communication; Henry tried to depose
the Pope, who promptly excommunicated him and released his subjects from any allegiance to the
emperor.

Henry's lords rebelled & forced him to make peace at Canossa (1177). Struggle finally ended by the
Concordat of Worms (1122): the Emperor lost the right to appoint bishops while retaining the right to
grant them land and secular political power. The Church won the Investiture Struggle, and in doing so
it weakened the Holy Roman Empire, thus permitting the growth of feudalism and greater power for
the feudal lords.

Results of the Investiture Struggle: Political de-centralization of Germany. The Hohenstauffens,

especially Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190), tried but failed to reverse this decline. New method of
choosing emperors established by the Golden Bull (1356); henceforth, the Emperors were elected by
seven great lords; in 1356, a member of the Habsburg family was elected emperor, and the crown
remained in their hands until 1806; the Habsburgs ruled in Austria until 1918. Meanwhile, the
Hohenzollerns began growing, and they would first rule Prussia and then a united Germany from 1871
to 1918.

Disunited Italy. Its southern third became a battleground where the Normans and the Hohenstauffens
struggled. Popes predominated, but the Church was unable to establish a strong government. And in
the north, the site of rich commercial and manufacturing towns, two themes prevailed. These towns
maintained political autonomy, largely because the struggle between the Holy Roman Emperor and the
Church prevented either one from asserting tight control, and they fought each other incessantly;
ironically, it is from cities like Florence in this area that the Italian Renaissance was born in the 15th
century.

The Establishment of Strong Centralized Monarchies in England and France: England, in

contrast, saw the beginnings of parliamentary government in the 13th century; France: absolutism
began to take root.

Medieval England: 1066: William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England (the 11th-century Bayeux
Tapestry).

William centralized power: all lands (fiefs) were held directly or indirectly from the king; a personal
oath of loyalty (the Oath of Salisbury [1086]) made each lord the vassal of the king; the king coined
money, supervised justice, and built castles; local government was dependent upon the kings; and the
Domesday Book (1086), a land survey, compiled for tax levies. Over time, Norman and Anglo-Saxon
cultures blended, producing a uniquely English culture.
England in the 200 years after William: English kings increased power and control over the
kingdom and suffered a major crisis. Henry I (r. 1100-1135) established the office of the Exchequer.
Henry II (r. 1154-1189) allowed feudal nobles to avoid military service by paying the king; Henry
used the money to hire mercenaries loyal to himself. Major crisis: during the reign of Henry II; Henry
caught in a struggle over control of the English church with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of
Canterbury; Becket was murdered, perhaps on the orders of Henry, and he had to back down before
the Church.

English kings also reformed the legal system and established one legal system. Henry I dispatched
royal judges to try cases. Henry II is known as the “father of English common law”. He established
circuits for royal judges, and he initiated the Grand Jury, 25 informed men who submitted the names
of individual suspected of criminal activity. Petit juries were introduced in the 1200s, and these
twelve men gradually won the right to judge civil and criminal cases. Henry II also took a major role
in preserving English possessions in France.

Thirteenth century England: Two themes dominate: 1) Futile efforts to hold on to possessions in
France weakened English kings, beginning with the unpopular John I (1190-1216). To fight wars in
France, wars which he frequently lost, John needed money, and this weakness gave the great barons
the opportunity to force him to sign the Magna Carta (1215); it asserted that the king was subject to the
law of the realm and that he had respect such feudal customs as taxation only with the consent of the
great lords. The Magna Carta also stated that an accused person had the right to a trial by a jury of his
peers. Originally, the Magna Carta applied only to the barons; over the years they were extended to all
Englishmen. In this manner, limits on the power of the English king established.

2) The Magna Carta symbolizes the second theme: the origins of parliamentary government. Origins
are Anglo-Saxon: a king had to consult powerful nobles and officials. William the Conqueror
consulted a Great Council. During the reign of Henry III (1216-1272), nobles led by Simon de
Montfort rebelled and seized the English crown. De Monfort called representatives of the gentry (two
knights from each shire) and middle classes (two burgesses from each town) to meet with the great
lords and clergy of the Great Council. De Montfort’s rebellion was crushed; but the practice of calling
this representative body continued. Edward I (1272-1307) called the Model Parliament (1295), to
which each county and town sent two representatives, to advise the king and to vote on taxes. In time,
Parliament divided into Lords and Commons, and it used the power of granting taxes to win the right
to pass laws.

Medieval France (The Capetian Dynasty): Growth of a national monarchy set France on a road to
absolutism (=concentration of all power in the hands of the king). Between the Treaty of Verdun
(843) and 987: a decline of monarchical power in France. Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected
king in 987. The Capetians ruled until 1328, and they accomplished several goals: 1) achieved control
over their own lands & the Ile de France; 2) they enlarged the size of the royal domain and they
conquered much of the land held by the English within France;
 Map of Capetian France in the 14th
Century.

3) they strove to assert royal authority over that of the feudal nobles; and 4) they governed a
prosperous France of 15 million. Major problem: the claim of English kings to territories in France,
including Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Poitou, Aquitaine, and Gascony. Under the able Philip
Augustus (1180-1223), the Capetians; 1) defeated John of England, adding large tracts of land to the
royal holdings; 2) provided effective government and collected taxes; 3) began building Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris; and 4) helped found the University of Paris. Other Capetians added to their
holdings and strengthened the power of the monarchy, partly by making alliances with the
bourgeoisie; king and townsmen used each other to weaken the power of the nobility. No parliament
developed in France; the Estates General lacked power and it met infrequently. Since the kings could
establish taxes without calling the Estates General, they tended to ignore it. At the end of the High
Middle Ages, Philip the Fair was the French king, and he presided over an efficient centralized
monarchy. France was on the road to the creation of an absolute monarchy.

The Vitality of Medieval Religious Life

The Papal Monarchy, 1050-1300: Medieval popes able to challenge and best such secular kings as
Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century and Henry II of England in 12th because of
power of the papal monarchy, particularly from the 11th to the 13th centuries. By the beginning of the
14th century, the ability of popes to challenge successfully the power of kings was on the wane. But:
how were Popes able to exercise such political and religious power?

Decline in Religious Life: 9th-11th centuries, European religious life declined, both at the local level
and in the upper ranks of the clergy. Parish priests were frequently illiterate and immoral; higher
ranking clergy were often appointed by powerful lords, and they served their interests rather than those
of the church. In the 10th century, the church undertook to reform itself, a movement that began in the
monasteries and then spread to the papacy.
Monastic Reform Movement: Began with the founding of Cluny (910); by 1049, there were 67
monasteries. Reform received new life from the Cistercians (early 12th century), founded by Bernard
of Clairvaux: the order had five houses in 1115, 328 in 1152, and 694 in 1300. Other monastic orders
flourished in the same centuries, and they ranged from the mendicant or begging orders to the
Franciscans, founded by the legendary Francis of Assis (1182- 1226). Called “God’s own
troubadour”, St Francis preached a life of total poverty, charity and good works, and love for all; the
Franciscans ironically became one of the largest and most powerful of the monastic orders.

Papal Reform Movements: Goals of the Popes: 1) free the Church from secular control; 2) centralize
Church government under the Pope; and 3) assert the supremacy of the Papacy within a Christian
Europe. Examples: the Investiture Controversy and the struggle between Henry II and Becket in
England. Under Innocent III (1198-1216), the power of the medieval papacy reached its height. He
believed by uniting all of Christendom under papal rule that he would be able to bring right order to
the world. He also launched crusades against European heretics such as the Albigensians (south of
France) and to the Holy Land. In 1215, he called the Fourth Lateran Council; it affirmed the
fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith. Other Popes followed his lead. Pope Gregory IV founded
the Inquisition in 1232; it and other papal courts used to root out heresy. Efforts of the Church to
assert itself lead to clashes with secular kings. Until the end of the 13th century, the Popes usually
prevailed. Then came the conflict with Boniface VIII (1294-1303), of whom it was said: he entered
the papacy like a fox, ruled like a lion, and died like a dog. With the bull Unam Sanctum, Boniface
asserted the authority of the Church over Philip the Fair, king of France, but unlike in previous
situations, the French king did not back down; rather, he sent a group of thugs and arrested Boniface.

This humiliation opened a period of great trial for the Church, one that would result in the Protestant
Reformation of the 16th century. Throughout the Late Middle Ages, the 14th, the 15th, and the early
16th centuries, the Church refused to reform itself, and, moreover, it resisted pressure from without to
reform. The result was the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy (1309-1377) and the Great Schism
(1378-1415). Even the Council of Constance (1415-1417), while it ended the Great Schism, failed to
bring about true reform.

Popular Religious Movements, 1050-1300: During the centuries of monastic reform and the growth
of the papal monarchy, there also grew up in Europe numerous popular religious movement, and they
resulted partly from genuine religious motives and partly from social and economic causes. They
included the Waldensians, founded by Peter Waldo, who preached poverty, a strict moral life, and the
use of the vernacular language, and the Albigensians, who rejected the leadership of the Church and
embraced philosophical dualism; they also rejected marriage, all forms of materialism, and
cooperation with the state. The Church itself had little toleration for these movements, and it
frequently launched crusades against them, as did Innocent III against the Albigensians in 1209.

The Crusades, 1095-1272: Clear expression of the power of religion in medieval life and of the
power of the papacy to motivate hundreds of thousands were the eight crusades undertaken to recover
the Holy Lands from the Moslems. Crusades also part of the expansion of Europe during the High
Middle Ages, an expansion that also included the “drang nach osten” (the movement of Christian
knights into Eastern Europe) and the “Reconquista”, (=reconquest of Spain from the Moslems).
 Map of
the Crusades.

Factors making the Crusades possible: 1) For centuries, Christians had been making pilgrimages to
the Holy Lands; because of military victories by the Moslem Turks, access to the Holy Places was
threatened. 2) Christians and Moslems had been at war for centuries, and the Church had supported
these wars. And, 3) there were numerous Europeans, especially knights, hungering for adventure,
wealth, and land, not to mention trading advantages. In 1095, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) launched
the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont; the Pope’s call was echoed by Peter the Hermit, and over
100,000 people, from commoners to great nobles, set out for Jerusalem, most with religious motives,
including the plenary indulgence. Great military successes were enjoyed at Antioch (1098) and
elsewhere, and Jerusalem was taken in 1099. The Europeans promptly established four Crusader
kingdoms, including the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem under Baldwin of Flanders. To protect these
conquests, orders of crusading kings, such as the Templars and the Knights Hospitalers were founded.
And over the next 200 years, seven more crusades were launched as the Turks sought to regain their
lost lands. Most met with but little success, and by 1291 the last of the Crusader kingdoms fell.

Impact of the Crusades on Western Europe: 1) They demonstrated the religious vitality and the
growing self-confidence of western Europe; 2) they gave Europeans an opportunity to learn new
military tactics, to become familiar with new weapons like the crossbow, and to construct new types of
castles;

3) they also increased the power of kings, who raised taxes and commanded large national armies; in
contrast, many feudal nobles were killed, while others sold rights and privileges to towns to raise the
funds necessary for a crusade. 4) they opened the old Middle East and Asia to the west, stimulating a
demand for Asian luxuries and making great trade centers of Venice and Genoa. And, 5) they put
Europeans into direct contact with the civilizations of the ancient world and with works of hitherto
unknown classical authors, such as Aristotle.

German Crusades in the Baltic Region: Motivations were mixed. Lords sought new estates;
peasants wanted land and an escape from the manorial system; Christian missionaries wanted
converts; and merchants wanted new areas to trade. Results: Thousands of Germans moved into the
Baltic region and established towns and brought new land under cultivation. They also brought the
German language and culture and the Christian religion with them; protecting them were military
orders like the Teutonic Knights. The cities established by the Germans joined with other German
cities to establish the Hanseatic League. At its high point, this League controlled much of the trade of
northern Europe, from the Baltic to the North Sea. German presence in the Baltic areas ended in 1945,
when million were expelled at the end of World War II.

Medieval Intellectual and Cultural Life

High Medieval Intellectual Life, 1050-1300: Europeans responsible for achievements in philosophy,
literature, architecture, and art. Increase in literacy, from about 1% in Florence in 1050 to about 40%
in 1340; most literate European had some association with the Church. Interest in learning led to the
founding of schools and universities in major cities and town.

A post-graduate student could earn an MA in 5-6 years and a PhD in about 13. Subject matter at
universities, like Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Salerno, and Bologna, was the Seven Liberal Arts (the
Trivium [grammar, rhetoric, and logic] and the Quadrivium [arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and
music]). Language of instruction was Latin. Some universities specialized; students wishing to study
medicine went to Salerno, while those wishing to study Roman and Church law went to Bologna.
Oxford and Paris specialized in theology.

Philosophy: Scholasticism was a medieval philosophy that used Reason (from Greek philosophy) to
deepen the understanding of what was believed by Faith (from Christianity). One philosopher was
Peter Abelard (1079-1142), who in the controversial Sic et non argued that human reason could
resolve conflicts between religious authorities on matters of faith. He asserted: “By doubting we come
to inquiry, and by inquiry we perceive the truth.” Abelard was condemned by the Church. After the
middle of the 12th century, the works of Aristotle (= the Philosopher) were re-introduced into Europe;
they shaped the work of philosophers like St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica), probably the
greatest scholastic thinker of the medieval period. He argued that there were two paths to the
knowledge of God and His creation: Revelation or faith and reason, and each had its own proper
sphere of activity.

Scientific thinking not of major importance. Medieval thinkers utilized a deductive method of
thinking, and they turned to the Bible or accepted Classical authorities for answers. For questions
dealing with the cosmos, one opened the works of Ptolemy; for medical matters, one turned to Galen.
Other medieval thinkers practiced astrology, or the effort to predict the future by observing the
movements of the planets and the stars. Others turned to alchemy, hoping to find the formula that
would transform lead into gold. Since medieval scientists did not use the empirical method, they often
accepted uncritically the ideas of authorities. Few questioned, for example, Ptolemy’s geocentric
model of the cosmos, and even those who did simply tried to tinker with the model to accommodate
the fact that it did not accurately predict the movements of the heavens.
Vernacular Literature: Much of the thought and writing was religious and in the Latin language,
there was also a strong tradition of vernacular literature. National epics, or chansons de geste, like the
English Beowulf or French Song of Roland or the Spanish Cid or the German Nibelungenlied,
recounted the stories of great heroes and the values of a bloody warrior society. More refined were the
troubadour songs of the 12th century, which celebrated unfilled romantic love and were addressed to
women. Romances were long narrative poems, like the Arthur stories of Chrétien de Troyes or the
later German Parzifal of Wolfram von Eschenbach or the Tristan und Isolde of Gottfried von
Strassburg. Also important were the fabliaux, humorous often bawdy and worldly animal tales, like
the Romance of Reynard the Fox; they mocked the ideas of chivalry, ridiculed human foolishness, and
mocked the Church. Popular with the common people were the so-called miracle plays, which
recounted Biblical and other Christian stories for the unlettered. Probably the greatest work of the
High Middle Ages was the Divine Comedy of Dante Alghieri (1265-1321), which told of the poet's
spiritual journey through the Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. For English-speaking people, the best
known of the medieval writers was Geoffrey Chaucer, the fourteenth-century author of humorous,
bawdy, and very popular Canterbury Tales.

High Medieval Art and Architecture: In medieval church art and architecture, there are two great
styles, the Romanesque (ca 1000-1150) and the Gothic (ca 1150-1400).

The Romanesque Style: Great church buildings were monastic churches and pilgrimage churches.
Most were built in rural areas or along the great pilgrimage routes to Compostela in Spain.

Principal architectural features of the severe and plain Romanesque style are the round [or the
Romanesque] arch, the barrel vault, and massive stone walls with small windows. Exterior decoration
is usually quite simple, often only one intricately carved tympanum over the central door or doors;
interior decoration is made up of elaborately carved column capitals and some frescoes. This art is
didactic, and it deals rather graphically with the conflict between good and evil, and the Last Judgment
is a common subject, as at the pilgrimage church of Ste Foy (Conques).

The Gothic Style: Characteristic of this more sophisticated and graceful style are the great
cathedrals, usually built in great cities like Paris or smaller one like Chartres. Major architectural
features included the pointed, or Gothic, arch, the rib vault, the use of thinner walls and large
windows, and flying buttresses. Architects sought to build churches which unified design and
decoration and which emphasized the importance of height and light. Art, like in the Romanesque
period, was didactic; it also is commemorative and decorative, and typical Gothic cathedrals, like
Chartres or Amiens, have elaborate and unified sculptural programs on the exterior and windows filled
with stained-glass. The are, in short “Bibles in stone and glass.” Cathedrals like Notre Dame de Paris
or Chartres (built 1194-ca. 1220) often required centuries to complete. They were in fact the result of
intense religious devotion, and the entire community from noble to peasant worked and gave of
themselves to erect them. Such cathedrals are also reminders of the sophistication of the medieval
builder.

The Late Middle Ages/

The Transition to the Renaissance, 1300-1450/1500

Introduction: By ca 1300, Western Europe had enjoyed some 250 years during which major
advances were made in economics, politics, religious life, intellectual life, and the arts. These
achievements threatened by the crisis that broke out early in the fourteenth century. But, instead of
falling into another “dark age”, like those following the fall of the Roman Empire or the death of
Charlemagne, Europeans survived the crisis of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, emerging with
enough energy to undertake the Renaissance which began in Italy in the fifteenth century and which
spread to northern Europe around 1500. The Late Middle Ages thus encompasses the multiple crises
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the beginnings of the Renaissance.

Late Medieval Economic and Social Problems: European economic life still based on the medieval
manor; it supplied basic foodstuffs. 1) But problems (soil exhaustion to poor weather) produced major
food shortages between 1301 and 1314 and outright famine in 1315-1317. 2) inflation; rising prices
brought a decline in living standards; landholding nobles increased income by extracting more money
from their peasants. 3) Result: peasant rebellions, such as the jacquerie in France (1358), which left
some 20,000 dead, and the English Peasant Revolt of 1381. English peasant leader John Ball
exclaimed: “Are we not all descended from the same parents, Adam and Eve? And what can they
show, or what reasons give, why they should be more the masters than ourselves? They are clothed in
velvets and rich fabrics, ornamented with ermine and other furs, while we are forced to wear poor
cloth. They have handsome houses and manors, when we must brave the wind and rain in our labors
in the field; but it is from our labor they support their pomp.” All failed as the nobles repressed them
with great brutality. Unrest also appeared in towns like Florence, Ghent, and Paris; it too was quickly
suppressed. 4) the Black Death (1347). Brought in on ships from Asia, it spread rapidly, especially in
towns and cities, and historians estimate that some 20,000,000 died, or between 25% and 33% of the
European population; in cities, the death rate reached as high as 66%.

Results of these crises: These crises appeared to have causes beyond the control of man;
contemporary secular and religious leaders appeated incapable of controlling them in the short run;
result: a loss of faith in existing authorities and beliefs and heightened fears and anxieties. One
consequence: bizarre religious behavior, such as the Flagellants; in addition, black magic and
witchcraft became more widespread. Apocalyptic fears also influenced the arts, and both the Dies
Irae, a hymn about the end of the world, and pictures of the Dance of Death date from this period.

Some, such as Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), author of the Imitation of Christ, turned to mysticism.
Still others projected their troubles on minority groups, such as the Jews, and subjected them to
terrible persecutions. A long-range consequence was also the decline of the medieval church.

Late Medieval Warfare and Politics: The Hundred Years War: last of the wars over English
possessions in France.
 Map of the Hundred
Years War (1338-1453)

In 1337, the English tried to claim the French throne; other issues included English claims on the
French provinces of Aquitaine and Gascony and the rivalry between the French and the English in
Flanders. England won most of the battles (Crécy [1346], Poitiers [1356], Agincourt [1415]), but lost
the war.

New weapons were the longbow (range of 400 yards); with it, the English archer slaughtered French
knights; also early cannon, and both weakened feudalism. At the low point for France, Charles VII
lost the Royal Domain around Paris; it took Joan of Arc (1412-1431), who believed that she was sent
by God to save France, to rally the French and lead then to victory at Orléans (1429). Soon after, she
was seized by the English, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake in Rouen. But the French
succeeded in driving the English from most of French soil, and the whole of France was consolidated
under the rule of a single king. In addition, the French king gained the undisputed power of taxation in
1439, which proved to be a major step on the road to absolutism.
The Wars of the Roses: Representative institutions grew in England during the 14th century, largely
through the sharing of the power to tax by king and parliament. King and parliament had to approve
any change in a law; Parliament gained the right to levy taxes, and tax bills had to originate in the
House of Commons; and the king could spend appropriated money only on the purpose Parliament had
approved. Trend partially interrupted during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) when two families,
the houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose) fought over the English throne. Power of
parliament temporarily declined during this civil war and a number of great baronial families killed
each other off. The first Tudor Henry VII became king in 1485; he tried to establish absolutism; he
also married a daughter of the House of York, thereby seeking to reconcile the English people.

The Holy Roman Empire: Emperors attempted and failed to join their possessions in Germany and
Italy into a single Empire. The Golden Bull (1356) accelerated decentralization. A member of the
House of Hapsburg elected emperor in the 14th century; and clever diplomacy and careful marriages
allowed the Hapsburgs to gain control of the duchy of Austria and permanent control of the Holy
Roman Emperorship (1437); but they never able to assert control over the empire. Weakness of the
Holy Roman Empire in Italy and the conflict between the Empire and the papacy helped make the
Renaissance possible; neither the Empire nor the Church could control central and northern Italy;
small city-states like Venice, Milan, and Florence were able to achieve a measure of sovereignty; and
it is in these city states that the Renaissance was born.

Decline of the Church During the Late Medieval Period

Crisis of the Church and the medieval ideal of a unified Christian community led by the Papacy
shattered. 1) decline of papal power due to the growing power of secular kings; they defended their
interests, even if a conflict with the Church ensued; 2) urban dwellers felt the Church hindered the
growth of trade and industry; 3) crises of the 14th century undermined the prestige of the Church; 4)
the Italian Renaissance included a rebirth of interest in the ideas of the "pagan" Greeks. Evidence for
the decline of papal power and prestige: Philip the Fair's "arrest" of Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303).
Within a few years, matters worsened greatly: 1) Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377); the papacy
moved to Avignon, where the popes were French and under the watchful eyes of the French kings;

2) Great Schism (1378-1415); the pope returned to Rome, but there were first two competing popes
and then three (in 1409); 3) the Council of Constance (1414-1417) called to end the schism, combat
heresy, and reform the Church. It succeeded in the first two, but failed in the third, and this failure of
the Church to reform during the 15th century is one of the factors which made the Protestant
Reformation possible.

Radical Reformers: Meanwhile, they challenged the function as well as the authority of the church
hierarchy; reformers such as John Wycliffe (c. 1320-1384) and John Hus (c. 1369-1415) also helped
pave the way for the Reformation. They challenged the idea that the Church as an institution
controlled the road to salvation by asserting the existence of a personal relationship between the
individual and God and by claiming that the Bible was the ultimate source of authority for Christians,
not the Church; hence these reformers advocated translations of the Bible into the vernacular. They
further attacked the wealth and privileges of the upper clergy, favoring a return to the simplicity of the
early church. The Church responded to these challenges with great vigor, declaring them heresies;
John Hus was burned at the stake in 1415 during the Council of Constance and the power of the
Inquisition was used against others.
The Church clearly refused to reform itself, yet one more reason for the Reformation which Martin
Luther set off with the posting of the Ninety-five Theses on the door of Wittenberg Church just over a
century later in 1517.

Conclusion: Despite the severity of these manifold crises (economic and social, political and
intellectual), European civilization did not descend into a new dark ages. Rather, just when Europeans
were suffering through this “age of adversity”, there was also evidence of a revival of culture. This
was the Renaissance, which began in Italy during the 1400s and which spread to northern Europe after
1500. Hence, what we see in the Late Middle Ages are the faint beginnings of both the Renaissance
and the Reformation.