Western+Europe


 * ESPIRIT Chart: Pg. 221-229 **

Civilization/Nation/Group: __Western Culture in the Postclassical Era__

Time Period: _

- Merchant capitalism gained ground in western Europe while other economic values predominated. - Trade revived, West became a common commercial zone. - Market for a few exotic products like spices came about. - Urban growth allowed more manufacturing and commercial activities, which promoted trade. - Banking was introduced. -Profit making was not well accepted by Christian thinkers. - Guilds grouped people in the same business or trade in a single city with loose links to similar guilds in other cities. - Urban women played an important role in local commerce, but found themselves edged into male dominated organizations. || - Many peasants were able to shake off the most severe constraints of manorialism, becoming almost free farmers. - Noble landlords still served mainly military functions. - Women in the West had higher status than their sisters under Islam for example they were less segregated in religions services. || - Urban growth allowed more manufacturing and commercial activities, which promoted trade. - Italian merchants sought cloth manufacturing in the Low Countries. || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- From 100 onward, a series of outstanding ministers advanced the logical exposition of philosophy and divinity to new levels. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- They stressed the importance of absolute faith in God’s word, but they believed that human reason could move toward an understanding of some aspects of religion and the natural order as well. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Both Christianity and Islam relied heavily on faith in a revealed word, through the Bible or Qur’an. || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Christian Culture dominated European philosophy and art, but it generated both change and conflict. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Combining rational philosophy and Christian faith was the dominant intellectual theme in the postclassical West. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- The intellectual drive motivated a growing interest in knowledge, which led to the highest achievements of medieval learning. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Many people followed Christian rituals yet seemed unaware of how their actions might contradict Christian moral behavior. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Religious art came to excel. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Medieval literature and music reflected strong religious interest. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- The adoration of Mary and other female religious figures gave women real cultural prestige. || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Medieval philosophy did not encourage a great deal of new scientific work. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- End of 13th century bought some current practical science, like eyeglasses. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- 14th and 15th centuries bought advances in chemistry and astronomy. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">E || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Economic: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">S || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Social: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">P || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Political: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Interactions: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">R || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Religion: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Cultural & Intellectual: **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">T || **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Technology and demographic changes: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Power and influence of the Catholic Church continued to grow after the collapse of the Roman Empire, because people looked for guidance from the church during the Dark Ages. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Christianity influenced the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of those living in Europe. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Began in a corner of Western Asia known as Judea as an offshoot of Judaism. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Political leadership all converted to Christianity to maintain more control over population. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Christianity helped to create laws during dark ages that encouraged forced worship.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Impact of Christianity (490-600) **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Vikings launched raids in and around the North Sea between 490-600 because of good weather conditions, overpopulation in their homeland, and a culture that did not discourage pillaging. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Pioneered new military technology like stirrups for swords and heavy infantry. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Slaves were captured during raids.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Reign of Charles Martel & Viking Raids (600 - 755) **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor by the church. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Jews given some freedoms under Charlemagne. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Expands Frankish kingdom to the east. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Freed Rome from the Lombard's and established new, independent papal states.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The Rise of the Franks (755-850) **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- The lack of leadership and political instability gives way to Feudalism, a system of political organization that evolved in Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- "Feudalism - political and economic system of Europe describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. A lord was a noble who owned land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord. The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief form the basis of feudalism. Before a lord could grant land (a fief) to someone, he had to make that person a vassal.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Feudalism (840 - 967) **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Christianity and the High Middle Ages & Expansion of Holy Roman Empire** **(967 - 1060)** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Christianity continued to be a dominant force in Europe, spreading to almost all politically organized groups in Europe. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Holy Roman Empire began spread after the appointment of Otto I the Great and because of the fact that it had considerable influence on Christian authorities. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- The church transcended political organizations that helped to give people sense of purpose, thus expanding the German, Byzantine, and Holy Roman Empires. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Pope couldn’t stop its expansion.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Some effects of the Crusades included violent wars, discouragement of Church's moral authority, and distrust of Christians. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- Norman invaded England in 1066 and become the ruling class in England.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Effects of the Crusades, Norman conquest of England **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> **and Magna Carta (1060-1240)**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- They had superior military technology because of their nomadic tendencies. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- They knew a lot about science and government philosophy. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- They were forced west because of dry weather. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- They were able to dominate because they invaded in a time of weakness. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- The Black Death was a plague that killed about 75 million, which was carried by bacteria in rats. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">- It spread to Europe after Mongols spread it to the Arabs.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Why the Golden Horde was able to dominate Europe ****<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> and the Black Death Plague (1240 - 1350) **

** Notes **__ Decline of the Medieval Synthesis __
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> ** Western Europe **** began facing problems with over-population and disease after 1300. **
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> **// Black Death  //** in 1348 decreased Europe’s population and changed their social structure.
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Kings reduced their dependence on the nobility in favor of paid armies.
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> New military methods challenged monopoly of the feudal lords
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Medieval architecture could no longer keep up with population growth.
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> No new technology
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Breakdown of intellectual and artistic synthesis
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Tensions between peasants and landlords.
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Church characterized medieval life
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Pope returned to Rome, the church was weakened.
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Hundred years war went badly for France; it was a sign of weakness in the French economy.
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Artisans started painting human features
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> universities were an enduring legacy to western society
 * <span style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> Most Europeans saw Islam as a dangerous false religion and a threat.