Europe Looks Outward We see more and farther than they...because we are elevated and supported by their great stature. - John of Salisbury d. 1180
The Saga of Eric the Red “Greenland”? Ca. 985 Leif Ericson “Vinland”
Medieval Climate Optimum - ca Carolingian Renaissance Serfdom declines in Western Europe - “yeomen”
I. Emergence of the Nation-State
A. France 1.Fall of Charlemagne’s 2.Capetian Dynasty 987 – Hugh Capet Vikings!
B. England 1.Norman Conquest Anglo-Saxons - William the Conqueror 2.Medieval cash cow - shire reeves Magna Carta 1215
II. Medieval life Rage for order…. Pressure to build stronger states vs. Nobility Church The Crusades: Clash of Civilizations
Genghis Khan Marco Polo’s travels
A. City life 1.Urban Italy - part of Byzantine Empire 2.Urban social orders - merchants, craftsmen - “class,” not hereditary obligations 3. Alternative to feudal orders - tweaking of theology
B. Aristotelianism (New Logic) 1.Resurgent dialectic Gerbert of Aurillac Pope Sylvester II empiricism and faith - transubstantiation substance v. attribute
2. Thomas Aquinas Summa dialectical / rational proof of God - “universal” Reason supports universal truth
C. Scholasticism 1.Towns replacing monasteries - universitas 2. Peter Abelard - education, logic key to understanding - academic star Peter & Heloise
II. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
A. The Plantagenets 1.Henry of Anjou (II) r Angevin Empire 2. Legal reform - Norman Conquest - feudalism weakened - “circuit” courts
3. Eleanor of Aquitaine dowry and power - Crusader - married 2 kings - mother of 2 kings Troubadours “courtly love” Cult of Chivalry
B. Rambunctious nobility 1.Running out of fiefs - primogeniture 2. Peace of God / Truce of God - Chivalry
“Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” Thomas Becket d. 1170
C. Church v. state 1.Otto the Great r Holy Roman Empire 2. Problem of inheritance - investiture
3. Cluny & the Cluniacs Gregory VII “Gregorian Revolution” 4. Investiture Controversy 1075
III. The Crusades
A. Christian Jihad 1.Urban II - Speech at Clermont 1095 Deus volt! “God wills it” Cluny
2. First Crusade Peter the Hermit “People’s Crusade” - Crusader Kingdoms
B. Third Crusade Saladin unified Muslims 1.King’s Crusade Richard Coeur de Lion Frederick Barbarossa Philip Augustus
C. Consequences 1.Church & state 1.Moral authority “Children’s Crusade” 1.Byzantine fall sack of Constantinople
1.Things to come - reacquainted Western Europeans with Eastern goods, classical learning - “stalemate” allows for trade, pilgrimages - Euro rivalries
V. Medieval Achievement and Failure The Angevin Empire
C. Medieval politics in flux 1.Loss of Normandy - vassal v. nation-state 1.Magna Carta John I “Lackland” - Habeas corpus