Trade, Towns, and Financial Revolution 14.2

Let’s Remember….. Selling Church positions is called? Simony What two words describe Gothic Cathedrals? Height and light Who won the 1 st Crusade? Christians Who won the 2 nd Crusade? The 3 rd Crusade? Muslims, and a draw What was the Reconquista? An effort to get rid of the Muslims in Spain

Growing Food Supply A warmer climate allowed farmers to cultivate new lands. Horses replaced oxen in the fields. Horses could plow twice as fast as oxen. A new harness was invented to be able to pull plows and wagons.

3 field system Fields were typically 200 acres. 1 field was for winter crop of wheat or rye 1 field was for spring crops of oats, barley, peas, or beans. The remaining soil would be unused to not over use or deplete the soil of nutrients. Food supply increased

Food Increase = Growing Population Beans and peas are an excellent source of protein, so villagers were healthier. As a result of health and having a strong food supply, the population increased.

Deforestation New fields were being created all over Europe for crops. This meant that forests were being cut down to clear the land.

Trade and Finance also expanded Artisans and craftsmen made goods by hand for local and long-distance trade. Trade routes spread across Europe. Some trade routes went all the way to China.

Fairs and Trade Peasants from nearby manors traveled to towns for trade. Cloth Bacon Salt Honey Cheese Wine Leather Dyes Knives ropes

Guilds Guilds controlled the crafts and trade. A guild was an association of people who worked at the same occupation. Guilds control all wages and prices in their craft.

Guildhall in England

Artisans – wheelwrights, glassmakers, winemakers, tailors, and druggists began craft guilds. Guilds enforced standards of quality. Bakers, for example, were required to sell loaves of bread of a standard size and weight and at a fair price.

Glassmaker upSHLsucE

Wheelwright’s shop

First a child was apprenticed for 5-9 years to learn a trade from a master. (Began years old) Then the apprentice could become a ‘journeyman’ meaning he could go to work for wages. As the final step, the journeyman made a ‘masterpiece’. (sword, shoe, barrel, etc.) Once his work was qualified as a ‘masterpiece’, he could become a guild member.

ApprenticeJourneymanGuild member Created a masterpiece

Financial Revolution Fairs and guilds created a large need for cash. Before merchants could make money selling goods, they had to buy them first. This meant they had to borrow money. But according to religion at this time, lending money at interest was a sin called usury.

Where did they get the money? European Jews became the money lenders. Money lending was one of the few ways of making a living allowed to them. Guilds excluded them. Forced to live in segregated parts of towns called ghettos. Jews never became part of the feudal system.

Banking Over time, the Church relaxed its rule on usury and Banking became an important business, especially in Italy.

Urban Trade blossomed Better farming methods Population growth Population of western Europe rose from million Towns grew and flourished. Paris, Europe’s largest city had a population of 60,000. A typical medieval town had 1,500-2,500 people.

Paris in the Middle Ages

Trade was the lifeblood of towns Towns sprang up all over and swelled with people. People became dissatisfied with the feudal way of life and challenged traditional ideas. Many serfs ran away.

Most medieval towns developed haphazardly. Streets were narrow. Streets were filled with horses, pigs, oxen, and their ‘waste’. No sewers, people dumped ‘household waste’- both animal and human - into the street in front of the house. Medieval chamber pots – toilets

Most people never bathed. Houses lacked fresh air, light, and clean water. Houses were fire hazards. Made of wood Thatched roofs

“Town Air Makes You Free” This was a popular saying among serfs. A serf could now become free by living in a town for a year and a day. Many serfs made better lives for themselves living in towns.

Citizens want more rights Town dwellers soon demanded more privileges that included freedom from certain kinds of tolls or the right to govern their town. At times they fought against their landlords and won rights by force.

Revival of Learning Growing and trade brought on a new interest in learning. Athens, Alexandria, Rome, and Constantinople had all been centers of learning, but never before had the world seen the ‘University’ as it rose in Western Europe.

Universities arose at Paris and Bologna, Italy. By the end of the 1100s, others followed at the English town of Oxford and at Salerno, Italy. Most people studied theology (religion) and government in the university.

Oxford University

FYI Today, tuition at Oxford is about $150,000 per year, or $12,000 per class!

Literature Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy (1321) in Italian Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales ( ) in English Christine de Pisan – The City of Ladies (1405) in French

Dante Chaucer Christine Pisan

Excerpt from the Canterbury Tales “It happened in that season one day In Southwark, at The Tabard, as I lay Ready to go on pilgrimage and start For Canterbury, most devout at heart, At night there came into that hostelry Some nine and twenty in a company Of sundry folk happening then to fall In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all That towards Canterbury meant to ride.”

The Muslim Connection Growth of trade was accelerated by the Crusades. This brought Europeans in contact with Muslims and people from the Byzantine Empire.

Knowledge spreads The Byzantines had preserved the writings and libraries of the Greeks. Europeans acquired a huge body of new knowledge. Science Philosophy Law Mathematics

Crusaders bring more knowledge Crusaders brought back new technologies to Europe. Ships Navigation Weapons

Christian scholars Thomas Aquinas argued that the most basic, religious truths could be proved by logical argument. Aquinas wrote, Summa Theologica. It combined ancient Greek thought of Aristotle with Christian beliefs of his time.

Influence The scholastics (scholarly men) used knowledge of Aristotle to debate many issues of their time. The Greek teachings on law and government influenced the thinking of western Europeans. The English and French began developing democratic institutions and traditions.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Assignment: Create a riddle using a theme or vocabulary term from Chapter 14, section 2 on the bottom of your note sheet For example: is Burgher- town dwellers Do not use my example