Growth of Royal Power in England and France Section 1 Amber Blocker World History

The growth of Royal Power William exerted firm control over his new lands. Like other feudal monarchs, he granted fiefs to the church and his Norman lords, or barons, but he kept a large amount of land for his self. William’s successors continued to increase royal authority. They created the royal exchequer, or treasury, to collect taxes.

Monarchs, Nobles and the Church Feudal monarchs in Europe stood at the head of society, but had limited power. While they ruled their own domains, they relied on vassals foe military support. They jealousy guarded their rights and privileges against any effort by rulers to increase in authority.

The monarchs in England During the early middle ages, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings invaded and settled in England. English rulers generally kept their kingdoms united. A counsel of nobles chose the king’s brother-in- law Harold to rule, who would take over the throne.

The Magna Carta In 1215, a group of rebellious barons cornered John and forced him to sign the Magna Carta, or great charter. In this document, the king affirmed a long list of feudal rights.

Conflict with the Church Henry’s efforts to extend royal power led to a bitter dispute with the Church. Henry claimed the right to try clergy in royal courts. In 1170, they murdered the archbishop in his own cathedral which led to major conflict in the church.

In 936 Duke Otto I of Saxony took the title King of Germany. Otto worked closely with the church He took an army into Italy to help the pope defeat the rebellious nobles. Pope Gregory VII was admired and revered; he aroused more hatred then any other pope in the period of time. He banned the practice of lay investiture which is the creation of bishops by anyone who is not a member of the clergy. Gregory quoted that “only the pope had the right to appoint and install bishops in office Emperor Henry the IV Emperor Henry the IV didn’t agree, he thought that bishops held there land as royal fiefs. In 1076 Gregory excommunicated Henry freeing his subjects from their alliance to the emperor.

Fredrick Barbarossa was an emperor who “dreamed of building an empire from the Baltic to the Adriatic. Fredrick II was the child of Henry and Constance Fredrick was an ale arrogant leader willing to use any means to achieve his ends. Instead of spending a lot of time in Germany he pursued his ambitions in Italy. During his time in Italy he clashed repeatedly and unsuccessfully with a lot of popes. While Fredrick was embroiled in Italy German nobles grew more independent. The Holy Roman Empire survived but it remained pieced into many feudal states. The German people laid a high price for their emperor’s ambitions. Unlike France and England, Germany would not achieve unity for another 600 years.

Pope Innocent III took office in 1198, embodied the triumph of the church. As head of the church, he claimed supremacy over all other rulers. Innocent clashed with all powerful rulers from his day, more often then not the pope came ahead. Innocent excommunicated the king and placed his kingdom under interdict. He ordered the same punishment for France when Phillip II tried unlawfully to annual, or invalidate, his marriage. In 1209, Innocent, aided Phillip II, launched a brutal crusade (holy war) against the Albigensians in southern France. After Innocents death, pops continued to press there claim of supremecy During this period, through, the French and English monarchies were growing stronger

Pope Gregory VII Emperor Henry the IV Fredrick Barbarossa Pope Innocent III

China had a strong central government under Song and Tang dynasties, China’s culture influenced neighboring peoples. Chinese made amazing advances in technology, inventing paper, printing and gunpowder. In West Africa, the Soninke people were building the great trading empire of Ghana. Across the Atlantic, in the Americas, the Mayas had cleared rain forests and build cities dominated by towering towels. Closer to Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire was generally prosperous and united. In the 1050s, the Seljuk Turks invaded the Byzantine Empire. The Turks had migrated from Central Asia into the Middle East, where they converted to Islam.

Only the first crusade came close to achieving its goals. The Crusaded continued to battle on and off for almost 200 years. They divided their captured lands into 4 small states. On the third crusade, Europeans tried but failed to retake Jerusalem. After negotiating, though, Saladin did re-open the holy city to Christian pilgrims. Europeans also mounted crusades against other Muslim lands, especially in North Africa, in which all ended in defeat. During the fourth crusade, the crusaders were diverted from fighting Muslims to fighting Christians.

The Economic Expansion. The crusaders were the ones that increased trade by introducing fabrics, spices, and perfumes from the Middle East to Europe. Our words sugar, cotton, and rice, are borrowed from Arabic, show the range of trade goods involved. The crusaders further encouraged the growth of a money economy in order to finance a journey to the Holy Land. Increased power for monarchs The crusades helped to increase the power of feudal monarchs. Rulers won rights to levy, or collect, taxes in order to support the crusades.

In 1469, Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon. Their marriage opened the way for a unified state. Using their combining forces, the 2 monarchs made a final push against the Muslim stronghold Granada, but in 1492, Granada fell and the Reconquista was complete. Under Muslim rule, Spain had enjoyed a tradition of religious toleration, a policy of allowing people to worship as they choose. Isabella ended this policy of toleration because Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived there in relative peace. With the support of the Inquisition, a church court set up a try people accused of heresy, Isabella launched a brutal crusade against Jews and Muslims. The queen achieved religious unity but at a high price. Over 150,000 people fled to Spain, in which many were skilled, educated people who had contributed much to Spain’s economy and culture.

Academic guilds, student life, women, and education Schools had sprung around the great cathedrals to train the clergy Cathedral schools evolves into the first universites Students had scheduled that they followed throughout the day such as prayer, followed by morning classes, daily meals, then afternoon classes Women were not aloud to attend universities. Christine de Pizan was the exception to this

Muslim scholars translated the works of Greek thinkers into Arabic and their texts spread across the Muslim world Christians believed that the church had final authority on all questions Their method used as scholastism supported christian beliefs Scholastic scholars used logic to resolve conflict between faith and reason

Works of science reached Europe from Spain and the Byantine empire Christian scholars studied Hippocrates on medicine and Euclid on geometry Science made little progress in the Middle Ages because most scholars believed that all true knowledge must fit with church teachings

New language appeared in the Vernacular, everyday language of ordinary people A key feature in the Gothic style was the flying buttresses, or stone supports that stood outside church