1. Western Christendom
Chapter 10

2. Geography Far western end of Eurasia
At a distance from growing trade routes
Geography made political unity difficult: mountains, forests, peninsulas, islands
But coastlines and rivers helped with exchange
Moderate climate, plentiful rainfall, and fertile soil helped agriculture
Urban life diminished
Population declined due to war and disease

3. Warming trend after 750=more agriculture
During High Middle Ages ( ) population grew from about 35 million to 80 million
Marshes drained, trees felled to provide more land for population

4. Politics
Although Rome fell in 476, decline had been going on long before that
Barbarians: Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, Angles, Saxons, etc.
Regional kingdoms
Some used Roman law
Charlemagne: reigned , Carolingian Empire, crowned by Pope, France and other areas
Otto of Saxony: reigned , Germany and other principalities, Holy Roman Empire
Feudalism: land exchanged for military service and loyalty, political, economic, and social; needed due to invasions from various peoples like Vikings

5. Lords and vassals: lords granted vassals fiefs of land, contracts, manors, serfs
During High Middle Ages, monarchs gained more control and consolidated their authority, royal courts, bureaucratic administration
These kingdoms had their own distinct languages and cultures.
In Italy=city-states
Holy Roman Empire=small principalities

6. The Crusades: peasants and serfs followed their lords into battle, knights got to show their military training, Christian states set up in Holy Land
System of competing states, warfare
Gunpowder revolution

7. Society Hierarchy: King, Clergy, Lords, Knights, Peasants, Serfs
Serfdom: lowest, tied to the land
Educated people spoke/read Greek and Latin
“It is the will of the Creator that the higher shall always rule over the lower.”
In High Middle Ages they saw more job specialization: merchants, bankers, artisans, university-trained professionals

8. Women were involved in numerous professions
Some predominantly female professions became dominated by men
Some women went to convents and saw some measure of authority, but that too was taken over by men
Women saw a loss in their role in the Church
Beguines: laywomen who devoted themselves to weaving and helping the needy
Anchoresses: locked cells, fasting and praying

9. Men were not “warriors” anymore, now seen as “providers”
Crusades hardened cultural differences: Eastern Orthodox vs. Catholicism, anti-semitism

10. Religion The Church: later known as Roman Catholic Latin Wealthy
Converted pagans: started with kings and worked their way down
Reported miracles
Syncretism: blending of Christianity with earlier cultural practices to a point
Investiture conflict: who has the right to appoint bishops/pope? Church or King?

11. Monastic life: monasteries and convents, Beguines and Anchoresses
Cathedrals
Monastic life: monasteries and convents, Beguines and Anchoresses
Crusades=holy wars, 1095, “God wills it!”, rescue the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims, several Crusades
Later used to recapture Iberian peninsula from Muslims
Byzantium weakened as Crusaders sacked the capital
Contact with Islamic world, desire for Asian goods
Greek philosophy

12. Economics
Serfdom: bound to their masters’ estates as peasant laborers and owed payments and services to the lord of the manor, in return received small farm and protection
Increased agricultural production in High Middle Ages brings revival of/growth in long-distance trade.
Commercial center in Northern Europe: wood beeswax, furs, rye, wheat, salt, cloth, wine
Hanseatic League or Hansa
Italian center: traded with Arabs and Byzantines

13. Northern and Southern Europe traded
Guilds formed: associations of people in the same occupation; apprentice, journeyman, master
Crusades created a desire for Asian goods, increased trade

14. Achievements Roman culture continued Cathedrals Universities
Through Crusades, lost classical knowledge was regained
Engaged with borrowed from advanced civilizations in the East.
Technological breakthroughs: heavy wheeled plow, new horse collar, three-field system of crop rotation, horseshoes, windmill, water-driven mill, cranks, flywheels, camshafts, cannon,