1. High to Late Middle Ages

2. High Middle Ages High Middle Ages
The Middle Ages in Europe had reached a high point in the 1200’s.
Life had finally stabilized and become peaceful.
REVIEW: Why? What events have helped stabilize life?
The Crusades were fought against the Islamic Empire!
Feudalism was ending
Trade increased
Roman roads were rebuilt.
The Church had much political power
England and France had become large kingdoms!
Created Magna Carta and Parliaments

3. Life During the High Middle Ages
Population growth
Manors grew into towns.
Cities grew
Old Roman cities grew and new cities developed
Paris: 150,000
London: 40,000
Florence: 100,000
Construction of cathedrals
Romanesque and Gothic
Trade began again
Money economy emerged
Middle class emerged
“Burgers” (German)
“Bourgeoisie” (French)
Guilds emerged
Business associations
Set price, establish standards, etc.
Master and Apprentice

4. Life During the High Middle Ages
Universities emerge
Oxford, 1264
University of Paris, c.1200
Law, medicine, theology.
Tried to build upon Islamic knowledge gained during the Crusades!
Europeans started speaking in the vernacular.
Local languages (not Latin!)
Famous writers of the time…
Dante (1265 – 1321 A.D.)
The Divine Comedy (Dante’s Inferno)
Chaucer (1340 – 1400 A.D.)
The Canterbury Tales
English!

5. Power of the Church
As kingdoms became more powerful and European society became more secular, the Catholic Church attempted to hold onto its power…
Concordat of Worms
Church officials can only be appointed by higher ranking church officials – not Kings.
Church is independent.
Pope Innocent III
Believed the power of the Pope was superior to any king
“Just as the moon gets her light from the sun, and is inferior to the sun… so the royal power gets the splendor if its dignity from the papal authority.”

6. Power of the Church The Pope had ways to make kings do what he wants!
Two “spiritual weapons”
Excommunication
Removal from the Church
Interdict
Forbids priests from performing the sacraments to a certain group of people.
Weddings, communion, confession, etc…

7. The Reconquista (of Spain)
In addition to the continuing the later Crusades, the Catholic church also tried to expel Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain!)
Also instituted the “Spanish Inquisition”

8. Power of the Church The Inquisition
Began in Spain during the Reconquista, but later spread to the rest of Europe.
Found and prosecuted heretics
Those who deny church doctrine (non-Christians)
If you confessed to heresy, you performed public penance and received physical punishment
Starting around 1252, the Inquisition began using torture to get confessions.
Even if you did not confess, you were still guilty.
If you had already been convicted and were accused of heresy again, you were executed.

9. The Inquisition
CRITICAL THINKING: Why did the Church believe that what they were doing was the right thing to do?
They believed the only path to heaven was through the Catholic Church.
So using force to save souls was the right thing to do!

11. Late Middle Ages In the 1300’s, a few disastrous changes took place.
Life becomes destabilized and chaotic… again.
Late Middle Ages
The Hundred Years’ War
Church Power Declines
The Black Death

12. Hundred Years’ War
War between England and France over the heir to the French thrown.
English King Edward III could claim it, but France did not want a distant king.
Joan of Arc
French girl who had visions/premonitions, brought success to the French army, was captured by the British, tried before the Inquisition, and burned at the stake for being a witch.
Gunpowder
Allowed for French victory.

13. The Decline of Church Power…
European Kings start to reject the ultimate power of the pope by the end of the 1200’s.
King of France is one of the first to challenge the Pope’s power
King Philip IV vs. Pope Boniface VIII
Philip believes he has the right to tax the Church
After two elections, there are two popes from 1378 to 1417.
One in Avignon
One in Rome
These conflicts greatly diminish the power of the Pope.

14. Black Death Bubonic Plague Europe’s Population = 75 million
1/3 to 1/2 die between 1347 and 1351.
50% to 60% dead in Italian cities.
Why did they believe it was happening?
God had sent it as punishment.
Devil was causing it.
Jews were poisoning town wells.
Economic consequences
Trade declined
Shortage of workers
Falling food prices