Medieval Europe   The Dark Ages   The collapse of the Roman Empire in the year 476 AD, brought about relentless invasions by barbarian tribes.  This brought about an end of the Roman era, a magnificent civilization that lasted for almost 1000 years.   This started a new period in Europe called the Dark Ages.  Roman cities and roads fell into ruin and all the advances of the previous civilization were lost.  The only thing that survived was Christianity. State persecution ceased in the 4th century when Emperor Constantine I issued an edict of toleration in 313 CE (AD). In 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius I enacted a law establishing Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire. From at least the 4th century, Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization.   Much of what is currently Great Britain was ruled by Rome where it was known as the province of Britannia.    Britannia became the northern most outpost of Rome’s vast empire.    As time went on the Roman Empire was increasingly attacked by outsiders whom the Romans called barbarians (Latin for foreigner).  Most of these barbarians came from the northern regions of Europe.  They were poor farmers organized into tribes by warrior chieftains.   In 410 AD Rome itself was plundered by the Visigoths.  The capital lay in ruins and the emperor sent word that he could no longer provide protection for Britannia.  This would lead to the end of Britannia.   The Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain in 410 CE and they were basically made up of four tribes, the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and finally the Frisians.  These four tribes have been lumped together into a group called the Anglo-Saxons.   The Anglo-Saxon Chieftains set up separate kingdoms of villages, using techniques and materials from their homelands.    The culturally advanced, well-ordered Roman world was completely replaced by the Anglo-Saxons.   The Anglo Saxons had their own religion and because they hated anything Roman, they did not accept the Christian religion right away.  Christianity did not become popular in Britain until the 6th century.  First the King of Kent converted and then one by one the other 6 kingdoms also converted.  Christianity would become the religion of most of Europe.   A group of sea-roving Scandinavian warriors called Vikings began attacking and taking land in Europe.  By 878 so many Vikings had come to Britain that one half of the Anglo-Saxon lands were under Dane law.  By 911 the Vikings were given a huge piece of land by the French to stop them from continuously attacking.  The Vikings named this land Normandy after themselves- men from the North.   In 1066 CE Duke William of Normandy invaded England and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.  William became king of England and started a new period in English history.  He gave vast amounts of manors to his subjects.  They in turn began to build castles and churches all over the place.  A great change had occurred, the dark ages of Anglo-Saxon rule were over and a new era the High Middle Ages began, not only in England but all of Europe.   The Feudal System    The feudal system became the way manors were distributed and the heart of social organization of the Dark Ages.  The king was at the top of the feudal system, and in theory owned all manors.  The king however would distribute manors to high lords (dukes and earls) so that they would stay allies.  In return each lord would provide knights to the king.  The high lords in return would give manors out to lesser lords in return for loyalty and knights. These lesser lords may then give a manor to a knight in order to gain his loyalty.  Knights general only owned one manor.   King - was in complete control under the Feudal System. He owned all the land in the country and decided who he would lease land to. He therefore only allowed those men he could trust to lease land from him. However, before they were given any land they had to swear an oath to remain faithful to the King at all times. The men who leased land from the King were known as Lords, they were wealthy, powerful and had complete control of the land they leased from the King.     Lords – leased land from the King which was known as a manor. They were known as the Lord of the Manor and were in complete control of this land. They established their own system of justice, minted their own money and set their own taxes. In return for the land they had been given by the King, the Lords had to serve on the royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service when he demanded it. The Lords kept as much of their land as they wished for their own use, then divided the rest among their Knights. Lords were very rich. Knights - were given land by a Lords in return for military service when demanded by the King. They also had to protect the Lord and his family, as well as the Manor, from attack. The Knights kept as much of the land as they wished for their own personal use and distributed the rest to serfs. Although not as rich as the Lords, Knights were quite wealthy. Serfs - were given land by Knights. They had to provide the Knight with free labor, food and service whenever it was demanded. Serfs had no rights. They weren’t considered slaves cause they couldn’t be bought and sold but other than that there wasn’t much of a difference. They were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their Lord's permission before they could marry. Serfs were poor.    Black Death The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by a bacterium. Thought to have started in China, it travelled along the Silk Road and had reached Europe by 1346. From there it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas, residing on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. It spread wildly throughout the Mediterrian and Europe. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% – 60% of Europe's population, in some cases wiping out entire villages and families,  reducing the the world’s population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as creating a series of religious, social and economic upheavals which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. The plague returned at various times, killing more people, until it left Europe in the 19th century. Because the plague killed so many of the poor population, wealthy land owners were forced to pay the remaining workers what they asked, in terms of wages. This meant that for the first time in history, many, formerly of the peasant population, now had a chance to live a better life. The term bubonic plague is derived from the Greek word bubo, meaning "swollen gland". Swollen lymph nodes especially occur in the armpit and groin in persons suffering from bubonic plague. Bubonic plague was often used synonymously for plague, but it does in fact refer specifically to an infection that enters through the skin and travels through the lymph nodes, as is often seen in flea-borne infections. In humans, the bubonic plague kills about two out of three infected patients in 2–6 days without treatment. The Black Death that swept through Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated 75 million people and possibly as many as 200 million by the time is left Europe.   The Black Death experience tended to weaken the authority of the church and the power of the church to intercede on their behalf. As more and more people died church officials and clergy had recommended prayer, and contributions to lessen god's punishment. As time went on prayer proved quite ineffective. Many people died including those that were seen by those around them as the good, the innocent right along with those who might be seen as less so. The Church lost many people, but the institution became richer through bequests. It also grew richer by charging more money for its services, such as saying mass for the dead. Less-educated priests were shuffled into jobs where more learned men had died. The failure of the clergy to help the suffering during the plague, combined with its obvious wealth and the incompetence of its priests, caused resentment among the people. Critics grew vocal, and the seeds of the Reformation were sown. The Crusades (Holy Wars) The Crusades were a series of holy wars between the Christians and the Saracens, all Non-Christians including Arabs, Turks and Moors, this was primarily the Muslims.  It involved all of Europe, basically fighting together to regain control of the holy land and in particular the Holy city of Jerusalem. At the time the Saracens called all Europeans “Franks”. The term crusade means “cross.” The uniform of the Christian soldiers had a cross across their chest. Since the 2nd century, Christians would make the difficult pilgrimage from Europe to the “Holy Land”, to Jerusalem and other holy cities where Jesus had preached.  The Muslims and Arabs had conquered this area, called Palestine in the 7th century, but had generally tolerated this practice until a group of hard-line Muslims took Palestine and closed it off the Christians.  They also threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire. So Pope Urban II called upon the kingdoms of the west to prepare for a crusade. So began the 1st Crusade. Despite being poorly armed and trained they were surprisingly successful and managed to capture the Holy Land of Palestine and the Holy City of Jerusalem in 1099.  This would be the only victory for the Christians. The 2nd Crusade was launched approx. 50 years later when the Muslims fought to retake the Holy land.  They had some success but were unable to complete the task. The 3rd Crusade, and the most significant saw three kings of Europe unite against the great Saracen leader Saladin after he had successfully captured Jerusalem in 1187.  This crusade is best known as it involved Richard the Lionheart, the English king who appears in the Robin Hood legend. Both sides fight valiantly but neither side could win and both sides called a truce in 1192, which allowed the Christians to continue their pilgrimage to Jerusalem without persecution. The fourth began in 1302 but never even made it to the Holy land and only made it to the city if Venice and was actually used to capture Constantinople.  The Christian church gained much prestige from the success of the 1st and 3rd Crusade but they were greatly criticized for corruption in the 4th Crusade.  This in addition to a number of other factors led to the decline of the Christian church. The biggest impact of the Crusades was that Kings became more powerful, as many lords and knights, who might have challenged the kings were killed during the Crusades. One benefit was the travel east opened the eyes of Europeans to the riches of the east, including cotton, spices, sugar and perfumes.  Trade would now be renewed. However this interaction with the east was not all good. Excommunication, Heretics /Inquisition To ensure Christians followed church teachings, the Roman Catholic Church set up a special court in the 12th century to deal with a serious offence called Heresy. This was anyone held different beliefs from those of the church or who questioned church doctrine. The special court was called the Inquisition.   In extreme cases those found guilty were put to death by burning them at the stake.  This was considered justified to prevent the evil ideas of heresy from spreading to other people. The inquisitorial trial generally favored the prosecution (the Church). Confessing 'in full' was the best hope of receiving a lighter punishment - but with little hope of escaping at least some punishment. And a 'full' confession was one which implicated others, including other family members. It was acceptable to take testimony from criminals, persons of bad reputation, excommunicated people, and convicted heretics. The inquisitor could keep a defendant in prison for years before the trial to obtain new information, and could return them to prison if he felt that the witness had not fully confessed. Despite the seeming unfairness of the procedures, the inquisitors did provide some rights to the defendant. At the beginning of the trial, defendants were invited to name those who had "mortal hatred" against them. If the accusers were among those named, the defendant was set free and the charges dismissed; the accusers would face life imprisonment. Among the possible punishments were a long pilgrimage for first offenders, wearing a yellow cross for life, confiscation of property, banishment, public recantation, or long-term imprisonment. Burning at the stake was only for the most serious cases, including repeat offenders and unrepentant heretics. Execution was done not by the Church, which was forbidden to kill, but by secular officials. The Hundred Year’ War Since the Norman Conquest, England and France had never been the best of friends.  England still controlled lands on the continent which France wanted to reclaim.  The two sided also engaged in bitter trade disputes.  France attempted to disrupt England’s wine trade with Gascony as well as well as it’ thriving wool trade with Flanders.   Fed up with this, the English king Edward III laid claim to the French throne, based on the fact that his mother was the sister of three former French monarchs. In 1337, the English attached France.  What came to be known as the Hundred Years; War was actually a series of conflicts that lasted from 1337 to 1453.  In the early years the English easily defeated the French, due to better strategy and an effective new weapon, the longbow.   Later in the war, cannons, loaded with gunpowder were used.  Gunpowder, a Chinese invention was probably introduced during the Crusades.  Early cannon were quite primitive, but they signaled the beginning of a new kind of warfare and the end of the feudal knights.   The king of France was captured in 1360 and was forced to sign a treaty turning over 1/3 of all French territory to the English. However over the next 50 years, the French won back much of their land through small scale fighting.  As a result, the English resumed major campaigns in the early 15th century and appeared close to a final victory. In 1428 they were laying siege to Orleans, when a significant turn of events took place.  A 17 year old peasant girl emerged to save the day for France, her name was Joan of Arc.   Joan of Arc Joan of Arc went to Charles, the heir to the French throne, she claimed to have received a message from God in the form of a dream, telling her to save France.  She asked Charles for command of the army at Orleans and he reluctantly agreed.  Dressed in full armour and mounted on a horse, Joan led the French to victory over the English.  When Charles was crowned king of France, Joan stood at his side.   Joan led other battles, but Orleans was her only victory. In 1430, she was captured by the people of Burgundy, allies of the English.  Fearful of Joan’s influence, the English tried her for witchcraft and burned her at the stake in 1431.  Unfortunately for the English, Joan’s death made her a martyr in the eyes of the French people.  By 1453 the French recaptured almost all of their territory.     The End of Feudalism The Hundred Years’ War had important consequences for both France and England.  Their victory united the French with a sense of collective pride, which benefitted the monarchy, and during the rebuilding the king assumed greater power, eventually leading to complete control over government.    The English, weakened internally by the long years of war, now faced a civil war on it’s own soil.  Two noble families, the House of York and House of Lancaster.  They fought each other in a 30 year conflict called the war of the Roses.  It was called this because the York’s emblem was a white rose, while the that of Lancaster’s was a red rose.   In 1485, Henry VII of Lancaster defeated the king of York, but took a York noblewoman as his queen.  Thus united, the two families formed a strong new dynasty, the Tutors.  As happened in France, the monarchy in England grew stronger, but it shared responsibility for governing the country with an important new body called parliament.    This signaled a break from the long-established feudal system.  With a strong centralized government in control, people switched their allegiance form local lords to the monarchy itself.  This really would be the beginning of the development of nations.   At the same time two other strong symbols of the Middle Ages, the fortified castle and the armored knight on horseback were being eroded by such military innovations as gunpowder and the longbow. Europe was changing.