Medieval Revival

Middle Ages: General Timeline

476 C.E.Fall of Rome

1066 C.E.Norman

invasion of Britain

1095-1291C.E. Crusades

1306-1321 Dante’s Divine

Comedy

1386 C.E.Chaucer begins writing

Canterbury Tales

1337-1453100 Years War

France & England

1455 C.E.Printing Press

1517Protestant

ReformationBeowulf

Composed sometimebetween

850 C.E. 900 C.E. 1453Fall of

Byzantine Empire with invasion of Ottoman

Turks

306 C.E.Constantine comes to power in Eastern Roman Empire; beginning of Byzantine Empire

1347 Bubonic Plague

450 C.E.Anglo-Saxons invade

England

1375-1400 Sir Gawain &

Green Knight

Reduction in Violence• Magyars defeated

in 955 and began to settle in Hungary

• Infighting among Muslims

• Vikings simply stop marauding and settle down

Reduction in Violence• Walls built

around towns• Church

attempts to tame warfare– “Pax Dei”

Agricultural Revolution• Improvement in

climate• Three field system• New technologies

– Carruca (iron plow)– New yoke and

harness system for draft animals

• Windmills• Watermills

Agricultural Revolution• Better farming led

to more crops• More food led to

population growth• Population growth

increased town growth

Population Increase• Birth rate up/Death rate down• European-wide population explosion

– 1100 AD = 42 million people– 1300 AD = 72 million people– Population of England, Scotland and

Wales tripled to 5 – 6 million– Population of France grew to 20 million– London – 70,000– Florence, Milan, Venice – 100,000– Paris – 200,000

Population Increase• No major famines

or plagues between 1000-1200 AD

• More people for the lords to tax

Revival of Town Life• “Burg” and

“Ghetto”• Overcrowded

– Air & water pollution

– Begging– Prostitution– Law enforcement

• Guilds – regulation of businesses

• Great differences in social classes

Revival of Town Life• By 1300, 10% of

the population of western Europe lived in cities

• Towns were centers for reemerging long distance trade

Revival of Long Distance Trade

• Medieval Guilds –opposed to trade

• Development of contracts

• Development of banking

Rise of the Medieval University

• Knowledge transferred from Church to Universities– Trivium – grammar,

logic, rhetoric– Quadremmium –

arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, music

• Medical Schools

Religious Reform• The growth of

religious abuses• “Lay investiture”• Selling

“indulgences”

Religious Reform• Crusades• Inquisition• Pope Innocent

calls the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215– 4th Crusade– Heretics– No new

denominations– No marriage

outside church

Emerging European Monarchies

France• Philip Augustus (French)

attacked King John (English) and won French lands back.

• Philip the Fair – created a national assembly called the Estates General.– First Estate: the church– Second Estate: the nobility– Third Estate: the

townspeople

England• The “Domesday

Book” (1086)• Henry II

conquered part of Ireland and made the King of Scotland his vassal

Magna Carta• King John got greedy, so his nobles

revolted.• They forced him to sign The Magna

Carta.– Limited the power of the King.– Provided protection of law to everyone.– Guaranteed trial by jury.– No taxation without representation.

• Became the basis for modern English and American law.

100 Years War• England versus France• Henry V (English) wins part of

France after Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

• Joan of Arc (French) wins it back.• Results:

– France’s power increased– England slipped into civil war– The Church continued to lose power– Chivalry was dead– End of the Middle Ages