Understanding the

Middle Ages
Unit 1
Middle Ages
Introduction
1- The Middle Ages in Europe
occurred between 500 and
1500 CE.

2- To understand the
Medieval Period, we need to
know a few facts about the
Roman Empire:

-Toward the end of Rome, the

empire had expanded far past
the ways that it had to support
expansion.
- There were not enough Roman citizens to recruit to the armed forces to protect the empire.
- This was worsened by the Great Plague of Rome, which was one of the most devastatings pandemics in
Ancient Roman history.
- It is believed to have killed up to 5 million people or more.
- The cause of the outbreaks is still debated by historians, with some attributing it to a virus, others to
bacterial infections, and yet others to a combination of these factors.
 Romulus Augustus was
the last emperor of Rome

o With the fall of Rome, so can the fall of the

system that protected Europeans.

o People had to look for new governing

bodies or govern themselves.

o Without Roman protection, invaders had

little competition when they attacked.
Feudalism
 Feudalism

o After the empire collapsed, life was

dangerous and difficult in western
Europe. People worked hard to survive
and have enough to eat.

o The government of Rome had

disappeared. It was replaced by thousands
of small, regional feudal governments,
where the local lord was in charge.
 Feudalism

o It was the age of feudalism and manors, of

lords, ladies, knights, serfs, and peasants.

o But the real ruler was the Catholic church.

Religion dominated everything people did in
their daily life.

o Whether you lived on a manor or in a castle or

in one of the growing towns, daily life in the
Middle Ages was deeply religious and often
violent.
 In the feudal system

 People pledged loyalty to the LORD a

ruler or powerful landholder.

 KNIGHTS, or armed warriors, fought

on behalf of their LORDS.

 PEASANTS worked on the land.

 SERFS were at the bottom and were

not free to leave the LORDS land.

 Serfs were the poorest of the peasant

class and were a type of slave. Lords
owned the serfs who lived on their
lands.
 How did people live back then?

o The structure of feudal society was like a

pyramid. At the very top sits the king with a
lot of power.

o Next came the most powerful vassals. They

were wealthy landowners such as nobles
and bishops.

o At the top of society were knights. Knights

rode horses and pledged to defend their
lords’ land in exchange for fiefs.
 How did people live back then?

o There was a group of people at the bottom

of the pyramid. They had to work in the
fields and take care of the land.

o In the past, people’s status determined how

much power they had. People with higher
social class usually inherited their positions.
 How did people live back then?

o In the Middle Ages, people were divided

into three groups:

- Nobles and knights who fought

- Men and women of the Church, who prayed
- Peasants, who worked

o In Europe in the Middle Ages, most people

were peasants. They couldn’t leave the place
where they were born.
 How did people live back then?

o Though serfs were bound to the land, their

lords didn’t own them, which means there
was no slavery. The lord could give the
person a job but what they made belonged
to the lord.
 Consequences of Feudalism
o The feudal system made it so that many different
groups of people owed loyalty to one person. This
person was the boss of the land, and they had
absolute authority over what happened there.

o When a person had land, they could give it to their

child. This made a permanent difference between
those who owned the land and those who rented it.

o The system often favored the ruler when a noble

died without an heir. The ruler could either keep it
or give it to another person.

o It was hard for kings to track who owned what, so

they kept books like the Domesday Book.
The Crusades
 A Need of Protection
o In the 9th and 10th centuries, western Europe was threatened by three main
groups:

1- Muslims or followers of the religion of Islam advanced from the Near East and
northern Africa.

2- Magyars, a central Asian people.

3- Vikings swept from present day

Norway and Denmark.
 What were the Crusades?
o The Crusades were a series of wars during the Middle Ages
where the Christians of Europe tried to retake control of
Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims.

o The word “crusade” comes from the Latin word crux

meaning cross. “To take up the cross” meant to become a
crusader.

o To identify themselves, crusaders sewed symbols of the

cross of Christ onto their clothing and painted crosses onto
their shields.
 Why did they want to control Jerusalem?
o Jerusalem was important to a number of religions during the Middle Ages. It was important
to Jewish people as it was the site of the original temple to God built by King Solomon.
 Why did they want to control Jerusalem?
o It was important to the Muslims because it is where they believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. It
was important to Christians as it is where they believe Christ was crucified and rose again.`
 Who fought in the Crusades?

o The Crusades were between the o There were around 30,000

armies of Europe, mostly the Holy soldiers from Europe in the
Roman Empire, and the Arabs that first Crusade, they were
had control of Jerusalem. In the made up of Knights,
first Crusade Europe battled the peasants, and other
Seljuk Turks. commoners.
 Who fought in the Crusades?

o Some saw the army to get rich

and try out their fighting skills,
while others saw it as a way
into heaven.
Demographic &
Agriculture
 Demographic and agricultural growth
o The High Middle Ages was a period of tremendous expansion of population.

o The causes were:

1- Improved agricultural techniques
2- The decline of slaveholding
3- Warmer climate
3- The lack of invasion
 Life in the Country

o As much as 90% of the European population

remained rural peasants.

o Many were no longer settled in isolated farms but

had gathered into small communities, usually
known as manors or villages.

o These peasants were often subject to noble

overlords and owed them rents and other services,
in a system known as manorialism.
 Development Of Towns

o Castles began to be constructed in the 9th and 10th

centuries and provided protection from invaders.

o They were initially built of wood, then of stone. Once

castles were built, towns built up around them.

o Following this, great medieval walled cities were

constructed with homes, shops, and churches contained
within the walls.
 Development Of Towns

o York, England, which prospered during much of the

later medieval era, is famed for its medieval walls and
bars (gates) and has the most extensive medieval city
walls remaining in England today.

o The inhabitants of towns largely made their livelihoods

as merchants or artisans, and this activity was strictly
controlled by guilds.
 Development Of Towns

o The members of these

guilds would employ young
people—primarily boys—as
apprentices, to learn the
craft and later take position
as guild members
themselves.

o These apprentices made up

part of the household, or
“family,” as much as the
children of the master.
 Educational Life

o Creating many new churches and schools

where students were required to learn Latin
and Greek.

o Conquest of and contact with the Muslim

world through the Crusades and the
reconquest of Spain also generated new
texts and knowledge.
 Educational Life

o Most notably, contact with Muslims led to

the European rediscovery and translation of
Aristotle, whose wide-ranging works
influenced medieval philosophy, theology,
science, and medicine.
 Schools And Universities

o Cathedral schools were in turn replaced by

the universities established in major
European cities.

o The first universities in Europe included the

University of Bologna (1088), the
University of Paris (c. 1150, later associated
with the Sorbonne), and the University of
Oxford (1167).
 Schools And Universities

o In Europe, young men proceeded to

university when they had completed their
study of the trivium—the preparatory arts
of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic or
logic—and the quadrivium—arithmetic,
geometry, music, and astronomy.
 THANKS

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