Chapter 8 Outline
                                                     The Rise of Europe

I. The Early Middle Ages
A. A land of Great Potential
1. The Germanic peoples who ended Roman rule in the shifted the focus to the north, where the people of Europe began to create a new civilization.
2. Europe had great untapped potential; dense forests and rich black earth that was suited for raising crops.
3. Europe’s large rivers were ideal for trade and exploration.
B. Germanic Kingdoms
1. The Germanic tribes who migrated across Europe were farmers and herders.
2. They lived in small communities governed by unwritten customs.
3. Between 400 and 700, the Germanic tribes carved up Western Europe into small kingdoms, the strongest and most successful kingdom was that of the Franks.
C. Islam: A New Mediterranean Power
1. After the Germanic peoples carved up Western Europe, a powerful new force, Islam swept out the Middle East in the Mediterranean world.
2. At the battle of Tours in 732, Frankish warriors led by Charles Martel defeated a Muslim army.
3. Muslims advanced no farther into Western Europe, although they continued to rule most of Spain.
D. The Age of Charlemagne
1. The grandson of Charles Martel built an empire reaching across France, Germany, and part of Italy; its founder was Charlemagne.
2. He spent most of his 46-year reign fighting the Muslims in Spain, the Saxons in the north, the Avars and Slavs in the east, and the Lombards in Italy.
3. Charlemagne tried to exercise control over his many lands and create a united Christian Europe.
E. A Revival of Learning
1. Charlemagne hoped to make his capital at Aachen a “second Rome.” To achieve this goal, he made determined efforts to revive Latin learning throughout his empire.
2. Charlemagne set up a palace school at Aachen.
3. Alcuin, a respected scholar, set up a curriculum of study based on Latin learning.
F. Charlemagne’s Legacy
1. After Charlemagne died in 814, his empire soon fell apart.
2. His heirs battled for power for nearly 30 years.
3. Charlemagne’s grandson drew up a treaty of Verdun, which split the empire into three regions.
G. New Attacks
1. Even after the defeat at Tours in 732, Muslim forces kept up their pressure on Europe.
2. In the late 800’s, they conquered Sicily.
3. The most destructive raiders were the Vikings, who burned communities along the coasts and rivers of Europe.
II. Feudalism and the Manor Aconomy
A. A New System of Rule
1. In response to that basic need for protection, a new system called feudalism, evolved.
2. Feudalism was a loosely organized system of rule in which powerful local landlords divided their large landholdings among the lesser lords.
3. Custom and tradition established the relationship between lords and vassals.
B. Lords, Vassals, and Knights
1. Everyone had a place in the feudal society.
2. The monarchs were the most powerful lords, dukes and counts held the largest fiefs.
3. Each lord had vassals, and these vassals in turn had their own vassals.
C. The World of Warriors
1. At the age of 7, a boy slated to become a knight was sent away to the castle of his father’s lord; there he learned to fight.
2. When his training was finished at the age of 21, the boy was ready to be made a knight.
3. Noblewoman as well as noblemen played active roles in this warrior society.
D. The Manor
1. The heart of the medieval economy was the manor, or lord’s estate.
2. Most manors included one or more villages and the surrounding lands.
3. Most of the peasants on a manor were serfs, who were bound to the land.
E. Daily Life
1. For most peasants, life was harsh, Men, women, and children worked long hours.
2. During planting season, a man might guide an ox-drawn plow while his wife goaded the ox into motion with a pointed stick. Children helped plant seeds, weeded, and took care of animals.
3. In medieval Europe, people believed in elves, fairies, and other nature spirits.
III. The Medieval Church
A. A Spiritual and Worldly Empire
1. The western church, headed by the pope, became known as the Roman Catholic Church.
2. Medieval Christians believed that all people were sinners, doomed to eternal suffering.
3. The Church had its own body of laws, known as the canon law, and its own courts.
B. The Church and Daily Life
1. For peasants, religion was linked to the routines of daily life.
2. The church required all Christians to pay a tithe, or tax equal to a tenth of their incomes.
3. The church taught that men and women were equal before God. On earth, however, women were inferior to men
C. Monks and Nuns
1. Both men and women might withdraw from worldly life to become nuns or monks.
2. About 530, a monk named Benedict founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy.
3. Monks and nuns attended the sick, they gave alms, or charity to the poor and set up schools for children.
D. Hildegard of Bingen: Adviser to Popes and Kings
1. Hildegard would become a composer, writer, abbess, and adviser to the great men and women of her day.
2. Hildegard made the decision to become a nun.
3. Hildegard did not hesitate to speak her mind and encouraged or scolded churchmen and rulers alike.
E. Reform Movements
1. The very success of the medieval Church brought serious problems, and led to the demands for reform.
2. The Abbot Berno at Cluny filled the monastery with men who were devoted solely to religious pursuits.
3. Friars, monks who traveled widely took a different approach to reform, preached to the poor.
F. Jews in Western Europe
1. Medieval Europe was home to many Jews.
2. Jewish culture flowered in Muslim Spain, which became a major center of Hebrew scholarship.
3. The church charged that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus.
IV. Economic Expansion and Change
A. An Agricultural Revolution
1. In the country, where peasants adapted new farming technologies, made their fields more productive.
2. By 800, peasants were using new iron plows that carved deep into the heavy soil.
3. Peasants also adopted the three-field system. They planted one field in grain, a second with legumes, such as peas and beans, and left the third fallow.
B. Trade Revives
1. European’s set up trade routes where merchants exchanged local goods for those from remote markets.
2. There were trade fairs where everyone gathered and traded goods.
3. Small centers of trade and handicraft developed into the first real medieval cities.
C. A Commercial Revolution
1. As trade revived, money reappeared, which led to more changes.
2. European’s developed new ways of doing business, many merchants joined together in an organization known as a partnership.
3. European’s adapted other business practices from Middle Eastern merchants.
D. Role of guilds
1. Merchant guilds, or associations, dominated life in medieval towns. They passed laws, levied taxes, and decided whether to spend funds to pave streets with cobblestones,
2. Each guild represented workers in one occupation, such as weavers, bakers, brewers, sword makers, and goldsmiths.
3. To become a guild member meant many years of hard work as an apprentice.
E. City Life
1. Medieval cities were a jumble of narrow streets lined with tall houses.
2. In the largest cities, a great cathedral, where a bishop presided, or a splendid guild hall might tower above the humbler residences.
3. During the day, streets echoed with the cries of hawkers selling their wares and porters grumbling under heavy loads.
F. Looking Ahead
1. By 1300, Western Europe was a different place from what it had been in the early Middle Ages.
2. New riches revised the social structure.
3. The economic revival of the High Middle Ages was bringing Europeans into contact with civilizations much more advanced than their own.