New monarchies, the consolidation of central power, and the birth of pre-modern city government
Economic and cultural expansion
Emergence of Scandinavia and the Slavic world
Politics and Society
A tripartite scheme: "men of war, men of prayer, and men of work"
Feudalism
Definitions
The relationships among monarchs, lords, and vassals
a) Fealty arrangements
b) Fiefs
The warrior-aristocrat tradition and chivalry
a) The original chivalric values
b) Other values added to the "Chivalric Code" via the Peace of God and in response to the presence of women at court
The Peasantry: serfs and freemen
a) Agricultural subsistence lifestyle
b) Economic relationships with the landowning lord
The rise of the towns
Europe's population doubled between 1000 and 1300
New economic opportunities in growing towns
Commerce and the rise of guilds: towns at odds with the feudal system
a) Guild interests
(1) Artisans and craftsmen
Regulation of working conditions
Development of apprenticeship programs
(2) Merchants and bankers
Developing new businesses
Supervising trade contracts
(3) Joining forces against the intrusion of the church and the local nobility
Self-government
Town charters
b) Trade routes
Women in town life
Medieval government: the feudal monarchy
A general trend toward centralization of power in monarchy at the expense of the nobility
The French monarchy
a) The Capetian kings
b) Institutional and political triumphs
c) France as cultural leader of Europe
The English monarchy
a) Invasions and crises
b) Conqueror-kings: Cnut of Denmark, William the Conqueror, and Henry II
c) King John and the Magna Carta of 1215
(1) A victory for the nobility
(2) Establishment of due process of law and of the rights of nobles (and free men) versus the crown
(3) Development of the common law tradition and the founding of parliament
The German Empire
a) An exception to the centralization trend
b) Empire slowly disintegrated after the success of the Ottonian dynasty
(1) Peace reduced opportunities for "prestige and plunder" to buy cooperation from the nobility
(2) The Investiture Controversy pitted emperors against the Roman Catholic Church
(3) In an attempt to resurrect a new "Roman Empire," German emperors embroil themselves in war with the Papal States
The Papal monarchy
a) Growing power of the church
b) Reform movements
c) Powerful popes
d) Limits of power: Kings versus the pope
Medieval Christianity and the Church
Influence on medieval life and society
Christian beliefs and practices
Church as way to salvation
Rituals and ceremonies
a) Inseparable from doctrine
b) Seven sacraments
Religious orders and lay piety
Secular versus regular clergy
Monasteries and convents
a) Monasteries as refuges from the world, as schools, and as sources of reform
(1) Cluniac reform movement
(2) Cistercian reform movement
b) Convent life
(1) Education and leadership opportunities for women
(2) Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias
Mendicant orders: the Franciscans and the Dominicans
Lay piety movement
a) Beguines
b) Beghards
c) Albigensians
d) Waldensians
The Crusades
Defining feature of the High Middle Ages
Primary goal was to free the Holy Land from the Muslims
Tremendous political opportunities
Nine crusades with no lasting success
Source of cultural interchange with the Muslim world
The Age of Synthesis: Equilibrium between the Spiritual and the Secular
Role of the cathedral in European cultural life
1150 and the shift toward urban values: courtly ideals and the rise of academic logic
Learning and theology
Monastic school revival
Cathedral schools and the development of scholasticism
a) Curriculum
b) Use of logic to reconcile Aristotelian thought with Christian theology
c) Peter Abelard: an independent master
a) Averroists vs. traditionalists
b) Thomas Aquinas and the via media
(1) Thomistic theology
(2) Thomistic summaries
(3) Influence of Aquinas
Science and medicine
Classical works interpreted within the framework of theology
Important catalysts in the development of medieval science
a) Infusion of seminal works of antiquity by contact with Islamic scholars
b) Rise of the universities
Medicine
a) The works of Hippocrates and Galen
b) Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine
c) The rise of medical schools
(1) Curriculum and methods of treatment
(2) William of Saliceto: Surgery
d) Physicians guilds
e) Hospitals and everyday treatments
Literature
Latin as the language of learning
Monastic and feudal writing
a) Goliards and poetry
b) Chanson de geste: The Song of Roland
c) Courtly and vernacular writing
(1) Canzones
(2) Troubadors and courtly romances
(3) Chrétien de Troyes: Lancelot
(4) Marie de France: lays
(5) Dante: Italian vernacular
Life and works
The Divine Comedy
Architecture and art
Romanesque churches and related arts
a) Origins and evolution of churches
b) Floor plan and decorations
c) First style
(1) Composition
(2) Features
d) Second style
(1) Derived from Cluny III
(2) Vézelay
e) Illuminated manuscripts
Gothic churches and related art
a) Origins and evolution
b) Early Gothic style, 1145–1194: Notre Dame, Paris
c) High Gothic style, 1194–1300: Amiens and Chartres
d) Illuminated manuscripts
Music
Innovations on the Gregorian chants: Hildegard of Bingen
Liturgical drama
Secular music
a) Chansons de geste and the troubador songs
b) New musical instruments: the lute and the bagpipe
c) Guido of Arezzo modernizes musical notation
