EARLY MIDDLE AGES Geography divided Europe but also

EARLY MIDDLE AGES • Geography divided Europe but also encouraged trade • Rivers • Seas • Mountains • Charles Martel • Wanted to unite Frankish nobles • Defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours • This stopped Muslim expansion

• Charlemagne: Charles the Great • Expanded his territory • Crowned the Roman Emperor by the pope • Aachen named capital • Encouraged education

• After Charlemagne died, his empire was attacked by: • Muslims (in Spain) • Magyars (in Hungary) • Vikings (in Scandinavia): A. K. A. Norsemen or “north men” • Raided towns

RELIGION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES • Christianity (Jesus is the leader) • Began in Israel/Palestine • Famous leaders: Jesus, Peter, Popes • Roman Catholic Church • Popes became very powerful • Rome was the capital • Popes excommunicated people who didn’t listen

• Judaism (Waiting for their leader) • Began in Israel/Palestine • Famous leaders: Abraham, Moses, David • Dispersed by the Romans • Faced Anti-Semitism in Europe • Scapegoats • Islam (Muhammad was the prophet) • Began in Mecca • Famous leaders: Muhammad • Expanded throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain

FEUDALISM

• Chain mail armor • Plate mail armor

• Code of Chivalry • Obey his lord • Be brave • Show respect to women of noble birth • Honor the church • Help people • Be honest • Fight fairly against enemies

FEUDALISM • Manorial system • Lords ruled the manors • Lived in castles • Peasants worked the land, and… • Were freemen • Paid to farm their land • Had rights • Could move whenever and wherever • Lived in small cottages

• Serfs worked the land (paid the lord with crops) • Couldn’t leave or own property • Couldn’t marry without permission • Could be tried in lord’s court • Not slaves, couldn’t be sold • Were protected by lords • Lived in a small room

• Farming improvements • Heavy wheeled plow with iron blade • Horse collar • Windmills • Rotating crops (allowed population growth

WILLIAM THE CONQUERER • Came from Normandy (France) • Defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings • Became King of England • Created feudal system in Eng. • Domesday Book: Census • Brought Europe’s customs to Eng.

MAGNA CARTA • King John • Raised taxes • Punished enemies w/out trials • Magna Carta • A. K. A. Great Charter • Limited the king’s power • Couldn’t raise taxes • Fair trials • Habeas Corpus: protects a person from being imprisoned without a trial

CRUSADES

• 1095: (1 st Crusade) • Pope encourages crusades (holy wars) against the Muslims to reclaim the Holy Land • Crusaders win • 1187: (2 nd Crusade) • Saladin unites the Muslims and captures Jerusalem • 1189: (3 rd Crusade) • Saladin and Richard I agree to a truce • Christians can visit Jerusalem • 1200 -1291: • 7 more Crusades

• Crusades effects • Increased trade between Europe and the Middle East • Helped break down feudalism

BLACK DEATH • “And so they died. And nobody could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship…And in many places in Siena huge pits were dug and piled deep with great heaps of the dead…And I buried my five children with my own hands and many others did likewise. And there were many corpses about the city who were so sparsely covered with earth that dogs dragged them out and devoured their bodies. ” – First hand account by a resident of Siena, Italy

BLACK DEATH • Plague • Known as the Black Death • Bubonic plague • Bacteria carried by fleas on rats • Began in central Asia • Spread throughout China and Europe along the Silk Road • 1/3 to ½ of Europe’s population died

• Ring around the rosie, [refers to the rosie-red (or purple-ish) round rash marks on the skin —one of the first signs a person had the plague] A pocket full of posies; [one of the superstitious ways used by people in the Middle Ages to try and fend off the plague was to stuff their pockets with posies (flowers)] Atischoo, atischoo, [sneezing was also an early sign of the plague if it was a pneumonic plague] or, Ashes, ashes [the dead were often cremated] We all fall down. [most of the people stricken with the plague died]