Economic and Social Change Self sufficiency of the

Economic and Social Change • Self sufficiency of the manor system gave way to interest in goods from across the Old World – Largely due to the exotic goods the Europeans brought back from the Crusades (silk, spices, jewels, etc. ) • Global trade increases during the later middle ages because of the increasing desire to find a more direct route to Asia that doesn’t go through the Middle East – Increased trade/availability of money Caused new middle class – burghers – to develop • Merchants, craftspeople, and small landholders – Do not fit the defined classes under feudalism – occupy a more fluid sector of European life • Causes the nobility some stress as this new middle class is not reliant on what the nobility can provide/ensure their survival – Therein begins a slight shift in focus from living according to purely Christian ideals to focusing on economics – how best to make money/develop a strong economy

Economic and Social Change (Cont. ) • Associations of merchants - guilds – were created to regulate product quality, protect artisan interests, and support families of injured/killed workers – Each occupation has its own guild; they could grow big enough to place pressure on lords or monarchs of cities to rule in the interest of guilds (earliest forms of unions) – If a city is competing with exports from another city or region, they will often tell the monarch/lord to raise tariffs on the goods so people will buy local goods instead • Formation of guilds and alliances led to creation of the Hanseatic League – Commercial alliance between German and Scandinavian cities such as Lubeck, Hamburg, and Riga – They used their monies to fund combat merchant ships to drive away pirates from the North Sea – Monopolized goods such as timber, grain and leather – Later became wealthy enough to send ships to the Mediterranean to pick up goods from Arabian traders – reflects a desire that Europeans have for Eastern goods (Early version of the European Union today)

City Life and Gender • Medieval towns were dirty/unsanitary – People would dump human waste out the windows – fell on passerby – Horses/animals in the streets also leave waste – Raw sewage in street spawned rats and fleas – leads to disease – People relied on timber/wood to heat up homes – caused soot to stain walls and led to fires which could devour entire blocks – People began to leave the countryside to find jobs in the cities towards the later half of the Middle Ages – led to overcrowding • Men were able to move up in guilds/associations – Women became more restrained, often made to work as children until they were married off – Could sometimes become artisans/guild members, but not all had property rights – Could also get an education if they joined religious orders (education was usually reserved for the nobility – even then noble girls were more often than not illiterate

Education in Medieval Society • Learning was left in the hands of the church and its clergy – Education was faith based, so scientific innovation (the working of the human body, etc. ) was limited (practices were deemed unholy by the church – Bible is ultimate authority – why look elsewhere? – Regardless, scribes and priests of monasteries were responsible for translating and preserving manuscripts from the Greeks/Romans • Church helped Establish universities such as Cambridge and Oxford – Students could study theology, philosophy and liberal arts – Medical advancements were slow-going because of the Catholic Church – Knowledge of more advanced medical procedures often came from the Arabic world/India • Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980 – 1037 A. D. )– Persian physician Wrote the Canon of Medicine – variety of diseases and treatments – Reference book for students and doctors for over 600 years

The Bubonic Plague Strikes • 1300 s – Bubonic Plague hit Europe— huge boils, black spots, and fever –Began in Asia - Spreads to Europe via trade • About one-third of Europe’s population dies in the epidemic – over 25 million people die in Europe alone, 90 million die throughout the old world (almost a third of the Old World’s population at the time) • Some serfs leave manors for paying work – sometimes entire villages and manors would be wiped out by the plague – there would be white crosses outside the village to show that nobody alive was in there and for people to move on • Many Jews blamed and killed (believed to have poisoned the water, etc) Church suffers weakened stature because sacraments cannot heal the infected

Italy: Birthplace of The Renaissance • The Renaissance (1300 -1600 A. D. )—Revival of culture - began in Italy – In the 1300 s, the Bubonic Plague killed at least a third of the European population – disrupts the European economy – Years after the Bubonic Plague swept through Europe, the population began to slowly increase again and people once again started to move into the cities – Growth of people and cities encouraged the growth of markets and business • The Crusades encouraged trade – Led to the growth of the city states in Italy – The Crusaders often left to the Holy Land through Italy, so they brought goods back with them in Italy as well (Kingdom of Heaven – Messina) – Tales and Records of rich cities drive more crusaders to search for these riches first before fighting for Christendom – The Italians capitalized on their location in the Mediterranean and began a monopoly on trade with the Middle East/Asia

Classical and Worldly Values • The Growth of trade let people own things they couldn’t before –People had more access to luxuries like Fine wine, food, better quality clothes – Italy has a monopoly on the trade of such items – helps encourage other European nations to look for other ways to trade with the middle east – Expansion of trade also requires innovation in technology • The focus on innovation helps shift the focus of life from the spiritual to the secular – worldly – How can we make more money/get this to work better/improve ______? • Humanism—Movement focused on human potential – less on faith (directly) – shift of focus from the sacred to the secular – Humanists studied classical texts, history, literature, philosophy – Humanists were still Christian but promoted the beauty and positive attributes of humans in art, literature, etc.

The Renaissance Revolutionizes Art • Renaissance Art Has: – Realism - Proportionate human anatomy – Natural environments – Perspective—Technique that shows three dimensions on a canvas • Realistic portraits of prominent citizens are very popular – it’s a sign of wealth and prestige to be able to order portraits especially from popular artists • Sculptures in particular shows natural postures and expressions – try to capture life in motion basically • The biblical David, Mary and Jesus are popular subjects among sculptors