By 1050, enough progress has occurred where there is recovery from the fall and Dark Ages

of Western Europe.

- Traits of the High Mid Ages

1. Agriculture became more advanced
2. Worst of invasions were over
3. England, France, and Holy Roman Empire were at peace
4. Commerce and trade flourished
5. Towns and cities increased
6. Population grew steadily
7. Religious reforms
8. Rise in art, education, and scholarship
- Agricultural Revolution
1. Heavy plow – faster, more efficient, and would till up more soil nutrients.
2. Hare Collar – Allowed many horses to be used
3. Use of water mills increase
4. Three field system ( 1 field in spring crop)

Results of Agricultural Revolution

1. People had more food, lived longer, and had healthier and energetic lives.
2. More land cleared for increasing population
3. Serfs had to go farther from home
4. Increase in food production helped people specialize in other jobs

Problems in Agriculture

1. Most manors had to pool work animals

2. Food production was often too little for work
3. Small gene pool for work animals
4. Farmers were prone to natural disasters

Revival of Trade, Commerce, and Cities.

Cities were quickly revived during the late Middle Agres. Based upon a growth in trade and
availability of poem older towns grew while the new one sprang trade routes, seacoasts,
riverbanks, and old roman sites.
Classification of Common town folks

- Nobles, Pro Soldiers, Farmers/Serfs, and Clergy.

- Towns people were middle class businessmen/ women often called “burghers
of bourgeoise”. They earned cash by making any type of good. They were
becoming financially independent

To protect themselves, burghers made guilds (unions) that:

1. Protected their jobs

2. Negotiating with charters from nobles that granted freedom to hold courts, pass
laws, and raise their own taxes

- Long distance trade – Increased dramatically (More than Rome) Certain goods
like salt, grain (HRE), wine and grain (France), clothes (Flanders), wool and beer
(England), and Timber (Scandinavia).

In Europe, two areas were important to revive trade.

1. Northern Italian cities – Genoa, Milan, Venice, Florence.

2. International trade – Ghent and Bruges, Wool Cloth.

Religious Reforms

The RCC influenced a lot during the High Middle Ages

- Administration/leaders, laws, property

- The Dark Ages had an effect on the RCC. The spiritual life of RCC had suffered
through its connection with feudal politics and worldly interest.

Corruptions within the RCC

- Some monks/nuns neglected their vows

 - Priests were marrying
- Bishops were influenced by money/power
- Kings were buying/selling church offices
- HRE emperor sought to control the papacy
- Growing complacency that resulted in a mechanical attitude

The Great Medieval Revival

1. Monastic Revival

It begins in central France with a founded monastery in Cluny. Cluny was free of secular
control and enforced Benedicts Code. Pope Gregory VIII, the greatest church reformer.

Cluny inspired 3 new monastic movements.

Cistercian Order – founded by Robert Moleme in 1098 at Citeaux. Known for skilled
craftsmen and engineers.

Dominican Order – founded in Spain by St. Dominic in 1215. Great part of the revival of
learning during the HMA and the copying of texts.

Franciscan Order – founded by St. Frances in 1223.

2. Peace Movement
Feudal war often occurred on manors. Destroying homes and crops. Innocent serfs
would die so the RCC settled the violence through peace associations.

Nobles made 2 pledges:

Peace of God – Not to attack serfs
Truce of God – no fighting on holy days

3. Growth of Papal power

Pope Nicholas II – attempts to limit secular influence in election of popes via the college of
cardinals.
Pope Gregory VII – Came to power in 1073. Most influential church reformer of the Middle
Ages.

Improved moral quality of priest excommunicated bishops who receive land/ money

He emphasized orthodoxy.

Investiture- Ceremony where a king sells a church office.

The Investiture Conflict

- Gregory VII’s attack on investiture led to a major conflict with Henry VI, emperor of
HR. Henry VI gained power. Henry denounced Gregory as “false pope” Gregory
excommunicated Henry which freed his vassals from the service to Henry.
- Henry begged for forgiveness and Gregory granted such, Henry promptly raised an
army, Invaded Rome, and ran Gregory out of town.

Architecture

- There were 2 main types of architecture during the Middle Ages.

Romanesque

- Early Middle Ages ( Dark Ages.)

- Roman styled buildings
- Rounded arches, massive/thick walls to support heavy roofs.
- Small windows.

Gothic

- High Middle Ages

- Built by the RCC to inspire the people
- Tall, thin walls
- Tall spines
- Flying buttresses
- Pointed arch replaces rounded arch
- Lots of sculpture
- Huge stained- glass windows
The Crusades

An effort among European Christians to take back the Holy land from the Muslims

• The Crusades prove that the High Middle Ages was a time of greater energy for
Western Civilization.
- Background
- After Mohammads death in 632, Islam had grown rapidly. Besides Arabs, many
other groups like the Seljuk Turks. They defeated the Byzantines allowing them to
take Jerusalem, (Holy Land). The Seljuks didn’t allow churches to be rebuilt and
harassed Christian Pilgrims. A Byzantine Emperor pleads for help, the pope could
not.
- In 1095, Byzantium pleads form help again. This time Pope Urban II orders a
meeting called the Council of Clermont (France). He calls for a crusade to free the
Holy land of Islamic rule.

Motives of the papacy to have a Crusade

1. To make Europe more peaceful

2. Crusaders offer a chance to heal the differences of the 2 churches
3. A chance for the pope to become more powerful/respected
4. Piety – True spiritual considerations (right thing to do)

Motives of the Crusaders

1. Piety
2. Forgiveness of sin
3. Material gain
 4. Military adventure/ travel
5. Feudal obligations

First Crusade

a. Peasants Crusade: When Urban II called for help, he wanted nobles and knights.
Instead, a mob of 30k poor people led by Peter the Hermit answered. They get to
Turkey and are easily destroyed.
b. Crusade of Princes: Europe's best-known nobles assembled an army of 5-10k
knights, 25k infantry, and 25k others. This crusade was a success at taking back
Holy land.

The Crusaders

- The Crusaders divided the land into feudal states, building structures.

The Second Crusade

- The reason the Seljuks were defeated during the First Crusade was widespread
disunity. In 1144 the Seljuks reorganized and capture Edessa. Pope Eugenius II calls
for the Second crusade. King Louis VII ( France) and Emperor Conrad III (HRE) led
this crusade.
- In between both crusades, a powerful Seljuk authority shows. Saladin launched a
holy war to retake Jerusalem in 1187.

The Third Crusade

- The loss of Jerusalem motivates another crusade. Emperor Freddrick Barbarossa,

King Phillip II of France, and Richard I ( “The lion heart”) all took part. Fredrick dies,
Phillip returns home after taking one city, and Richard I is left to face it alone.
- Richard was unable to take Jerusalem back. In August 1192, he negotiates a treaty
with Saladin that allows Christian pilgrims to visit the city. However, all land stayed
in the hands of the Muslims

Later Crusade Attempts

- Six more crusades took place till 1291. All were failures that demoralized
Christians.
 - WHY DID THE EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS LOSE?
- Great distance between Europe & Holy Land
- The fighting between the different Christian armies
- End of the crusading spirit

Results of the Crusades

1. Economic Success
- Returning soldiers introduced exotic products from the Mid East and Far East.
- Silk and Cotton Cloth, Sugar, Rice, Citrus Fruit, Coffee, Incense, and Perfume.,
- Spices- For food preservation, Pepper was most expensive and sought after.
- Household goods/ideas - Mirrors, compasses, chess, meds, algebra, chemistry.
(Muslims were highly advanced by then)

The Northern cities like Florence and Lenice served as middlemen, who would obtain the
goods before selling them for higher prices in Europe.

2. The Crusades helped lower Feudalism

Nobles sold their land to go on a crusade. Others neglected their fiefs, so vassals and serfs
left.

3. RCC/Papacy grows
 -Although the RCC Was defeated. The church grew in power/prestige. Europeans
respected pope.
4. Knowledge of geography increased.
- The crusades amounted to a 200 yr long geography lesson. Europeans travelled
more than 50 mi from their homes.

5. Europeans re-learned about ancient Greece/Rome

- Many soldiers witnessed the ruins of ancient Greece, Rome. It laid the background
to rebirth of culture called the Italian Renaissance.
6. RCC and Eastern Orthodox were more divided than – 4th Crusade
7. Crusades were military defeat for European Christians

POLITICAL REVIVAL

Birth of the infant nation state (HMA)

1. Strong national government/economy

2. Strong military
3. Well protected borders
4. One common language
Ex: England & France
England

In 1066 William invaded England. Him and his sons built castles throughout the
country, preserved law, set an effective tax code, strengthened their own laws.

Henry I (1100-35) “Lion of Justice”

- Son of William I
- Hardened, cool-headed, systematic leader, and a passion for law & order

Department of Exchequer- tax office consisting of several sheriffs with power to audit tax
rolls

English common law

- Canon law (RCC)

- Anglo-Saxon Law
- Roman Law
- Norman Feudal law
Henry began weeding outdated laws, and didn’t live long enough to finish.

Circuit judges held court across England. Their decisions in cases become the basis of
future cases.

Henry II

- Smart, outgoing leader.

- By marriage/inheritance he owned large part France.
- Common Law – Henry II kept working making common law (becoming a symbol of
English patriotism.)

Grand Jury System

- Freemen would listen and give evidence against defendants

Henry II problems

1. Power struggle against the English RCC

- Henry wanted RCC under common law. He helped to influence the election of
one of his advisors, Thomas Becket, as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- A power struggle broke out between church and state. Eventually four of his
knight's murder Becket. Henry II stopped his attempt at the RCC under common
law.

2. His sons
- Richard I (The lion Heart)
- Respected general, 6 months in England
- Allowed the country to function without a present king – advances in English
government and common law.

John I

- Younger son of Henry II

- Not a good general, lost English lands in France
- High taxes forcing robles to rebel
- Forced to sign the Magna Carta