4.1: Europe Recovers

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

4. The Time of Cities and States

1: Europe Recovers

What you will learn in 

this lesson

• How Western Europe developed in the Late Middle Ages by comparing the years 1000 and 1500 on matters like:
• political organisation
• where people lived
• towns and cities
• trade
• means of payment
• education
• religion

Europe Recovers

Around AD 1000, the Dark Ages were coming to an end. Five centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, we see that Europe gradually began to recover.

Things that were discontinued after the end of the Roman Empire were now starting to return:

• The European kingdoms were safer now so merchants were travelling again to other countries: International trade returned.
  
• New roads were built, Roman roads were restored.
  
• Money was used again.
  
• More people learned to read and write. Schools and universities were built. Europeans became more literate and educated.
  
• New cities were built. With the return of trade it was possible again to live in a city.  
  

Of course this did not happen overnight. Therefore we are going to take a look at Europe around AD 1000 and compare it to Europe around AD 1500.

herstellen

Western Europe around 1000

(1)

It is hard to draw a map of Europe in 1000 that shows its political organisation. You can show the Holy Roman Empire and the other kingdoms that existed, but they were not like modern countries. There was no real idea of a centralised state      . Kings had the most power in theory, but feudal lords or counts were the really powerful people locally. About 96% of the population worked on the land. Towns and cities were small and unimportant. Almost all the people lived and worked as vassals under the 

feudal system, farming manors that were part of a lord's land. Many of the most powerful lords lived in castles and had their own army of knights. 

Holy Roman Empire

In AD 800 the pope crowned Charlemagne as emperor of a new Roman Empire. Because the pope wanted a strong empire with close ties to the church, it was called HOLY Roman Empire (a Christian empire).

After Charlemagne's death the empire broke apart. 

The western part became France

The eastern part (Germany) continued  the empire.

The title of emperor did not pass automatically from father to son. 

Local German rulers elected a German king. If the pope agreed with the choice, he crowned the king emperor.

a unified state (country) with only one government.

Today, our country is a centralised state. The Hague is the centre of our government. The laws that are made there are for everybody in the Netherlands.

1. Who held most power in a centralized state
in the Middle Ages?

1. the pope
2. the king
3. the lords
4. the serfs

2. The Holy Roman Empire was the same
as the Roman Empire

1. true
2. false

3. The Holy Roman Empire was a Christian empire

1. true
2. false

4. The Holy Roman Empire was the only state in Europe
that had an emperor as its ruler.

1. true
2. false

5. Who was more important in Europe,
the pope or the emperor? That is difficult to answer.
Give one argument for each.

Western Europe around 1000

(2)

Almost all farm workers worked for their lord in exchange for a home, some land and protection. They paid for this by giving him part of their crops and working on his land for a number of days each year. The farmers were serfs. 

These feudal villages were almost entirely self-sufficient. They had a blacksmith to make their tools and a mill to grind their corn. The women wove the cloth      they needed. 

Trading was mostly local and much was done by barter. 

a year on a Medieval farm

textiel

6. Which statement about a serf peasant is correct?

1. serfs owned their own farmland but they needed to do servile duties.
2. serfs did not have farmland of their own, but they were paid for their work on the lord's land
3. serfs did not own any land, but they were free to move to another lord's domain.
4. serfs were not allowed to leave the domain without permission of the lord

Western Europe around 1000

(3)

Almost everyone was Christian. Being Christian meant being Catholic. 

All of Christian Europe, no matter who ruled it, was seen as part of the Christian 'kingdom' of Christendom, which had the Pope (based in Rome) as its leader. Few people could read and write, and almost all of those who could were churchmen. While everyone was Christian, ordinary people only went to church a few times a year. Not every village had a church. Even if it did, that did not mean a priest was there regularly.

7. In the Middle Ages being a Christian automatically meant being a Catholic.

1. true
2. false

Western Europe around 1500

(1)

By 1500, local lords were losing power as rulers introduced centralised government. Italy and Germany still had many independent     states, but 'nation states'      were beginning to develop in places like France, Spain and England. 

There were still many more people working on the land than living in towns - about 85%. In the Netherlands and Italy it was about 60%. But large, walled, towns and cities were an important part of life.

a state in which the people share a language and culture and that has one government.

For instance France today is a nation state. 

The Roman empire was not. Greek city states weren't either.

onafhankelijk

Copy this schematic in your notebook. 

Fill in the boxes with V (yes) and X (no)

8. according to the previous schematic, which of the mentioned states is a nation state?

1. Netherlands today
2. The Roman Empire
3. Greek city states
4. all three

Western Europe around 1500

(2)

There were more merchants and craftsmen, and more goods for sale. People traded widely, international trade was important and money, not barter, was used everywhere except in small, local exchanges. There were even banks 

that lent merchants money to pay for their international trading. More people needed a basic level of numeracy      and literacy to run a business, so many towns now had schools that provided a basic education. Europe now had a growing number of universities. 

In the countryside most peasants paid rent in money, not services. The feudal system was breaking down, even if in some area it was still the law. 

picture: university class Bologna, 1350.

being able to calculate with numbers (rekenen)

Western Europe around 1500

(3)

The countryside looked different too. Many of the huge fields, farmed by the whole village, were broken up into individual farms. More people were keeping sheep for the wool trade, rather than growing crops. 

Churchgoing had changed, too. People living in, or near, towns were able to go to church regularly. All towns had at least one church, many had several. An important feature of all cities was a cathedral      - a huge church towering over the other buildings of the city. They were built out of a desire to please God, and also to display the wealth of the city and its inhabitants      .

cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that is the home church of a bishop. Bishops oversee many churches in a particular region, so the cathedral is often larger and more decorative than the others. However, cathedrals may be of any size and style. Especially huge and magnificent were the cathedrals built in the Gothic style between about the 1100s and 1400s in Western Europe.

A cathedral is a Christian church that is the home church of a bishop. It is larger than other churches.

inwoners

9. The return of cities after 1000 AD cannot be seen
separately from the return of trade.
Do you agree or not?
In both cases, explain your answer.

inwoners

inwoners

useful short clip about a medieval town. Click here to watch.

School TV has more useful clips about the Middle Ages...just in case you wonder...

Word Duty

the bold printed words in the text are word duty words.

from now on you can click the hotspot

to read the definitions.

 

yeah, this is a hotspot.

make your own summary.

Copy the schematic and fill in the details from the list.

congratulations