Medieval

Germanic Tribes
 Germanic tribes were folks who migrated frequently and lived in pre-urban village as
they were considered nomads didn’t settle in one place, they attacked Roman Empire
and dominated much of Europe to begin the middle age in Europe. Not to mention,
Germanic tribes didn’t destroy completely the Roman Empire as they took part of
roman culture to add to their culture that includes Christianity, literacy and
architectural models based on Rome. Also, took style codes of models from romans.
Germanic Law:
 It wasn’t written and not modified, it was collection of customs passed orally from
generation to other. Germanic law was codified in writing under the influence of
Roman law. It was based on compensation rather than revenge dependent on social
class and sex of the victim.

Germanic literature
 was based on heroic culture of strength, big and adventurous epics, one example is
“Beowulf epic” that says that Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of
Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by
the monster Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and
is then defeated. This story shows the theme of loyalty of Beowulf to the king.

Germanic art:
 Artist’s production focused on jewelry, carpets, and weapons. Their art showed the
sophisticated and technical intelligence.

Charlemagne: and the Carolingian Renaissance

 Charles the great was obsessed in restoring the Roman Empire under Christianity
leadership. He was a great warrior and administrator as he fought many holy wars in
the name of Christ, made schools at Aachen and unified church and kingdom. He was
crowned the emperor of Rome and wanted to conquer lands to control, revived trade
with east and created arts with best architectural plans. He also made an effort in
copying and translating books that were expensive.
 Abbey church: Charlemagne constructed several abbeys from the religious
architecture occupied with a church to worship in shrines. Monks got access to such
churches that added chapels from roman culture.
 Charlemagne’s hope of restoring the Roman Empire under Christian leadership led to
the conquest of vast areas of land; his holy wars resulted in the forcible conversion of
 the Saxons east of the Rhine River, the Lombards of northern Italy, and the Slavic
peoples along the Danube.
 By the ninth century, the Holy Roman Empire had become the cultural oasis of the
West. Under Charlemagne’s influence, much of Europe converted to Christianity,
while members of his court worked to encourage education and the arts.
 Charlemagne cast himself as the prototype of Christian kingship. He controlled
conquered lands by placing them in the hands of local administrators. He revived
trade with the East, stabilized currency, and pursued diplomatic ties with Baghdad.
 The Carolingian Renaissance saw the rebirth of monumental architecture, bronze
casting, and manuscript illumination. The Carolingian abbey church became the focal
point of monastic life as well as the repository of sacred relics that drew pilgrims
from neighboring areas. In the construction of the abbey church, as in the
arrangement of the monastic complex as a whole, Classical principles of symmetry
and order prevailed.

Early Medieval Society

 Feudal system: when Charlemagne died in 814, the Western Europe showed fail as he
failed in establishing any legal machinery system: no standing army, no system of
taxation, and no single code to unify population. The empire by Charlemagne died by
the attacks of Viking invaders and Muslim foreign that even the sons and grandsons
of Charlemagne couldn’t resist.

 Feudalism: Charlemagne 3 grandsons divided the empire, the repeated attacks of

Viking invaders enhanced the growth of unique social system of feudalism that
involved the exchange of land for military services. An example of feudalism is
someone farming a piece of land for a lord and agreeing to serve under the lord in war
in exchange for getting to live on the land and receiving protection.

The medieval life in serfs:

 More than 90% at that time were farmers ruled by nobles who were the landowners.
Lands were linked to lords that offered protection to farmers receiving food in
exchange. If lord sold the land farmers settled in, the farmers would be associated to
the sellers. Lords of feudal class had power and authority to sell lands and offered
military protection to farmers that owed the lord usually third of their agricultural
yield. Medieval serfs were always subjected to famine and disease and were
uneducated
High Medieval Culture
  Christian crusades: Trade in much of Europe declined after the fall of Rome, and
towns and cities declined in size, roads were not safe. Urban life remained active in
the east, where cities grew especially with the rise of Islam.
 It soon became apparent that the material benefits of the Crusades outweighed the
spiritual ones, especially in that the campaigns provided economic and military
advantages for the younger sons of the nobility. While the eldest son of an upper-
class family inherited his father’s fief under the principle of primogeniture, his
younger brothers were left to seek their own fortunes. The Crusades stirred the
ambitions of these disenfranchised young men who had been schooled in warfare.
Equally ambitious were the Italian city states. Eager to expand their commercial
activities, they encouraged the Crusaders to become middlemen in trade between Italy
and the East.

 The contribution of the Crusades was that trade increased as Europeans traveled and
became more familiar with exotic goods. Increased contact and trade was part of the
reason for the rise of towns and cities in Western Europe between east and west,
starting in Italy.
 Trade and travel meant people saw, heard, tasted and touched new things, and
influences in the arts and lifestyles moved with them, bringing new styles of building,
decoration, clothing, cooking and music—for those wealthy enough to afford the new
things. In the following sections, read about some objects of fine living that entered
Europe in part as an outcome of the exchanges during the Crusades.
 Aside from such economic advantages as those enjoyed by individual Crusaders and
the Italian city-states, the gains made by the seven major Crusades were slight. By
1291, all recaptured lands, including the city of Jerusalem, were lost again to the
Muslims. Indeed, in over 200 years of fighting and seven major Crusades, the
Crusaders did not secure any territory permanently, nor did they stop the westward
advance of the Turks. The Crusades had enormous consequences for the West: the
revival of trade between East and West enhanced European commercial life,
encouraging the rise of towns and bringing great wealth to the Italian cities of
England and France.
 Crusades reopened trade roots was important for west to become powerful, renewed
contact with other cities, translated most of Greek and roman books by Arabs and had
access to these books.

Constitutional monarchy:
The Origins of Constitutional Monarchy
The new social consciousness voiced by Peire Cardenal was a reflection of political and
economic change, especially in England. In the year 1215, the barons of the realm forced the
English king John to sign the landmark document known as the Magna Carta. It became one of
the most significant documents in the history of political freedom: by asserting the primacy of
the law over the will of the ruler, the Magna Carta established the principle that paved the way
for the development of constitutional monarchy
In the newly established towns, the middle class pursued profit from commercial exchange.
Merchants and craftspeople in like occupations formed guilds for the mutual protection of buyers
and sellers. The guilds regulated prices, fixed wages, established standards of quality in the
production of goods, and provided training for newcomers in each profession
Middle-class values differed considerably from those of the feudal nobility. Whereas warfare and
chivalry preoccupied the nobility, financial prosperity and profit were the principal concerns of
the middle class.

Chivalry: a code of behavior practiced by upper-class men and women of medieval society
common law: The body of unwritten law developed primarily from judicial decisions based on
custom and precedent; the basis of the English legal system and that of all states in the United
States with the exception of Louisiana
fealty loyalty; the fidelity of the warrior to his chieftain
feudalism the system of political organization prevailing in Europe between the ninth and
fifteenth centuries and having as its basis the exchange of land for military defense
fief in feudal society, land or property given to a warrior
guild an association of merchants or craftspeople organized according to occupation
investiture the procedure by which a feudal lord granted a vassal control over a fief
lord any member of the feudal nobility who invested a vassal with a fief
renaissance (French, “rebirth”) a revival of the learning of former and especially Classical
culture
scriptorium a monastic writing room
serf an unfree peasant vassal any member of the feudal nobility who vowed to serve a lord in
exchange