The Societal Change – early middle ages

Turks gain control of The emperor asks

Palestine and the pope for help.
threaten
Constantinople.

Some 10,000
Pope Urban asks
Europeans helps
European lords to
the church
free the Holy Lands
specifically the
from the Turks.
pope and loyalty
to their kings.
The Revival of Trade

Italian ships
brought goods
back from Asia.
Viking ships
The Crusades brought Asian
stimulated trade. goods to northern
Europe.

Revival of Trade

Flanders became The Hanseatic

a meeting center of League set up
different trade routes. trading posts.
The Growth of Towns
The Decline of Serfdom

Serfs could leave for towns.

Serfs could earn money by selling crops to

townspeople.

Changing agricultural methods pushed

them off the land.

The Black Death killed many people in

Europe so the demand for workers
increased.
 Growth of Trade
Trade began to grow in Europe after the Crusades. Most of this trade
was controlled by merchants from Italy and Northern Europe.
Italian Trade Cities Selling Goods
• Italians among earliest to build • Venetian merchants went north to
thriving trade sell imported goods
• Sailors set out to find valuable • Goods were expensive, very
goods from distant lands profitable
• Venetian sailors traveled to • Other Italian cities created trade
Byzantine Empire, Muslim lands routes
• Brought back silk and spices from • Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Milan, all
China, India major trading cities
• Loaded onto Venetian wagons • Italians controlled almost all
southern European trade
Life and Culture

Vernacular Literature in the Middle Ages

Kind
of Literature Characteristics Example

troubadour poems about love love songs

songs and chivalry

romances fictional King Arthur and

stories, his Knights of
sometimes of the Round Table
heroes
fabliaux short comic “Reynard the
stories written Fox”
in rhymed verse
national epic long poem about The Song of
a hero Roland
miracle, morality, short dramas “Noah’s Flood”
and mystery plays with religious or
Biblical themes
Times and Locations
• Trade fairs usually held once a year, specific locations
• Some trade fairs lasted for months
• Schedule staggered so merchants could travel from one to
another
• Some merchants spent most of time on road

Market
• Trade fairs not attended by average person
• Generally places for sales between merchants
• For everyday needs, people visited local markets
• Local markets sold locally-produced goods
 Money and Credit
Money
• Trade encouraged use of money, had not been common in Europe for years
• Previously workers paid with goods
• Cities began minting coins, workers began demanding coins for payment

Credit
• Some merchants allowed customers to buy goods on credit
• In return for goods, customer signed document stating when, how payment would be
made

Banks
• Use of money, credit led to creation of Europe’s first banks
• People could deposit money for safekeeping, request loans
• Most money-lenders were Jews, barred from many other occupations
 New Technologies
• New advances of farm
technology also helped
• Heavy plow increased
amount of crops grown on
land; water mill, windmill,
used power of nature to grind
wheat into flour
• Improved technologies
meant fewer people needed
to farm
• Enabled more people to
move to cities, build life
there
Free Towns
• Merchants moved into
medieval towns to conduct
trade
• Did not want to pay high
taxes to local lords in those
towns
• King allowed charters for
new towns run by merchants,
taxes paid only to king
• Paris, London, and Rome
grew quickly and began to be
referred to as cities
Wars and the Growth of Nations

A Habsburg was The Habsburgs used

elected emperor in their position to
1273. arrange marriages with
powerful families.

Through marriage the

Habsburg family More well-planned
gained control of marriages gave the
Austria and nearby Habsburgs control of much
lands. of the empire’s territory.

The Habsburgs became

the most powerful
family in Europe.
 Daily Life in Cities
According to today’s standards, the cities that grew up in
Europe and the Middle Ages were small and crowded. At times,
life in these cities could be very unpleasant.
Streets Fire and Crime Some Benefits
• Were narrow, • Made medieval • Churches, eating
winding cities dangerous halls, markets
• Shops, houses • Air hazy with • Guilds provided
lined both sides smoke from plays, public
• High buildings cooking, entertainment,
blocked sunlight tanneries and festivals
• Crowded with • Most buildings • Sports common
people, animals made of wood, • Guilds competed
straw roofs
• Sanitation bad against each other
• Violence common
ASSIGNMENT

Identify Cause and Effects of the

changes in the different societies
in Europe.
What is hanseatic league?
How market were established?
How trade fairs are made?
Identify different restrictions on
towns and cities brought by