Developments in

Western Europe
Essential Question: How did the beliefs and practices
of the predominant religions, agricultural practices, and
political decentralization affect European society from
c. 1200 to c. 1450?
Feudalism: Political and Social Systems

Political Trends in the Later Middle Ages

Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages

Christian Crusades

Economic and Social Change

Renaissance

The Origins of Russia

Europe in 1400
 Feudalism: Political and Social Systems (part 1)

During the Middle Ages, European civilization was highly decentralized.

The dominant form of political organization in the region was a system of exchanges
of land for loyalty known as feudalism.

Under that system, a monarch or king will grant extensions of land called fiefs to
lords, which would become vassals of the monarch.

Lords, in turn, will grant sections of the fiefs to knights, which would become vassals
of the lords, and by extension, vassals of the monarch.

Lords also granted lands to peasants, which would work the land to produce goods
for themselves and for the lords.
 Feudalism: Political and Social Systems (part 2)

Large self-sufficient fiefs were known as manors.

Under the manorial system, peasants became serfs, permanently attached to the
land, isolated from the outside world, and more tightly dependent on the lord.

Although trade was limited, it expanded gradually as agricultural productivity and

partial specialization increased.

Agricultural practices included the three field system, based on rotating crops
through one field planted with cereals, one planted with legumes and one left fallow.

Other technological developments in this era included the use of windmills, and
innovations in plow design.
Idealized Representations of the Manorial System, 1414-1416
 Political Trends in the Later Middle Ages

The last stages of the medieval period are characterized by a significant increase in
the power of the monarchs.

By hiring their own bureaucrats and professional soldiers, monarchs became less
dependent on the loyalty of the lords.

As a response, lords joined together to set limits to the power of the monarchs,
creating the roots of modern parliamentary systems.

These disputes had little impact on the life of the general population.

Conflicts between large kingdoms, such as the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453),
pitting England against France, created the bases for the development of
centralized nation-states while demonstrating the strategic value of innovations like
gunpowder.
 Magna Carta Libertatum, 1215
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms")
The Siege of Orléans in 1429, During the Hundred Years’ War.
This is one of the first Western images of a battle with cannons.
 Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages

The Christian Church in Europe divided into two branches in 1054, with the Roman
Catholic Church dominating the Western side of the continent and the Ortodox
Church ruling over the Eastern side, from Greece to Russia.

The Roman Catholic Church became the most powerful institution in Europe during
the medieval period, running a parallel bureaucracy that rivaled that of most states.

Priests were among the most educated members of European society, and their use
of Latin for liturgical purposes provided a sense of intellectual unity to the region.

The Church was also a patron of the arts and ran several of the most prominent
European universities of the era.

Priests attached to monastic orders were known as monks, and ran their
monasteries like regular manors.
 Christian Crusades

The Crusades were a series of European military campaigns in the Middle East that
took place during the twelfth century (1095-1204). .

Their main goal was to take control over the Holy Land from Muslims, in order to
facilitate religious pilgrimages while gaining access to trade with India and China..

Other factors, such as demographic pressures leading to social unrest within

Europe, also contributed to the mobilization of Christians.

Although they were costly, both in terms of casualties and treasure, the Crusades
promoted cultural exchanges between Christians and Muslims, fueling a demand for
exotic luxury goods throughout Europe.
 Economic and Social Change

During the Late Middle Ages, a renewed interest in trade contributed to the
development of productive units that were less self-sufficient and more specialized.

Successful merchants and members of the trades joined together in guilds and
moved to cities, particularly those that could host permanent market fairs.

Starting around 1300, a drastic cooling period known as the Little Ice Age affected
agricultural productivity and as a result, population growth slowed down.

A combination of epidemics and social unrest fueled prejudice in Southern

European cities, with Christians blaming local Jews for the difficult situation .

Forced to relocate to Northern European cities to escape antisemitism, many

Jewish merchants established networks of moneylenders that increased the
availability of capital in those regions.
Main Trade Routes of Late Medieval Europe.
 Renaissance
The rise of agricultural output, long-distance trade and urban populations
contributed to a cultural renovation throughout Europe.
Scholars were able to recover classic Greek and Roman manuscripts preserved by
Muslim translators, in a process that fueled artistic and scientific innovation.

In 1439, the invention of the movable-type printing press launched a revolution in

communications, by allowing the mass production of books.

Known as the Renaissance, this cultural renovation started first in Southern

European cities and expanded later to the North.

Renaissance values included humanism (a new focus on individuals rather than

God), which in turn fueled the use of vernacular languages, the centralization of
governments, and the rise of incipient forms of nationalism.
The Printing Press and the Vitruvian Man
 The Origins of Russia

Connected by trade to Central Asia, Scandinavia, and the Mediterranean, the city of
Kievan Rus became a prominent commercial hub during the 12th century.

By embracing Ortodox Christianity, its inhabitants had distanced themselves from

their European neighbors to the West.

In the 13th century, Kievan Rus was occupied by Mongol invaders, a process that
contributed even more to its separation from the rest of Europe.

After regaining its independence, the region became linked to other cities further
East, such as Moscow.

Out of these transformations emerged Russia as a modern state.