Western+Europe

Day 1
 * Impact of Christianity** (490-600)
 * Controlled beliefs + ideas + attitudes
 * few interactions in culture
 * a lot of the land was conrtrolled by Germanic tribes
 * learned from outsiders (science and art) = Dark Ages (strengthened)
 * Pope = gave political power to Kings who interact with chruch
 * letting church control the power was a "good" idea
 * Reign of Charles Martel & Viking Raids** (600 - 755)
 * 1st Frankish leader -> strengthen power (strongest in Europe)
 * expand eastward (Germanic tribes to their rule)
 * perfected his soldiers for battles
 * stopped Muslim invasion from Spain = protect Europe from Islam = preserved Christianity in Europe
 * Muslims home = Franks control France
 * Charlemagne’s grandfather
 * Scandinavian people overpopulated
 * Vikings (Scandinavia) invaded coastal areas of Britain
 * The Rise of the Franks** (755-850)
 * military superiority
 * improved Germanic technology
 * strong government + leader (Charles Martel, Clovis, and Charlemagne)
 * low tax
 * Charlemagne death = weakened the empire
 * empire remained unified until the death of Louis I (843)
 * Feudalism** (840 - 967)
 * death of Louis I = the rise of Feudalism
 * legal + social system
 * vassals were protected + maintained by their lords
 * required to serve in war
 * Christianity and the High Middle Ages & Expansion of Holy Roman Empire** (967 - 1060)
 * expantion of Holy Roman Empire = Europe was Christian
 * Burgundy, Austria, Bohemia, and Italy = Christians
 * Christian crusades promised salvation, treasure, and glory
 * Crusades got ideas from the Islamic world
 * Crusades trade with Asia
 * Effects of the Crusades, Norman conquest of England and Magna Carta** (1060-1240)
 * Normans conquered England (lead ruling class)
 * Magna Carta was signed when Nobles reached a breaking point
 * first step to democracy after Roman Empire Fell
 * Pope = approved a Northern Crusade to deal with pagans
 * Germans wanted to invade borders areas and make them Christians
 * Why the Golden Horde was able to dominate Europe and the Black Death Plague** (1240 - 1350)
 * Mongols forced to west because depended on trade/agriculture and Asia was dry (west = find greener pastures)
 * Acquired great horse riding skills + bow arrow skills
 * Forced people to join their army (joining them or die)
 * Dominate trading routs between Europe + Asia
 * Europe was suffering w/ Black Death plague
 * Notes on Video (The Dark Ages):**
 * war, fighting, battles = deaths
 * Roman Empire fell in 410 AD
 * Rome was never conquered by another city
 * Roman citizens were helpless
 * to conquered a city = start from the outside blocking its surroundings
 * 5th century wave after wave of invaders came in the Roman Empire
 * Dark Ages began = no longer emperor
 * Wide spread violence
 * houses got less and less impressive
 * People that came after took material from Roman buldings to built their houses
 * Term Dark Ages has been used by a lot of people
 * New Emperor was Jesus Christ
 * France became a Chirstian nation
 * Constatine became emperor after seeing religious signs
 * King of France spread his palace (had allies + help summit power)
 * 15 leading an entire army to war (Kloves)
 * Age of 30 converted to Catholicism
 * Burn someones hand and if it was healing healthy then innocent if not guilty
 * West and East are like Night and Day (political change)
 * Justinian was a smart true military man who wanted to re-unite the empire
 * " Behind a powerful man lies an equal powerful women "
 * Theodora was Justinian wife; she was smart and beautiful
 * Justinian changed the law to be able to marry her
 * While Italy bleeds Roman Empire builts
 * Justinian justifies Ancient Architecture
 * Plague(rat disease) kills a lot of people even Justiania got it
 * City of Constatinople was in lockdown because of plague
 * citizens blame Theodore saying that it was Gods for her sexual dances
 * 150,000 people died if it
 * Theodora died of cancer = Justinian died after (Justinian was 7 years older)
 * Christian monks wrote Englands history
 * Charles was named the savior of Chistianity

Day 2

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 * Summary:** Manorialism and Feudalism were social system during the Dark Ages. Systems of economic and political relations between landlords and their peasant laborers (serfs). For both system the Serf were at the bottom of everyone else and the King was always on top. Serf were peasant agricultural laborers within the system of the Middle Ages.

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 * Magna Carta:** Viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. King John of England agreed, in 1215, to the demands of his barons and authorized that handwritten copies of Magna Carta. A document that wealthy English aristocrats forced King John to sign, affording them certain rights under a new role of law. First sign of democracy in Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.


 * ESPIRIT Chart on Western Culture: **


 * E || **Economic:**
 * based on farming
 * goods never left the grounds of the manor
 * trade strengthen (to Italy)
 * ** merchants + bankers = become rich **
 * wool = England + lumber = Scandinavia + other manufactured goods from low Countries
 * Guilds = protected the interests of craftsmen
 * Restrain capitalist in trading ||
 * S || **Social:**
 * Aristotle clear exposition of rational thought = valued
 * Systems of **Feudalism** + **Manorialism**
 * Kings and Wealthy landlords on the top of the “pyramid”
 * Vassals below Kings
 * Knights below Vassals
 * Peasants (serfs) on the bottom
 * ** Three estates ** = church + nobles + urban leaders
 * Serfs lived on agricultural estates called manors
 * Serfs had to give harvest to the land owner
 * Serfs= independent + free; weren't slaves
 * Trade + better technology facilitated = better living standards
 * Women = decreased roles as Europe continued to develop (especially urban areas) ||
 * P || **Political:**
 * The Dark Ages = feudalism system
 * Lords held control over large swaths of lands
 * Lords had vassals + knights + serfs reported to them
 * Frankish + Germanic kingdoms rise (**Caroligians, Charles Martel, Charlemagne**)
 * Western European leaders converted to Christianity = gain stronger control over peasantry
 * Iberian peninsula was controlled by Muslim Moors
 * Muslim Moors were expelled by Christians
 * Magna Carta (1215) = King John to be aware of certain rights of nobility
 * Showed power struggle between leaders + rich aristocratic ||
 * I || **Interactions:**
 * ** William the Conqueror ** (Norman) = invaded England (1056) that brought feudalism
 * Viking raids throughout the North Sea but it stop after they converted to Christianity
 * ** Crusades ** = holy wars fought by Christians in effort to regain holy land;
 * Soldiers motivated by belief of heaven + salvation
 * ** Pope Urban II ** considered to be the most successful Crusaders ||
 * R || **Religion:**
 * Clerics stressed the importance of faith in God’s word
 * Christianity became influential after the fall of Rome
 * Clergy + church officials = only source of information about outside world
 * Clergy = almost the only educated people in Western Europe
 * Pope struggles later on because of stronger Holy Roman Emperors
 * Scholars still debate reason vs. faith and Peter Abelard vs. Bernard of Calirvaux ||
 * I || **Cultural & Intellectual:**
 * Christian culture dominated European philosophy + art
 * Clergy tried to preserved the writings of church father (Augustine)
 * Gothic style of architecture replaced classical building styles
 * ** Scholasticism ** = a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities + a program that process in articulating/defending orthodoxy
 * languages develop (French + English)
 * ** Thomas Aquinas ** (Italian Priest) = classical proponent of natural theology + father of Thomistic school of philosophy + theology.
 * Thomas influence on Western thought ||
 * T || **Technology and demographic changes**:
 * ** Three field system ** = allowed peasants to keep their fields full of nutrients (remaining productive)
 * ** Moldboard ** helped peasants to till their farmland deeper (farming= efficient + effective) ||


 * Notes on Decline of Medieval Synthesis:**
 * problems of overpopulation and disease
 * Hundred Years War between France + England
 * new military challenged monopoly (archeds learned how to unseat armored knights)
 * France victory
 * key sources of Western vitality disappear
 * agriculture couldn't keep up with population growth
 * plagues began wit the Black Death challeged population and social strcuture
 * tensions between peasants and landslords + artisans and their employees
 * economy didn't go into tailspin
 * manufacturing and mining technology accelerated
 * land-owning aristocracy sowesd signs of confusion
 * traditional fighting = professional armies + new weaponry
 * idea of chivalry controlled poluite behavior (including woman who gained ground)
 * upper class = + cultivated
 * ceremonies of chivalry = some silly and hollow
 * French kings influence ont eh papacy (reloated from Rome to Avignon -> town surrounded by French territory)
 * Church was weakened (lost some grip on Western religious life)
 * Religion = not declining
 * women made emotional contacts with God (mystics) + popular heresies with leader in England and Bohemia
 * declared Aquinas's writing heretical
 * retionalism and religion = not feasible
 * Middles Ages implies a luill between the glories of Roma and the gliter of more modern Europe
 * Middle Ages = dynamism
 * gained populations, trade, cities, etc
 * Universities and Gothic art were legacy to Western society
 * builts Christian and feudal traditions
 * relationship between Europe and the regions around it
 * advance by imitation from technology to science to trade and consumption
 * universities had Arab origins, higher schools of the Muslim world