AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
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AP European History Mr. Duhaime
Summer Assignment 2018-19 mduhaime@chasemail.org
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY
Course Description & Summer Assignment
W elcome to Mr. Duhaime’s AP European History (APEH) class! If you are in receipt of this PDF packet, that means
you are registered for APEH in the 2018-19 school year. Please read this document carefully as it contains important
information regarding your Summer assignment, and also includes part of your assigned reading.
Course Purpose
This AP European History (APEH) class is a college-level survey course that introduces students to the rich political,
cultural, social, and intellectual heritage of Europe. AP courses are part of a cooperative endeavor by high schools,
colleges, and the College Board that provides highly motivated students with the challenge and opportunity to earn
college credit during their high school years. Performance on the AP European History Exam determines a student’s
eligibility for up to six hours of college credit (the equivalent of a two-semester course). Course curriculum, materials,
and expectations are designed to prepare students for success with this exam. The purpose of the course extends
beyond the possibility of earning college credit to providing students with the opportunity to greatly expand their
understanding of how history has brought us to the modern world we live in today, and also to develop skills and
knowledge that will form a useful foundation for their continuing educational and professional endeavors.
Course Description
APEH focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about European history from approximately
1300 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. In addition to providing a basic
exposure to the factual narrative, the goals of the APEH course are to develop (1) an understanding of the principal
themes in modern European history, (2) the ability to assess and analyze historical evidence, and (3) the ability to
express that understanding and analysis effectively in writing.
Six themes of equal importance—interaction of Europe and the world, poverty and prosperity, objective knowledge
and subjective visions, states and other institutions of power, individual and society, and national and European
identity—provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason
historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in
different times and places. Areas of concentration include social, political, and economic history coupled with an
intense study of cultural and intellectual institutions and their development.
This course is taught at the college level. Major differences between a regular high school history course and a college-
level history course are the greater amount of reading and the depth of focus that is found in the college-level course.
Moreover, the AP curriculum demands higher-order thinking skills within a rigorous academic context. Thus, students
are frequently required to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate primary and secondary historical sources, in addition to
comprehending, memorizing, and applying facts.
This course includes history both as content and as methodology. Emphasis is placed on students developing
intellectual and academic skills including (1) effective analysis of such primary sources as documents, maps, statistics,
and pictorial and graphic evidence; (2) effective note taking; (3) clear and precise written and oral argumentation; and
(4) the ability to weigh evidence and reach conclusions on the basis of fact.
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Purpose of Summer Assignment
All AP history courses are challenging and fast-paced, and this assignment will allow us to cover our initial topics
more thoroughly and efficiently. In order to accelerate our coverage of the initial stages of modern European history, it
is necessary to have some exposure to the events of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation.
In that vein, you have been assigned the task of reading two textbook chapters and a pre-selected book dealing with
those topics, and are asked to create a study guide based on the information you derive from your reading.
Assignment Requirements
v Due Date:
o The reading and written assignment should be completed before the first day of school, when I will
collect your study guides and evaluations of Renaissance Lives.
v Read:
o Donald Kagan et al, The Western Heritage 11e, Introduction & Chapters 9 and 10.
§ It is recommended that you read this introduction and these chapters (and take notes on them!)
before reading Renaissance Lives in order to help you better understand the historical context.
§ [NOTE: I am also including Chapter 8 in this PDF, which is recommended but not required.]
o Theodore K. Rabb, Renaissance Lives: Portraits of an Age
§ ISBN-13: 9780465068005 (Basic Books, 2000)
v Write:
o Study Guide & Evaluation of Renaissance Lives (4-7 pages), described below.
§ Note-taking is an extremely important skill for success in any AP history course, and this will
help start you off with a strong foundation that will be useful throughout the year.
Renaissance Lives Study Guide & Evaluation: Assignment Instructions
Although Rabb is an academic historian at Princeton University, his history prose is not incomprehensible – this
is a very readable book that brings alive a vital period in the development of Western civilization.
Your task is to create a three- to five-page (3-5 pgs.) study guide which emphasizes the fifteen key individuals
and events which Professor Rabb stresses are important between the close of the Dark Ages and the publication of
John Milton’s Paradise Lost in 1667. For each entry, a few sentences will suffice as long as they clearly and
sufficiently crystallize the importance of that event or actor in history. Your study guide entries will likely vary in
length (as needed), and some will deal with specific persons, groups of people, events, and concepts. You may use the
Kagan textbook readings and your notes to supplement the information in your study guide.
Secondly, you are to evaluate in one- to two-pages (1-2 pgs.) the strengths and flaws of Rabb’s treatment of his
subject. That subject is the state of the Renaissance mind and the conditions which bred the Renaissance. Does Rabb
engage in effective scholarly research with a compelling thesis, or is this book a meandering collection of unconnected
lives? Please do not re-use my words when beginning your assessment of Rabb’s work.
Essential Questions:
1. What causes paradigmatic shifts in belief systems?
2. What factors cause the birth of new religions?
3. What compels individuals to endure harsh conditions for the pursuit of glory?
4. When and why do periods of extreme artistic creativity occur?
5. Is Professor Rabb correct in positing that the Middle Ages was a (‘Dark’) time of wastefulness and depravity
only to be redeemed by the heroic actions of Reformation leaders and Renaissance explorers?
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Additional Questions to Consider for your 1- to 2-page Evaluation of Renaissance Lives:
• What is your overall opinion of the book, and why?
• How effectively and in what ways does the theme of the book or argument of the author reflect what you
already know?
• How well has the author achieved his/her aims? Are these aims supported or justified?
• Does the author seem fair and accurate? Is there any distortion, exaggeration, or diminishment of the material?
Is the overall interpretation biased, subjective, slanted, or objective? Does the author try to look at both sides
of the issue?
• Is the book interesting or boring? Why? Does the material presented raise your curiosity about the subject?
Why?
• Is there enough information in the book? Is the subject treated thoroughly or summarily?
• Did you feel satisfied, disappointed, or puzzled by the book? Why?
• How well is the book written? (You should use quotes with page numbers as examples, but keep them short—
preferably no more than one sentence.)
• Is there anything distinctive or noteworthy about the book? (Give examples with page numbers when
possible.)
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BRIEF CONTENTS
PART 1 The Foundations of Western Civilization in the Ancient World to 400 C.E.
1 The Birth of Civilization 1
2 The Rise of Greek Civilization 33
3 Classical and Hellenistic Greece 61
4 Rome: From Republic to Empire 97
5 The Roman Empire 130
PART 2 The Middle Ages, 476 C.E.–1300 C.E.
6 Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Creating a New European Society and Culture (476–1000) 172
7 The High Middle Ages: The Rise of European Empires and States (1000–1300) 206
8 Medieval Society: Hierarchies, Towns, Universities, and Families (1000–1300) 234
PART 3 Europe in Transition, 1300–1750
9 The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300–1453) 265
10 Renaissance and Discovery 288
11 The Age of Reformation 320
12 The Age of Religious Wars 354
13 European State Consolidation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 385
14 New Directions in Thought and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 417
15 Society and Economy Under the Old Regime in the Eighteenth Century 449
16 The Transatlantic Economy, Trade Wars, and Colonial Rebellion 481
PART 4 Enlightenment and Revolution, 1700–1850
17 The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Thought 512
18 The French Revolution 550
19 The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism 584
20 The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform (1815–1832) 616
21 Economic Advance and Social Unrest (1830–1850) 646
PART 5 Toward the Modern World, 1850–1939
22 The Age of Nation-States 685
23 The Building of European Supremacy: Society and Politics to World War I 715
24 The Birth of Modern European Thought 751
25 The Age of Western Imperialism 782
26 Alliances, War, and a Troubled Peace 827
27 The Interwar Years: The Challenge of Dictators and Depression 865
vii
viii ■ BRIEF CONTENTS PART 6 Global Conflict, Cold War, and New Directions, 1939–2012 28 World War II 898 29 The Cold War Era, Decolonization, and the Emergence of a New Europe 936 30 Social, Cultural, and Economic Challenges in the West through the Present 982
xii ■ CONTENTS
Eleanor of Aquitaine and Court Culture 221 In Perspective 257
Baronial Revolt and Magna Carta 221
Key Terms 258
Philip II Augustus 222
Review Questions 258
France in the Thirteenth Century: The Reign
of Louis IX 225 Suggested Readings 258
Generosity Abroad 225 MyHistoryLab Media Assignments 259
Order and Excellence at Home 225
The Hohenstaufen Empire (1152–1272) 226
Frederick I Barbarossa 226 A Closer LOOK THE JOYS AND PAINS
Henry VI and the Sicilian Connection 227 OF THE MEDIEVAL JOUST 236
Otto IV and the Welf Interregnum 228
Frederick II 228
Romanesque and Gothic Architecture 229
Children’s Games, Warrior Games 238
In Perspective 232 C O M P A R E
A N D Faith and Love in the High Middle Ages 254
C O N N E C T
Key Terms 232
Review Questions 232
Suggested Readings 233 THE WEST THE WORLD The Invention of
Printing in China
MyHistoryLab Media Assignments 233 and Europe 260
A Closer LOOK EUROPEANS EMBRACE
A BLACK SAINT 214
C O M P A R E
PART 3
A N D
C O N N E C T
Christian Jihad, Muslim Jihad 216 Europe in Transition, 1300–1750
Pilgrimages 224
9 The Late Middle Ages: Social
8 Medieval Society: Hierarchies, and Political Breakdown (1300–1453) 265
Towns, Universities, and Families The Black Death 266
(1000–1300) 234 Preconditions and Causes of the Plague 266
Popular Remedies 266
The Traditional Order of Life 235 Social and Economic Consequences 268
Nobles 235 New Conflicts and Opportunities 271
Clergy 239 The Hundred Years’ War and the Rise
Peasants 241
of National Sentiment 271
Towns and Townspeople 242 The Causes of the War 272
The Chartering of Towns 243 Progress of the War 273
The Rise of Merchants 244
Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival:
Challenging the Old Lords 245
New Models of Government 245 The Late Medieval Church 275
Towns and Kings 246 The Thirteenth-Century Papacy 275
Jews in Christian Society 246 Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair 276
The Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) 277
Schools and Universities 247 John Wycliffe and John Huss 280
University of Bologna 247 The Great Schism (1378–1417) and the
Cathedral Schools 249 Conciliar Movement in the Church to 1449 281
University of Paris 249
The Curriculum 250 Medieval Russia 284
Philosophy and Theology 251 Politics and Society 284
Mongol Rule (1243–1480) 284
Women in Medieval Society 252
Image and Status 252 In Perspective 285
Life Choices 253 Key Terms 285
Working Women 253
Review Questions 286
The Lives of Children 256
Children as “Little Adults” 256
Suggested Readings 286
Childhood as a Special Stage 257 MyHistoryLab Media Assignments 286
CONTENTS ■ xiii
11 The Age of Reformation 320
A Closer LOOK A BURIAL SCENE FROM
THE BLACK DEATH 269 Society and Religion 321
Social and Political Conflict 321
Popular Religious Movements and
Dealing with Death 270 Criticism of the Church 321
C O M P A R E
Martin Luther and the German
A N D
C O N N E C T
Who Runs the World: Priests or Princes? 278 Reformation to 1525 323
The Attack on Indulgences 324
Election of Charles V 325
Luther’s Excommunication and the Diet
of Worms 325
Imperial Distractions: War with France
10 Renaissance and Discovery 288 and the Turks 326
How the Reformation Spread 327
The Renaissance in Italy (1375–1527) 289 The Peasants’ Revolt 327
The Italian City-States 290 The Reformation Elsewhere 328
Humanism 292 Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation 329
High Renaissance Art 296 Anabaptists and Radical Protestants 332
Slavery in the Renaissance 301 John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation 334
Italy’s Political Decline: The French Political Consolidation of the Lutheran
Invasions (1494–1527) 303 Reformation 337
Charles VIII’s March Through Italy 303 The Diet of Augsburg 337
Pope Alexander VI and the Borgia Family 303 The Expansion of the Reformation 337
Pope Julius II 304 Reaction Against Protestants 337
Niccolò Machiavelli 304 The Peace of Augsburg 338
Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe 305 The English Reformation to 1553 338
France 306 The Preconditions of Reform 338
Spain 306 The King’s Affair 338
England 307 The “Reformation Parliament” 339
The Holy Roman Empire 308 Wives of Henry VIII 340
The Northern Renaissance 308 The King’s Religious Conservatism 340
The Printing Press 308 The Protestant Reformation under Edward VI 340
Erasmus 310 Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation 341
Humanism and Reform 310 Sources of Catholic Reform 341
Voyages of Discovery and the New Empires Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits 341
in the West and East 312 The Council of Trent (1545–1563) 341
The Portuguese Chart the Course 312 The Social Significance of the Reformation
The Spanish Voyages of Columbus 312 in Western Europe 343
The Spanish Empire in the New World 314 The Revolution in Religious Practices
The Church in Spanish America 315 and Institutions 344
The Economy of Exploitation 316 The Reformation and Education 345
Mining 316 The Reformation and the Changing Role
The Impact on Europe 317 of Women 345
In Perspective 317 Family Life in Early Modern Europe 346
Key Terms 318 Later Marriages 346
Review Questions 318 Arranged Marriages 347
Family Size 347
Suggested Readings 318 Birth Control 347
MyHistoryLab Media Assignments 319 Wet Nursing 347
Loving Families? 347
Literary Imagination in Transition 349
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Rejection
The Renaissance Garden 293 of Idealism 349
A Closer LOOK LEONARDO PLOTS THE William Shakespeare: Dramatist of the Age 350
PERFECT MAN 297 In Perspective 351
C O M P A R E Key Terms 351
A N D
C O N N E C T
Is the “Renaissance Man” a Myth? 298
Review Questions 351
CHAPTER ■ xliii
WHAT IS THE WESTERN HERITAGE?
T his book invites students and instructors to explore living in ancient Palestine. With the ministry of Jesus of
the Western Heritage. What is that heritage? The West- Nazareth and the spread of his teachings by the Apostle
ern Heritage emerges from an evolved and evolving Paul, Christianity had established itself as one of many
story of human actions and interactions, peaceful and religions in the empire. Because Christianity was mono-
violent, that arose in the eastern Mediterranean, then theistic, Constantine’s official embrace of it led to the
spread across the western Mediterranean into northern eradication of pagan polytheism. Thereafter, the West
Europe, and eventually to the American continents, and became more or less coterminous with Latin Christian-
in their broadest impact, to the peoples of Africa and ity, or that portion of the Christian Church acknowledg-
Asia as well. ing the Bishop of Rome as its head.
The Western Heritage as a distinct portion of world As the emperors’ rule broke down, bishops became
history descends from the ancient Greeks. They saw the effective political rulers in many parts of Western
their own political life based on open discussion of law Europe. But the Christian Church in the West never gov-
and policy as different from that of Mesopotamia, Persia, erned without negotiation or conflict with secular rul-
and Egypt, where kings ruled without regard to public ers, and religious law never replaced secular law. Nor
opinion. The Greeks invented the concept of citizenship, could secular rulers govern if they ignored the influence
defining it as engagement in some form of self-govern- of the church. Hence from the fourth century C.E. to the
ment. Furthermore, through their literature and phi- present day, rival claims to political and moral authority
losophy, the Greeks established the conviction, which between ecclesiastical and political officials have char-
became characteristic of the West, that reason can shape acterized the West.
and analyze physical nature, politics, and morality. In the seventh century the Christian West faced a
The city of Rome, spreading its authority through new challenge from the rise of Islam. This new monothe-
military conquest across the Mediterranean world, istic religion originating in the teachings of the prophet
embraced Greek literature and philosophy. Through Muhammad arose on the Arabian Peninsula and spread
their conquests and imposition of their law, the Romans through rapid conquests across North Africa and eventu-
created the Western world as a vast empire stretching ally into Spain, turning the Mediterranean into what one
from Egypt and Syria in the east to Britain in the west. historian has termed “a Muslim lake.” Between the elev-
Although the Roman Republic, governed by a Senate and enth and the thirteenth centuries, Christians attempted
popular political institutions, gave way after civil wars to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim control in church-
to the autocratic rule of the Roman Empire, the idea of inspired military crusades that still resonate negatively
a free republic of engaged citizens governed by public in the Islamic world.
law and constitutional arrangements limiting political It was, however, in the Muslim world that most of
authority survived centuries of arbitrary rule by emper- the texts of ancient Greek and Latin learning survived
ors. As in the rest of the world, the Greeks, the Romans, and were studied, while intellectual life languished in
and virtually all other ancient peoples excluded women the West. Commencing in the twelfth century, knowl-
and slaves from political life and tolerated considerable edge of those texts began to work its way back into West-
social inequality. ern Europe. By the fourteenth century, European thinkers
In the early fourth century C.E., the Emperor Con- redefined themselves and their intellectual ambitions by
stantine reorganized the Roman Empire in two funda- recovering the literature and science from the ancient
mental ways that reshaped the West. First, he moved world, reuniting Europe with its Graeco-Roman past.
the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople (Istan- From the twelfth through the eighteenth centuries,
bul), establishing separate emperors in the East and West. a new European political system slowly arose based on
Thereafter, large portions of the Western empire became centralized monarchies characterized by large armies,
subject to the rulers of Germanic tribes. In the confusion navies, and bureaucracies loyal to the monarch, and by
of these times, most of the texts embodying ancient phi- the capacity to raise revenues. Whatever the personal
losophy, literature, and history became lost in the West, ambitions of individual rulers, for the most part these
and for centuries Western Europeans were intellectually monarchies recognized both the political role of local or
severed from that ancient heritage, which would later be national assemblies drawn from the propertied elites and
recovered in a series of renaissances, or cultural rebirths, the binding power of constitutional law on themselves.
beginning in the eighth century. Also, in each of these monarchies, church officials and
Constantine’s second fateful major reshaping of the church law played important roles in public life. The
West was his recognition of Christianity as the official monarchies, their military, and their expanding com-
religion of the empire. Christianity had grown out of mercial economies became the basis for the extension of
the ancient monotheistic religion of the Hebrew people European and Western influence around the globe.
xliii
xliv ■ WHAT IS THE WESTERN HERITAGE?
In his painting The School of Athens,
the great Italian Renaissance painter
Raphael portrayed the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato and his student,
Aristotle, engaged in debate. Plato,
who points to the heavens, believed
in a set of ideal truths that exist in
their own realm distinct from the
earth. Aristotle urged that all phi-
losophy must be in touch with lived
reality and confirms this position by
pointing to the earth. Such debate
has characterized the intellectual,
political, and social experience of the
West. Indeed, the very concept of
“Western Civilization” has itself been
subject to debate, criticism, and
change over the centuries. © Scala/
Art Resource, NY
In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, religious convictions, with Roman Catholics dominating
two transforming events occurred. The first was the Latin America and English Protestants most of North
European discovery and conquest of the American con- America.
tinents, thus opening the Americas to Western institu- By the late eighteenth century, the idea of the West
tions, religion, and economic exploitation. Over time denoted a culture increasingly dominated by two new
the labor shortages of the Americas led to the forced forces. First, science arising from a new understanding
migration of millions of Africans as slaves to the “New of nature achieved during the sixteenth and seventeenth
World.” By the mid-seventeenth century, the West con- centuries persuaded growing numbers of the educated
sequently embraced the entire transatlantic world and its elite that human beings can rationally master nature
multiracial societies. for ever-expanding productive purposes improving the
Second, shortly after the American encounter, a reli- health and well-being of humankind. From this era to
gious schism erupted within Latin Christianity. Reform- the present, the West has been associated with advances
ers rejecting both many medieval Christian doctrines as in technology, medicine, and scientific research. Sec-
unbiblical and the primacy of the Pope in Rome estab- ond, during the eighteenth century, a drive for economic
lished Protestant churches across much of northern improvement that vastly increased agricultural produc-
Europe. As a consequence, for almost two centuries reli- tion and then industrial manufacturing transformed eco-
gious warfare between Protestants and Roman Catho- nomic life, especially in Western Europe and later the
lics overwhelmed the continent as monarchies chose United States. Both of these economic developments
to defend one side or the other. This religious turmoil went hand in hand with urbanization and the movement
meant that the Europeans who conquered and settled of the industrial economy into cities where the new
the Americas carried with them particularly energized urban populations experienced major social dislocation.WHAT IS THE WESTERN C
HHAPTER
ERITAGE ? ■ ■ xlv
During these decades certain West European elites these new authoritarian regimes, West European powers
came to regard advances in agricultural and manufactur- and the United States identified themselves with liberal
ing economies that were based on science and tied to democratic constitutionalism, individual freedom, com-
commercial expansion as “civilized” in contrast to cul- mercial capitalism, science and learning freely pursued,
tures that lacked those characteristics. From these ideas and religious liberty, all of which they defined as the
emerged the concept of Western Civilization defined to Western Heritage. During the Cold War, conceived of
suggest that peoples dwelling outside Europe or inside as an East-West, democratic versus communist struggle
Europe east of the Elbe River were less than civilized. that concluded with the collapse of the Soviet Union in
Whereas Europeans had once defined themselves against 1991, the Western Powers led by the United States con-
the rest of the world as free citizens and then later as tinued to embrace those values in conscious opposition
Christians, they now defined themselves as “civilized.” to the Soviet government, which since 1945 had also
Europeans would carry this self-assured superiority into dominated much of Eastern Europe.
their nineteenth- and early twentieth-century encoun- Since 1991 the West has again become redefined in
ters with the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. the minds of many people as a world political and eco-
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century, nomic order dominated by the United States. Europe
political revolution erupted across the transatlantic clearly remains the West, but political leadership has
world. The British colonies of North America revolted. moved to North America. That American domination
Then revolution occurred in France and spread across and recent American foreign policy have led throughout
much of Europe. From 1791 through 1830, the Wars of the West and elsewhere to much criticism of the United
Independence liberated Latin America from its European States.
conquerors. These revolutions created bold new modes of Such self-criticism itself embodies one of the most
political life, rooting the legitimacy of the state in some important and persistent parts of the Western Heritage.
form of popular government and generally written con- From the Hebrew prophets and Socrates to the critics of
stitutions. Thereafter, despite the presence of authoritar- European imperialism, American foreign policy, social
ian governments on the European continent, the idea of inequality, and environmental devastation, voices in the
the West, now including the new republics of the United West have again and again been raised to criticize often
States and Latin America, became associated with liberal in the most strident manner the policies of Western gov-
democratic governments. ernments and the thought, values, social conditions, and
Furthermore, during the nineteenth century, most inequalities of Western societies.
major European states came to identify themselves in Consequently, we study the Western Heritage not
terms of nationality—language, history, and ethnicity— because the subject always or even primarily presents
rather than loyalty to a monarch. Nationalism eventually an admirable picture, but because the study of the
inflamed popular opinion and unloosed unprecedented Western Heritage like the study of all history calls
political ambition by European governments. us to an integrity of research, observation, and analy-
These ambitions led to imperialism and the creation sis that clarifies our minds and challenges our moral
of new overseas European empires in the late nineteenth sensibilities. The challenge of history is the challenge
century. For the peoples living in European-administered of thinking, and it is to that challenge that this book
Asian and African colonies, the idea and reality of the invites its readers.
West embodied foreign domination and often disad-
vantageous involvement in a world economy. When in
QUESTIONS
1945 the close of World War II led to a sharp decline
in European imperial authority, colonial peoples around 1. How have people in the West defined themselves in
the globe challenged that authority and gained indepen- contrast with civilizations of the ancient East, and
dence. These former colonial peoples, however, often later in contrast with Islamic civilization, and still
still suspected the West of seeking to control them. later in contrast with less economically developed
Hence, anticolonialism like colonialism before it rede- regions of the world? Have people in the West his-
fined definitions of the West far from its borders. torically viewed their own civilization to be supe-
Late nineteenth-century nationalism and imperial- rior to civilizations in other parts of the world? Why
ism also unleashed with World War I in 1914 unprec- or why not?
edented military hostilities among European nations that 2. How did the Emperor Constantine’s adoption of
spread around the globe, followed a quarter century later Christianity as the official religion of the Roman
by an even greater world war. As one result of World Empire change the concept of the West? Is the pres-
War I, revolution occurred in Russia with the estab- ence of Christianity still a determining characteris-
lishment of the communist Soviet Union. During the tic of the West?
interwar years a Fascist Party seized power in Italy and 3. How has the geographical location of what has been
a Nazi Party took control of Germany. In response to understood as the West changed over the centuries?xlvi ■ WHAT I S THE WESTERN HERITAGE?
4. In the past two centuries Western nations estab- the idea of Western civilization synonymous with
lished empires around the globe. How did these the concept of modern civilization? Do you think the
imperial ventures and the local resistance to them concept of the West will once again be redefined ten
give rise to critical definitions of the West that con- years from now?
trasted with the definitions that had developed in
Europe and the United States? How have those non-
Western definitions of the West contributed to self- To view a video of the authors discussing the Western heritage,
criticism within Western nations? go to www.myhistorylab.com
5. How useful is the concept of Western civilization TM
in understanding today’s global economy and global
communications made possible by the Internet? Is
MyHistoryLabT HE W ESTERN H ERITAGE
The livelihood of towns and castles depended on the labor of peasants in surrounding
villages. Here a peasant family collects the September grape harvest from a vineyard
outside a fortified castle in France in preparation for making wine. The Granger Collection
Listen to the Chapter Audio on MyHistoryLab.com
8
Medieval Society:
Hierarchies, Towns,
Universities, and
Families (1000–1300)
▼ The Traditional Order of Life LEARNING OBJECTIVES
What was the relationship
▼ Towns and Townspeople between the three basic groups
in medieval society?
What processes led to the rise of
towns and a merchant class?
▼ Schools and Universities
What intellectual trends accom-
panied the rise of universities?
▼ Women in Medieval Society What was life like for women
during the Middle Ages?
▼ The Lives of Children What were the characteristics of
childhood in the Middle Ages?
▼ In Perspective
B ETWEEN THE TENTH and twelfth centuries, European agricultural production
steadily improved, due to a warming climate and improved technology. With
steadily increasing food supplies came a population explosion by the eleventh cen-
tury. The recovery of the countryside in turn stimulated new migrations into and
trade with the long-dormant towns. Old towns revived and new ones arose. A rich
and complex fabric of life developed, integrating town and countryside, allowing
234CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY 235
civilization to flourish in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- his exercise of authority over others, and his distinctive
turies as it had not done in the West since the Roman social customs—all of which set him apart from others in
Empire. Beginning with the Crusades, trade with distant medieval society. By the late Middle Ages a distinguish-
towns and foreign lands also revived. With the rise of able higher and lower nobility living both in town and
towns a new merchant class, the ancestors of modern country evolved. The higher were the great landowners
capitalists, appeared. Large numbers of skilled artisans and territorial magnates, who had long been the domi-
and day workers, especially in the cloth-making indus- nant powers in their regions, while the lower nobility
tries, laid the foundations of the new urban wealth. were comprised of petty landlords, descendants of minor
Urban culture and education also flourished. The knights, newly rich merchants looking to buy country
revival of trade with the East and contacts with Muslim estates, and wealthy farmers patiently risen from their
intellectuals, particularly in Spain, made possible the ancestral serfdom.
recovery of ancient scholarship and science. Beyond the It was a special mark of the nobility that they lived
comparative dabbling in antiquity during Carolingian off the labor of others. Basically lords of manors, the
times, the twelfth century enjoyed a true renaissance of nobility of the early and High Middle Ages neither tilled
classical learning. Schools and curricula broadened to the soil like the peasantry, nor engaged themselves in the
educate laymen and some laywomen, thereby increasing commerce of merchants—activities considered beneath
literacy and the laity’s role in government and society. their dignity. The nobleman resided in a country man-
In mid-twelfth-century France, Gothic architecture sion or, if he was particularly wealthy, a castle. Although
began to replace the plain and ponderous Romanesque his fiefs were usually rural manors, personal preference
preferred by fortress Europe during the early Middle drew him to the countryside.
Ages. The grace and beauty of the new architecture—
its soaring arches, bold flying buttresses, dazzling light, Warriors Arms were the nobleman’s profession; to
and stained glass—were a wage war was his sole occupation and reason for living.
View the Architectural testament to the vitality In the eighth century, the adoption of stirrups made the
Panorama “Cathedral of humankind as well as mounted warriors, or cavalry, indispensable to a success-
of Notre Dame, Paris” on to the glory of God in this ful army, as they permitted the rider to strike a blow
MyHistoryLab.com unique period. without falling off the horse. Good horses and the accom-
panying armor and weaponry of horse warfare were
expensive. Thus only those with means could pursue the
▼ The Traditional Order of Life life of a cavalryman. The nobleman’s fief gave him the
means to acquire the expensive military equipment that
In the art and literature of the Middle Ages, three social his rank required. He maintained that enviable position
groups were represented: those who fought as knights as he had gained it, by fighting for his chief.
(the landed nobility), those who prayed (the clergy), and The nobility celebrated the physical strength, cour-
those who labored in fields and shops (rural peasants and age, and constant activity of warfare. Warring gave them
village artisans). After the revival of towns in the elev- new riches and an opportunity to gain honor and glory.
enth century, a fourth social group emerged: the long- Knights were paid a share in the plunder of victory, and
distance traders and merchants. Like the peasantry, in war everything became fair game. Special war wag-
they also labored, but in ways strange to the traditional ons, designed to collect and transport booty, followed
groups. They were freemen who often possessed great them into battle. Periods of peace were greeted with
wealth, but unlike the nobility and the clergy, they sadness, as they brought economic stagnation and bore-
owned no land, and, unlike the peasantry, they did not dom. Whereas the peasants and the townspeople counted
toil in fields or shops. Their rise to power put a large peace the condition of their occupational success, the
crack in the old social order, drawing behind them the nobility despised it as an unnatural state.
leadership of the urban artisan groups that grew up in the The superior nobility looked down on the peasantry
revival that trade created. During the late Middle Ages, as cowards who ran and hid during war. And they also
these new “middle classes” firmly established them- held urban merchants, who amassed wealth by methods
selves, and their numbers have been growing ever since. foreign to feudal society, in equal contempt, a situation
that only increased as the affluence and political power
of townspeople grew. The nobility possessed as strong
Nobles a sense of superiority over “unwarlike” people as the
As a distinctive social group, not all noblemen were clergy did over the general run of the laity.
originally great men with large hereditary lands. Many
rose from the ranks of feudal vassals, or warrior knights. Knighthood The nobleman nurtured his ego within
The successful vassal attained a special social and legal medieval society by the chivalric ritual of dubbing to
status based on his landed wealth (accumulated fiefs), knighthood. The ceremonial entrance into the noble236 PART 2 ■ THE MIDDLE AGES, 476 C. E .–1300 C .E.
A Closer LOOK View the Closer Look on MyHistoryLab.com
THE JOYS AND PAINS OF THE MEDIEVAL JOUST
T
HIS SCENE FROM a manuscript from c. 1300–1340 idealizes medieval noblewomen and the medieval joust. Revived
in the late Middle Ages, jousts were frequently held in peacetime. They kept the warring skills of noblemen sharp
and were popular entertainment. Only the nobility were legally allowed to joust, but over time, uncommon wealth
enabled a persistent commoner to qualify. The goal of the joust was to knock the crests, or helmet ornamentation, off the
opponent’s head. Missing from the illustration are the musicians and trumpeters who provided the hoopla that accompanied
a joust. Also not depicted here are the nonparticipant knights who rode about on their chargers with noblewomen sitting
sidesaddle at their backs with one hand firmly around the rider’s waist, much as motorcycle couples do today.
Although jousts often led to mayhem and
death, the intent was not to inflict bodily
harm on one’s opponent. To that end, the
lances had blunt ends and the goal was to
knock the crests or helmet ornamentation
off the opponent’s head. These crests,
like body armor and shields, displayed the
nobleman’s valued coat-of-arms.
The helmet was especially designed to
protect the face, while providing a thin
window for visibility.
Although the jousts led to mayhem and death,
was the intention to inflict bodily harm on one’s
opponent?
What do the blunt lances and sturdy helmets tell
us?
Why were jousts frequently held in peacetime?
Why were they limited to the nobility?
What did the nobility gain by keeping their war-
ring skills sharp?
What is the attitude of the observing noble-
Universitatsbibliothek Heidelberg
women?CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY 237
class became almost a religious sacrament. A bath of
purification, confession, communion, and a prayer vigil
preceded the ceremony. Thereafter, the priest blessed
the knight’s standard, lance, and sword. As prayers were
chanted, the priest girded the knight with his sword and
presented him with his shield, enlisting him as much
into the defense of the church as into the service of his
lord. Dubbing raised the nobleman to a state as sacred
in his sphere as clerical ordination made the priest in
his. The comparison is legitimate: The clergy and the
nobility were medieval society’s privileged estates. The
appointment of noblemen to high ecclesiastical office
and their eager participation in the church’s Crusades
had strong ideological and social underpinnings as well
as economic and political motives.
In the twelfth century, knighthood was legally
restricted to men of high birth. This circumscription
of noble ranks came in reaction to the growing wealth,
political power, and successful social climbing of newly
rich townspeople (mostly merchants), who formed a new
urban patriciate that was increasingly competitive with
the lower nobility. Kings remained free, however, to raise Lovers playing chess on an ivory mirror back, ca. 1300. Louvre,
up knights at will and did not shrink from increasing Paris, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library International
royal revenues by selling noble titles to wealthy mer-
chants. But the law was building fences—fortunately,
with gates—between town and countryside in the High Courtly Love From the repeated assemblies in the
Middle Ages. courts of barons and kings, codes of social conduct, or
“courtesy,” developed in noble circles. With the French
Sportsmen In peacetime, the nobility had two favor- leading the way, mannered behavior and court etiquette
ite amusements: hunting and tournaments. Where they became almost as important as expertise on the battle-
could, noblemen monopolized the rights to game, forbid- field. Knights learned to be literate gentlemen, and lyric
ding commoners from hunting in the lord’s forests. Such poets sang and moralized at court. The cultivation of a
denials spurred the common man to revolt. Free game, code of behavior and a special literature to eulogize it
fishing, and access to wood were the basic demands in was not unrelated to problems within the social life of
petitions of grievance. the nobility. Noblemen were notorious philanderers;
Tournaments also sowed seeds of social disruption, their illegitimate children mingled openly with their
but rather more within the ranks of the nobility. The legitimate offspring. The
popular jousts were designed not only to keep men fit Read the Document
advent of courtesy was, in
“The Song of Roland” on
for war, but also to provide the excitement of war with- part, an effort to reform
MyHistoryLab.com
out maiming and killing prized vassals. But as regions such behavior.
competed fiercely with one another for victory and glory, Although the poetry of courtly love was sprinkled
even mock battles with blunted weapons proved to be with eroticism and the beloved in the epics were married
deadly. Often, tournaments got out of hand, ending in women pursuing married men, the poet recommended
bloodshed and animosity. The intense emotions and vio- love at a distance, unconsummated by sexual intercourse.
lence that accompanies interregional soccer in Europe The ideal was love without touching, a kind of sex with-
today may be viewed as a survival of such rivalry. out sex, and only as such was it deemed ennobling. As
The church opposed tournaments as occasions for the court poets reminded, those who succumbed to illicit
pagan revelry and senseless violence. Kings and princes carnal love reaped as much suffering as joy.
also turned against them as sources of division within
their realms. King Henry II of England proscribed them Social Divisions No medieval group was absolutely
in the twelfth century. Jousting did not end in France uniform—not the nobility, the clergy, the townspeople,
until the mid-sixteenth century, and only after Henry or the peasantry. Not only was the nobility a class apart,
II of France was mortally wounded by a shaft thrust it also had deep social divisions within its ranks. Noble-
through his visor during a tournament celebrating his men presented a broad spectrum—from minor vassals
daughter’s marriage. (See “Encountering the Past: Chil- without subordinate vassals, to mighty barons who were
dren’s Games, Warrior Games,” page 238.) the principal vassals of a king or prince, who in turn hadENCOUNTERING
C HIL D RE N’ S GA M E S , W A R R IO R GA ME S
Past
THE
I
N THE MIDDLE Ages, the nobility—the of William the Conqueror (r. 1066–1087). The
warrior class—dominated society, and their aristocratic women who wove such tapestries
favorite games grew out of their work, which might ride to the hunt and “ooh” and “ah”
was lethal fighting. Boys of the warrior class at tournaments while remaining spectators,
learned to ride early. Some received horses not participants, in the violent pastimes of the
and daggers at age two! At fourteen, they were nobility.
given a man’s sword and thereafter engaged in More reflective of the contemplative life of
sports that prepared them for battle. the religious and of pious noblewomen were
Peasants, townspeople, and clergy also the indoor board games played in the manor
engaged in war games and sports. Peasants houses and the cloisters. Two of many such
and townspeople attended tournaments and games were “Tick, Tack, Toe” and “Fox and
imitated what they saw there. Among chil- the Geese.” The object of the second game
dren’s toys were homemade lances, shields, was to fill, or “capture,” the most “holes,”
and pikes. Favored games were mock combats or spaces (geese), in the board with pebbles
and “sheriffs and outlaws.” or fruit stones. Men and women of leisure,
Although there were famous clerical both clerical and lay, also played chess and
sportsmen and warriors, the clergy’s “pen- backgammon.
chant for violence” was largely vicarious. By the late fifteenth century, when changes
The Bayeux Tapestry (1070–1082), over two- in warfare reduced the role of the mounted
thirds of a football field long, with seventy- knight in battle, tournaments, like less bel-
two scenes of blood-dripping medieval hunts licose games, were held for their own sake,
and battles, was the brainstorm of a bishop: merely pastimes. At the fairs, the horse races
Odo of Bayeux (ca. 1036–1097), half-brother and mock combats were spread among the
ball games (rugby, soccer, and football), ani-
mal acts, puppet shows, juggling, and the like.
Pieter Breughel’s paintings of Children’s Games
(1560) depicts boys and girls engaged in sev-
enty-eight different games. Some of them,
like jousting and wrestling, are adapted from
the war preparation activities of the European
nobility. They are the games that prepare for
real war, invented to overcome boredom and
idleness: hoops, leapfrog, blind man’s bluff,
marbles, golf, stilts, masquerades, tug-of-war,
and jacks.
Sources: John Marshall Carter, Medieval Games: Sports and Rec-
reations in Feudal Society (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992),
pp. 25, 30–33, 34, 69; John Marshall Carter, “The Ludic Life of the
Medieval Peasant: A Pictorial Essay,” Arete III (1986): 169–187;
J. T. Micklethwaite, “On the Indoor Games of School Boys in the
Middle Ages,” Archeological Journal (1892), pp. 319–328; Carter,
“Ludic Life,” p. 177; Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Fam-
ily in Old Europe (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2001), pp. 71–72.
Why did the medieval nobility play warlike
games?
Breughel, Children’s Games. Pieter the Elder Brueghel (1525–1569), “Children’s Games,”
1560. Oil on oakwood, 118 × 161 cm. Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Photo copyright How did medieval women and children par-
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY ticipate in these pastimes?
238CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY 239
many vassals of their own. Dignity and status within the death of Jesus in retreat from the world and severe
nobility were directly related to the exercise of authority self-denial.
over others. A chief with many vassals dwarfed the small Many monks, and also nuns, increasingly embraced
country nobleman who served a higher nobleman and the vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity without a
was lord over none but himself. clerical rank, and secluded themselves altogether. The
Even among the domestic servants of the nobility, a regular clergy, however, were never completely cut off
social hierarchy developed according to manorial duties. from the secular world. They maintained frequent con-
Although they were peasants in the eyes of the law, the tact with the laity through charitable activities such
chief stewards were charged with the oversight of the as feeding the destitute and tending the sick, providing
manor and the care and education of the lord’s children. liberal arts instruction in monastic schools, and act-
They became powerful “lords” within their “domains.” ing as supplemental preachers and confessors in parish
Some freemen found the status of the steward enviable churches during Lent and other peak religious seasons. It
enough to surrender their own freedom and become became the mark of the Dominican and Franciscan friars
domestic servants in the hope of attaining a still greater to live a common life according to a special rule and still
freedom. to be active in a worldly ministry. Some monks, because
In the late Middle Ages, the landed nobility suffered of their learning and rhetorical skills, rose to prominence
a steep economic and political decline. Climatic changes as secretaries and private confessors to kings and queens.
and agricultural failures created large famines, and the The secular clergy, who lived and worked among
great plague (see Chapter 9) brought unprecedented pop- the laity in the world, formed a vast hierarchy. At the
ulation loss. Changing military tactics occasioned by top were the high prelates—the wealthy cardinals, arch-
the use of infantry and heavy artillery during the Hun- bishops, and bishops, who were drawn almost exclu-
dred Years’ War made the noble cavalry nearly obsolete. sively from the nobility—and below them were the
Also, the alliance of wealthy towns with kings posed a urban priests, the cathedral canons, and the court clerks.
challenge to the nobility within their own domains. A Finally, there was the great mass of poor parish priests,
waning of the landed nobility occurred after the four- who were neither financially nor intellectually far above
teenth century when the effective possession of land and the common people they served. Their basic educational
wealth counted more than lineage for membership in requirement was an ability to say the mass. Before the
the highest social class. However, a shrinking nobility Gregorian church reform in the eleventh century, parish
continued to dominate society down to the nineteenth priests lived with women in a relationship akin to mar-
century. riage, and the communities they served accepted their
concubines and children. Because of their relative pov-
erty, priests often took second jobs as teachers, artisans,
Clergy or farmers. Their parishioners accepted and admired this
Unlike the nobility and the peasantry, the clergy was an practice.
open estate. Although the clerical hierarchy reflected the
social classes from which the clergy came, one was still New Orders One of the results of the Gregorian
a cleric by religious training and ordination, not by any reform was the creation of new religious orders aspir-
circumstances of birth or military prowess. ing to a life of poverty and self-sacrifice in imitation of
Christ and the first apostles. The more important were
Regular and Secular Clerics There were two basic the Canons Regular (fd. 1050–1100), the Carthusians (fd.
types of clerical vocation: the regular clergy and the sec- 1084), the Cistercians (fd. 1098), and the Praemonstra-
ular clergy. The first made up of the orders of monks tensians (fd. 1121). Carthusians, Cistercians, and Prae-
who lived under a special ascetic rule (regula) in cloisters monstratensians practiced
separated from the world. They were the spiritual elite extreme austerity in their View the Map “Map
Discovery: Cluniac and
among the clergy, and theirs was not a way of life one quest to recapture a pure
Cistercian Monasteries”
lightly entered. Canon law required that a man be at least religious life of the early on MyHistoryLab.com
twenty-one years old before making a final profession of church.
the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Strictest of them all were the Carthusians. Members
The monks’ personal sacrifices and high religious ideals lived in isolation and fasted three days a week. They also
made them much respected in high medieval society. devoted themselves to long periods of silence and even
This popularity was a major factor in the success of the self-flagellation in their quest for perfect self-denial and
Cluny reform movement and of the Christian Crusades conformity to Christ.
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. (See Chapter 7.) The Cistercians (from Cîteaux in Burgundy) were a
By joining the Crusades and holy pilgrimages, laypeople reform wing of the Benedictine order and were known as
were introduced to the ascetic life of prayer, wherein the “white monks,” a reference to their all-white attire,
they, following the monks, imitated the suffering and symbolic of apostolic purity. (The Praemonstratensians240 PART 2 ■ THE MIDDLE AGES, 476 C. E .–1300 C .E.
had one cleric for every seventy lay-
people, and in counties with a cathe-
dral or a university, the proportion
rose to one cleric for every fifty lay-
people.1 In large university towns,
the clergy might exceed 10 percent
of the population.
Despite the moonlighting of
poorer parish priests, the clergy as a
whole, like the nobility, lived on the
Monks and nuns play a bat-and-ball game. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
labor of others. Their income came
from the regular collection of tithes
also wore white.) They hoped to avoid the materialistic and church taxes according to an elaborate system that
influences of urban society and maintain uncorrupted evolved in the High and later Middle Ages. The church
the original Rule of Saint Benedict, which their lead- was, of course, a major landowner and regularly col-
ers believed Cluny was compromising. The Cistercians lected rents and fees. Monastic communities and high
accordingly stressed anew the inner life and spiritual goals prelates amassed great fortunes; as one popular saying
of monasticism. They located their houses in remote areas had it: “monastery granaries were always full.” The
and denied themselves worldly comforts and distractions. immense secular power attached to high clerical posts
Remarkably successful, the order could count three hun- can be seen in the intensity of the Investiture Struggle.
dred chapter houses within a century of its founding, and (See Chapter 7.)
many others imitated its more austere spirituality. For most of the Middle Ages, the clergy were the
The Canons Regular were independent groups of “first estate,” and theology the queen of the sciences.
secular clergy (and also earnest laity) who, in addition How did the clergy achieve such prominence? Much of
to serving laity in the world, adopted the Rule of Saint it was self-proclaimed. However, there was also popular
Augustine (a monastic guide dating from around the year respect and reverence for the clergy’s role as a mediator
500) and practiced the ascetic virtues of regular clerics. between God and man. The priest brought the very Son
There were monks who renounced exclusive withdrawal of God down to earth when he celebrated the sacrament
from the world. And there were priests who renounced of the Eucharist; his absolution released penitents from
exclusive involvement in it. By merging the life of the punishment for mortal sin. It was improper for mere lay-
cloister with traditional clerical duties, the Canons Reg- people to sit in judgment on such a priest.
ular foreshadowed the mendicant friars of the thirteenth Theologians elaborated the distinction between
century: the Dominicans and the Franciscans, who com- the clergy and the laity to the clergy’s benefit. The
bined the ascetic ideals of the cloister with an active belief in the superior status of the clergy underlay the
ministry in the world. evolution of clerical privileges and immunities in both
The monasteries and nunneries of the established person and property. Secular rulers were not supposed
orders recruited candidates from among wealthy social to tax the clergy, without special permission from the
groups. Crowding in these convents and the absence of ecclesiastical authorities. Clerical crimes were under
patronage gave rise in the thirteenth century to lay satel- the jurisdiction of special ecclesiastical courts, not the
lite convents known as Beguine houses. These convents secular courts. Because churches and monasteries were
housed religiously earnest single women from the upper deemed holy places, they, too, were free from secular
and middle social strata. In the German city of Cologne, taxation and legal jurisdiction. Hunted criminals, lay
one hundred such houses were established between 1250 and clerical, regularly sought asylum within them, dis-
and 1350, each with eight to twelve “sisters.” Several rupting the normal processes of law and order. When
of these convents fell prey to heresy. The church made city officials violated this privilege, ecclesiastical
the new religious orders of Dominicans and Franciscans authorities threatened excommunication and inter-
responsible for “regularizing” such convents. dict. People feared this suspension of the church’s sac-
raments, including Christian burial, almost as much
Prominence of the Clergy The medieval clergy con- as they feared the criminals to whom the church gave
stituted a greater proportion of medieval society than asylum.
they do in modern society. Estimates suggest that 1.5 By the late Middle Ages, townspeople increasingly
percent of fourteenth-century Europe was in clerical resented the special immunities of the clergy. They com-
garb. The clergy were concentrated in urban areas, espe- plained that the clergy had greater privileges, yet fewer
cially in towns with universities and cathedrals, where,
in addition to studying, they found work in a wide vari- 1
Denys Hay, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, 2nd ed.
ety of religious services. Late-fourteenth-century England (New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1966), pp. 58–59.You can also read
