Change & CrisisCusp of the

Renaissance1000s-1400s

Main Points• Feudalism declines• Democratic tradition evolves in

England and France• Europe is torn apart by plague,

war, and religious strife

Feudalism Declines• Growing Food Supply• Guilds• Commercial Revolution• Urban Life• Revival of Learning

Feudalism Declines: Growing Food Supply

• Horsepower

• Three-Field System

Feudalism Declines: Guilds• Merchant guilds

– Control # of goods being traded

– Set prices

• Craft guilds– Apprentice,

Journeyman, Master

– Set standards for quality of work, wages, working conditions

• Economically/socially/politically influential

Feudalism Declines: Commercial Revolution

• Expansion of trade and business

• Fair Days

• Banking

Feudalism Declines: Urban Life

• 1000-1150 – population increases from 30,000,000 to 42,000,000

• Merchant Class/Burghers

Feudalism Declines: Revival of Learning

• Muslim connection

• Universities

• Thomas Aquinas & the Scholastics

England: Back Story

• Many Anglo-Saxon kingdoms/feudal states until 800s

• Growth of towns & villages leads to more centralized government

England: Early Invasions

• 800s: Danish Vikings• 870s: Alfred the Great

establishes England• 1016: Danish Vikings

return• 1042: Edward takes the

throne, but dies without heir

1066 – Norman Conquest (William the Conqueror)

England: Government• Goals

– hold & acquire

French land

– Strengthen power over nobles and the Church

• Henry II (r. 1154-1189) & Eleanor of Aquitaine

Henry II depicted in Cassell's

History of England (1902)

England: Government• Juries – King Henry II

• Common Law – King Henry II

• Magna Carta (1215) – King John

– No taxation without representation

– Trial by a jury of peers

– Protection of the law

• Parliament (1295) – King Edward I

France: Back Story

• Post-Charlemagne: French counts and dukes rule lands as feudal lords

• 987: last Carolingian,

Louis the Sluggard, died

• Hugh Capet established Capetian Dynasty

• 987-1328

France: Philip II (r. 1180-1223)

• Goal: weaken power of English kings

• Seized Normandy from King John in 1204 – went on to triple land in his control

• Central Government– Royal Bailiffs

France: Louis IX & Philip IV

• Centralization

• Estates General

BUT LET’S NOT GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES…

Disasters: Church Divided (1300s)

• Philip IV vs. Pope Boniface VIII

• Avignon popes weaken the Church

• “A Roman, a Roman, we want a Roman.”

• Urban VI vs. Clement VII – The Great Schism

• 1414: Great Schism ends with election of Martin V

• Church permanently weakened

Disasters: Hundred Years’ War• Last Capetian king

dies without an heir• Edward III (king of

England) claims French throne as grandson of Philip IV

• French put forth Philip VI as King

• War 1337-1453• Real Cause: Chivalry

Disasters: Hundred Years’ War

• Early English victories – better organized, better army, industrialized

• French make a comeback and win

• Joan of Arc

Disasters: Hundred Years’ War

• Impact:–Nationalism–Monarch’s power increases– Internal turmoil for England–End of the Middle Ages ???

Next up….

RENAISSANCE