High Middle Ages

• High Middle Ages– The Middle Ages in Europe had reached a

high point in the 1200’s.• Life had finally stabilized and become peaceful.

– REVIEW: Why? What events have helped stabilize life?• England and France had increased the power of

the king• Created Magna Carta and Parliaments

• Feudalism was ending• The Church had much political power

High Middle Ages

• Population growth– Manors grew into towns.

• Cities grew– Old Roman cities grew and new

cities developed• Paris: 150,000• London: 40,000• Florence: 100,000

– Construction of cathedrals• Romanesque and Gothic

• Trade began again– Money economy emerged

• Middle class emerged– “Burgers”– “Bourgeosie”

• Guilds emerged– Business associations

• Set price, establish standards, etc.

• Master and Apprentice

Life During the High Middle Ages

Life During the High Middle Ages• Universities emerge

– Oxford, 1264– University of Paris, c.1200– Law, medicine, theology.

• Tried to build upon Islamic knowledge gained during the Crusades!

• Europeans started writing in the vernacular.– Local languages (not Latin!)

• Famous writers of the time…• Dante (1265 – 1321 A.D.)

– The Divine Comedy (Dante’s Inferno)

• Chaucer (1340 – 1400 A.D.)– The Canterbury Tales– English!

Power of the Church

• The Church reached its most political power in the 1200’s.– Power of Pope

• Excommunication– Removal from the

Church• Interdict

– Forbids priests from performing the sacraments to a certain group of people.

– Inquisition, or Holy Office (Court)

• Found and prosecuted heretics

– Those who deny church doctrine (non-Christians)

Power of the Church• Christians began

worshiping saints– Someone who had a

special position in Heaven.

• Could ask God for favors for people.

• Relics– Bones or objects

connected with saints.

• Pilgrimages– Visiting a holy shrine

was beneficial.• Rome• Jerusalem

• In the 1300’s, a few disastrous changes took place. – Life becomes

destabilized and chaotic… again.

– Late Middle Ages• The Hundred Years’

War• Church Power

Declines • The Black Death

Late Middle Ages