Changes in Medieval Society

• A Medieval Town• “…Jam-packed wooden houses, each a potential tinderbox, sought extra room through upper stories jutting out over the street. The streets themselves were mere alleys, 6 to 10 ft. across. Sewers were

open and sanitation scant. The stroller had to dodge slops (human wastes) from above and swilling pigs

below; scabrous (covered with scabs or rough patches of skin) beggars jostled him. Except when he raised his eyes to the Gothic grace of town belfry or church

spire, signs of filth and disease assailed him everywhere.”

• Why were medieval towns prone to disastrous fires?• What danger from above did passerby face?• Why do you think people chose to live in towns despite the filth?• The passage describes the scene that assailed one’s eyes. What

other sense would have been assailed?

Other Stuff• While Church reform, cathedral building, and

Crusades were taking place…..• Advances in:

▫Agriculture▫Trade and finances▫Population growth and growht of towns▫Cultural interaction with Muslim and Byzantine

worlds

Changes in Agriculture

•From 800 to 1200 the climate warms, opening more land to farming

•Changes in technology result in more food production

Switch to Horsepower• Harnessed horses

replace oxen in pulling plows and wagons

• Horses plow three times as much a day, increasing food supply

Watermills and Windmills

• Most important device for harnessing power before the steam engine

• Watermills were used to grind grains for flour, make cloth, sawmills to cut wood▫Located by streams

• If didn’t have access to rivers, they used windmills▫Windmills used to

pump water & cut wood

The Three-Field System• Around 800 three-field system used-plant two

fields, let one rest• This produces more food and leads to population

increase

The Guilds

• Guild-organization of people in the same occupation▫Merchant guilds begin first; they keep prices

up, provide security▫Skilled artisans, men and women, form craft

guilds

Training

•Apprentice: trained 2-7 years; parents paid for training; lived with master and his family; not allowed to marry

•Journeyman or Day Worker: Worked for a master for pay; worked 6 days a week; needed to produce a masterpiece to become a master; had to be accepted by the guild to be a master

•Master: Owned his own shop; worked with other masters to protect their trade

European Women at Work

This manuscript painting shows women and men cooperating in the baking of bread, long a staple of European diets.

Guild Services• Guilds set standards for

quality, prices, wages, working conditions

• Guilds supervise training of new members of their craft

• Built almshouses for victims of misfortune

• Provided dowries for poor girls

• Took turns policing the streets

• The wealth of guilds influences government and economy

Commercial Revolution

• Fairs and Trade• Europe sees

Commercial Revolution-changes in business and trade

• Trade fairs are held several times a year in towns

• Trade routes open to Asia, North Africa, and Byzantine ports

Trade• Cloth was most

important trade item.▫Others: bacon, salt,

honey, cheese, wine, leather, dyes, knives, and ropes

• No longer was everything produced on a self-sufficient manor.

Business and Banking• Merchants develop credit to avoid carrying large

sums of money and made trading easier.▫Also take out loans to purchase goods, and

banking grows• Usury - lending money at interest

▫Church did not like this• Jews become moneylenders with lack of

Christians• Church later relaxed its rule on usury and

Christians entered the banking business.

Cities Make a Comeback• Growing Urban

Population• 1000-1150 Europe’s

pop. rises from 30 million to 42 million

• Paris-60,000 by 1200• Most towns - 1,500 to

2,500 people

Change is Not Good for Everyone• Towns are

uncomfortable▫ Crowded, dirty, full of

fire hazards, filled with animals and their waste

▫ No sewers• Houses were built of

wood with thatched roofs

• Serfs can become free by living in a town for a year and a day

Merchants take over• Feudal lords tax and

govern towns, causing resentment

• Burghers▫Merchant-class

town dwellers who take control of towns and cities

What’s in a Name??1. Patronymic (from the first

name of father). Examples: Peters - son of Peter (English, German) Peterson - son of Peter (Swedish) Petersen - son of Peter (Danish) O'Reilly - grandson of Reilly (Ireland)

2. Lives near locality or place. Examples: KirkPatrick - Church (kirk) of St. Patrick Cliff - steep hill Fairholm - the fair island Ashley - field surrounded by ash trees

3. Occupation or social status. Examples: Cooper - barrel maker Wagner or Waggoner - wagon maker Knight - knighthood Smith - blacksmith

4. Nicknames describing person or personality. Examples: Reid - red, ruddy complexion or red hair Stout - Body size Small - Body size Armstrong - strong arms Sharpe - sharp, smart

Learning Also Makes a Comeback•The Muslim

Connection•Christian scholars

read translations of Greek works made by Muslims

•Crusaders return with Muslim knowledge of navigation, ships, and weapons

Scholars

• Groups of scholars gather and develop universities.

• Vernacular—everyday language

• Dante Alighieri— The Divine Comedy, which is about…

• Geoffrey Chaucer—The Canterbury Tales, which is about…

European University Life in the Middle Ages

This 14th century manuscript painting shows a classroom scene from the University of Bologna in Italy. Note the sleeping and disruptive students. Some things never change.

Europe’s First Universities

• University of Bologna, Italy▫ Attracted students from all of

Europe▫ Most were administrators for

kings & princes• University of Paris• Oxford and Cambridge

▫ In the 12th century, after they were expelled from the University of Paris because of a war between France and England, some English students and tutors settled at Oxford, and others at Cambridge. From this beginning evolved the two universities. They were the only ones in England until 1836, when the University of London was chartered.

Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy• St. Thomas Aquinas• He is a scholastic-

university man; debates issues to increase knowledge

• Accepted the existence of God on faith, but believed it was subject to logical proof.

• He taught that governments, as well as the individuals they served, were morally responsible for acting in accordance with divine law.

Fill in the blanks

•1. The first ____________was a group of merchants who worked to improve the economic and social conditions of its members.

•Guild•2. Merchants and craftspeople who lived in

the towns and who demanded privileges such as freedom from tolls and the right to govern their town were called___________.

•Burghers

•3. ____________were documents given by a bank to an individual allowing that person to withdraw an amount of money from that bank or one of its branches.

•Letters of credit•4. The ______________allowed villages to

grow more food by organizing land into three fields instead of two.

•Three-field system

•5. In the 1100s, poets began to use the everyday language of their homeland, or the_______________.

•Vernacular•6. Scholars who met together at

universities were known as schoolmen, or_____________.

•Scholastics

•7. The expansion of trade and business as agriculture was expanding is called the __________________.

•Commercial Revolution•8. In many European countries, you

_______________ could also label your profession.

•surname

•9. A scholar in the 1200s named ________said that logic could prove many religious truths.

•Thomas Aquinas•10. A day worker, known as a _______•had to complete several steps in order to

become a master in his craft.• journeyman

•11. __________wrote the Canterbury Tales which describes a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, around 1387 in English

•Chaucer•12. _________wrote The Divine Comedy.•Dante•13. When the harness was improved,

_____could be successfully used for plowing and for pulling wagons.

•Horses