The Differences Between the Middle Ages and the Modern Day Timeline The Birth of Christianity The Beginnings of Islam Monks and Monasteries The Rule of Saint Benedict Corruption in the Monasteries St. Francis Those who Fight Women in the Middle Ages Towns and Universities Peter Abelard 
1.  You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, the
Lord your God am a jealous God visiting iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third
and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those
who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your
maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord
made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that
your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house;
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his
ass, or anything that is your neighbors.
The Ten Commandments follow a cohesive pattern.
They are not in that order just randomly.
The first five have to do with God. They say how
to treat God. The first is only about God. The second begins to bring you into the picture. You cannot
make an idol of God, because that would be representing God in one place, and God is everywhere. The
third moves more toward you. The fourth says you should be like God. You should rest on the seventh
day because God rested on the seventh day. Number five specifically says "your father and your mother."
But this is God in a sense. Your father and your mother created you, just like God created humans.
The last five specifically tell you how to behave.
Killing is pretty easy to refrain from. Adultery also, but there is more of a temptation. Moving on, not
stealing is also fairly easy, but you are more likely to steal than to kill. Lying is even more common,
and harder to refrain from. The tenth commandment is the most difficult. Jealousy is built into us humans
from the day we are born. Every day we have jealous thoughts. The ten commandments get progressively
harder to follow.
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The major difference in the thinking between the
Middle Ages and today is faith and reason. Today, reason dominates. There has to be a way to figure
everything out logically. In the Middle Ages, faith was very important. Business relationships were
based on trust. Religion was not questioned by the commoners, and if it was, the questioners would be
heretics. Communities were vital. People always lived in communities, and did everything as a community.
Today, the individual has more importance that the community. The individual thinks independently of the
community. It is frowned uopn to "go with the flow," and do something because "everyone else is doing it."
But in the Middle Ages, people obeyed authority almost always without question. The Middle Ages was based
on eternity. Everything that is, is. It always was, and it always will be. Today, we try to progress and
go somewhere with our lives. We try to improve society and make changes.
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In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered a great deal
of land east of the Mediterranean Sea. After his death, three generals took over his land. The three of them
gradually split apart, two leaving for more strategic plots of land. One took the area around Egypt, and the
other moved northward. They were all kings of the lands they ruled. But after a while, they started having
battles between them. And the people of each country would revolt against their king. This happened often.
The kings exploited the people and lived very wealthily while the people were poor. Life for the average
person was very risky. There was a boom of piracy at this time which made sea travel especially dangerous.
There was always the worry that if the king couldn't protect his country from a foreign invader, all the
people would become slaves. This was a very uncertain time to live in. When people are not sure of what's
going to happen next, and don't even know if they will be alive tomorrow, they start looking elsewhere for
answers. They usually turn to a god, or some variation thereof. This started happening. People prayed to a
god, and believed that a messiah would be sent by God to save them from opression.
Meanwhile, a new power was developing in Rome.
Originally, they were only interested in the territories west of the Mediterranean. But after allying with
one of the Eastern Mediterranean kingdoms, they were sucked into the politics of the East. Ultimately,
they ended up conquering the East Mediterranean kingdoms and establishing "Pax Romana," or Roman Peace.
That is what the Romans called it, even though the people worked as slaves.
At about this time, Jesus was born. John the Baptist
was preaching that the Messiah was coming. The power of Rome was slowly beginning to decay. Jesus practiced
the Jewish religion at that time. He gathered a few followers of the Jewish ways and they became a cult.
They followed Jewish laws very strictly. The way in which his cults beliefs were different from the Jewish
religion was that he took everything a little farther. His teachings were to the commoners. He didn't attack
the law of anything or the church doctrine per se, but he said life was not about money and riches. You should
love your fellow man. His followers claimed him the King of Jews. Naturally, the rest of the Jewish population
was not happy about this. Things got so out of hand that he was crucified by the Romans.
Shortly after his death, twelve people came together
and became the twelve Apostles. They went around and preached that a reincarnate of Jesus would come. But
these people still considered themselves and their cult Jewish. But this cult didn't always follow the Roman
laws, and they were punished for this. The more oppressed they were from the outside, the more secretive they
became on the inside. Around 60 CE, there was a noticeable difference between this cult's beliefs and Judaism.
This was the beginnings of Christianity. The cult's popularity from the Romans went way down, and now even more
Jewish communities were beginning to dislike them. One of the Apostles, Steven, was stoned to death by the
Jewish authorities. His garments were brought to Saul as proof of his death. Saul was at the time actively
against this cult. Saul decided to go to Damascus to suppress the cult. But on his way there, the heavens opened
up and he saw a bright light. From the heavens came, "Saul, why do you persecute me?" It was Jesus talking.
This was enough for Saul to change his mind about the cult. From then on, he believed in Christ just the way
the cult did. He changed his name to Paul, as he is better known today, St. Paul. He declared Judaism a corrupt
religion. From Damascus he traveled north around the east side of the Mediterranean visiting small towns and
synagogues trying to convert as many people as he could.
But Christianity was not in for an easy time. People
would easily enough convert to Christianity, but the political leaders of the time didn't like it as much.
In 64, the city of Rome burned. The Roman emperor
Nero, of course, blamed it on the Christians. He said they wanted to burn Rome and its unchristian thoughts.
He accused them of being nonbelievers of the Roman god. As a relatively small religion, almost a cult, they
were an easy target.
Starting in 81, the emperor Domitian actively persecuted
the Christians. They were oppressed so much that they announced the Messiah was coming and it was the end of
the world. Many priests were killed and also other Christian religious leaders. In the year 100, Saint Ignatius
was to be taken to Rome to be fed to the lions. He did not try to get away. He is quoted, "Do nothing to stop
me. God's wheat am I. I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts that I may become the pure bread of Christ."
Around this time, many people believed so strongly in Christianity that they were willing to die for it. Many
people also became Anchorites by their own choice. They made their lives as miserable as possible. One had
himself chained to a wall with only a piece of bread and water in front of him. He stayed there for thirty
days, and when people went in on the thirtieth day, the bread and water was untouched. Another built himself
a pillar to live on. He lived on a three-foot platform six feet off the ground for a long time. This became a
fad, and soon people were seeing how high they could build their pillar. The tallest was 60 feet off the ground.
The man who lived on that one, lived there for 30 years. These people who did this for their religion were
seen as saints.
In 290, the Roman emperor Diocletian was even more
agressive in persecuting the Christians. He searched them out and tortured them. In 312 Constantine became
emperor. He too was against Christianity. But in a dream, he saw a symbol: two Roman letters on top of each
other, and it said kai-ro. These were the letters of Christ's name. In the dream he heard he would be
victorious. After winning the battle they were fighting, he was completely convinced that Christ was the
saviour. He converted to Christianity and made it the state religion. This was a massive change. Until now,
religion was separate from the state. But now the state had a religion. Constantine decided Christianity
needed some sort of center. He named the city Constantinople after himself and built the central church.
This was also when the hierarchy of Pope, Archbishop, Bishop, Priest was created. Saint Augustine was the
Archbishop of Canterbury. He lived from 354 to 430. He had sinned in his life, but that
made him an even better pope. He could speak from his experience, instead of someone telling you how guilty
you will feel if you steal who has never stolen and felt the guilt himself. His main difference was that
he said the stories in the Bible should not be thought of as an exact account of history, but should be taken
symbolically. Saint Augustine's authority lasted until 1100.
But things were not looking so good for the Roman state.
They were being attacked by barbarians constantly and always had to fight them off. After so many of these
attacks, Rome was beginning to fall apart. It was no longer the main power it used to be. The people that were
giving them the most trouble were the Goths. They were vicious fighters. But a few groups that came in, Rome
was able to buy off. They stayed and helped Rome defend themselves against other Goths. The ones who settled
converted to Christianity themselves. Over the next hundred years this same pattern repreated. Barbarians would
come in and attack, settle, convert to Christianity, then fight off other barbarians.
But some people who did not fully believe what the church
was teaching them raised some questions doubting Christianity. These people were known as heretics. It was
realized that the church was actually holding contradictory beliefs. So the church had to decide which was to
become heresy and which was to become church doctrine. There were seven major heresies between 300 and 1200.
These heresies wanted to go back to the birth of Christ and redefine what happened. Some of them could have
been true, but were rejected by the church for one reason or another.
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In 550 CE, Mohammed was born. He came from a successful
trading family in Mecca. As he grew older he became interested in religion. At first he didn't commit
himself to one specific religion, but studied Judaism and Christianity both. Soon after, he had a vision
from Allah in a dream. Allah said to him, "I am Allah, your God." Naturally, he kept it quiet at first.
He didn't want people to think he was crazy. He told it only to his wife and family. Allah told him that
everyone should be treated equally, even slaves. As his vision slowly spread, he gradually acquired a small
following of slaves. He treates them equally and declared slavery bad. But the slave owners weren't very
happy about this. They began to persecute Mohammed and his followers. He fled to the town of Medina. Medina
welcomed them, especially the Jewish community. At this point, there weren't many differences between
Judaism and Mohammed's beliefs. Mohammed accepted Moses as a prophet, and also believed in only one God.
But this slowly changed. Mohammed began to actively convert people. Many of the people who converted were
slaves and willing to fight. The Islam community was a violent one, one bent on warfare. Soon they began to
spread and conquer any non-believers. They gave the people they conquered three options: convert, pay a
tribute, or die. A key element in Islam is that once you declare yourself a believer, you can't change your
mind. If you do, you will be killed. But it was so well liked, that it spread like wildfire through Arabia.
The slaves who converted had no land, so they joined the military where they were given boarding. This only
strengthened their military. By 750, Islam had spread all over Arabia, to the northern part of Africa, and
even some north of Arabia. Damascus became the capital city of Islam. The religion and government were intimately
tied together. It was not like the Roman government which eventually adopted a religious belief. For several
hundred years, the Islamic world was the center of civilization. The west was falling apart and was seen as
the barbarians. The Islamic world had the technological advances and were very civilized. Even today, we can
still see the effects. We don't use the Roman numerals, I II III IV V, to count. We use the Arabic numerals,
1 2 3 4 5. The words "algebra" and "alchemy" came from Islam. Even the Romans had no concept of zero. It was
the Arabs who introduced it. They even created brandy.
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Medieval society was basically divided into three
classes. There were those who fought, those who worked, and those who prayed. As always, each class depended
on the others to survive. Each class was divided within itself as well.
Those who fought were divided into Knights, Nobles
and Kings. Contrary to popular belief, knights were not considered "noble" until the late middle ages. In
the beginning, it was almost an insult to be called a knight. All it really meant was that you were wealthy
enough to buy a horse and some armor. Nobles were the next step up. But then, it didn't take much to become
a noble. If you had enough wealth and property, then you could easily declare yourself a Noble. But as the
middle ages progressed, eventually the Nobles were a class you had to be born into. In the early Middle Ages,
the kings were little more than richer Nobles. They had very little power. But again, towards the late Middle
Ages, the kings grew more and more important.
There were a few different levels of those who worked.
Slaves, serfs, merchants, just to name a few. Ninety-five percent of the entire population were in this class.
But as slavery died out, the slave class transformed into serfs. There are actually several differences between
slaves and serfs. A slave is entirely owned by his master, where a master ownes just the serfs labor. A slave
can't marry, can't have a family, and can't own land. A serf can have a family and can own land. The land he
owns is always small, and his master determines whether he can leave it.
There were two major divisions of those who pray. There
were the people who went to the church and the people who went to the monastery. Within the church, there were
various levels. Starting at the top, there was one Pope, then the Cardinals, the Archbishops, the Bishops, and
the Priests. Despite the image we have today of priests, the priests of the middle ages weren't much better off
than a serf. But as you moved up through the classes, you got wealthier and wealthier.
The monasteries were an essential part of the middle ages.
There was an enourmous amount of people invloved in the monasteries, and just as much money being held. The
Monasteries were all away from the cities. This was an intentional withdrawal. The teachings of the religion
tended towards the communities separating themselves from the rest of society. Within the monastery, there were
monks and an abbot. Each abbot was in charge of the monks in his monastery. Abbots actually had a lot of power.
They had complete control over every monk's life. If a monk broke a rule, the abbot could punish him any way he
pleased. He could make the monk whip himself, or somebody else whip him, or anything else. The abbot was chosen
by the monks, so they would only choose someone they would trust not to abuse the power. But anything is possible.
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When St. Benedict came around, everything changed.
St. Benedict was born in 480 in Rome to a wealthy family. At this time, Rome was falling apart, and
western culture was no longer the center of culture in the world. He was shocked by how depraved people
were in Rome. People just didn't have good lives. In his late teens, he retreated from Rome to the hills.
There he lived as a hermit, completely separated from society. Word eventually got out, and people started
to find out about him. He shortly became famous for his simple life and holiness. He was asked to be the
Abbot of a small monastery, but he was not too enthusiastic about this invitation. He was eventually convinced,
but he accepted the position somewhat reluctantly. He imposed his code of behavior he had followed while
in the hills. It was a very strict code, and not liked by all. Evidence suggests he may have been poisoned
in an attempt to kill him. After that, he resigned from his position. He never really wanted it in the first
place. He went back to the caves where he lived for three more years.
As he inherited his parents' wealth, he founded
twelve monasteries in Rome. (One for each Apostle of Jesus.) Each monastery had twelve monks. But Rome was
again attacked by barbarians. The emperor tried to reconquer Rome from the attackers, but failed. St.
Benedict again retreated from the city, just as he had done earlier to get away from it all. This time,
however, he went to Monte Cassino, around the east Mediterranean. There, he founded a monastery in his name.
In this monastery he made some different rules that changed monasteries for ever. Today, monasteries are still
following St. Benedict's rule. One example is that in order to enter, you must take a vow of poverty, chastity,
and obedience. Also, you first spent a year in the monastery to see if you were suited to it. Above the entrance
to his monastery was a sign that read, "Give up your pride and freedom and find here security and peace."
Pride and freedom are two very American ideas, something hard for us to give up. But to a slave, since they
had no freedom, this was a pretty good deal.
To further explain the vow of poverty taken, all property
was held in common. No monk owned anything for himself. All property was held by the monastery, even down to
the pens and shoes. If you were previously a slave, that was to be forgotten. If you were previously wealthy,
that too was to be forgotten. There was no distinction between classes in the monastery.
Monks were required to forego any kind of sexual union.
They had to keep their thoughts pure and always on God. They were requireed to participate in the worldly
activities and things as little as possible, such as eating, sleeping, clothes, comfort. The more trained monks
would wear itchy clothing. This was a challenge to rise above feeling and stay concentrated on God.
As far as obiedience, their abbot was in complete control
of them. If the abbot caught you talking when you weren't supposed to, he could order you to be whipped, and
you had to accept this punishment joyfully. Monks could not speak, or only spoke when absolutely necessary. They
would avoid eye contact with each other and walk everywhere with their eyes on the ground. There were eight
times to pray every day: at 2 a.m., at dawn, at 6 a.m., at 9 a.m., at noon, at 3 p.m., at sunset, and just before
bed. These sessions would last between 10 and 45 minutes. When the monks were not praying or studying, they would
be working in the fields. Like the 10 Commandments, there was also a set of rules. There were 72 specific rules
to follow. Some were merely the 10 Commandments reworded, and some were beautiful ideals. "Not to desire to be
called a saint, but to be one."
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Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, was
a wealthy Roman. He had been drawn to Monastism since early childhood. As he grew older and inherited his
father's possessions, he gave all his land to found seven Monasteries. He supported the Benedictine monasteries,
and his monasteries followed this rule. But he used the immense wealth of the church to feed the hungry and
poor. The most important thing he did was he raised the church's authority over the secular nobles and kings.
In 590, he was asked to be Pope. He said he would rather just be a monk. But he finally gave in and in the same
year was named Pope. He wanted to make the church more accessible to everyone. He did this by popularizing
miracles and the idea of purgatory. He also created group chants, now known today as Gregorian Chants.
But around this time, the monasteries and the church were
becoming corrupt. They had great wealth and land from donations. If anybody who joined had land, it was donated
to the monastery. They kept slaves and serfs. If you were the Abbot, it was easy to abuse the power. The oblate
children were a big problem. People would give their children to the monasteries for them to raise. Monks could
not expect to be silent with children running around. When the children were grown, they would know no other
life except that in the monastery, and they would become monks or nuns. But they weren't committed to monastic
life from the heart. After retirement, people would donate huge amounts of land to the monasteries in exchange
for being taken care of. The church was getting increasingly more involved in secular politics.
In 1073 Pope Gregory VII became Pope. He attempted to clean
up the corruption. His first act was to get rid of simony. Simony was when high church positions were being sold
to the highest bidder, who they called a donor. He also centralized the authority. All the small offshoots of the
church had to go through the main church. The emperor Henry IV tried to kick out Pope Gregory and name a different
pope, but Gregory retaliated. He kicked Henry out of the church and forbid the clergy to give sacraments to any of
the king's subjects. Nobody could get legally married or baptized anymore. Gregory won the battle and forced Henry
to stand barefoot and almost naked for three days at Canossa to beg forgiveness.
At about the same time Pope Gregory was trying to eliminate
the corruption of the church, the same thing was happening in a small city in France. In Cluny, they tried to
reestablish the rule of St. Benedict (poverty, obedience, chastity). Under the Benedictine rule, each church was
independent. They wanted to centralize the authority, so there too, each offshoot was the daughter of the mother
house. They built huge churches and tried not to take donations or oblates. This movement and its success spread
rapidly. but after 100 years, the Cluniacs fell prey to the same problems.
Another attempt was in 1125, called the Cistercian reform.
It too, started off working, but just like the other reforms, the same thing happened. The Cisterian reform was
founded by an important Medieval figure, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He was famed for his faith and restraint. He
ate so little that it ruined his digestion. Anything he ate would quickly come out one way or another. A bucket
was kept at the pulpit at all times for him. St. Bernard was a great foe of scholasticism and emerging universities.
He believed in faith. "Believe me, I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones
and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from schoolmasters."
The Cathars were another attempt at fixing the corruption.
But they were eventually declared a heresy. Waldo, born in Germany, was a merchant. He was not involved with the
church. He decided to make a more saintly way of living for merchants like him. Among other things, giving to the
poor was very important. He gathered a small following and went to the church to get his beliefs sanctified. But
the church said no as usual, wanting to keep their authority as high as possible. So he continued anyway. The church
declared the Cathars a heresy. They tried to suppress it. But their attempts to suppress the Cathars only spread it further.
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Throughout the high middle ages, cities had
begun to grow. The monasteries had placed themselves away from the cities, but this made it difficult
for anyone living in the city to join a monastery. St. Francis of Assisi recognized this and decided
to do something about it.
St. Francis was born in 1182 to a wealthy cloth
merchant in Assisi, Italy. As he was growing up, he had a lot of friends. He was a very popular young
man. When he served in the military, he was captured by the enemy and held in captivity for a year.
While in captivity, he began to hear callings from Christ. At first he didn't think much of it. He
didn't want to tell anyone at first because they would think he was crazy. When he was released from
captivity, he went back to Assisi to work for his father. He became increasingly drawn to giving to
the poor. He found a small shrine on the side of the road and he would often visit it and pray. One
time, he heard Christ at the shrine tell him to fix it up and make it look nice. He spent a lot of
his father's money to do just that. When his father found out, he was furious. His father was not
interesed in the least about any kind of religion.
After a trip to Rome, as St. Francis was
leaving, he saw a group of beggars. He tossed them some money. Then he tossed his cloak. The beggars
were a little confused. No one had ever given them a cloak before. Then St. Francis asked one of the
beggars to swap clothes with him for the day. The beggars all laughed. They thought he was nuts. But
of course, one of the beggars agreed, and St. Francis spent the day as a beggar. At the end of the
day, he swapped clothes again, and gave all the money he had on him to the beggars except what he
needed to get home.
On his way back, there was a leper standing
in the middle of the road blocking his path. St. Francis had always had a fear of lepers since he
was very little. He dismounted his horse. He walked very slowly up to the leper standing there with
one eye a gaping black hole. He took the leper's encrusted hand in his own and kissed it. He reached
into his purse and pulled out his last coin. He slowly set it in the leper's hand and closed the
fingers around it. With tears in his eyes, he rode on.
Back at Assisi, he gave all the family money
to the church. When his father found this out, they met in the town square, yelling. His father
demanded he give back the money. The Bishop was also there, and also said he should give it back.
After all, the money was essentially stolen. So St. Francis agreed, then removed his clothing and
tossed it to his father. He proclaimed, "I have given back everything. You are no longer my father.
Christ is my father now." And the Bishop wrapped him up in his cloak.
From then on, he lived the beggars life. He
ate only what he could find that day, or he didn't eat at all. He trusted completely in God. At
first people ridiclued him. He gave up the wealthy life of a cloth merchant to become a beggar.
What is the sense in that? But some people were inspired by his humbleness. By 1210, he had acquired
a small following of beggars. St. Francis preached to his following. He believed in living each day
as it came and trusting completely in God. He didn't plan anything, because to plan is to not trust
in God. He went to the Pope to become an official following of the church. The church's first thought
was even though they are small, they could become a heresy. The Pope thought they were too extreme.
But the church had learned from others, and they gave in. The official order was named the Order of
Francis. This order was very appealing to people in cities. It spread very quickly. St. Francis
preached that having wealth and money is against the teachings of the bible. You should take what
you need to live from what you make, and give the rest away. The Franciscans were easier to get to
know than other religions because they didn't seclude themselves from the rest of the world. They
went into the cities and talked to people. One big rule of the Franciscans was that they weren't
allowed to touch money. They could beg, but they could only receive food or clothing. Once, St.
Francis saw a Franciscan beggar receive a coin. St. Francis took it, and put it in a pile of dung.
He made the beggar pick it out with his teeth to show him never to touch money again.
The Order of Francis was a mendicant order,
meaning a monastic order without the ownership of property. Other mendicant orders were also sprouting
at this time. St. Dominic was forming his in Spain. It was similar to the Order of Francis. But their
specialty was visiting towns and actively disputing and converting people. The church realized they
would be good to fight heretics. So they became tools of the church, being sent out and converting heretics.
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The basic legal system of the Middle Ages
was Feudalism. Feudalism lasted from 600 to 1400. The business and legal relationships were based
on trust. In contracts, people had to give only their word, not their signature. Since it was not
easy to travel, most of your business relationships were to people you knew personally.
In Feudalism, there were Lords and Vassals.
A vassal would swear allegiance to a lord. The vassal would pay a small tax, and the vassal would
get the rights to a piece of the lord's land. The land would still be owned by the lord, but the
vassal would get all the money made from farming it. The vassal also swore to protect the lord.
If the lord ever went to battle, he could call in his vassals and they would have to come and fight.
So both the lord and the vassal would get something out of the deal. A lord could have more than one
vassal, and a vassal could swear allegiance to more than one lord. A vassal could also be the lord
to other vassals under him. If you were a vassal to many lords, you would have the rights to many
chunks of land. You could then use that land to have vassals under you.
Lords high up in the hierarchy would generally
have a lot of money. Enough even to buy a suit of armor and a horse. If two lords went to battle,
they would tell their vassals to come fight with them. If their vassals had any vassals under them,
they would come also. It could end up that each side brought thousands of peasants to fight. In this
case, the lords would barely do any fighting at all. The peasants would just get slaughtered.
In the long run, over 50 to 100 years, this deal
worked out in favor of the vassals. If you have the rights to some land and your family lives on that
land for a hundred years, it would be hard for the lord to prove that land was actually his. Also, the
vassal owed a fixed amount of money to the lord. The amount was decided on at the time of becoming a
vassal. In the agreement, this amount did not adjust for inflation. So after a while, you could be getting
some really cheap land. When the lord died, the vassals would all have to swear allegiance again to the
lord's heirs. But if the lord's children were too young, this was a good time to get some free land.
Around 900, there were many technological revolutions,
both military and agricultural. The most important military advancements were the stirrups. The development
of the back saddle was also important. Before these, it was impossible to run someone through with a lance.
You would just fall off your horse. But these helped you stay upright.
The heavy plough was the greatest agricultural
achievement. In the Mediterranean, the soil was easy to plough. It was thin and light. You could plough
it with just one horse. But in northern Europe, the soil was thick and heavy. A regular plough couldn't
do the job. The heavy plough with seven or eight horses would make this light work. But it took a while
to develop a harness for the horses that wouldn't choke them. After these developments, people could use
their land more efficiently, and make more food.
Between 1000 and 1300 there was a huge population
increase. With the increased amount of available food, the infant mortality rate dropped. People were
healthier and lived longer. But with the military advancements, it became very easy for knights to kill
anyone they pleased. They could encase themselves in armor, and they were virtually impenetrable. The
church became active in controlling the knights' violence. They first said there would be no fighting
on Sundays. Then no fighting on the weekends. Then they left two days available for fighting. The church
also created romantic literature, glorifying the heroic knight, protector of women and children.
Another major advancement of this time was the
development of castles. At first their main goal was to protect the kings. But nobles with enough wealth
could also build themselves a castle. Castles were pretty much invincible to any weapons of the time.
Enough of a castle could be constructed in ten days to protect itself while the rest was built. Since
word traveled relatively slowly, no one could hear that the castle was being built and get there in time
to stop it. Castles also protected against Viking invaders.
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In the High Middle Ages, from 1000 to 1250, men
outnumbered women 70% to 30%. With so few women, their status increased. But St. Jerome of the church
hated women. He claimed they were the source of all evil. This thread of misogyny ran all through the
middle ages.
An increasing number of women began to pray to
the virgin Mary, so much, in fact, that Mary almost became a feminine God. In the High Middle Ages
women could own property and could even become rulers and queens. However, in the Late Middle Ages,
this reversed completely, and the women were methodically removed from the positions of power.
Rape was common all through the middle ages.
It was not often punished. The church wanted to stress that sex was bad, it takes away from focus on
God. This proved to be a difficult task, so they decided to say it was okay only in marriage. They
took this a little further and said that you are not supposed to enjoy it, it should only be to procreate.
Eleanor of Acquitaine was born in 1122. She was
very socially active, liked wild parties and clothes. She was used to dominating. She became the heir
to a very large part of France. From just under Paris, down to the southern coast. Following with the
Feudal system, she became the lord to many vassals under her. This made her, of course, the most eligible
woman in Europe. She got married to the King of France, Louis. This was not out of love, but for political
reasons. Louis would get control of all the land Eleanor had control over. Louis was the loser type. He
didn't drink, he was boring and bland and he wasn't a very good warrior. But they didn't mind each other
too much at first.
King Louis made a crusade to Constantinople to help
fight off the Muslims. Eleanor wanted to go with him, so she bought herself a very fashionable suit of
armor and a horse. Most of the ride down, she rode separately from Louis. She arrived first at Constantinople,
and quickly got involved with the emperor. Louis' army wasn't doing too well fighting at Constantinople,
especially because the emperor's army wasn't doing much fighting themselves. So Louis took his army down
further south to Antioch. Eleanor's distant uncle arranged the takeover of Antioch, and they had an affair.
Louis knew the whole time, but always looked the other way.
Back in France, Eleanor and Louis tried to get a
divorce. Louis was too boring for Eleanor, and Eleanor was too wild for Louis. But there was no way to
officially get divorced unless there was something wrong with the marriage in the first place. So they
went to the church, and coincidentally enough, found that they were too closely related to be properly
married. Louis lost a lot of land in the divorce, and Eleanor again, became the most eligible woman in
Europe.
She soon got married to Henry Plantagenet. This
was a good marriage, and Henry was a good match for Eleanor. He was bright, a quick thinker, very physically
active, and he too had a dominant personality. Together, they had eight children. Three daughters, and
five sons, but one son died in childbirth. The three sons of importance were Henry, Richard and John.
Eleanor and Henry didn't see each other very often, they were both off ruling. Eventually, Henry got
tired of Eleanor meddling in his politics. They agreed on some things, but disagreed on others. He took
her to England and locked her in a castle. She was comfortable there, but she couldn't get involved in
politics or other men.
The custom for passing the rule of a kingdom on,
was to let your son slowly take over while you were still alive. But Henry was too power-crazy. He couldn't
let go of the power he had. Henry's favorite son, who he was planning to give his kingdom to, was Henry.
But Eleanor's favorite was Richard. Richard was 6'4" with blond hair and blue eyes. From her castle, she
backed him in many ways. But John also wanted to be the next king. John was the sneaky type. He allied
with Eleanor, then also with Richard. But then he broke the alliances purposely as part of his plan.
Ultimately, Richard became the next king. When he went away on a crusade, Eleanor ruled while he was
gone. By this time she was 70 years old, but she did an effective job despite her age. Richard died
young, and John was the next king. John was an incredibly weak ruler and lost more than half of his kingdom.
Eleanor was an astounding figure. She lived through
many major events of the Middle Ages. She was deeply involved in the inner politics of Europe. She was
involved in the crusades. She herself developed the Courts of Love. People would bring cases of marriage
and love to the court, comprised of women. If you thought your husband was having an affair, you would
take this case to the court and something would be worked out. At the end of her life, Eleanor even became
a nun.
Another woman who stood out was Hildegard of
Bingen, from Germany. Women in the Middle Ages didn't preach like the men, but Hildegard did. She
was known as a mystic, going around and performing miracles. She was also an accomplished musician.
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The crusades had two major effects on the Middle
Ages. The crusaders brought back with them Islamic learning and technology that had been the center of
industrialization. They also opened up trade between the east Mediterranean and western Europe. With the
new trade, cities began to grow. This was also around the time of the huge population boom, which was
feeding the cities. If you were a serf, there was one way to escape serfdom. If you lived in a city for
a year and a day, without being caught and brought back, your legal bind was broken. This incentive brought
huge streams of serfs to the cities. The serfs lacked many skills, so they became apprentices to masters.
After some time, the apprentices became the masters. This was the beginnings of the trade organizations.
The growth of the towns strengthened the kings, but weakened the nobility.
Around 1200, universities began to form. At first,
teachers were independent scholars. They would go out on their own and find students to tutor. They relied
heavily on personal fame to make an income. They would try to steal students from each other, even. The
church didn't like this, mainly because it had no control over the system. So the church decided to gather
all the scholars together in one building. This was better for both the teachers and the students. The
teachers would get better exposure, and the students could choose from any one of the teachers. The first
universities appeared in Paris, Bologna and Padua. But there was a big difference between the universities.
In Paris, the teachers were in complete control. In Bologna, the students had power. The teachers couldn't
leave the town without posting bail. It was far better to be a student in Bologna, but far better to be a
teacher in Paris.
Because the universities were a part of the church,
special laws applied to students of the universities. Mainly, no townsperson was allowed to strike a student.
The students came to the towns speaking Latin and not the native tongue of the town. The townspeople took
advantage of this, and charged exorbitant amounts for food and rent. But the students took advantage of
the church's law, and whenever they weren't satisfied, they would go around rioting. No one could stop
them with force.
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Peter Abelard was a brilliant young scholar.
He made his reputation by attending other teachers' lectures. He would ask the lecturers questions
he knew they could not answer, then provide the answers himself. This made him some enemies, but he
was genuinely brilliant and a quick thinker. As people heard about him, he started to tutor.
He made a quick enemy of the church by examining
the scriptures logically. He systematically found contradictions in the scriptures. The church didn't
like this. Especially when he said doubt is good, not necessarily faith. WHen you doubt the religion,
you will find your own answers yourself.
At the age of 30, he was the foremost scholar of
his day. He was also a great lover. He fell in love with the 18 year old Heloise. He convinced her uncle
who she was living with, that she needed to be tutored, and he would come live with them. Heloise was
brilliant enough and didn't need tutoring, but her uncle agreed. They quickly started an affair. Abelard
bragged about it in his poems, not in the most discreet way. Anybody reading the poems would pretty much
know exactly who he was talking about. When her uncle found out, Abelard decided they should get married
to avoid complications. But as a student he was part of the church and couldn't legally get married. So
they got married in secret. Her uncle calmed down after this. But now, Abelard was bragging about his
marriage. He let his friends know and the word got out. Even though they were both deeply in love, he
sent her off to a nunnery to avoid confronting the church about his marriage. But her uncle thought he
was dumping her. He ordered his servants to go into his room at night and castrate him. Abelard never saw
Heloise again, but they wrote man letters back and forth. Abelard kept getting himself into trouble out of
his pride. He continually casted doubt on church doctrines. He was attacked by St. Bernard and almost
excommunicated, the worst punishment. Instead, he was forced to live a solitary life in a monastery. Even
then, he managed to make the church angry with him one more time by publishing a book about his analytical
viewing of the holy writings.
Abelard was followed by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas
followed up on Abelard's rationality, but he didn't challenge the church so agressively. He took almost
exactly what Abelard had done, and brought it to the church in a way that didn't offend them. He used
Aristotle's logic to examine the writings. He also found fiive proofs for the existence of God. One of
them was: "Since everything on earth has a purpose, the world must have a purpose. The purpose is God."
Abelard and Aquinas are known to have dealt with
Scholasticism. Scholasticism deals with such questions as, "Is there a God?", and, "How many angles can
dance on the end of a pin?" The downside to scholasticism, is that sometimes the questions can get so
far away from the important real-world questions.
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