Themes 600-1450

Interaction between humans and the environment - Lauren G.

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            Interaction between humans and their environment is an important port of history. Interactions include demography and disease, migration, patterns of settlement, and technology. Western Europe during the middle ages experienced dramatic events concernig demography and disease as well as their patterns of settlement and technology.

            The most famous encounter with disease in this era was the Black Death. Otherwise known as bubonic plague, the Black Death killed one quarter of Europe’s population in twenty years. The Black Death was initially brought to Europe by the Mongols through trading and conquest. European conquest and trade slowed down in the middle ages because of the drop in population. Since the population of Europe dropped, the surviving population was given greater amounts of land to make up for lost population.

            Western Europe’s patterns of settlement in the Middle Ages mostly revolved around small conquests for expansions. Missionaries of a certain country would settle in the newly conquered land to make the current residents of the land more like them or convert them. During the middle ages, the Holy Roman Empire was carrying out the crusades to regain the “Holy Land”. Once they took the land from the Muslim rule, Christian missionaries went to the Middle East to settle in the Holy Land.

            The technology of the middle ages became slow to develop after the Black Death and many wars. However advancements of agricultural tools did occur with the introduction of the moldboard which allowed for more effective plowing. A system for planting was created called the three-field system where two thirds of a field was planted every year and the other third was left unplanted so the soil could regain nutrients.

Image Source: http://www.myhistorylab.com/

            The Black Death sent Western Europe into a slow paced age of advancement. The population decrease affected the productivity of farming and conquest. Western Europe was still strong enough to survive and come back with the crusades and eventually become strong and powerful again.

Development and interaction of cultures - Emillio M.

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1/24/11

Interactions: Arabs- Yielded technological gains, such as the first European paper factory. Western Europe’s contact with them and the Byzantines taught European scholars in mathematics, science, and philosophy. Muslims- Saw Western Europe as unintelligent brutes because they were new to civilization with less polished manners and an unadvanced economy.
Vikings- Periodically disrupted life from Ireland and Sicily due to raids. Intellectual activity declined. Vikings made it difficult to develop a durable government or economic system. Raids stopped during the 10th century because Vikings began to settle down after being Christianized. Developments: Land Expansion- Serf and Landlord population. Created new markets that increased trade due to supply and demand. Intellectual- Italy began to offer universities to train students in medicine and law. Legal faculties profited from a growing revival in knowledge of Roman law. Medicine benefited from new learning imported from the Arabs and from revived Greek and Hellenistic science. In the 12th century a university in Paris specialized in training clergy, with theology as the culminating subject but with faculties with other subjects as well.

Source:  http://www.myhistorylab.com/

This is an image of a duel between King Richard of England and Muslim leader Saladim. It shows the ideal imagery of the crusaders at the time, vanquishing over other cultural ideals. Although Saladim was respected as a strategic military leader in Europe, he was also a major threat.


State-building, expansion, and conflict - Amanda A.

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1/10/11 

1.      The form of government in Western Europe during the postclassical era was feudalism. This relationship linked military, who were mostly landlords who had horses and weapons. Greater lords provided protection to lesser lords (vassals), who owed them military service, goods or payments, and advice. Kings could sometimes use feudalism to build up their power. They did this through marriage alliances, which gradually brought more land under their control. This is how a strong feudal monarchy developed in France under the Capetian family

2.      In the 13th century, feudal balance led to the creation of parliaments to represent privileged groups like the church and nobles. The first full English parliament met in 1256. The House of Lords represented the nobles and church hierarchy and the Commons was made up of elected representatives from wealthy citizens. Similar institutions were created in France, Spain, Scandinavia, and in several of Germany’s regional governments.

Image Source: http://www.myhistorylab.com/ 

Charlemange established the Holy Roman Empire in France and Germany around 800. However, in 814, Charlemange died, and the empire was split into three portions to his grandsons: modern France, Germany, and the Low Countries, Switzerland, and northern Italy. Several of Charlemange’s successors were not good leaders.




Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems - Aliya S.

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Europe, at the time, had become closed off from the world. With the Black Death sweeping the nation and killing thousands, it had internal struggles and was shut off from the outside world. During this time, to maintain order, the use of feudalism became widely popular, a system also shown in Japan. How could two countries, separated by both land and sea, use similar systems without ever interacting with each other? The only answer could be is that they both developed on their own, without the influence from one another. They needed ideas that worked, they needed a system in which the nobles can maintain control, and the people could have their land. Feudalism was the answer. This system would continue for a few years, as Europe wouldn't interact with others as it fell into the Dark Ages.

Development and transformation of social structures - Shadae M.

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Society for the Western European economy underwent several different changes. However, all societies undergo change. The Post Classical era is different though, it plays a vital role in the social and economic development of modern day Europe. It is impossible to look at Western Europe during this time as a wonderful place to want to live. The fact of that matter is that living there was difficult, very dangerous and violent and was restricted to a small area of community. It was really hard to be alive during this time.

Feudalism was the government system of choice by the upper class citizens. This meant that all the lands nobilities and aristocrats held most control over the land. This rigid structure of government consisted of kings, lords, and the peasants. Kings had large areas of land under their control which they held under their “Divine Right”, the theory that the right to rule granted by God and then passed on through heredity. So, the upper class revolved around land ownership and wealth, typically.

Although living life in the upper class was luxurious and tasteful, living as a peasant was anything but so. Around ninety percent of the population during this time period consisted of just peasants. Their labor was a mix of household chores and if they were independent they may have worked in owned businesses, usually as carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, or bakers. In order to maintain the plot of land though, they had to pay a small rent to the land owners. The other, unfree peasants lived on the land without paying any money, but worked for the lord, earning their stay

 During this time there was no such thing as “social equality” and it was well evident that the rich over ruled the poor. On the bright side, at least women were being treated fairly well] The whole reason for this hierarchy was developed by the nobles and land owners for property security. They needed to make sure their land was safe so they took everyone below them and allowed them to work for shelter if they made sure the land was safe and there was no threat of invasion.

Source of image: http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/medfeudal.html

This painting shows a lords castle and how the several peasants worked in the field to provide for the castle. It was common to see those who lived in poverty working for those of the wealthy so that they could have a place to stay and way to obtain food.