CHAPTER EIGHT
MEDIEVAL SOCIETY: HIERARCHIES, TOWNS, UNIVERSITIES AND FAMILIES [1000-1300]
Because of the warming of the climate and improved technology, there was great growth in food
production. That caused populations to grow!
A rich and complex civilization began to flourish in Europe as it hadn’t done since the Roman Empire.
Because of the Crusades, trade with other towns and foreign lands grew.
The merchant class began to grow and thrive. Skilled artisans and day workers, mostly in the fabric
trade became the beginnings of urban wealth.
Urban culture and education flourished. Trade routes established contact with Muslim intellectuals and
enabled Europeans to benefit from the recovery of ancient texts and scholarship.
A renaissance of classical learning. Increased literacy.
Gothic architecture replaced the Romanesque of the fortresses of the day.
SOCIAL GROUPS
1. Knights fought-the landed nobility
2. The clergy prayed.
3. Field and shop laborers.
New group 4. Long distance traders and merchants. No land wealth but sometimes great
wealth. They caused a crack in the old social order and began the Middle Class. {Nouveau riche}
A.
NOBLES—Higher and lower nobility {Lived off of the labor of others and arms and war
were his profession}
WARRIORS—{stirrups}
KNIGHTHOOD-{Dubbing} { Legally restricted but kings could sell noble titles}
HUNTING AND JOUSTING!
{All of these things caused the space between wealthy and peasants to grow}
COURTLY LOVE {The double standard}
B.
CLERGY—OPEN
1. Regular Clergy- Monks {retreat from the world and extreme self-denial} Most still had
interactions with the laity through charity work.
2. Secular Clergy- Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and even the poor parish priests.
NEW ORDERS
Gregorian Reforms brought about the new religious orders that lived lives of poverty and self-sacrifice
imitating Jesus and his early followers.
Carthusians-The strictest of them all. Fasting three days a week, long periods of silence, and selfflagellation.
Cistercians-The white monks. Spiritual life, and austerity.
The Canons Regular-Secular clergy and also serious laity. Cloisters and ministering to the world.
Monasteries and nunneries recruited from the wealthier classes… “Sisters” CROWDED
Their income also came from the labor and charity of others. The church was also a landowner and
collected rents and fees. Became very wealthy!
Clergy were the mediators between God and man….baptism, communion…forgiveness of sins…even
serving as a refuge for criminals….the threat of Christian burial..
Remember…at this the church taught that you needed the clergy……
After the Middle Ages the clergy no longer was a superior class. More and more governments expected
them to what basic citizens had to do.
Peasants..Lowest and largest social class. All people depended on the agrarian peasants. Everything
continued to revolve around the manor. There were servile and free manors {The coloni}
Banalities-Things that the lord could force the serfs to do…{mills, ovens, etc…}
In the best interest of lords to keep serfs happy!
CHANGES IN THE MANOR1. Fragmentation of the manor system and the rise of importance of the single family holding.
2. The change from serfs paying the lord is dues to money payments.
By the mid-fourteenth century the nobility was declining {the great plague and the hundred years’ war}
The nobles tried to keep serfs tied to the lands with increased taxes—Armed rebellions broke out!
{Page 243}
TOWNS AND TOWNSPEOPLE
Originally lords dominated the towns. Lords would grant charters to people who agreed to live and
work within the town. The people signed charters and were promised protection. The lords wanted to
get skilled laborers The lords wanted finished goods, and people began to pay their dues in goods not
food stuffs.
Skilled people began to leave the manors and flee to the towns were they could have more freedom and
be successful.
New Government models developed. Merchants and nobles began an aristocratic town council to
govern the towns.
Guilds-Started by small artisans and craftspeople to give them a voice in government.
The newly rich merchants wanted the noble life {coats of arms, castles, country estates and the life of a
lord or lady of the manor}
The town council passed the sumptuary laws…Social order..
Government was made up of people who had long owned property.
Conflict arises between the haves and have nots..
The church works to fight against heretics, Jews and Muslims.
Jews—Separate, culturally strong and growing wealth…{Page 248}
There was a renaissance of ancient knowledge that caused universities to develop.
The Liberal Arts were initially taught at churches and monasteries. {Grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music}
In the twelfth century a copy of Aristotle’s logic and also works of Ptolemy, Euclid and many Latin
Classes were found.
The University—Bologna, Italy…Students and teachers together…more an idea than a place…{Page 251}
The “summa”
Scholasticism—Logic and dialectic.
Theology vs. Philosophy
Abelard. {Heloise}
Women—Seen by the church as physically, mentally and morally weaker then men…
The contradiction…The cult of the virgin…
Germanic law treated women better than had Roman law…dowry…pressing charges…similar ages in
marriage..
Options for women….The nunnery, girls also were apprenticed and trained for jobs, but didn’t earn as
much as men and couldn’t yet go to university..
Most women worked side by side to men…
Changes during Carolingian Empire…to monogamous marriage…Gave women dignity and more
economic security but mortality rates and increased and women’s lifespans shortened..{page 253}
CHILDREN –30-50% death rate by age 5. Kids grew up fast Marriage at 12 and 14.
-infanticide—females..Wergild..
Contradictions..
Printing
Pages 260 -264