Medieval Society

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Medieval Society Culture

• Mr. Ermer
• World History
• Miami Beach Senior High

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European Growth

• 1000-1300 European population grows from 38
  million to 74 million
• Invasions of early Middle Ages stop, peacegrowth
• Increased food production
• Land clearing/swamp draining becomes commonplace
• 1200 Europeans have more farm land than today
• Switch from two-field rotation, to three-field
  rotation
• Technology lessens work loads of people
• Harnessing power of wind and water
• Iron tools like scythes, hammers and nails
• Carruca Heavy, iron plow able to turn clay soils
• Horse collar ability to strap horses together

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The Manorial System

• Manor Agricultural estate run by a lord, worked
  by peasants/serfs
• Lords land1/3-1/2 of cultivated lands
• Rent paid by giving the lord a share of your
  product
• 1/10 given to the local church
• Serfs pay for using pastures, or fishing, but
  handing over a share of what was produced/caught
  to lord
• Land given to serfs, as homestead, cannot be taken

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Peasant Life

• Small houses, often one or two rooms, made of
  wood with straw roof
• Life based on the seasons, harvest timebusiest
• Wheel of Life constantly spinning for peasants
• Women must work field, and produce children
• Familys survival depends on moms abilities as
  home-maker
• Work for family, and lord, most of the year
• Only days off are for Catholic holidays, feast
  days
• 50 days total Christmas, Easter Pentecost
  biggest

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Medieval Cities

• Built behind expensive walls, land inside is
  valuable, tightly packed
• Fires were big problem
• Smell bad, human and animal waste, smelly people
• Baths existed early, but closed due to nudity and
  plague
• Polluted air from wood burning fires/ovens
• Water pollution from tanneries and butchers
• Well water used for drinking
• More men than women in cities
• Women could take over husbands business, lead
  independent lives in the cities, not in the
  country/manor

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Industry Guilds

• As trade increases, cities/towns become centers
  of manufacturing goods for trade
• Craftsmen organize into a guild, or business
  assoc.
• Tanners, carpenters, bakers, brewers,
  blacksmiths, masons
• Craft guilds dictate manufacturing process, set
  price
• Guilds could set the number of people working a
  certain job, who trained them, where to work
• Craftsmen apprenticed around 10 years old, after
  5-7 years of learning, apprentice becomes
  journeyman
• To become master craftsman, guild must judge a
  masterpiece

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The Village Church (The Parish)

• Feast days were not only church days Sunday
  mass, baptisms, marriages and funerals
• Village priest and peasants in constant contact
• Village priests usually peasants as well
• Basic job to teach peasants about Christianity
• Because of little to no education, many peasants
  probably had little understanding of actual
  church teaching
• Appease God by bringing a good harvest

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The Rise of Universities

• Universities, from the Latin universitas, refers
  to the corporation or guild charged with
  educating a well trained workforce
• First university in Europe started by Arabs in
  Salamanca, Spain
• First European university founded in Bologna,
  Italy
• Later, universities founded in Paris and Oxford,
  England
• Kings, popes and lords thought universities were
  good, and by 1500, 80 universities exist in Euro.

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University Curricula

• Curriculum course of study
• Grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry,
  music, and astronomy all taught to first year
  students
• Teaching done by lecture method
• Course of study4-6 years for bachelor/master
• After first degree, students could go back for
  degrees in medicine, law or theology
• Doctors courses could take up to 10 years

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Scholasticism

• Scholasticism attempts to reconcile Christian
  faith with philosophical reason
• 1100s Works of Greeks reintroduced
• Church upset by contradictions to Church
  teachings
• Saint Thomas Aquinasmost famous scholar
• In Summa Theologicae Aquinas tries to reconcile
  the Bible and other Christian writings with the
  knowledge obtained through reason

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Thomas Aquinas 5 Proofs of God
Reason Reasoning Conclusion
Motion All things must be set into motion, by another moving object There must have been something that moved first, on its own, setting all else into motion God is the first mover
Cause Effect For something to happen, or exist, something else must cause it to do so There must have been one thing that existed before a cause God is the first cause, everything else is the effect
Transition All things are in transition between existing and not There must have been something that always existed, since there cannot be a time where nothing existed God is that which always existed
Degree All things are degrees of the perfect form (Plutonic Forms-Allegory of the Cave) For goodness to exist, there must be a perfect, complete goodness, from which all other goodness comes God is the complete goodness
Design The world is too perfectly ordered, for it to have come from chaos without a plan There must have been a designer for the world, and all the things in it God is the ultimate designer
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Vernacular Literature

• Latin was the language of religion and education,
  the universal language of Europe
• Literature starts being written in the
  vernacular, or language of the people in a
  particular region
• Becomes more popular as more education leads to
  more people looking for entertainment
• Troubadour poetry were mostly love poems by
  nobles and knights
• Chanson de Geste Heroic epics

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Medieval Architecture
Early Christian (top center) Long rectangular
shape used in Roman basilicas, utilizing a flat
roof. Romanesque (top right) Uses the same Roman
basilica style as earlier churches, but with
rounded, vaulted ceilings Gothic (bottom right)
Uses flying buttresses to prop up taller
buildings, giving them the illusion of upward
movement.
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Chapter 4, Lesson 2 Review

• On page 72, write and answer questions 1-5