Medieval Europe: Growth, Cities, and Transformations
12th-13th Century European Growth
Significant population growth in 12th and 13th century Europe.
New Lands:
- Forests felled
- Marshlands drained
Technical Innovations in Agriculture:
- Three-course rotation: Dividing fields into three for winter crops, spring crops, and fallow land.
- Wheeled moldboard plow: Improved land turning for better yields.
- Horse and ox collar: Allowed animals to pull without injury.
Rupture: Plowing or tilling land for the first time.
Major European Cities
Commercial centers: Genoa, Venice, Marseille, Barcelona.
Craft centers: Bruges, London.
Fair locations: Medina del Campo, Antwerp, Troyes, Champagne.
University/cultural centers: Paris, Oxford, Salamanca.
Administrative/political centers: London.
Religious center: Rome.
Crafts
Master: Shop owner, tools, raw materials.
Officers: Employees, could set up independently after creating a masterpiece.
Learners: Assistants, often lived with the master.
Fairs
Markets held in cities multiple times a year, attracting merchants from various backgrounds. Protected by monarchs and feudal lords. The most important fair was in Champagne, France.
Currency was reused at fairs. Money changers emerged, offering currency exchange and loans with interest.
Trade and Trade Routes
North Sea region: Bruges, Antwerp, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Augsburg.
Northern Italy: Genoa, Venice, Milan, Florence.
France: Champagne region.
German cities (Hanseatic League): Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, controlling trade in the North and Baltic Seas.
Navigable rivers: Seine, Rhine, Thames, Oder.
Products: Cereals, spices, wine, salt, silk, wool, textiles, gold, silver, minerals, metals, wood, meat, fish, hides.
Feudal Society Changes
Nobility: Moved to cities, built palaces, enjoyed court life, retained legal privileges.
Clergy: Improved cultural formation, new religious orders in cities, bishops, monks, mendicant orders, nobles held church positions.
People:
- Peasants: Mostly agricultural, some moved to cities for work.
- Bourgeoisie: Former free peasants or serfs, engaged in crafts and commerce.
City Government
Municipal government based on:
- A council of nobles and wealthy bourgeoisie.
- Judges, mayors, aldermen, and councilmen enforcing council decisions.
Royal Power
Hereditary monarchy: Crown passed to the eldest son or daughter.
Increased royal power: Monarchs appointed representatives and transformed the Royal Council into courts or parliaments.
Religious Sentiment
Religious problems: Opinions contrary to Christian faith led to the Inquisition.
International crusades: Military expeditions to recover holy places.
Education and Science
Universities: Trivium and quadrivium studies, law and medicine in Italy, theology and philosophy in France.
Sciences: Astronomy (geocentric theory), arithmetic.
Technique: Textile industry (distaff), navigation (caravel), printing press (Gutenberg, 1440).
Gothic Art
12th-14th centuries in Western Europe.
Architecture: Churches, palaces, cathedrals, universities, municipalities. Stone blocks used. Higher buildings than Romanesque, stained glass windows, external buttresses, pinnacles, enlarged apse with chapels, three-floor interiors, rose windows on fronts.
Sculpture:
- Terrain: Facade, capitals, portals with Virgin and Child, Pantocrator, apostles, saints.
- Round sculptures: Religious themes, Christ’s crucifixion, Virgin and Child, more expressive with natural drapery.
Late Middle Ages: 14th Century Crisis
Bad harvests, hunger, population decline.
Epidemics (Black Plague: 1/3 of European population died).
Wars (Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453).
Consequences: Increased beggars, highwaymen, robbers, rebellions.
Towards the Modern Age
Population recovery due to good harvests.
Monarchies imposed authority over feudal lords.
Development of institutions like courts and parliaments.
New currents of thought and humanism.
Technological advancements in sailing led to geographical discoveries.