AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment

 
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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
AP European History                                                                                    Mr. Duhaime
Summer Assignment 2018-19                                                                    mduhaime@chasemail.org

                                    AP EUROPEAN HISTORY
                             Course Description & Summer Assignment

W elcome to Mr. Duhaime’s AP European History (APEH) class! If you are in receipt of this PDF packet, that means
you are registered for APEH in the 2018-19 school year. Please read this document carefully as it contains important
information regarding your Summer assignment, and also includes part of your assigned reading.

Course Purpose
This AP European History (APEH) class is a college-level survey course that introduces students to the rich political,
cultural, social, and intellectual heritage of Europe. AP courses are part of a cooperative endeavor by high schools,
colleges, and the College Board that provides highly motivated students with the challenge and opportunity to earn
college credit during their high school years. Performance on the AP European History Exam determines a student’s
eligibility for up to six hours of college credit (the equivalent of a two-semester course). Course curriculum, materials,
and expectations are designed to prepare students for success with this exam. The purpose of the course extends
beyond the possibility of earning college credit to providing students with the opportunity to greatly expand their
understanding of how history has brought us to the modern world we live in today, and also to develop skills and
knowledge that will form a useful foundation for their continuing educational and professional endeavors.

Course Description
APEH focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about European history from approximately
1300 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. In addition to providing a basic
exposure to the factual narrative, the goals of the APEH course are to develop (1) an understanding of the principal
themes in modern European history, (2) the ability to assess and analyze historical evidence, and (3) the ability to
express that understanding and analysis effectively in writing.

Six themes of equal importance—interaction of Europe and the world, poverty and prosperity, objective knowledge
and subjective visions, states and other institutions of power, individual and society, and national and European
identity—provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason
historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in
different times and places. Areas of concentration include social, political, and economic history coupled with an
intense study of cultural and intellectual institutions and their development.

This course is taught at the college level. Major differences between a regular high school history course and a college-
level history course are the greater amount of reading and the depth of focus that is found in the college-level course.
Moreover, the AP curriculum demands higher-order thinking skills within a rigorous academic context. Thus, students
are frequently required to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate primary and secondary historical sources, in addition to
comprehending, memorizing, and applying facts.

This course includes history both as content and as methodology. Emphasis is placed on students developing
intellectual and academic skills including (1) effective analysis of such primary sources as documents, maps, statistics,
and pictorial and graphic evidence; (2) effective note taking; (3) clear and precise written and oral argumentation; and
(4) the ability to weigh evidence and reach conclusions on the basis of fact.

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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
Purpose of Summer Assignment

     All AP history courses are challenging and fast-paced, and this assignment will allow us to cover our initial topics
more thoroughly and efficiently. In order to accelerate our coverage of the initial stages of modern European history, it
is necessary to have some exposure to the events of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation.
In that vein, you have been assigned the task of reading two textbook chapters and a pre-selected book dealing with
those topics, and are asked to create a study guide based on the information you derive from your reading.

Assignment Requirements
    v Due Date:
         o The reading and written assignment should be completed before the first day of school, when I will
             collect your study guides and evaluations of Renaissance Lives.
    v Read:
         o Donald Kagan et al, The Western Heritage 11e, Introduction & Chapters 9 and 10.
                 § It is recommended that you read this introduction and these chapters (and take notes on them!)
                      before reading Renaissance Lives in order to help you better understand the historical context.
                 § [NOTE: I am also including Chapter 8 in this PDF, which is recommended but not required.]
         o Theodore K. Rabb, Renaissance Lives: Portraits of an Age
                 § ISBN-13: 9780465068005 (Basic Books, 2000)
    v Write:
         o Study Guide & Evaluation of Renaissance Lives (4-7 pages), described below.
                 § Note-taking is an extremely important skill for success in any AP history course, and this will
                      help start you off with a strong foundation that will be useful throughout the year.

Renaissance Lives Study Guide & Evaluation: Assignment Instructions

      Although Rabb is an academic historian at Princeton University, his history prose is not incomprehensible – this
is a very readable book that brings alive a vital period in the development of Western civilization.

     Your task is to create a three- to five-page (3-5 pgs.) study guide which emphasizes the fifteen key individuals
and events which Professor Rabb stresses are important between the close of the Dark Ages and the publication of
John Milton’s Paradise Lost in 1667. For each entry, a few sentences will suffice as long as they clearly and
sufficiently crystallize the importance of that event or actor in history. Your study guide entries will likely vary in
length (as needed), and some will deal with specific persons, groups of people, events, and concepts. You may use the
Kagan textbook readings and your notes to supplement the information in your study guide.

     Secondly, you are to evaluate in one- to two-pages (1-2 pgs.) the strengths and flaws of Rabb’s treatment of his
subject. That subject is the state of the Renaissance mind and the conditions which bred the Renaissance. Does Rabb
engage in effective scholarly research with a compelling thesis, or is this book a meandering collection of unconnected
lives? Please do not re-use my words when beginning your assessment of Rabb’s work.

Essential Questions:
   1. What causes paradigmatic shifts in belief systems?
   2. What factors cause the birth of new religions?
   3. What compels individuals to endure harsh conditions for the pursuit of glory?
   4. When and why do periods of extreme artistic creativity occur?
   5. Is Professor Rabb correct in positing that the Middle Ages was a (‘Dark’) time of wastefulness and depravity
       only to be redeemed by the heroic actions of Reformation leaders and Renaissance explorers?
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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
Additional Questions to Consider for your 1- to 2-page Evaluation of Renaissance Lives:

   •   What is your overall opinion of the book, and why?
   •   How effectively and in what ways does the theme of the book or argument of the author reflect what you
       already know?
   •   How well has the author achieved his/her aims? Are these aims supported or justified?
   •   Does the author seem fair and accurate? Is there any distortion, exaggeration, or diminishment of the material?
       Is the overall interpretation biased, subjective, slanted, or objective? Does the author try to look at both sides
       of the issue?
   •   Is the book interesting or boring? Why? Does the material presented raise your curiosity about the subject?
       Why?
   •   Is there enough information in the book? Is the subject treated thoroughly or summarily?
   •   Did you feel satisfied, disappointed, or puzzled by the book? Why?
   •   How well is the book written? (You should use quotes with page numbers as examples, but keep them short—
       preferably no more than one sentence.)
   •   Is there anything distinctive or noteworthy about the book? (Give examples with page numbers when
       possible.)

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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
BRIEF CONTENTS
PART 1         The Foundations of Western Civilization in the Ancient World to 400 C.E.
1    The Birth of Civilization                                                                         1
2    The Rise of Greek Civilization                                                                   33
3    Classical and Hellenistic Greece                                                                 61
4    Rome: From Republic to Empire                                                                    97
5    The Roman Empire                                                                                130

PART 2         The Middle Ages, 476 C.E.–1300 C.E.
6 Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Creating a New European Society and Culture (476–1000)   172
7 The High Middle Ages: The Rise of European Empires and States (1000–1300)                          206
8 Medieval Society: Hierarchies, Towns, Universities, and Families (1000–1300)                       234

PART 3         Europe in Transition, 1300–1750
 9   The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300–1453)                                265
10   Renaissance and Discovery                                                                       288
11   The Age of Reformation                                                                          320
12   The Age of Religious Wars                                                                       354
13   European State Consolidation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries                        385
14   New Directions in Thought and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries                417
15   Society and Economy Under the Old Regime in the Eighteenth Century                              449
16   The Transatlantic Economy, Trade Wars, and Colonial Rebellion                                   481

PART 4         Enlightenment and Revolution, 1700–1850
17   The Age of Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Thought                                            512
18   The French Revolution                                                                           550
19   The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism                                              584
20   The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform (1815–1832)                                 616
21   Economic Advance and Social Unrest (1830–1850)                                                  646

PART 5         Toward the Modern World, 1850–1939
22   The Age of Nation-States                                                                        685
23   The Building of European Supremacy: Society and Politics to World War I                         715
24   The Birth of Modern European Thought                                                            751
25   The Age of Western Imperialism                                                                  782
26   Alliances, War, and a Troubled Peace                                                            827
27   The Interwar Years: The Challenge of Dictators and Depression                                   865

                                                                                                      vii
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
viii   ■   BRIEF CONTENTS

PART 6           Global Conflict, Cold War, and New Directions, 1939–2012
28 World War II                                                                898
29 The Cold War Era, Decolonization, and the Emergence of a New Europe         936
30 Social, Cultural, and Economic Challenges in the West through the Present   982
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
xii   ■    CONTENTS

      Eleanor of Aquitaine and Court Culture    221   In Perspective                                         257
      Baronial Revolt and Magna Carta           221
                                                      Key Terms                                              258
      Philip II Augustus                        222
                                                      Review Questions                                       258
France in the Thirteenth Century: The Reign
 of Louis IX                                    225   Suggested Readings                                     258
      Generosity Abroad                         225   MyHistoryLab Media Assignments                         259
      Order and Excellence at Home              225
The Hohenstaufen Empire (1152–1272)             226
      Frederick I Barbarossa                    226   A Closer        LOOK   THE JOYS AND PAINS
      Henry VI and the Sicilian Connection      227                          OF THE MEDIEVAL JOUST           236
      Otto IV and the Welf Interregnum          228
      Frederick II                              228
      Romanesque and Gothic Architecture        229
                                                      Children’s Games, Warrior Games                        238
In Perspective                                  232   C O M P A R E
                                                        A N D         Faith and Love in the High Middle Ages 254
                                                      C O N N E C T
Key Terms                                       232
Review Questions                                232
Suggested Readings                              233   THE WEST               THE WORLD   The Invention of
                                                                                         Printing in China
MyHistoryLab Media Assignments                  233                                      and Europe          260

A Closer        LOOK   EUROPEANS EMBRACE
                       A BLACK SAINT            214
C O M P A R E
                                                      PART 3
  A N D
C O N N E C T
                Christian Jihad, Muslim Jihad   216   Europe in Transition, 1300–1750

Pilgrimages                                     224

                                                        9 The Late Middle Ages: Social
  8 Medieval Society: Hierarchies,                        and Political Breakdown (1300–1453)                265
    Towns, Universities, and Families                 The Black Death                                        266
    (1000–1300)                                 234        Preconditions and Causes of the Plague            266
                                                           Popular Remedies                                  266
The Traditional Order of Life                   235        Social and Economic Consequences                  268
      Nobles                                    235        New Conflicts and Opportunities                   271
      Clergy                                    239   The Hundred Years’ War and the Rise
      Peasants                                  241
                                                       of National Sentiment                                 271
Towns and Townspeople                           242        The Causes of the War                             272
      The Chartering of Towns                   243        Progress of the War                               273
      The Rise of Merchants                     244
                                                      Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival:
      Challenging the Old Lords                 245
      New Models of Government                  245    The Late Medieval Church                              275
      Towns and Kings                           246        The Thirteenth-Century Papacy                     275
      Jews in Christian Society                 246        Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair                 276
                                                           The Avignon Papacy (1309–1377)                    277
Schools and Universities                        247        John Wycliffe and John Huss                       280
      University of Bologna                     247        The Great Schism (1378–1417) and the
      Cathedral Schools                         249          Conciliar Movement in the Church to 1449        281
      University of Paris                       249
      The Curriculum                            250   Medieval Russia                                        284
      Philosophy and Theology                   251        Politics and Society                              284
                                                           Mongol Rule (1243–1480)                           284
Women in Medieval Society                       252
      Image and Status                          252   In Perspective                                         285
      Life Choices                              253   Key Terms                                              285
      Working Women                             253
                                                      Review Questions                                       286
The Lives of Children                           256
      Children as “Little Adults”               256
                                                      Suggested Readings                                     286
      Childhood as a Special Stage              257   MyHistoryLab Media Assignments                         286
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
CONTENTS ■    xiii

                                                              11 The Age of Reformation                        320
A Closer        LOOK   A BURIAL SCENE FROM
                       THE BLACK DEATH                 269    Society and Religion                                 321
                                                                 Social and Political Conflict                     321
                                                                 Popular Religious Movements and
Dealing with Death                                     270        Criticism of the Church                          321
C O M P A R E
                                                              Martin Luther and the German
  A N D
C O N N E C T
                Who Runs the World: Priests or Princes? 278    Reformation to 1525                                 323
                                                                 The Attack on Indulgences                         324
                                                                 Election of Charles V                             325
                                                                 Luther’s Excommunication and the Diet
                                                                  of Worms                                         325
                                                                 Imperial Distractions: War with France
10 Renaissance and Discovery                          288         and the Turks                                    326
                                                                 How the Reformation Spread                        327
The Renaissance in Italy (1375–1527)                   289       The Peasants’ Revolt                              327
     The Italian City-States                           290    The Reformation Elsewhere                            328
     Humanism                                          292       Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation                 329
     High Renaissance Art                              296       Anabaptists and Radical Protestants               332
     Slavery in the Renaissance                        301       John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation           334
Italy’s Political Decline: The French                         Political Consolidation of the Lutheran
  Invasions (1494–1527)                                303     Reformation                                         337
     Charles VIII’s March Through Italy                303       The Diet of Augsburg                              337
     Pope Alexander VI and the Borgia Family           303       The Expansion of the Reformation                  337
     Pope Julius II                                    304       Reaction Against Protestants                      337
     Niccolò Machiavelli                               304       The Peace of Augsburg                             338
Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe                 305    The English Reformation to 1553                      338
     France                                            306       The Preconditions of Reform                       338
     Spain                                             306       The King’s Affair                                 338
     England                                           307       The “Reformation Parliament”                      339
     The Holy Roman Empire                             308       Wives of Henry VIII                               340
The Northern Renaissance                               308       The King’s Religious Conservatism                 340
     The Printing Press                                308       The Protestant Reformation under Edward VI        340
     Erasmus                                           310    Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation              341
     Humanism and Reform                               310       Sources of Catholic Reform                        341
Voyages of Discovery and the New Empires                         Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits                341
 in the West and East                                  312       The Council of Trent (1545–1563)                  341
     The Portuguese Chart the Course                   312    The Social Significance of the Reformation
     The Spanish Voyages of Columbus                   312     in Western Europe                                   343
     The Spanish Empire in the New World               314       The Revolution in Religious Practices
     The Church in Spanish America                     315        and Institutions                                 344
     The Economy of Exploitation                       316       The Reformation and Education                     345
     Mining                                            316       The Reformation and the Changing Role
     The Impact on Europe                              317        of Women                                         345
In Perspective                                         317    Family Life in Early Modern Europe                   346
Key Terms                                              318       Later Marriages                                   346
Review Questions                                       318       Arranged Marriages                                347
                                                                 Family Size                                       347
Suggested Readings                                     318       Birth Control                                     347
MyHistoryLab Media Assignments                         319       Wet Nursing                                       347
                                                                 Loving Families?                                  347
                                                              Literary Imagination in Transition                   349
                                                                 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Rejection
The Renaissance Garden                                 293        of Idealism                                      349
A Closer        LOOK   LEONARDO PLOTS THE                        William Shakespeare: Dramatist of the Age         350
                       PERFECT MAN                     297    In Perspective                                       351
C O M P A R E                                                 Key Terms                                            351
  A N D
C O N N E C T
                Is the “Renaissance Man” a Myth?       298
                                                              Review Questions                                     351
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
CHAPTER    ■    xliii
WHAT IS THE WESTERN HERITAGE?
T  his book invites students and instructors to explore        living in ancient Palestine. With the ministry of Jesus of
the Western Heritage. What is that heritage? The West-         Nazareth and the spread of his teachings by the Apostle
ern Heritage emerges from an evolved and evolving              Paul, Christianity had established itself as one of many
story of human actions and interactions, peaceful and          religions in the empire. Because Christianity was mono-
violent, that arose in the eastern Mediterranean, then         theistic, Constantine’s official embrace of it led to the
spread across the western Mediterranean into northern          eradication of pagan polytheism. Thereafter, the West
Europe, and eventually to the American continents, and         became more or less coterminous with Latin Christian-
in their broadest impact, to the peoples of Africa and         ity, or that portion of the Christian Church acknowledg-
Asia as well.                                                  ing the Bishop of Rome as its head.
     The Western Heritage as a distinct portion of world            As the emperors’ rule broke down, bishops became
history descends from the ancient Greeks. They saw             the effective political rulers in many parts of Western
their own political life based on open discussion of law       Europe. But the Christian Church in the West never gov-
and policy as different from that of Mesopotamia, Persia,      erned without negotiation or conflict with secular rul-
and Egypt, where kings ruled without regard to public          ers, and religious law never replaced secular law. Nor
opinion. The Greeks invented the concept of citizenship,       could secular rulers govern if they ignored the influence
defining it as engagement in some form of self-govern-         of the church. Hence from the fourth century C.E. to the
ment. Furthermore, through their literature and phi-           present day, rival claims to political and moral authority
losophy, the Greeks established the conviction, which          between ecclesiastical and political officials have char-
became characteristic of the West, that reason can shape       acterized the West.
and analyze physical nature, politics, and morality.                In the seventh century the Christian West faced a
     The city of Rome, spreading its authority through         new challenge from the rise of Islam. This new monothe-
military conquest across the Mediterranean world,              istic religion originating in the teachings of the prophet
embraced Greek literature and philosophy. Through              Muhammad arose on the Arabian Peninsula and spread
their conquests and imposition of their law, the Romans        through rapid conquests across North Africa and eventu-
created the Western world as a vast empire stretching          ally into Spain, turning the Mediterranean into what one
from Egypt and Syria in the east to Britain in the west.       historian has termed “a Muslim lake.” Between the elev-
Although the Roman Republic, governed by a Senate and          enth and the thirteenth centuries, Christians attempted
popular political institutions, gave way after civil wars      to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim control in church-
to the autocratic rule of the Roman Empire, the idea of        inspired military crusades that still resonate negatively
a free republic of engaged citizens governed by public         in the Islamic world.
law and constitutional arrangements limiting political              It was, however, in the Muslim world that most of
authority survived centuries of arbitrary rule by emper-       the texts of ancient Greek and Latin learning survived
ors. As in the rest of the world, the Greeks, the Romans,      and were studied, while intellectual life languished in
and virtually all other ancient peoples excluded women         the West. Commencing in the twelfth century, knowl-
and slaves from political life and tolerated considerable      edge of those texts began to work its way back into West-
social inequality.                                             ern Europe. By the fourteenth century, European thinkers
     In the early fourth century C.E., the Emperor Con-        redefined themselves and their intellectual ambitions by
stantine reorganized the Roman Empire in two funda-            recovering the literature and science from the ancient
mental ways that reshaped the West. First, he moved            world, reuniting Europe with its Graeco-Roman past.
the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople (Istan-            From the twelfth through the eighteenth centuries,
bul), establishing separate emperors in the East and West.     a new European political system slowly arose based on
Thereafter, large portions of the Western empire became        centralized monarchies characterized by large armies,
subject to the rulers of Germanic tribes. In the confusion     navies, and bureaucracies loyal to the monarch, and by
of these times, most of the texts embodying ancient phi-       the capacity to raise revenues. Whatever the personal
losophy, literature, and history became lost in the West,      ambitions of individual rulers, for the most part these
and for centuries Western Europeans were intellectually        monarchies recognized both the political role of local or
severed from that ancient heritage, which would later be       national assemblies drawn from the propertied elites and
recovered in a series of renaissances, or cultural rebirths,   the binding power of constitutional law on themselves.
beginning in the eighth century.                               Also, in each of these monarchies, church officials and
     Constantine’s second fateful major reshaping of the       church law played important roles in public life. The
West was his recognition of Christianity as the official       monarchies, their military, and their expanding com-
religion of the empire. Christianity had grown out of          mercial economies became the basis for the extension of
the ancient monotheistic religion of the Hebrew people         European and Western influence around the globe.
                                                                                                                     xliii
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY Course Description & Summer Assignment
xliv   ■   WHAT IS   THE   WESTERN HERITAGE?

                                                                             In his painting The School of Athens,
                                                                             the great Italian Renaissance painter
                                                                             Raphael portrayed the ancient Greek
                                                                             philosopher Plato and his student,
                                                                             Aristotle, engaged in debate. Plato,
                                                                             who points to the heavens, believed
                                                                             in a set of ideal truths that exist in
                                                                             their own realm distinct from the
                                                                             earth. Aristotle urged that all phi-
                                                                             losophy must be in touch with lived
                                                                             reality and confirms this position by
                                                                             pointing to the earth. Such debate
                                                                             has characterized the intellectual,
                                                                             political, and social experience of the
                                                                             West. Indeed, the very concept of
                                                                             “Western Civilization” has itself been
                                                                             subject to debate, criticism, and
                                                                             change over the centuries. © Scala/
                                                                             Art Resource, NY

    In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,    religious convictions, with Roman Catholics dominating
two transforming events occurred. The first was the         Latin America and English Protestants most of North
European discovery and conquest of the American con-        America.
tinents, thus opening the Americas to Western institu-           By the late eighteenth century, the idea of the West
tions, religion, and economic exploitation. Over time       denoted a culture increasingly dominated by two new
the labor shortages of the Americas led to the forced       forces. First, science arising from a new understanding
migration of millions of Africans as slaves to the “New     of nature achieved during the sixteenth and seventeenth
World.” By the mid-seventeenth century, the West con-       centuries persuaded growing numbers of the educated
sequently embraced the entire transatlantic world and its   elite that human beings can rationally master nature
multiracial societies.                                      for ever-expanding productive purposes improving the
    Second, shortly after the American encounter, a reli-   health and well-being of humankind. From this era to
gious schism erupted within Latin Christianity. Reform-     the present, the West has been associated with advances
ers rejecting both many medieval Christian doctrines as     in technology, medicine, and scientific research. Sec-
unbiblical and the primacy of the Pope in Rome estab-       ond, during the eighteenth century, a drive for economic
lished Protestant churches across much of northern          improvement that vastly increased agricultural produc-
Europe. As a consequence, for almost two centuries reli-    tion and then industrial manufacturing transformed eco-
gious warfare between Protestants and Roman Catho-          nomic life, especially in Western Europe and later the
lics overwhelmed the continent as monarchies chose          United States. Both of these economic developments
to defend one side or the other. This religious turmoil     went hand in hand with urbanization and the movement
meant that the Europeans who conquered and settled          of the industrial economy into cities where the new
the Americas carried with them particularly energized       urban populations experienced major social dislocation.
WHAT IS   THE   WESTERN C
                                                                                                        HHAPTER
                                                                                                          ERITAGE ? ■ ■   xlv

     During these decades certain West European elites        these new authoritarian regimes, West European powers
came to regard advances in agricultural and manufactur-       and the United States identified themselves with liberal
ing economies that were based on science and tied to          democratic constitutionalism, individual freedom, com-
commercial expansion as “civilized” in contrast to cul-       mercial capitalism, science and learning freely pursued,
tures that lacked those characteristics. From these ideas     and religious liberty, all of which they defined as the
emerged the concept of Western Civilization defined to        Western Heritage. During the Cold War, conceived of
suggest that peoples dwelling outside Europe or inside        as an East-West, democratic versus communist struggle
Europe east of the Elbe River were less than civilized.       that concluded with the collapse of the Soviet Union in
Whereas Europeans had once defined themselves against         1991, the Western Powers led by the United States con-
the rest of the world as free citizens and then later as      tinued to embrace those values in conscious opposition
Christians, they now defined themselves as “civilized.”       to the Soviet government, which since 1945 had also
Europeans would carry this self-assured superiority into      dominated much of Eastern Europe.
their nineteenth- and early twentieth-century encoun-             Since 1991 the West has again become redefined in
ters with the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.       the minds of many people as a world political and eco-
     During the last quarter of the eighteenth century,       nomic order dominated by the United States. Europe
political revolution erupted across the transatlantic         clearly remains the West, but political leadership has
world. The British colonies of North America revolted.        moved to North America. That American domination
Then revolution occurred in France and spread across          and recent American foreign policy have led throughout
much of Europe. From 1791 through 1830, the Wars of           the West and elsewhere to much criticism of the United
Independence liberated Latin America from its European        States.
conquerors. These revolutions created bold new modes of           Such self-criticism itself embodies one of the most
political life, rooting the legitimacy of the state in some   important and persistent parts of the Western Heritage.
form of popular government and generally written con-         From the Hebrew prophets and Socrates to the critics of
stitutions. Thereafter, despite the presence of authoritar-   European imperialism, American foreign policy, social
ian governments on the European continent, the idea of        inequality, and environmental devastation, voices in the
the West, now including the new republics of the United       West have again and again been raised to criticize often
States and Latin America, became associated with liberal      in the most strident manner the policies of Western gov-
democratic governments.                                       ernments and the thought, values, social conditions, and
     Furthermore, during the nineteenth century, most         inequalities of Western societies.
major European states came to identify themselves in              Consequently, we study the Western Heritage not
terms of nationality—language, history, and ethnicity—        because the subject always or even primarily presents
rather than loyalty to a monarch. Nationalism eventually      an admirable picture, but because the study of the
inflamed popular opinion and unloosed unprecedented           Western Heritage like the study of all history calls
political ambition by European governments.                   us to an integrity of research, observation, and analy-
     These ambitions led to imperialism and the creation      sis that clarifies our minds and challenges our moral
of new overseas European empires in the late nineteenth       sensibilities. The challenge of history is the challenge
century. For the peoples living in European-administered      of thinking, and it is to that challenge that this book
Asian and African colonies, the idea and reality of the       invites its readers.
West embodied foreign domination and often disad-
vantageous involvement in a world economy. When in
                                                              QUESTIONS
1945 the close of World War II led to a sharp decline
in European imperial authority, colonial peoples around       1. How have people in the West defined themselves in
the globe challenged that authority and gained indepen-          contrast with civilizations of the ancient East, and
dence. These former colonial peoples, however, often             later in contrast with Islamic civilization, and still
still suspected the West of seeking to control them.             later in contrast with less economically developed
Hence, anticolonialism like colonialism before it rede-          regions of the world? Have people in the West his-
fined definitions of the West far from its borders.              torically viewed their own civilization to be supe-
     Late nineteenth-century nationalism and imperial-           rior to civilizations in other parts of the world? Why
ism also unleashed with World War I in 1914 unprec-              or why not?
edented military hostilities among European nations that      2. How did the Emperor Constantine’s adoption of
spread around the globe, followed a quarter century later        Christianity as the official religion of the Roman
by an even greater world war. As one result of World             Empire change the concept of the West? Is the pres-
War I, revolution occurred in Russia with the estab-             ence of Christianity still a determining characteris-
lishment of the communist Soviet Union. During the               tic of the West?
interwar years a Fascist Party seized power in Italy and      3. How has the geographical location of what has been
a Nazi Party took control of Germany. In response to             understood as the West changed over the centuries?
xlvi   ■   WHAT I S   THE   WESTERN HERITAGE?

4. In the past two centuries Western nations estab-              the idea of Western civilization synonymous with
   lished empires around the globe. How did these                the concept of modern civilization? Do you think the
   imperial ventures and the local resistance to them            concept of the West will once again be redefined ten
   give rise to critical definitions of the West that con-       years from now?
   trasted with the definitions that had developed in
   Europe and the United States? How have those non-
   Western definitions of the West contributed to self-      To view a video of the authors discussing the Western heritage,
   criticism within Western nations?                         go to www.myhistorylab.com
5. How useful is the concept of Western civilization                                 TM
   in understanding today’s global economy and global
   communications made possible by the Internet? Is
                                                             MyHistoryLab
T HE W ESTERN
  H ERITAGE
The livelihood of towns and castles depended on the labor of peasants in surrounding
villages. Here a peasant family collects the September grape harvest from a vineyard
outside a fortified castle in France in preparation for making wine. The Granger Collection

      Listen to the Chapter Audio on MyHistoryLab.com

8
Medieval Society:
Hierarchies, Towns,
Universities, and
Families (1000–1300)
▼ The Traditional Order of Life                                                               LEARNING OBJECTIVES
                                                                                              What was the relationship
▼ Towns and Townspeople                                                                       between the three basic groups
                                                                                              in medieval society?
                                                                                              What processes led to the rise of
                                                                                              towns and a merchant class?
▼ Schools and Universities
                                                                                              What intellectual trends accom-
                                                                                              panied the rise of universities?

▼ Women in Medieval Society                                                                   What was life like for women
                                                                                              during the Middle Ages?

▼ The Lives of Children                                                                       What were the characteristics of
                                                                                              childhood in the Middle Ages?

▼ In Perspective

B   ETWEEN THE TENTH and twelfth centuries, European agricultural production
    steadily improved, due to a warming climate and improved technology. With
steadily increasing food supplies came a population explosion by the eleventh cen-
tury. The recovery of the countryside in turn stimulated new migrations into and
trade with the long-dormant towns. Old towns revived and new ones arose. A rich
and complex fabric of life developed, integrating town and countryside, allowing
234
CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY     235

civilization to flourish in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-    his exercise of authority over others, and his distinctive
turies as it had not done in the West since the Roman          social customs—all of which set him apart from others in
Empire. Beginning with the Crusades, trade with distant        medieval society. By the late Middle Ages a distinguish-
towns and foreign lands also revived. With the rise of         able higher and lower nobility living both in town and
towns a new merchant class, the ancestors of modern            country evolved. The higher were the great landowners
capitalists, appeared. Large numbers of skilled artisans       and territorial magnates, who had long been the domi-
and day workers, especially in the cloth-making indus-         nant powers in their regions, while the lower nobility
tries, laid the foundations of the new urban wealth.           were comprised of petty landlords, descendants of minor
     Urban culture and education also flourished. The          knights, newly rich merchants looking to buy country
revival of trade with the East and contacts with Muslim        estates, and wealthy farmers patiently risen from their
intellectuals, particularly in Spain, made possible the        ancestral serfdom.
recovery of ancient scholarship and science. Beyond the            It was a special mark of the nobility that they lived
comparative dabbling in antiquity during Carolingian           off the labor of others. Basically lords of manors, the
times, the twelfth century enjoyed a true renaissance of       nobility of the early and High Middle Ages neither tilled
classical learning. Schools and curricula broadened to         the soil like the peasantry, nor engaged themselves in the
educate laymen and some laywomen, thereby increasing           commerce of merchants—activities considered beneath
literacy and the laity’s role in government and society.       their dignity. The nobleman resided in a country man-
     In mid-twelfth-century France, Gothic architecture        sion or, if he was particularly wealthy, a castle. Although
began to replace the plain and ponderous Romanesque            his fiefs were usually rural manors, personal preference
preferred by fortress Europe during the early Middle           drew him to the countryside.
Ages. The grace and beauty of the new architecture—
its soaring arches, bold flying buttresses, dazzling light,    Warriors Arms were the nobleman’s profession; to
                                 and stained glass—were a      wage war was his sole occupation and reason for living.
      View the Architectural testament to the vitality         In the eighth century, the adoption of stirrups made the
      Panorama “Cathedral        of humankind as well as       mounted warriors, or cavalry, indispensable to a success-
      of Notre Dame, Paris” on   to the glory of God in this   ful army, as they permitted the rider to strike a blow
      MyHistoryLab.com           unique period.                without falling off the horse. Good horses and the accom-
                                                               panying armor and weaponry of horse warfare were
                                                               expensive. Thus only those with means could pursue the
▼   The Traditional Order of Life                              life of a cavalryman. The nobleman’s fief gave him the
                                                               means to acquire the expensive military equipment that
In the art and literature of the Middle Ages, three social     his rank required. He maintained that enviable position
groups were represented: those who fought as knights           as he had gained it, by fighting for his chief.
(the landed nobility), those who prayed (the clergy), and           The nobility celebrated the physical strength, cour-
those who labored in fields and shops (rural peasants and      age, and constant activity of warfare. Warring gave them
village artisans). After the revival of towns in the elev-     new riches and an opportunity to gain honor and glory.
enth century, a fourth social group emerged: the long-         Knights were paid a share in the plunder of victory, and
distance traders and merchants. Like the peasantry,            in war everything became fair game. Special war wag-
they also labored, but in ways strange to the traditional      ons, designed to collect and transport booty, followed
groups. They were freemen who often possessed great            them into battle. Periods of peace were greeted with
wealth, but unlike the nobility and the clergy, they           sadness, as they brought economic stagnation and bore-
owned no land, and, unlike the peasantry, they did not         dom. Whereas the peasants and the townspeople counted
toil in fields or shops. Their rise to power put a large       peace the condition of their occupational success, the
crack in the old social order, drawing behind them the         nobility despised it as an unnatural state.
leadership of the urban artisan groups that grew up in the          The superior nobility looked down on the peasantry
revival that trade created. During the late Middle Ages,       as cowards who ran and hid during war. And they also
these new “middle classes” firmly established them-            held urban merchants, who amassed wealth by methods
selves, and their numbers have been growing ever since.        foreign to feudal society, in equal contempt, a situation
                                                               that only increased as the affluence and political power
                                                               of townspeople grew. The nobility possessed as strong
Nobles                                                         a sense of superiority over “unwarlike” people as the
As a distinctive social group, not all noblemen were           clergy did over the general run of the laity.
originally great men with large hereditary lands. Many
rose from the ranks of feudal vassals, or warrior knights.     Knighthood The nobleman nurtured his ego within
The successful vassal attained a special social and legal      medieval society by the chivalric ritual of dubbing to
status based on his landed wealth (accumulated fiefs),         knighthood. The ceremonial entrance into the noble
236 PART 2     ■   THE MIDDLE AGES, 476 C. E .–1300 C .E.

A Closer                   LOOK                     View the Closer Look on MyHistoryLab.com

                             THE JOYS AND PAINS OF THE MEDIEVAL JOUST

T
      HIS SCENE FROM a manuscript from c. 1300–1340 idealizes medieval noblewomen and the medieval joust. Revived
      in the late Middle Ages, jousts were frequently held in peacetime. They kept the warring skills of noblemen sharp
      and were popular entertainment. Only the nobility were legally allowed to joust, but over time, uncommon wealth
enabled a persistent commoner to qualify. The goal of the joust was to knock the crests, or helmet ornamentation, off the
opponent’s head. Missing from the illustration are the musicians and trumpeters who provided the hoopla that accompanied
a joust. Also not depicted here are the nonparticipant knights who rode about on their chargers with noblewomen sitting
sidesaddle at their backs with one hand firmly around the rider’s waist, much as motorcycle couples do today.

  Although jousts often led to mayhem and
  death, the intent was not to inflict bodily
  harm on one’s opponent. To that end, the
  lances had blunt ends and the goal was to
  knock the crests or helmet ornamentation
  off the opponent’s head. These crests,
  like body armor and shields, displayed the
  nobleman’s valued coat-of-arms.

  The helmet was especially designed to
  protect the face, while providing a thin
  window for visibility.

  Although the jousts led to mayhem and death,
  was the intention to inflict bodily harm on one’s
  opponent?
  What do the blunt lances and sturdy helmets tell
  us?
  Why were jousts frequently held in peacetime?
  Why were they limited to the nobility?
  What did the nobility gain by keeping their war-
  ring skills sharp?
  What is the attitude of the observing noble-
                                                            Universitatsbibliothek Heidelberg
  women?
CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY              237

class became almost a religious sacrament. A bath of
purification, confession, communion, and a prayer vigil
preceded the ceremony. Thereafter, the priest blessed
the knight’s standard, lance, and sword. As prayers were
chanted, the priest girded the knight with his sword and
presented him with his shield, enlisting him as much
into the defense of the church as into the service of his
lord. Dubbing raised the nobleman to a state as sacred
in his sphere as clerical ordination made the priest in
his. The comparison is legitimate: The clergy and the
nobility were medieval society’s privileged estates. The
appointment of noblemen to high ecclesiastical office
and their eager participation in the church’s Crusades
had strong ideological and social underpinnings as well
as economic and political motives.
    In the twelfth century, knighthood was legally
restricted to men of high birth. This circumscription
of noble ranks came in reaction to the growing wealth,
political power, and successful social climbing of newly
rich townspeople (mostly merchants), who formed a new
urban patriciate that was increasingly competitive with
the lower nobility. Kings remained free, however, to raise   Lovers playing chess on an ivory mirror back, ca. 1300.          Louvre,
up knights at will and did not shrink from increasing        Paris, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library International
royal revenues by selling noble titles to wealthy mer-
chants. But the law was building fences—fortunately,
with gates—between town and countryside in the High          Courtly Love From the repeated assemblies in the
Middle Ages.                                                 courts of barons and kings, codes of social conduct, or
                                                             “courtesy,” developed in noble circles. With the French
Sportsmen In peacetime, the nobility had two favor-          leading the way, mannered behavior and court etiquette
ite amusements: hunting and tournaments. Where they          became almost as important as expertise on the battle-
could, noblemen monopolized the rights to game, forbid-      field. Knights learned to be literate gentlemen, and lyric
ding commoners from hunting in the lord’s forests. Such      poets sang and moralized at court. The cultivation of a
denials spurred the common man to revolt. Free game,         code of behavior and a special literature to eulogize it
fishing, and access to wood were the basic demands in        was not unrelated to problems within the social life of
petitions of grievance.                                      the nobility. Noblemen were notorious philanderers;
     Tournaments also sowed seeds of social disruption,      their illegitimate children mingled openly with their
but rather more within the ranks of the nobility. The        legitimate offspring. The
popular jousts were designed not only to keep men fit                                             Read the Document
                                                             advent of courtesy was, in
                                                                                                  “The Song of Roland” on
for war, but also to provide the excitement of war with-     part, an effort to reform
                                                                                                  MyHistoryLab.com
out maiming and killing prized vassals. But as regions       such behavior.
competed fiercely with one another for victory and glory,         Although the poetry of courtly love was sprinkled
even mock battles with blunted weapons proved to be          with eroticism and the beloved in the epics were married
deadly. Often, tournaments got out of hand, ending in        women pursuing married men, the poet recommended
bloodshed and animosity. The intense emotions and vio-       love at a distance, unconsummated by sexual intercourse.
lence that accompanies interregional soccer in Europe        The ideal was love without touching, a kind of sex with-
today may be viewed as a survival of such rivalry.           out sex, and only as such was it deemed ennobling. As
     The church opposed tournaments as occasions for         the court poets reminded, those who succumbed to illicit
pagan revelry and senseless violence. Kings and princes      carnal love reaped as much suffering as joy.
also turned against them as sources of division within
their realms. King Henry II of England proscribed them       Social Divisions No medieval group was absolutely
in the twelfth century. Jousting did not end in France       uniform—not the nobility, the clergy, the townspeople,
until the mid-sixteenth century, and only after Henry        or the peasantry. Not only was the nobility a class apart,
II of France was mortally wounded by a shaft thrust          it also had deep social divisions within its ranks. Noble-
through his visor during a tournament celebrating his        men presented a broad spectrum—from minor vassals
daughter’s marriage. (See “Encountering the Past: Chil-      without subordinate vassals, to mighty barons who were
dren’s Games, Warrior Games,” page 238.)                     the principal vassals of a king or prince, who in turn had
ENCOUNTERING
                                      C HIL D RE N’ S GA M E S , W A R R IO R GA ME S

 Past
         THE

                                  I
                                     N THE MIDDLE Ages, the nobility—the                         of William the Conqueror (r. 1066–1087). The
                                     warrior class—dominated society, and their                  aristocratic women who wove such tapestries
                                     favorite games grew out of their work, which                might ride to the hunt and “ooh” and “ah”
                                  was lethal fighting. Boys of the warrior class                 at tournaments while remaining spectators,
                                  learned to ride early. Some received horses                    not participants, in the violent pastimes of the
                                  and daggers at age two! At fourteen, they were                 nobility.
                                  given a man’s sword and thereafter engaged in                     More reflective of the contemplative life of
                                  sports that prepared them for battle.                          the religious and of pious noblewomen were
                                     Peasants, townspeople, and clergy also                      the indoor board games played in the manor
                                  engaged in war games and sports. Peasants                      houses and the cloisters. Two of many such
                                  and townspeople attended tournaments and                       games were “Tick, Tack, Toe” and “Fox and
                                  imitated what they saw there. Among chil-                      the Geese.” The object of the second game
                                  dren’s toys were homemade lances, shields,                     was to fill, or “capture,” the most “holes,”
                                  and pikes. Favored games were mock combats                     or spaces (geese), in the board with pebbles
                                  and “sheriffs and outlaws.”                                    or fruit stones. Men and women of leisure,
                                     Although there were famous clerical                         both clerical and lay, also played chess and
                                  sportsmen and warriors, the clergy’s “pen-                     backgammon.
                                  chant for violence” was largely vicarious.                        By the late fifteenth century, when changes
                                  The Bayeux Tapestry (1070–1082), over two-                     in warfare reduced the role of the mounted
                                  thirds of a football field long, with seventy-                 knight in battle, tournaments, like less bel-
                                  two scenes of blood-dripping medieval hunts                    licose games, were held for their own sake,
                                  and battles, was the brainstorm of a bishop:                   merely pastimes. At the fairs, the horse races
                                  Odo of Bayeux (ca. 1036–1097), half-brother                    and mock combats were spread among the
                                                                                                 ball games (rugby, soccer, and football), ani-
                                                                                                 mal acts, puppet shows, juggling, and the like.
                                                                                                 Pieter Breughel’s paintings of Children’s Games
                                                                                                 (1560) depicts boys and girls engaged in sev-
                                                                                                 enty-eight different games. Some of them,
                                                                                                 like jousting and wrestling, are adapted from
                                                                                                 the war preparation activities of the European
                                                                                                 nobility. They are the games that prepare for
                                                                                                 real war, invented to overcome boredom and
                                                                                                 idleness: hoops, leapfrog, blind man’s bluff,
                                                                                                 marbles, golf, stilts, masquerades, tug-of-war,
                                                                                                 and jacks.
                                                                                                 Sources: John Marshall Carter, Medieval Games: Sports and Rec-
                                                                                                 reations in Feudal Society (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992),
                                                                                                 pp. 25, 30–33, 34, 69; John Marshall Carter, “The Ludic Life of the
                                                                                                 Medieval Peasant: A Pictorial Essay,” Arete III (1986): 169–187;
                                                                                                 J. T. Micklethwaite, “On the Indoor Games of School Boys in the
                                                                                                 Middle Ages,” Archeological Journal (1892), pp. 319–328; Carter,
                                                                                                 “Ludic Life,” p. 177; Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Fam-
                                                                                                 ily in Old Europe (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
                                                                                                 2001), pp. 71–72.

                                                                                                 Why did the medieval nobility play warlike
                                                                                                 games?
 Breughel, Children’s Games.        Pieter the Elder Brueghel (1525–1569), “Children’s Games,”
 1560. Oil on oakwood, 118 × 161 cm. Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Photo copyright   How did medieval women and children par-
 Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY                                                                  ticipate in these pastimes?

 238
CHAPTER 8 ■ MEDIEVAL SOCIETY      239

many vassals of their own. Dignity and status within the       death of Jesus in retreat from the world and severe
nobility were directly related to the exercise of authority    self-denial.
over others. A chief with many vassals dwarfed the small            Many monks, and also nuns, increasingly embraced
country nobleman who served a higher nobleman and              the vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity without a
was lord over none but himself.                                clerical rank, and secluded themselves altogether. The
    Even among the domestic servants of the nobility, a        regular clergy, however, were never completely cut off
social hierarchy developed according to manorial duties.       from the secular world. They maintained frequent con-
Although they were peasants in the eyes of the law, the        tact with the laity through charitable activities such
chief stewards were charged with the oversight of the          as feeding the destitute and tending the sick, providing
manor and the care and education of the lord’s children.       liberal arts instruction in monastic schools, and act-
They became powerful “lords” within their “domains.”           ing as supplemental preachers and confessors in parish
Some freemen found the status of the steward enviable          churches during Lent and other peak religious seasons. It
enough to surrender their own freedom and become               became the mark of the Dominican and Franciscan friars
domestic servants in the hope of attaining a still greater     to live a common life according to a special rule and still
freedom.                                                       to be active in a worldly ministry. Some monks, because
    In the late Middle Ages, the landed nobility suffered      of their learning and rhetorical skills, rose to prominence
a steep economic and political decline. Climatic changes       as secretaries and private confessors to kings and queens.
and agricultural failures created large famines, and the            The secular clergy, who lived and worked among
great plague (see Chapter 9) brought unprecedented pop-        the laity in the world, formed a vast hierarchy. At the
ulation loss. Changing military tactics occasioned by          top were the high prelates—the wealthy cardinals, arch-
the use of infantry and heavy artillery during the Hun-        bishops, and bishops, who were drawn almost exclu-
dred Years’ War made the noble cavalry nearly obsolete.        sively from the nobility—and below them were the
Also, the alliance of wealthy towns with kings posed a         urban priests, the cathedral canons, and the court clerks.
challenge to the nobility within their own domains. A          Finally, there was the great mass of poor parish priests,
waning of the landed nobility occurred after the four-         who were neither financially nor intellectually far above
teenth century when the effective possession of land and       the common people they served. Their basic educational
wealth counted more than lineage for membership in             requirement was an ability to say the mass. Before the
the highest social class. However, a shrinking nobility        Gregorian church reform in the eleventh century, parish
continued to dominate society down to the nineteenth           priests lived with women in a relationship akin to mar-
century.                                                       riage, and the communities they served accepted their
                                                               concubines and children. Because of their relative pov-
                                                               erty, priests often took second jobs as teachers, artisans,
Clergy                                                         or farmers. Their parishioners accepted and admired this
Unlike the nobility and the peasantry, the clergy was an       practice.
open estate. Although the clerical hierarchy reflected the
social classes from which the clergy came, one was still       New Orders One of the results of the Gregorian
a cleric by religious training and ordination, not by any      reform was the creation of new religious orders aspir-
circumstances of birth or military prowess.                    ing to a life of poverty and self-sacrifice in imitation of
                                                               Christ and the first apostles. The more important were
Regular and Secular Clerics There were two basic               the Canons Regular (fd. 1050–1100), the Carthusians (fd.
types of clerical vocation: the regular clergy and the sec-    1084), the Cistercians (fd. 1098), and the Praemonstra-
ular clergy. The first made up of the orders of monks          tensians (fd. 1121). Carthusians, Cistercians, and Prae-
who lived under a special ascetic rule (regula) in cloisters   monstratensians practiced
separated from the world. They were the spiritual elite        extreme austerity in their            View the Map “Map
                                                                                                     Discovery: Cluniac and
among the clergy, and theirs was not a way of life one         quest to recapture a pure
                                                                                                     Cistercian Monasteries”
lightly entered. Canon law required that a man be at least     religious life of the early           on MyHistoryLab.com
twenty-one years old before making a final profession of       church.
the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.              Strictest of them all were the Carthusians. Members
The monks’ personal sacrifices and high religious ideals       lived in isolation and fasted three days a week. They also
made them much respected in high medieval society.             devoted themselves to long periods of silence and even
This popularity was a major factor in the success of the       self-flagellation in their quest for perfect self-denial and
Cluny reform movement and of the Christian Crusades            conformity to Christ.
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. (See Chapter 7.)             The Cistercians (from Cîteaux in Burgundy) were a
By joining the Crusades and holy pilgrimages, laypeople        reform wing of the Benedictine order and were known as
were introduced to the ascetic life of prayer, wherein         the “white monks,” a reference to their all-white attire,
they, following the monks, imitated the suffering and          symbolic of apostolic purity. (The Praemonstratensians
240 PART 2     ■   THE MIDDLE AGES, 476 C. E .–1300 C .E.

                                                                                               had one cleric for every seventy lay-
                                                                                               people, and in counties with a cathe-
                                                                                               dral or a university, the proportion
                                                                                               rose to one cleric for every fifty lay-
                                                                                               people.1 In large university towns,
                                                                                               the clergy might exceed 10 percent
                                                                                               of the population.
                                                                                                   Despite the moonlighting of
                                                                                               poorer parish priests, the clergy as a
                                                                                               whole, like the nobility, lived on the
Monks and nuns play a bat-and-ball game. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
                                                                                               labor of others. Their income came
                                                                                               from the regular collection of tithes
also wore white.) They hoped to avoid the materialistic                   and church taxes according to an elaborate system that
influences of urban society and maintain uncorrupted                      evolved in the High and later Middle Ages. The church
the original Rule of Saint Benedict, which their lead-                    was, of course, a major landowner and regularly col-
ers believed Cluny was compromising. The Cistercians                      lected rents and fees. Monastic communities and high
accordingly stressed anew the inner life and spiritual goals              prelates amassed great fortunes; as one popular saying
of monasticism. They located their houses in remote areas                 had it: “monastery granaries were always full.” The
and denied themselves worldly comforts and distractions.                  immense secular power attached to high clerical posts
Remarkably successful, the order could count three hun-                   can be seen in the intensity of the Investiture Struggle.
dred chapter houses within a century of its founding, and                 (See Chapter 7.)
many others imitated its more austere spirituality.                            For most of the Middle Ages, the clergy were the
     The Canons Regular were independent groups of                        “first estate,” and theology the queen of the sciences.
secular clergy (and also earnest laity) who, in addition                  How did the clergy achieve such prominence? Much of
to serving laity in the world, adopted the Rule of Saint                  it was self-proclaimed. However, there was also popular
Augustine (a monastic guide dating from around the year                   respect and reverence for the clergy’s role as a mediator
500) and practiced the ascetic virtues of regular clerics.                between God and man. The priest brought the very Son
There were monks who renounced exclusive withdrawal                       of God down to earth when he celebrated the sacrament
from the world. And there were priests who renounced                      of the Eucharist; his absolution released penitents from
exclusive involvement in it. By merging the life of the                   punishment for mortal sin. It was improper for mere lay-
cloister with traditional clerical duties, the Canons Reg-                people to sit in judgment on such a priest.
ular foreshadowed the mendicant friars of the thirteenth                       Theologians elaborated the distinction between
century: the Dominicans and the Franciscans, who com-                     the clergy and the laity to the clergy’s benefit. The
bined the ascetic ideals of the cloister with an active                   belief in the superior status of the clergy underlay the
ministry in the world.                                                    evolution of clerical privileges and immunities in both
     The monasteries and nunneries of the established                     person and property. Secular rulers were not supposed
orders recruited candidates from among wealthy social                     to tax the clergy, without special permission from the
groups. Crowding in these convents and the absence of                     ecclesiastical authorities. Clerical crimes were under
patronage gave rise in the thirteenth century to lay satel-               the jurisdiction of special ecclesiastical courts, not the
lite convents known as Beguine houses. These convents                     secular courts. Because churches and monasteries were
housed religiously earnest single women from the upper                    deemed holy places, they, too, were free from secular
and middle social strata. In the German city of Cologne,                  taxation and legal jurisdiction. Hunted criminals, lay
one hundred such houses were established between 1250                     and clerical, regularly sought asylum within them, dis-
and 1350, each with eight to twelve “sisters.” Several                    rupting the normal processes of law and order. When
of these convents fell prey to heresy. The church made                    city officials violated this privilege, ecclesiastical
the new religious orders of Dominicans and Franciscans                    authorities threatened excommunication and inter-
responsible for “regularizing” such convents.                             dict. People feared this suspension of the church’s sac-
                                                                          raments, including Christian burial, almost as much
Prominence of the Clergy The medieval clergy con-                         as they feared the criminals to whom the church gave
stituted a greater proportion of medieval society than                    asylum.
they do in modern society. Estimates suggest that 1.5                          By the late Middle Ages, townspeople increasingly
percent of fourteenth-century Europe was in clerical                      resented  the special immunities of the clergy. They com-
garb. The clergy were concentrated in urban areas, espe-                  plained that the clergy had greater privileges, yet fewer
cially in towns with universities and cathedrals, where,
in addition to studying, they found work in a wide vari-             1
                                                                       Denys Hay, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, 2nd ed.
ety of religious services. Late-fourteenth-century England           (New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1966), pp. 58–59.
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