European History/A Background of European History
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[edit] Introduction
The purpose of this volume is to give the reader a broad historic overview of the period from the high middle ages to the present day, roughly 1000 and 2000. This is, of course, a somewhat arbitrary period, but not a wholly unuseful one; whilst the early middle ages see a contraction of the urbanised societies of Europe, the eleventh century sees a consolidation of many states and the growth of their military power. The eleventh century is, then, a useful starting point, as it forms the historical background to European ascendency in the modern world.
More problematic is the geographic scope of the inquiry. Europe is not a discrete geographical unit and it is too easy to see it as such, when in reality the cultures of Europe flow across its borders. The medieval peasants of Italy or Spain, for instance, shared far more in common with their close neighbours in North Africa, than they did with their counterparts in Germany or England. Similarly, large parts of Eastern Europe, most particularly Russia, show significant cultural influence from Asian cultures and were historically more closely connected with the east than the west.
A significant problem, therefore, is the porous nature of Europe's geographical borders. In the south, Europe's Mediterranean countries are only a short sail from the ports of North Africa. In the south-east, Europe is separated from Asia by nothing more than the short channel of the Bosphorus and most significant cultures in this region, such as the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Turks, were spread between modern Greece and Turkey. In Europe's far eastern reaches the continent is separated from Asia by the Ural mountains and weather, rather than geography, is the most significant bar here for travel between east and west. It is only to Europe's west, with the Atlantic Ocean, that we see a clear and significant geographical barrier.
The response to this problem is to accept that treating Europe as a discrete unit is somewhat arbitrary. It is essential, in any history, to define one's field of study and to treat Europe as a unit is one way of achieving this aim. Providing one bears this in mind, the problem of European geography is not a problem at all. The somewhat arbitrary geographical borders of Europe need not detract from attempts to investigate the history of individual regions within the continent.
[edit] Historical Worldview
History is frequently seen in narrative terms, as a story concerning the activities of our collective ancestors. It is true, to a great extent, that history is a form of storytelling, after all. However, unlike other forms of storytelling, history is closely based on real events and, as such, is shaped by certain rules and guidelines.
The most important of these govern how the historian reads source material. Before the historian can confidently say that a particular event occurred, he or she requires evidence. Much of the evidence is documentary in form, such as written records left by past generations in the course of everyday life. It is rare for these documents to have been written for the consumption of future generations, so it is important for the historian to understand the forces that shaped the production of these documents.
There are a number of criteria for this:
- What motivated this person to act?
- What were the prevailing attitudes at the time regarding this issue?
- How did previous events cause this one?
- What are similar events and how did they turn out?
- How will this event matter in the future?
- Why does this event occur now rather than earlier or later?
- How was this event or person affected by forces in society? These forces could include the church, economic conditions, the government, geography, the education of the person as well as the general education of society, technology, nationalism, culture and traditions, and the class of the person.
This can be summed up in the 'ADAPTIL' method of evaluating historical sources:
- 'A' - consideration of the author of the source
- 'D' - consideration of the date of the source
- 'A' - consideration of the source's intended audience
- 'P' - consideration of the purpose of the source
- 'T' - consideration of the tone of the source
- 'I' - consideration of what the source infers (inference)
- 'L' - consideration of the limitations of the source
Using these techniques will allow you to better grasp the events documented throughout this wikibook, and they will allow you to apply your knowledge outside of simple memorization.
All of our contributors hope you find this wikibook a useful method to learn more about European history - whether you are preparing for the Advanced Placement European History Test, a college final, or even if you simply desire to learn more about European history.
[edit] Fall of the Roman Empire
It is normal to speak of the "fall" of the Roman Empire, but in many ways this description is too simple, and can be misleading. Certainly, the centralized state ruled by Augustus Caesar and his successors disappeared from history. However, the towns and villas, laws and customs, and most of all, the language that Rome had given to a wide area of Europe persisted and became the foundation for future European society.
The Roman Empire's later period was riddled with political and social turmoil. Much of the turmoil involved the failing Western Empire. Beginning in the 5th century, the Western Empire was under more or less constant attack by barbarians. The western regions lost the seat of the Emperor under the rule of Constantine I. Constantine chose to divide the empire among his sons, and because of attacks from barbarians and the fact that Rome was relatively run down chose a new capital at Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey, and previously called Constantinople - the city of Constantine).
Political and economic breakdown were well-advanced by this time. However, the crumbling of the center brought new significance to the Roman provinces. Throughout Roman territory, non-Italian citizens whose forbears had adopted Rome as the axis of their world began to give more emphasis to their local identities -- as Gauls, Spaniards, Britons or North Africans. Barbarian tribes who invaded across the Roman frontier often settled in imperial lands, setting up parallel societies there which slowly mixed with and assimilated into the Roman population. This process went on for two to three centuries and resulted in a sweeping change in the makeup of European society within Rome's old boundaries. The Greek-speaking eastern portion looked now to Byzantium as its center, and this division of the Empire would become permanent in the Europe of later centuries.
Most significant of Constantine's acts as Emperor was to make a death bed conversion to Christianity. Although the Empire moved to Constantinople, the new found papacy remained in Rome; as envisioned by Saint Peter the symbolic first Pope. To some extent papal power became synonymous with that of the Western Emperor. The secular capital of the Western Empire though was at Ravenna. Poor leadership and stress from invasion led to the fall of Rome in 410 to the Visigoths. The Western Empire itself fell in 476 at Ravenna. The remaining Eastern Empire was now referred to as the Byzantine Empire, after its capital. Italy would not be a unified state again until reunification of Italy during the 19th century.
[edit] Barbarians Unite
As Roman power ebbed, tribes from outside the old borders moved in to fill the vacuum. Visigoths set up a new kingdom in Iberia, while Vandals settled eventually in north Africa. Roman Britain, which had invited Anglo-Saxon warriors into its lands to help fight off the attacks of other barbarians, found that the Anglo-Saxons decided to stay. Post-Roman Italy itself came under the sway of the Ostrogoths, whose most influential king, Theoderic, was hailed as a new emperor by the Roman Senate and had good relations with the Christian pope, but kept his seat of power at Ravenna in northern Italy. Southern Italy and Sicily were under the sway of the Byzantine Emperor for several centuries during this period.
The province of Gaul, which had been the most prosperous of the Western Roman provinces, came into the possession of the Franks. The Roman-Gaulish society and its leaders eventually assimilated with the Franks, relying on their warriors for security and cementing connections of marriage with Frankish clans. The new Frankish kingdom came to include much of modern western Germany and northern France, its power within this region made clear by victories over the Visigoths and other barbarian rivals. Today the German word for France, Frankreich, pays homage to the Frankish kingdom of times past.
The Merovingian dynasty, named after the legendary tribal king Merovech, was first to rule over the Frankish realm. Their most skilled and powerful ruler, Clovis, converted to Catholic Christianity in 496 as a promise for victory in battle. At Clovis's death, he divided his kingdom up among his many sons, whose rivalries touched off a century of intermittent and bloody civil war. Some, like Chilperic, were insane, and none were willing to give up lands or power to reunify the kingdom. The fortunes of the Merovingians ebbed and they faded into irrelevance.
The rise of a new ruling power, the Carolingian dynasty, was the result of the expanded power of the Majordomo, or "head of the house". Merovingian kings gave their majordomo extensive power to command and control their estates, and some of them used this power to command and control entire territories. Pepin II was one of the first to expand his power so much that he held power over almost all of Gaul. His son, also a majordomo, Charles Martel, won the Battle of Tours against invading Islamic armies, keeping Muslim influence out of most of Europe. Martel, meaning "The Hammer", was a reference to his weapon of choice.
Martel's son, Pepin III the Short, after requesting support of the papacy, disposed of the Merovingian "puppets". The papacy gave Pepin permission to overthrow the Merovingians in order to secure Frankish support of the papal states, and protection against Lombard incursion. Pepin was declared rex Dei gratia, "King by the grace of God", thereby setting a powerful precedent for European absolutism, by arguing that it was the Christian God's will to declare someone a king.
(Both Pepin II and Pepin III were known as Pepin the Younger, as Pepin I was Pepin the Elder. However, Pepin III is also known as Pepin the Short, so that is the name that will be used here.)
Pepin the Short was the founder of the Carolingian dynasty, which culminated in his son Charlemagne, "Charles the Great". Charlemagne was also the first king crowned Holy Roman Emperor -- the supposed successor to the Caesars and the protector of the Catholic church. Charlemagne, whose empire expanded by conquest to encompass most of present-day Germany and France, created something of a renaissance for the intellectual world in the Frankish kingdom. Charlemagne set up monasteries and had monks copy out the Bible, in illuminated manuscripts, in rooms called scriptoria. For women, the cloth was one of the few ways they were allowed to expand their intellectual horizons and do something aside from birth children and work in the fields.
Charlemagne's sons followed Germanic tradition after his death and divided his kingdom between them during the 9th century. "East and West Francia" emerged, which in the following centuries would be called France and Germany (the latter known as the Holy Roman Empire). During this time, western Europe's settled regions came under increasing attack by the Vikings or Northmen, independent bands of seagoing warriors from Denmark and Scandinavia whose gods included Thor and Odin, and whose raids on wealthy Christian cities and churches were but one feature of their trade networks, which spanned the Atlantic and Europe from Newfoundland to Byzantium. Viking activity continued until Norway and Sweden reluctantly accepted Christianity in the 11th and 12th centuries. England, Ireland and French Normandy all saw substantial Viking settlement in this period, with important historical consequences.
In Spain, a Visigothic elective kingdom flourished, with continuous conflicts, until 711, when much of Spain fell quickly to the Muslim invaders. A great Muslim empire, called the Califato de Córdoba, flourished culturally and by arms. In the north mountains, small Christian kingdoms, Galiza, Asturias, Navarra and Aragón, persisted. The border with the Frankish empire, called Marca Hispanica, included Barcelona since 801 -- the origin of the Principality of Catalonia. The Muslims lost their last Spanish kingdom, Granada, in 1492, when the king of Aragón, Fernando, married the Queen of Castille, Isabel, in 1469. The dynastic union, producing grandson Carlos V, maintained the internal borders and different nationalities, laws and institutions of every one of the ancient kingdoms until the 18th century. Navarra was annexed in 1515 and still maintains its own laws and fiscality, as the Basque Country. Italy would begin to split into smaller kingdoms ruled by various different forms of government. However, the papacy would still be able to exert great force over most European people.
Eastern Europe, more thinly populated and more remote from the Roman borders, experienced numerous invasions and migrations during the 6th to 10th centuries. From their homeland in southern Russia, Slavic peoples expanded westward in the wake of the Germanic migrations, settling in the Balkans, Bohemia, Poland and eastern Germany and dividing their allegiances among Rome's successors. The Poles and Czechs adopted Latin Christianity, while the Serbian and Russian kings accepted the Greek Byzantine rite. The Magyars, a tribe of mounted warriors ethnically akin to the Huns, entered Europe from the Russian steppes in the 9th century, fought a series of wars with the German emperors who succeeded Charlemagne, and eventually made their home in Hungary as a Latin-Christian kingdom (their king, Stephen, achieving sainthood). The peoples of the Baltic region, such as the Letts and Prussians, remained largely untouched by the Christian expansion during the early Middle Ages.
Great Britain was divided into various kingdoms after the Anglo-Saxon-Jute invasion, until the period of the Danish invasions. King Alfred unified much of England into one kingdom in the late 9th century. On October 10th, 1066 William the Bastard, later William the Conqueror, initiated a Norman invasion of England with the Battle of Hastings. French control of England during this period is shown by much of the formal vocabulary in English, which stems from French.
In 1215 the British people forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. King John was particularly despotic. He abused his vassals, killed his child nephew Arthur, and brought the wrath of the Church upon the country in the form of an Interdict (no Church services were performed: no marriages, funerals, or masses. It was the Pope's way of telling England to go to hell). His vassals ultimately united against him. While he was out hunting, they surrounded him giving him the option of signing the Magna Carta or be killed. The Magna Carta instituted the British Parliament, thereby lessening a monarch's power, but it was the king's right to call or not call it.
In Russia, a kingdom at Kiev had been formed, incorporating both Slavic peoples and Scandinavian elements.
[edit] Romanesque and Gothic Art
Romanesque and Gothic art was most evident in the architecture of churches and manuscript illuminations. Romanesque churches generally have a flat ceiling made of wood, or a barrel vault ending in a round arch. (The latter form was more proof against fire than wooden ceilings, prone to being burned down by monks when they lit fires inside the churches for certain rituals). Romanesque churches also had generally lower ceilings than those of Gothic churches, used much less stained glass, and because of these two features, did not require flying buttresses. Romanesque churches, as the name denotes, attempted to look like the grand Imperial basilica of Rome. This is evident in the interior columns, which are wide and fluted.
Gothic churches, which prevailed in Northern and Western European towns, stood taller than their Romanesque counterparts and included more of the stained glass windows that had become popular in church design. These design aspects led to the advent of the flying buttress, which was used to hold up the building at its sides, due to the excessive weight of the glass. Another aspect of the Gothic design is the fact that the columns along the nave became much smaller. Gothic churches also used barrel groin vaulting. A groin vault meets at a pointed arch.
Manuscript illuminations were also a popular artistic outlet in Romanesque and Gothic art. Illuminations are transcriptions of the Bible that are decorated by monks in scriptoria. These decorations often have a regional feel to them. The Book of Kells, an Irish manuscript illumination, has a very arabesque look to it, which was common among Irish pagan art.
- Merry and bold is now that Emperour,
- Cordres he holds, the walls are tumbled down,
- His catapults have battered town and tow'r.
- Great good treasure his knights have placed in pound,
- Silver and gold and many a jewelled gown.
- In that city there is no pagan now
- But he been slain, or takes the Christian vow.
-
- (Excerpt from The Song of Roland detailing a victory of Charlemagne.)
Poetry and music were perpetuated by a group of travelling musicians called Troubadours. These Troubadours would give news from across Europe as they traveled and told songs and stories. One of these famous songs was the Song of Roland (based on the attack on the rear guard of Charlemagne's army by the Basques as Charlemagne led his men out of Spain). Beowulf is another famous piece from this period. One of the longest Germanic epic poems, Beowulf tells the tale of the killing of a giant beast that plagued a town.
[edit] Papal Power in the Middle Ages
The papacy was in many ways the most powerful institution in medieval Europe. The Pope, by association, became the most powerful man in medieval Europe. His power was instituted to him by election and was his for life. Many Popes desired to expand their power and used many methods to do it. The Crusades, a campaign against the Islamic expansion in the Holy Land, was patently an attempt to create a papal army that would execute the will of the Pope.
This must be seen in context by considering the nature of papal power. Royal power derived from ownership of land, which was essential for raising armies of knights. The papacy held fewer direct assets, and to complicate matters, these could not be passed on by inheritance. This meant that a pope nearing death could only enrich his family by donating Church property, thus siphoning off the assets of the papal court instead of enlarging them. Therefore, the Pope had to rely on other forms of power, and his spiritual authority was always a significant alternative to direct territorial control.
The Pope also attempted through political means to control Europe. He pushed many kings into placing his bishops into powerful secular positions. In response to this European kings chose to put their own bishops into religious positions in a process called lay investiture. Emperor Henry IV sold many bishoprics until he attempted to depose Pope Gregory VII. In response Gregory VII excommunicated him and absolved his vassals of responsibility to him. Henry attempted to hold his kingdom together, but in the face of an angry population terrified for their souls, he went to the Alpine monastery of Canossa to beg the Pope to absolve him, standing outside the walls barefoot in the snow for three days before Gregory VII relented and removed his excommunication. For years the Pope and Holy Roman Empire battled over investiture until Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V sat down and executed the Concordat of Worms. The Concordat gave the Pope the authority to put bishops into religious positions, and the Emperor the authority to put bishops into secular positions. This struggle that ended in the Concordat of Worms was known as The Investiture Controversy.
Religious intellectual movements were directed mainly by monasticism. Many monasteries were founded across Europe, and new orders were formed to follow certain religious aims. St Benedict was the first to mandate a way in which all orders should function. The Benedictine order followed very specific rituals. Among these rituals were precise times for each prayer; it is suggested that this led to the development of the clock, which was developed around the time of the Fourth Lateran Council. The Fourth Lateran Council set rules for worship for all monastic orders. These rules were heavily based on those of the Cistercians. Citaeux, the father of the Cistercian order, put all of the monasteries into an "Order", but also allowed them their own regional features. Monks not only developed the intellectual policies of Medieval Europe, but also helped among cities by offering food and services to those in need.
[edit] Society in the Middle Ages
Guilds, which controlled who could or could not work in a profession through education and vertical integration, were the first to form universities. Among them were the universities of Salamanca, Paris, and Bologna. Scholasticism, an education philosophy that emphasised teachings of the Bible and Aristotle, was the common form in education. Renaissance brought forth Humanism and the Liberal Arts.
Cities began to form as a place to house shops and guilds. Cities were required as centers for trade, and many of the famous medieval cities of Europe were ports. Within these cities money capitalism began to thrive. In the north, the Gilder became a powerful, almost universal currency. Europeans also reopened long-dormant trade routes with China and the Middle East. The Silk Road was traversed once again, and much of Europe's period of exploration and discovery was meant to find easier and faster routes to the East.
Advances in agriculture were also coming about. Fields became plowed by large metal grates pulled by draft animals. Europeans also began to leave ground fallow to allow nutrients to come back into the soil, thus starting the concept of crop rotation. The systems of feudalism and manorialism grew with the new farming methods. Feudalism, the political arm of the Manorial system, organized society into a pyramid structure, with Lords ruling, and below them vassals. A vassal would receive land and in return, they would protect, and answer to those above them. Manorialism, the economic end of this system, was the way in which these large properties were managed. Vassals would farm the land and then trade grain to their Lord for protection, access to storage, a mill to grind the grain, and access to ovens to bake bread produced from this grain. Food was thus provided. However, the flour milled from medieval grain was often very coarse and harsh on the teeth. Water supplies were often polluted, so grain was also used to make ale which was the main beverage of northern Europeans, while wine remained the potable of choice for southern Europeans.
