The Western European Middle Ages Lesson

The postclassical period in Western Europe, known as the Middle Ages, stretches between the fall of the Roman Empire and the fifteenth century. Typical postclassical themes prevailed. Civilization spread gradually beyond the Mediterranean zone. Christian missionaries converted Europeans from polytheistic faiths. Medieval Europe participated in the emerging international community. New tools and crops expanded agricultural output; advanced technologies improved manufacturing. Mathematics, science, and philosophy were stimulated by new concepts.

Geography

Take a look at this map of Middle Ages Western Europe. What conclusions can you draw from this map?

Middle Ages Map

Changing Economic and Social Forms in the Postclassical Centuries

Apart from the cultural cement formed by the Catholic Church, Western society had other common features in economic activity and social structure. The postclassical West demonstrated great powers of innovation. When trade revived in the tenth century, the West became a kind of common commercial zone as merchants moved commodities from one region to another.

New Strains in Rural Life

Agricultural improvements after 800 C.E. allowed some peasants to shake off the most severe manorial constraints. Noble landlords continued their military functions but used trade to improve their living styles. The more complex economy increased landlord-peasant tensions. From then until the nineteenth century, there were recurring struggles between the two groups. Peasants wanted more freedom and control of land, while landlords wanted higher revenues. In general, peasant conditions improved and landlord controls weakened. Although agriculture remained technologically backward when compared with that in other societies, it had surpassed previous levels.

Growth of Trade and Banking

Urban growth promoted more specialized manufacturing and commerce. Banking was introduced by Italian businessmen. The use of money spread rapidly. Large trading and banking operations clearly were capitalistic. Europeans traded with other world regions, particularly via Italian Mediterranean merchants, for luxury goods and spices. Within Europe, raw materials and manufactured items were exchanged. Cities in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia formed the Hanseatic League to encourage commerce. European traders, although entering into many economic pursuits, as demonstrated in the fifteenth century career of Jacques Coeur, still generally remained less venturesome and wealthy than their Islamic counterparts. The weakness of Western governments allowed merchants a freer hand than in many civilizations. Cities were ruled by commercial leagues, and rulers allied with them against the aristocracy. Apart from taxation and borrowing, governments left merchants alone, allowing them to gain an independent role in society. Most peasants and landlords were not enmeshed in a market system. In cities, the characteristic institution was the merchant or artisan guild. Guilds grouped people in similar occupations, regulated apprenticeships, maintained good workmanship, and discouraged innovations. They played an important political and social role in cities. Manufacturing and commercial methods in Europe improved, but they did not attain Asian levels in iron making and textile production. Only in a few areas, such as clock making, did they take the lead. By the late Middle Ages, the Western medieval economy contained contradictory elements. Commercial and capitalistic trends jostled the slower rural economy and guild protectionism.

Limited Sphere for Women

As elsewhere, increasing complexity of social and economic life limited women's roles. Women's work remained vital to families. Christian emphasis on spiritual equality remained important, while female monastic groups offered a limited alternative to marriage. Veneration of the Virgin Mary and other female religious figures provided positive role models for women. Still, even though women were less restricted than those within Islam, they lost ground. They were increasingly hemmed in by male-dominated organizations. By the close of the Middle Ages, patriarchal structures were firmly established.

The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis

After 1300, postclassical Western civilization declined. A major war embroiled France and England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The sporadic fighting spread economic distress and demonstrated the weaknesses of the feudal order. At the same time, key sources of Western vitality degenerated. Agriculture could not keep up with population growth. Famines followed. Further losses came from the Black Death in 1348 and succeeding plagues. Tensions between landlord and peasants, and artisans and their employees, intensified.

Signs of Strain

There were increasing challenges to medieval institutions. The landowning aristocracy, the ruling class, lost its military role as professional armies and new weapons transformed warfare. Aristocrats retreated into a ceremonial style of life emphasizing chivalry. The balance of power between church and state shifted in favor of the state. As the church leaders struggled to retain secular authority, they lost touch with individual believers who turned to popular religious currents emphasizing direct experience of God. Intellectual and artistic synthesis also declined. Church officials became less tolerant of intellectual boldness and retreated from Aquinas' blend of rationalism and religion. In art, styles became more realistic.

The Postclassical West and Its Heritage

The Middle Ages has been regarded as a backward period between the era of Greece and Rome and the vigorous new civilization of the fifteenth century. This view neglects the extent of medieval creativity. Much of Europe had not previously been incorporated into a major civilization. Europeans, for the first time, were building appropriate institutions and culture. Medieval thinkers linked classical rationalism within a strong Christian framework. Classical styles were preserved but were surpassed by new expressive forms. Medieval economics and politics established firm foundations for the future. Western European civilization shared many attributes with other emerging regions; among its distinctive aspects was an aggressive interest in the wider world.

Global Connections Medieval Europe and the World

Western Europe in the Middle Ages had a love-hate relationship with the world around it. Early on, Europe seemed threatened by Vikings, Asian nomads, and Islam. At the same time, Europeans actively copied many features from Islam and traded with Asians. Through selective acceptance of benefits from the world around them, this civilization developed a global awareness.

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