Medieval Europe: A Complete Overview

Over in Europe the sun sets on the Western Roman Empire The Last Vestige of the Western Empire emerges as a rump state in Northern Gaul ruled by Roman general siagrius but this is a new age and Europe is to be inherited by those Rome once regarded as Barbarian you don't need to watch our ancient world Mega documentary or our video on Rome but we pick up where those left off The Germanic peoples which had been migrating deeper into Europe began to set up their own kingdoms on the corpse of a fallen Empire just a few

decades after the last Western Roman Emperor was deposed these Germanic societies now ruled through their own Kings and over time with a healthy dose of Roman culture shining through to No Surprise this was especially the case in Italy where Germanic and Roman Traditions fused more than anywhere else odoasa has deposed the last Roman emperor and takes for himself a new title king of Italy but Odo asa's kingdom was not even 20 years old when the Eastern goth struck the ostrogoths set up their own ostrogothic kingdom in Italy in 493 after killing odoasa and became inheritors

of the city of Rome their first and greatest King theodoric retained the old Roman system of laws For his Roman subjects but his fellow ostrogoths lived by their own rules and customs in the 500s the kingdom was conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire we'll get to the Byzantine empire in our next video the last of our Medieval World Series so be sure to subscribe another Germanic people moved into the region and conquered Northern Italy by 568. they were the Lombards or langerbards And set up their own Lombard Kingdom which would endure for over 200 years

to the West Was another branch of the Goths these were the Visigoths or Western goths after sacking Rome back in 410 they ended up taking over Spain establishing their visigothic Kingdom in 418. like their Eastern brethren in Italy the Visigoths kept Roman institutions but had separate laws for their own Nestled between these European kingdoms was perhaps the most powerful of them all in the late 400s Clovis the first was crowned King of the Franks another Germanic Society he was the first of the Germanic Kings to convert to Catholicism or calcedonian Christianity as opposed to the

Aryan sect which believed the body of Jesus was human and not of God arianism was seen as heretical by the Church as it opposed the official stance that Jesus and God are of the same substance while Clovis was initially interested in arianism adopting Catholicism gave him the support of the church by the early 500s Clovis had defeated the kingdom of swasan in Gaul conquered the al-amani and defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of vouye the kingdom of the Franks or Francia was the center of Europe When Clovis died Frankish custom was to divide the land

between heirs over the decades the mayor of Indian Dynasty expanded to take over more of Western Europe leaving Francia divided into different regions the four major ones were Australia the old Frankish homelands nustria consisting of the former Gala Roman land Aquitaine a part of the visigothic kingdom and burgundy former territory of the burgundians another Germanic society That had once been Allied to the Franks as time went on society changed significantly from the time of the Romans Germanic people intermarried with Romans from the former Empire but it was the Germanic social structure that dominated males were

the heads of the household and women would be responsible for domestic affairs including some Farm labor most women lived only around 30 or 40. Under the old Roman law system which is still similar to our own crimes were treated as an affront against society as a collective and were handled by the state in Germanic law crimes were more individualistic if a crime was committed against someone it could turn into a blood feud between families often with gruesome and vengeful results like chopping off hands or gouging out eyes As this wasn't a sustainable system for the

expanded Frankish territories a newer alternative was adopted called the vageld which means man price in this system the criminal simply had to repay the family which they had wronged this sum of money could vary wildly depending on if the victim's family was of noble birth the most controversial aspect of Germanic law was the ordeal This was a means of determining guilt or innocence usually the suspect was placed in a situation that was either painful unpleasant or dangerous and was based on the Judgment of God it was thought the gods would not allow an innocent person

to be harmed so if they were harmed or killed then they must have been guilty during the 300s the Christian church had developed a deep bureaucracy of its own And would come to dominate Europe heading into the Early Middle Ages though it started small and had gone through periods of persecution its adoption by the Roman Empire allowed it to thrive and develop into a system of both religious and political power during the late Roman period the empire was divided into different ecclesiastical districts each called a diocese with Bishops as heads of the local Christian communities

They were collectively under the direction of an Archbishop who had jurisdiction over the larger ecclesiastical province Catholic Doctrine stated Peter was the most prominent and influential of the Apostles and that he was delegated by Jesus to rule over the entire church Peter became the first Bishop of Rome and from then on they would be known as popes from the Greek word Papas meaning father By the Early Middle Ages the church had found a powerful Ally in the Frankish Kingdom and worked to convert even more pagans this was ironically done through a movement of those who

wish to be left alone these were the monks the word monk is derived from the Latin word monicus which means one who lives alone their goal was a life apart from the World apart from family to dedicate themselves to worship this was a difficult life so small community soon grew a movement called monasticism Benedict of nurse here an Italian monk founded many of these communities near Rome and in the mountains of central Italy in 529 he later became known as Saint Benedict and his order of monks became the Benedictine order Benedict created a set of

rules for the monks emphasizing not just prayer but physical activity it was a communal lifestyle which allowed monks time alone to read and pray but they would also gather to pray together several times a day as well as eaten work they also promoted bathing together as a therapeutic activity and are thought to have played a role in the development of spas They lived in a monastery and these were headed by an Abbot he had authority over all the monks and they were to be subservient to him he could delegate work to his monks as they

needed to farm their own land for food they were entirely self-sufficient and did not need to travel to neighboring cities they were to live by a vow of poverty so there was really no need to leave their Enclaves monastic life became the Apex of Christian Living in the Early Middle Ages monasteries became places of Aid in their communities Travelers could rest their weary legs here the sick could get help and youngsters could get educated perhaps even more importantly monks were responsible for preserving and copying many of the texts from the ancient world In the west

allowing these monasteries to become the new centers of knowledge soon women would also form their own communities like the monks becoming nuns these were called convents the head of a Convent was called The Abyss they were usually from richer backgrounds and were instrumental in the christianization of Europe Hilder of Whitby founded the monastery at Whitby in the mid-600s and was Renowned for her wisdom and conversion of anglo-saxon England the spread of Christianity here was also due to the efforts of Saint Augustine of Canterbury a probable Italian monk who became the Apostle to the English in

the late 500s Saint Patrick was a Romano British who conducted missions to Ireland and Saint Boniface and Anglo-Saxon helped to spread Christianity to the Germanic tribes on the continent The church became a powerful political and cultural force and monasteries played a key role in preserving and transmitting knowledge including works of literature and philosophy back in the Frankish Kingdom the Kings began losing control in the six and seven hundreds and power reverted to the local Mayors in 751 with the consent of the Roman Church the mayor of Indian dynasty was overthrown by Pepin the short who

became The new Frankish King he was the son of Charles Martel the famous Hammer that struck down and halted the umayyad invasions at the Battle of Tours with Pepin the throne was now in the hands of a new Dynasty the carolingians one of pepin's sons was a charismatic and deeply Pious Christian who like his grandfather was named Charles because of his above average height he Was known as Charles Magnus or Charlemagne though he only learned to read in his adulthood and never fully knew how to write he was still a highly intelligent leader and Military

strategist in a series of ambitious campaigns he expanded the Frankish Kingdom throughout Continental Europe one of these campaigns was into Northern Italy Conquering the Lombards and to the Northeast leading to the Saxon Wars a 33-year struggle with the German pagans Charlemagne destroyed their sacred immensal pillar and in 782 ordered the killing of 4500 Saxon Nobles in what has been called the massacre of Verdin he later forced the Saxons and their leader vidicand to surrender and convert vitican whose name means child of the woods later became a symbol of Saxon Independence in 800 on Christmas Day

the church named Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans and Ruler of the carolingian empire his Empire was the first in Europe since the Romans and it would be another one thousand years before the continent saw another as large Charlemagne administered his immense Empire through counts who acted as his Representatives to keep the counts in check two envoys of the king called a Mrs dominicus were sent to the districts to make sure the counts acted in Charlemagne's best Interest they even had the power to depose the count if they abused their positions his Empire was a fusion

of Germanic Christian and Roman Traditions bringing about a period of cultural and intellectual Revival called the carolingian Renaissance after uniting much of the continent he was later dubbed the father of Europe or part of Europe in 814 Charlemagne died but what was to Become of his Empire it went to Louis the pious his only surviving son with his second wife Louis remained sole ruler of the Franks extending the carolingian Renaissance until he was deposed in the 830s civil war broke out between his sons and by 843 the Treaty of Verdun divided the Frankish empire into

three kingdoms it was the first of numerous partitions until 880. the easternmost of the kingdoms was Called East Francia under Louis the German the westernmost kingdom was West Francia under Charles II or Charles the bald who might have been quite hairy in between was middle Francia a corridor containing What would become the low countries the Rhineland and reached South to Northern Italy because the kingdoms were still Rivals middle Francia often came under attack from its neighbors but there were Foreign foes as well the 8 and 900s brought with it more invasions from the East most

likely from Western Asia or the steps of Eastern Europe a tribe came to settle on the Carpathian Basin and sent waves of invasions into Western Europe these were the magiars or hungarians a people with a mysterious past consensus is that they are non-indo-european with a language Related to The Finnish or Estonian and originally migrated from the Ural Mountains during the Bronze Age their invasions into Western Europe came to an end at the Battle of lechfield in 955. the magyars then converted to Christianity and established the kingdom of Hungary in the year 1000. Britain saw waves

of invasions itself by the ancient period the islands of Britain and Ireland had been inhabited By Celtic tribes separated from their Continental cousins they would be given the name into the Celts there were three main groups the britons occupied the majority of Britain depicts all caledonians were in the north the mountainous Scottish terrain and The gales lived on Ireland and the Isle of Man after the Romans came and went they left behind a large group of romanized Britons or Romano British raids from the north were common by both the pits and a Gaelic group the

Romans called the Scotty who crossed over from Ireland to further complicate matters Germanic tribes from northern Germany and Denmark also arrived on the shores they were the angles Saxons and jutes the Saxons had been raiding Britain since Roman times and the Romans even named their favorite attack Shore after Them it's possible the Angles and Saxons were recruited as mercenaries but it's more certain the expansion that came next was by force one of the main Defenders of the britons against the Anglo-Saxons was Ambrosius aurelianus who could have been the inspiration for the story of King Arthur

despite fighting valiantly the Romano British were displaced as the Anglo-Saxons set up their own kingdoms When worse invasions came from the East these North Germanic people would savagely seek plunder and brutal Warfare for the sake of an adventure these were Norseman from the coldest reaches of Europe in Scandinavia they were more commonly known as Vikings their dragon-headed ships allowed the Vikings to remain highly Mobile on the Seas and their slim build was perfect to navigate Inland On The Tight European rivers These long ships were built to be narrow raiding ships carrying around 50 men each

in 793 Britain was shattered by a new Invasion which would Mark the start of the Viking age the holy island of lindisfarne in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of northumbria was attacked The Abbey was destroyed the monk slaughtered the valuables taken these Vikings were known to show little Mercy for the towns and Villages they invaded churches would be burned and the disjointed Village armies easily defeated before larger armies could get there some Vikings even settled on the outer reaches of Scotland and Ireland and mixed to create a new nor scale identity Scottish Clans like Clan McDougall Clan

McDonald and Clan MacLeod have Norse Gaelic roots After lindisfan Danish Vikings who had been raiding France and Germany formed a great Army and turned their attention on the English by 878 most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen or surrendered only Wessex held out under Alfred the Great he made an agreement with the Invaders to divide the English lands between the Anglo-Saxon and Viking a region that came to be known as danelaw as the Danish law was different than the Wessex or mercian law but in the end the Anglo-Saxons reconquered most of the Island from them

by the mid 900s the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were unified into a larger State the kingdom of the angles or England ethelstan of Wessex is generally regarded as the first true king of England the britons who were displaced moved either off the island or remained in the West in Wales and Cornwall in the north the pigs had mysteriously vanished most likely having merged with the Scottish by the start of the high Middle Ages the three main cultural divisions in Britain were the Anglo-Saxon English the britonic Welsh and Gaelic Scottish [Music] back on the continent the mid to

late 800s saw West Francia besieged by Vikings all the way to Paris and the Invaders were only appeased with what was called the Dane geld in other words payments to go away in 9 11 Charles the simple gave Rolo the leader of the Viking Raiders a piece of land at the mouth of the sane River as well as his daughter's hand in marriage in exchange for rollo's conversion to Christianity Rollo accepted and reflecting his Norse Origins this territory would come to be known as Normandy one of the most Important duches in Western Europe Rolo and

his band even held off other Invaders from traveling down the scene and Paris remained safe as the political powers in Europe at the time were so decentralized they couldn't be expected nor were they able to protect the commoners people would have to seek out their own protection in the form of local Lords once under their protection you became their vassal and pledged your service With a weak central government the Lords and noblemen created their own personal private armies in exchange for land Frankish armies had usually just been foot soldiers protected with male and armed with

a sword but by the 700s the Franks relied more on Horsemen after the adoption of the Stirrup from the nomadic equestrians of the Asian steps Horsemen usually began as projectile units throwing Spears but breeding larger horses led to a new class of Fully armored fighter these could be Heavy armored Cavalry or as they are known to us the Fearsome Knights this was a word derived from boy or servant they could use the sword but employed the deadly long Lance which could also be used as a kind of battering ram Knights dominated European Warfare for centuries

and were the highest class of fighter Though they came to be depicted as Heroes there was little that separated them from the violent Warlords in other parts of the world [Music] because trade and commerce were at a low point during the Early Middle Ages economy was mainly produced in the fields these lands known as thiefs were owned by Lords it was held by his vassals in exchange for their military service and these Vassals held legal authority over the lands this feudal system kept order during the tumultuous invasions and disintegration of the carolingian empire [Music] there

was even a further process that developed called sub-infudation in which a night or vassal acting as a lord themselves recruited their own vassals for military service granting them a smaller piece of land [Music] vassals didn't have to spend their whole time fighting for their Lords they were only mandated to serve a short time around 40 days a year they were also responsible for court appearances whenever summoned and as Aid in legal cases as well as Financial payments for weddings or Ransom apart from Land the Lord was responsible for Gathering the Army to defend his vassal

and protect him legally if needed Lords would live on their own landed estate with plenty of Farmland that was worked by peasants this was called a manner many peasants with no land of their own became serfs able to live on the manor but needed to provide labor and pay rent over half the population in Western Europe became serfs during this time but the practice would later spread to Eastern Europe surfs were bound to their land and could Not leave without permission of the Lord they were also not allowed to marry outside the manor without permission

legally their rights were at the discretion of the Lord as well as Lords could set up their own courts the part of the manner that was used by the Lord himself was called the domain or domain and this piece of land could be between one-third and half of the entire manner the Early Middle Ages was a time of Decentralization but by year 1000 Europe emerged into a new great civilization ushering in a new age the high Middle Ages new food surpluses and the development of urban centers brought an economic surge having recovered from the earlier

invasions centralized power started to return in the form of medieval monarchs the church continued to be a presence in everyday life as well Warmer weather conditions increased food production and populations doubled more widespread use of iron in farming devices and building materials further Advanced agricultural practices the karuka was a heavy plow used in northern Europe made of iron unable to turn heavy soils it could have required from four to eight oxen to function and was likely introduced to the British Isles during the Viking invasions of England Water Mills and windmills also became more widespread using

Nature's powerful currents to grind grain into flour the usage of water and wind became the best methods of harnessing power and would remain this way until the invention of the steam engine during the Early Middle Ages Farmers relied on a two-field system where they would work one field and let the other life aloe to regain its nutrients during the high Middle Ages a Three-field system became common where one field produced grains for one season and the second had different grains for a different season this reduced the unused feel to just one third instead of half

while not working the fields The Peasant classes lived simple lives in small Cottages made of wood and clay and thatched roofs of straw most only had a single room but some also lucky peasants had an extra room For cooking and eating men would be mainly responsible for the farming labor but women would be required to participate during harvest season their main duties were smaller scale gardening religious training for their children and spinning and weaving clothes for the family though surfs only had to work a few days a week for their Lords and were given numerous

holidays per year they spent Their off time laboring for their own sustenance bread was their staple food and contained wheat Rye barley Millet and oats making it a high calorie and quite nutritious food if the family had other animals they could supplement their bread with eggs chicken or cow's milk while peasants remain near the bottom of the social hierarchy at the other end were the Nobles Lords and their vassals Kings Dukes counts Barons VI counts and religious organizations control politics and Society through their wealth and land Holdings by the middle of the high Middle Ages

a code emerged among nights and nobility an ethical ideal promoted by the church Knights were bound to act in a moral and civilized manner protecting the church and peasants and treating prisoners and women with respect especially Noble women While the Early Middle Ages saw a decline in trade and commerce there was a Resurgence in the high Middle Ages there was always trade between the still prominent Byzantine Empire and cities on the Italian peninsula Venice a city that emerged in the 700s would become one of the foremost trading cities in Europe by the high Middle Ages

based upon their fleets of trading ships these medieval merchants set up trading posts abroad and specialized in trade in The Mediterranean and Black Sea once the Mongols spread throughout Asia in the 1200s they brought a period of stability known as the Pax mongolica giving Merchants safe Passage through the empire this was when two Venetian Brothers Mafia and Nicolo Polo traveled through the Mongol Empire respectively they were the uncle and father of explorer Marco Polo the Italian cities would trade primarily Along the Mediterranean but northern Europe was resurgent as well Flanders along the coast of present-day

Belgium traded in Woolen cloth and became a trading center in the North it saw Merchants from England France the German lands and Scandinavia gather to buy and sell their Wares became the main centers here by the 1100s the two trading hubs in Flanders and Italy had regular exchange with each other linking northern and Southern Europe's economies Nobles in Champaign in northern France held annual fares where the merchants from northern Europe could meet and exchange their Furs Woolen cloth and Tin with the southern European Merchants wears from Italy mainly silks and spices from Asia as trade

increased gold and silver became more in demand and eventually Banks were established to manage exchange and trading companies emerged To manage the sale of goods this brought about a commercial revolution as new private businesses incentivized by profit were set up for insurance commercial contracts and bookkeeping Commerce and Industry became governed by these private entities as smaller decentralized towns and Villages dominated the Early Middle Ages the explosion of trade and increased population of the high Middle Ages led To a Revival of urban centers and large cities below the Alps closer to the former Imperial Roman core

were less affected but decreased size nonetheless Merchants began to settle in these towns along with Artisans and other manufacturers who could sell their products through the nearby Traders soon the old Roman cities were bustling once more further north of the Alps with fewer Large cities Merchants had to set up shop near a protected space usually a castle but sometimes monasteries castles were where local Lords resided and emerged During the period of decentralization after the breakup of the carolingian Empire as a means to fortify the Lord's position cities would slowly grow around these defensive castles it

is from here that many cities get their suffolksburg as the word means Fortification or Fortress in old German before castles emerged in England the Anglo-Saxons relied on fortified settlements called Burrs often on the sites of old Roman hilfoots as these cities grew the fortifications grew as well and City walls expanded the relationship between the Lord and the merchant classes that made up the town was very different than the relationship between the Lord and surf on a manner Those who lived in these burgs were called burgers a word which would eventually turn into bourgeoisie these people

needed to be able to come and go as they pleased and needed their own unique laws they paid the Lord for the ability to live on his land and sell their properties and the freedom from any military obligations some of these cities were even granted the right to govern themselves But sometimes they took the right by force in Northern Italy Bishops acted as Lords and had their own vassals but if the bishop became corrupt or too authoritative the townsfolk would swear an oath of allegiance to each other and form an association called the commune and

self-administer this succeeded as The Bishop's Noble vassals took the side of the cityfolk and overthrew the Bishops They were able to become independent and create their own independent city-states north of the Alps communes weren't as successful as the noble vassals were less prone to go against their Lords and any form of rebellion was suppressed even in the rare cases that the cities called free cities did succeed they would never truly become independent like the cities of Italy this made these cities quite different from one another they had varying degrees of autonomy and Different forms of

government and Council males were regarded as Citizens and could be elected to city council as City officials the free cities never rivaled the size or populations of the busy Urban centers of the ancient world with the average trading City at only around 5000 people bigger cities like London could have had around 30 000 and on the continent bruga and gent the trading hubs of the North Had around forty thousand in Italy Urban centers were much larger with trading hubs of Naples Venice Genoa and Milan all around 100 000 inhabitants though populations were so small in

European medieval towns life was noisy and cramped because the town was surrounded by protective walls space inside needed to be filled as wall expansion was quite expensive this became a fire hazard as most Buildings were still made of wood the cities were generally made of both Artisans who created a wide variety of products from cloth Metalworks and much more and the merchants who would sell these Wares the merchants and Artisans each had their own areas in a city the merchant section was where you would find the taverns to drink to your merriment and the Inns

to rest thy tired legs The Artisan section was usually divided into areas with different crafts those performing the same craft would band together to create a guild and eventually guilds became widespread Among The Artisan class the tight spaces and lack of Sanitation system left these cities awfully dirty though animal and human waste could be found in between buildings or in the streets nearby Rivers were also polluted because Of other Industries so townsfolk had to use Wells instead thankfully some cities had public baths Paris with a population of around 200 000 had dozens of public baths

open to both men and women as long as you don't have leprosy women in these cities had their own roles apart from the domestic duties of preparing food and raising the children they were also given the task of Managing the family finances and helping their husbands with their craft sometimes these women would even have side hustles like making ale if their husbands died they could easily continue with his work as they had worked alongside him prior and it gave them more Independence despite some similarities across this new European culture each region took different paths during

the high Middle Ages as strong monarchs across the Continent attempted to establish more centralized kingdoms the first place we'll travel to is Britain after being unified in the early 900s England would endure under the Anglo-Saxons minus a brief period as part of the North Sea Empire a personal Union with Denmark and Norway under knut the Great after the Anglo-Saxons regained the throne Edward the Confessor last king of The House of Wessex died without an heir in 1066. the Wheaton the Anglo-Saxon Kings Council proclaimed Harold Godwin's son the new king but he was opposed by two

claimants to the throne his own brother toastig who invited the Norwegian Herald hardrada were both defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September 25th but by September 28th a new Contender landed on the southern Shore Sailing from France they were headed by yet another who claimed to be the righteous inheritor to the throne this was William Duke of Normandy and direct descendant of Rolo he brought with him an army of mounted Knights archers and Infantry King Harold weary from Stamford Bridge had to March South quickly mustering troops along the way and met William at

the Battle of Hastings just two weeks later on October 14th The Normans couldn't break Harold's lines composed mainly of foot soldiers so baited the enemy Army by pretending to retreat the roofs worked and William gained the upper hand Harold was killed in the battle and his army defeated not long afterwards he was to be the last Anglo-Saxon King William henceforth known as William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas Day and the Royal residence Was moved from Winchester to London this marked the beginnings of the integration of Norman and Anglo-Saxon culture with elements

of Celtic Gala Roman and Germanic traditions Williams first order of business was to centralize the government English Nobles had to swear loyalty to the Norman King Taxation and the Royal court systems from the Anglo-Saxon period were strengthened The Norman Conquest brought with it further complications though William was the new king of England he was still the Duke of Normandy and a vassal to the king of France as France had a weaker government at this time this made William more powerful than his own Lord and further missed the Affairs of England and France after a civil

war that dragged on from 1138 to 1153 another Royal House from France the plantagenits assumed the throne under King Henry II these kings came from anju and would be known as the Angeline Kings Henry strengthened his authority by strengthening the Royal courts local courts would be denied certain cases which were instead placed under the king's Authority as the number of Royal courts increased throughout the kingdom this brought with it a standard of law or common law His Holdings were vast and at different points held power over Wales and Ireland on the continent as the count

of anju and Duke of Normandy he held those areas of France as well along with Aquitaine through marriage collectively this formed a dynastic Union called the angevan Empire a nightmare for the French King which resulted in 100 Years of rivalry between the French capisian Royal house and the plantagenets Back in England Henry had much more trouble exerting power over the church an argument erupted between Henry and his friend Thomas Beckett whom he had just appointed Archbishop of Canterbury the highest cleric in the Church of England the controversy known as the Becca dispute was mostly over

whether Royal courts had jurisdiction over clerics this dragged on for years with both sides appealing the Pope In response to Beckett excommunicating Bishops who supported him King Henry reportedly yelled out will no one rid me of this turbulent priest this prompted four nights to travel from Normandy to Canterbury and murder Thomas Beckett just four days later as the power of the Monarch grew resentment was brewing among the nobility during the reign of King John a group of Barons forced the king to sign the Magna Carta libertatum or the great Charter of freedoms this check on

Royal power promised the protection of church rights protection from illegal imprisonment access to Swift Justice and most importantly limitations on Taxation and other feudal payments to the crown though it was a failure in the end it set up the framework of Rights between the Monarch and his subjects with legal recognition that the Monarch's Powers were Absolutely not absolute this trend would continue further into the high Middle Ages with Edward the first son of Henry III the longest reigning monarch in English History until the 20th century meetings in the king's court often occurred between his Royal

advisers and the Barons but in 1295 Edward invited Representatives two nights and two Town residents called Burgesses from every County in town to a grand Council These parliaments discussed laws taxes and other political and judicial matters and so England was on the path to a more representative government Edward's Reign remains controversial though as his edict expelled the Jews from England and he led an invasion into Scotland claiming sovereignty over it this led to the first Scottish war of independence which saw the likes of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce become National Scottish Heroes On the

continent the forging of France would continue after the carolingian Empire had been divided up it was West Francia that would become the main territory of what would become France in 987 the last of the carolingian dynasty perished without an heir and the Western Franks chose a new king he was Hugh Cape the New Kingdom of France would be ruled by this caprician dynasty the house of cape and its Cadet Branches the houses of valwar and bourbon uninterrupted until the monarchy was abolished during the French Revolution but to start off the caprician Kings had very little

power though they were the Lords of their vassals including the Kings of England through their Holdings in Western France early capetian Kings only controlled Paris and a small territory around the city collectively called eel to France A turning point came during the reign of Philip II who was given the epithet of Philip Augustus because of his centralization and expansion campaigns he declared war on the house of plantagenet and started taking back their French Holdings on the continent with his new domain he collected more revenue and hired more officials strengthening his kingdom later French Kings like

Louis IX halted further English attempts to restore the Engine Empire a treaty was signed where the English king relinquished his claims to most of his French territories and remained a vassal to the French King for those lands he still held treaty was the start of a growing resentment and rivalry between the English and French that would culminate in the late middle ages under Philip IV called Philip Affair the monarchy was further reinforced Philip did have a parliamentary process himself although it was virtually powerless it was a precursor to the Estates General wherein he brought in

representatives from the clergy or First Estate the Nobles the second estate and townsfolk the Third Estate he transformed France from a feudal State into a centralized nation-state the largest and richest in all of Europe to the West the Early Middle Ages saw Most of the Iberian Peninsula under the control of a number of different Muslim states a region later called alandalus by historians but the Christian kingdoms to the north fought back they began as a single Kingdom called Asturias and later the kingdom of Leon other kingdoms coalesced like Castile Navarre Aragon and Portugal in 1085

King Alfonso VI captured Toledo and the balances of power started to sway Cordoba fell later to the king of Castile and by 1249 only the Muslim holding of Granada remained in 1492 the Emir of Granada Muhammad XII surrendered to Isabella of Castile completing the reconquest or Reconquista during the reconquest some Spanish rulers encouraged diversity like King Alfonso the 10th who developed a Cosmopolitan Court full of Christians Muslims and Jews and translated Arabic and Latin sources Other rulers though were more harsh and there were times of severe anti-Semitism like the massacre of 1391. after the reconquest

and the Alhambra decree Jews were forced to convert or be expelled the Muslims who remained in Spain were also forced to convert and Islam was banned by the queen on the other side of France was East Francia by the early 900s Henry the Fowler was Elected King the Kingdom's first non-frankish ruler by the mid 900s his son Otto sat on the throne like his father he was a Saxon hailing from the northern duchy of Saxony this continued a shift that would set it apart from West Francia now known as the kingdom of France and towards

becoming the region that would be known as the kingdom of Germany the former carolingian empire was Divided by this point with the Kingdom of Italy partitioned off But Otto set out and conquered Northern Italy and became their King after fending off the magiar invasions he was hailed as a hero of Christendom and was proclaimed emperor of the Romans in 962. today we call this the Holy Roman Empire at its greatest extent this Empire would consist of the kingdom of Germany in the center the kingdom of burgundy to the West the kingdom of Bohemia a Czech

Kingdom to the East and the Kingdom of Italy to the South but each were governed by their own leaders to the south of the Kingdom of Italy in the central region of the peninsula were the Papal States former Lombard territory formerly given to Rome by Charlemagne this made the popes much more involved not just in spiritual but political matters many high-ranked clergy like Bishops and Monastery abbots were often given thiefs by a lord making them vassals this soon presented a problem as church leaders didn't want Lords appointing their own nominees and investing them with church

Powers a practice called lay investiture in the 1070s Pope Gregory VII fought back he came up with the Gregorian reforms and affirmed the Primacy of the Pope and Papal States in all matters involving The Christian kingdoms and its rulers including the power to depose an emperor in essence he forbade investiture from lay Lords this placed him at odds with the German King Henry IV Henry had used lay investiture to his benefit appointing Bishops of his choice as his vassals and using them as administrators in his territories this would lead to a 50-year conflict between church

and state known as the Investiture controversy Henry had even appointed his own antipope to counter Pope Gregory in 1122 the King's son a new Holy Roman Emperor Henry V signed a written agreement with the new pope the terms were that the church was to appoint Abbotts and Bishops through canonical elections and the Pope's representatives were to perform the investiture symbolized through a ring and staff The king in turn was allowed to preside over elections and arbitrate disputes in the 11 and 1200s the hohenstaufen dynasty most prominently under Frederick Barbarosa and Frederick II attempted to exert

their power on the Kingdom of Italy and Rome in order to assemble a true Holy Roman Empire but Germany was a decentralized state of Duchess with their own interests and the Kings could not muster up sufficient armies The northern Italian cities backed by the Papal States banded together forming the Lombard league and pushed back the German offensives by the late 1100s the northern Italian states won their right to self-government but remained in the Empire simply paying a tax to the German King the time and resources used by the hohenstorphins in Italy only resulted in more

weakening of their own Dynasty They had only lost power in Italy and with little presence in Germany the local Lords were left to their own devices the Holy Roman emperors ended up not as rulers of an Empire but rulers of their own Estates and Italy was initially less involved with the Affairs to the north bands of Normans had arrived as mercenaries during a period of Warring principalities and eventually conquered And founded their own States here by the mid-1000s by the 1130s Sicily and the southern part of Italy were United by Roger II into a single

Norman state this was the kingdom of Sicily here the Italo Normans would build enormous palaces and castles and secured them with fortifications and keeps the kingdom passed to the German King through marriage and then the French which proved deeply unpopular After a Revolt in 1282 the island of Sicily overthrew the French but southern Italy remained United and became known as the kingdom of Naples this stayed in the hands of French nobility until the 1440s when it was United with Sicily under the crown of Aragon it remained a Cosmopolitan and tolerant Kingdom mixing strong influences of

Arab Byzantine and Latin culture while the high Middle Ages was a time of Strong government in both England and France Germany and Italy would remain decentralized for centuries further to the east were the Slavs their Homeland is still widely debated but Scholars generally agree they emerged in palegia near present-day Poland Belarus Ukraine and Russia during the Early Middle Ages they gradually began expanding and divided into three groups those who migrated West became the West Slavs one of their first formal States was great Moravia founded in 833 which acted as a balance of power between the

Franks to the west and the bulgarians and byzantines to the South when the king of Moravia needed Aid in translating texts into Slavic two brothers Byzantine missionary Cyril and lithogius created and introduced the glycolytic alphabet the first Slavic alphabet it was the basis for the later Cyrillic By the high Middle Ages the West Slavs had established the Polish and Bohemian kingdoms the West Slavs make up polls Czechs and slovaks the Western Slavs ended up being christianized into the western church by German missionaries and similar missions were also sent south into the kingdom of Hungary which

was set up by the magias these three groups the polls Czechs and hungarians all became entwined more with Latin culture and the western church the southern Slavs settled in the Balkans and formed their own States the first of which was Bulgaria formed by the Slavic tribes and the seminomatic turkic bulgars in 681. as the bulgars became slavicized their Kingdom played an important role in consolidating the Slavic civilization the southern Slavs also included croats and serbs some would migrate further south and Become hellenized as part of the Byzantine Empire an Empire we will cover next episode

The Southern Slavs generally all became part of the Eastern Church except for the croats the Eastern Slavs moved East into the territory of present-day Ukraine and Western Russia but soon after Vikings from Sweden traveled down the long rivers in search of Commerce As they arrived they would be called Russ by the locals in the 800s a semi-legendary varangian a viking conqueror from Sweden named rurik was invited to rule in novorod which was to be the start of the rurikid Dynasty and the beginnings of the Russian State monarchs Oleg who is said to be rurix Kinsmen

was his successor he captured the city of Kiev from the kazaz to the South and settled himself There establishing the Keeven Rus his successes greatly expanded this state and it became rich and Powerful located between the Baltic and black sea with Scandinavia to the North and the Byzantine Empire to the South the region became a hotbed for trade the territory came to include the East Slavs as well as the local finnic peoples through marriage to the Slavs the Nordic rulers eventually assimilated into Slavic culture as the Kevin rust grew by zantying missionaries were sent to

the Kevin Rus and in 988 Vladimir the Great converted to the Eastern branch of Christianity along with his State mixing Byzantine and Russian cultures the Kevin Russ would later reach its greatest extent under yaroslav the first after his death Kevin Ross soon began to struggle and disintegrate into different Regional factions beginning a feudal Period where the grand Prince had little power Novgorod in the north broke away and declared independence and later the duchy of Vladimir once the Byzantine Empire started to decline they also lost their main source of Commerce in 1240 the Kevin rust State

finally disintegrated after the Mongols besieged Kiev the city was plundered and most of the Citizens slaughtered one of the Russian princes Alexander nevsky the prince of novorod was renowned for protecting the Western borders from both German and Swedish Invaders he became Grand Prince and was not only a fierce Warrior but a skilled Diplomat who acted as an intermediary with the golden horde by simply paying a tax to the Invaders he preserved Russian religion and Independence as Grand Prince he built churches and created new laws and Russia was in a period of prosperity his son would

found the grand duchy of Moscow which began as a small Outpost in Vladimir but would eventually expand and lead to a long-lasting Russian state what truly gave the high Middle Ages its name was the Resurgence of culture in its art and intellectualism the university structure a word derived From universitus or the whole developed as educational guilds as a means to produce educated intellectuals though different kinds of universities appeared elsewhere in the world prior the first European University was founded in 1088 at bologna in Italy their ineries an Italian jurist taught the newly rediscovered law code

of Justinian who lived 500 years prior students from all over Europe would come here to learn the Roman law which would Become the basis for the laws on the continent for centuries they first needed to complete the starting curriculum of the liberal arts the Seven Liberal Arts taught were grammar logic rhetoric arithmetic geometry astronomy and music theory because the printing press had yet to be developed teaching was usually done via a single book which a teacher would read aloud and then give an explanation this was called a lecture and remains a Fundamental part of universities

today there were no regular exams however and students only needed to pass an oral exam when applying for their degree their first degree was The Bachelors of Arts awarded after three or four years but they could pursue a master of arts with the entire process reaching six years after attaining a masters of arts degree a student could continue into Higher Learning specializing in law medicine or Theology finishing one of these provided a doctorate degree which officially allowed them to teach their subjects despite law and Medicine degrees being important the most popular doctorate degree was theology

it was viewed as the most pure and intellectual of the Sciences in medieval universities these institutions only increased and by the end of the Middle Ages Europe was Home to about 80 different universities many of the classical Greek Works were reintroduced to the west by Jewish and Islamic scholars and translated by Monks at monastic schools when Western theologians Saw many of these texts they were at odds and even contradicted the church one Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas was the most influential leader in the reconciliation this was done through scholasticism a Philosophy which attempted to harmonize the

old works of the early empirical scientists and philosophers namely Aristotle with the Catholic Doctrine his Sumo theologica was a compendium of all the main theological teachings of the Catholic church and presented the reasoning for All Points of Christian theology he is considered one of the church's greatest theologians and philosophers and his synthesis of faith and reason Became the new standard at the start of the high Middle Ages architecture was based on a style characterized by semi-circular arches this was called the Romanesque style this kind of architecture was found all over Europe though many castles were

built during this period the style which took influence from the ancient Roman and Greek was mainly used in churches basilicas known for flat wooden roofs Prone to fire were instead made with a long Stone Barrel vault though they were safer and more aesthetically pleasing they were quite heavy so needed massive pillars and thick stone walls to hold it up this meant less space for Windows and gave Romanesque churches a darker atmosphere but they are known for their high quality and many still stand today in more rural areas but by the 1100s a newer architectural Style

emerged in Europe this style originating in northern France evolved from the Romanesque and came to be known as Gothic the defining feature was the pointed Arch instead of barrel vaults Builders used rib vaults along with the pointed arches resulting in cathedrals that could seemingly soar into the heavens themselves the flying buttress was another Innovation which spread the weight outwards instead of straight down this resulted in thinner more appealing walls which could be used to place Fantastical stained glass windows a total change from the Romanesque style light from these colorful Windows was thought to be a

symbol of God's light and his divinity the First full use of Gothic architecture comes from The Abbey at Saint Denis near Paris in the mid 1100s From there it spread and was used in construction of the great French Cathedrals like Notre Dame a cathedral was a special church that held a cathedra a seat or throne for the local Bishop building a Gothic cathedral was a community effort headed by Master Masons who designed it and stonemasons and other craftsmen who made the stunning designs a reality now that we've gone through the various European regions we will

take a look at a unifying theme between them that of Christianity he touched kings queens Nobles and commoners becoming the framework of European culture in 1054 because of ecclesiastical theological and even political differences between the Latin western eastern Greek churches they officially split into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in what is Called the great schism the high Middle Ages saw a surge in Christian belief systems and the development of numerous religious orders both monastic and Military the most influential monastic order was the order of cistercians a group in France that branched off from

the earlier Benedictine order while they continued to follow the rules of Saint Benedict they were much more strict than the Benedictine monks and More so followed the order's co-founder Bernard de clervo [Music] instead of the Black Cow they donned white ones and only owned a single robe they spent less time for services and more for their manual labor working the fields within just 100 years the order had spread all throughout Europe women also came to join these religious orders as nuns Instead of child rearing women in conference were free to pursue their own intellectual Pursuits

if they so wished in the early 1200s Saint Francis of Assisi an Italian Mystic and Catholic Friar began publicly preaching about repentance and a return to Simplicity for the church his movement became the Franciscan order and was quite popular as it touched the ordinary townsperson those who joined the order took a vow of Poverty and traveled far distances in order to preach around the same time a similar order was founded by Spanish priest and Mystic Dominic De Guzman this was the Dominican order they were also required to live a life of poverty and to travel

to urban areas to preach but Dominicans were just as concerned with opposing heresy and any ideas contrary to official church doctrine To do this they engaged in a rich Scholastic tradition which became the Forefront of intellectual life in all Europe at the end of the medieval period they would become leading figures in the Spanish Inquisition but there were Medieval inquisitions as well both the Dominicans and franciscans were widely involved with the medieval inquisitions of the 1200s and the ongoing opposition to heresy that Continued for centuries the religious military orders were societies of Christian Knights they

were founded in association with the Crusades a series of religious wars primarily in the Levant but also on the European continent there was already widespread conflict in Iberia in alandalus and battles against Muslim armies on the Mediterranean and Sicily but the Crusades would Mark a more organized and Collective European Effort initially against another Muslim Army that came to occupy territory from Anatolia in the west to the Hindu Kush in the east these were the seljuk Turks after the Eastern Roman Empire suffered defeat at the Battle of mantikut it weakened their grip on Anatolia and led

to turkic settlement on the peninsula and the establishment of the sultanate of rum the seljukes had also taken the holy City of Jerusalem so Eastern Roman Emperor Alexius the first asked Pope Urban II for assistance seeing an opportunity to unite the warring Christian kingdoms of Europe to face a common enemy Pope Urban called for a holy war or Crusade at the Council of Claremont in 1095. this was to be a simple pilgrimage but these pilgrims came with swords after the pope promised remission of sins for anyone who partook in The Crusade and died the fervor

reached even the poor who had very little in this life Peter The Hermit was a Pious man who preached in public on the streets of France he gathered others like him the porpoise of society and in 1096 they made their way East in what has been called The People's Crusade there had been a comet sighting meteor shower and lunar eclipse in the year Leading up to the March so these were probably taken as a sign from God as The Peasants which numbered in the tens of thousands moved East they terrorized the non-Christian populations of the

Rhineland leading to the massacre of thousands of Jewish men women and children some of Peter the hermit's band actually reached Constantinople and were given safe passage across to Anatolia but that's where the poorly armed Rebel Was subsequently slaughtered by the Turks Peter The Hermit ironically survived though as he was visiting Constantinople at the time this failed people's Crusade wasn't backed by any official power but the first official Crusade took place soon after and was led by train Fighters and Noble Men of War most of the army numbering around 100 000 was French but smaller armies

from Christian Europe also joined along the way the armies recaptured nicaea from the seljukes and then marched down into the Levant and captured Jerusalem in 1099. after taking the city and the mass killing of Jews and Muslims alike the Crusaders founded states of their own much to the dismay of the Byzantine emperor this Crusade was Europe's first major victory abroad but certainly not the Last as the Crusader states were blocked off on all sides by hostile forces they traded over the Mediterranean leading to the Italian cities like Genoa and Venice becoming quite rich and Powerful

as masters of Maritime Commerce decades later in 1144 the county of Odessa fell and calls rang out for a Second Crusade this one was headed by actual Kings with French King Louis VII husband of Eleanor Of Aquitaine and Conrad III the German King leading the charge an ill-advised attack on Damascus ruined any chances of success and the Crusade ended in defeat on their way though Crusaders did manage to help in the reconquest effort on the Iberian Peninsula helping the Portuguese capture Lisbon after the rise of Saladin and fall of the kingdom of Jerusalem Europe felt

compelled to undertake a third crusade This Crusade was to be led by three notable Kings so is dubbed the king's Crusade from England was Henry II but after his death his son with Eleanor of Aquitaine took up the mantle he was King Richard the first look her de Leon Richard the lionheart from France was the bane of the English Philip II England and France set aside their rivalry for this Crusade From Germany with the largest army was the elderly Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa they made the Trek by land but Frederick was never to see

his destination in Anatolia he drowned in a river and most of his grieving Army abandoned The Crusade the French and English armies made their way by sea and with an impressive Fleet made quick inroads into the Levant they recaptured acre and Jaffa and Though they succeeded militarily they never recaptured Jerusalem the main goal of the campaign once King Philip returned home in 1191 King Richard and Saladin signed a treaty leaving Jerusalem in Muslim hands but open to free passage for unarmed pilgrims in return the Crusaders could keep the coastal strip from Tire to Jaffa in

effect restoring the Crusader States still neither side was happy with this Outcome once Saladin died in 1193 and Richard in 1199 Pope Innocent III found the Flames of crusade once again and in 1202 Christian forces would head out to the Holy Land from the ports of Venice this wasn't a king's Crusade like the third but mostly composed of French nobility at the suggestion of some Venetian captains as payment for safe travel The Crusade ended up going Wayward and Became embroiled in a succession plot in Constantinople the Crusaders eventually sacked the city and in 1204 set

up their own Empire in former Byzantine territory calling it The Latin Empire the byzantines only survived as three separate rump States each claiming to be the Empire's true successor though the byzantines reclaimed their cities by 1261 the attack not only cemented the rift between the Latin and Orthodox Churches but led to the Eastern Empire's steep decline the subsequent Crusades are generally regarded as less important during the fifth crusade Europeans changed their strategy and instead targeted Egypt first which was still ruled by saladin's brother the Crusaders ultimately failed to reach Cairo though and a truce was

called the sixth Crusade was headed solely by King Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire without papal involvement while he lacked the manpower to retake Jerusalem he succeeded in his quest through diplomacy two decades later the French King Louis IX conducted two Crusades of his own in response to the Muslim retaking of the holy city the seventh Crusade saw his army meat disaster and King Louis was taken captive after he was released he refused to give Up his campaigning and launched the eighth Crusade but shortly after arriving in North Africa he died of dysentery after

Germany and France England had their go in 1271 in the ninth Crusade this was led by Lord Edward the Duke of gascony and by this time it wasn't saladin's ayubits who controlled the region but the mamluk sultanate under bybars though both sides saw success it was The Crusaders who lacked the final blow and a truce was called Lord Edward returned home and eventually became Edward the first king of England who we mentioned before as Edward Longshanks during this time the mamluks besieged the remaining Crusader States and they were captured one by one until 1291. when

acre the capital of the kingdom of Jerusalem fell it was here that 200 years of Crusader States came to an end the Levant was to remain in mamluk hands for the time being the knights hospitaler originated from a reform movement in the Benedictine monastic order they were originally formed to provide medical Aid to Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land but soon became more militaristic after the first crusade they eventually came to run most hospitals in the region and built them All over Europe as well after the Crusades the knights fled to roads and then Malta

and even partook in the Voyages to the new world briefly acquiring four islands in the Caribbean the Knights Templar was the most famous and influential of the military orders known for their distinctive Red Cross on white mantle they were founded in 1119 in Jerusalem on the Temple mount with the goal of Defending Christian pilgrimage to the sacred sites Though they struggled at first they had an advocate in Bernard de clarevo and became officially approved as a religious order in 1129 though only 10 percent were Knights many of their members took to banking creating a large

economic infrastructure that linked the Levant in Europe despite their monastic vows they became the wealthiest of the military orders owning land and castles throughout the Crusader States There were many other more minor Crusades to the Holy Land but also many major ones on the continent as well one of the most prominent of these were the northern Crusades the northern Crusades were mainly headed by the Teutonic order known as the Teutonic Knights they were originally founded from a German fraternity active during the third crusade in 1191. after the unsuccessful Crusade they turned their Attention towards Europe

setting up base in the North after Conquering the old prussians a Baltic people with a common link to the Slavs further east were another Pagan Baltic people the lithuanians to better defend themselves from the tutons on one side and the Eastern Slavs to the other they coalesced into a state in 1251. in 1386 the Grand Duke of Lithuania yogaia formed a dynastic Union with Poland by Marian Queen yard Vega and converting his state to Christianity in 1410 Lithuania and Poland defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of grunweld after which the northern Crusaders went into

decline though there was tension between the nobility at first Poland and Lithuania would become inextricably linked at the start of the next stage by the beginning of the 1300s Europe entered a new era of Decline and Catastrophe ushering in the late Middle Ages changes in climate brought Colder Weather darkened skies and frigid rains from constant storms this was known as the little ice age and led to widespread famine the Great Famine of 1315-17 which brought with its extreme increases in crime Mass death and perhaps even cannibalism was but the first crisis of this tumultuous period

By the middle of the century another threat was looming it would attack through seaports and trade routes it showed no sword and shot no Arrow this was a disease that would turn into the most fatal recorded pandemic in human history this was called the black death and was responsible for killing up to half of the population in Eurasia and the Mediterranean basin This was caused by Bubonic plague which found a host in fleas the fleas themselves spread from the backs of black rats its Origins are still disputed but it most likely entered China via the

Mongols and by the 1330s it had already spread rapidly reducing the Chinese population by tens of Millions the safe and efficient trading networks established by the Pax mongolica helped this disease transmit westwards Commerce would stop at Constantinople in the west and by 1347 the city was ravaged by 1348 it had spread all over the near East Egypt's population was so devastated that it did not reach its pre-plague levels for another 600 years in Europe the Black Death most likely entered through the east the golden horde hurl disease-infested corpses over the walls during the siege Of

kapha this city was a trading center for genoese merchants so when these Merchants fled they returned to Italy bringing the plague with them on their ships it had spread to Southern Italy and France by the end of the year perhaps the mnemonic version of the plague which spread through the air more recently it has been theorized that the main Crux of spread wasn't through Rats but instead through the lice and fleas living on humans the tight Urban centers of France and Italy often neglected personal hygiene and were known for having filthy streets some were even

named as such like rumodia and Ruel de Pipi in just four years the entirety of Europe was affected a few areas remained little affected though as they had less trade relations and remained more isolated like the Basques a people thought to predate the Indo-European migrations to the continent in total Europe might have lost up to 38 million people in just four or five years half of its population this brought with it extreme societal political and religious instability some felt the plague was sent by God in order to punish Society for its sins one self-mutilating band

roamed from town to town where the plague hit Hardest flogging themselves with whips begging their vengeful deity for forgiveness they were known as the flagellants and would come to cause chaos wherever they went once they started attacking Jews and members of the clergy the pope condemned the movement and it soon fizzled out by 1351. the flagellants weren't the only source of anti-semitism It was on the rise all over Europe in Germany dozens of major Jewish communities were destroyed and many fled East to Russia and Poland where they were given more protections [Music] the plague also

caused economic instability with around half the population snapped out of existence within such a short time the great medieval Industries couldn't adapt and production fell by More than half this ended up benefiting the lower classes with less workers the value of Labor Rose dramatically the prices also fell as there was less demand more peasants were able to work their way out of serfdom monarchs however felt emboldened to impose higher taxes in England the king needed to generate More revenue for a military campaign so imposed a poll tax a flat tax per individual peasants refused to

pay this tax and in 1381 they revolted beginning in Essex the upheaval soon spread leading to mass executions of government officials and the sacking of the Tower of London though King Richard II suppressed The Peasant revolt and had the leaders executed the poll tax was eventually Discontinued though the impact of the peasant Uprising is still debated it opened the door to a period of more populist uprisings where the poor could also be heard the tax system was initially put in place to raise revenues for a military campaign this was a war that began almost 50

years earlier in 1337 and Pitt England and France against each other for over a Century this was the Hundred Years War and further added to the extreme crisis of the late Middle Ages the conflict was the culmination of the Rivalry between France and England who had become inextricably linked to France through their Norman and anjavin kings once a trio of caprician Kings failed to produce a male Heir there was a succession crisis King Edward III of England had a Legitimate claim to the throne as grandson of a former French King but in the end they

chose Philip the count of valwa to become King Philip VI in 1328. he was the first king from the house of valwa a Cadet branch of the capricians after years of failed negotiations and an escalation of conflict Philip confiscated the duchy of gascony the only remaining English holding in France for Edward this meant War The Fearsome French armies were generally composed of high-ranking and heavily armored Knights and Nobles the English relied more on infantrymen and foot soldiers their deadliest weapon was the Longbow most likely adopted from the Welsh the Hundred Years War began in 1337

with minor skirmishes and Naval battles but the first major engagement was in 1346 at Cressy near Flanders Edward and his eldest son Edward the Black prince scored resounding success against the more numerous French cavalry after a short pause caused by the Black Death fighting again resumed in the 1350s and the English army scored another resounding victory at poachier capturing the new French King John II and holding him for ransom in 1360 both Kings signed the Treaty of brittini a seeming end to the war England would get to keep an expanded territory of Aquitaine free and

clear Headed by Edward the black prince there were to be no more complications with Lord and vassal relationships with France in return the king of England was to renounce his claims to the throne this period of the war was called the Edwardian phase but nine years later in 1369 France had a new King Charles V or Charles the wise in just a few years he worked to retake the territory taken by the English The French armies dominated this period of the war which is named after the French King and lasted until 1389. Charles VI new

king of France and Richard II who took over from his grandfather Edward signed a truce that would last for over 25 years while England went through Henry IV and crowned Henry V in 1413 Charles VI was still King of France but had descended into madness so became known as Charles the mad With cracks in the French nobility and an ineffectual King King Henry launched another invasion in 1415. as he was part of the House of Lancaster a Cadet branch of the plantagenits this third phase was known as the lancastrian phase his first true test came

at Agincourt where he and his small Band of Brothers almost perished under the assault of the heavily armored French Knights but the English longbowmen saved the day Along with an assist from the weather and muddy conditions Henry was able to return to England and by 1420 he had returned to capture Normandy and Paris and was on his way to conquer France itself his marriage to Charles VI daughter Catherine of Valor cemented an heir that would unify the Thrones of England and France they had one child Henry VI but the entire war was about to be

turned on its Head just two years later in 1422 Henry died of dysentery a mere two months before Charles The Mad had died and his son Henry VI was still an infant so could not yet rule his Reign was then disputed and the title fell to Charles VI's only surviving son Charles the dolphin who still controlled southern France his actual coronation was only possible because of a very special young lady who Claimed to experience Divine voices and divine Visions all in service of a Divine mission beginning a year prior the siege of Orleans was France's

last gasp England was at the Pinnacle of its power and after a Siege of six months and two weeks central France was to fall but with the arrival of a French girl called Joan the maid French Spirit was revitalized and in just nine days the French broke the siege This is generally regarded as a watershed moment in the war as the French army slowly reconquered the territories taken by the English crushing them at Pate in 1429 and formini in 1450. in 1453 the Battle of castillon marked the final battle in the 100 Years War and

the loss of all English territories in France except for Caleb the maid of Orlean or Joan of Arc didn't see the French Victory as she was Captured by the burgundians allies of the English and was burned at the stake in 1431 accused of Witchcraft and heresy the verdict has since been nullified and she remains a saint in the Roman Catholic Church became known as Charles the Victorious and would rule France until 1461. his promotion of gunpowder weapons proved decisive in the French victories over the English once gunpowder came in from the East it Marked a

new age in Europe as castles were now vulnerable to canons and the armor of knights became less protective and more of a hindrance the image of the brave knight would begin to decline around this time as Lords and rulers began hiring their own more reliable professional armies instead of vassal nights this marked a shift away from the feudal system that would only continue into the next stage Church which reached its Zenith in the high Middle Ages began to decline as the period ended the centralized Kingdom of France was more able to challenge papal Supremacy in

the early 1300s King Philip IV flexed his muscle warring in Aquitaine and Flanders expelling the Jews and destroying the order of the Knights Templar having members burned at the stake his most famous struggle though was with The Pope Boniface VII to cement his monarchal powers Philip had imposed attacks on clergy members but Boniface insisted that monarchs had no jurisdiction to tax clergy members without papal approval so Philip did the only thing he could he kidnapped the Pope the pope was kept in France and beaten badly for days when he was eventually released his condition worsened

and soon after he was dead Philip then orchestrated another papal election and a Frenchman Clement V became the new pope claiming unrest in Rome Clement moved the papacy to Avignon in France and took up residence there this caused resentment in the western church as popes had always been linked to Rome through the papacy of Peter it led to much criticism and a devaluing of the church after numerous popes came and went it Was Pope Gregory XI the seventh and last avenin Pope who returned the papacy to Rome in 1377 after 70 years of papal courts

in France but this wasn't the end of the blow to papal prestige Gregory died the spring after his return in 1378 and it was time for the election of a new pope as the majority of cardinals were French the people of Rome were concerned they would simply vote for another Frenchman Who might take the papacy back to Avignon they wanted a Roman or at least an Italian with a lot of coaxing and a lot of threats the Cardinals chose the Archbishop of Barry a native Italian from the kingdom of Naples to be Pope Urban VI

but just a few months later the French Cardinals claimed the election was illegitimate and chose another man from France Clement VII to be the real Pope he moved to Avignon soon after and suddenly the Catholic church had two popes one in Rome and one at Avignon this became known as the Western Schism similar to the great schism that tore Catholic and Orthodox Christianity apart the Schism thoroughly divided Europe as France and its allies remained loyal and recognized the Avignon popes and England and its allies recognized the Roman popes This led to a reform movement known

as conciliarism which held that it was not the Pope that was supreme but the whole ecumenical council at the Council of Constance from 1414 to 1418 in Germany this was put into practice and the popes were made to resign or were deposed the council then elected a new pope in 1417 Martin V and established that the council not the pope had supreme authority over certain matters This would be the last papal election outside of Italy this ended the Western Schism but the concealer movement failed long term and popes began to reassert dominance but the damage

was done and the morality and Prestige of the church suffered dearly crisis after crisis had struck Europe during the late Middle Ages but From the Ashes there was a rebirth in Italy during the mid-1300s people Sought out new meaning apart from the church and found it in the older works of Classical Greece and Rome this rebirth came to be called the Renaissance the Italian city-states became more urbanized and more secular during the recovery period following the instability Italians became wealthy once again and chose to spend their wealth on more material or individualistic Pursuits This could

be seen with the rise of Renaissance humanism an intellectual movement focused on the nature and importance of humanity emerging from the study of the ancient classics Scholars attended University to study the liberal arts many of which came to be known as the humanities a poet and Renaissance scholar is credited for initiating this humanist movement he gathered Latin manuscripts from all Over and emphasized their teaching in classical Latin these humanists were still Christian but saw themselves as purifying and renewing the faith during the 1400s humanists would become more involved with politics and civil affairs they came

to hold prominent positions in the courts and as advisors Leonardo Bruni is regarded as the most influential humanist historian of the Early Renaissance and was the first recorded historian to divide history into the three segments of ancient Middle Ages and modern he also became one of the first Italian humanists to pursue the study of Classical Greece and translated the Greek works of Aristotle he also wrote the biographies of prominent figures like Petra can Dante Dante Alighieri lived earlier during the Middle Ages and is regarded as one of the most influential Italian writers and Perhaps one

of the foremost in the world his Divine Comedy and his depictions of Heaven purgatory and Hell have had profound influence on Western literature and Western Art boccaccio was another protra Nations writer and friend of petrarch his most famous works were the D Cameron a collection of short stories and concerning famous women biographies of both legendary and historical women like the goddess Minerva and Cleopatra Together Dante petrak and boccaccio are regarded as the three crowns literary Masters who laid the foundation of the humanist movement in Florence and influenced the development of a standardized Italian language women

of higher rank also partook in the intellectual humanist movement Esau to nagarola one of the first major female humanists would Inspire generations of writers and Poets Laura sarreta wrote about her personal Experiences as a critique against misogyny and is considered one of the first proto-feminist writers closely linked with Renaissance humanist philosophy was Renaissance art it was based on the art of classical Antiquity but mixed in more current scientific ideas human beings were to be the center of focus in this art style reflecting the more humanist ideals the founding of the Medici Bank brought Untold wealth

to Florence so it became a hotbed for artistic Minds the frescoes of masaccio a painter so named for his disheveled appearance are regarded as some of the first and finest pieces of art from the early Renaissance new measures for perspective were added and paintings became more natural and realistic a style which is aptly called naturalism or realism masaccio also brought about a new sense of expression and emotion to Art which Can be seen on this Fresco of Adam and Eve whose faces convey the extreme grief and shame of being expelled from the Garden of Eden

onlookers could stare at a painting and feel a sense of depth like their worlds were intertwined Filippo brunelleski a Florentine architect and designer and good friend of masaccio was thought to have developed this sense of linear perspective after visits to see the Storied ruins in Rome he became skilled at engineering and is considered a founding father of Renaissance architecture his most famous work was the building of the Dome on the Florence cathedral inspired by what he saw in Rome he also designed the Church of San Lorenzo in a more classical Style with classical columns and

more rounded arches a departure from the gothic art styles which had come to dominate One of masaccio and brunelleschi's friends who might have accompanied them to Rome during visits was a young sculptor named Donato di Nicolo but he is better known to us as Donatello he used his knowledge of classical scripture in his art creating two marvelous sculptures of David one made of marble for a religious setting and the other made of bronze displaying David in the nude this was the first freestanding piece of Nude male sculpture since antiquity these artists paved the way for

what was to come by around 1500 a short but exceptional period of art began artists had learned and built upon their predecessors leading to the part of the period that is more familiar to most the high Renaissance this was dominated by three artistic Masters regarded as the Pinnacle of humanist Ideals in Italy was Leonardo Da Vinci who built the foundations of the high Renaissance he was a polymath and excelled not just at painting but as an engineer scientist sculptor and architect Da Vinci built on the naturalism and realism of the early Renaissance to instead portray

humans in their ideal forms to do this he dissected and studied human cadavers In his journals there are also notes and depictions of human emotions babies in the womb animals rock formations war machines and even flying machines much of his work has been lost but he is mainly remembered for his paintings though the Mona Lisa and last supper are the most popular it was his silver toe Mundi that became the highest selling painting of all time in 2017 selling for 450 million American dollars one of his younger contemporaries and Major rival was the Italian sculptor

and painter Michelangelo he is most well known for his two famous sculptures pieta and his version of David both created before he was 30 years old he was also responsible for two of the most influential frescoes in Western Art the first painted from 1508 to 1512 was on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel the Fresco depicted nine scenes from The Book of Genesis in the Bible the central Piece being the creation of Adam the muscular figures portray the ideal human form and is meant to also reflect their inner beauty his other famous Fresco was the

last judgment which was just below the ceiling painting on the altar wall it portrays the final judgment and return of Christ with some of the Dead Rising to the heavens While others are not quite as lucky one of Michelangelo's Rivals was the Young Rafael who became a prodigy most well known for his Raphael rooms rooms featuring frescoes that rivaled Michelangelo's best works one of these rooms the room of the seniatura featured perhaps his most famous work the School of Athens the painting displays the harmony between Christian teachings and Greek philosophy and is the epitome of

the classical Spirit of the Renaissance the period of the Renaissance also saw a Shift in politics as the Modern Age approached with the adoption of portable firearms and private armies kings and queens were able to create stronger centralized governments and unify their Nations allowing for expansion and discovery historians have called these new monarchs the kingdom of France was left reeling after the devastation of the Hundred Years War but national pride was never Higher this made it easy for monarchs to Garner more power Charles VII had spent his Reign settling civil disputes and expelling the English

armies setting up France to become the foremost power on the continent King Louis XI son of Charles VII was known for his political machinations and devious conspiracies once you entered his web it wasn't long before you were devoured It was no wonder his nickname was Luna vercell Lorraine middle French 4 the universal spider as national pride was high he reformed the tax system and imposed permanent land and property taxes that gave him a continuous stream of Revenue England just off their defeat against France had problems at home for another 30 years as the cost of

the war put a strain on the English economy Henry V son Henry VI next in the Lancastrian line the boy who was almost king of United England and France proved to be an ineffectual and weak leader even at home challenging the throne aristocratic factions rose up under the house of York who like the lancasters were a Cadet branch of the plantagenits Henry was deposed twice dying under unclear circumstances in 1471 and replaced with Edward IV who ruled England unopposed for another 12 years Before his death in 1483. a seeming victory for the yorkists but the

war was not yet finished the heir to the throne was Edward's twelve-year-old son Edward V but he wouldn't even see coronation both he and his nine-year-old younger brother Richard Duke of York mysteriously vanished after lodging at the Tower of London it is widely accepted that their Uncle Richard had them murdered but there is no concrete Evidence it could have been someone from a rival house or they could have simply escaped and ran away though their Uncle Richard then took the crown as Richard III the story of the princes in the tower Still Remains a mystery

The Cloud of fog surrounding Richard's Assumption of the throne didn't sit well with many yorkists and there was a significant Uprising with many yorkists Rebelling and siding with the lancasters though this was put down the tides of War shifted in 1485 the walls of the Roses finally ended at the Battle of Bosworth when Henry Tudor from the Welsh House of Tudor and the House of Lancaster with a coalition of English Welsh Scottish and French troops defeated the yorkists and Richard III perished on the battlefield as both the houses of Lancaster and York now had no

legitimate male heirs both Houses became extinct and the house of plantagenet monarchs of England dating back 300 years earlier to the reign of Henry II and the angelvin Kings finally came to an end Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of the House of York putting an end to the Civil War and beginning the Tudor period of England's history Christian Spain was divided into a series of small Kingdoms in the north Slowly fighting to regain the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim armies during the Reconquista two of the most powerful of these Christian kingdoms

were Castile and Aragon the marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 was the first step in the unification of Spain and in just a few decades the reconquest was complete and Spain was on the way to creating one of the largest Empires the World had ever seen further east the duchy of Moscow would continue to grow underground Prince Ivan III Moscow was extended through Conquest as he seized the lands which would one day become a large empire was married to Sophia a Byzantine princess of the Imperial Palio logos family as Constantinople

was regarded as New Rome Ivan fashioned Moscow after it Referring to his city as The Third Rome he adopted the Byzantine Double Eagle as his Kingdom's coat of arms and in 1480 expelled the remnants of the golden horde at the Battle of the ugra OR greatstand at the ugra river gaining independence and marking the dawn of a new era for what would become the Russian state Italy wouldn't become United until later but was dominated by five different powers by the end of the medieval period In the North Venice remained an independent republic ruled by an

elected Doge and dominated the sea Lanes nearby the duchy of Milan was still officially part of the Holy Roman Empire but became centralized through a series of strong Dukes from the Visconti and swarza Families the Republic of Florence came about when the florentines formed an independent commune the Medici family gained governance of The city in 1434 and continued as Grand Dukes once it was turned into a monarchy by the Pope in 1569. in central and southern Italy remained the papal State and the kingdom of Naples though they were all strong in their own right they

still held a delicate balance of power between them but individually they were no match for the other Western centralized powers and Italy became the Battleground for the Italian Wars which saw France embroiled in conflict with Spain the Holy Roman Empire an alliance of Italian states once the Italian Wars finally ended France lay defeated and Spain regained their rule over southern Italy as well as the duchy of Milan and cemented themselves as a new dominant power in Europe during the Italian Wars an influential Italian author and Diplomat wrote a political Treatise that was so Influential that

he is considered the father of modern political philosophy and political science his name was Nicolo Machiavelli and his greatest work was El Principe or the prince it dealt with the means of acquiring maintaining and expanding political power it was in stark contrast to the chivalrous and princely ideals of the Middle Ages and claimed a ruler has the Right to lie deceive and use violence whenever necessary that the ends Justified the means and morality was just an obstacle it was controversial as some sort it as simply a realistic view of what politics had always been but

others saw it as a guide for new tyrants to learn from Machiavelli was the first Western thinker to justify this abandonment of morality [Music] In Central Europe the house of Habsburg founded during the 11th century would later come to prominence as archdukes of Austria Kings of Germany and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire although this title meant very little by this point once Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand died the Habsburg son of the Holy Roman Emperor was sent to marry their daughter their son together Charles would establish the beginnings of Habsburg Spain and it quickly

reached its apex under his rule he not only became Holy Roman Emperor withholdings in Northern Italy Austria and The Burgundian low countries but also the vast territories of the Spanish Empire which consisted of Iberia and southern Italy during the Italian Wars his European control gave him access to a large body of forces from all over the continent including German landsconnect Spanish Tercios Burgundian Knights an Italian condacieri by this time Charles Empire also consisted of lands abroad in what would be called the new world the age of Discovery awaits but that's a story we'll get to

in our next Mega documentary so be sure to subscribe [Music]