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Narratives : Europe : High Middle Ages http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrhma.html |
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The following account does not follow the story of an individual country or dynasty (for that, look into
History by Country. For particular events, look into the timeline.
Here, the focus is laid on common structures and developments. The reforms of 887/888 had established the model of the high medieval state, indivisible and with regulated succession, developing the first institutions (national church systems, with archbishop and national patron saint; state offices which derived from court offices, such as marshall (commander of the armed force), chancellor (responsible for royal correspondence and bookkeeping) etc. In the early 11th century, France, the Empire, England, Scotland, the Scandinavian Kingdoms (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), Bohemia and Hungary had introduced such a constitution. However, the political landscape of Christian northern Spain was amoebic, partitions and mergers of states continuing. Poland and Kievan Rus, according to Slavic tradition, followed a pattern in which the country was partitioned among the sons, which, in theory, remained to be one entity in which the oldest brother held the most prestigious principality and was a primus inter pares (the first among equals); this constitution, refered to as the Seniorate. Consequently, these countries lacked unity and failed to develop stable institutions; the christian states on the Iberian peninsula, for instance, frequently moved their capitals. The Christian Iberian Kingdoms, Poland and Kievan Rus were monarchies and Catholic; other countries, at that time, such as Ireland, Wales, the lands of the Wends, of the Prussians, Curonians, Estonians, Livonians, of the ancestors of the present Lithuanians, lacked national unity, in most cases were not monarchies and/ or still pagan. It has been stated that maps of Europe in 1000 and today bare a lot of similarities. Most of the christian kingdoms of 1000 became predecessors of modern states. Countries which lacked the institution of monarchy and Catholic church administration suffered conquest (mostly in the 11th or 12th century) and, in succession, centuries of foreign domination, the Lithuanians being the exception which developed a monarchy (a line of Grand Dukes) in the 14th century and accepted Catholicism in the 15th century. The indivisibility of the monarchy, in the Empire, France, England has been stated as a factor of political stability. This observation has to be relativized. While the concept that only the eldest son could inherit was generally accepted, there were two kinds of monarchies, hereditary monarchies and elective monarchies. In the Roman Kingdom (Empire) the elective principle was strong. When, during the Conflict of Investitures, popes declared the oath of allegiance of German princes to the excommunicated king respectively Emperor void, the princes proceeded to elect an antiking. Competition of two kings, both elected, were a regular feature of the Empire in the High Middle Ages. There were even a number of cases in which the son(s) of a king turned against their father (Empire : Henry V. against Henry IV.; England : sons against Henry II.). The institution of a constitution which stated the indivisibility of a country had been a necessity in times of an outside threat. On the other hand it was against the interest of the country's higher nobility, whose opportunities of gaining influence had been limited; the higher nobility was notoriously unreliable, willing to rebel. Conflicts between the monarchy and the higher nobility fill many of the pages in the history of the High Middle Ages. Kings, in order to reduce their dependence on the high nobility, have pursued a number of policies. For one, in their administration they have made much use of clergymen - them being celibate meant, they did not pursue dynastic interests of their own (or so it was assumed). Kings created a new service nobility - ministeriales (lower noblemen) who did not own large estates (many were drawn from the serf status) and depended on the king for their status and lands (fiefs). This new nobility is recognizable by the adjectives ('von', 'de'); some of these new-nobility families, such as the Habsburgs, were to become extraordinarily successful. A third royal policy was to lean on, to found more cities (13th century). A crucial factor shaping medieval Europe was the Catholic church, and, within the church organization, the monasteries. Until into the 11th century, there was only the Benedictine Order. The abbey at Cluny was to become the origin of the Church Reform Movement; the Cistercians, Premonstratensians were monks committed to reinvigorated monastic spirit; in the 13th century, new monastic orders, the Franciscan Order and Dominican Order emerged, reflecting a changing society, as they moved into cities. Monasteries, until into the 12th century, were complex organizations, among the best schools of their times (together with the cathedral schools), advanced economies which operated on the concept of division of labour (while the ordinary peasant of their times was a jack-of-all-trades, and cities had not found an economic niche in society, at least to the north of the Alps) yet. So the lay brethren of monasteries produced quality products not available elsewhere, and the monasteries supplied the royal court with these. The monastic concept was so successful, that most monasteries - despite severe restrictions on lifestyle (poverty, chastity) could afford to accept only nobles as novices. Early during the Crusades, when conflicts among ambitious crusaders threatened the success of the enterprise, Militant Orders were founded, following the model of monastic orders. Orders such as the Knights Templar, the Knights of St. John, the Teutonic Knights, demanded of their brethren obedience, poverty, chastity - and to fight against infidels. These orders were largely responsible for the success of the crusades ( Crusader States in Palestine were held for almost 200 years, from 1099 to 1291). The Church Reform Movement, originating from the abbey of Cluny in the late 10th century, not only criticized deficiencies of society, but also emphasized the state of monasteries, a lack of discipline, in part explained by monks taking charge for too many tasks, education, running an advanced economy, taking care of state administration and diplomacy, and demanded monks to be freed to take care of their prime duty, to worship. So many lay brethren moved into cities and founded guilds, no more producing for the monastery, but for a market. Cities now became the center of the economy; the 12th and 13th centuries saw a boom in cities; existing cities grew, many more cities were founded (Urban Revolution. The monasteries, as the most reknown schools of their times, were succeeded by Universities. When Catholic christianity was introduced, monarchy and Catholic hierarchy supported each other; usually, the conversion of the King meant the people had to convert, too. The Church hierarchy, on the other hand, strengthened the position of the king against opposition within the country. There were two areas of law, secular law (a combination of popular law and regal law) and church law, also refered to as canonic law. The Church Reform Movement criticized abuses in society, such as many feuds disrupting peace, which it addressed with Treuga Dei (the Truce of God), and lay investiture. Because bishops were essential in royal administration, kings, in violation of canonic law, interfered in the appointment of bishops. When protagonists of the Church Reform Movement were elected pope, they soon were involved in the Conflict of Investitures with the Empire. This conflict was not a matter of principle, but had political reasons - the Empire had absorbed the Kingdoms of Italy (1004), Burgundy (1033), Bohemia, the lands of the Wends, at times threatened to absorb Denmark, in 1194 absorbed the Kingdom of Sicily, thus threatened to establish hegemony in Europe and threatened the independence of the popes as secular rulers. Lay investiture in France and England, at the same time, was tolerated by the Reform Popes. The Conflict of Investitures is widely regarded as the climax of the High Middle Ages. Both Emperors and Popes ended up as losers; in 1254 the Staufer Dynasty ended; the Empire went through the Interregnum, a period of nominal rulers, the elective principle won out over the hereditary principle, and, beginning with Rudolf von Habsburg 1279-1291, a series of kings without much of a power base was elected. The power of the Empire's princes grew, at the expense of the kings/emperors. The papacy, on the other hand, with the defeat of the threat posed by the Salian and Staufer emperors, had lost in reputation among Europe's monarchs. The abduction of Pope Clement V. to France in 1307, him being pressured to declare the Knights Templar heretics in order to permit King Philip IV. of France to enrich himself, serves to illustrate this decline. The feudal society of Europe, in c.1000, entered on a major expansion. This expansion had a number of features; monasteries spread into areas perviously uncovered or less densely covered by such institutions, bringing education, crafts, agricultural techniques. They often also brought in peasants with the skill to till heavy clay soil, what the Slavic peasants of eastern Europe, only recently converted to christianity, had not been capable of (Ostsiedlung), resulting in the immigration of ethnic German settlers into Slavic lands. Settlers from the Netherlands (Flanders, Holland, Friesland) were called in when swamps were to be drained. The cultivation of wilderness went on practicallu anywhere in Europe north of the Alps and Pyrenees (inner colonization). In the 12th and 13th centuries, cities mushroomed, becoming an essential element of the later high medieval economy and society (Urban Revolution). The nobility also looked for expansion, the crusades being an opportunity for noblemen to acquire new lands by conquest. The reason why the later crusades did not aim at Palestine was simple - the lands in Palestine had already been carved up (although many were not held by their claimants). If Egypt or Tunis were conquered, the land could be split up among the conquerors, without prior claims to be considered. The Church Reform Movement, the Crusades are features of a vigorous spirit; nobility, during the crusades, accepted the ideal of Chivalry and thus redefined itself. The construction of huge Cathedrals, dominating features in medieval cityscapes, were the visible expression of great ambition and of progress. |
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This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted on May 17th 2004 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics |
