Abstract An outline of the early medieval period, which saw the rise of new kingdoms in Western Europe. The paper discusses the rise and development of the CarolingianEmpire. It also provides special attention to the economic and social structure that came from the collapsed Roman Empire and the Barbarian kingdoms.
From the Paper "In the pre-Christian era, the German tribes migrated from the northern Europe to the Roman Empire and occupied the northern lands. There were clashes between the German tribes and the Romans who considered them intruders into their lands and called them "barbarians". The collapse of the Roman Empire enabled the German tribes to explore the Western Roman Empire. There were three basic factions of these German tribes-Germanic Lombards who settled in northern and central Italy, Anglo-Saxons in Britain, And Franks in Gaul (France). The Frankish kingdoms later became one of the new western European civilizations."
Abstract In this paper, the evolution of feudalism and the manorial system of serfdom takes on different perspectives in a changing medievalEurope. In many ways, both systems were used in a somewhat closely related land-bound slavery, which cost the nobles of Europe a great deal of productivity, limiting their growth potential. However, with the advent of money, the value of land and those that worked the land changed, as the laboring classes were able to become free to work for hire for money.
From the Paper "Economic Studies: Understanding the Economic Evolution of Feudalism, Manorialism and Serfdom in the Medieval Era This economic study will examine the economic apparatus that helped to forge the feudal and manorial systems among the ruling elites of Europe during the medieval period. Furthermore, the hierarchy of class structure in this evolution will be examined to show how serfdom worked from the early Carolingian times to the 15th century. In this manner, the economic changes after the fall of the Roman Empire in regards to feudalism, manorial and the ever-changing class structures that existed within the early to late medieval period will be examined."
Abstract This paper examines how the CarolingianEmpire, which united most of Western Europe under one ruler in the late eighth century AD, was based on the domination of the Franks, including some of the greatest European kings who ever ruled. It focuses on the rule of Charlemagne and how his reign is considered the apogee of the empire for several reasons. It looks at how he conquered much of Europe, promoted the spread of Christianity and generally improved his people's way of life.
From the Paper "Like Clovis I, Charlemagne was a devout Christian and a firm believer in education and therefore was a great supporter of both the clergy and faculty. "Charlemagne practised the Christian religion with great devotion and piety, for he had been brought up in this faith since earliest childhood" (Einhard, 104). He built a great Cathedral, called Holy Mother of God in Aachen and donated a great deal of money and relics to monasteries, churches and other religious institutions. He often personally chose which person would be appointed to a given position within the church, based on how wise and virtuous the candidates were. Not only did he further and improve religion in his own realm, by conquering other territories he spread Christianity's influence."
Abstract This paper is a book report on the book "The Oxford Illustrated History of MedievalEurope", edited by George Holmes and containing six essays on different aspects of the history and culture of the medieval period in the Mediterranean region and in Northern Europe.
Abstract A discussion of the lack of source material available when exploring the lives of women in medievalEurope. It focuses on the book by Emilie Amt, "Women's Lives in MedievalEurope". It explains that most of the material available was written from a male perspective and that a true history of these women's lives is hard to come by.
From the Paper "Out of necessity, history or an ?aggregate of past events,? must be built primarily on written materials. Oral histories and storytelling can provide input on a specific period of time. Yet, one can only assume that that the facts are altered through the generations from one tale relating to another. Of course, no one can assume that everything or even almost everything that is written is true. Just look at the variety of materials on the Internet to clarify that! However, some written materials are accurate, or nearly so, and give historians a place to start."
Abstract This paper considers the role of royal medieval women, including their political and religious influence. The author presents a country by country analysis of royal families in medievalEurope, explaining the traditions of succession in each of these countries, and whether or not women could ascend to the throne in these kingdoms. The author concludes that women had political weight during this time. They contributed, even if sometimes indirectly, to the evolution of the states where they lived and they made themselves a place in history.
From the Paper "The queens of medieval Western Europe were present in almost each and every state, from the Scandinavian kingdoms to Spain and from England to Hungary. Their power was sometimes only in name, other times they had the real attributes of the kings. They got involved in political battles and plots, being (in some of the cases) real partners of their kings and having specific duties or true rulers, in name and in fact, of their empire. The medieval Byzantium is a stage for powerful empresses, from Theodora, in the sixth century and Irene, in the eighth to Anne of Savoy, in the fourteenth century. The first two empresses played an important part in the iconoclastic debate, their role being grounded in the "interstices of Byzantine society, in myths, in liturgical practices and religious beliefs and the symbols surrounding them, which they could draw upon" . Acting on two contemporary "stages" - the religious influence and the direct ruling, the empresses of the Eastern Roman Empire constituted exceptional figures, influencing and directing the politics of their times."
Abstract The paper researches the history of the Jewish community in MedievalEurope, particularly in the areas dominated by the Christian rulers and the Church. The paper examines the discrimination and cruel prosecution of the Jews, and the reasons behind this persecution. The paper gives specific examples of their periodic persecution and also discusses their treatment by the Muslim rulers in Spain.
Table of Contents:
The Root Cause of the Bias Against Jews
Jews in the Early Middle Ages
(i) Jewish Community in the Iberian Peninsula
(ii) Money Lending Jews and Isolated Existence
(iii) Prosecution During Crusades
(iv) Later Middle Ages
From the Paper "Although the Christian crusades in the Middle Ages were primarily directed against their arch enemies--the Muslims, they frequently degenerated into massacres of an easier target--the Jewish communities in Europe. For example, during the First Crusade in 1096 AD, the German crusaders on their way to the East, turned on the flourishing Jewish communities on the Rhine and the Danube and utterly destroyed them."
This paper examines why Italian cities in medieval times developed at a faster rate than other European cities, becoming the richest in medievalEurope, possibly the world.
Abstract This paper looks at the reasons behind the huge development of medieval Italian cities in relation to the rest of Europe. These factors include: Their superior organization, military history, geographical advantages in terms of trade and commerce and the unique form of government dividing the country into city states.
From the Paper "Medieval times saw an expansion in city life all across Europe, but nowhere more so than in Italy. As early as the tenth century, Italian towns, though still inferior to those in the East, had become far larger than those in other Catholic European countries. From 1100-1250, the population of many Italian cities grew considerably, rising from around 5,000-6,000 people to between 30,000-40,000. This was because of a number of factors, most notably the commercial revolution and explosion of trade, which Italy was in a unique position to exploit, due, among other things, to her history and geographical location."
Abstract Discusses theories to explain witchdraft and its persecutions in MedievalEurope. Political & religious factors. Social conditions of the time. Role of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Church's replacement of witch hunts for the Crusades as a means of creating a common enemy. Contends main purpose of witch hunts was social control. How the witch hunts operated & specific examples. Methods of the Inquisitors.
From the Paper "In the Medieval period witchcraft emerged from relative obscurity into the forefront of the European social consciousness. The witch-hunts of the Medieval period had the dual effect of demonstrating the power of the Catholic church and the removal of many marginal groups within European society. While the persecution of witches began in the Medieval period, it extended well beyond that, and the period of the greatest persecution was between 1500-1700 A.D. In that period, men and women suspected of being witches were executed by the thousands, but whether they were witches, or even if witches existed, is something that is still the subject of much debate.
There are several theories to explain medieval witchcraft and its persecution, four of which are identified by Jeffrey Russell..."
Abstract This paper examines ideas about power in three medieval texts: "The Song of Roland", "Jocelin of Brakelond: Chronicle of the Abbey of Burn St. Edmunds, "The Murder of Charles the Good". The main idea in all three texts is that power can be used to justify any action. The paper discusses the argument of the three texts in connection with Machiavelli's "The Prince".
From the Paper "One of the most useful things that we can learn from history is how little changes from one century to the next at least in some arenas of society. This is certainly true for the ways that power is used for we see in TheS ong of Roland Jocelin of Brakelond ..."
Abstract This paper looks at the greatness of the Emperor Charlemagne and examines ways in which the Carolingianempire was governed. The writer discusses that one of the reasons that the Emperor Charlemagne was so beloved by the Carolingian people he ruled, was that he showed compassion towards the peoples he conquered, seldom manifest during the era. The writer also notes that Emperor Charlemagne demonstrated an administrative balance between the needs of the governing state and the demands of the powerful Christian church. Using references to works on medieval literature, the writer discusses how Emperor Charlemagne was said to embody the perfect balance between Christian and secular demands in ruling an empire.
From the Paper "However, despite the general respect for Charlemagne, controversies were still rife during this era. The ninth century eventually became a pivotal epoch in terms of the influence of religion upon government and the development of Medieval Christendom, only tenuously resolved by Charlemagne. The collapse of Charlemagne's Empire, the onset of the Viking invasions proved politically divisive in terms of governance and there were also were the many doctrinal controversies inherent to Christianity of the period to further tear apart Christians. The Archbishop of Rheims, Hincmar took a very strong stand against the absolutist stance of papal monarchy or kingly rule--like Charlemagne, he attempted to strike a balance between the two authorial needs of Rome and kings."
Abstract This paper discusses the notion that architects and artists working in medievalEurope borrowed ideas from all the cultures surrounding the Mediterranean or coming across the central European mountain ranges. The paper presents examples of this cross-culturalism, with a focus on Islam being the most influential of the cultural donors to medieval art and architecture. The paper contends that, although these examples do not definitively trace any single aspect of Islam into Western ecclesiastical art, they do serve as an indication that it is impossible to consider any medieval art, no matter how isolated we think Europe of the Middle Ages must have been, without considering the very substantial trade, not to mention wars and incursions, that made the traditions of one culture available to the others.
From the Paper "In addition, the precursors of Islamic art and architecture?elements that continued to inform their vision throughout their expansion into Spain and later, via their export to "corporate" Europe by returning Crusaders?cannot be surgically removed from any consideration of so-called Islamic influences on medieval European art and architecture. Rather, they must be viewed as a substrate that upheld the Islamic vision by virtue of continuous adherence in the society in which Islam was born, and therefore as an unbroken line into the monastic traditions of medieval Europe. It was, moreover, the monastic tradition that formed the bedrock on which all other medieval art and architecture achievements were based; the monasteries were the repositories, after all, of the learning that would otherwise have been lost."
Abstract This paper examines how in "Medieval Stereotypes and Modern Antisemitism", Robert Chazan addresses the complexities of modern antisemitism within a broader historical context. It looks at how he notes in his introduction, that critical analyses of antisemitism and anti Judaism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries confidently rooted these prejudices within the complex political and religious relations of medieval Christian Europe. However the Nazi Holocaust of the twentieth century compelled a radical revision of these earlier assumptions with many commentators arguing that modern antisemitism must be dissociated from the anti Judaism of medievalEurope.
From the Paper "In Medieval Stereotypes and Modern Antisemitism Robert Chazan addresses the complexities of modern antisemitism within a broader historical context. As he notes in his introduction, critical analyses of antisemitism and anti-Judaism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had confidently rooted these prejudices within the complex political and religious relations of medieval Christian Europe. However, the Nazi Holocaust of the twentieth century compelled a radical revision of these earlier assumptions, with many commentators arguing that modern antisemitism must be dissociated from the anti-Judaism of medieval Europe (Chazan ix-x). "
This essay talks about society before, during and after the Black Plague that swept through Europe in 1348. It covers a broad range of cultural aspects affected from class structure to medical theories to religion to city planning.
Abstract This paper discusses society in medievalEurope and the effects the Black Plague of 1348 had on it. The writer discusses society beforehand, noting the population explosion shortly before it hit. The writer briefly talks about the pathology of the disease and discusses some theories as to what the Black Plague was actually caused by (recent theories rule out the bubonic plague alone). The paper also discusses the impact the plague had on medical theories and also the method used by doctors and surgeons. The paper then analyzes the ways in which people of different classes reacted to the plague and the precautions everyday people took to prevent the disease from afflicting them. Noted are also the the religious shifts in dogma, the religious groups that emerged out of the plague and the class system before and after the plague. Lastly the writer discusses the changes in the arts because of the plague, and how it ultimately affected medievalEurope to the point of it stirring the beginnings of the Renaissance almost 200 years later.
From the Paper "To truly understand the devastation caused by the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century, one need only look at the writing of Agnolo di Tura, a Tuscan chronicler of the time: I do not know where to begin to tell of the cruelty and the pitiless ways. It seemed that almost everyone became stupefied by seeing the pain. And it is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth.... [T]he victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in their groins and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight?. [T]hey died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. And I, Agnolo di Tura"buried my five children with my own hands"And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world (qtd. Gottfried 45). This horrific pestilence, wiping out an estimated third of the entire population of Europe, has been claimed by many scholars to mark a transition in medieval society, affecting everything from art to wages to religious thought. The point of this essay is to try and highlight the more obvious trends that arose in post-plague society and to demonstrate how, at the very least, these trends may be direct effects of arguably the worst natural disaster in recorded history. "
Abstract This research paper discusses the collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire in 1989-91 and the future of Eastern Europe after Soviet domination. The paper concludes that the events of 1989 marked the end of the communist revolution. For more than forty years, the West had contained the Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain, while the inherent faults of Soviet communism, embodied in the flawed policies of its leadership, brought about the inevitable collapse of the Soviet empire. The author discusses the fall of communism which presented humanity with a historic chance to progress a few feet forward. The author argues that only when democracy and capitalism reach the roots of society, however, can these ideas blossom into true positive change in the post-communist world.
From the paper:
"What happened in 1989 was not a revolution itself, but actually the final nail in the coffin of a revolution. The fall of the Soviet Union represented the end of a forty-year challenge to democracy and market capitalism, both of which had already been established as the status quo (at least of Europe, the main "battlefield" of the Cold War). The revolution of western democracy and capitalism began in 1642 in England where the first popular rebellion against a monarchy brought about the execution of King Charles I. Less than a decade later, Thomas Hobbes, at least partially inspired by the upheaval in England, published his famous work Leviathan. Although he advocated submission to the absolute supremacy of the state, Hobbes was not concerned whether that state was ruled by a king or a parliament, and this non-commitment to monarchy laid the intellectual foundations for the development of democratic political theory. John Locke soon bridged the gap between Hobbes? realism and what would become liberalism with the ideas of majority rule, natural rights, property rights, and the responsibility of the state to uphold these ideals. Montesquieu added the issues of separated and balanced governmental powers, and Rousseau defended self-determination and civil liberty. Adam Smith introduced the world to comparative advantage and put forth the belief that the ability of every citizen to make his own economic choices created the most prosperous economy. The ideas of these philosophers, along with Madison, Jefferson, Ricardo, and ?the rest,? inspired more revolutions in America in 1776, France in 1789, across Europe in 1848, and again in American in 1860."
