5. Insiders and Outsiders Flashcards
Rosenwein gives this chapter the title Ambitions Realised and Thwarted. Explain this title and why this phrase is an apt summary of the developments in the period 1150 – 1250. Supply examples to support your answer.
- several different groups had their ambitions thwarted
- key aganedas had been demonstrated through the 13th century yet none had been completed bar one , the ambitions of the the mongols were the only ones untouched and thereby by unaffected
Examples:
* King John, in england successfully managed to reclaim his French territories, to begin with , he had them confiscated by Philip as he claimed that John had defied his overlordship
* German emperor managed to bring an end to the civil war
* Gothic architecture had reflected the confidence of the church during this time
- However within 50 years abbusids had been outdone by the Mamluks- leading to the byzantines re-establishing and reconquering their empire
- John lost his hand on the recently regained French territories.
- Germany emperor had been prevented from lanting imperial rule on new land
- And the church had come to face the limits of control
- Most European ambition during this time especially expansionist ones had in fact failed
- King henry II destroyed what most English men and women as well as the church had built – as it reflected their want for political independence – which had been a key ambition of the peoples
- Magna carta had brought an end to the royal governments ambitions
In this period, especially in the West, the relationship between elites and rulers fluctuated. Politically we see a growth of central authority, but in a cultural and religious sense, other players and institutions come to the fore. Describe this process.
- Mongols had concentrated their power within the army as seen when Khan had established a tribe of support, these army detachment had been led by his nokers, his companions
- He also established a judicial apparatus
- Centering of power Henry created an aspects of common law, where inquiries were to be made on crime committed
- Also new system of solving civil cases that were to do with property ownership
- Contest between king hnery and the archbishop of cantenbury Thomas Becket – over Becket’s rights to recover ot alienate its own properity . Ensuing into a debate between them for the next six years, until Bekcett murdered by Henry’s henchmen
- When John lost to the French at the battle of Bouvines 1214, led to tension between the barrons who had been forced to pay tax to fund this war, supported by the gentry and the king when they rebelled against him. As a result forced him to seal the Magna Charter which defined the obligations and rights of the English elite and forbade the king from any alterations without consulting the barons themselves
- For the Spanish to rule their newly conquered peeced of land/territory they established a detailed set of laws that set out the rights of all societal groups
- Normans brought under french and although no common law est they set up administrative centres
- Frederick once establishing rule in northern Italy played no attention to their sensibilities and no respect to the fact that they worked as small states themselves. Only appointed offocials who spoke german and showed very little care for communal traditions.
- People along northen itlay set up a league against Frederick – the Lombard League. 1176 Lombard league defeat Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in northern Italy
- However he did bring reforms in Sicily comparable to those introduced on behalf of Henry – constitution sof melfi
- granted the princes to effectively rule their territories as states
- Sacramet established in the fourth lateran council gave priests jurisdiction over marital disputes
- New system adopted with agricultural settlement and peasants, dues had been recalculated, lords and easnats often turned services and dues into money rents, one a year, peasnats in turn gained more control over their plots, could sell them, or give out small proportions , thereby gave peasnats a new sense of identity and autonomy
- Magna Carta 1215 charter forced upon the king John by the barons that made him consult them more
- Henry II created common law that applied to the whole of England which increased royal authory throughout the whole country although clergy tried and church courts and henry claimed to have jurisdiction over church property disputes and appointments
Utrecht Urbanisation
14th 15th century bishop is In charge of the city they police the city and make regulations particularly for the harbour eg cant keep pigs unless on their own properties
Law code on pigs shows: urban regulation, consumption and craft, commerce, canals and trade, governance of the citym infrastructure, intervention in building and daily routine, conflict, health, living environment, sanitation and pollution, common interest
Urbanism definition
The process where cities are formed and grow, and through which higher percentages of the population come to live in the city.
Cities in Late Middle Ages
In the middle ages only 10% of population lived in cities. Some
urbanised regions reach 30-40%.
The main urbanisation happened in the 11th to 13th centuries.
Cities as power factor:
Relationship with sovereigns à
privileges
Cities as alternative form of
organization a tension and conflict
What is a city?
Legal
* Privileges & status
* Law & court
* Tax rights
Social, economic & cultural functions
* Node in networks à
dependency
* Spaces & architecture
* Education
* Material goods
Examples
Bunschoten (1940, arial view): city
rights in c. 1350, c. 500
-800 inhabitants in premodern era
Chang’an, capital of Tang Dynasty,
c. 600
-900 AD: c. 700.000
inhabitants: no city rights, no
separate urban institutions
How and why did cities
develop in Europe during the Middle Ages:
‘By 1200, almost all the cities of preindustrial Europe were in existence.’ Rosenwein
- Warmer weather
- Countryside developments 3 field system and technological development to gain more surplus of the land
- Relative peace so less threat of city being destroyed
- Political centralization
- Rise in population= rise in cities
Describe the process of Urbanization and commercial revolution
- Interest groups (local lords OR bottom-up) want to extend influence
and wealth - Commercial integration of Europe à specialization regions and
producers - Countryside and urbanization: mutual support
- New organizations and institutions
New organization and institutions
* Urban governments
* New representative bodies spain: cortes England: parliament
* Inside cities: guilds
* Education
Lubeck and hansa example of urbanization and commercial revolution
- Hanze merchant alliance with a long legacy 1260- 1264
- Each city had to protect the sea from pirates and other evildoers so that merchants can conduct business smoothly
- Anyone exiled from one city for a crime wont be accepted by another
- If a citizen is caught by pirate no one may ransom him
- If a lord besiges a hansa city no one may aid him in a way that may harm the city unless its his own lord
- If a man marries a woman in a certain city and his first wife appears claiming and provin through reliable witnesses that he is her legal husband his head will be cut off
Urbanization recap
- Commercial revolution connected Europe in an unprecedented way
- Demographic growth improvements in the countryside, better climate, political stability = new land use, products and trade
- 90% increase in cities by 1200
- Cities richer and powerful complicate political landscape
Urban- focused religious practices
- Mendicant orders (Franciscans and Dominicans early 13th century)
- City focused
- Begging and poverty ideal
- Preaching (with permission!) fine line between heresey
- Parish churches link with guilds eg alter with a boat
- Modern devotion (late 14th c especially low countries) more personal/ lay religious experience link literacy and schooling together
- Beguinage in low countries group of women living together even hundreds of them with their own house and churches are passionate and almost mistics which was sometimes considered problematic borderline heresey as too extreme especially as they aren’t officially nuns they cant be forced to stay
How were Jews treated in the 13 century
- Markings on clothings
- Conspiracy theories eg they posoined wells and killed babies
- Financial reprevussions
- Expulsions England 1290 and France 1306
Lepers
- Clapper does not warn but attract people
- Ambiguose attitude urban leapers houses
- Ambiguose poverty voluntary eg due to religion vs involuntary poor
Heretics
- Establishment of inquisistion eg people who want to improve the church but get labbled as heretics instead
- Incorrect views on transubstantiation, dualism
- Activities outside official structure
Sexuality
- Good (Marital, focused on procreation) vs illegal or unnatural practices like sodomy
- Danger of moral contagion society
