![]() While the traditional feudal economy was solely based on agriculture in the countryside, a new premodern economy was evolving by 1100. These innovations increased crop production and population sizes in Europe. European Economic DevelopmentĪs Europeans interacted with other regions, they adopted new agricultural techniques, such as the three-field system of crop rotation, and foreign agricultural technologies, such as iron plows, watermills, and horse harnesses. The growth of power in both monarchies, especially in terms of collecting taxes and organizing professional armies, contributed to the decline of feudalism in Western Europe. The French monarchy gained greater power as the formerly loosely bound kingdom centralized in order to prosecute the war. Both kingdoms developed their national identities due to their long-running clash with one another, with France gaining a national heroine in Joan of Arc. This conflict resulted in England losing its possessions in continental Europe save for Calais in northern France, and it led to a rejection of French culture in England. Food shortages were so severe that widespread incidents of cannibalism and of children being abandoned may have provided the basis for fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel.įrom 1337 to 1453, the English and French fought the Hundred Years’ War. The Great Famine of 1315–1317 killed millions across Europe. Crop yields shrank and food prices rose as nations like France experienced their first famines in centuries. The end of the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from roughly 950 to 1250, meant that the European climate cooled. Monks preserved classical knowledge by hand-copying great works of literature and philosophy. These sites often maintained large landholdings and served as refuges for individuals in need. Monasteries, building complexes where monks dwelled, also developed throughout Europe. The Roman Catholic Church developed a strong hierarchy, which consisted of a pope, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests. European Cultural DevelopmentĬhristianity was the principal source of religious, moral, and cultural authority throughout the Middle Ages, and strong papal leadership contributed to this authority. In many towns and villages throughout Russia, serfdom functionally continued until the Communist Revolution in 1918. The development of serfdom there firmly anchored the peasantry to the land they worked. ![]() In Eastern Europe, feudalism developed along more stringent lines than in France. The Italian city-states boasted a feudalism that was more socially fluid, with birth not necessarily cementing social status. ![]() The Magna Carta, written in 1215, outlined specific rights and duties that the monarchy, English nobility, and Church all had to observe. English feudalism developed along different, more organizationally cohesive lines. French feudalism perhaps best fits the classic decentralized model described above. There were regional variations that are important to distinguish. However, feudalism was not a uniform system. Noblewomen had more power and authority than peasant women and could inherit land if they were widowed or without sons. Women also entered convents, where some women could exercise leadership skills. Marriage was the key to political power, and marital alliances were crucial to a family’s continued social success. ![]() They had private armies served by knights.īirth largely determined one’s social status. They maintained mills, bakeries, and breweries. Lords’ estates became large, walled manors that were economically self-sufficient. ![]() In addition, serfs paid taxes for using their lord’s mill, provided labor during agricultural off-seasons, and sent gifts on holidays to their lords. Serfs could keep a portion of their harvests, but they sent the majority of their earnings to their lord. These peasants became serfs they had the right to work a portion of the land and could pass that right on to their children, but they could not leave their land. The absence of a strong central authority led many peasants to seek protection on large estates. By the thirteenth century, the Church owned approximately one- third of Western European land. The one centralizing power in this period was the Roman Catholic Church and its ruler, the pope. This system allowed various lords and vassals to compete for power, in the absence of central authority. Instead, Europe developed a system of feudalism, in which lords gave lands to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty. Read on for key events, periods, and developments in European history to prepare for success on the AP World History: Modern Exam.Įurope During the Late Middle Ages European Political DevelopmentĬompared to Byzantium, China, and the Islamic world, Western Europe remained politically decentralized following the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. Early European history set the stage for the significant world developments to follow. ![]()
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