High Middle Ages

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High Middle Ages
Europe and Mediterranean region
Large map
Europe and the Mediterranean region, c. 1190
The Crusades
Small map

Central Europe

Ascanian
domains in Germany about 1176

The High Middle Ages, or high medieval period, was the

European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 1500 (by historiographical convention).[1]

Key historical trends of the High Middle Ages include the

series of calamities, most notably the Black Death
, but also numerous wars as well as economic stagnation.

From around 780, Europe saw the last of the

Serbia and Bulgaria and to a successor crusader state (1204 to 1261), who continually fought each other until the end of the Latin Empire. The Byzantine Empire was reestablished in 1261 with the recapture of Constantinople
from the Latins, though it was no longer a major power and would continue to falter through the 14th century, with remnants lasting until the mid 15th century.

In the 11th century, populations north of the

Muslim control, and the Normans
conquered southern Italy, all part of the major population increases and the resettlement patterns of the era.

The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual and

peak in the 12th century. In architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals
were built or completed around this period.

The

Crisis of the Late Middle Ages
began at the start of the 14th century and marked the end of the period.

Historical events and politics

Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings during the Norman Conquest

Great Britain and Ireland

Main articles: England in the High Middle Ages, Scotland in the High Middle Ages, History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages, and Lordship of Ireland

In England, the

English monarchs
.

Iberia

See also: Spain in the Middle Ages and Reconquista
Miniature representing the delivery of the fortress of Uclés to the Master of Order of Santiago in 1174

A key geo-strategic development in the

Almohads from northern Africa featured volatile state structures.[16] Barring (unsuccessful) attempts to take Toledo, Almoravids and Almohads did not stand out for carrying out an expansionist policy.[17]

Italy

Main article: Italy in the Middle Ages

In Italy, with the Norman conquest, the first great and powerful state was formed, the Kingdom of Sicily with hereditary monarchy. Subsequently joined to the Holy Roman Empire, it had its moment of maximum splendor with the emperor Frederick II.

In the rest of Italy, independent city states grew affluent on Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade. These were in particular the thalassocracies of Pisa, Amalfi, Genoa and Venice, which played a key role in European trade from then on, making these cities become major financial centers.[18]

Scandinavia

Main articles:
Early Swedish history, and North Sea Empire

From the mid-10th to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of

Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway. After Cnut's death in 1035, England and Norway were both lost, and with the defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man, while Sweden, under Birger Jarl, built up a power-base in the Baltic Sea. However, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway
between 1130 and 1240.

France and Germany

Main article: France in the Middle Ages
France and Germany in the middle ages
Left: France in the 12th century. Right: The Holy Roman Empire between 1200 and 1250

By the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. France pushed to the west. The Angevin Empire controlled much of France in the 12th century and early 13th century until the French retook much of their previous territory.

Germany

Main article:
Germany in the Middle Ages

By the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was significantly more eastern. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, which reached its high-water mark of unity and political power under Kaiser Frederick Barbarossa.

Georgia

Main article: Georgian Golden Age

During the successful reign of King

Russia on the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Georgia remained a leading regional power until its collapse under the Mongol
attacks within two decades after Tamar's death.

Hungary

Main article:
Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages
King Saint Stephen I of Hungary.

In the High Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary (founded in 1000), became one of the most powerful medieval states in central Europe and Western Europe. King Saint Stephen I of Hungary introduced Christianity to the region; he was remembered by the contemporary chroniclers as a very religious monarch, with wide knowledge in Latin grammar, strict with his own people but kind to foreigners. He eradicated the remnants of the tribal organisation in the Kingdom and forced the people to sedentarize and adopt the Christian religion. He founded the Hungarian medieval state, organising it politically into counties using the Germanic system as a model.

The following monarchs usually kept a close relationship with Rome, such as Saint

Carpathian region. During medieval times, the Hungarian
royal house contributed the most saints to the Catholic Church .

Lithuania

Main article: Grand Duchy of Lithuania

During the High Middle Ages Lithuania emerged as a Duchy of Lithuania in the early 13th century, then briefly becoming the Kingdom of Lithuania from 1251 to 1263. After the assassination of its first Christian king Mindaugas Lithuania was known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Unconquered during the Lithuanian Crusade, Lithuania itself rapidly expanded to the East due to conquests and became one of the largest states in Europe.

Poland

Poland under the rule of Duke Mieszko I between c. 960 - 992
Main articles: History of Poland in the Middle Ages and History of Poland during the Piast dynasty

In the mid-10th century Poland emerged as a duchy after

Polans, conquered the surrounding Lechitic tribes in the region. Then in 1025 under the rule of Bolesław I the Brave
, Poland became a kingdom.

Southeast Europe

Pontic steppes
, c. 1015
Main articles:
Croatia in the union with Hungary

The High Middle Ages saw the height and decline of the Slavic state of

Mongol invasion in the 13th century had great impact on the east of Europe
, as many countries of the region were invaded, pillaged, conquered and/or vassalized.

During the first half of this period (c. 1025—1185) the

Seljuks and the rising Ottoman Empire in the 14–15th century. The power of the Latin Empire, however, was short-lived after the Crusader army was routed by Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople (1205)
.

Climate and agriculture

Main article: Medieval Warm Period

The

alcohol consumption inspired a viticulture revolution of progress.[19] This protection from famine allowed Europe's population to increase, despite the famine in 1315 that killed 1.5 million people. This increased population contributed to the founding of new towns and an increase in industrial and economic activity during the period. They also established trade and a comprehensive production of alcohol. Food production also increased during this time as new ways of farming were introduced, including the use of a heavier plow, horses instead of oxen, and a three-field system that allowed the cultivation of a greater variety of crops than the earlier two-field system—notably legumes
, the growth of which prevented the depletion of important nitrogen from the soil.

The rise of chivalry

Main article: Chivalry

During the High Middle Ages, the idea of a Christian warrior started to change as Christianity grew more prominent in Medieval Europe. The Codes of Chivalry promoted the ideal knight to be selfless, faithful, and fierce against those who threaten the weak.[20] Household heavy cavalry (knights) became common in the 11th century across Europe, and tournaments were invented. Tournaments allowed knights to establish their family name while being able to gather vast wealth and renown through victories. In the 12th century, the Cluny monks promoted ethical warfare and inspired the formation of orders of chivalry, such as the Templar Knights. Inherited titles of nobility were established during this period. In 13th-century Germany, knighthood became another inheritable title, although one of the less prestigious, and the trend spread to other countries.

Religion

Christian Church

Main article: Christianity in the Middle Ages

The

Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, mainly over disagreement over the filioque, an addition to the creed concerning the origin of the Holy Spirit, as well as disputes as to the existence of papal authority over the four Eastern patriarchs
, use of unleavened bread in the liturgy, and fasting days.

Crusades

Main article: Crusades
After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The Catholic Crusades occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were conducted under papal authority, initially with the intent of reestablishing Christian rule in The Holy Land by taking the area from the Muslim

Seljuk Turks in 1073 and recaptured it in 1098, just before they lost it again in 1099 as a result of the First Crusade
.

Military orders

Main article: Military order (religious society)

In the context of the crusades, monastic military orders were founded that would become the template for the late medieval

chivalric orders
.

The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded after the First Crusade to help protect Christian pilgrims from hostile locals and highway bandits. The order was deeply involved in banking, and in 1307 Philip the Fair (Philippine le Bel) had the entire order arrested in France and dismantled on charges of alleged heresy.

The

military order that was charged with the care and defence of the Crusader states. After the Holy Lands were eventually taken by Muslim forces, it moved its operations to Rhodes, and later Malta
.

The

Poland. The Teutonic Knights' power hold, which became considerable, was broken in 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald
, where the Order suffered a devastating defeat against a joint Polish-Lithuanian army. After Grunwald, the Order declined in power until 1809 when it was officially dissolved. There were ten crusades in total.

Scholasticism

Main article: Scholasticism
Albert Magnus. Right: Thomas Aquinas

The new

Victorines
.

Golden age of monasticism

Mendicant orders

Main article: Mendicant orders
  • The 13th century saw the rise of the
    Mendicant orders
    such as the:
    • Franciscans
      (Friars Minor, commonly known as the Grey Friars), founded 1209
    • Carmelites
      (Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel, commonly known as the White Friars), founded 1206–1214
    • Dominicans (Order of Preachers, commonly called the Black Friars), founded 1215
    • Augustinians (Hermits of St. Augustine, commonly called the Austin Friars), founded 1256

Heretical movements

Christian

Cathars). Some Catholic monastic leaders, such as Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscans, had to be recognized directly by the Pope so as not to be confused with actual heretical movements such as the Waldensians
.

Cathars

Cathars being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209
Main article: Catharism

Catharism was a movement with

Roman Catholic Church as heretical. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its origination was in Languedoc
and surrounding areas in southern France.

The name Cathar stems from

Eckbert von Schönau
who wrote on heretics from Cologne in 1181: "Hos nostra Germania catharos appellat." ([In] our Germany [one] calls these [people] "Cathars".)

The Cathars are also called Albigensians. This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the southern town of Albi (the ancient Albiga). The designation is hardly exact, for the centre was at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts.

The Albigensians were strong in southern France, northern Italy, and the southwestern Holy Roman Empire.

The

Southeastern Europe, and became the official religion supported by the Bosnian kings
.

Waldensians

Main article: Waldensians

Peter Waldo of Lyon was a wealthy merchant who gave up his riches around 1175 after a religious experience and became a preacher. He founded the Waldensians which became a Christian sect believing that all religious practices should have strictly scriptural bases. Waldo was denied the right to preach his sermons by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which he did not obey and continued to speak freely until he was excommunicated in 1184. Waldo was critical of the Christian clergy saying they did not live according to the word. He rejected the practice of selling indulgences (simony), as well as the common saint cult practices of the day.

Waldensians are considered a forerunner to the

Reformed tradition after the views of John Calvin and his theological successors in Geneva
proved very similar to their own theological thought. Waldensian churches still exist, located on several continents.

Trade and commerce

Lübeck, de facto capital of the Hanseatic League

In Northern Europe, the Hanseatic League, a federation of free cities to advance trade by sea, was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck, which would later dominate the League, in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became Hanseatic cities, including Amsterdam, Cologne, Bremen, Hanover and Berlin. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges and the Polish city of Gdańsk (Danzig), as well as Königsberg, capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In Bergen, Norway and Veliky Novgorod, Russia the league had factories and middlemen. In this period the Germans started colonising Europe beyond the Empire, into Prussia and Silesia.

In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione. He was followed by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, André de Longjumeau, Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de' Marignolli, Giovanni di Monte Corvino, and other travellers such as Niccolò de' Conti.

Science

Main articles:
Science in the Middle Ages and Medieval medicine of Western Europe
Further information: List of medieval European scientists
A map of medieval universities and major monasteries with library in 1250

Philosophical and scientific teaching of the Early Middle Ages was based upon few copies and commentaries of ancient Greek texts that remained in Western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Most of them were studied only in Latin as knowledge of Greek was very limited.

This scenario changed during the Renaissance of the 12th century. The intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of medieval universities. The increased contact with the Islamic world in Spain and Sicily during the Reconquista, and the Byzantine world and Muslim Levant during the Crusades, allowed Europeans access to scientific Arabic and Greek texts, including the works of Aristotle, Alhazen, and Averroes. The European universities aided materially in the translation and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities.

spectacles), painted by Tommaso da Modena
in 1352

At the beginning of the 13th century there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors,

scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus and Duns Scotus. Precursors of the modern scientific method can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his Opus Majus
.

Technology

Main articles: Medieval technology and Artes mechanicae

During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. In less than a century there were more inventions developed and applied usefully than in the previous thousand years of human history all over the globe. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption or invention of windmills, watermills, printing (though not yet with movable type), gunpowder, the astrolabe, glasses, scissors of the modern shape, a better clock, and greatly improved ships. The latter two advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Discovery. These inventions were influenced by foreign culture and society.

Alfred W. Crosby described some of this technological revolution in The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 and other major historians of technology have also noted it.

Ships of the world in 1460, according to the Fra Mauro map.

Arts

Visual arts

Constantine Tikh Asen. The murals are among the finest achievements of the Bulgarian
culture in the 13th century.
Main article: Medieval art

Art in the High Middle Ages includes these important movements:

Architecture

Nôtre Dame de Paris
Main article: Gothic architecture
Notre Dame de Paris
, whose construction began in 1163, is one of the finer examples of the High Middle Ages architecture

Gothic architecture superseded the

Notre Dame de Paris
.

Literature

Main article: Medieval literature
John the Apostle and Marcion of Sinope in an Italian illuminated manuscript, painting on vellum, 11th century

A variety of cultures influenced the literature of the High Middle Ages, one of the strongest among them being Christianity. The connection to Christianity was greatest in

literary cycles, or interrelated groups of stories, included the Matter of France (stories about Charlemagne and his court), the Acritic songs dealing with the chivalry of Byzantium's frontiersmen, and perhaps the best known cycle, the Matter of Britain, which featured tales about King Arthur, his court, and related stories from Brittany, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland. An anonymous German poet tried to bring the Germanic myths from the Migration Period to the level of the French and British epics, producing the Nibelungenlied. There was also a quantity of poetry and historical writings which were written during this period, such as Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth
.

Despite political decline during the late 12th and much of the 13th centuries, the Byzantine scholarly tradition remained particularly fruitful over the time period. One of the most prominent philosophers of the 11th century,

Byzantine novel
rose in popularity with its synthesis of ancient pagan and contemporaneous Christian themes.

At the same time southern France gave birth to

"sweet new style" of Dante and later Petrarca. Indeed, the most important poem of the Late Middle Ages, the allegorical Divine Comedy, is to a large degree a product of both the theology of Thomas Aquinas
and the largely secular Occitan literature.

Music

Main article: Medieval music
Musicians playing the Spanish vihuela, one with a bow, the other plucked by hand, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X of Castile, 13th century
Men playing the organistrum, from the Ourense Cathedral, Spain, 12th century

The surviving music of the High Middle Ages is primarily religious in nature, since

music notation developed in religious institutions, and the application of notation to secular music was a later development. Early in the period, Gregorian chant was the dominant form of church music; other forms, beginning with organum, and later including clausulae, conductus, and the motet
, developed using the chant as source material.

During the 11th century, Guido of Arezzo was one of the first to develop musical notation, which made it easier for singers to remember Gregorian chants.

It was during the 12th and 13th centuries that Gregorian plainchant gave birth to polyphony, which appeared in the works of French

Notre Dame School (Léonin and Pérotin). Later it evolved into the ars nova (Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut) and the musical genres of late Middle Ages. An important composer during the 12th century was the nun Hildegard of Bingen
.

The most significant secular movement was that of the

minnesingers of Germany, and the composers of secular music of the Trecento
in northern Italy.

Theatre

Main article: Medieval theatre

Economic and political changes in the High Middle Ages led to the formation of

Mystery plays were written in cycles of a large number of plays: York (48 plays), Chester (24), Wakefield (32) and Unknown (42). A larger number of plays survive from France and Germany in this period and some type of religious dramas were performed in nearly every European country in the Late Middle Ages. Many of these plays contained comedy, devils, villains and clowns.[23]

There were also a number of secular performances staged in the Middle Ages, the earliest of which is The Play of the Greenwood by

faeries and other supernatural occurrences. Farces also rose dramatically in popularity after the 13th century. The majority of these plays come from France and Germany and are similar in tone and form, emphasizing sex and bodily excretions.[24]

Timeline

Further information:
Timeline of the Middle Ages

See also

Notes

  1. ^ John H. Mundy, Europe in the high Middle Ages, 1150-1309 (1973) online
  2. ^ Reitervölker im Frühmittelalter. Bodo, Anke et.al. Stuttgart 2008
  3. ISBN 9780511497209
    .
  4. ^ See for example: Aberth, John (2013). "The early medieval woodland". An Environmental History of the Middle Ages: The Crucible of Nature. Abingdon: Routledge (published 2012). p. 87.
    ISBN 9780415779456
    . Retrieved 2017-08-17. The French historian of the early medieval forest, Charles Higounet, produced a map in the 1960s, which has been much reproduced since, that purports to show the distribution of the forest cover in Europe on the eve of the so-called 'great clearances' (les grands défrichements) between 1000 and 1300.
  5. ^ Taylor 2005, p. 181.
  6. ^ Adamson 2016, p. 180.
  7. ^ Fakhry 2001, p. 3.
  8. ^ Davies, Rees (2001-05-01). "Wales: A Culture Preserved". bbc.co.uk/history. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  9. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, p. 171.
  10. hdl:10459.1/58852
    .
  11. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, p. 178.
  12. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, p. 179.
  13. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, pp. 185–186.
  14. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, pp. 187.
  15. S2CID 165549625
    .
  16. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, pp. 174–175.
  17. ^ Clemente Ramos 2018, p. 183.
  18. ^ "Trade in Medieval Europe". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  19. ^ Jellinek, E. M. 1976. "Drinkers and Alcoholics in Ancient Rome." Edited by Carole D. Yawney andRobert E. Popham. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 37 (11): 1718–1740.
  20. ISBN 9780674063693
    .
  21. ^ Franklin, J., "The Renaissance myth", Quadrant 26 (11) (Nov, 1982), 51-60. (Retrieved on-line at 06-07-2007)
  22. ^ A History of English literature for Students, by Robert Huntington Fletcher, 1916: pp. 85–88
  23. ^ Brockett and Hildy (2003, 86)
  24. ^ Brockett and Hildy (2003, 96)

Works cited

Further reading

External links

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