The crusades was the churches response to the Muslim expansion, which had spread along North Africa and up to the eastern and western fringes of the
Mediterranean world. The Crusades began in 1096 and ended in 1291 (some 200 years) with 8 major crusades and some minor ones. Pop Urban II initiated them with the main intention of protecting Christianity and recapturing Religious Holy Sites in Jerusalem from the control of the Muslim “infidels”.
However, there were mixed motives behind the crusades. The kings and feudal lords saw crusading as a means for obtaining new lands and riches and the clergy found a new dumping ground for troublemakers. Lastly, the Church would give remission of penance for past sins and
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They had a wealth of scholars in many disciplines astronomy, mathematics, medicine, poets and writers who created literature equal to anything their European counterparts had done. Facts are that reading and writing was scarce even among the nobles and some were unlettered as their lowest serfs. Most nobles had a prelate at there side to attend to clerical duties. The Crusades brought many changes to the political, economical and social structure of Europe. Feudalism became weaker. The kings who led the crusades got more power and began to form countries and impose taxes. People gave their loyalty to kings in exchange for protection. As long as the king promised to keep the new trade routes open and safe; the people would pledge their allegiance to that king. The in- crease of trade also led to three big developments:
1. The manufacturing system
2. A banking system
3. The practice of investing capital
People began to invest in trading, ships heading east and got a share of the profit when it came back. Serfs who used to be bound to the land either escaped from the manor or bought their freedom by fighting in a crusade for their noble. As more
peasants left for the towns, the towns grew larger. This brought a new social class to the Europeans; the middle class as we know it today. New basic rights were created:
1. The right to be free, and not to be tied to the
to gain access to resources, such as gold, that was available in the Americas. Native people were forced to
Since warfare and disease made life unbearable, everyone from the common serfs to the prosperous king looked to Church for direction on the key to a happy afterlife (Document 9). People paid heavy taxes/gifts and devotion to guaranteed themselves in themselves a place in the Church since their births (Document 9). This showed how they had much power over all the other classes in medieval society, especially when the Truce of God was proclaimed to control knights from committing felonies on holy days (Document 4 and
The Great African Land Race: Expanding European Territory Since the 1500’s, Europeans have been utilizing Africa as a center for trading and slavery. But in the early 1880’s, Africa became more of an interest to Europeans like King Leopold who wanted to expand their control over the world. The rush to conquer the mysterious continent began. Many factors caused Europeans to take part in land grabbing; however, the largest force driving Europeans towards imperialism in Africa was the desire for power through riches and natural African resources, which allowed Europeans to expand their economy and territory. Europeans quickly began to seize as much land as they could in Africa in order to win the great race for power.
their farms going while they were away, but when they got back they were forced to paid money.
Since half the population had gone the laborers were gradually getting an increase in payment. Now often the landlords had to pay the laborers because the tenants would no longer do it for free.
The changes that took place regarding trade between 300-1450 impact other parts of history. One effect of the occurrence of trade in this region was the
Even though the clergymen needed to find ways to administer laws, produce harvests, and protect their territories, conforming to manorialism was not theologically sound or practical for all people. First of all, the ecclesiastics understood that if their roles were the spiritual guidance for the people and the warriors were the church's protection, then they needed someone to support their endeavors. Secondly, it was predetermine that duties of the supporters were beneath the vassals and the clergy, therefore, the people that performed these tasks were less than themselves. This "luckless breed" was not able to own anything with the exception of what it took for them to work (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, & Von Laue, 2013, p. 221). Coupled
In fact the sole purpose of these kingdoms was trade and they were little interested in administering their kingdoms for any other purpose. Conquest as a source of revenue was not needed as they could bring in wealth through trade relations.
to move anywhere, although they may have lost some territory in the north to the
A major turning point in Medieval history were the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars fought between the Christian Europeans and the Muslim Turks, which occurred between the years of 1096 to 1272. In this Holy War the Christians goal was to obtain the Holy Land from the Turks, in which they did not succeed. Although the Christians did not meet their goal, many positives did come out of their attempt. Due to the reason that they did not meet their goal, yet numerous positives came out of their effort, many refer to this as a successful failure.
The Lord then gave pieces of land, which called fiefs to the knight in exchange for loyalty and protection. This was really discouraged commerce, so the farming techniques were low level, and earnings were generally not high. In their order ranks, the lord will take rule over the peasants that work
Nobles were treated better than peasants. Their lives were special in terms of food, clothes, and houses.
the conquest of sedentary agricultural peoples and the extraction of tribute and labor from them.
As the Atlantic route expanded, accounting for nearly two thirds of all Africans leaving the continent, it created systems for the gruesome work of collecting and exporting slaves and brought the expansion of a system of slavery in Africa itself. The rising prices for slaves, steadily driven by increasing American demand, powerfully influenced local African developments where slave trade was well established. For example, in some cases such as Kingdom of the Kongo to the south of the Zaire or Congo River, slave trade was quickly organized from a region that had only limited slavery and became a steady exporter of slaves
lords, vassals, and fiefs (Stubbs, 2014). In exchange for living and working on the lord’s