The Crusades During the early Middle Ag es, the r eligion of Islam e xperienced a period of gr owth. Be tween 622 and 750, Islam spr ead fr om the Middle E ast t o North Afric a and parts of Asia. As Islam thrived, Eur opeans w orried about the thr eat it posed t o Chris tianity. The main r eason f or the Crusades w as the Muslim occupa tion of the Holy Land in the Middle East, which included the city of Jerusalem and surr ounding r egions. P ope Urban II w anted t o reclaim the land f or Chris tians. In 1096 he or dered people t o join milit ary c ampaigns t o fr ee the Holy Land. These c ampaigns w ere c alled the Crusades. People joined the Crusades f or dif ferent r easons. Some w anted t o sho w their de votion t o God or ha ve their sins f orgiven. Other s w anted t o g ain po wer. Man y sough t tr easure in f oreign lands. The Crusades w eren’t clear -cut w ars of Chris tians ag ainst Muslims. The fir st crusader s beg an b y slaughtering Je ws in the Rhineland, which is no w part of German y. In the Middle E ast, crusader s went on t o kill Je ws, Muslims, and e ven other Chris tians. As the ba ttles pr ogressed, Je ws and Muslims some times unit ed t o de fend themselv es ag ainst the Chris tian crusader s.
Effects of the Crusades After Muslims r etook Jerusalem in 1292, Eur opeans los t in terest in the crusader s’ c ause. Man y people had died, and kings had lit tle mone y le ft t o fund the Crusades. Although the Crusades were a milit ary f ailure, the y w ere an ec onomic success. The crusader s r eturned t o Eur ope with Arabian g oods and ideas. The y w ere able t o r eopen tr ade with the E ast. A t tha t time, Ar abian culture w as f ar ahead of Eur opean cultur e, especially in the ar eas of science, medicine, and math. Her e ar e some Ar abian in ventions and disc overies: ● the magnif ying glass ● the pendulum, which measur es time ● numerals and a decimal s ystem ● algebra ● the e xistence of the immune s ystem
These ideas c ontributed t o the beginning of the R enaissance period in Eur ope. The Magna Cart a King John t ook the English thr one in 1199. He w as an unpopular king who incr eased t axes t o fund his w ars. He also imprisoned people who opposed him without a trial. A gr oup of major lando wners c alled bar ons r ebelled ag ainst King John in 1215. These low-ranking nobles cr eated a lis t of r eforms tha t w ould pr otect them fr om the king ’s un fair practices. This lis t bec ame kno wn as the Magna Cart a, which is La tin f or “ great chart er.” The barons seiz ed the city of London and f orced the king t o sign the documen t on June 15, 1215. The Magna Cart a limit ed the king ’s po wer. The king c ouldn’t impose t axes without the bar ons’ consent. The Magna Cart a also es tablished se veral ne w rules r elated t o the leg al s ystem.
/ First, it declar ed tha t no “fr ee man” c ould be arr ested unless he w as char ged with a crime under the la w. The king c ouldn’t arr est people simply bec ause he dislik ed them or w anted t o seiz e their pr operty. Second, once arr ested, e very prisoner w as en titled t o a trial. No one c ould be le ft in prison indefinitely. If a prisoner w asn’t tried and c onvicted, the prisoner w ould ha ve t o be r eleased. Finally, prisoner s w ere en titled t o a trial b y a jur y of their peer s, or people of their social class. Judges c ould no long er act alone t o c onvict and sen tence a prisoner . The R oots of Democr acy The Magna Cart a didn’t cr eate democr acy. Or dinary people had no sa y in the t axes tha t the king levied. Only the bar ons had tha t po wer. Nor did mos t people ha ve the righ t t o a trial. Tha t righ t was gr anted only t o “fr ee men, ” or member s of the upper class. But the Magna Cart a w as a major s tep t oward democr acy. The ideas of limit ed g overnment and trial b y jur y la ter bec ame import ant elemen ts of the US Cons titution. The Black Dea th The bubonic plague, also kno wn as the Black Dea th, occurr ed in w estern Eur ope be tween 1347 and 1351. During medie val times, people didn’t under stand ho w such diseases spr ead. As a result, the y c ouldn’t pr event them fr om spr eading. Some his torians belie ve tha t the plague killed mor e than one-thir d of Eur ope’s popula tion. The plague had both short -term and long-t erm e ffects. In this section, w e’ll e xamine ho w the plague a ffected Eur opean cultur e and civiliz ation. The Black Dea th w as an epidemic, or a widespread outbr eak of an in fectious disease within a particular ar ea in a short period of time. Epidemics w ere c ommon in Eur ope. Ther e w ere also epidemics of the plague during R oman times. But the Black Dea th w as dif ferent and mor e t errifying than pr evious epidemics: ● The dea th r ate w as e xtremely high. It ’s es timated tha t be tween one-half and tw o-thirds of victims died. ● It appear ed t o be highly c ontagious, meaning it spr ead quickly fr om one per son t o another. ● The disease pr ogressed r apidly fr om onse t of s ymptoms t o dea th. ● The Black Dea th w as some thing ne w and unkno wn in a socie ty tha t v alued s tability and lack of chang e. ● The pain ful s ymptoms made the victims v ery w eak.
How the Plague Spr ead The plague spr ead r apidly along major tr ade r outes, s tarting in mor e popula ted ar eas and spreading t o the c ountryside. The import ant tr ade cen ter of Flor ence, It aly, w as one of the fir st cities t o e xperience the epidemic. Places tha t w ere f ar fr om tr ade and cen tral Eur ope t ended t o be mor e isola ted. Ther efore, these ar eas didn’t ha ve man y c ases of the plague. In f act, some of these ar eas didn’t ha ve an y c ases.
/ Reactions t o the Plague During medie val times, people had no idea wha t c aused disease. E ven doct ors lack ed a deep understanding of ho w the human body w orked. P eople though t “humor s,” or sub stances in the body, c aused the plague. The y tried t o rid the body of these humor s b y bleeding. During the process, doct ors cut pa tients and le t out some of their blood in the hope tha t the bad humor s would flo w out with the blood. Un fortunately, bleeding oft en killed pa tients r ather than cur ed them. Some people belie ved tha t the plague w as spr ead thr ough a “miasma” in the air . The y w ore masks or c arried flo wers and perfume in hopes of w arding it of f. Man y people belie ved the plague w as a punishmen t fr om God. Some people blamed specific gr oups of people f or the plague. The y oft en t argeted minority gr oups, such as Je wish people. In 1349, a mob of Christians killed nearly 3,000 Je wish people in Erfurt, German y. In man y cities, including P aris, London, and Flor ence, people riot ed and t argeted these gr oups. To esc ape the plague, people oft en fled t owns and cities, thinking the y w ould be sa fer in rur al areas. Ho wever, rur al ar eas w ere stricken t oo. In some rur al ar eas, populations w ere nearly or c ompletely wiped out. Fields la y f allow with no one to till them. Domes tic animals r an wild. Cows, g oats, and sheep w ere unprotected and f ell victim t o disease and pr edators. Without enough people to pr oduce f ood, f amine se t in. In cities and t owns, cr aftspeople no long er produced g oods. Mer chants didn’t engage in business. E ventually, tr ade and c ommerce s topped. Eur ope w as on the v erge of chaos and c ollapse. What R eally Caused the Black Dea th? Rats spr ead the plague in Eur ope. The rats c arried fleas, which in turn c arried the bact eria c ausing the plague. When one of these fleas bit a human, it transferred the bact eria t o tha t per son. Plague doesn't spr ead fr om per son t o per son. Although the plague w as c ontagious, it spr ead only when health y people c ame in to c ontact with insects c arrying the bact eria. T oday w e kno w that micr oscopic lif e f orms, such as bact eria and viruses, c ause disease. But medie val people had no idea these things e xisted. The y also had no c oncept of sanit ation. Mos t people didn’t associate cleanliness with disease pr evention. Ra ts and fleas w ere f ound in almos t all homes. As a r esult, the plague spr ead r apidly. Although the Black Dea th seems lik e an ancien t tr agedy, some c ases of bubonic plague occur each y ear. But an tibiotics c an kill the bact eria and cur e the victim. Victims ha ve a high chance of
/ survival, especially if the disease is c aught early . Good sanit ation also k eeps r ats and plague-carrying fleas under c ontrol. This pr actice mak es outbr eaks r are in the de veloped w orld today. After the Black Dea th In addition t o c ausing widespr ead dea th, the Black Plague had man y short - and long-t erm effects on socie ty. Not all of them w ere neg ative. In f act, the plague pr oduced an ec onomic boom—a sudden incr ease in w ages, pr oductivity, and tr ade. By 1348, the plague’ s spr ead had slo wed. Although the disease w asn’t c ompletely elimina ted, cases bec ame r arer. These f actors helped end the plague: ● quarantining, or k eeping in fected individuals in their homes ● improved h ygiene, such as boiling drinking w ater and r egular ba thing ● decreased tr avel
Before the plague, manor s domina ted rur al ar eas. These lands w ere o wned b y f eudal lor ds and rented out t o peasan ts. P easants w ere bound t o the land and w orked f or the lor d their en tire lives. The y c ould ne ver rise in social class. But when man y lor ds died during the plague, some peasants w ere able t o buy land. It w as s till dif ficult f or people t o rise fr om one social class t o the ne xt, but the possibility increased a fter the plague. A peasan t who o wned land didn't ha ve t o pa y r ent, so he c ould k eep a lar ger portion of his earnings. These earnings w ould c ontinue t o incr ease fr om g eneration t o generation. Ov er time, a descendan t of the peasan t c ould bec ome w ealthy enough t o o wn a large es tate. The decr ease in popula tion mean t ther e w ere f ewer skilled w orkers. The r emaining w orkers were no w in a be tter position. Cr aftspeople in cities, such as black smiths and w oodcarvers, could demand higher w ages. The incr eased earnings allo wed them t o buy lar ger homes or e ven start their o wn businesses. Some bec ame mer chants. W ealthy tr adespeople and mer chants, especially in cities, c ould acquir e pr operty and in fluence. Urban R enewal and the Gr owth of Cities Cities oft en ar e cen ters of po wer and cultur e. The y ser ved this r ole during the ancien t da ys of Europe as w ell, especially during the R oman Empir e. Ho wever, urban lif e s tarted t o decline during the early Middle Ag es. During f eudal times, po wer and cultur e cen tered on the gr eat manors ruled b y lor ds. After the Black Dea th, though, man y people mo ved t o the cities t o find w ork. Manor s bec ame less po werful. Eur ope w as s till lar gely an agricultur al socie ty. But as people mo ved t o the cities, urban cen ters r egained popula tion and bec ame s tronger socially and ec onomically. Italy w as the fir st place wher e cities s tarted t o gr ow. It w as the fir st r egion t o e xperience the plague, and the fir st t o r ecover a fter the epidemic ended.
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