High Middle Ages

Religion

Christian Church

The second half of the 11th century saw a rapid and radical transformation in the character of the Rome-based Latin Church. In 1046 the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III (r. 1046–1056) deposed Pope Gregory VI (r. 1045–1046) — who had purchased the papacy — along with two other claimants, beginning the process of freeing the papacy from the control of the local Roman nobility. Pope Leo IX (r. 1049–1054), a German, recruited an international circle of radical reformers who helped him create an "itinerant papacy" that moved from city to city to hold church councils, consecrate cathedrals, and negotiate with secular rulers. After centuries of growing rivalry, Leo's dynamic papacy also precipitated the East–West Schism (also "Great Schism") that split the Latin Church from the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire in 1054. One of Leo's reformist successors, Pope Nicholas II (r. 1059–1061), and his influential advisor Cardinal Hildebrand of Sovana, issued the papal bull In nomine Domini (1059), which stripped the Holy Roman Emperor of his traditional role in appointing popes and established the College of Cardinals as the sole electors. After Cardinal Hildebrand was himself elected Pope Gregory VII (r. 1073–1085), he worked both to improve the moral integrity and independence of Church clergy (including making celibacy mandatory) and to establish the total freedom of the Church from secular interference ("libertas ecclesiae"). By challenging the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV's (r. 1084–1105) right to appoint church officials, Gregory began the Investiture Controversy, a struggle for supremacy between the Church and the secular monarchies of Europe.

Crusades

In 1095 the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested military support in his Empire's conflict with the Seljuk Empire. In response, Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099) spread a message of holy war across Europe. The ensuing Crusades led to the foundation of small Catholic states in the Levant, which lasted for two centuries until their final outpost, Acre, fell to the Mamluk Sultanate in 1291.

Military orders

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 Knights Hospitaller were originally a Christian organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor, sick, or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After Jerusalem was taken in the First Crusade, it became a religious/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 Teutonic Knights were a German religious order formed in 1190, in the city of Acre, to aid Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands and to operate hospitals for the sick and injured in Outremer. After Muslim forces captured the Holy Lands, the order moved to Transylvania in 1211 and later, after being expelled, invaded pagan Prussia with the intention of Christianizing the Baltic region. Yet, both before and after the Order's main pagan opponent, Lithuania, converted to Christianity, the Order had already attacked other Christian nations such as Novgorod and 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.

Golden age of monasticism

• The late 11th century/early-mid 12th century was the height of the golden age of Christian monasticism (8th-12th centuries).
  • Benedictine Order – black-robed monks
  • Cistercian Order – white-robed monks
    • Bernard of Clairvaux

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 heresies existed in Europe before the 11th century but only in small numbers and of local character: in most cases, a rogue priest, or a village returning to pagan traditions. However, beginning in the 11th century, mass-movement heresies appeared. The roots of this can be partially sought in the rise of urban cities, free merchants, and a new money-based economy. The rural values of monasticism held little appeal to urban people who began to form sects more in tune with urban culture. The first large-scale heretical movements in Western Europe originated in the newly urbanized areas such as southern France and northern Italy and were probably influenced by the Bogomils and other dualist movements. These heresies were on a scale the Catholic Church had never seen before and as such the response was one of elimination for some (such as the 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

Catharism was a movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary 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 Greek katharos, "pure". One of the first recorded uses is 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 Bogomils were strong in the Southeastern Europe, and became the official religion supported by the Bosnian kings.

• Dualists believed that historical events were the result of struggle between a good (spiritual) force and an evil (material) force and that the world was of the evil force, though it could be controlled or defeated through asceticism and good works.
• Albigensian Crusade, Simon de Montfort, Montségur, Château de Quéribus

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 Protestant Reformation, and they melted into Protestantism with the outbreak of the Reformation and became a part of the wider 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

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 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.

Natural philosophy

The oldest university currently in continuous operation in the world appeared in the 11th century in Italy (the University of Bologna) and two more were established in the 12th century in France (the University of Paris) and England (the University of Oxford). These new institutions were a foundation for many of Europe's future achievements, especially in science. 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, catalyzing the rise of scholasticism during Renaissance of the 12th century.

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, The natural philosophy contained in these texts was assimilated by notable 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.

The new Christian method of learning was influenced by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) from the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle, at first indirectly through Medieval Jewish and Muslim Philosophy (Maimonides, Avicenna, and Averroes) and then through Aristotle's own works brought back from Byzantine and Muslim libraries; and those whom he influenced, most notably Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure and Abélard. Many scholastics believed in empiricism and supporting Roman Catholic doctrines through secular study, reason, and logic. They opposed Christian mysticism, and the Platonist-Augustinian belief that the mind is an immaterial substance. The most famous of the scholastics was Thomas Aquinas (later declared a "Doctor of the Church"), who led the move away from the Platonic and Augustinian and towards Aristotelianism. Aquinas developed a philosophy of mind by writing that the mind was at birth a tabula rasa ("blank slate") that was given the ability to think and recognize forms or ideas through a divine spark. Other notable scholastics included Muhammad Averroes, Roscelin, Abélard, Peter Lombard, and Francisco Suárez. One of the main questions during this time was the problem of universals. Prominent opponents of various aspects of the scholastic mainstream included Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Peter Damian, Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Victorines.

Technology

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.

• The earliest written record of a windmill is from Yorkshire, England, dated 1185.
• Paper manufacture began in Italy around 1270.
• The spinning wheel was brought to Europe (probably from India) in the 13th century.
• The magnetic compass aided navigation, first reaching Europe some time in the late 12th century.
• Eye glasses were invented in Italy in the late 1280s.
• The astrolabe returned to Europe via Islamic Spain.
• Fibonacci introduces Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe with his book Liber Abaci in 1202.
• The West's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be found on church carvings dating to around 1180.

Arts

Visual arts

Art in the High Middle Ages includes these important movements:

• Anglo-Saxon art was influential on the British Isles until the Norman Invasion of 1066
• Romanesque art continued traditions from the Classical world (not to be confused with Romanesque architecture)
• Gothic art developed a distinct Germanic flavor (not to be confused with Gothic architecture).
• Indo-Islamic architecture begins when Muhammad of Ghor made Delhi a Muslim capital
• Byzantine art continued earlier Byzantine traditions, influencing much of Eastern Europe.
• Illuminated manuscripts gained prominence both in the Catholic and Orthodox churches

Architecture

Gothic architecture superseded the Romanesque style by combining flying buttresses, gothic (or pointed) arches and ribbed vaults. It was influenced by the spiritual background of the time, being religious in essence: thin horizontal lines and grates made the building strive towards the sky. Architecture was made to appear light and weightless, as opposed to the dark and bulky forms of the previous Romanesque style. It was commonly thought that light was an expression of God; therefore, architectural techniques were adapted and developed to build churches that reflected this teaching. Colorful glass windows enhanced the spirit of lightness. As color was much rarer at medieval times than today, it can be assumed that these virtuoso works of art had an awe-inspiring impact on the common man from the street. High-rising intricate ribbed, and later fan vaultings demonstrated movement toward heaven. Veneration of God was also expressed by the relatively large size of these buildings. A gothic cathedral therefore not only invited the visitors to elevate themselves spiritually, it was also meant to demonstrate the greatness of God. The floor plan of a gothic cathedral corresponded to the rules of scholasticism: According to Erwin Panofsky's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, the plan was divided into sections and uniform subsections. These characteristics are exhibited by the most famous sacral building of the time: Notre Dame de Paris.

Literature

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 Latin literature, which influenced the vernacular languages in the literary cycle of the Matter of Rome. Other 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, Michael Psellos, reinvigorated Neoplatonism on Christian foundations and bolstered the study of ancient philosophical texts, along with contributing to history, grammar, and rhetorics. His pupil and successor at the head of Philosophy at the University of Constantinople Ioannes Italos continued the Platonic line in Byzantine thought and was criticized by the Church for holding opinions it considered heretical, such as the doctrine of transmigration. Two Orthodox theologians important in the dialogue between the eastern and western churches were Nikephoros Blemmydes and Maximus Planudes. Byzantine historical tradition also flourished with the works of the brothers Niketas and Michael Choniates in the beginning of the 13th century and George Akropolites a generation later. Dating from 12th century Byzantine Empire is also Timarion, an Orthodox Christian anticipation of Divine Comedy. Around the same time the so-called Byzantine novel rose in popularity with its synthesis of ancient pagan and contemporaneous Christian themes.

At the same time southern France gave birth to Occitan literature, which is best known for troubadours who sang of courtly love. It included elements from Latin literature and Arab-influenced Spain and North Africa. Later its influence spread to several cultures in Western Europe, notably in Portugal and the Minnesänger in Germany. Provençal literature also reached Sicily and Northern Italy laying the foundation of the "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

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 troubadours, who arose in Occitania (Southern France) in the late 11th century. The troubadours were often itinerant, came from all classes of society, and wrote songs on a variety of topics, though with a particular focus on courtly love. Their style went on to influence the trouvères of northern France, the minnesingers of Germany, and the composers of secular music of the Trecento in northern Italy.

Theatre

Economic and political changes in the High Middle Ages led to the formation of guilds and the growth of towns, and this would lead to significant changes for theatre starting in this time and continuing into the Late Middle Ages. Trade guilds began to perform plays, usually religiously based, and often dealing with a biblical story that referenced their profession. For instance, a baker's guild would perform a reenactment of the Last Supper. In the British Isles, plays were produced in some 127 different towns during the Middle Ages. These vernacular 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.

There were also a number of secular performances staged in the Middle Ages, the earliest of which is The Play of the Greenwood by Adam de la Halle in 1276. It contains satirical scenes and folk material such as 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.

Timeline

• 1054 – East–West Schism
• 1066 – Battle of Hastings
• 1073–1085 – Pope Gregory VII
• 1071 – Battle of Manzikert
• 1077 – Henry IV's Walk to Canossa
• 1086 – Domesday Book
• 1086 – Battle of az-Zallaqah
• 1088 – University of Bologna founded
• 1091 – Battle of Levounion
• 1096 – University of Oxford founded
• 1096–1099 – First Crusade
• 1123 – First Lateran Council
• 1139 – Second Lateran Council
• 1145–1149 – Second Crusade
• 1147 – Wendish Crusade
• c. 1150 – University of Paris founded
• 1155–1190 – Frederick I Barbarossa
• 1159 – foundation of the Hanseatic League
• 1169 – Norman invasion of Ireland
• 1185 – reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire
• 1189–1192 – Third Crusade
• 1200–1204 – Fourth Crusade
• 1205 – Battle of Adrianople
• 1209 – University of Cambridge founded
• 1209 – foundation of the Franciscan Order
• 1209–1229 – Albigensian Crusade
• 1212 – Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
• 1214 - Battle of Bouvines - Medieval France is a rising power
• 1215 – Magna Carta
• 1216 – recognition of the Dominican Order
• 1215 – Fourth Lateran Council
• 1217–1221 – Fifth Crusade
• 1218 – University of Salamanca founded
• 1220–1250 – Frederick II
• 1222 – University of Padua founded
• 1223 – approval of the Franciscan Rule of Life
• 1228–1229 – Sixth Crusade
• 1230 – Prussian Crusade
• 1230 – Battle of Klokotnitsa
• 1237–1242 – Mongol invasion of Europe
• 1241 – Battle of Legnica and Battle of Mohi
• 1242 – Battle of the Ice
• 1248–1254 – Seventh Crusade
• 1257 – foundation of the Collège de Sorbonne
• 1261 – the Byzantine Empire reconquers Constantinople.
• 1274 – death of Thomas Aquinas; Summa Theologica published
• 1277-1280 – Uprising of Ivaylo – Medieval Europe's only successful peasant uprising
• 1280 – death of Albertus Magnus
• 1291 – Acre, the last European outpost in the Near East, is captured by the Mamluks under Khalil.