Unit 3 Study Guide

Titian

- Titian was the most prolific of the Venetian painters. - Important change occurred during his time such as the adoption of canvas as opposed to wood panels for painting. - He was appointed official painter to the republic of Venice in 1516. - Titian was well-known for his use of both mythology and biblical themes. - His Bacchus and Ariadne (1523) illustrates his independence from the stylistic conventions of other High Renaissance schools. - He offers a sensual rendering of the classical tale in which the young Ariadne marries Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of wine, after being abandoned by the Greek king Theseus. - His use of alternating areas of light and dark is pronounced.

Revival in Religious life (11-12th Centuries)

- In the second half of the 11th century and the first half of the 12th, a wave of religious enthusiasm seized Europe leading to a spectacular growth in the number of monasteries and the emergence of new monastic orders. - Most important was the Cistercian order founded in 1098 by a group of monks dissatisfied with the lack of strict discipline in the Benedictine monastery. - Cistercian monasticism spread rapidly from southern France through the rest of Europe and was very strict. - Monks ate simple diets, only possessed 1 robe, and eliminated all decorations from churches and monastic buildings. - They devoted more time for prayer and manual labor by shortening the number of hours at religious services. - The Cistercians played a major role in developing a new activist spiritual model for 12th century Europe. - Women were also active participants in the spiritual movements of the age. - The number of women joining religious houses increased noticeably with the spread of new orders. - Most nuns were from the ranks of the aristocracy - convents were convenient for families unwilling or unable to find husbands for their daughters and for aristocratic women who did not wish to marry. - Female intellectuals found them a haven for their activities - most of the educated women in the middle ages were nuns. - One of the most distinguished was Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) who became abbess of a convent at Disibodenberg in western Germany. - Hildegard shared the religious enthusiasm of the 12th century - soon after becoming an abbess, she began to write an account of the mystical vision she had experience for years: "A great flash of light from heaven pierced my brain and... in that instant my mind was imbued with the meaning of the sacred books." - Eventually she produced 3 books based on her visions and gained considerable renown as a mystic and prophet - popes, emperors, kings and bishops sought her advice. - In the 13th century, 2 new orders emerged that had particular impact on the lives of ordinary people - the Franciscans and the Dominicans. - Like their founder, Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), the Franciscan friars lived among the people preaching repentance and aiding the poor - they called for a return to the simplicity and poverty of the early church, and reinforced this message by their own example. They were very popular with people. - The Dominicans arose out of a desire of a Spanish priest, Dominic de Guzman (1170- 1221) to defend church teachings from heresy. - Unlike Francis, Dominic was an intellectual who was appalled by the growth of heresy within the church. - He believed that a new religious order of men who lived lives of poverty but were learned and capable of preaching effectively would be best able to attack heresy. - The spiritual revival of the high middle ages also led to the emergence of heretical movements which became especially widespread in southern France.

Debates within Christianity Christianity and Violence

- Splits arose partly from the fact that there had always been a tension between the intellectual and emotional tendencies within the faith and partly from the different regions of the Empire trying to preserve a sense of separate identities by preferring different theological formulas. - The first bitter disputes occurred between the Arians and the Athanasians over the nature of the Trinity. - The Arians - not to be confused with Aryans, a Nazi racial term - were followers of a priest named Arius and were the more intellectual group. - Under the influence of Greek philosophy, they rejected the idea that Christ could be equal with God, maintaining that the Son was created by the Father and therefore was not coeternal with him or formed of the same substance. - The followers of St. Athanasius held that even though Christ was the son, he was fully God: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were all equal. - After protracted doctrinal struggles, the Athanasians won and the doctrine of the Trinity became accepted. - The struggle between the Arians and the Athanasians was followed by numerous other doctrinal quarrels during the next few centuries. - Dogmas of the Catholic faith gradually became fixed - the faith began to take on a sharply defined form unprecedented in the history of earlier religions. - This meant that anyone who differed from a certain formulation would be excluded from the community and often persecuted as a heretic. - In 366 AD, a conference of bishops turned violent and at the end, 137 corpses lay on floor of a Roman basilica. - Bishops also began to use state forces to expel some people from the church. - Christian leaders came to believe that their religion could incorporate only a single orthodoxy. - One bishop commented that his fellow bishops who should show brotherly love only exhibited violence toward one another. - By end of century, there were over 6O decrees outlawing heretical beliefs. - Before long, there were attempts to ban all non-Christians from public office. - Synagogues were burned and Pagans watched growth of Christianity with alarm. - Pagan Rome had been ruthless in punishing people's actions but unconcerned about their beliefs. - This tolerance was gone. - A second result of doctrinal quarrels was that they aggravated regional hostilities. - In the 4th century, differences among Christians increased alienation between West and East and also aggravated hostilities among regions within the East. - Doctrinal quarrels finally provoked the interference of the Roman state in the governance of the Church. - Constantine had hoped that Christianity would be a unifying factor in the Empire and was horrified by the Arian conflict. - He intervened in the debate by calling the Council of Nicea (325 AD), which ultimately condemned Arius. - It is noteworthy that this council - the first general council of the Church - was convened by a Roman emperor and that Constantine served during its meetings as a presiding officer. - Thereafter, secular interference in Church matters continued, especially in the east part of the Empire.

Humanism Francesco Petrarch

- The most important literary movement associated with the Renaissance was humanism. - Renaissance humanism was an intellectual movement based on the study of the classical literary works of Greece and Rome. - Humanists studied the liberal arts - grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy or ethics, and history - all based on the writings of ancient Greece and Rome. - Petrarch (1304-1374) is often called the father of Italian Renaissance humanism. He did more than any other individual in the 14th century to foster development of the movement. - Petrarch sought to find forgotten Latin manuscripts and set in motion a search of monastic libraries throughout Europe. - In his preoccupation with the classics and their secular content, Petrarch doubted at times whether he was sufficiently attentive to spiritual ideals. - His qualms did not prevent him from inaugurating the humanist emphasis on the use of pure classical Latin, making it fashionable for humanists to use Cicero as a model for prose and Virgil for poetry. - Petrarch was a deeply committed Christian who believed that the Christian writer must above all cultivate literary eloquence so that he could inspire people to do good. - For him the best models of eloquence were to be found in the ancient literary classics, which he thought were filled with ethical wisdom. - He initiated a program of "humanist" studies that was to be influential for centuries. - As a traditional Christian, Petrarch's ultimate ideal for human conduct was the solitary life of contemplation and asceticism. - However, in subsequent generations a number of Italian thinkers and scholars, located mainly in Florence, developed the alternative of what is customarily called civic humanism. - Civic humanists like Florentines Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) and Leone Battista Alberti (1404-1472) agreed with Petrarch on the need for eloquence and the study of classical literature but they also taught that man's nature equipped him for action, for usefulness to his family and society, and for serving the state - ideally a republican city-state after the classical or contemporary Florentine model. - In their view, ambition and the quest for glory were noble impulses that ought to be encouraged. - They refused to condemn the striving for material possessions for they argued that the history of human progress was inseparable from mankind's success in gaining mastery over the earth and its resources. - The most vivid of the civic humanists' writings was Alberti's On the Family in which he argued that the nuclear family was instituted by nature for the wellbeing of humanity. - Cicero served as the inspiration for the civic humanist Renaissance ideal that it was the duty of an intellectual to live an active life for one's state. - An individual only "grows to maturity - both intellectually and morally - through participation" in the life of the state. - Civic humanism reflected the values of the urban society of the Italian Renaissance. - It is no accident that humanists served the state as chancellors, counselors, and advisers

Aleric

Alaric I was the first king of the Visigoths from 395-410. He is best known for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Alaric began his career under the Gothic soldier Gainas, and later joined the Roman army

Bartolomeu Dias

Bartolomeu Dias, a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European to do so, setting up the route from Europe to Asia later on

Inca mummies

Perhaps the most remarkable Incan mummies have been those found on high mountain peaks, where the Inca offered human sacrifices to their Gods. Over the years, some 115 of these sacrificial mummies have been found in the high Andes.

Sack of Rome by the Visagoths

The Sack of Rome occurred on 24 August 410 AD. The city was attacked by the Visigoths led by King Alaric. ... The sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy

Arthurian Romances

- An equally important 12th century French innovation was the composition of longer narrative poems. - These were the first clear ancestors of the modern novel - they told engaging stories, usually excelled in portraying character, and their subject matter was usually love and adventure. - The most famous and best were "Arthurian." - These took their material from the legendary exploits of the Celtic hero King Arthur and his knights. - The first great writer of Arthurian romances was the northern Frenchman Chrétien de Troyes who was active between 1165 and 1190. - Chrétien did much to help create and shape the new form, he also introduced innovations in subject matter and attitudes. - A generation later, Chrétien's work was continued by the great German poets Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg who were recognized as the greatest writers in the German language before the 18th century.

Crusades

- Another manifestation of the religious enthusiasm that seized Europe in the High Middle Ages was a series of crusades mounted against the Muslims. - These campaigns gave the revived papacy of the high Middle Ages another opportunity to demonstrate its influence over European society. - The Crusades were a mixture of God and warfare, the chief concerns of the Middle Ages. - Although European society developed in relative isolation, it had never entirely lost contact with the lands and empires of the east. - At the end of the 11th century, that contact increased in part because developments in the Islamic and Byzantine worlds prompted the first major attempt of the new European civilization to expand beyond Europe.

Raphael

- Artistically, Raphael was most typical of the High Renaissance. - His paintings are known for grace and dignity and for being full of light. - Raphael was one of the most important painters in Rome - and one of the most beloved painters of the Renaissance. - He is noted for his portraits and Madonnas

Muhammad Koran Allah Mecca Medina

- Born in Mecca to a merchant family, Muhammad (c. 570-632) was orphaned at the age of 5 and grew up to be a caravan manager. - He eventually married a rich widow who was his employer. - In his middle years, he began to experience visions that he believed were inspired by Allah. - Muhammad believed that while Allah had already revealed himself partly through Moses and Jesus and thus through the Hebrew and Christian traditions the final revelations were now being given to him. - Out of his revelations, which were eventually written down into the Koran (Qur'an), - the guidelines by which followers of Allah were to live. - Muhammad's teachings formed the basis for the religion known as Islam, which means (submission to the will of Allah). - Allah was the all-powerful being who had created the universe and everything in it. - Humans must subject themselves to Allah if they wished to achieve everlasting life. - Those who became his followers were called Muslims, meaning those who practice Islam. - After receiving revelations, Muhammad set out to convince people of Mecca of the truth of his revelations. - At first many thought he was insane and others feared that his attacks on the corrupt society around him would upset the established social and political order. - Discouraged by the failure of the Meccans to accept his message, in 622, Muhammad and some of his closest supporters left the city and moved to the rival city of Yathrib, later renamed Medina (city of the Prophet). - The year of the journey to Medina known as the Hegira became year 1 in the official calendar of Islam. - Muhammad who had been invited to the town by a number of prominent residents soon began to win support from people in Medina as well as from members of Bedouin tribes in the surrounding countryside. - From these groups, he formed the first Muslim community. - Muslims saw no separation between political and religious authorities, submission to the will of Allah meant submission to his Prophet, Muhammad. - Muhammad soon became both a religious and a political leader - his political and military skills enabled him to put together a reliable military force with which he returned to Mecca in 630, conquering the city and converting the townspeople to the new faith. - From Mecca, Muhammad's ideas spread quickly across the Arabian Peninsula and within a relatively short time had resulted in both the religious and political union of Arab society. - At the heart of Islam was the Qur'an which the basic message that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet. - Essentially the Qur'an contains Muhammad's revelations of heavenly book written down by secretaries. - Consisting of 114 chapters, it recorded the beliefs of Muslims and served as their code of ethics and law. - Islam was a direct and simple faith emphasizing the need to obey the will of Allah which meant following a basic ethical code consisting of the "five pillars" of Islam: belief in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet; standard prayer 5 times a day and public prayer on Friday at midday to worship Allah; observation of the holy month of Ramadan with fasting from dawn to sunset; making a pilgrimage (the hajj) if possible to Mecca in one's lifetime; and giving alms to the poor and unfortunate. - The faithful who observed the law were guaranteed a place in eternal paradise. - Islam was not just a set of religious beliefs but a way of life as well. - After the death of Muhammad, Muslim scholars drew up a law code called the Shari'a to provide believers with a set of prescriptions to regulate their lives. - Much of the Shari'a was drawn from the Quar'an. - Believers were subject to strict guidelines for their behavior. - In addition to the "five pillars" Muslims were forbidden to gamble, to eat pork, to drink alcoholic beverages and to engage in dishonest behavior. - Sexual practices were also strictly regulated. - Marriages were to be arranged by parents, and contact between unmarried men and women discouraged. - In accordance with Bedouin custom, men permitted to have more than one wife, but Muhammad attempted to limit the practice by restricting the number of wives to 4

Hundred Years War

- In 1358, a peasant revolt known as the Jacquerie broke out in northern France. - The destruction of normal order by the Black Death and the subsequent economic dislocation were important factors in causing the revolt, but the ravages created by the Hundred Years War also affected the French peasantry. - Both the French and English forces followed a deliberate policy of laying waste to peasants land while bands of mercenaries lived off the land by taking peasants produce as well. - Peasant anger was also exacerbated by growing class tensions. - Landed nobles were eager to hold on to their privileged positions and felt increasingly threatened in the new post-plague world of higher wages and lower prices. - Many aristocrats looked on peasants with utter contempt. - The peasants reciprocated this contempt for their so-called superiors. - The outburst of peasant anger led to savage confrontations. - Castles were burned and nobles murdered - such atrocities did not go unanswered. - The Jacquerie failed when the privileged classes closed ranks and savagely massacred the rebels and ended to revolt. - The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was the most prominent of all. - It was a product not of desperation but of rising expectations. - After the Black Death, the condition of the English peasants had improved as they enjoyed greater freedom and higher wages or lower rents. - Aristocratic landlords had fought back with legislation to depress wages and an attempt to reimpose old feudal dues. - The most immediate cause of the revolt, however, was the monarchy's attempt to raise revenues by imposing a poll tax of flat charge on each adult member of the population. - Peasants in Eastern England, the wealthiest part of the country refused to pay the tax and expelled the collectors forcefully from their villages. - This action produced widespread rebellion of both peasant and townspeople led by a well-to-do peasant called Wat Tyler and a preacher named John Ball. - The later preached an effective message against the noble classes as recounted by the chronicler Froissart: "Good people, things cannot go right in England and never will, until goods are held in common and there are no more peasants and gentlefolk, but we are all one and the same. In what way are those whom we call lords greater masters than ourselves? How have they deserved it? Why do they hold us in bondage? If we all spring from a single father and mother, Adam and Eve, how can they claim or prove that the yare lords more than us, except by making us produce and grow the wealth which they spend." - The revolt was initially successful as the rebels burned down the manor houses of aristocrats, lawyers, and government officials and murdered several important officials including the archbishop of Canterbury. - After the peasants marched on London, the young King Richard II (1377-1399) promised to accept the rebels demands if they returned to their homes. - They accepted but the king reneged and with the assistance of the aristocrats arrested hundreds of the rebels, but poll tax was eliminated

Chivalry

- In the 11th and 12th centuries under the influence of the church, an ideal of civilized behavior called chivalry gradually evolved among the nobility. - Chivalry represented a code of ethics that knights were supposed to uphold. - In addition to defending the church and the defenseless, knights were expected to treat captives as honored guests instead of placing them in dungeons. - Chivalry also implied that knights should fight only for glory - although they often resorted to plunder instead.

Changes in agriculture and population (1000-1300 AD)

- In the Early Middle Ages, Europe was sparsely populated and dotted with small villages of farmers and warriors. - Between 1000 and 1300 Europe began to see some changes - population doubled - warmer climate - growth in towns and cities. - From 700 to 1200, a period of improved climate aided agricultural developments - the temperature on average was somewhat warmer than it had been before but also the weather was somewhat drier which helped northern Europe where lands were usually too wet for good farming. - Political improvements occurred at the same time - it was a period with more peace and better government - landlords became interested in profit and additional wealth was used for further investment in new technologies. - One of the first and most important breakthroughs in agriculture was the use of the heavy plow. Europeans has been using an ancient Roman plow but it was too light to effectively break open the heavy earth of Northern Europe. - During the course of the Early Middle ages, a much heavier and more efficient plow was developed that could cultivate the northern lands and fitted with parts that enabled it to turn over furrows and fully aerate the ground. - The benefits were immeasurable. - It allowed for the cultivation of hitherto unworkable lands, the furrows it made provided excellent drainage systems for water logged territories. - It also saved labor - the Roman plow had to be dragged over a field twice but the heavier plow worked with only one try. - Closely allied to the use of the heavy plow was the introduction of the 3 field system of crop rotation. - Before modern times, farmers always let a large part of their arable land lie fallow for a year to avoid exhausting the soil. There was not enough fertilizer to support intensive agriculture and nitrogen fixing crops such as clover and alfalfa were almost unknown. - In a given year, 1/3 of the land would lie fallow, 1/3 would be given to cereal, and 1/3 to a new crop such as oats, barley or legumes - fields rotated over a 3 year cycle so less depletion of the soil. - This added diversity to products available and provided some insurance against natural disasters since growing seasons were different. - By the 13th century, the total acreage used for farming had expanded tremendously. - Grazing of sheep increased and Europeans began to grow wine grapes, cotton and make dyestuffs. - Some of these products were traded long distances for other things or raw materials esp. for cloth. - The agricultural developments helped spark population growth with more food and better diet - life expectancy increased to between 40 and 50 years. - A third innovation was the use of mills powered by both wind and water. - By 1050 there had been a huge expansion in the use of water mills in northern Europe but also wind mills. - Mills ground grain, drove saws, processed cloth, pressed oil, brewed beer, provided power for iron forges, and crushed pulp for manufacturing paper. - Greater prosperity in Europe helped increase the growth of the church and paid the way for burgeoning of schools

Importance of social class Administration of empire Quipu Capital at Cuzco

- Inca rule was, much like their architecture, was based on compartmentalized and interlocking units. At the top was the ruler and ten kindred groups of nobles called panaqa. - Next in line came ten more kindred groups, more distantly related to the king and then, a third group of nobles not of Inca blood but made Incas as a privilege. - At the bottom of the state apparatus were locally recruited administrators who oversaw settlements and the smallest Andean population unit the ayllu, which was a collection of households, typically of related families who worked an area of land, lived together and provided mutual support in times of need. - Each ayllu was governed by a small number of nobles or kurakas, a role which could include women. - To ensure loyalty, the heirs of local rulers were also kept as well-kept prisoners at the Inca capital. - The most important political, religious, and military roles within the empire were kept in the hands of the Inca elite, called by the Spanish the orejones or 'big ears' because they wore large earspools to indicate their status. - To better ensure the control of this elite over their subjects, garrisons dotted the empire, and entirely new administrative centers were built, notably at Tambo Colorado, Huánuco Pampa and Hatun Xauxa. - For tax purposes, censuses were taken and populations divided up into groups based on multiples of ten (Inca mathematics was almost identical to the system we use today). - As there was no currency in the Inca world, taxes were paid in goods - usually foodstuffs, precious metals, textiles, exotic feathers, dyes, and spondylus shell - but also in laborers who could be shifted about the empire to be used where they were most needed, known as mit'a service. - Agricultural land and herds were divided into three parts: production for the state religion and the gods, for the Inca ruler, and for the farmers own use. Local communities were also expected to help build and maintain such imperial projects as the road system which stretched across the empire. - To keep track of all these statistics, the Inca used the quipu, a sophisticated assembly of knots and strings which was also highly transportable and could record decimals up to 10,000. - The Incas also brought certain benefits such as food redistribution in times of environmental disaster, better storage facilities for foodstuffs, work via statesponsored projects, state-sponsored religious feasts, roads, military assistance and luxury goods, especially art objects enjoyed by the local elite. - The Inca capital of Cuzco was the religious and administrative centre of the empire and had a population of up to 150,000 at its peak. - Dominated by the sacred gold-covered and emerald-studded Coricancha complex (or Temple of the Sun), its greatest buildings were credited to Pachakuti. Most splendid were the temples built in honour of Inti and Mama Kilya - the former was lined with 700 2kg sheets of beaten gold, the latter with silver.

Clan

- Social life was based on the clan or extended family. - Clans were led by military chieftains who could assure protection and plunder from raids. - Warfare and violence characterized the life of these tribes by the time the Romans encountered them. - They lived under harsh conditions - they were in new territory and learning to survive in a new environment

Rise of Universities/University Life

- The High Middle Ages were actually a time of tremendous intellectual and artistic vitality. This period saw a growth of educational institutions, a rebirth of interest in ancient culture, a quickening of theological thought, development of a vernacular literature, and a burst of activity in architecture. - The university was the product of the High Middle Ages. - Medieval universities were educational guilds or corporations that produced educated and trained individuals. - The first European universities appeared in Bologna, Italy and coincided with a revival of interest in Roman law, especially the rediscovery of Justinian's Body of Civil Law. - In the 12th century, Irnerius (1088-1125) a great teacher of Roman law in Bologna attracted students from all over Europe. - Most of them were laymen, usually older individuals who served as administrators to kings and princes and were eager to learn more about law so they could apply it to their jobs. - To protect themselves, students at Bologna formed a guild or universitas which was recognized by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and given a charter in 1158. - Although the faculty also organized itself as a group, the universitas of students at Bologna was far more influential. - It obtained a promise of freedom for students from local authorities, regulated the price of books and lodging, and determined the curriculum, fees, and standards for their teachers. - Teachers were fined if they missed class or began their lectures late. - The first university in northern Europe was the University of Paris - the University of Oxford in England was organized on the Paris model in 1208 and a year later Cambridge University opened as well. - In the Late Middle Ages, kings, popes, and princes vied to found new universities and by the end of the middle ages there were 80 universities in Europe most of them in England, France, Italy and Germany. - A student's initial studies at a medieval university centered around the traditional liberal arts curriculum which consisted of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. - All classes were conducted in Latin, which provided a common means of communication for students regardless of their country of origin. - Medieval university instruction was done by a lecture method. - The word lecture is derived from the Latin verb "to read." - Before the development of the printing press in the 15th century, books were expensive and few students could afford them, so masters read from a text such as a collection of law, then added their commentaries. - No exams were given after a series of lectures, but when students applied for a degree they were given a comprehensive oral examination by a committee of teachers. - These exams were taken after the 4th or 6th year of study. - The first degree a student could earn was bachelor of arts and later he might earn a master of arts. - All degrees were technically licenses to teach although most students receiving them did not become teachers. - After completing the liberal arts curriculum a student could go on to study law, medicine or theology which was the most highly regarded subject in medieval curriculum. - The study of law, medicine or theology could take more than a decade. - A student who passed his final oral examination was granted a doctoral degree which officially allowed him to teach his subject. - Students who received degrees from medieval universities could pursue other careers besides teaching and proved to be more lucrative. - A law degree was essential for those who wished to serve as advisers to the king or princes. - Medieval universities shared in the violent atmosphere of the age - records from courts of law reveal numerous instances of disturbances in European universities. - One German professor was finally dismissed for stabbing one too many of his colleagues in faculty meetings. - A student in Bologna was attacked by another student armed with a sword - Oxford regulations attempted to dampen the violence by forbidding students from bringing weapons to class.

Francisco Pizarro

- The Inca Empire was founded on, and maintained by, force, and the ruling Incas were very often unpopular with their subjects (especially in the northern territories), a situation that the Spanish conquistadores, led by Francisco Pizarro, would take full advantage of in the middle decades of the 16th century CE. - When the Spanish arrived, the Inca Empire, in fact, had still not reached a stage of consolidated maturity when it faced its greatest challenge. - Rebellions were rife, and the Incas were engaged in a war in Ecuador where a second Inca capital had been established at Quito. - Even more serious, the Incas were hit by an epidemic of European diseases, probably smallpox, which had spread from Central America even faster than the European invaders themselves, and the wave killed a staggering 65-90% of the population.

Influence of the church in daily life

- The sacraments of the Catholic Church ensured that the church was an integral part of people's lives from birth to death. - There are 7 sacraments administered by the clergy which include baptism and the Eucharist - these were viewed as outward symbols of an inward grace and were considered imperative for a Christian's salvation. 1 Baptism 2 Confirmation 3 Eucharist 4 Penance and Reconciliation 5 Anointing of the Sick 6 Holy Orders 7 Matrimony - The sacraments were administered by the clergy, so clergy had a key role in the attainment of salvation.

Weather changes Famine

- Well into the 13th century, Europe had experienced good harvests and an expanding population. - The end of the 13th century began a period of disastrous changes. - Weather patterns changed. The temperature cooled significantly shortening growing seasons and bringing disastrous weather conditions including heavy storms and constant rain. - This led to widespread hunger and famine throughout Europe. - Some historians have pointed out that famine could have led to chronic malnutrition, which in turn, contributed to increased infant mortality, lower birth rates, and higher susceptibility to disease. - This may help explain the virulence of the great plague known as the Black Death.

Islamic expansion and empire formation

- Muhammad and the early caliphs who succeeded him took up the Arabic tribal custom of making raids against one's enemies. - The Qur'an called this activity "striving in the way of the Lord," or jihad. - Although misleadingly called holy war, the jihad grew out of the Arabic tradition of tribal raids which were permitted as a way to channel the warlike energies of the Bedouin tribes. - Such aggression was not carried out to convert others since conversion to Islam was purely voluntary. - Those who did not convert were required to submit to Muslim rule and pay taxes. - The Byzantines and the Persians were the first to feel the strength of the newly united Arabs. - At Yarmuk in 636, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine army and in 640 they took possession of the province of Syria. - To the east, Arab forces conquered the Persian Empire by 650 and by 642 Egypt and other areas of North Africa had been added to the new Muslim Empire. - Led by a series of brilliant generals, the Arabs had put together a large and highly motivated army whose valor was enhanced by the belief that Muslim warriors were guaranteed a place in paradise if they died in battle. - Early caliphs ruling from Medina organized their newly conquered territories into taxpaying provinces. - By the mid-7th century, problems arose again over the succession to the Prophet until Ali Muhammad's son-in-law was assassinated and the general Mu'awiya the governor of Syria and one of Ali's chief rivals became caliph in 661. - He was known for one outstanding virtue: he used force only when necessary. - Mu'awiya moved quickly to make the caliphate hereditary in his own family thus establishing the Umayyad dynasty. - As one of its first actions, the Umayyad dynasty moved the capital of the Muslim empire from Medina to Damascus in Syria. - This internal dissension over the caliphate created a split in Islam between the Shi'ites or those who accepted only the descendants of Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law as the true rulers, and the Sunnites, who claimed that the descendants of the Umayyads were the true caliphs. - This 7th century split in Islam is still present today. - The internal dissension did not stop the expansion of Islam. - After sweeping across North Africa, the Muslims crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and moved into Spain around 710. - The Visigothic kingdom collapsed and by 725, most of Spain had become a Muslim state with its center at Cordoba. - In 732, a Muslim army making a foray into southern France was defeated at the Battle of Tours. - Muslim expansion into Europe came to a halt. - Meanwhile, in 717 another Muslim force had launched a naval attack on Constantinople with the hope of destroying the Byzantine Empire. - In the spring of 718, the Byzantines destroyed the Muslim fleet and saved the Byzantine Empire and indirectly Christian Europe because the fall of Constantinople would have opened the door to Muslim invasion of Eastern Europe. - The Byzantine Empire and Islam now had established an uneasy frontier in southern Asia Minor. - The Arab advance had finally come to an end but not before the southern and eastern Mediterranean parts of the old Roman Empire had been conquered. - Islam had truly become the heir to much of the Old Roman Empire. - The Umayyad dynasty at Damascus now ruled an enormous empire. - While expansion had conveyed untold wealth and new ethnic groups into the fold of Islam it also brought contact with Byzantine and Persian civilizations. - As a result, the new Arab empire would be influenced by Greek culture as well as the older civilizations of the ancient Near East

Islamic science and learning

- Muslims were distinguished in studying natural science and philosophy - usually the same men were scientists and philosophers who studied Greek philosophy and their own Islamic philosophy. - They were especially apt in astrology, which they saw as an applied science. - After an Islamic astrologer carefully studied and foretold the courses of the heavenly bodies he would endeavor to apply his knowledge to the course of human events, particularly the fortunes of wealthy patrons. - In order to account more simply for heavenly motions, some Muslims considered the possibility that the earth rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun but these theories were not accepted because they did not fit in with ancient preconceptions such as the assumption of circular planetary orbits. - Muslim scientists created advanced observations and predictive tables that surpassed the Greeks. - Islamic accomplishments in medicine were equally remarkable. - Physicians appropriated the knowledge contained in the medical writings of the Hellenistic age but were rarely content with just that. - A Muslim scholar discovered the contagious nature of tuberculosis, described several varieties of nervous ailments, and pointed out that disease could be spread through contamination of water and soil. - Others discovered the difference between measles and smallpox, the value of cauterization, prescribed antidotes for cases of poisoning and made progress in treating disease of the eyes. - They also recognized the infectious character of bubonic plague pointed out that it could be transmitted by clothing. - Muslims excelled over all other medieval people in organizations of hospitals and control of medical practices. - At least 34 great hospitals located in principal cities of Syria, Persia, and Egypt and each had wards for particular cases. - Chief physicians and surgeons lectured to the students and graduates had to pass an exam before being issued licenses to practices. Optics, Chemistry and Math - Muslim scientists also made advances in optics, chemistry and math. - They came to significant conclusions regarding the theory of magnifying lenses and the velocity, transmission and refraction of light. - Chemistry grew out of alchemy - an invention of the Hellenistic Greeks idea that metals were all the same in essence and that baser metals could be transmuted into gold if only the right instrument, the philosophers stone could be found. - As a result of experiments by Muslim scientists various new substances and compounds were discovered including sodium carbonate, alum, borax, silver nitrate. - In addition, Islamic scientists were the first to describe the chemical process of distillation, filtration, and sublimation. - Math was Islam's greatest accomplishment to unite the geometry of the Greeks with the number sciences of the Hindus - they were able to develop an arithmetic system based on the decimal system and made advances in algebra. - Also new philosophy, poetry, art and architecture.

The Book of the Courtier

- The Renaissance also saw the development of self-help and guide books, especially for people who wanted to work in royal or princely court - One such book was Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (1516)

Revival of Trade City Charters

- The revival of trade led to a revival of cities. - Merchants needed places where they could live and build warehouses to store goods. - Towns had greatly declined in the Early Middle Ages especially in Europe north of the Alps. - Old Roman cities continued to exist but had dwindled in size and population. - With the revival of trade, merchants began to settle in these old cities, followed by craft workers or artisans, people who had developed skills on manors or elsewhere and now perceived the opportunity to ply their trade producing objects that could be sold by the merchants. - Beginning in the late 10th century, many new cities and towns had also been founded, particularly in northern Europe - usually a group of merchants established a settlement near some fortified stronghold such as a castle or monastery. - Castles were particularly favored because they were located along major routes of transportation or at least at intersections of important trade routes - lords of castles could offer protection. - The original meaning of the English word borough or burgh and the German burg as a fortress or walled enclosure is still evident in the name of many cities such as Edinburgh and Nuremberg. - Most towns were closely tied to their surrounding territories because they were dependent on the countryside for food supplies. - Towns were often part of the territory that belonged to a lord and were subject to his jurisdiction. - Although lords wanted to treat towns and townspeople as they would their vassals and serfs, cities had totally different needs. - Townspeople needed mobility to trade and their own unique laws. - Since townspeople were profiting from the growth of trade and sale of their products, they were willing to pay for the right to make their own laws and govern themselves. - In many instances lords and kings saw the potential for vast new sources of revenues and were willing to grant or sell to the townspeople the liberties they were beginning to demand. - By 1100 towns were receiving charters of liberties from their territorial lords granting them the privileges they wanted including the right to bequeath goods and sell property, freedom from any military obligations to the lord, written urban law that guaranteed them their freedom and the right to become a free person after residing a year and a day in the town. - The last provision made it possible for a runaway serf who could avoid capture to become a free person in a city. - Almost all new urban communities gained these elementary liberties but only some towns obtained the right to govern themselves by choosing their own officials and administering their own courts of law. - Over time, medieval cities developed their own governments for running the affairs of the community. - Citizens (only men who had been born in the city or who had lived there for some time) elected members of a city council that ran the affairs of the city and also served as judges and magistrates. - The electoral process was carefully engineered to ensure that only members of the wealthiest and most powerful families who came to be called patricians were elected. - City governments kept a close watch over the activities of their community, and they were responsible for the welfare of community. They provides water barrels, delegates people to be responsible in case of fire, stockpiles grain, and set standards for weights and measures. - Urban crime was not a major problem because communities were fairly small and it was hard for criminals to operate openly. - Nonetheless, medieval urban governments did organize town guards to patrol the streets by night and the city walls by day. - People caught committing crimes were quickly tried and punished - serious offenses such as murder were punished by execution, usually by hanging - lesser crimes were punished by flogging, fines or branding. - Cities had narrow winding streets with houses crowded against each other and the second and third stories of dwellings built over the streets. - Because dwellings were constructed mostly of wood before the 14th century, and candles and wood fires were used for light and heat, the danger of fire was great. - Medieval cities burned rapidly once a fire started. - Most of the people who lived in cities were merchants involved in trade and artisans engaged in manufacturing. - Merchants and artisans generally had their own sections of the city. - The merchant area included warehouses, inns, and taverns and the artisan sections were divided along craft lines - each craft had its own street where it pursued its activity. - The physical environment of cities was atrocious - they were dirty and polluted, the use of wood for fires and coal made the air unbreathable, and there was no sanitation for people or animals. - All waste from butchers and tanners thrown into local rivers. - Cities remained relatively small - a large trading city would number about 5000 - by 1300 London was the largest city in England with almost 40,000. - On the Continent north of the Alps, only a few great urban centers of commerce such as Bruges and Ghent had a population close to that. - Italian cities tended to be larger with Venice, Florence, Genoa, and Milan and Naples numbering almost 100,000. - Even the largest European cities seemed insignificant alongside the Byzantine capital of Constantinople or the Arab cities of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo

Maya Creation story

- The universe was originally produced from a watery void by a pair of grandfather/grandmother gods. - The universe had passed through various cycles of creation and destruction. - Each successive world was peopled by imperfect beings, the last of whom were wooden idols whose doom was brought about because they would not give proper praise to the gods. - They were destroyed by a great flood that covered the world. - The sky fell upon the earth and the sun and moon and stars were extinguished - In the midst of this darkness, a monstrous, arrogant bird-monster proclaimed himself the new sun as well as the moon. - To the old creator couple was born a pair of twins. - One of these was the maize god - his brother was his double or companion. - Their hero twins would eventually defeat monsters and restore the world.

Persecution of Heretics, Jews and Gay People

- The Jews were the only religious minority in medieval Europe that was allowed to practice a non-Christian religion, but the religious enthusiasm of the High Middle Ages produced an outburst of intolerance against the supposed enemies of Christianity. - After crusades were launched against the Muslims in 1096, European Christians took up the search for enemies at home, persecuting Jews especially in France and in the German Rhineland. - Friars urged action against the "murders of Christ" contending that the Jews having turned Jesus over to the Romans were responsible for his death and organized the public burning of Jewish books. - The 4th Lateran Council in 1215 decreed that Jews must wear distinguishing marks such as ribbons, yellow badges and special veils and cloaks to differentiate themselves from Christians. - The same council encouraged the development of Jewish ghettos, neighborhoods build behind walled enclosures to isolate Jews from Christians. - The persecution and demonization of Jews stimulated the tradition of anti-Semitism that proved to be one of Christian Europe's most insidious contributions to the Western heritage. - European kings who portrayed themselves as protectors of the Jews had so fleeced the Jewish communities of their money by the end of the 13th century that they had no reason to resist mob fury against Jews. - Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290, the French followed suit in 1306. - As this policy spread into central Europe, most northern European Jews were driven into Poland. Intolerance of Homosexuality - The climate of intolerance that characterized the 13th century toward Muslims, Heretics and Jews also extended to homosexuals. - Although the church had condemned homosexuality in the Early Middle Ages, it had not been overly concerned with homosexual behavior. - By the 13th century, these tolerant attitudes had altered drastically. - Some historians connect this change with the century's climate of fear and intolerance against any minority group that deviated from the standards of the majority. - A favorite approach of the critics was to identify homosexuals with other hated groups. - Homosexuals were portrayed as Muslims and as Albigensians. - Between 1250 and 1300 what had been tolerated in most of Europe became a criminal act deserving of death. - The legislation against homosexuality commonly referred to as a "sin against nature." - This is precisely the argument developed by Thomas Aquinas who formed Catholic opinion on the subject for centuries to come. - In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas argued that because the purpose of sex was procreation, it could only legitimately take place in ways that did not exclude this possibility. - Therefore, homosexuality like all other sexual practices that could not result in pregnancy, was "contrary to nature" and a deviation from the natural order established by God. - This argument and laws prohibiting homosexual activity on pain of death remained the norm in Europe until the twentieth century.

Mayan Religion and Rituals Mayan Priests

- The Maya saw the Milky Way as a road of dead souls into the Underworld as well as a path of those souls to the sky. - The Milky Way was often sculpted onto sarcophagus lids to help dead kings make it to paradise. - Each May a capital city had its own variation on the creation myth which glorified the ancestors of its own kings. - The Maya seem to have seen the earth as flat and 4-cornered, each angle at a cardinal point, which had a color value. - It was supported at its corners by 4 ancient gods. - The sky was held up in a similar fashion. - The Maya worshiped many gods but very little is known about most of them. - The principal Maya divinities represented those natural forces and objects that most directly affected the material welfare of the people. - The supreme god of the Maya pantheon was Itzam Na, a creator god who incorporated in himself the aspects of many other gods; not only creation but fire, rain, crops, and earth were among his functions or provinces. - Other important divinities were the sun god, the moon goddess, the rain god, the maize god, and the much feared god of death. - The Maya believed in an Upper World constituted of 13 layers and an Under World constituted of nine. - Over each layer presided a certain god; over the lowest layer of the Under World presided the god of death, Ah Puch. - The Maya believed that the underworld was a cold, dreary place where most souls ended up after they died. - The sun and moon also passed through the underworld each day after they disappeared below the horizon. - Maya tombs are often filled with jars that contained food and drink for the afterlife - especially tamales and chocolate. - In contrast to the Aztecs, Maya clergy were not celibate. - Sons often succeeded their fathers in office as priests. - Priests had a close connection with the calendar and astronomy. Every Maya ritual act dictated by the calendar. - They had to figure the years, months, and days, the festivals and ceremonies and the administration of sacraments. - There was an academy for training candidates for the priesthood. - They learned to give prophecies, cured diseases and learned to read and write. - They kept all important genealogies and received visions from the gods while in a trance. - The priest was assisted in human sacrifices by 4 older men called Chahks in honor of the Rain God. - They held the arms and legs of the victim while the heart was cut out. - Before and during rituals, food taboos and sexual abstinence were rigidly observed and self-mutilation was carried out by jabbing needles and stingray spines through ears, cheeks, lips, tongue and penis, the blood being splattered on paper or used to anoint idols. - Human sacrifice was perpetrated on prisoners, slaves and above all on children {bastards or orphans bought for the occasion}. - Before the Toltec era, animals were probably more common than people. - We know that wild turkeys, dogs, squirrels, quail, and iguanas were considered fit offerings to the gods. - A given day or year was lucky or unlucky depending on whether the god bearer was benevolent or malevolent. - The greatest ceremonies seem to have to do with the inauguration of the New Year. - These took place in every community within the five unnamed and unlucky days at the close of the previous year and involved the construction of a special road to idols placed at certain cardinal points just outside the town limits. - There were all sorts of omens, good or bad, for every year but a bad omen could be offset by certain religious rites such as the well known fire walking ceremony in which priests ran barefoot over a bed of red-hot coals. - Throughout the year, there were agricultural rites and ceremonies for important economic groups such as hunters, beekeepers, fishermen and artisans.

Teotihuacan Quetzalcoatl Cult of the jaguar

- About the beginning of the Christian Era, at Teotihuacan, some 28 miles from Mexico City, arose the mighty pyramids later given the names of the Sun and the Moon, which towered over clusters of imposing temples and other buildings. - The stone sculpture used in the decoration of the temples, as well as the grace and finish of the cement work and the fresco painting, testify to the high development of the arts among the Teotihuacans. - The ancient water god, known later to the Aztecs as Tlaloc, seems to have been the chief deity, but the cult of the jaguar was also very important. - The feathered serpent with jaguar fangs, later known as Quetzalcoatl also appears prominently in the greatest temple. - There is little evidence of war or human sacrifice until a relatively late phase in the city's development. - Priests shown in benign poses wearing the symbols of their gods dominate the mural paintings. - The great ceremonial center at Teotihuacan was sacred ground. - It's likely that only the priestly nobility and their servants lived here. - Farther out were the residential quarters inhabited by officials, artisans, and merchants. - Teotihuacan is estimated to have had a population of at least 125,000. - On the outskirts of the city which covered an area of 7 square miles, lived a large rural population that supplied the metropole with its food. - It is likely that an intensive agriculture using canal irrigation and terracing on hillslopes formed the economic foundation of the Teotihuacan civilization. - Despite the predominantly peaceful aspect of its religion and art, Teotihuacan seems to have been not only a major trading center but also a military state that directly controlled regions as remote as highland Guatemala. - Teotihuacan was the most important city in this period, but it was not the only one in Mexico. To the southwest at Monte Alban in the rugged mountains of Oaxaca, the Zapotecs erected a great ceremonial center that was also a true city. - By 800 AD, the Mesoamerican world had been shaken to its foundations by a crisis that seemed to spread from one center of civilization to another. - Teotihuacan, Rome of that world, perished at the hands of invaders who burned down the city sometime between 650 and 800 AD. - From this time of troubles, a new order emerged, sometimes called Militarist. - Priests and benign nature gods were replaced by warriors and terrible gods who demanded human blood.

Tournaments for knights

- After his formal initiation into the world of warriors a young man would return home to find himself once again under his parents' authority. - Young men were discouraged from marrying until their fathers died at which time they could marry and become lords of the castle. - Trained to be warriors but with no adult responsibilities, young knights had nothing to do but fight. - As the church stepped up efforts to curb socially destructive behavior in the 12th century, tournaments began to be organized. - Initially tournaments consisted of the melee in which warriors on horseback fought with blunted weapons in a free for all combat but by late in the century, it became a joust or individual combat. - Knights saw tournaments as ways to train for battle

Christianity's spread in the Roman Empire Nero Persecution Christian Martyrs

- Although the fundamental values of Christianity differed markedly from those of the Greco-Roman world, the Romans initially didn't pay much attention to the Christians whom they regarded at first as a tiny sect of Judaism. - The structure of the Roman Empire aided the growth of Christianity. - Christian missionaries, including Jesus original 12 disciples used Roman roads to travel throughout the empire spreading the "good news." - As time passed, Roman attitudes began to change toward Christians. - Romans were tolerant of other religions except when they threatened public order or public morals. - Many Romans came to view Christians as harmful to the order of the Roman state because Christians held meetings in secret and seemed to be connected to groups in other areas. The government viewed them as potentially dangerous to the state. - Christians did not recognize other gods and therefore abstained from public festivals honoring these divinities. - Christians refused to participate in the worship of state gods and the imperial cult. - Since the Romans regarded these as important to the state, Christian's refusal undermined the security of the state and hence constituted an act of treason, punishable by death. - To Christians who believed there was only one real God, the worship of state gods and the emperors was idolatry and would endanger the salvation of their souls. - Persecutions began during the reign of Nero. - After the fire that destroyed much of Rome, the emperor used Christians as scapegoats accusing them of arson and hatred of the human race and subjecting them to cruel deaths in Rome. - In 64 AD, the emperor Nero publically massacred hundreds of Christians in Rome blaming them for a fire they didn't start. - This was first time most Romans had even heard of Christianity. - Christians became the perfect scapegoats for Rome's problems. - Christian values were radically un-Roman, - blessed are the week, they shall inherit the earth - woe to you who are rich. Roman culture did not prise either poverty or weakness. - Early Christians chose to meet underground in the labyrinth of burial chambers known as the catacombs. - Here, women participated in communion equally with men which shocked pagan Rome and gave rise to rumors that Christians recognized each other with secret signs and had sex all the time with strangers. - They called each other brother and sister so rumors spread that they committed incest. - There were other rumors claiming that they killed children and drank their blood. - Christians would later use these same accusations to condemn witches and Jews in later centuries. - Repression of Christians backfired. Victims were willing to become martyrs and endured intense suffering. - Many people were won over by the devotion Christians showed to their faith.

Amerigo Vespucci

- Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine accompanied several voyages and wrote a series of letters describing the geography of the new world - the publication of these letters led to the use of the name "America" for the new lands. - Perhaps the most dramatic voyage was the one made by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519. - After passing through the Straits named after him at the bottom of South Africa, he sailed across the Pacific Ocean and reached the Philippines where he met his death at the hands of the natives. - Although only one of his original fleet of 5 shops survived and returned to Spain, Magellan's name is still associated with the first known circumnavigation of the earth. - The Europeans quickly saw opportunities for conquest and exploitation of the Americas. - In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas had divided up the newly discovered world into separate Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence.

Aztecs Huitzlipochtli Lake Texcoco Tenochtitlan

- Among the last of the Chichimecs to arrive in the valley were the Aztecs or Mexica, the name they gave themselves. - The date of their departure from somewhere in the north was probably about 1111 AD. - Their stories say they were led by 4 priests and a woman who carried a medicine bundle housing the spirit of their tribal god Huitzilopochtli. They arrived in the Valley of Mexico in about 1218 after obscure wanderings. - Finding the most desirable sites occupied by others, they had to take refuge on marshy lands around Lake Texcoco. - Here in 1344 or 1345, they began to build the town of Tenochtitlan. - At this time, the Aztec community was composed of a small number of kinship, landholding groups called calpulli. - The patches of solid ground that formed the Aztec territory were gradually build over with huts of cane and reeds . - They were followed later by more ambitious structures of turf, adobe, and light stone. - As the population increased, a larger cultivable area became necessary. - For this purpose, the Aztecs borrowed from their neighbors the technology of making artificial garden beds formed of masses of earth and rich sediment dredged from the lake bed and held in place by wickerwork. - Eventually, the roots, striking downward, took firm hold in the lake bottom and created solid ground. - On these floating garden beds, the Aztecs grew maize, beans, and other products

Human Sacrifice War

- As the Aztecs took over Mexico, they elevated their god Huitzilopochtli to a position of equality with or supremacy over the great nature gods traditionally worshiped in the Valley of Mexico. - The Aztecs burned other ancient picture writing that slighted the Aztecs, and created a new history that recognized the Aztec grandeur. - A new emphasis was placed on capturing prisoners of war to use as sacrifices on the altars of the Aztec gods in order to assure the continuance of the universe. - The Aztecs waged war with or without cause. - The refusal by a group to pay tribute to the Aztec ruler was sufficient pretext for invasion by the Aztecs. - Aztec merchants also prepared the way for conquest by reporting on the resources and defenses of the areas in which they traded. They acted as spies. - If they returned home safely, these valiant merchants were honored by the ruler with amber lip plugs and other gifts. - If their enemies discovered them, they consequences were horrid. - They were slain in ambush and served up with chili sauce according to one native account. - Injuries to the far ranging Aztec merchants by people of the region they visited sometimes served as motive for invasion. - Victory in war always had the same results: long lines of captives made the long journey to Tenochtitlan to be offered up on the altars of the gods. - In addition, periodic tribute payments of maize, cotton mantles, cacao beans, or other produces were imposed on the vanquished. - Certain lands were also set aside to be cultivated by them for the support of the Aztec crown, priesthood and state officials or as fiefs given to warriors who had distinguished themselves in battle. - By leaving the defeated regimes in place and avoiding direct territorial control, the Aztec state avoided expense of direct rule.

Bards and Celts Religion Human sacrifice Bog bodies

- Bards were historians for the Celtic people - they learned epic stories of great warriors and recited them at common feast days. - Celts were illiterate so poems had to be memorized - they maintained the cultural identity of individual tribes. - Bards formed part of the priestly cast. - Alongside the bards were the druids who acted as judges and lawyers. - They also maintained the communities intellectual knowledge - many achieved great skill in math and astronomy - The third element of Celtic priesthood was the augurers - class of professional prophets. - Religious practice varied from region to region - different tribes worshiped different gods and carried out different rituals. - There were some general features of Celtic belief. - The gods were both male and female. - Female deities represented aspects of earth mother goddess. - Male gods were more concerned with worldly affairs of the tribe - especially war. - Well known gods included Lug - believed to be associated with the arts - and Cernunnos - believed to be concerned with the trees of the forest. - Trees, animals such as bulls, stags and hunting dogs were all considered sacred. - Bore was the most sacred of all. - Celts also saw spiritual dimension in water - spring water was believed to possess healing powers. - Wells were site of ceremonies where valuable treasures would be deposited into the shaft as votive offering to the gods. - Our present day practice of dropping coins into wells draws inspiration from this practice. - The belief system was very complex. - Spirits were perceived to be everywhere in all springs, trees, and mountains. - Lakes and rivers were seen as gateways to the next world. - Cult of the Human Head - Roman writers say that the Celts collected human heads and brought them home as trophies. - Communities may have set up columns with niches and put human skulls in each. - Human head was an important symbol - important to status as a warrior. - Sacred rituals were responsibility of auguries or prophets. - Their task to carry out sacrifices - usually an animal would be slaughtered and its organs would be examined for signs of events to come. - There were times when humans were sacrificed as well. - The life of an individual was subject to the will of the gods. - If it was felt that the gods were displeased, they would have to be placated by the sacrifice of human life. - It's not clear who were sacrificed. Some evidence to suggest that people with disabilities were sacrificed, but other sources suggest it might have been criminals or high ranking members of society.

Botticelli

- Botticelli learned the method of drawing firm, pure outline with light shading within the contours. - One of his most famous paintings, The Birth of Venus, was inspired by a poem on that theme by one of the leading Humanists of the day. - He had great enthusiasm for themes from classical mythology. - The painting was executed for the villa of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici at Castello. The patron who commissioned the Botticelli painting for his country villa was a member of the rich and powerful family of the Medici. - Either he himself, or one of his learned friends, probably explained to the painter what was known of the way the ancients had represented Venus rising from the sea. - Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell, which is driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses. - As she is about to step on to the land, one of the Hours or Nymphs receives her with a purple cloak. - Botticelli's Venus is so beautiful that we do not notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the odd way her left arm is hinged to the body. These were liberties that Botticelli took with nature in order to achieve a graceful outline and add to the beauty and harmony to the design. They enhance the impression of an infinitely gendered and delicate being, wafted to our shores as a gift from Heaven. - The presentation of the figure of Venus nude was in itself an innovation. - The nude, especially the female nude had been banned during the Middle Ages. - Its appearance on such a scale and the use of an ancient Venus statue as a model could have drawn the charge of paganism and infidelity. - But under the protection of the powerful Medici family Botticelli was protected

Jesus

- By 30 AD, there were many preachers responding to the apocalyptic mood in Judea - some claimed to be the messiah - others taught followers how to live amidst the violence. - Jesus was one such preacher. - Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek to enemies. - He encouraged people to respond to the chaos in Palestine with gentleness, mercy, being pure in heart, and peacemakers. - People should strive to make the world a better place. In this, Jesus was part of a long Jewish tradition that stretched back to the prophets of the Old Testament. 42 - Jesus was Jewish - his telling of parables was a Jewish tradition, his form of rhetoric was Jewish, his message was Jewish in many ways. - Jesus also deeply influenced by prophesies in the Bible. - He preached that the kingdom of God was about the beginning and everyone needed to be ready. - Roman authorities were constantly arresting those who were seen as troublemakers. - In 33 AD Jesus was one of those. For the Romans, he was one more would-be messiah who might cause a revolt so they executed him. - Even after his death, Jesus followers continued to grow. - These Jews became known as Christians.

Vikings

- By far the most devastating and far reaching attacks of the time came from the Northmen or Norsemen of Scandinavia known also as the Vikings. - Why they invaded other areas of Europe is uncertain - The Vikings great love of adventure and their search for plunder and new avenues of trade may have been important factors. - Vikings were both warriors and expert shipbuilders and sailors. - Their ships were the best of the period - the Viking dragon ships carried about 50 men and their shallow draft enabled them to sail up European rivers and attack places at some distance inland. - Vikings sacked villages and towns, destroyed churches and easily defeated small local armies. - Viking attacks frightened people and led many a clergyman to plead with them to change their behavior to appease God's anger. - By the 10th century Viking expansion was drawing to a close but not before Viking settlements had been made throughout Europe. - Like the Magyars, the Vikings were also assimilated into European civilization. - Once again, Christianity proved a decisive civilizing force in Western civilization as many Vikings converted. - The Viking raids and settlements had important political repercussions. - The inability of royal authorities to protect their peoples against these incursions caused local populations to turn instead to local aristocrats who provided security for them. - In the process, the landed aristocrats not only increased their strength and prestige but also assumed even more of the functions of local governments - over time this led to a new political and military order.

Revival of Cities especially in Italy F

- By the 15th century, 5 major powers dominated the Italian peninsula - the duchy of Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States, and the kingdom of Naples. - Northern Italy was divided between the duchy of Milan and Venice. - The maritime republic of Venice remained an extremely stable political entity governed by a small oligarchy of merchant-aristocrats. - Its commercial empire brought in enormous revenues and gave it the status of an international power. - The republic of Florence dominated the region of Tuscany and regained its preeminence in banking in the 15th century primarily due to the Medici family. - In 1434, Cosimo de'Medici took control of the ruling oligarchy. - In its best of days, the House of Medici was the greatest banking house in Europe with branches in Venice, Milan, Rome, Avignon, Bruges, London, and Lyons. - The family had controlling interests in industrial enterprises for wool, silk, and the mining of alum which was used to dye textiles. - Although the wealthy Medici family maintained republican forms of government for appearance's sake, it ran the government from behind the scenes. - Through their lavish patronage and careful courting of political allies, Cosimo and later his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent were successful in dominating the city at a time when Florence was the center of the cultural Renaissance. - Despite its great success in the early and middle part of the 15th century, the Medici clan suffered a rather sudden decline at the end of the century due to poor leadership and a series of bad loans. - In 1494, when the French expelled the Medici from Florence and confiscated their property the Medicean financial edifice collapsed. - The Papal States lay in central Italy - nominally under the control of the popes, papal residence in Avignon and the Great Schism had enabled individual cities and territories such as Urbino and Ferrara to become independent of papal authority. - The popes of the 15th century directed much of their attention toward reestablishing their control over the Papal States. - The Kingdom of Naples which encompassed most of Southern Italy and usually the island of Sicily remained a backward monarchy that shared little in the cultural glories of the Renaissance.

Christian Missionaries

- Christianity began to gain substantial numbers of believers only in the 3rd century after Christ. - To understand this, we must recall that in Roman history the 2OOs was in an "age of anxiety." It was a time of extreme political turbulence and economic hardship - people began to treat life on earth as an illusion and place their hopes in the beyond. - At first Christianity was one among many religions emphasizing personal spirituality and salvation. - Although Christianity drew heavily from Judaism, it possessed a dynamism lacking among the other salvationist religions which had existed for centuries. - Christianity's dynamism was also enhanced by its rigorous exclusiveness. - Hitherto, people had adopted religions freely and changed between them. - The fact that Christianity prohibited this, demanding that the Christian God be worshiped alone, made the new religion most appealing at a time when people were searching desperately for absolutes. - Similarly, Christianity alone among its rivals had an all-embracing theory explaining evil on earth, namely as the work of demons governed by the devil. - When Christian missionaries sought converts they successfully emphasized the new faith's ability to combat evil spirits. - Probably the greatest attractions of Christianity had to do with 3 other traits: its view of salvation, social dimensions, and organizational structure. - People very concerned with salvation after death - Christianity offered the promise of life after death in heaven or hell - there was some element of fear. - Christianity gained converts among all classes but it especially reached out to the poor and lower classes. - - Christianity did not present poverty or low intellectual level as negative - everyone was equal spiritually

Christopher Columbus

- Christopher Columbus, an Italian, became important to the history of Spanish exploration. - Knowledgeable Europeans were aware that the world was round but had little understand of its circumference or the extent of the continent of Asia. - Convinced that the circumference of the earth was less than contemporaries believed and that Asia was far larger than people thought, Columbus felt that going to Asia could be reached by sailing west instead of going around Africa. - After being rejected by the Portuguese, he persuaded Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his exploration. - With three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and 90 men, Columbus set sail for the Atlantic on Aug 3, 1492. - On October 12, he made landfall in the Bahamas then went on to explore the coastline of Cuba and the northern shores of Hispaniola. - Columbus was sure he had reached Asia and in his reports to Queen Isabella, he reassured her of his eventual success in finding gold as well as the opportunity to convert the natives to Christianity. - In three subsequent voyages, Columbus sought in vain to find a route through the outer lands to the Asian mainland. - In his 4 voyages, he reached all the major islands of the Caribbean and the mainland of Central America. - Although Columbus clung to his belief that he had reached Asia until his death, other explorers soon realized that he had discovered a new frontier altogether.

Diocletian and Constantine

- Constantine continued and even expanded the autocratic policies of Diocletian. Both rulers greatly strengthened and enlarged the administrative bureaucracies of the Roman Empire. - Civil and military bureaucracies were sharply separated and each contained a hierarchy of officials who exercised control at various levels. - The emperor presided over both hierarchies of officials and served as the only link between them. - The army was also enlarged to 500,000 and included more barbarian units. - Although larger, the army was less competent because recruits from Germany and the Balkans received less training than traditional legions. - Constantine was especially interested in building programs despite the strain they placed on the budget. - His biggest project was the construction of a new capital city in the east on the site of the Greek city Byzantium on the shores of the Bosporus. - Eventually renamed Constantinople (modern Istanbul) it was developed for its strategic location. - Calling it his "New Rome" Constantine endowed the city with a forum, large palaces, and a vast amphitheater. - The political and military reforms of Diocletian and Constantine greatly enlarged 2 institutions the army and the civil service that drained most of the public funds. - The population of the Empire was not growing so tax base could not be expanded. - Diocletian and Constantine devised new economic and social policies to deal with these financial burdens but like their political policies they were all based on coercion and loss of individual freedom. - Diocletian resorted to issuing a price edict in 301 that established maximum wages and prices for the entire empire, but he was unable to enforce it, so it failed to work. - To ensure the tax base and keep the empire going despite the shortage of labor, the emperors issued edicts that forced people to remain in the designated vocations - jobs such as bakers and shippers became hereditary. - Free tenant farmers continued to decline and soon found themselves bound to the land by large landowners who took advantage of depressed agricultural conditions to enlarge landed estates. - Though temporarily successful, authoritarian policies in the long run stifled the very vitality the late empire needed to revive.

Nicholas of Cologne Children's Crusade

- Despite the failures, the crusading ideas was not yet completely lost. - In Germany in 1212, a youth known as Nicholas of Cologne announced that God had inspired him to lead a "Children's Crusade" to the Holy Land. - Thousands of young people joined Nicholas and made their way down the Rhine across the Alps to Italy where the pope told them to go home. - Most tried to do so. - At about the same time, a group of about 20,000 French children also inspired by the desire to free the Holy Land from Muslims made their way to Marseilles where 2 shipowners agreed to transport them to the Holy Land. - Seven ships packed with hymn-singing children soon left the port. - Two of the ships perished in a storm near Sardinia the other five sailed to North Africa where the children were sold into slavery. - 4 more crusades over the next half century were no more successful.

Diocletian

- Diocletian ruled for 2O years but he spent only 2 years in Rome. He spent most of his time on frontier near the borders. - Believing that the empire had grown too large for a single ruler, Diocletian (284-305 AD) divided it into 4 administrative units each with its own prefect. - Despite the appearance of 4 man rule, Diocletian's military seniority enabled him to claim a higher status and hold the ultimate authority. - In desperate bid to enhance his respect among people, he proclaimed himself the son of Jupiter, and insisted that everyone kneel in his presence and kiss hymn of his robe. - He hoped that making himself a god would increase his legitimacy as a leader. - In addition, in 3O3AD, Diocletian initiated the most sweeping persecution of Christians they had ever seen. - Churches were burned, scriptures destroyed, and Christians enslaved or tortured in prison - If still refused to sacrifice to Rome's gods, they were publicly tortured. - All of this was pointless spectacle. - Even members of the imperial court began converting to Christianity. - Rome, once a proud multicultural empire, had become a repressive state. - In 3O5 AD, Diocletian retired to summer palace confident that Rome had won against the Christians. - He was wrong.

Aztec Imperial expansion

- For a long time, the Aztecs were subservient to their powerful neighbors in Azcapotzalco, the dominant power in the lake country in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. - A turning point in Aztec history came in 1428. - Led by their war chief Itzcoatl, the Aztecs jointed other rebellious city-states around to destroy the ruling elite of the city of Azcapotzalco. - Their joint victory in 1430 led to the rise of a Triple Alliance that eventually conquered Mexico part of Central America. - Gradually, the balance of power shifted in favor of the aggressive Aztec state and other cities in the region fell under their dominance. - Most of the conquered land and the peasantry living on it were assigned to Aztec warrior nobles who had distinguished themselves in battle. - Originally assigned for life, these lands tended to become fiefs held in permanent inheritance passed down in families. - It was a system similar to medieval European society.

Peasants/Serfs

- Free peasants gave up their freedom to the lords of large landed estates in return for protection and use of the lord's land. - Although a large class of free peasants continued to exist, increasing numbers of free peasants became serfs - peasants bound to the land and required to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord's jurisdiction. - By the 9th century, 60% of the population in Western Europe had become serfs. - The lot of medieval serfs was terrible. - Their dwellings were usually miserable constructions of braided twigs smeared over with mud. - As late as the 13th century an English peasant was convicted of destroying his neighbor's house by sawing apart 1 central beam. - There was no variety in food, little meat or fruit or vegetables. - Serfs always the possibility of crop failures and starvation was common. - Labor services consisted of working the lord's land, building barns, digging ditches - serfs usually worked about 3 days a week for their lords. - Serfs paid rents for the land they worked themselves by giving the lord a share of every product they raised. - They also paid for the use of the lord's common pasturelands, streams, ponds, and surrounding woodlands - if a serf fished in a pond, part of his catch would be given to the lord - peasants were also required to pay a tithe 1/10 of their produce to the church. - Serfs legally bound to the lord's lands and could not leave without his permission. - Although free to marry, serfs could not marry anyone outside their manor without the lord's approval. - Lords sometimes had their own courts to try peasants for crimes. - Lords had rights over almost all aspects of peasants' lives. - Western Europe especially compared to the Byzantine Empire in the east, was underdeveloped, predominantly agricultural and not highly cultured.

Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales

- Geoffrey Chaucer brought a new level of sophistication to the English vernacular language in his famous work The Canterbury Tales. - Chaucer was the first major writer of an English that can still be read today with relatively little effort. - Chaucer's stories are recounted by people of different classes - from a chivalric knight to a dedicated university student to a thieving miller. - Each character tells a story that is particularly illustrative of his or her own occupation and outlook on the world. - His beauty of expression and clear, forceful language were important in transforming his East Midland dialect into the chief ancestor of the modern English language. - The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by a group of 29 pilgrims journeying from Southwark to the tomb of Saint Thomas of Canterbury. - This format gave Chaucer the chance to portray an entire range of English society, both high and low born. - Among others, he presented the Knight, the Squire, the Yeoman, the Prioress, the Monk, the Merchant, the Student, the Lawyer, the Carpenter, the Cook, the Doctor, the Plowman, and "a Good Wife from beside the city of Bath - a little deaf, which was a pity." - The stories these pilgrims told while on the journey were just as varied as the storytellers themselves: knightly romances, fairy tales, saints' lives, sophisticated satires and crude anecdotes.

Hernando Cortes

- In 1519, a Spanish expedition under the command of Hernan Cortes landed at Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. - He marched to the city of Tenochtitlan at the head of a small contingent of troops - 550 soldiers and 16 horses - as he went, he made alliances with city states that had tired of the oppressive rule of the Aztecs. - Especially important was Tlaxcala, a state the Aztecs had not been able to conquer. - In November, Cortés arrived at Tenochtitlan where he received a friendly welcome from the Aztec monarch Montezuma. - At first, Moctezuma believed that his visitor was a representative of Quetzalcoatl, the god who had departed from his homeland centuries before and had promised that he would return. - Riddled with fears, Moctezuma offered gifts of gold to the foreigners and gave them a palace to use while they were in the city - Tensions eventually erupted between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. - The Spanish took Moctezuma hostage and began to pillage the city. - In the fall of 1520, one year after Cortés had arrived, the local population revolted and drove the invaders out. - Many of the Spanish were killed but the Aztecs soon experienced a new disaster in the form of disease. - Cortés received fresh troops from his new American allies - the state of Tlaxcala alone provided 50,000 warriors. - After 4 months, the city capitulated. - The whole city was completely destroyed - pyramids, temples, and palaces leveled and stones used to build Spanish government buildings and churches. - Between 1531 and 1550, the Spanish consolidated their control of northern Mexico

Dante Divine Comedy Virgil

- In the 14th century and 15th centuries, the works of Dante, Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan helped make vernacular literature more popular. - By the late 15th century, vernacular literary forms had become so celebrated that they competed with and eventually replaced works in Latin. - Dante (1265-1321) came from an old Florentine noble family that had fallen on hard times. - Despite his engagement in politics and the fact that he was a layman, he managed to acquire an awesome mastery of the religious, philosophic, and literary knowledge of his time. - He not only knew the Bible and the Church fathers, but he also absorbed the most recent Scholastic theology. - In addition, he was very familiar with Virgil, Cicero, Boethius and numerous other classical writers and was fully conversant with the poems of the Troubadours and the Italian poetry of his own day. - In 1302, he was expelled from Florence after a political upheaval and forced to live the rest of his live in exile during which he wrote the Divine Comedy. - Cast in the typical medieval framework, the Divine Comedy is basically the story of the soul's progression through Hell, Purgatory and into Heaven and salvation. - At the start, Dante tells of how he once found himself in a "dark wood" his metaphor for deep personal crisis. - He is led out of this forest of despair by the Roman poet Virgil who stands for the heights of classical reason and philosophy. - Virgil is a symbol of human reason, but reason can only lead the poet so far on his journey. - Virgil guides Dante on a trip through hell and purgatory, and afterward Dante's deceased fiance, Beatrice who stands for Christian wisdom and blessedness, takes over and guides him through paradise. - In the course of his progress, Dante meets both historical beings and the poet's contemporaries, all of whom have already been assigned places in the afterlife, and he is instructed by them and his guides as to why them met their fates. - Dante eventually meets the Virgin Mary since grace is necessary to achieve the final step of entering the presence of God, where one holds "the love that moves the sun and the other stars." - As the poem progresses, the poet leaves the condition of despair to grow in wisdom and ultimately to reach assurance of his own salvation. - The lengthy poem was divided into three major sections corresponding to the realms of the afterworld: hell, purgatory, and heaven or paradise.

Zealots Pharisees Essenes

- In the first century BC, 4 principal social/religious parties or sects in Palestine among Jews: Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots. - The religiously conservatively Sadducees insisted on a strict interpretation of the Mosaic Law (Torah) and the perpetuation of temple ceremonies - They were the wealthy members of Jewish society who rejected the idea of an afterlife and resurrection of the dead arguing that God only meted out rewards and punishments on earth. - The Pharisees adopted a more liberal attitude toward the Mosaic Law. They allowed discussions on varying interpretations and believed in an afterlife. - The third religious party, the Essenes, established a semi-monastic community near the Dead Sea and rejected temple life. They wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947. The Essenes believed in the resurrection of the dead like the Pharisees but gave this doctrine a more compelling meaning by tying it to the immediate coming of God's kingdom. - The Zealots demanded that the Jews neither pay taxes to Rome nor acknowledge the authority of the Roman emperor - they engaged in acts of resistance against Rome which culminated in the revolt of 66-70 AD. - Besides the afterlife, another widely recognized idea in the first century BC was the belief in a Messiah who would liberate Israel from foreign rule. - Jesus began his ministry in the context of Jewish religious national struggles.

Sculpture Donatello

- In the realm of sculpture, the Italian Renaissance took a great step forward by creating statues that were no longer carved as parts of columns or doorways on church buildings. - Italian sculptors for the first time since antiquity carved free-standing statues. - First great master of Renaissance sculpture was Donatello (1386-1466). - Donatello's David represents a first step in the direction of imitating classical sculpture. - The bronze David is perhaps the most controversial of his best known sculptures. - It was the first life-size, free-standing nude sculpture since antiquity. - The young David is wearing only a hat and high boots. - Unlike the well-muscled athletes of the classical period, he is slender and slight, an adolescent. - The greatest sculptor of the Italian Renaissance was Michelangelo. - He believed sculpture was the most exalted of the arts because it allowed the artist to imitate God most fully in recreating human forms. - Michelangelo's believed the most God-like sculptor disdained slavish naturalism. Only an inspired creative genius could endow his sculpted figures with a sense of life. - Michelangelo subordinated naturalism to the force of his imagination and sought restlessly to express his ideals in new and different forms. - The sculptor's most distinguished early work is also called David. It was finished in 1501. Unlike Donatello's David, this one is heroic rather than graceful - it's twice as large as life and depicts a serenely confident young man at the peak of physical fitness. - In his work depicting Moses about 1515, the Michelangelo began to explore the use of anatomical distortion to create effects of emotional intensity - in this case, the rage of the prophet. - His statues remained heroic but he incorporated more effort to communicate emotion.

Renaissance Man

- Renaissance literature and poetry focused on nature, beauty and reason • Individual at forefront of attention - Moral greatness of the individual and his or her ability to discover truth and wisdom • Lay person could interpret morality through the ancient texts themselves without assistance of the clergy - Once someone had learned to read Latin and Greek, neither ecclesiastical guidance nor formalized school settings were necessary for the accumulation of wisdom - Relatively few humanists emerged from the universities - still trained doctors, lawyers, and clerics - Liberal studies included history, moral philosophy, eloquence (rhetoric), letters (grammar and logic), poetry, math, astronomy and music - The purpose of a liberal education was to produce individuals who followed a path of virtue and wisdom and possessed the rhetorical skills by which they could persuade others to do the same - Also stressed physical education - students taught javelin throwing, archery, dancing and encouraged to participate in other sports - New ideas about what it meant to be civilized - Books on conduct and good manners emerged - Idea of a universal person or Renaissance Man - someone who was smart, talented, witty, compassionate, and physically fit

Roman influence in Palestine Romans Response to Jesus

- Jewish scribes and priests regarded Jesus who was a very popular teacher, as a threat to ancient traditions. - They accused him of associating with social outcasts, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes - undermining the Sabbath, proclaiming spiritual truth in his own name. - When Jesus began to preach in Jerusalem, Judea's major city and religious center, the city's religious leaders quickly became antagonistic to him - Swiftly moving to silence the troublemaker, they arrested him, tried him in their highest court for blasphemy, condemned him and handed him over to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor for sentencing and execution - The Romans had little interest in inter-religious struggles among Jews but wished to avoid any political agitation. - To the Roman authorities in Palestine and other local allies, Jesus was a potential revolutionary who might transform Jewish expectations of a messianic kingdom into a revolt against Rome. - Therefore, Jesus found himself denounced on many sides and was given over to the Roman authorities.

Joan of Arc

- Joan of Arc was born in 1412 to a well to do peasant family in the village of Domrémy in France. - Deeply religious, Joan experienced visions and came to believe that her favorite saints had commanded her to free France and have the dauphin Charles crowned king. - In February 1429, at the age of 19, Joan made her way to the Charles' court where her sincerity and simplicity persuaded Charles to allow her to accompany the French army to Orléans against the British - Apparently inspired by the faith of the peasant girl, the French armies found new confidence in themselves and liberated Orléans changing the course of the war. - Within a few weeks, the entire Loire valley had been freed of the English. - Joan had brought the war to a decisive turning point. - But she did not live to see the war concluded. - Captured by the allies of the English in 1430, Joan was turned over first to the English then to the Inquisition on charges of witchcraft. - Because Joan dressed in men's clothing the inquisition believed that she was in league with the "prince of darkness". - She was condemned to death as a heretic and burned at the stake in 1431. - 25 years later, a new ecclesiastical court exonerated her of all charges and in 1920, she was made a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church. - Joan of Arc's accomplishments proved decisive. - Although the war dragged on for another 2 decades, defeats of the English armies in Normandy and Aquitaine led to French victory in 1453.

Arabian Peninsula

- Like the Hebrews and the Assyrians, the Arabs were a Semitic speaking people of the Near East with a long history. - In Roman times, the Arabian Peninsula was dominated by Bedouins, tribes of nomads who moved constantly to find food and water for themselves and their animals. - Although some Arabs prospered from trading activities especially in the north, most Arabs were poor Bedouins whose tribes were known for their independence, their warlike qualities and their dislike of urban dwelling Arabs. - Although these early Arabs were polytheistic, there was a supreme God named Allah (Allah is the Arabic name for God) that ruled over the other gods. - Allah was symbolized by a sacred stone and each tribe had its own stone. - All tribes however worshiped a massive black meteorite, the Black Stone which had been placed in a central shrine called the Ka'ba in the city of Mecca. - In the 5th and 6th centuries AD the Arabian Peninsula took on new importance. - As a result of political disorder in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the usual trade routes in the region began to change. - A new trade route from the Mediterranean through Mecca to Yemen then by ship across the Indian Ocean became more popular and communities in that part of the Arabian Peninsula such as Mecca began to prosper from the caravan trade. - As a result, tensions arose between the Bedouins in the desert and the increasingly wealthy merchant classes in the towns. - Into this intense world stepped Muhammad.

Vernacular Literature Song of Roland

- Literature of the High Middle Ages was varied, lively, and impressive. - Although Latin remained the language of the Church liturgy and the official documents of both church and state, the 14th century witnessed a surge in literature written in vernacular languages, especially in Italy. - At first, most of the literature in the vernacular was written in the form of heroic epics - Among leading examples were the French Song of Roland and the Spanish Poem of the Cid. - These works portrayed a virile but unpolished warrior society - blood flowed freely, skulls were cleaved by battle axes, and heroic warfare, honor, and loyalty were major themes. - Brides were expected to die for their beloved but husbands were free to beat their wives. - In comparison to the epics, an enormous change in both subject matter and style was introduced in the 12th century in France by the troubadour poets and the writers of courtly romances. - The troubadours were poets who came from southern France and wrote in a language related to French known as Provençal. - Their style was far more sophisticated than that of the epic poets and the most eloquent of their lyrics, which were meant to be sung to music, originated the theme of romantic love. - The troubadours idealized women as marvelous beings who could grant intense spiritual and sensual gratification. - Whatever greatness the troubadours found in themselves they usually attributed to the inspiration they found in love. - They also assumed that their love would lose its magic if it were too easily or frequently gratified so they wrote more about the longing than of fulfillment of love. - Other troubadour poems treated feats of arms or comment on contemporary political events and a few meditate on religious matters

Inca architecture

- Master stone masons, the Incas constructed large buildings, walls and fortifications using finely-worked blocks - either regular or polygonal - which fitted together so precisely no mortar was needed. - With an emphasis on clean lines, trapezoid shapes, and incorporating natural features into these buildings, they have easily withstood the powerful earthquakes which frequently hit the region. - The distinctive sloping trapezoidal form and fine masonry of Inca buildings were, besides their obvious aesthetic value, also used as a recognizable symbol of Inca domination throughout the empire. - One of the most common Inca buildings was the ubiquitous one-room storage warehouse the qollqa. - Built in stone and well-ventilated, they were either round and stored maize or square for potatoes and tubers. - Terracing to maximise land area for agriculture (especially for maize) was another Inca practice, which they exported wherever they went. These terraces often included canals, as the Incas were expert at diverting water, carrying it across great distances, channeling it underground, and creating spectacular outlets and fountains. - Goods were transported across the empire along purpose-built roads using llamas and porters (there were no wheeled vehicles). - The Inca road network covered over 40,000 km and as well as allowing for the easy movement of armies, administrators, and trade goods, it was also a very powerful visual symbol of Inca authority over their empire. The roads had rest stations along their way, and there was also a relay system of runners (chasquis) who carried messages up to 240 km in a single day from one settlement to another

Maya

- Mayan Classic civilization lasted from about AD 250-900. - Among ancient American civilizations, the Maya were preeminent in cultural achievement. - Certainly no other group ever demonstrated such extraordinary abilities in architecture, sculpture, painting, math, and astronomy. - The Maya had a very elaborate calendar, writing, temple-building and palaces of limestone masonry with vaulted rooms. - The ancient Maya lived in a region comprising portions of modern day southeastern Mexico, almost all of Guatemala, the western part of Honduras, all of Belize and the western half of El Salvador. - The region was rich in wild game and building materials (limestone and hardwoods). - In almost every other respect, it offered immense obstacles to the establishment of a high culture. - Clearing the dense forests for planting and controlling weeds were extremely difficult tasks with the primitive implements available. - There was no metal, the water supply was uncertain and communication facilities were poor. - Yet, it was here that the Maya built some of their largest ceremonial centers. - The contrast between the forbidding environment and Maya achievement led some specialists to speculate that Maya culture was a transplant from some other more favorable area. - This view has been made obsolete by new discoveries. - There is however, linguistic and archaeological evidence that the lowland Maya were descendants of groups who lived in or near the Olmec area before 1000 BC and who brought with them the essential elements of Mesoamerican civilization.

Population expansion (11-12th Centuries) Improvements in agriculture

- Medieval Europe was overwhelmingly agrarian with most people living in small rural villages. - In the 11th and 12th centuries trade began to revive, there was a considerable expansion in the circulation of money, a restoration of specialized crafts and artisans, and the growth and development of towns. - These changes were made possible by the new agricultural practices and subsequent increase in food production which freed some European families from the need to produce their own food. - Merchants and artisans could now buy their necessities, which gradually helped revive Europe's commercial activities. - During the chaotic conditions of the Early Middle Ages, large-scale trade had declined in Western Europe except for Byzantine contacts with Italy and Jewish traders who moved back and forth between Muslim and Christian worlds. - By the end of the 10th century however, people with both the skills and the products for commercial activity were emerging in Europe. - Cities in Italy assumed a leading role in the revival of trade. - By the end of the 8th century, Venice on the northeastern coast had emerged as a town with close trading ties to the Byzantine Empire - it developed a merchant fleet and by the end of the 10th century had become the chief western trading center for Byzantine and Islamic commerce. - While the northern Italian cities were busy trading along the coast, present day Belgium and northern France were known for the production of a much desired high quality woolen cloth. - The location of Flanders made it a logical entry port for the traders of northern Europe - Merchants from England, Scandinavia, France, and Germany converged there to trade their wares for woolen cloth. - Flanders prospered in the 11th and 12th centuries and such Flemish towns as Bruges and Ghent became centers for the trade and manufacture of woolen cloth. - By the 12th century, it was almost inevitable that a regular exchange of goods would develop between Flanders and Italy. - To encourage this trade, the counts of Champagne in northern France devised a series of 6 fairs held annually in the chief towns of their territory. - Northern merchants brought their furs, woolen cloth, tin, hemp, and honey of northern Europe to the fairs of Champagne and exchanged them for cloth and swords of northern Italy and the silks, sugar, and spices of the East. - As trade increased, both gold and silver came to be in demand at fairs and trading markets of all kinds. - Slowly a money economy emerged. - New trading companies as well as banking firms were set up to manage the exchange and sale of goods. - All of these new practices were part of the rise of commercial capitalism, an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods in order to make profits.

Apostle Paul (Saul) Paul's conversion to Christianity

- Most early Christians were converted Jews and thought of themselves as Jews - kept temple rituals and dietary regulations. - Christianity was broadened and invested with a more elaborate theology by some of the successors of Jesus, above all the Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus (10- 67 AD). - Saul was not a native of Palestine but a Jew born in the city of Tarsus in southeastern Asia Minor. - Saul knew Greek but trained in Jerusalem to study with Rabban Gamaliel, an outstanding Pharisee teacher. - Originally a persecutor of Christians, he later converted to Christianity and devoted his limitless energy to propagating that faith throughout the Near East. - About 34 AD on his way to Damascus, Saul heard a voice from God and converted to Christianity. His name was changed to Paul. - Paul began his ministry around age 40 or - It would be almost impossible to overestimate the significance of Paul's work. - Paul was educated, understood how people in the Mediterranean world thought. He spoke their languages, and he had probably been exposed to other philosophies like Stoicism and Epicureanism. - He could go to Athens where people esteemed rhetoric and good debate and get them to listen to him. - As a scholar, he also understood the the Jewish Bible and could explain things to Jews. - Paul argued that Jesus had not been sent merely as the redeemer of the Jews. Instead, Jesus had come to save everyone. - Paul placed major emphasis on the idea that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed one from God whose death on the cross was an atonement for the sins of humanity. - Not only did he reject the works of the Jewish Law as of primary importance in religion, but he declared them to be utterly worthless in procuring salvation. - Sinners by nature, humans beings could be saved only by faith and by the grace of God "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." - According to Paul, human fate in the life to come was almost entirely dependent upon the will of God. - Although Jerusalem was the first center of Christianity, its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD left individual churches with considerable independence. - By 100 AD, Christian churches had been established in most major cities of the east and some places in the western part of the empire.

Olmecs

- Much earlier,{maybe 15OO-4OO BC} there arose the precocious and enigmatic Olmec civilization of the gulf coast lowlands whose influence radiated widely into the central Mexican plateau and Central America. - The origins, development, and disappearance of the Olmec culture remain a mystery. - The Olmec civilization created important ceremonial centers, monumental stone carving and sculpture, hieroglyphic writing, and probably a calendrical system. - The principal Olmec sites are La Venta and Tres Zapotes in the modern state of Veracruz. - The discovery of the Olmec culture and evidence of the wide diffusion of its art style have changed the older view that the Maya civilization was the first in Mesoamerica. - It seems likely that Olmec culture was the first civilization in Mexico and Central America.

Nicollo Machiavelli The Prince

- No one gave better expression to the Renaissance preoccupation with political power than Niccolo Machiavelli. - Although he ably served as a diplomat for Florence, he was eventually forced into exile. - Embittered by this and compelled by the great love of his life, politics, he wrote The Prince, one of the most influential works on political power in the Western world. - Machiavelli's major concern in The Prince were the acquisition, maintenance, and expansion of political power as the means to restore and maintain order in his time. - In the Middle Ages, many political theorists stressed the ethical side of a prince's activity - how a ruler ought to behave based on Christian moral principles. - Machiavelli bluntly contradicted this approach. - Machiavelli considered his approach was far more realistic that than of his medieval predecessors. - From his point of view, a prince's attitude toward power must be based on an understanding of human nature, which he perceived as basically self-centered. - He stated: "Of men one can, in general say this: They are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of danger, eager to gain." - Political activity therefore could not be restricted by moral considerations. - The prince acts on behalf of the state and for the sake of the state must be willing to let his conscience sleep. - In Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, who used ruthless measures to achieve his goal of carving out a new state in central Italy, Machiavelli found a good example of a new Italian ruler. - As he said, "so anyone who decides that the policy to follow when one has newly acquired power is to destroy one's enemies, to secure some allies, to win wars, whether by force or by fraud, to make oneself both loved and feared by one's subjects, cannot hope to find, in the recent past, a better model to imitate than Cesare Borgia." - Machiavelli was among the first to abandon morality as the basis for the analysis of political activity.

Constantine

- Oct 26, 312 AD, rival Roman armies massed outside the city to do battle over who would control Rome. - One of the commanders was Constantine, the other was a rival general challenging Constantine's right to be emperor. - The day before the battle, Constantine looked up into the sky - saw a cross of light with the words, By This Sign, You Will Conquer. - He had crosses painted on the shields of all his troops. - Next day at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, he smashed the armies of his rival, and solidified his position of Emperor of Rome. - Constantine declared himself to be a Christian and repealed Diocletian's ban on Christianity. - Romans were stunned - most saw Christianity as a small Eastern sect - now the emperor was a Christian. - Constantine saw how Christianity could unify an empire coming apart at the seams. - Unlike Rome's pagan religions, it preached discipline, obedience and only one God. - Constantine presented himself as a new Moses, leading his people to a promised land. - It does seem as though he saw himself as guided by God, his actions were not all for show. - Constantine liked that there was one God, like there was one emperor. - Under Constantine, Roman unity was reborn, but there not much Roman about it. - Constantine grew up in the Balkans, in the imperial city of Trier, Germany. - He had no liking for the city of Rome and recognized that it had become strategically irrelevant. - All of the important conflicts were along the frontier to the east and north. - This influenced his decision to move the empire's capital to the ancient city of Byzantium and rename it Constantinople. - This marked a political, cultural, and economic shift from Italy toward the eastern part of the empire. - Constantine ruled like an oriental sultan than a Roman emperor. - His power was absolute. - Before he died, he had 13 coffins placed in his tomb - 12 for the apostles and the last one for him, suggesting that he was the 13th apostle.

Christine de Pizan Book of the City of Ladies

- One of the extraordinary vernacular writers of the age was Christine de Pizan. - Thanks to her father's position at the court of Charles V of France, she received a good education. - Her husband died when she was only 25 (they had been married for 10 years) leaving her with little income and three small children and her mother to support. - Christine took the unusual step of becoming a writer to earn her living. - Her poems were soon in demand and by 1400, she had achieved financial security. - Christine de Pizan is best known for her French prose works written in defense of women. - In The Book of the City of Ladies written in 1404, she denounced the many male writers who had argued that women by their very nature were prone to evil, unable to learn, and easily swayed and consequently needed to be controlled by men. - With help of Reason, Righteousness, and Justice who appear to her in a vision, Christine refutes these anti-feminist attacks. - Women, she argues, are not evil by nature and could learn as well as men if they were permitted to attend the same schools: "Should I also tell you whether a woman's nature is clever and quick enough to learn speculative sciences as well as to discover them, and likewise the manual arts. I assure you that women are equally well-suited and skilled to carry them out and to put them to sophisticated use once they have learned them." - She ends the book by encouraging women to defend themselves against the attacks of men who are incapable of understanding them.

Ball Games

- One of the rituals that characterized many of the early Latin American civilizations was a ball game. - The site of El Tajin is so rich in remains of ball courts and in carvings of objects worn by players that its inhabitants seem to have been obsessed by the game. - There were no universal rules for this ritual pastime, since courts in different places vary widely in size and shape and in the angle and slope of their walls. - The religious significance of the game can't be overstressed and it figures in many codices, in which the players are dressed as gods. - It was promptly banned by the Spaniards as the very essence of native devil worship and no record survives of exactly how it was played. - The general aim was to propel a rubber ball, mainly with the aid of the body, either through a ring or in certain cases into a niche in the wall. - The game was very ancient indeed, and Olmec reliefs show people wearing typical ball game gear. - In many codices, the ball court is conventionally drawn as 2 T's placed end to end. - Like many rites and beliefs, it changed over the centuries, not only did the rules differ, but its religious role also altered. - A great number of ball courts have been found and amply demonstrate that it was an elitist rite rather than a popular spectacle, since the space on top from which spectators would have been able to view the game was very limited. - In accounts of the immediate pre-conquest period {before the Spanish arrived}, there is no apparent association with human sacrifice, though it may have existed. - In Tajin, dating from 800 AD as well as in Chichen Itza, several centuries later, the game was strictly sacrificial and involved decapitation. - The principal court of El Tajin is 60 meters long, formed by 2 facing vertical walls, covered with bas reliefs. - In one of these a player is sacrificed by the others. - In a stela from a nearby site of the same period, serpents sprout from the neck of a decapitated ball player. - Portraits of the Death God abound in El Tajin and his skull and skeleton are often found. - It's not clear which players were sacrificed. It could have been either the winning or the losing team

Saints Relics

- Other church practices were also important to ordinary people - Saints were men and women who through their holiness had achieved a special position in heaven enabling them to act as intercessors before God. - The Saints ability to protect poor souls enabled them to take on great importance at a popular level. - Jesus apostles were recognized throughout Europe as saints but there were numerous local saints who had special significance. - New cults developed rapidly particularly in the intense religious atmosphere of the 11th century and 12th century. - Of all the saints the Virgin Mary occupied the foremost position in the High Middle Ages. - Mary was viewed as the most important mediator with her son Jesus the judge of all sinners. - A sign of Mary's importance was the growing number of churches all over Europe that were dedicated to her in the 12-13th centuries. - Emphasis on the role of the saints was closely tied to the use of relics which also increased noticeable in the high Middle Ages. - Relics were usually the bones of saints or objects intimately connected to the saints and considered worthy of veneration by the faithful. - Because the holiness of the saint was considered to be inherent in his relics, these objects were believed to be capable of healing people or producing other miracles.

Aztec education Aztec social and cultural life

- The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had a population of between 150,000 and 200,000. - Like Venice, the city was an oval island connected to the mainland by 3 causeways that converged at the center of the city and served as its main arteries of traffic. - There were few streets; their place taken by numerous canals, thronged with canoes and bordered by footpaths giving access to the thousands of houses that lined their sides. - An aqueduct of solid masonry brought fresh water from the mountain springs of Chapultepec. - Aztec farmers who paddled their produce to town in tiny dugouts, lived in huts with thatched roofs resting on walls of wattle smeared with mud. - Education among the Aztecs was highly formal and served the dual purpose of preparing the child for his or her duties. - Boys were sent to school at the age of 10 to 12. - Sons of commoners, merchants and artisans attended the Telpochcalli (House of Youth), where they received instruction in religion and the art of war. - The Calmecac (Priests' House) a school of higher learning was reserved for the sons of the nobility and occasionally sons of merchants. - In addition to ordinary training, students received instruction that prepared them to be priests, public officials, and military leaders. - The curriculum included what we would today call rhetoric and philosophical doctrines as revealed in the divine songs of the sacred books, the arts of chronology and astrology, and training in history through the study of the Books of the Years. - The sages who taught in the Aztec schools were concerned with the formation of a "true face and heart." - Self-restraint, moderation, devotion to duty, a stoic awareness that "life is short and filled with hardships, and all comes to an end," an impeccable civility, modesty: these were among the qualities and concepts that the Aztec sages instilled in the charges. - Girls had special schools where they were taught such temple duties as sweeping, offering incense 3 times during the night, and preparing food for the idols; weaving and other womanly tasks; and general preparation for marriage. - Women were entirely subject to the authority of man although childbirth was symbolically equated with warfare: successful delivery was equated with the taking of captives, and death in childbirth was equivalent to being killed in battle.

St. Jerome

- Played little role in politics. - He received great classical education, but joined an ascetic monastery as a young man - simple living, regimented labor, long hours of study and meditation. - Jerome was terrified by a dream in which Christ appeared to him and accused him of being more devoted to Cicero than to Christ. - He decided to renounce classical culture and devote himself completely to Christianity. - Many other Christians also struggled to reconcile love of God with love of Classical literature. - The fact that Roman culture appeared to be in rapid decline made it easy for many Christians to reject it completely. - Jerome spent several years in the desert developing his spiritual discipline. - He began to study Hebrew with another hermit who was a convert from Judaism. - Within a few years, Jerome had mastered the Hebrew language. - He moved to Constantinople and began a prolific literary career, publishing translations, histories and the like. - In the 38Os, he became an advisor to the pope and was assigned the task of providing a new Latin translation of the Bible. - He devoted the next 2O years to producing the Vulgate, the new Latin Bible that eliminated many errors in the earlier translation. - Another legacy of Jerome was intense misogyny. - He taught that women were evil seductresses. - Sexual sin was something he had struggled with throughout his life, and he hated women because he wanted them and felt bad about it. - He did like nuns and has some very close friends who were nuns.

Henry the Navigator

- Portugal took the lead in exploring the coast of Africa under the leadership of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) who sought to discover a Christian Kingdom that would serve as an ally against the Muslims to acquire trade opportunities for Portugal and to extend Christianity. - Beginning in 1419, Portuguese fleets began probing southward along the western coast of Africa. - After Henry's death in 1460, there was a hiatus in Portuguese exploration, but the Portuguese gradually crept down the African coast until Bartholomeu Dias finally rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa in 1488. - While the Portuguese sought access to the spice trade of the Indies by sailing eastward through the Indian Ocean, the Spanish attempted to reach the same destination by sailing west across the Atlantic. - Although the Spanish came to overseas discovery and exploration after the initial efforts of Henry the Navigator, their greater resources enabled them to establish a far grander overseas empire of a nature quite different from the Portuguese.

Architecture

- Renaissance architecture also had roots in the past - new building styles combined techniques from the Middle Ages and antiquity. - Architects emphasized geometrical proportions because some concluded that certain math ratios reflected the harmony of the universe. - A good example of Renaissance architecture is St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, built under the patronage of various popes. - One of the great architects was Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) a friend of Donatello's who accompanied him to Rome. - Brunelleschi drew much inspiration from the architectural monuments of Roman antiquity. When he returned to Florence the Medici commissioned him to design the Church of San Lorenzo. - Inspired by Roman models Brunelleschi created a church interior very different from that of the great medieval cathedrals. - San Lorenzo's classical columns, rounded arches, and coffered ceilings created an environment that did not overwhelm the worshiper, materially or psychologically as Gothic cathedrals did - instead it comforted in that it was a space created to fit human not divine measurements.

Maya Calendar

- Some system of recording time is essential for higher cultures, especially to guide the agricultural cycle. - The Calendar Round of 52 years was common among Mesoamerican cultures, including the Maya. - It's a complicated calendar with two overlapping 26O day cycles. - No one knows how such a calendar came into existence. - It still survives unchanged among some indigenous groups in Mexico and Guatemala.

St. Ambrose

- St. Ambrose was the most active in the concerns of the world. - As Archbishop of Milan, Ambrose was the most influential church official in the West. - He was a gifted orator who combined a flair for philosophical scholarship with a keen sensitivity to political realities on the street.. - Ambrose wrote an ethical work, On the Duties of Ministers, and taught that human conduct should focus on reverence for God rather than any self-concern or interest in social reform. - He put his concern for proper conduct into action by his most famous act, his confrontation with the Emperor Theodosius the Great over the massacring of innocent civilians. - Ambrose argued that by violating divine commandments Theodosius made himself subject to church and he succeeded in forcing the emperor to do penance. - This was the first time that a churchman had subordinated the Roman secular power in matters of morality. - It symbolized the Church's claim to preeminence in this sphere and in particular, the Western Church's developing sense of autonomy and moral superiority that would make it much more independent from secular influence than the Eastern Church.

St. Augustine

- St. Ambrose's disciple, St. Augustine, was the greatest of all the early church thinkers and a powerful Christian intellect. - He had a profound influence on development of Catholicism and later on Protestantism as well. - Augustine suffered in his early 30s from increasing doubts about religion and spirituality. - A mystical experience led him to embrace the faith wholeheartedly in 387, and he became the bishop of the North African city of Hippo in 395. - His theology revolved around the principles of the profound sinfulness of humanity and divine omnipotence. - Ever since Adam and Eve turned away from God in the Garden of Eden, humans have remained basically sinful. - He gave the example of how as a boy, he and some other boys were once driven to steal pears from a neighbor's garden, not because they were hungry or because the pears were beautiful but for the sake of the evil itself. - God would be purely just if he condemned all humans to hell, but since he was also merciful, he also elected to save a few. - Ultimately, human will had nothing to do with this choice. - A person could choose between good and evil, but no one could decide whether they would be saved. - God alone from eternity predestined a portion of humans to be saved and the rest to be damned. - Humans must do good, and if they are chosen, they usually will do good. - Since no one knows who is chosen and who is not, all should try to do good in the hope that they are among the chosen. - His central guide to doing good was the doctrine of charity which meant leading a life devoted to loving God and loving one's neighbor rather than loving earthly things. - He taught that humans should behave on earth as if they were pilgrims keeping their eyes at all times on their heavenly home and avoiding all materialistic concerns. - Augustine build an interpretation of history on this view in his major work On the City of God. - He argued that the entire human race from the creation until the last judgment was and will be composed of two warring societies, those who "live according to man" and those who "live according to God" - belonging to the City of Earth or the City of God. - Since judgment could come at any time, all humans should devote time to leading righteous lives.

Vasco de Gama

- Ten years later, a fleet under the command of Vasco de Gama rounded the cape and stopped at several ports controlled by Muslim merchants along the coast of East Africa. - Then de Gama's fleet crossed the Arabian Sea and reached the port of Calicut on the southwestern coast of India on May 8, 1498. - On arriving in Calicut, da Gama announced to his surprised hosts that he had arrived in search of "Christians and spices" - he did not find the first but he did find the second. - Although he lost 2 shops en route, da Gama's remaining vessels returned to Europe with their holds filled with ginger and cinnamon, a cargo that earned the investors a profit of several thousand percent. - De Gama's successful voyage marked the beginning of an all-water trade route to India. - By 1501, annual Portuguese fleets to India were making serious inroads into the Mediterranean trade of the Venetians and Turks. - Under the direction of officials known as viceroys, Portugal now created an overseas empire.

Aztec Religion

- The Aztecs built on earlier religious beliefs. - Among the best known religious practices of ancient Mesoamerica is human sacrifice - it was a fundamental means to maintain world harmony and balance. - In Aztec belief, human sacrifice filled the demands of their god Huitzilopochtli {sun and war god} as well as myth of solar struggle. - They believed that the sun and earth had been destroyed in a cataclysm and recreated four times. - They were living in the age of the fifth sun, and their destruction was imminent. - To avoid that fate as long as possible, the Aztecs needed special intervention through Huitzilopochtli - The Aztecs also believed that ancient gods had sacrificed themselves to the sun so humans had to do the same thing. - The greatest offering that could be made was the giving of a life. - The ritual offering to the sun god involved the removal of a beating human heart for presentation to Huitzilopochtli. - Most familiar sacrificial ceremony took place atop a high temple. - A priest would slash out the heart with an obsidian knife. - Variations depending on the god involved. - Those killed for the fertility god were bound and shot full of arrows - the falling drops of blood symbolized the falling of spring rain. - There was also a kind of gladiatorial combat that amounted to sacrifice in which a captured warrior, usually one with great skill, was tied by the ankle to a stone, given a dull weapon and forced to fight well-armed Aztec warriors - one at a time. - In the unlikely event that he won, he was given freedom. - Without these offerings, the Aztecs feared that the sun might not rise to make its way across the sky. - Victims were sent as messengers to the gods to demonstrate the reverence of the people and it was considered a great honor to make the trip. - Cannibalism was also a means of acquiring the attributes of an enemy. - At the end of every 52 year cycle, the end of an Aztec century, there was always doubt that the sun would rise to begin a new cycle. - In fatalistic anticipation of the end, on the last night of the cycle, all dishes were broken and fires put out. - The priests assembled on a mountaintop to pray. - When the sun did rise, a victim was sacrificed in appreciation and a new fire ceremony was held. - Aztecs perceived themselves as living in an insecure world surrounded by strange and harmful forces.

Plague

- The Black Death of the mid 14th century was the most devastating natural disaster in European history, ravaging Europe's population and causing economic, social, political, and cultural upheaval. - Contemporary chroniclers lamented how parents abandoned their children. - People were horrified by an evil force that they could not understand and by the subsequent breakdown of all normal human relations. - The Black Death was all the more horrible because it was the first major epidemic disease to strike Europe since the 7th century. - The plague originated in Central Asia and spread probably by the Mongols as they expanded across Asia and by ecological changes that caused Central Asian rodents to move westward. - Bubonic plague which was the most common and most important form of plague in the diffusion of the Black Death was spread by black rats infested with fleas who were host to the deadly bacterium. - Symptoms of the bubonic plague include high fever, aching joints, swelling of the lymph nodes and dark blotches caused by bleeding beneath the skin. - Bubonic plague was actually the least toxic form of the plague but nevertheless killed 50 to 60 percent of its victims. - In pneumonic plague, the bacterial infection spread to the lungs resulting in severe coughing which caused the bacteria to spread from person to person - because it was more deadly, this form of the plague occurred less frequently than bubonic plague. - The plague reached Europe in October of 1347 when Genoese merchants brought it from Caffa on the Black Sea to the island of Sicily off the coast of southern Italy. - It quickly spread to southern Italy and France and Spain by the end of 1347 - the diffusion of the Black Death followed commercial trade routes. - In 1348, the plague spread through France and the Low Countries and into Germany. - By the end of that year, it had moved to England, ravaging it in 1349. - Mortality figures for the Black Death were incredibly high. - Italy was especially hard hit - its crowded cities suffered losses of 50 to 60 percent. - In Northern France, villages suffered mortality rates of 30 percent and cities such as Rouen experienced losses as high as 40%. - In England and Germany, entire villages disappeared - in Germany, of the approximately 170,000 inhabited locations only 130,000 were left by the end of the 14th century. - It has been estimated that the European population declined by 25 to 50 percent between 1347 and 1351. - The plague did not end of 1351, there were major outbreaks again in 1361 and 1362 and then regular recurrences during the remainder of the 14th century and all of the 15th century. - The European population did not start to recover until the end of the 15th century and not until the mid 16th century did Europe return to 13th century population levels.

Celts

- The Celts lived in a world of incredible contrast. - They were true warriors and did not shy away from violence but produced sophisticated and beautiful art that was highly prized. - Their society valued nice things. - A cult of human sacrifice was widespread and in battle severed heads were brought home to hang in triumph for the victorious warrior. - In the 4th century BC, the writer Ephorus claimed that there were 4 barbaric peoples living on earth - in Africa, the Libyans, in the middle East the Persians, the Balkans, the Scytians and in the north west the Celts. - Celts were tribal warriors who seemed primitive to the sophisticated Greeks. - They built no great architecture, lacked a written language and their religion could be gruesome. - Not until the 19th century did archeological exploration begin to reveal more about the Celtic story. - Celts were skilled in bronze and iron work and could do very intricate work. - Many objects discovered in tombs. - One such tomb was the Princess of Vix, a Celtic woman whose tomb was discovered near what is now the French town of Vix in the 5th century BC. - Tomb was excavated in the 195Os. It contained lots of gold and a wine container 6 ft in height. - Celts also had a tradition of burying valuable objects in the ground or marshes as gifts to the gods. - They believed that the more valuable the gift the greater the blessing - The Celts traded extensively with the Greeks and Romans.

Incas

- The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 AD, and their empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south, making it the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time. . - Undaunted by the often harsh Andean environment, the Incas conquered people and exploited landscapes in such diverse settings as plains, mountains, deserts, and tropical jungle. - Famed for their unique art and architecture, they constructed finely-built and imposing buildings wherever they conquered, and their spectacular adaptation of natural landscapes with terracing, highways, and mountaintop settlements continues to impress modern visitors at such world famous sites as Machu Picchu

Olmec Religion Olmec sacred places

- The Olmecs after 12OO BC constructed huge earthworks and carved magnificent stone sculptures. - These sculptures frequently portrayed actual Olmec kings. - The power of these early kings not just secular, they portrayed themselves in relation to gods or other supernatural forces. - There are indications that the Olmecs had a complex concept of shamanic transformation - powerful individuals were believed to be able to transform themselves into jaguars or other powerful animals. - Among the Olmecs and later peoples of Mesoamerica, certain places were believed to be sacred. - These locations often corresponded to critical junctions between sky, earth and underworld. - The Olmecs regarded caves as entrances to the netherworld and as powerful magical places. - Mountains were also considered to be particularly sacred places. This is probably why they built mounds and pyramids - they probably considered their pyramids temples to be replicas of mountains. - Mountains containing caves and springs were particularly revered since they offered access to all three planes, sky, earth, and underworld. - Like their successors, the Olmecs exhibited a fascination with the creatures and forces of the natural world. - In their early art, lots of representations of jaguars, eagles, sharks, and other animals. - They produced strange mergings of animal species. - The gods represented particular forces such as rain, earth and maize. - So important was the importance of corn that in a number of regions, maize was explicitly or implicitly said to be the substance of human flesh. - Much of Olmec religion focused on this life rather than the afterlife. - Religious practices focused on health, fertility, prosperity, and prediction and averting natural disasters. - Olmec society collapsed around 400 BC. No one knows why, but it's culture continued to influence later civilizations.

Impact of Printing Johannes Gutenberg

- The Renaissance period witnessed the development of printing, one of the most important technological innovations of Western civilization. - The art of printing had an immediate impact on European intellectual life and thought. - Printing from hand-carved wooden blocks had been done in the west since the 12 century and in China before that. - What was new to Europe in the 15th century was repeatable printing with movable metal type. - Movable metal type developed gradually between 1445 and 1450 largely through the work of Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz - Gutenberg's Bible, completed in 1455 or 1456, was the first book in the west produced with movable type. - The new printing capability spread rapidly throughout Europe in the second half of the 15th century. - Printing presses were established throughout the Holy Roman Empire in 1460 and within 10 years had spread to Italy, France, and the Low Countries and Spain and Eastern Europe. - By 1500 Venice had become an especially important center of printing. - By 1500 there were more than a thousand printers in Europe who had published almost 40,000 titles (between 8 and 10 million copies) - probably 50 % of these books were religious - Bibles, books of devotion, sermons. - Printing became one of the largest industries in Europe, and its effects were soon felt in many areas of European life. - Less expensive books encouraged scholarly research and the desire to attain knowledge - it facilitated cooperation between scholars and expanded the reading public.

African Slaves Missionaries

- The arrival of the Europeans had enormous impact on both the conquerors and the conquered. - The Native American civilizations, which had their own unique qualities, had a degree of sophistication rarely appreciated by the conquerors, were virtually destroyed and the native populations ravaged by diseases. - Ancient social and political structures were ripped up and replaced by European institutions, religion, language, and culture. - For Europeans, expansion abroad brought hopes for land, wealth and social advancement. - Poor young men left Spain for Mexico where they might gain land and call themselves gentlemen. - Serious economic exploitation of conquered lands, especially in silver and gold mining. - Later Europeans brought horses, sheep, cultivated wheat, sugar, dyes, cotton, vanilla, and hides from livestock. - Europe also gained new products such as potatoes, coffee, corn, and tobacco. - European expansion deepened rivalries among European states. - Bitter conflicts arose over the cargoes coming from the New World and Asia. - Although the Spanish and Portuguese entered the competition first, the Dutch, French, and English soon became involved on a large scale and by the 17th century were challenging the Portuguese and Spanish monopolies

Responses to the Plague

- The attempt of contemporaries to explain the Black Death and to mitigate its harshness led to extreme sorts of behavior. - To many, the plague had either been sent by God as punishment for human's sins or had been caused by the devil. - Some resorted to extreme asceticism to cleanse themselves of sin and gain God's forgiveness. - A flagellant movement became popular in 1348, especially in Germany. - Groups of flagellants, both men and women, wandered from town to town flogging each other with whips to win the forgiveness of God whom they felt had sent the plague to humans as punishment for their sins. - The flagellants attracted attention and created mass hysteria wherever they went. - The Catholic church became alarmed when they began to cause disorder and Pope Clement VI condemned them in 1349 - by 1350 the movement had been largely destroyed. - Others resorted to numerous, if mostly useless, cures for the plague. - These cures included strapping live chickens around plague buboes or drinking potions laced with mercury, arsenic or ground horn from the mythical unicorn. Some believed that the plague was transmitted by smell, so they carried sweet-smelling flowers or herbs to purify the air. - One of the more effective measures was the quarantining of ships in Italian ports. Sailors were required to remain on their ships for 30-40 days after it docked to make sure none of them were infected with the bacteria. - An outbreak of virulent anti-Semitism also accompanied the Black Death. - Jews were accused of causing the plague by poisoning town wells. The worst pogroms against the helpless minority happened in Germany - more than 60 major Jewish communities in Germany had been exterminated by 1351. - Many Jews fled eastward to Russia and especially Poland where the king offered them protection. - Eastern Europe became the home to large Jewish communities. - The prevalence of death affected people in profound ways. - Some survivors apparently came to treat life as something passing and unimportant - Violence and violent death appeared to be more common after the plague than before. - Post-plague Europe also demonstrated a morbid preoccupation with death. - In their sermons, priests reminded parishioners that each night's sleep might be their last. - Tombstones were decorated with macabre scenes of naked corpses in various stages of decomposition.

Leonardo de Vinci

- The best known of the Florentine artists was Leonardo da Vinci - a painter, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer and inventor. - He is a supreme example of the so called "universal man" someone wonderfully gifted who could excel in any number of fields. - The illegitimate son of a lawyer and a peasant woman, da Vinci set up an artist's shop in Florence by the time he was 25 and gained the patronage of the Medici ruler of the city, Lorenzo the Magnificent. - Because he was born illegitimate, he was disqualified from being trained in a learned profession like law or medicine. - His father recognized his immense talent and saw to it that he was apprenticed to an esteemed Florentine painter and sculptor who carefully developed Leonardo's skills in the visual arts. - It is said that his teacher was so struck by the beauty of da Vinci's work that he decided never to paint again. - Da Vinci quickly gained a reputation for tremendous skill in both science and art and was highly sought after. - He took opportunities for study wherever he found them. - He had a large library and read widely. - He w as deeply interested in everything and no subject was off limits. - One of his main fields was human anatomy both for how it could inform his painting and for what it could tell him about the aging process. - Once he discovered a 100 year old man in a hospital in Florence and waited expectantly for his death so that he could examine his blood vessels. - By comparing the corpses of the very young and the very old, he was the first to describe the disease of the hardening of the arteries. - At this time, the church took a dim view of the carving up of human remains, so his work was illegal.

Warfare and violence Wergeld

- War was also a means to advance socially. - There were no rigid social hierarchies - it was possible to become a leader through violence. - Many tribes glorified violence for the sake of violence, and often the violence turned inward. - Feuds and vendettas were common and often engulfed whole clans in generations of bloodletting. - To kill a man was to threaten the existence of his whole family because without his labor, they had no food. - Most clans and tribes regarded individual murder as warfare on the whole family. - Victim's relatives responded in kind by declaring war on the murderer's family leaving society in chaos. - Over time, tribes developed a system of compensatory payments called wergeld - manmoney - to replace blood feuds. - Payments varied according to the sex and social status of the victim and his or her age. - An elaborate scale of payments took shape that eventually accounted for murder but also loss of eye, stabbing in the stomach, cutting off a limb and so on. - Wergeld systems differed from tribe to tribe in specifics but was characteristic of them all. - Sort of like our personal injury insurance policies

Holy Land

- The crusades were conceived as a holy war against the infidel or unbeliever - the immediate impetus for the Crusades came when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I asked Pope Urban II (1088-1099) for help against the Seljuk Turks. - The pope saw an opportunity to provide papal leadership for the great cause: to rally the warriors of Europe for the liberation of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslim infidels. - At the Council of Clermont in southern France near the end of 1095, Urban challenged Christians to take up their weapons against the infidel and join in a holy war to recover the Holy Land. - The pope promised the remission of sins: "All who die by the way whether by land or by sea or in battle against the pagans shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested." - The warriors of Western Europe particularly France formed the first crusading armies. - The knights who made up this first serious crusading host were motivated by religious fervor but there were other attractions as well. - Some sought adventure and welcomed a legitimate opportunity to pursue their favorite pastime - fighting. - Others saw an opportunity to gain territory, riches, status, possibly a title and even salvation. - From the perspective of the pope and European monarchs, the Crusades offered a way to rid Europe of contentious young nobles who disturbed the peace and wasted lives and energy fighting each other. - Merchants in many Italian cities sought new trading opportunities in Muslim lands. - Three organized crusading bands of noble warriors most of them French made their way to the east.

Marriage and Family Life

- The family bond was a source of great security in the urban world of Renaissance Italy. - In cities, early marriage could be a liability for men who were attempting to make a fortune. - The results were that older men married young brides and wives usually outlived their husbands. - To maintain the family, careful attention was given to marriages that were arranged by parents, often to strengthen businesses or family ties. - Details were worked out well in advance, sometimes children were only 2 or 3, and reinforced by a legally binding marriage contract. - The important aspect of the contract was the size of the dowry, a sum of money presented to the wife's family to the husband upon marriage. - The dowry usually involve large sums of money as was expected of all families. - The father/husband was the center of the Italian family - he was responsible for all legal matters, managed all finances - his wife had no share in the wealth, and he made crucial decisions in his children's lives. - A father's authority over his children's lives was absolute until he died or formally freed his children. - In Renaissance Italy, children did not become adults on reaching a certain age, adulthood only came when a father went before a judge and formally emancipated them. - The age of emancipation varied from early teens to late twenties. - The wife managed the household, a position that gave women a certain degree of autonomy but their primary function was to bear children. - Upper class wives were frequently pregnant. - Alessandra Strozzi of Florence for example, who had been married at the age of 16, bore 8 children in 10 years. - Poor women did not conceive at the same rate since they nursed their own babies. - Wealthy women gave their infants to wet nurses which enabled them to become pregnant more quickly after the birth of a child. - For women in the Renaissance, childbirth was a fearful occasion - it could be deadly - as many as 10% of women died in childbirth. - In his memoirs, the Florentine merchant Gregorio Dati recalled that 3 of his 4 wives died in childbirth - his third wife, after bearing 11 children in 15 years. - Tragedies did not end with childbirth - surviving mothers often faced the death of their children. - In Florence in the 15th century, almost 50% of children born to merchant families died before the age of 20. - Given these mortality rates, many upper class families sought to have as many children as possible in order to ensure a surviving male heir to the family fortune.

Giotto

- The first major contributor to Renaissance painting was the Florentine painter Giotto. - He developed several techniques of perspective - representing 3 dimensional figures so they stand out and appear alive. - Characters in his paintings are drawn and arranged in space to tell a story and the expressions they wear and the illusion of movement they convey heighten the dramatic effect. - Giotto marked the end of the stiff, other-worldly style of the Middle Ages. - The artists who followed diverged from his style and moved away from Christian themes, but built on his techniques.

Giovanni Boccaccio Decameron

- The greatest writer of vernacular prose fiction of the later Middle Ages was the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio. - By far the most impressive of his writings is the Decameron written between 1384 and 1351. - This is a collection of a hundred stories supposedly told by a sophisticated party of 7 young women and 3 men who are sojourning in a country villa outside Florence in order to escape the ravages of the Black Death. - This was the earliest ambitious and successful work of vernacular creative literature ever written in Western Europe in narrative prose. - Was a modern form of prose - he was less interested in being "elevated" or elegant than in being entertaining. - He portrayed men and women as they really were not as they ought to be. Women were normal people not goddesses or steadfast virgins but interacting comfortably with other people and the clergy as susceptible to human failings

Michelangelo

- The last major figure of the High Renaissance was Michelangelo (1475-1564) - He was not easy to get along with, he was jealous of Raphael and disliked da Vinci. - He had constant problems with his patrons. - He saw himself first as a sculptor. His first great work was Pieta. - Michelangelo was an idealist - if Leonardo tried to capture nature, Michelangelo was more concerned with expressing enduring, abstract truths - he tried to depict people in their ideal form. - His greatest achievements in painting appear in the Sistine Chapel in Rome

Nicco and Maffeo Polo

- The most famous medieval travelers to the East were Nicco, Marco {Nicco's son} and Maffeo Polo, merchants from Venice, who undertook the lengthy journey to the court of the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan in 1271. - An account of Marco's experiences appeared in the Travels and proved to be the most informative of all the descriptions of Asia by medieval European travelers. - Others followed the Polos, but in the 14th century, the conquests of the Ottoman Turks and then the breakup of the Mongol Empire reduced Western traffic to the East. - With the closing of the overland routes, a number of people in Europe became interested in the possibility of reaching Asia by sea to gain access to the spices and other precious items of the region.

Women and Christianity

- While Christianity forbade women from being priests, taking leadership or speaking in church, it at least accorded women the same rights of participation in worship and in the hope for salvation. - In early Christianity, many women found new roles. Christian women fostered the new religion in their own homes and preached their convictions to other people in their towns and villages. - Many also died for their faith and their deaths gave rise to a literature known as the Apocryphal Gospels in which women were honored for creating new role models as virgins and widows dedicated to their faith, who defied husbands, fathers and their traditional gender roles to pursue their new lives. - This gave it an advantage over other faiths which excluded women completely. - By the 3rd century, Christianity had also developed a successful organization - it not a secret cult with secret rites but was proclaimed widely by missionaries. - Christian congregations were tightly knit communities that provided services to their members such as nursing, support for the unprotected, and burial.

Toltecs

- The most important successor to Teotihuacan was the Toltec empire with its capital at Tula about 5O miles from present day Mexico City. - Tula may have been an outpost of Teotihuacan before that city's fall. - Following Teotihuacan's collapse, the Toltecs took over what was left of that empire. - Toltec power reached its peak about 98O AD. - Their greatest ruler took on the name of Quetzalcóatl, a god worshiped by the Teotihuacans. - Quetzalcoatl was a god that predated Tula but became most important in Tula as well. - Like most Mexican deities Quetzalcoatl was a versatile god. - He had 2 roles as creator and Morning Star, but he was also god of wind. - In stories, he reigned for 19 years with such splendor that his city became legendary. - The Song of Quetzalcoatl tells of the wonders of Tula, a paradise on earth where cotton grew colored and the soil yielded fruit of such size that small ears of corn were used as fuel to heat steam baths. - In a version of the Quetzalcoatl legend, the god demanded of his people only the peaceful sacrifice of jade, snakes and butterflies - The legends of ancient Mexico celebrate the Toltec's superhuman powers and talents; they were described as master artisans and creators of culture. - Toward the end of Quetzalcoatl's reign, Tula seems to have become the scene of an obscure struggle between two religious traditions. - One was associated with the worship of Tezcatlipoca, a Toltec tribal god pictured as an all-powerful deity who demanded human sacrifice. - The other was identified with the cult of the ancient god Quetzalcoatl who had brought people maize, all learning and the arts. - A native legend that tells how the black magic of the enchanter Tezcatlipoca caused the saintly priest-king Quetzalcoatl to fall from grace and drove him from Tula. - Legend also told that Quetzalcoatl would someday return to reclaim his kingdom - and idea held dear by many people in Mexico. - By a singular coincidence, the year in the Aztec cycle of years in which Quetzalcoatl promised to return was the year the Spaniard Hernan Cortés landed in Mexico. - Aztec belief in the legend helps explain why they didn't just kill the Spanish early when they had the chance. - The Toltec king, Quetzalcoatl was succeeded by lesser kings who vainly struggled to solve the growing problems of the Toltec state. - The causes of the crisis are not well-known. They may have included crop failure, revolution or other types of disaster. - The last Toltec king apparently committed suicide about 1174 AD and the Toltec state sort of died with him. - Tula fell to the hands of less advanced invaders about 1224. - The fall of Tula opened the way for a general invasion of the Valley of Mexico by Nahuatl-speaking northern peoples.

Art Jan van Eyck Albrecht Durer

- The most influential northern school of art in the 15th century was in Flanders. - Jan van Eyck (1380-1441) was among the first northern painter to use oil paint, a medium that enabled artists to use a varied range of colors and make changes to create fine details. - In the famous Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride, van Eycks' attention to detail is staggering. - Northern painters placed great emphasis on the emotional intensity of religious feelings and created great works of devotional art, especially in their altarpieces. - The most important northern Renaissance Artist was Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). - He became the first northerner to master Italian Renaissance techniques of proportion, perspectives, and modeling. - Durer also shared fascination with reproducing the manifold works of nature down to smallest detail. - Durer was inspired primarily by traditional Christian ideals.

Social changes because of the Plague

- The population collapse of the 14th century had dire economic and social consequences. - Economic dislocation was accompanied by social upheaval. - Both peasants and noble landlords were affected by the demographic crisis. - Europe experienced a serious labor shortage, which caused dramatic rise in the price of labor. - At Cuxham manor in England, a farm laborer who had received 2 shillings a week in 1347 was paid 7 in 1349 and almost 11 by 1350. - At the same time, the decline in population depressed the demand for agricultural produce, resulting in falling prices for output. - Landlords had to pay more for labor at the same time when their income from rents declined so they experienced a decline in standard of living. - In England, aristocratic incomes dropped more than 20% between 1347 and 1353. - Landed aristocrats responded to adversity by seeking to lower the wage rate - the English Parliament passed the Statute of Laborers (1351) which attempted to limit wages to preplague levels and forbid the mobility of peasants as well. - Such laws proved largely unworkable, but they did keep wages from rising as high as they might have in a free market. - Overall, the position of noble landlords continued to deteriorate during the late 14th century and early 15th centuries and the position of peasants improved.

Crucifixion of Jesus Resurrection of Jesus

- The procurator Pontius Pilate ordered his crucifixion but that did not solve the problem for the Romans. - Crucifixion of Jesus marked a decisive moment in Christian history - at first Jesus death viewed by his followers as the end of their hopes - after a few days their despair began to dissipate for rumors began to spread that Jesus was alive and had been seen by some of the disciples. - Jesus followers became convinced that not only had Jesus risen from the dead but that he had walked on earth thereafter for 40 days and hence was a divine being. - With courage restored, they fanned out to preach the good news of Jesus divinity and to testify in the name of their martyred leader. - Belief in Jesus godliness and resurrection became articles of faith for thousands: Jesus was the Christ (Greek for "the anointed one"), the divine Son of God who was sent to earth to suffer and die for the sins of humanity and who after 3 days in the tomb, had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven - he would come again to judge the world at the end of time.

Inca Religion

- The religion of the Inca was preoccupied with controlling the natural world and avoiding such disasters as earthquake, floods, and drought, which inevitably brought about the natural cycle of change, the turning over of time involving death and renewal which the Inca called pachakuti. - Sacred sites were also established, often taking advantage of prominent natural features such as mountain tops, caves, and springs. - These huacas {sacred sites} could be used to take astronomical observations at specific times of the year. - Religious ceremonies took place according to the astronomical calendar, especially the movements of the sun, moon, and Milky Way (Mayu). Processions and ceremonies could also be connected to agriculture, especially the planting and harvesting seasons. - Along with Titicaca's Island of the Sun, the most sacred Inca site was Pachacamac, a temple city built in honour of the god with the same name, who created humans, plants, and was responsible for earthquakes. - A large wooden statue of the god, considered an oracle, brought pilgrims from across the Andes to worship at Pachacamac. - Shamans were another important part of Inca religion and were active in every settlement. Cuzco had 475, the most important being the yacarca, the personal advisor to the ruler. - Inca religious rituals also involved ancestor worship as seen through the practice of mummification and making offerings to the gods of food, drink, and precious materials. - Sacrifices - both animals and humans, including children - were also made to pacify and honour the gods and ensure the good health of the king. - The pouring of libations, either water or chicha beer, was also an important part of Inca religious ceremonies

Lords and Vassals Knights

- The renewed invasions and the disintegration of the Carolingian world led to the emergence of a new type of system to organize society. - Powerful lords offered protection in exchange for services from subjects. - Contract sworn between a lord and his subordinate vassal formed the basis of feudalism. - The practice of vassalage was derived from Germanic society in which warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leader - they fought for their chief and he took care of their needs. - By the 8th century, an individual who served a lord in military capacity was known as a vassal. - With the breakdown of governments, nobles needed men to fight for them so the practice developed of giving vassals land in return for military service. - For almost 500 years, warfare in Europe was dominated by heavily armored cavalry or knights - knights came to have the greatest social prestige and formed the backbone of European aristocracy. - A horse, armor, and weapons were expensive and learning took much time and practice. - Lords who wanted men to fight for them had to grant each vassal a piece of land that provided support for the vassal and his family. - The relationship between a lord and a vassal was made official in a public ceremony - loyalty to one's lord was the chief virtue. - By the 9th century, the land granted to vassals came to be known as a fief and vassals came to exercise political and legal authority over fiefs. - Fief-holding became increasingly complicated with the development of subfeudation - the vassals of a king who were themselves great lords might also have vassals who owed them military service in return for a grant of land from the estates. - Those vassals in return might likewise have vassals who would simply be knights with barely enough land to provide for their equipment. - This practice expanded all over Europe. - In addition to military service, knights also serve on juries and provide financial payments to the lord on the occasion of the knighting of his eldest son and the marriage of his eldest daughter or the ransom of the lord in the event that he was captured.

Guilds

- The revival of trade enabled cities and towns to become important centers for manufacturing a wide range of products such as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather goods. - A host of crafts were carried on in houses along the narrow streets of medieval cities. - From the 12th century on, artisans began to organize themselves into guilds, which came to play a leading role in the economic life of cities. - By the 13th century, virtually every group of craft workers including tanners, carpenters, and bakers had their own guild and specialized groups of merchants such as dealers in silk, spices, wool or banking had their separate guilds. - Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production process - they set standards for articles produced, specified the actual methods of production to be used, and fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold. - Guilds also determined the number of men who could enter a specific trade and the procedure they must follow to do so. - A person who wanted to learn a trade first had to become an apprentice to a master craftsman usually around the age of 10. - After 5 to 7 years of service, in which they learned their craft, apprentices became journeymen who then worked for wages for other masters. - Journeymen aspired to become masters - to do so, they had to produce a "masterpiece" a finished piece in their craft that allowed the master craftsmen of the guild to judge whether the journeymen were qualified to become masters and join the guild.

Germanic Tribes

- The tribes of people who flooded into Western Europe beginning in the 3rd century were a highly diverse group - referred to as barbarians by the Romans. - It's hard to make generalizations. We often refer to them as Germanic tribes, but not all were Germanic. - There were Celts, Slavs, Goths, Rugians, Saxons and so on. - Many came from the Baltic and Eurasian steppe and altered entire demographic and social structure they found. - There are not many good sources on these people - they were preliterate cultures so left no records. - Records that exist are from hostile sources such as the Romans. - Most records are archeological. Germanic Life - Social life was based on the clan or extended family. - Clans were led by military chieftains who could assure protection and plunder from raids. - Warfare and violence characterized the life of these tribes by the time the Romans encountered them. - They lived under harsh conditions - they were in new territory and learning to survive in a new environment. - War was also a means to advance socially. - There were no rigid social hierarchies - it was possible to become a leader through violence. - Many tribes glorified violence for the sake of violence, and often the violence turned inward. - Feuds and vendettas were common and often engulfed whole clans in generations of bloodletting. - To kill a man was to threaten the existence of his whole family because without his labor, they had no food. - Most clans and tribes regarded individual murder as warfare on the whole family. - Victim's relatives responded in kind by declaring war on the murderer's family leaving society in chaos. - Over time, tribes developed a system of compensatory payments called wergeld - manmoney - to replace blood feuds. - Payments varied according to the sex and social status of the victim and his or her age. - An elaborate scale of payments took shape that eventually accounted for murder but also loss of eye, stabbing in the stomach, cutting off a limb and so on. - Wergeld systems differed from tribe to tribe in specifics but was characteristic of them all. - Sort of like our personal injury insurance policies. Germanic religion was polytheistic with a multitude of nature gods. - Spirits were thought to exist everywhere - in rivers, sacred groves, mountains - and caused natural phenomena. - Major deities like Wotan {Odin} and Tor {Thor} represented the forces of the Sun and Thunder and figured in stories that made up Germanic mythology. - Germans came into contact early in with Christianity and added this in as well.

Inca human sacrifice

Qhapaq hucha was the Inca practice of human sacrifice, mainly using children. The Incas performed child sacrifices during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca (emperor) or during a famine. Children were selected as sacrificial victims as they were considered to be the purest of beings