World History chpt 9,10,11,12

The Tang Dynasty

A new dynasty, the Tang (TAHNG), soon emerged. It would last for nearly three hundred years, from 618 until 907. The early Tang rulers created a more stable economy by giving land to the peasants and breaking up the large estates to reduce the power of their owners. They also restored the civil service examination to serve as the chief method of recruiting officials for the civilian bureaucracy. Young men prepared to take the civil service examination by memorizing all the Confucian classics. They had little free time. Even after many years of education, only about one in five students managed to pass the exam and receive a position in the civil service. In working hard to restore the power of China in East Asia, the Tang rulers had a major impact on Eastern Asia. They brought peace to northwestern China and expanded China's control into the area north of the Himalaya—known as Tibet. China claimed to be the greatest power in East Asia. Neighboring states, including Korea, offered tribute to China. The Chinese imperial court also set up diplomatic relations with the states of Southeast Asia. The Tang dynasty also oversaw economic developments, such as increased trade with the West and Japan. Like the Han, however, the Tang sowed the seeds of their own destruction. Tang rulers were unable to prevent plotting and government corruption. One emperor was especially unfortunate. Emperor Tang Xuanzong (SHWAHN • DZUNG) is remembered for his devotion to a commoner's daughter, Yang Guifei. To entertain her, he kept hundreds of dancers and musicians at court. Finally, the emperor's favorite general led a bloody revolt. The army demanded that someone be held accountable for the war and strife in the country. For this reason, the emperor invited his true love to hang herself from a nearby tree. During the eighth century, the Tang dynasty weakened and became prey to rebellions. Tang rulers hired Uighurs (WEE • gurz), a northern tribal group of Turkic-speaking people, to fight for them. Continued unrest, however, led to the collapse of Tang rule in 907.

Philosophy, Science, and History (Islam)

During the first few centuries of the Arab Empire, the ancient Greek philosophers were largely unknown in Christian Europe. The Arabs, however, were aware of Greek philosophy and were translating works by Plato and Aristotle into Arabic. It was through the Muslim world that Europeans recovered the works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers. In the twelfth century, the Arabic translations were translated into Latin, making them available to the West. This process was aided by papermaking, which was introduced from China in the a.d. 700s. By the end of the century, paper factories were found in Baghdad. Booksellers and libraries soon followed. Islamic civilization contributed more intellectually to the West than translations. When Aristotle's works arrived in Europe in the second half of the twelfth century, they were accompanied by commentaries written by outstanding Arabic philosophers. One such philosopher was Ibn-Rushd (IH • buhn • RUSHT). He lived in Córdoba and wrote a commentary on virtually all of Aristotle's surviving works. Islamic scholars also made contributions to mathematics and the natural sciences that were passed on to the West. The Muslims adopted and passed on the numerical system of India, including the use of the zero. In Europe, it became known as the Arabic system, which we use today. A ninth-century Arab mathematician developed the mathematical discipline of algebra, which is taught in schools today and can be applied to fields like medicine, economics, and engineering. Islamic scholars also made significant contributions to major scientific ideas and technological advances. In astronomy, Muslims set up an observatory at Baghdad to study the positions of the stars. They knew that Earth was round, and they named many stars. They also perfected a technological instrument called the astrolabe, an instrument used by sailors to determine their location. The spread of the use of the astrolabe into Europe made it possible for Europeans to sail to the Americas. Additionally, Muslim scholars developed medicine as a field of scientific study. Al-Razi was known as the best doctor of his time in the tenth century in Baghdad. He wrote numerous works to educate others in the medical knowledge of his day. Also well known was the philosopher and scientist Ibn Sı-na (IH • buhn SEE • nuh). He wrote a medical encyclopedia that, among other things, stressed the contagious nature of certain diseases. Ibn Sı-na showed how diseases could be spread by contaminated water supplies. He was one of many Arabic scholars whose work was translated into Latin and was spread westward, aiding the growth of intellectual life in Europe in the 1100s and 1200s. Islamic scholars also took an interest in writing history. Ibn-Khaldun (ih • buhn KAL • DOON) was the most prominent Muslim historian of the age. In his most famous work, Muqaddimah (Introduction to History), he argued for a cyclical view of history. Civilizations, he believed, go through regular cycles of birth, growth, and decay. He tried to find a scientific basis for the political and social factors that determine the course of history.

The Nobility of the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, European feudal society was dominated by men whose chief concern was warfare. In this culture of warfare, vassals prepared to fight for their lords when called upon. The nobles were the kings, dukes, counts, barons, and even bishops who had large landed estates and considerable political power in society. They formed an aristocracy, or nobility, that consisted of people who held political, economic, and social power. Great lords and ordinary knights came to form a common group within the aristocracy. They were all warriors, and the institution of knighthood united them all. However, there were also social divisions among them based on extremes of wealth and landholdings. Trained to be warriors but with no adult responsibilities, young knights had little to do but fight. In the twelfth century, tournaments—contests in which knights could demonstrate their fighting skills—began to appear. By the late twelfth century, the joust—individual combat between two knights—had become the main part of the tournament. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the influence of the Catholic Church, chivalry, an idea of civilized behavior, gradually evolved among the nobility. Chivalry was a code of ethics that knights were supposed to uphold. In addition to their oath to defend the Church and defenseless people, knights were expected to treat captives as honored guests instead of putting them in dungeons. A knight was expected to treat aristocratic women with tenderness and respect. Although women could legally hold property, most remained under the control of men—of their fathers until they married and of their husbands if they married. Still, aristocratic women had many opportunities to play important roles. Because the lord was often away at war or court, the lady of the castle had to manage the estate, including large numbers of officials and servants. Care of the financial accounts alone took considerable knowledge. The lady of the castle was also responsible for overseeing the food supply and maintaining all the other supplies needed for the household. Women were expected to be subservient to their husbands, but there were many strong women who advised, and even dominated, their husbands. Perhaps the most famous of these was the remarkable Eleanor of Aquitaine. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine in southwestern France, she was married at the age of 15 to King Louis VII of France. The marriage was not a happy one, and Louis had their marriage annulled. Eleanor married again, only eight weeks later, to Duke Henry of Normandy, who soon became King Henry II of England. She and Henry had eight children (five were sons). Two of her sons—Richard and John—became kings of England.

New Religious Orders

In the late 1000s and early 1100s, a wave of religious enthusiasm seized Europe. This movement led to a rise in the number of monasteries and the emergence of new monastic orders, a key aspect of Roman Catholicism.

The Life of Muhammad (Arab)

Into this world of tension stepped a man named Muhammad. Born in Makkah to a merchant family, he was orphaned at five. He grew up to become a caravan manager and married a rich widow named Khadija. Over time, Muhammad became troubled by the growing gap between the generosity of most Makkans and the greediness of the wealthy elite and began to visit the hills to meditate. During one of these visits, Muslims believe, Muhammad received revelations from God. According to Islamic teachings, the angel Gabriel gave the messages to Muhammad. Gabriel told Muhammad to recite what he heard. Muhammad had a knowledge of the Jewish and Christian monotheistic traditions and came to believe that Allah had already revealed himself through Moses and Jesus—and thus through the Jewish and Christian teachings. He believed, however, that the final revelations of Allah were now being given to him. Out of these revelations developed the religion of Islam. The revelations were eventually written down and became the holy book of Islam, called the Quran. The word Islam means "peace through submission to the will of Allah." Those who practice the religion of Islam are called Muslims. According to Islam, there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is God's prophet. The Quran contains the ethical guidelines and laws by which the followers of Allah are to live. The Quran not only reflects the Arab culture from which it was derived, it also transcends it and continues to guide modern-day Muslims throughout the world. Muhammad returned home after receiving the revelations and reflected on his experience. His wife urged him to follow Gabriel's message, and she became the first convert to Islam. Muhammad then set out to convince the people of Makkah of the truth of the revelations. Many were surprised at Muhammad's claims to be a prophet. The wealthy feared that his attacks on corrupt society would upset the established social and political order. After three years of preaching, he had only 30 followers. Muhammad became discouraged by the persecution of his followers, as well as by the Makkans' failure to accept his message. In a.d. 622 he and some of his closest supporters left Makkah and moved north to the rival city of Yathrib, later renamed Madinah (Medina; "city of the prophet"). The journey of Muhammad and his followers to Madinah is known as the Hijrah (HIH • jruh). The year the journey occurred became year 1 in the official calendar of Islam, still in use today. Muhammad, who had been invited to Madinah by a number of prominent residents, soon began to win support from people there as well as from Arabs in the desert, known as Bedouin. The initial spread of Islam into Madinah was successful as Muhammad formed the first community of practicing Muslims from these groups. Muslims saw no separation between political and religious authority. Submission to the will of Allah meant submission to his prophet, Muhammad. For this reason, Muhammad soon became both a religious and a political leader. His political and military skills enabled him to put together a reliable military force to defend himself and his followers. In a.d. 630 Muhammad returned to Makkah with 10,000 men. The city quickly surrendered, and most of the townspeople converted to Islam. During a visit to the Kaaba, Muhammad declared it a sacred shrine of Islam. Two years after his triumphal return to Makkah, just as Islam was spreading through the Arabian Peninsula, Muhammad died. All Muslims are strongly encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Makkah, known as the hajj (HAJ), if possible.

The Hundred Years' War

Plague, economic crisis, and the decline of the Catholic Church were not the only problems of the late Middle Ages. War and political instability must also be added to the list. The Hundred Years' War was the most violent struggle during this period. Trouble began over the duchy of Gascony in France. England possessed it, and France wanted it. King Edward III of England was also the duke of Gascony and a vassal to the French king. However, when King Philip VI of France seized the duchy in 1337, Edward declared war on Philip, thus beginning the Hundred Years' War. This war between England and France began in a burst of knightly enthusiasm. Trained to be warriors, knights viewed battle as a chance to show their fighting abilities. The Hundred Years' War proved to be an important turning point in the nature of warfare, however. Peasant foot soldiers, not knights, won the chief battles of the war. France's heavily armed noble cavalrymen viewed foot soldiers as social inferiors. The English also used heavily armed cavalry, but they relied more on large numbers of peasants, paid to be foot soldiers. English soldiers were armed with pikes, or heavy spears, and longbows, which had greater striking power, longer range, and more rapid speed of fire than the crossbow (formerly the weapon of choice). The first major battle of the Hundred Years' War occurred in 1346 at Crécy. The larger French army followed no battle plan and attacked in a disorderly fashion. The English archers devastated them. The Battle of Crécy was not decisive, however. The English did not have enough resources to conquer all of France. Nevertheless, they continued to try. The English king, Henry V, achieved victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The French knights who attacked Henry's forces across a muddy field were disastrously defeated, and 1,500 French nobles died in battle. The seemingly hopeless French cause now fell into the hands of Charles, heir to the French throne. Quite unexpectedly, a French peasant woman saved the timid monarch. The daughter of prosperous peasants, Joan of Arc was a deeply religious person. She experienced visions and believed that saints had commanded her to free France. Though only 17, Joan's sincerity and simplicity persuaded Charles to allow her to accompany a French army to Orléans. Apparently inspired by Joan's faith, the French armies found new confidence and seized Orléans. Joan had brought the war to a turning point but did not live to see its end. The English captured Joan in 1430 and turned her over to the Inquisition on charges of witchcraft. At the time, it was thought that either God or the devil inspired such visions. Although the war dragged on for another two decades after Joan was condemned to death, English defeats at Normandy and Aquitaine led to a French victory by 1453. Also important to the French success was the use of the cannon, a new weapon made possible by the invention of gunpowder. The Hundred Years' War ultimately contributed to the end of medieval Europe. The steady defeat of knights with the use of longbow and pike, and later gunpowder as evidenced by French success with the cannon, reduced the importance of knights in warfare. This, in turn, reduced the overall need for knights in battle and thus lessened their importance to the feudal order that supported their existence. With the decline of feudalism, medieval Europe would give way to a new political order dominated by monarchs.

England

The Hundred Years' War had also strongly affected the English. The cost of the war and losses in manpower strained the economy. At the end of the war, England faced even greater turmoil when civil conflicts—known as the Wars of the Roses—erupted. Noble factions fought to control the monarchy until 1485, when Henry Tudor established a new dynasty. As the first Tudor king, Henry VII worked to create a strong royal government. Henry ended the wars of the nobles by abolishing their private armies. He was also very thrifty. By not overburdening the nobles and the middle class with taxes, Henry won their support.

Government and the Economy (Sui,Tang, and song dynasties)

The era of the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties lasted nearly 700 years. During that period, a mature political system based on principles first put into practice during the Qin and Han dynasties gradually emerged in China. The Tang and Song dynasties restored the merit-based selection of civil servants. This civil service examination, an important institution of Eastern civilization, gave China a government staffed by a literate bureaucracy. Beyond the capital, government was based on provinces, districts, and villages. Confucian ideals were still the cement that held the system together. During the long period between the Sui and Song dynasties, the Chinese economy grew in size and complexity. Agriculture flourished, and manufacturing and trade grew dramatically. China was still primarily a farming society. In the long period of civil war, aristocratic families had taken control of most of the land, and the majority of peasants had become serfs or slaves. The Song government, however, worked to weaken the power of the large landholders and help poor peasants obtain their own land. These changes were major economic developments. The reform efforts and improved farming techniques led to an abundance of food. In Chinese cities, technological developments added new products and stimulated trade. For example, during the Tang dynasty, the Chinese began to make steel for swords by mixing cast iron and wrought iron in a blast furnace. The introduction of cotton made it possible to make new kinds of clothes. Chinese inventors of this era developed major ideas in science. The invention of gunpowder occurred during the Tang dynasty. It was used to make explosives and a primitive flamethrower called a fire-lance. The fire-lance could spit out a mixture of flame and projectiles that could travel 40 yards (36.6 m). The Chinese also made important advancements in mathematics. Early Chinese developed a sophisticated number system. Perhaps the most major idea in mathematics from China occurred in the 1200s. Li Zhi developed a method of using algebra to solve problems of geometry. The changing nature of trade was also a major economic development. State officials had controlled most long-distance trade. By the time of the Song, private merchants were active in commerce and trade. Guilds began to appear, along with a new money economy, which is an economic system based on money rather than barter. The use of paper money began in the 700s and 800s. With the increased flow of paper money, banking began to develop. Long-distance trade by land and by sea expanded. Trade had declined between the 300s and 500s as a result of the collapse of the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire. The revival of trade under the Tang dynasty was a major economic development. The unification of much of Southwest Asia under the Arabs increased trade, as well. The Silk Road was renewed and thrived as caravans carried goods between China and Southwest Asia and South Asia. The Silk Road facilitated trade by providing a reliable and safe land route for merchants and caravans to traverse long distances. The Silk Road was more than a trading route, however. It also facilitated the spread of ideas. Merchants carried their religions with them along the route, and contributed to the exchange of ideas in mathematics and technology. Three religions—Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—spread along the Silk Road. Technical knowledge from China— including the secrets of printing, drilling wells, and making iron, gunpowder, paper, and silk—reached the West along the Silk Road. Trade with regions near China, such as Japan and Korea, also increased during the Tang and Song dynasties. As a result of trade, Changan, with a population of about two million, became the wealthiest city in the world. Changan was filled with temples and palaces, and its markets were filled with goods from all over Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Indian Society and Culture

The imposition of Islamic rule by Mahmūd of Ghazna and his successors created a level of general tension in Indian society. The life of the typical Indian, however, remained about the same as it had been for the past several hundred years. The Muslim rulers in India viewed themselves as foreign conquerors. They tried to maintain a strict separation between the Muslim ruling class and the Hindu population. Like rulers elsewhere at this time, many Muslim rulers in India were intolerant of other faiths. However, they generally used peaceful means to encourage people to convert to Islam. Still, some could be fierce when their religious zeal was aroused. Said one, "I forbade the infliction of any severe punishment on the Hindus in general, but I destroyed their idol temples, and instead thereof raised mosques in their place." Most Muslim rulers realized that there were simply too many Hindus to convert them all. They reluctantly accepted the need to tolerate religious differences. Nevertheless, Muslim rulers did impose many Islamic customs on Hindu society, spreading the religion throughout the region. Overall, the interactions between Muslims and Hindus were those between conqueror and conquered, a relationship marked by dislike rather than understanding. Between 500 and 1500, most Indians lived on the land and farmed their own tiny plots. These peasants paid a share of their harvest each year to a landlord, who in turn sent part of the payment to the local ruler. In effect, the landlord worked as a tax collector for the king, who in theory owned all the land in his state. Although the vast majority of Indians were peasants, reports by foreign visitors between 500 and 1500 indicate that many people lived in the cities. It was here where the landed elites and rich merchants lived, often in conditions of considerable wealth. Rulers naturally had the most wealth. One maharaja (great king) of a small state in southern India, for example, had more than 100,000 soldiers in his pay, along with 900 elephants and 20,000 horses. Another ruler kept a thousand high-caste women to sweep his palace. Each carried a broom and a brass basin holding a mixture of cow dung and water. Agriculture was not the only source of wealth in India. Since ancient times, India's location had made it a center for trade between Southwest Asia and East Asia. It was also a source for other goods shipped throughout the world. Internal trade within India probably declined during this period, primarily because of the fighting among the many states of India. However, the level of foreign trade remained high, especially in the south and along the northwestern coast. Both areas were located along the traditional trade routes to Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean Sea region. Between 500 and 1500, Indian artists and writers built on the achievements of their predecessors while making innovations in all fields of creative endeavor, both secular and religious. Here, we examine two such fields: architecture and prose literature. During this period, Hindu religious architecture in India developed from modest temples built of perishable materials like wood and brick to increasingly grand and complex structures of stone. Different styles developed in North and South India. Usually a temple consisted of a central shrine topped by a tower and set in a protective compound. An entry porch and one or more halls for worshippers would lead to the main shrine. Among the most famous examples of Hindu temple art in this period are the temples at Khajuraho in present Madhya Pradesh. Of 80 temples built there from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, twenty major temples survive. All are built upon substantial stone bases, elevating them and making them even more impressive. These and other Hindu temples were considered to be dwelling places of the divinities and images of the entire universe. The use of prose in fiction was well established in India by the sixth and seventh centuries. This is truly astonishing in light of the fact that the novel did not appear in Japan until the tenth or eleventh century and in Europe until the seventeenth century. One of the greatest masters of Sanskrit prose was Dandin, a seventh-century author. In The Adventures of the Ten Princes, he created a fantastic world, fusing history and fiction. His powers of observation, details of everyday life, and humor give his writing much vitality.

Decline of Church Power

The popes reached the height of their power in the 1200s. In the 1300s, the Church encountered a series of problems. These problems led to a decline in the Church's power.

Universities

The university of today, with faculty, students, and degrees, was a product of the High Middle Ages. The word university comes from the Latin word universitas, meaning "corporation" or "guild." The first European university appeared in Bologna (buh • LOH • nyuh), Italy. The University of Paris was the first university in northern Europe. In the late 1300s, many students and masters (teachers) left Paris and started a university at Oxford, England. By 1500, Europe had 80 universities. Students began their studies with the traditional liberal arts—grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Teachers lectured by reading from a basic text and adding explanations. After four to six years, students took oral examinations to earn a bachelor of arts degree and later a master of arts. After about ten more years, students earned a doctor of law, medicine, or theology. The most highly regarded subject was theology—the study of religion and God. The study of theology was strongly influenced by a philosophical system known as scholasticism. Scholasticism tried to reconcile faith and reason—to show that faith was in harmony with reason. Its chief task was to harmonize Christian teachings with the works of the Greek philosophers. Aristotle reached his conclusions by rational thought, not by faith, and his ideas sometimes contradicted Church teachings. In his major work, the Proslogion, Anselm of Canterbury, a monastic theologian, made one of the first attempts in the eleventh century to demonstrate how the truths of faith are compatible with reason, reflecting the highly religious culture of medieval Europe. In fact, Anselm made an argument to prove by reason the existence of God. In the 1200s, Thomas Aquinas (uh • KWY • nuhs) made the most famous attempt to reconcile Aristotle with the doctrines of Christianity. Aquinas is best known for his Summa Theologica ("summa" was a summary of all knowledge on a topic). His masterpiece followed a logical method of scholarly investigation. Aquinas first posed a question such as, "Does God exist?" He then cited opposing opinions before coming to his own conclusions. He believed that truths arrived at through reason or faith could not conflict with each other. Reason, without faith, could only reveal truths about the physical world, not spiritual truths. The political philosophy of Aquinas held that humans, by using reason, could arrive at natural law, which is part of God's eternal law, and determine what is inherently good or evil. Further, Aquinas believed that reason could help define when war was "just" or righteous. In order to have a "just war," according to Aquinas, it must be waged for a good purpose rather than pursuit of wealth or power. Moreover, a proper institution of authority such as the state must be the one to wage war. Finally, peace must always be the central motive. In the late 1260s, at the request of Pope Clement IV, the English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote Opus Majus, an encyclopedia advocating a reformation of all sciences, including logic, mathematics, physics, experimentation, and philosophy. Bacon emphasized the importance of mathematics for the study of philosophy.

Islamic Society

To be a Muslim is not simply to worship Allah but also to live one's life according to Allah's teachings as revealed in the Quran. This also included social life. Social Structure According to Islam, all Muslim people are equal in the eyes of Allah. The doctrine, however, was not translated into social reality. There was a fairly well-defined upper class that consisted of ruling families, senior officials, nomadic elites, and the wealthiest merchants. Even ordinary merchants, however, enjoyed a degree of respect that merchants did not receive in Europe, China, or India. Non-Muslims were not considered equal to Muslims in the Islamic world. As in the other early civilizations, slavery was widespread. Because Muslims could not be slaves in Islamic society, most of their slaves came from Africa or from non-Islamic populations elsewhere in Asia, resulting in a significant impact on societies in these places. Many had been captured in war. Slaves often served in the army. This was especially true of slaves recruited from the Turks of central Asia. Many military slaves were freed. Some even came to exercise considerable power. Many slaves, especially women, were used as domestic servants. These slaves were sometimes permitted to purchase their freedom. Islamic law made it clear that slaves should be treated fairly, and it was considered a good act to free them.

Chinese Society

Economic developments such as increased trade had an impact on Chinese society. For wealthier city dwellers, the Tang and Song eras were an age of prosperity. There was probably no better example than the Song capital of Hangzhou. In the late thirteenth century, the Italian merchant Marco Polo described the city to European readers as one of the largest and wealthiest cities on Earth. "So many pleasures may be found," he said, "that one fancies himself to be in Paradise." For rich Chinese during this period, life offered many pleasures. There were new forms of entertainment, such as playing cards and chess, which was brought from India. The paddlewheel boat and horseback riding, which was made possible by the introduction of the stirrup, made travel easier. The invention of block printing in the eighth century provided new ways to communicate. The vast majority of the Chinese people still lived off the land in villages. Changes were taking place in the countryside, however. Before, there had been a great gulf between wealthy landowners and poor peasants. A more complex mixture of landowners, free peasants, sharecroppers, and landless laborers now emerged. Most significant was the rise of the landed gentry. This group controlled much of the land and at the same time produced most of the candidates for the civil service. The scholar-gentry, as this class was known, replaced the old landed aristocracy as the political and economic elite of Chinese society. Few Chinese women had any power. An exception was Wu Zhao (WOO JOW), known as Empress Wu. The concubine of the second Tang emperor, she then became empress of China and ruled for half a century. As in other parts of the world, female children were considered less desirable than male children. When a girl married, her role was to become part of her husband's family. In addition, a girl's parents were expected to provide a dowry—money, goods, or property—to her husband when she married. Poor families often sold their daughters to wealthy villagers. Men held the dominant roles in families.

Political Recovery

In the 1300s, European rulers faced serious problems. Many hereditary monarchies or dynasties in Europe were unable to produce male heirs. The founders of new dynasties had to fight for their positions when groups of nobles supported opposing candidates for the kingship. Rulers found themselves with financial problems as well. In the 1400s, however, recovery set in as a number of new rulers in Europe attempted to reestablish the centralized power of monarchies. Some historians have spoken of these reestablished states as the new monarchies. This term applies especially to the monarchies of France, England, and Spain as they existed at the end of the 1400s.

Early Japan

Japan's history has been marked by power struggles between rulers and independent families. Geography has also played an important role in the development of Japanese history. Chinese and Japanese societies have historically been very different. One of the reasons for these differences is geography. Whereas China is located on a vast continent, Japan is a mountainous archipelago, or chain of many islands. The population is concentrated on four main islands: Hokkaidō , the main island of Honshū , and the two smaller islands of Kyūshū and Shikoku. Japan's total land area is approximately 146,000 square miles (378,000 square km)—about the size of Montana. Like China, much of Japan is mountainous. Only about 11 percent of the total land area can be farmed. The mountains are volcanic in origin. Volcanic soils are very fertile, which has helped Japanese farming. The area, however, is prone to earthquakes. In 1923 an earthquake nearly destroyed the entire city of Tokyo. The fact that Japan is an island nation has also affected its history. Because of their geographical isolation, the Japanese developed a number of unique qualities. These qualities contributed to the Japanese belief that they had a destiny separate from that of the peoples on the continent. The ancestors of present-day Japanese settled in the Yamato Plain near the location of the modern cities of Ōsaka and Kyōto in the first centuries a.d. Their society was made up of clans. The people were divided between a small aristocratic class (the rulers) and a large population of rice farmers, artisans, and household servants. The local ruler of each clan protected the people in return for a share of the annual harvest. Eventually, one ruler of the Yamato clan (named for the Yamato Plain) achieved supremacy over the others and became, in effect, ruler of Japan. In the early seventh century, Shōtoku Taishi, a Yamato prince, tried to unify the various clans so that the Japanese could more effectively resist invasion from China. To do this, Prince Shōtoku sent representatives to the Tang capital of China to learn how the Chinese organized their government. He then began to create a centralized system of government, based roughly on the Chinese poltical model. Prince Shōtoku wanted a centralized government under a supreme ruler. His objective was to limit the powers of the aristocrats and enhance the Yamato ruler's (his own) authority. Thus, the ruler was portrayed as a divine figure and the symbol of the Japanese nation. Shōtoku Taishi's successors continued to make reforms based on the Chinese model. The territory of Japan was divided into administrative districts, and the senior official of each district was selected from among the local nobles. As in China, the rural village was the basic unit of government. A new tax system was set up. Now all farmland technically belonged to the state. All taxes were to be paid directly to the central government rather than to local aristocrats.

The Later Crusades

About six years after Saladin's death in 1193, Pope Innocent III initiated the Fourth Crusade. As it headed east, the crusading army became involved in a fight over the Byzantine throne. The Venetian leaders of the Crusade used the situation to weaken their greatest commercial competitor, the Byzantine Empire. In 1204 the crusaders sacked Constantinople, adding to the division between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. Western forces also set up a new Latin empire of Constantinople. Not until 1261 did a Byzantine army recapture the city, but the Byzantine Empire was no longer a great Mediterranean power. It now comprised the city of Constantinople and its surrounding lands, as well as part of Asia Minor. The empire limped along for another 190 years, until its weakened condition enabled the Ottoman Turks to conquer it in 1453. Despite failures, the crusading ideal continued. 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 and 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 headed to Marseille, where two shipowners agreed to take them to the Holy Land. Seven ships filled with youths left the port. Two of the ships went down in a storm. The other five sailed to North Africa, where the children were sold into slavery. The next Crusades of adult warriors were hardly more successful. The last two major Crusades were organized by the king of France, Louis IX. After his defeat by Baybars, the sultan of Egypt, Louis tried again but died of the plague without any conquests. Did the Crusades have much effect on European civilization? Historians disagree. Clearly, the Crusades benefited the Italian port cities. Even without the Crusades, however, Italian merchants would have increased trade with the Eastern world. The Crusades had a tragic impact on the interactions between Christian and Jewish societies in Europe. The first widespread attacks on the Jews began in the context of the Crusades. Some Christians argued that to fight the Muslims while the Jews, whom they blamed for Jesus's death, ran free at home was unthinkable. The Jews of medieval Europe came to be subjected to periodic libels, attacks, and expulsions. Perhaps the greatest impact of the Crusades was political. They eventually helped to break down feudalism. As kings levied taxes and raised armies, nobles joining the Crusades sold their lands and freed their serfs. As nobles lost power, the kings created stronger central governments. Taxing trade with the East also provided kings with new sources of wealth. This paved the way for the development of true nation-states and contributed to the end of medieval Europe. By the mid-1400s, three strong nation-states—Spain, England, and France—had emerged in Europe.

The Nara Period

After Shōtoku Taishi's death in 622, political power fell into the hands of the Fujiwara clan. A Yamato ruler was still emperor. He was, however, strongly influenced by the Fujiwara family. In 710 a new capital was established at Nara. The emperor now used the title "Son of Heaven." Though the reforms begun by Prince Shōtoku continued during this period, Japan's central government could not overcome the power of the aristocrats. These powerful families were able to keep the taxes from the lands for themselves. Unable to gain tax revenues, the central government steadily lost power and influence.

Spain and the Umayyad Caliphate

After its conquest by the Umayyad Caliphate in a.d. 725, most of Spain had become a Muslim province called Al-Andalus. Muslim rule over much of Spain would last for centuries. Consequently, the Islamic caliphates had an impact on the social, cultural, and political development of this part of Europe. Non-Muslim groups in the caliphate, which included Christians and Jews, were allowed to continue practicing their religions. Additionally, they had their own courts and could hold minor positions in government. However, as elsewhere in the caliphate, Christians and Jews were ruled under the concept of dhimmitude. This meant they were subject to a special tax and other regulations meant to remind them that they lived under Muslim rule. As a consequence many people, especially in the southern part of Spain, converted to Islam. Islamic rule also significantly impacted Spanish culture. For example, modern-day Andalusia in the southernmost region of Spain gets its name from the Islamic term "Al-Andalus." Similarly, although it has been believed that the Spanish language derives solely from Latin, Arabic influence can be found in various words such as algebra or azúcar—meaning sugar. Most recognizable, however, would be Islam's architectural influence, notably the palace of Seville. Slender columns, cupolas, and open spaces characterized Moorish architecture. Politically, the majority of Spain was under the rule of the caliphate or the Emir (Duke) of Córdoba for centuries. However, pockets of Christian resistance remained, particularly in the northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Historians count the Reconquista—or the Christian re-conquest of Spain—as beginning as early as 718 A.D. with a victory of Christian forces over the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate. By a.d. 929, Spain had divided into a collection of Christian kingdoms in the north and Muslim emirates in the south. The Reconquista would continue for another 500 years.

The Norman Conquest

Angles and Saxons, Germanic peoples from northern Europe, had invaded England early in the fifth century. King Alfred the Great had united various kingdoms in the late ninth century, and since then, England had been ruled by Anglo-Saxon kings. On October 14, 1066, an army of heavily armed knights under William of Normandy landed on the coast of England and soundly defeated King Harold and his foot soldiers at the Battle of Hastings. William was then crowned king of England. Norman knights received parcels of land, which they held as fiefs, from the king. All nobles swore an oath of loyalty to William as sole ruler of England. The Norman ruling class spoke French, but the marriage of the Normans with the Anglo-Saxon nobility gradually merged Anglo-Saxon and French into a new English language. The Normans also took over existing Anglo-Saxon institutions, like the office of sheriff. William took a census known as the Domesday Book, the first census taken in Europe since Roman times and included people, manors, and farm animals. William also developed more fully the system of taxation and royal courts begun by earlier Anglo-Saxon kings.

Formation of States in Southeast Asia

Between 500 and 1500, a number of organized states developed throughout Southeast Asia. When the peoples of the region began to form states, they used models from China and India. At the same time, they adapted these models to their own needs and created their own unique states. Between China and India lies the region that today is called Southeast Asia. It has two major parts. One is the mainland region, extending southward from the Chinese border down to the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The other is an extensive archipelago, or chain of islands, most of which is part of present-day Indonesia and the Philippines. Ancient mariners called the area the "golden region" or "golden islands." Located between India and China, Southeast Asia contains a mixture of races, cultures, and religions. Mainland Southeast Asia consists of several north-south mountain ranges. Between these ranges are fertile river valleys that run in a southerly or southeasterly direction. The mountains are densely forested and often infested with malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Thus, the people living in the river valleys were often cut off from one another and had only limited contact with the people living in the mountains. These geographical barriers might help explain why Southeast Asia is one of the few regions in Asia that was never unified under a single government. The geographical barriers encouraged the development of separate, distinctive cultures within Southeast Asia.

Reform of the Papacy

By the eleventh century, Church leaders realized the need to be free from the lords' interference in the appointment of Church officials. When an individual became a Church official in the Middle Ages, he was given a ring and a staff. These objects symbolized the spiritual authority with which the Church granted, or invested, the official. Secular, or lay, rulers usually chose nominees to Church offices and gave them the symbols of their office, a practice known as lay investiture. Pope Gregory VII decided to fight this practice.Elected pope in 1073, Gregory was convinced that he had been chosen by God to reform the Church. To pursue this aim, Gregory claimed that he—the pope—was truly God's "vicar on earth" and that the pope's authority extended over all the Christian world, including its rulers. Gregory believed that only by eliminating lay investiture could the Church regain its freedom. Then the Church would be able to appoint clergy and run its own affairs. If rulers did not accept this, the pope would remove them. Gregory VII soon found himself in conflict with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Germany, over these claims. For many years, German kings had appointed high-ranking clerics, especially bishops, as their vassals to use them as administrators. Without them, the king could not hope to maintain power over the German nobles. In 1075 Pope Gregory issued a decree forbidding high-ranking clerics from receiving their investiture from lay leaders: Henry, however, had no intention of obeying a papal decree that challenged the heart of his administration. The struggle between Henry IV and Gregory VII, known as the Investiture Controversy, was one of the great conflicts between church and state in the High Middle Ages. It dragged on until a new German king and a new pope reached a compromise known as the Concordat of Worms in 1122. Under this agreement, a bishop in Germany was first elected by Church officials. After election, the new bishop paid homage to the king as his lord. The king in turn invested him with the symbols of temporal (earthly) office. A representative of the pope, however, then invested the new bishop with the symbols of his spiritual office.

The Kamakura Shogunate

By the end of the twelfth century, rivalries among Japanese aristocratic families had led to almost constant civil war. Finally, a powerful noble named Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several rivals and set up his power near the modern city of Tokyo. To strengthen the state, he created a more centralized government under a military leader known as the shogun (general). In this new system— called the shogunate—the emperor remained ruler in name only, and the shogun exercised the actual power. The Kamakura shogunate, founded by Yoritomo, lasted from 1192 to 1333. Although the shogunate was a military government, it was unprepared when Mongol ruler Kublai Khan sent 23,000 troops to invade Japan in 1274. The Mongols were winning until a storm sank their fleet. In 1281, Kublai Khan sent nearly 150,000 troops. Fighting from behind stone walls they had built, the Japanese forced the Mongols to retreat. A typhoon (violent storm) then devastated the Mongol fleet. The wars strained the political system. In 1333, several powerful families overthrew the Kamakura shogunate.

The Feudal Contract

By the ninth century, the grant of land made to a vassal had become known as a fief (FEEF). Vassals who held fiefs came to hold political authority within them. As the Carolingian world fell apart, the number of separate, powerful lords and vassals increased, leading to the formation of medieval Europe. Instead of a single government, many different people now maintained order.Feudalism became increasingly complicated. The vassals of a king, who were great lords, might also have vassals who would owe them military service in return for a grant of land taken from their estates. Those vassals, in turn, might likewise have vassals. At that level, the vassals would be simple knights with barely enough land to provide them income. The lord-vassal relationship bound together greater and lesser landowners. It was an honorable relationship between free men and implied no sense of servitude. Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rules—known as the feudal contract—that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal. The major obligation of a vassal to his lord was to perform military service, usually about 40 days a year. When summoned, a vassal had to appear at his lord's court to give advice. Under this contract, the lord also had responsibilities to his vassals. He supported a vassal by granting him land, but he also had to protect his vassal by defending him militarily or by taking his side in a dispute.

Prosperity in the Islamic World

Despite internal struggles, this was one of the most prosperous periods in the history of the Middle East. The Arabs carried on extensive trade both by ship and by camel caravans, which traveled from Morocco in the far west to the countries beyond the Caspian Sea. From south of the Sahara came gold and slaves; from China, silk and porcelain; from eastern Africa, gold and ivory; from Spain, iron and metals; and from Southeast Asia and India, sandalwood and spices. Within the empire, Egypt contributed grain; Iraq provided linens, dates, and precious stones; and western India supplied textiles. The development of banking and the use of coins made it easier to exchange goods. With flourishing trade came exposure to different goods and the rise of prosperous cities. While the Abbasids were in power, the Asian city of Baghdad, the Abbasid capital known as the City of Peace, was probably the greatest city in the empire and one of the greatest cities in the world. After the rise of the Fatimids in the African country of Egypt, however, the focus of trade shifted to Cairo. Another great trading city was the Asian city of Damascus in modern-day Syria. Such an increase in overall trade made Asian and African cities like Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus the centers of cultural, administrative, and economic activity for their regions. The bazaar, or covered market, was a crucial part of every Muslim city or town. The bazaar was an important trading center, where goods from all the known world were for sale. Customers could compare prices and seek the best bargains. To make sure of high standards, bazaars had market inspectors who enforced rules. The bazaar also housed many craftspeople's shops, as well as services like laundries and bathhouses. The Arab Empire was more urbanized than most other areas of the known world at the time. Nevertheless, a majority of people still lived in the country, making their living by farming or herding animals. During the early stages of the empire, most of the farmland was owned by independent peasants. Later, wealthy landowners began to amass large estates. Some lands were owned by the state or the court and were farmed by slave labor.

Decline and Division

Despite its prosperity, all was not well in the empire of the Abbasids. There was much fighting over the succession to the caliphate. When Hārūn al-Rashı-d died, his two sons fought to succeed him, almost destroying the city of Baghdad. Vast wealth gave rise to financial corruption. Members of Hārūn al-Rashı-d's clan were given large sums of money from the state treasury. His wife was reported to have spent vast sums on a pilgrimage to Makkah. The shortage of qualified Arabs for key positions in the army and the civil service also contributed to the decline of the Abbasids. Caliphs began to recruit officials from among non-Arabs, such as Persians and Turks. These people were trained to serve the caliphs, but gradually they dominated the army and the bureaucracy. Eventually, rulers of the provinces of the Abbasid Empire began to break away and establish independent dynasties. Spain had established a separate caliphate when a prince of the Umayyad dynasty fled there in a.d. 750. Morocco became independent, and a new dynasty under the Fatimids was established in Egypt, with its capital at Cairo, in a.d. 973. The Muslim Empire was now politically divided.

Painting and Ceramics

During the Song and Mongol dynasties, landscape painting was a major cultural development. Influenced by Daoism, artists went into the mountains to find the Dao, or Way, in nature. Chinese artists demonstrated ideals and principles from their culture through their art. Rather than depicting the realistic shape of a specific mountain, for example, they tried to portray the idea of "mountain." Empty spaces were left in the paintings because in the Daoist vision, one cannot know the whole truth. Daoism also influenced the portrayal of humans as insignificant in the midst of nature. Chinese artists painted people as tiny figures fishing in small boats or wandering up a hillside trail, living in but not dominating nature. Tang artisans perfected the making of porcelain—a ceramic made of fine clay baked at very high temperatures. Porcelain-making techniques did not reach Europe until the eighteenth century.

The Turkish and Mongolian Invasion of India

During the latter half of the fourteenth century, the sultanate of Delhi began to decline. Near the end of the century, a new military force crossed the Indus River from the northwest. These invaders, of mixed Mongol and Turkish heritage, raided the capital of Delhi. They soon withdrew, but not before making a major impact. As many as 100,000 Hindu prisoners were massacred before the gates of the city. It was India's first meeting with Timur Lenk (Tamerlane). Timur Lenk was the ruler of a state based in Samarqand. Born sometime during the 1330s, Timur Lenk seized power in 1369 and immediately launched a program of conquest, bringing much of Central Asia under his control and briefly invading India. After his brief foray into northern India, he turned to the west. He died in 1405 in the midst of a military campaign. The death of Timur Lenk removed a major menace from India. Nevertheless, members of his dynasty, known as the Timurids, continued to rule a few parts of India. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Babur, a descendant of Timur Link on his father's side and the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side, conquered northern India and established the Mogul Empire, an Islamic state. These Islamic rulers, descendants of nomadic Turks and Mongols, would shape life in India for hundreds of years.

Life in Early Japan

Early Japan was mostly a farming society. Its people took advantage of the limited amount of farmland and abundant rainfall to grow wet rice. Trade in Japan was slow to develop. Barter was used until the twelfth century. Manufacturing began to develop during the Kamakura period. Markets appeared in large towns, and industries such as the making of paper and porcelain emerged. Trade between regions also grew. Goods were carried in carts, on boats, or on human backs. Foreign trade, mainly with Korea and China, began during the eleventh century. Japan shipped raw materials, paintings, swords, and other manufactured items in return for silk, porcelain, books, and copper coins.

Religion and Culture

Early Japanese people worshiped spirits, called kami, whom they believed resided in trees, rivers, and mountains. The Japanese also believed that the spirits of their ancestors were present in the air around them. In Japan, these beliefs evolved into a religion called Shinto ("the Sacred Way" or "the Way of the Gods"), which is still practiced today. Over time, Shinto became a state doctrine linked to a belief in the divinity of the emperor and the sacredness of the Japanese nation. Shinto, however, did not satisfy the spiritual needs of all the Japanese people. Some turned to Buddhism, a major religious influence from China. During the A.D. 500s, Buddhist monks brought this religion from China to Japan. Among the aristocrats in Japan, one sect, known as Zen, became the most popular. Zen beliefs about self-discipline became part of the samurai warrior's code. The two main schools of Zen teach that nirvana either comes by instantaneous enlightenment or through a long process of meditation. During much of the history of early Japan, aristocratic men believed that prose fiction was merely "vulgar gossip" and was thus beneath them. Consequently, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, women were the most productive writers of prose fiction in Japanese. From this tradition appeared one of the world's great novels, The Tale of Genji, written by court author Murasaki Shikibu. Her novel traces the life of nobleman Genji as he moves from youthful adventures to a life of compassion in his later years. An aristocratic woman, Sei Shonagon, also wrote The Pillow Book, which told of her activities as a court lady. In Japanese art and architecture, landscape serves as an important means of expression. The landscape surrounding the Golden Pavilion in Kyōto displays a harmony of garden, water, and architecture.

Kievan Rus and Mongol Rule

Eastern Slavic peoples had also settled in present-day Ukraine and Russia. There, in the late eighth century, they encountered Swedish Vikings who moved into their lands in search of plunder and new trade routes. The native peoples were eventually dominated by the Vikings, whom they called "the Rus" (from which Russia is derived). One Viking leader, Oleg, settled in Kiev (present-day Kyiv) at the beginning of the tenth century and created the Rus state known as the Principality of Kiev. Oleg also opened trade with the Byzantines, increasing the prosperity of the Rus. His successors extended their control over the eastern Slavs and expanded Kiev, until it included the territory between the Baltic and Black Seas and the Danube and Volga Rivers. By marrying Slavic wives, the Viking ruling class was gradually assimilated into the Slavic population. The growth of the principality of Kiev attracted Byzantine missionaries. One Rus ruler, Vladimir, married the Byzantine emperor's sister and officially accepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity for himself and his people in 988. Orthodox Christianity became the religion of the state. By adopting Orthodox Christianity, Vladimir tied Russia politically and culturally to the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus reached its high point in the first half of the eleventh century. This was largely due to the prosperous trade route between the Baltic and Black Seas. However, civil wars and new invasions brought an end to the first Russian state in 1169, fragmenting the region into a collection of minor states. This disunity, coupled with devastating cavalry tactics, allowed the Mongols to invade and conquer Russia in the thirteenth century. The Mongolian invasion had a significant impact on Europe. The first effect was largely negative. The shock and brutality of the invasion resulted in a loss of population as Mongolian forces destroyed cities and refugees fled their advance. However, as time passed, the Mongolian invasions had some positive results. For instance, the Mongolians introduced several Eastern inventions, like gunpowder, to Europe. Trade, too, increased under Mongol rule. Finally, Mongolian rule led to an eventual unification of Russia. One subject Russian prince, Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod, defeated a German invading army in northwestern Russia in 1242. The leader of the western Mongol Empire rewarded Nevsky with the title of Grand Prince. His descendants became princes of Moscow and eventually leaders of all Russia.

The Popes at Avignon

European kings had begun to reject papal claims of supremacy by the end of the 1200s. The struggle between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France had serious consequences for the papacy. Philip claimed the right to tax the clergy. Boniface argued that taxing the clergy required the pope's consent, because popes were supreme over both Church and state. Philip rejected the pope's position and sent French forces to Italy to bring Boniface back to France for trial. The pope escaped but died soon afterward. Philip then engineered the election of a Frenchman, Clement V, as pope in 1305. Clement took up residence in Avignon (a • veen • YOHN), in southern France. From 1305 to 1377, the popes lived in Avignon. Sentiments against the papacy grew during this time. Many believed that the pope as bishop of Rome should reside in Rome, not in Avignon. The splendor in which the pope and cardinals were living in Avignon also led to criticism. At last, Pope Gregory XI, perceiving the disastrous decline in papal prestige, returned to Rome in 1377.

India after the Guptas

For hundreds of years, Buddhism retained widespread acceptance among the Indian people. The teachings of the Buddha came to be interpreted in different ways, however. People did not always agree on the meaning of the Buddha's teachings, resulting in a split among Buddhists in India. One group believed that they were following the original teachings of the Buddha. They called themselves the school of Theravada, "the teachings of the elders." This school insists that an understanding of oneself is the chief way to gain nirvana, or release from the "wheel of life." Theravada stressed transforming oneself through moral conduct and meditation. Another view of Buddha and his teachings emerged in North India. This was Mahayana, "the Great Vehicle." Not strictly a school but rather a way of understanding the Buddha and his path, the Mahayana perspective was broad and embracing. Where Theravada and other similar schools held that only the solitary monk could successfully pursue nirvana, Mahayana Buddhists taught that the way to enlightenment was open to everyone. Unsatisfied with any single depiction of the Buddha they sought to understand every aspect of the teacher and every implication of his teachings. In the process, they produced fresh interpretations and generated new practices— including devotional rituals—that extended beyond those supported by the more austere Theravada. But, eventually, neither Mahayana nor Theravada Buddhism remained popular in India. By the seventh century, Theravada was declining, and Mahayana was losing appeal in the face of a reinvigorated Hinduism. And later Buddhism's appeal would also be challenged by a new arrival: Islam. Despite their decline in India, though, both schools of Buddhism found success abroad. Carried by monks to China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Japan, the practice of Buddhism has remained active in all four areas to the present.

Neo-Confucianism

From the Song dynasty to the end of the dynastic system in the twentieth century, official support went to a revived Confucianism, which became the heart of the state government. This new doctrine, called neo-Confucianism, served as a Confucian response to Buddhism and Daoism. It teaches that the world is real, not an illusion, and that fulfillment comes from participation in the world. Neo-Confucianists divide the world into a material world and a spiritual world. Humans live in the material world but are also linked with the Supreme Ultimate. The goal is to move beyond the material world to reach union with the Supreme Ultimate. Humans do this through careful study of the moral principles that rule the universe.

The Great Schism

Gregory XI died soon after his return to Rome. When the cardinals met to elect a new pope at the behest of the citizens of Rome, they elected an Italian, Pope Urban VI. Five months later, a group of French cardinals declared the election invalid and chose a Frenchman as pope. This pope returned to Avignon. Because Urban remained in Rome, there were now two popes, beginning the Great Schism of the Church. Lasting from 1378 to 1417, the Great Schism divided Europe. France and its allies supported the pope in Avignon; England and its allies supported the pope in Rome. In addition to creating political conflict, the Great Schism damaged the Church. The pope was believed to be the true leader of Christendom. When each line of popes denounced the other as the Antichrist (one who opposes Christ), people's faith in both the papacy and the Church were undermined. The situation became worse when an effort to resolve the problem in 1409 resulted in the simultaneous reign of three popes. A Church council finally met at Constance, Switzerland, and ended the schism in 1417. The competing popes either resigned or were deposed. A new pope, acceptable to all, was then elected. Meanwhile, these crises in the Catholic Church led to calls for reform. John Wyclif in England and John Hus in Bohemia called for an end to clerical corruption and to excessive papal power within the Church. Hus was accused of heresy by the Council of Constance and burned at the stake in 1415. In response, the Bohemians led a revolutionary upheaval in Bohemia that was not crushed until 1436. Hus's ideas would later have an impact on the German monk Martin Luther. By the early 1400s, then, the Church had lost much of its political power. The pope could no longer assert supremacy over the state. Although Christianity remained central to medieval life, the papacy and the Church had lost much of their authority as people lost faith in the papacy. The Great Schism contributed to the end of medieval Europe and ultimately laid the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.

The Heian Period

In 794 the emperor moved the capital from Nara to nearby Heian-kyo, on the site of present-day Kyōto. The emperor continued to rule in name, but actual power remained in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. In fact, the government was returning to the decentralized system that had existed before the time of Shōtoku Taishi. Powerful families whose wealth was based on the ownership of tax-exempt farmland dominated the rural areas. With the decline of central power, local aristocrats took justice into their own hands. They turned to military force, and a new class of military servants emerged whose purpose was to protect the security and property of their employers. Called the samurai ("those who serve"), these warriors fought on horseback, clad in helmet and armor, and carried a sword and a bow. Like knights in Europe, the samurai were supposed to live by a strict warrior code, known in Japan as Bushido ("the way of the warrior").

France in the High Middle Ages

In 843 the Carolingian Empire was divided into three sections. The western section formed the core of the kingdom of France. In 987 after the last Carolingian king died, the west Frankish nobles made Hugh Capet their king, establishing the Capetian (kuh • PEE • shuhn) dynasty of French kings. Although called kings, the Capetians had little real power, controlling only the area around Paris. Many of the great dukes of France were more powerful than their king. The reign of Philip II Augustus, who reigned from 1180 to 1223, was a turning point in the French monarchy, expanding its income and power. Philip fought wars against the English to take control of the French territories of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Aquitaine. Philip's successors continued to add lands to the royal domain. Much of the thirteenth century was dominated by the reign of Louis IX. Deeply religious, he was later made a saint by the Catholic Church. Louis was known for trying to bring justice to his people by hearing their complaints in person. Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, ruled from 1285 to 1314. He made the monarchy stronger by expanding the royal bureaucracy. Indeed, by 1300, France was the largest and best-governed monarchy in Europe. Philip IV also created a French parliament by meeting with members of the three estates, or orders—the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the townspeople and peasants (Third Estate). The meeting, held in 1302, began the Estates-General, the first French parliament.

The Song Dynasty

In 960 a new dynasty known as the Song (SUNG) rose to power. The Song ruled during a period of prosperity and cultural achievement, from 960 to 1279. From the start, political developments in Song China included trouble from northern neighbors. These groups crossed into northern China and occupied large parts of Chinese territory. Because of this threat, Song rulers were forced to move the imperial court south to Hangzhou (HAHNG • JOH). The Song also lost control over Tibet. The Song dynasty could never overcome the challenge from the north. During the 1200s, the Mongols—a nomadic people from the Gobi—carried out wars of conquest and built a vast empire. Within 70 years, the relative weakness of the Song dynasty allowed the Mongols to gain control of China. As we shall see, the Mongols overthrew the Song and created a new Mongol dynasty in China. The impact of the Song dynasty on Eastern Asia was profound. Social progress was matched by economic progress, including the first use of paper currency and a large increase in farm production, leading to an increase in population. Its astronomers developed new instruments, while its inventors applied new technologies to warfare, navigation, and printing. Summarizing What were the re

Knights and Vassals

In Germanic society, warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leaders and fought in battles for them. The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors' needs. By the eighth century, a man who served a lord in a military capacity was known as a vassal. The Frankish army had originally consisted of foot soldiers dressed in coats of mail—armor made of metal links or plates—and armed with swords. Horsemen had been throwers of spears. In the eighth century, however, larger horses and the stirrup were introduced. Now horsemen were armored in coats of mail because the larger horses could carry the weight. With stirrups to keep them on their horses, they wielded long lances that enabled them to act as battering rams. For almost 500 years, warfare in Europe was dominated by heavily armored cavalry, or knights, as they came to be called. The knights had great social prestige and formed the backbone of the European aristocracy. It was expensive to have a horse, armor, and weapons. It also took more time and practice to learn to use these instruments skillfully. With the breakdown of royal governments, the more powerful nobles took control of large areas of land. When these lords wanted men to fight for them, they granted each vassal a piece of land that supported the vassal and his family. In the Early Middle Ages, when wealth was based primarily on land, it was the best gift a lord could give to a vassal.

Women in Religious Orders

In a reflection of new roles for women in religious life, the number of women joining religious houses also grew dramatically. In the High Middle Ages, most nuns were from the ranks of the landed aristocracy. Convents were convenient for families who were unable or unwilling to find husbands for their daughters, for aristocratic women who did not choose to marry, or for widows. Female intellectuals found convents a haven for their activities. Most learned women of the Middle Ages, especially in Germany, were nuns. This was certainly true of Hildegard of Bingen, who became abbess of a religious house for females in western Germany. Hildegard was also one of the first important women composers. She was an important contributor to the body of music known as Gregorian chant. Her work is remarkable because she succeeded at a time when music, especially sacred music, was almost exclusively the domain of men.

The Umayyads

In a.d. 661 the general Mu'āwiyah (moo • AH • wee • uh), the governor of Syria and one of Ali's chief rivals, became caliph. He was known for one outstanding virtue: He used force only when absolutely necessary. As he said, "I never use my sword when my whip will do, nor my whip when my tongue will do." Mu'āwiyah moved quickly to make the caliphate, hereditary in his own family. In doing this, he established the Umayyad (oo • MY • uhd) dynasty. He then moved the capital of the Arab Empire from Madinah to Damascus, in Syria. Umayyad Conquests At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs carried out new attacks at both the eastern and western ends of the Mediterranean world. Arab armies moved across North Africa and conquered and converted the Berbers, a pastoral people who lived along the Mediterranean coast. The forces of the caliphate could now threaten Europe at both its western and eastern ends. Around a.d. 710, combined Berber and Arab forces crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and occupied southern Spain in Europe. By a.d. 725, most of Spain had become a Muslim state with its center at Córdoba. In a.d. 732, however, Arab forces were defeated at the Battle of Tours in Gaul (now France). In a.d. 717 another Muslim force had launched an attack on Constantinople with the hope of defeating the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines survived, however, by destroying the Muslim fleet, although the Byzantine Empire was weakened by this second siege of Constantinople. Arab expansion in Europe had come to a halt. By a.d. 750, 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. Arab power also extended to the east in Mesopotamia and Persia and northward into central Asia. The Umayyad dynasty at Damascus now ruled an enormous empire. Expansion had brought great wealth and new ethnic groups into the fold of Islam, as well as contact with other civilizations. As a result, the new Arab Empire would be influenced by Byzantine and Persian cultures.

The Role of Women

In early Japan, women may have had a certain level of equality with men. An eighth-century law code, for example, guaranteed the inheritance rights of women. In addition, wives who were abandoned could divorce and remarry. Later practices, however, show that women were considered to be subordinate to men. A husband could divorce his wife if she did not produce a son or if she committed adultery, talked too much, was jealous, or had a serious illness. Although women did not possess the full legal and social rights of men, they played an active role at various levels of society. Aristocratic women were prominent at court. Some women gained more prominent roles through their artistic or literary talents. Women often appear in the paintings of the period along with men. The women are doing the spring planting, threshing and hulling rice, and acting as salespersons and entertainers.

A Split in Islam

In spite of Umayyad successes, internal struggles threatened the empire's stability. Many Muslims of non-Arab background, such as Persians and Byzantines, did not like the way local administrators favored the Arabs. Financial troubles further weakened the Umayyad dynasty. Also, since the empire was so vast, it was difficult to rule from a capital that was far from the frontiers. These distant regions began to develop their own power, which was hostile to the caliphate. An especially important revolt took place in what is now Iraq early in the Umayyad period. It was led by Hussein (hoo • SAYN), second son of Ali—the son-in-law of Muhammad. Hussein encouraged his followers to rise up against Umayyad rule in a.d. 680. He set off to do battle, but his soldiers defected, leaving him with an army of 72 warriors against 10,000 Umayyad soldiers. Hussein's tiny force fought courageously, but all died. The struggle over who should rightfully rule in Islam led to a split of Islam into two groups. The Shia (SHEE • AH) Muslims accept only the descendants of Ali as the true rulers of Islam. The Sunni (SU • NEE) Muslims did not all agree with Umayyad rule but accepted the Umayyads as caliphs. This political split led to the development of two branches of Muslims that persist to the present. The Sunnis are a majority in the Muslim world, but most of the people in Iraq and neighboring Iran consider themselves to be Shia.

Franciscans and Dominicans

In the 1200s, two new religious orders emerged that had a strong impact on the lives of ordinary people. They were the Franciscans and the Dominicans. The Franciscans were founded by Francis of Assisi. Francis was born to a wealthy Italian merchant family in Assisi. After having been imprisoned during a local war, he had a series of dramatic spiritual experiences. These experiences led him to abandon all worldly goods and to live and preach in poverty, working and begging for his food. His simplicity, joyful nature, and love for others soon attracted a band of followers, all of whom took vows of absolute poverty, agreeing to reject all property and live by working and begging for their food. The Franciscans became very popular. They lived among the people, preaching repentance and aiding the poor. Their calls for a return to the simplicity and poverty of the early Church, reinforced by example, were especially effective. The Franciscans also undertook missionary work, first throughout Italy and then to all parts of Europe and the Muslim world. The Dominican order was founded by a Spanish priest, Dominic de Guzmán. Dominic wanted to defend Church teachings from heresy—the denial of basic Church doctrines. The spiritual revival of the High Middle Ages led to the emergence of heresies within the Church. Adherents of these movements were called heretics. Heretical movements became especially widespread in southern France. Dominic believed that a new religious order of men who lived in poverty and could preach effectively would best be able to attack heresy.

The New Agriculture

In the Early Middle Ages, Europe had a relatively small population. In the High Middle Ages, however, population increased dramatically—nearly doubling between 1000 and 1300 from approximately 38 million to 74 million people. What caused this huge increase? For one thing, Europe was more settled and peaceful after the invasions of the Early Middle Ages had stopped. Food production after 1000 also increased because the climate changed during the High Middle Ages, resulting in improved growing conditions. Changes in technology also aided the growth of farming. The Middle Ages witnessed an explosion of labor-saving devices. People harnessed the power of water and wind to do jobs once done by human or animal power. Many of these new devices were made from iron, which was mined in various areas of Europe. Iron was crucial in making the carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare. Unlike earlier plows, this plow, drawn by six or eight oxen, easily turned over heavy clay soils. Use of the carruca also led to the growth of farming villages, where people worked together. Because iron was expensive, an entire community had to buy a carruca. Likewise, one family could not afford a team of animals, so villagers shared their beasts. Shifting from a two-field to a three-field crop rotation also increased food production. In the Early Middle Ages, peasants divided their land into two fields. They planted one field and allowed the other to lie fallow, or unplanted, to regain its fertility. Now, lands were divided into three parts. Peasants planted one field in the fall with grains, such as rye and wheat, that they harvested in summer. They planted the second field in spring with grains, such as oats and barley, and vegetables, such as peas and beans, that they harvested in fall. They allowed the third field to lie fallow. This way, only one-third, rather than one-half, of the land lay fallow at any time. This practice of rotating crops kept the soil fertile, while allowing people to grow more crops. Making Connections What

The Malay World

In the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago, a different pattern emerged. For centuries, this area had been tied to the trade that passed from East Asia into the Indian Ocean. The area had never been united under a single state. The vast majority of the people were of Malay background, but the peoples were divided into many separate communities. It was not until the late 1200s that a strong state, the new kingdom of Majapahit, emerged in the region. In the mid-fourteenth century, Majapahit incorporated most of the archipelago and perhaps even parts of the mainland under a single rule. Majapahit did not have long to enjoy its status, however. By the 1400s, a new state was beginning to emerge in the region. After the Muslim conquest of northern India, Muslim merchants—either Arabs or Indian converts—settled in port cities in the region and began to convert the local population. Around 1400, an Islamic state began to form in Melaka, a small town on the western coast of the Malay Peninsula. Melaka soon became the major trading port in the region and a chief rival to Majapahit. From Melaka, Muslim traders and the Muslim faith moved into the interior of the peninsula. Eventually, almost the entire population of the region was converted to Islam and became part of the sultanate of Melaka.

The Eastward Expansion of Islam

In the early eighth century, Islam became popular in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and had a major impact on Indian civilization. This impact is still evident today in the division of the subcontinent into mostly Hindu India and two Islamic states, Bangladesh and Pakistan. One reason for Islam's success was the state of political disunity in India when it arrived. The Gupta Empire had collapsed, and no central authority had replaced it. India was divided into about 70 states, which fought each other constantly. When the forces of the Islamic caliphate reached India in the early eighth century, they did little more than move into the frontier regions. At the end of the tenth century, however, a new phase of Islamic expansion took place when a group of rebellious Turkish slaves founded a new Islamic state known as Ghazna (Ghaznī), located in what is now Afghanistan. When the founder of the new state died in 997, his son, Mahmūd of Ghazna, succeeded him. Mahmūd, an ambitious man, began to attack neighboring Hindu kingdoms to the southeast. Before his death in 1030, he was able to extend Islamic rule throughout the upper Indus Valley and as far south as the Indian Ocean. Resistance against these advances into northern India was led by the Rajputs, who were Hindu warriors. They fought bravely, but their infantry supported by elephants, were no match for the cavalry of the invaders which could strike with great speed. Mahmūd's successors continued their advances. By 1200, Muslim power had reached over the entire plain of northern India, creating a new Muslim state known as the sultanate of Delhi. In the fourteenth century, this state extended its power into the Deccan Plateau.

Angkor, Thai, and Burma

In the ninth century, the kingdom of Angkor arose in the region that is present-day Cambodia. The kingdom was formed when a powerful figure named Jayavarman united the Khmer (kuh • MEHR) people and established a capital at Angkor Thom. In 802, Jayavarman was crowned as god-king of his people. For several hundred years, Angkor—or Khmer empire—was the most powerful state in mainland Southeast Asia. Angkor faced enemies on all sides. To the east were the Vietnamese and the kingdom of Champa. To the west was the Burmese kingdom of Pagan. In 1432, the Thai from the north destroyed the Angkor capital. The Angkor ruling class fled to the southeast, where they set up a new capital near Phnom Penh, the capital of present-day Cambodia. The Thai had first appeared in the 500s as a frontier people in China. Beginning in the eleventh or twelfth century, Thai groups began moving southward. This process was encouraged by the Mongol invasion of China in the mid-1200s. After destroying the Angkor capital, the Thai set up their capital at Ayutthaya (ah • yoo • TY • uh), where they remained as a major force in the region for the next 400 years. Although they converted to Buddhism and borrowed Indian political practices, they created a unique blend that evolved into the modern-day culture of Thailand. The Thai were also threatened from the west by the Burmese peoples, who had formed their society along the Salween and Irrawaddy Rivers. The Burmese were pastoral peoples, but they adopted farming soon after their arrival in Southeast Asia. In the eleventh century, they founded the first great Burmese state, the kingdom of Pagan. Like the Thai, they converted to Buddhism and adopted Indian political institutions and culture. During the next two centuries, Pagan became a major force in the western part of Southeast Asia. It played an active role in regional sea trade. Attacks by the Mongols in the late 1200s helped cause its decline.

The Holy Roman Empire

In the tenth century, the powerful dukes of the Saxons became kings of the eastern Frankish kingdom, which came to be known as Germany. The best-known Saxon king of Germany was Otto I. Otto was a patron of German culture and brought the Church under his control. In return for protecting the pope, Otto I was crowned emperor of the Romans in 962. The title had not been used since the time of Charlemagne. Otto's creation of a new Roman Empire in the hands of the Germans had long-range consequences for Europe. As leaders of a new Roman Empire, the German kings attempted to rule both German and Italian lands. Two of these kings, Frederick I and Frederick II, instead of building a strong German kingdom, tried to create a new kind of empire. Frederick I planned to get his chief revenues from Italy. He considered Italy the center of a "holy empire," as he called it—hence the name Holy Roman Empire. Frederick's attempt to conquer northern Italy led to severe problems. The pope opposed him, fearing that he wanted to include Rome and the Papal States as part of his empire. The cities of northern Italy, which had become used to their freedom, were also unwilling to become his subjects. An alliance of these northern Italian cities and the pope defeated the forces of Frederick I in 1176. The struggle between popes and German emperors had dire consequences for the Holy Roman Empire. By spending their time fighting in Italy, the emperors left Germany in the hands of powerful German lords. These nobles ignored the emperor and created their own independent kingdoms. This made the German monarchy weak and incapable of maintaining a strong monarchical state. In the end, the German Holy Roman Emperor had no real power over either the German states or the Italian states. Unlike France and England, neither Germany nor Italy created a national monarchy in the Middle Ages. Both Germany and Italy consisted of many small independent states and territories.

Literature, Art, and Architecture (Islam)

Islam brought major changes to the culture of Southwest Asia, including its literature. Though Muslims regarded the Quran as their greatest literary work, pre-Islamic traditions continued to influence writers. One of the most familiar works of Middle Eastern literature is the Rubaiyat (ROO • bee • AHT) of Omar Khayyám (KY • YAHM). We know little of the life and poetry of this twelfth-century Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, but we know that he composed his poetry orally. His simple, direct poetry was recorded later by friends or scribes. Islamic art is a blend of Arab, Turkish, and Persian traditions, reflecting the history of these three cultures. Most decorations on Islamic art consisted of Arabic letters, natural plants, and abstract figures. These decorations were repeated over and over in geometric patterns called arabesques that completely covered the surfaces of objects. The Hadith, an early collection of Muhammad's sayings, warns against any attempt to imitate God by creating pictures of living beings. As a result, no representations of figures, including Muhammad, appear in Islamic religious art. The best expression of Islamic architecture is found in the way Muslim mosques represent the spirit of Islam. A significant example of this architecture that demonstrates the Islamic artistic ideal is The Great Mosque of Sa-marra-' in present-day Iraq. It was the world's largest mosque at the time it was built (a.d. 848 to a.d. 852), covering 10 acres (more than 40,000 square m). The most famous section of this mosque, its minaret, is nearly 90 feet (27 m) tall and has an unusual outside spiral staircase. The muezzin (moo • EH • zuhn), or crier, calls the faithful to prayer five times each day from the minaret. Because the Muslim religion unites spiritual and political power, palaces were built to reflect this unity and the glory of Islam. Beginning in the eighth century with the castles of Syria, Islamic rulers built large brick palaces with protective walls, gates, and baths. Designed around a central courtyard surrounded by two-story arcades and massive gate-towers, Islamic castles resembled fortresses. The finest example of the Islamic palace is the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Built in the fourteenth century, every inch of the castle's surface is decorated in floral and abstract patterns. Much of the decoration is finely carved plasterwork that looks like lace. The Alhambra is an excellent expression of Islamic art blending with architecture, reflecting the social impact of Islam on Europe through cultural expression.

The Manorial System

Landholding nobles were a military elite whose ability to be warriors depended on having the leisure time to pursue the arts of war. Landed estates, located on the fiefs given to a vassal by his lord and worked by peasants, gave the economic support that made the economic system of manorialism possible. A manor was an agricultural estate that a lord ran and peasants worked. Increasing numbers of free peasants became serfs, or peasants legally bound to the manor. Serfs had to give labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord's control. By 800, probably 60 percent of western Europeans were serfs. A serf's labor services included working the lord's land, which made up one-third to one-half of the cultivated land scattered throughout the manor. Peasants used the rest of the estate's land to grow food for themselves. Serfs usually worked about three days a week for their lords and paid rents by giving the lords a share of every product they raised. Serfs also paid the lords for the use of the manor's common pasturelands, streams, ponds, and woodlands. Lords had a variety of legal rights over the serfs on their estates. Serfs could not leave the manor without the lord's permission. Lords often had political authority on their lands, which gave them the right to try peasants in their own courts. Even with these restrictions, however, serfs were not slaves. The land assigned to serfs to support themselves usually could not be taken away, and their responsibilities to the lord remained fairly fixed. It was also the lord's duty to protect his serfs, giving them the safety to farm the land. The life of peasants in Europe was simple. Their cottages had wood frames surrounded by sticks, with the spaces between sticks filled with straw and rubble and then plastered over with clay. Roofs were simply thatched. The houses of poorer peasants consisted of a single room. Others had at least two rooms—a main room for cooking, eating, and other activities and another room for sleeping. There was little privacy in a medieval household. The seasons of the year largely determined peasant activities. Each season brought a new round of tasks. Harvest time in August and September was especially hectic. A good harvest of grains for making bread was crucial to survival in the winter months. A new cycle of labor began in October, when peasants worked the ground for the planting of winter crops. In November came the slaughter of excess livestock because there was usually not enough food to keep the animals alive all winter. The meat would be salted to preserve it for winter use. In February and March, the land was plowed for the planting of spring crops—oats, barley, peas, and beans. Early summer was a fairly relaxed time, although there was still weeding and sheepshearing to be done. In every season, the serfs worked not only their own land but also the lords' lands. They also tended the small gardens next to their dwellings, where they grew the vegetables that made up part of their diet. The basic staple of the peasant diet, and of the medieval diet in general, was bread. Women made the dough for the bread. The loaves were usually baked in community ovens, which the lord owned. Highly nutritious, peasant bread contained not only wheat and rye but also barley, millet, and oats. These ingredients gave the bread a dark appearance and a heavy, hard texture.

Vernacular Literature

Latin was the universal language of medieval civilization. However, in the twelfth century, much new literature was being written in the vernacular— the language of everyday speech in a particular region, such as Spanish, French, English, or German. A market for vernacular literature appeared in the twelfth century when educated people at courts and in the cities took an interest in new sources of entertainment. Perhaps the most popular vernacular literature of the twelfth century was troubadour poetry, which was chiefly the product of nobles and knights. This poetry told of the love of a knight for a lady, who inspires him to become a braver knight and a better poet. Another type of vernacular literature was known as the chanson de geste, or heroic epic. The earliest and finest example of such literature is The Song of Roland, which appeared around 1100 and was written in French. The chief events described in heroic epic poems are battles in which knights fight courageously for their kings and lords. Its martial theme of bravery in the face of defeat transcends medieval culture. In the fourteenth century, the English author Geoffrey Chaucer used the English vernacular in his famous work The Canterbury Tales. This work consists of a collection of stories told by a group of 29 pilgrims, representing a range of English society, as they journeyed to the tomb of Saint Thomas á Becket at Canterbury, England.

The Teachings of Muhammad

Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a monotheistic religion. Allah is the all-powerful being who created the universe and everything in it. Islam emphasizes salvation and offers the hope of an afterlife. Those who desire to achieve life after death must subject themselves to Allah's will. An important religious tradition that separates Christianity and Islam is the Islamic belief that its first preacher was not divine. Muhammad is considered a prophet, similar to Moses, but he was also a man like other men. Muslims believe that because humans rejected Allah's earlier messengers, Allah sent his final revelation through Muhammad. At the heart of Islam is the Quran. The Quran consists of 114 chapters and is the sacred book of Islam. It is also a guidebook for ethics and a code of law combined. Islam is a direct and simple faith, stressing the need to obey the will of Allah. This means practicing the central acts of worship known as the Five Pillars of Islam: belief, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage. Muslims believe that there is no deity but the one God, and Muhammad is his messenger (belief). They perform prescribed prayers five times each day (prayer) and give part of their wealth to the poor (charity). During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food and drink from dawn to sunset (fasting). Finally, believers are expected to make a pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in their lifetimes (pilgrimage). The faithful who follow the law are guaranteed a place in an eternal paradise. Believers are expected to follow sound principles for behavior. In addition to the acts of worship called the Five Pillars, Muslims must practice traditions of honesty and justice in dealing with others. Muslims are forbidden to gamble, eat pork, drink alcoholic beverages, or engage in dishonest behavior. Family life is based on marriage. Islam is not just a set of religious beliefs but a way of life as well. After Muhammad's death, Muslim scholars developed a law code known as the shari'ah (shuh • REE • uh). It provides believers with a set of laws to regulate their daily lives. It is based on scholars' interpretations of the Quran and the example set by Muhammad in his life. It regulates all aspects of Muslim life, including family life, business practice, government, and moral conduct. The shari'ah does not separate religious matters from civil or political law. It continues to influence law and politics in many parts of the Muslim world, especially in Southwest Asia and northern Africa.

The Arabs

Like the Israelites and the Assyrians, the Arabs were a Semitic-speaking people. They lived in the Arabian Peninsula, a desert land sorely lacking in rivers and lakes. The Arabs were nomads who, because of their hostile surroundings, moved constantly to find water and food for their animals. Survival in such a harsh environment was not easy, and the Arabs organized into tribes to help one another. Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh (SHAYK) who was chosen from one of the leading families by a council of elders. Although each tribe was independent, all the tribes were loosely connected to one another. The Arabs lived as farmers and sheepherders on the oases and rain-fed areas of the Arabian Peninsula. After the camel was domesticated in the first millennium b.c., the Arabs populated more of the desert. They also expanded the caravan trade into these regions. Towns developed along the routes as the Arabs became major carriers of goods between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, where the Silk Road ended. Like the Israelites and the Assyrians, the Arabs were a Semitic-speaking people. They lived in the Arabian Peninsula, a desert land sorely lacking in rivers and lakes. The Arabs were nomads who, because of their hostile surroundings, moved constantly to find water and food for their animals. Survival in such a harsh environment was not easy, and the Arabs organized into tribes to help one another. Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh (SHAYK) who was chosen from one of the leading families by a council of elders. Although each tribe was independent, all the tribes were loosely connected to one another. The Arabs lived as farmers and sheepherders on the oases and rain-fed areas of the Arabian Peninsula. After the camel was domesticated in the first millennium b.c., the Arabs populated more of the desert. They also expanded the caravan trade into these regions. Towns developed along the routes as the Arabs became major carriers of goods between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, where the Silk Road ended. Early Arabs were polytheistic—they believed in many gods. The Arabs recognized a supreme god named Allah (Allah is Arabic for "God"), but they also believed in other tribal 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 Kaaba (KAW • buh). This shrine is in the city of Makkah (Mecca), which is located in the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian Peninsula took on a new importance when political unrest in Mesopotamia and Egypt made the usual trade routes in Southwest Asia too dangerous to travel. A safer route through Makkah to present-day Yemen and then by ship across the Indian Ocean became popular. Camel caravans transported highly prized frankincense and myrrh along this route. The journey was long and camels had to stop more than 60 times. Communities along this route prospered from the increased trade. Tensions arose, however, as increasingly wealthy merchants showed little concern for the welfare of poor people and slaves.

The Magna Carta

Many English nobles resented the ongoing growth of the king's power and rebelled during the reign of King John. At Runnymede in 1215, John was forced by the nobles to put his seal on a document called the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter. This document gave written recognition to the feudal custom that the relationship between king and vassals was based on mutual rights and obligations. The ideas contained in the Magna Carta continue to impact governments in the present day. Politically, it gives strength to the idea that the power of a government is limited, not absolute. Legally, the Magna Carta limits the king's power to punish people outside the rule of law. Punishments for crimes cannot be random and must be based on laws. In the thirteenth century, during the reign of Edward I, an important institution in the development of representative government (one of the basic institutions of modern democratic governments)—the Parliament— also emerged. It was composed of two knights from every county, two people from every town, and all the nobles and bishops throughout England. Eventually, nobles and church lords formed the House of Lords; knights and townspeople, the House of Commons. The Parliaments of Edward I granted taxes, discussed politics, and passed laws.

Religion in the High Middle Ages

Medieval Christians also believed that a pilgrimage to a holy shrine produced a spiritual benefit. The greatest shrine, but the most difficult to reach, was the Holy City of Jerusalem. On the continent, two pilgrim centers were especially popular in the High Middle Ages: Rome, which contained the relics of Peter and Paul, and the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, supposedly the site of the tomb of the apostle Jam

The Revival of Trade

Medieval Europe was an agricultural society in which most people lived in small villages. In the 1000s and 1100s, however, Europe experienced a revival of trade and an associated growth of towns and cities. The revival of trade in Europe was gradual. Italian cities, such as Venice, developed a mercantile fleet (a fleet of trading ships) and became major trading centers in the Mediterranean. The towns in Flanders, an area along the coast of present-day Belgium and northern France, were ideally located for northern European traders. Merchants from surrounding areas came to Flanders for woolen cloth. In the thirteenth century, a medieval trade association, the Hanseatic League, developed in the Baltic and North Sea region. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of more than 100 northern European cities that banded together for mutual trade protection and economic opportunity. By the 1100s, a regular trade had developed between Flanders and Italy. To encourage trade, the counts of Champagne, in northern France, initiated a series of annual trade fairs. Northern European merchants brought furs, woolen cloth, tin, hemp, and honey to trade for cloth and swords from northern Italy and the silks, sugar, and spices of the East. As trade increased, so did the demand for gold and silver coins. Slowly, a money economy—an economic system based on money rather than barter— emerged. New trading companies and banking firms were set up to manage the exchange and sale of goods. These new practices were part of the rise of commercial capitalism, an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods for profit.

Creation of an Arab Empire

Muhammad had been accepted as the political and religious leader of the Islamic community. The death of Muhammad left his followers with a problem: Muhammad had never named a successor. Although he had several daughters, he had left no son. In a male-oriented society, who would lead the community of the faithful? Muhammad's death led to the development of the Islamic caliphate. Shortly after Muhammad's death, some of his closest followers chose Abū Bakr (uh • BOO BA • kuhr), a wealthy merchant and Muhammad's father-in-law, to be their leader. Abū Bakr had been Muhammad's companion on the journey to Madinah in a.d. 622. There Abū Bakr had functioned as Muhammad's chief adviser and also led the public prayers during Muhammad's final illness. In a.d. 632 Abū Bakr was named caliph (KAY • luhf ), the religious and political successor to Muhammad. Under Abū Bakr's leadership, the Islamic movement and the caliphate grew. He suppressed tribal political and religious uprisings, thereby uniting the Muslim world. Muhammad had overcome military efforts by the early Makkans to defeat his movement. Muhammad's successors expanded their territory and the reach of Islam through conquest. One important duty in the Quran is for Muslims to wage jihad(jih • HAHD)--which literally means "striving in the way of God." It refers to a Muslim's duty to work for the triumph of Islam in the world, and within themselves (by avoiding sin and acting righteously). Muslim understanding of the term has changed over time, but for much of Islam's early history jihad meant armed struggle against non-believers. It was also used to justify war within Islam when Muslims disagreed with one another. The term is controversial today because many Muslim terrorists use it to justify their actions. Many argue jihad requires Muslims to be perpetually at war with non-Muslims until Islam conquers the world, but other scholarly traditions within Islam disagree. They view jihad as a set of principles to help decide when war is necessary to protect or advance the faith. The duty of jihad played a role in the decisions of early Muslim leaders to attack neighboring kingdoms and build the Arab empire. Unified under Abū Bakr, the Arabs began to turn the energy they had once directed toward each other against neighboring peoples. At Yarmūk in a.d. 636, the Arab army defeated the Byzantine army and four years later, they took control of the Byzantine province of Syria in Southwest Asia. By a.d. 642, Egypt and other areas of northern Africa had been added to the new Arab Empire. To the east, the Arabs had conquered the entire Persian Empire by a.d. 650. The Arabs, led by a series of brilliant generals, had put together a large, dedicated army that traveled long distances and crossed mountains and harsh terrain. The courage of the Arab soldiers was enhanced by the belief that Muslim warriors were assured a place in paradise if they died in battle. Early caliphs ruled their far-flung empire from Madinah. After Abū Bakr died, problems arose over who should become the next caliph. There were no clear successors to Abū Bakr, and the first two caliphs to rule after his death were assassinated. In a.d. 656 Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law and one of the first converts to Islam, was chosen to be caliph, but he was also assassinated after ruling for five years. In the conquered territories of Asia and North Africa there were peaceful interactions among Muslim, Christian, and Jewish societies. Muslim administrators sometimes allowed local officials to continue to govern. Both Christian and Jewish communities were given some autonomy. They could practice their religions, run their own schools, impose taxes on their communities, and enforce their own laws relating to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Following the concept of dhimmitude, however, they were also subjected to regulations in order to make them aware that they had been subdued by their conquerors. Those who chose not to convert were required to be loyal to Muslim rule and to pay special taxes. Other regulations that were sometimes imposed included a ban on riding horses, carrying weapons, building or repairing places of worship, and engaging in religious practices in public. Sometimes Christians and Jews were also required to wear special clothes or badges to indicate their second class status within Muslim society.

Cistercians

One of the most important new orders of the Middle Ages was the Cistercian (sis • TUHR • shuhn) order. It was founded in 1098 by a group of monks who were unhappy with the lack of discipline at their own Benedictine monastery. Cistercian monasticism spread rapidly from southern France into the rest of Europe. The Cistercians were strict. They ate a simple diet, and each had only a single robe. All decorations were eliminated from their churches and monastic buildings. More time for prayer and manual labor was gained by spending fewer hours at religious services. The Cistercians played a major role in developing a new, activistic spiritual model for twelfth-century Europe. Benedictine monks spent hours inside the monastery in personal prayer, but the Cistercians took their religion to the people outside the monastery. More than any other person, Bernard of Clairvaux embodied the new spiritual ideal of Cistercian monasticism: "Arise, soldier of Christ, I say arise! Shake off the dust and return to the battle. You will fight more valiantly after your flight, and you will conquer more gloriously."

The Church Supreme

Pope Gregory VII also tried to improve the Church's ability to provide spiritual guidance to the faithful. Twelfth-century popes did not give up the reform ideals of Pope Gregory VII, but they were even more inclined to strengthen papal power and build a strong administrative system. During the papacy of Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century, the Catholic Church reached the height of its political power. Pope Innocent III had a strong belief in papal supremacy. To achieve his political ends, Innocent used the spiritual weapons at his command. His favorite was the interdict. An interdict forbids priests from giving the sacraments (Christian rites) of the Church to a particular group of people. The goal was to cause the people under interdiction, who were deprived of the comforts of religion, to exert pressure against their ruler. For example, with an interdict, Pope Innocent III forced the king of France, Philip Augustus, to take back his wife after Philip had tried to have his marriage annulled.

The Abbasid Dynasty and the Seljuk Turks

Resentment against Umayyad rule grew among non-Arab Muslims over the favoritism shown to Arabs. The Umayyads also helped bring about their demise by corrupt behavior. Abū al-'Abbās, a descendant of Muhammad's uncle, overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in a.d. 750. Abū al-'Abbās established a new caliphate ruled by the Abbasid (uh • BA • suhd) dynasty, which lasted until a.d. 1258. Abbasid Rule In a.d. 762 the Abbasids built a new capital city at Baghdad, on the Tigris River, far to the east of the Umayyad capital at Damascus. Baghdad's location took advantage of river traffic in the Persian Gulf and the caravan route from the Mediterranean to central Asia. The move eastward increased Persian influence and encouraged a new cultural outlook. Under the Umayyads, warriors had been seen as the ideal citizens. Under the Abbasids, judges, merchants, and government officials were the new heroes. The Abbasid rulers tried to break down the distinctions between Arab and non-Arab Muslims. This change opened Islamic culture to the influence of the civilizations they had conquered. All Muslims, regardless of ethnic background, could now hold both civil and military offices. Many Arabs began to intermarry with conquered peoples, impacting the social structure and creating a cosmopolitan culture in southwest Asia and Egypt. The best known of the caliphs of the time was Hārūn al-Rashı-d (ha • ROON ahl•rah • SHEED), whose reign is often described as the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate. Hārūn al-Rashı-d was known for his charity, and he also lavished support on artists and writers. This was a period of growing prosperity in the Muslim world. The Arabs had conquered many of the richest provinces of the Roman Empire, and they now controlled the trade routes to the East. Baghdad became the center of a large trade empire that helped spread products and knowledge from the Islamic world to Asia, Africa, and Europe. For example, from Persia the knowledge of planting sugarcane and building windmills spread west along the trade routes. Under the Abbasids, the caliph began to act more regally. The bureaucracy assisting the caliph grew more complex. A council headed by a prime minister, known as a vizier, advised the caliph. During council meetings, the caliph sat behind a screen listening to the council's discussions and then whispered his orders to the vizier.

The Papal Monarchy

Since the fifth century, the popes of the Catholic Church had claimed supremacy over the affairs of the Church. They had also gained control of territories in central Italy that came to be known as the Papal States. This control kept the popes involved in political matters, often at the expense of their spiritual duties. At the same time, the Church became involved in the feudal system. Chief officials of the Church, such as bishops and abbots, came to hold their offices as grants from nobles. As vassals, they were obliged to carry out feudal services, including military duties. Lords often chose their vassals from other noble families for political reasons. Thus, the bishops and abbots they chose were often worldly figures who cared little about their spiritual duties.

Spain

Spain, too, experienced the growth of a strong national monarchy at the end of the 1400s. During the Middle Ages, Christian rulers in Spain fought to regain their lands from the Muslims. Several independent Christian kingdoms emerged in the course of the long reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Among them were Aragon and Castile. When Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, it was a major step toward unifying Spain. Though Castile and Aragon remained distinct kingdoms, Isabella and Ferdinand worked together to strengthen their royal control in the dual monarchy. Ferdinand and Isabella believed that religious unity was necessary for political unity, pursuing a policy of strict conformity to Catholicism. This policy meant the forced conversion of both Jews and Muslims. In 1492 the monarchy took the drastic step of expelling from Spain all Jews who did not convert. After their final loss in 1492 to the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella, Muslims were given the choice of converting to Christianity or going into exile. Even after the forced conversions and expulsions, converted Jews and Muslims were pursed by the Inquisition, tortured and killed to ensure the orthodoxy of their conversion to Christianity. Over the centuries of the Spanish Inquisition, tens of thousands were burned at the stake. To a very large degree, Ferdinand and Isabella, the "most Catholic" monarchs, had achieved their goal of religious uniformity. To be Spanish was to be Catholic.

The End of the Carolingian Empire

The Carolingian Empire began to fall apart soon after Charlemagne's death in 814. Less than 30 years later, it was divided among his grandsons into three major sections: the west Frankish lands, the eastern Frankish lands, and the Middle Kingdom. Local nobles gained power while the Carolingian rulers fought each other. Invasions in different parts of the old Carolingian world added to the process of disintegration. In the ninth and tenth centuries, Western Europe was beset by a wave of invasions. The most far-reaching attacks of the time came from the Norsemen, or Northmen, of Scandinavia, also called the Vikings. They were a Germanic people, whose great love of adventure and search for spoils of war and new avenues of trade may have led them to invade other areas of Europe. In the ninth century, Vikings sacked villages and towns, destroyed churches, and easily defeated small local armies. The Vikings were warriors, and they were superb shipbuilders and sailors. Long and narrow with beautifully carved, arched prows, the Viking dragon ships each carried about 50 men. The ships' construction enabled them to sail up European rivers and to attack places far inland. By the mid-ninth century, the Vikings had begun to build various European settlements. Beginning in 911, the ruler of the west Frankish lands gave one band of Vikings land at the mouth of the Seine River, forming a region of France that came to be known as Normandy. The Frankish policy of settling the Vikings and converting them to Christianity was a deliberate one. As a result of their conversion to Christianity, the Vikings soon became a part of European civilization.

The Inquisition

The Church created a court called the Inquisition, or Holy Office, to deal with heretics. This court developed a regular procedure to find and try heretics. The Dominicans became especially well known for their roles as examiners of people suspected of heresy. Those who confessed to heresy performed public penance and received punishment, such as flogging. Beginning in 1252, the Inquisition added the element of torture to extract confessions. Those who did not confess but were still considered guilty and those who had done penance for heresy and then relapsed were subject to execution by the state. Thirteenth-century Christians believed the only path to salvation was through the Church. To them, heresy was a crime against God and humanity, so using force to save souls from damnation was the right thing to do.

The Early Crusades

The Crusades started when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus asked for help against the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuk Turks were Muslims who had taken control of Asia Minor. Pope Urban II, who responded to the request, saw an opportunity to provide leadership for a great cause. That cause was rallying Europe's warriors to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land from people whom Christians viewed as infidels, or unbelievers—the Muslims. At the Council of Clermont in southern France near the end of 1095, Urban II asked Christians to take up their weapons and join in a holy war. The pope promised: "All who die . . . shall have immediate remission [forgiveness] of sins." The enthusiastic crowd cried out: "It is the will of God, it is the will of God." Warriors of western Europe, particularly France, formed the first crusading armies. These knights were mostly motivated by religious fervor, but some sought adventure and welcomed the chance to fight. Others saw a chance to gain wealth and a possible title. Italian merchants also sought new trade in Byzantine and Muslim lands. After asking for help, the Byzantines became doubtful. Alexius I and his daughter, Anna Comnena (who was also the Byzantines' only female historian), were fearful that the western crusading armies, which would have to go through Byzantine lands to reach their objective, might prove harmful to the Byzantine Empire. Regardless, the First Crusade began as three organized bands of mostly French warriors made their way to the East. The crusading army, which included thousands of men in cavalry and infantry, captured Antioch in 1098. The crusaders proceeded down the Palestinian coast, avoiding the well-defended coastal cities, and reached Jerusalem in June 1099. The Holy City was taken amid a horrible massacre of its inhabitants. After further conquests, the crusaders organized four Latin crusader states in the East. One of these was the kingdom of Jerusalem under Godfrey de Bouillon, one of the Frankish leaders of the First Crusade. Godfrey, however, rejected the title of king, protesting that it belonged only to God. Surrounded by Muslims, these crusader kingdoms depended on Italian cities for supplies. Some Italian port cities, such as Genoa, Pisa, and especially Venice, grew rich and powerful in the process. It was not easy, however, for the crusader kingdoms to maintain themselves in the East. By the 1140s, the Muslims had begun to strike back. The fall of one of the Latin kingdoms to the Muslims led to calls for another crusade, especially from the monastic leader Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard managed to enlist two powerful rulers, King Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany, in a Second Crusade. This campaign, however, was a total failure. In 1187 Jerusalem fell to Muslim forces under Saladin. Saladin had made himself sultan of Egypt in 1169 and then become leader of the Muslim offensive against the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. After Saladin's success, three European rulers then agreed to lead a Third Crusade: German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, English king Richard I (Richard the Lionhearted), and French king Philip II Augustus. Some members of the Third Crusade arrived in the East by 1189, only to encounter problems. Frederick drowned in a local river. The English and French arrived by sea and captured the coastal cities but were unable to move inland. After Philip returned home, Richard negotiated a settlement with Saladin that permitted Christian pilgrims free access to Jerusalem.

Seljuk Turks

The Fatimid dynasty in Egypt soon became the dynamic center of Islamic civilization. From their position in the heart of the Nile delta, the Fatimids played a major role in trade from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. They created a strong army by hiring nonnative soldiers. One such group was the Seljuk (SEHL • JOOK) Turks. The Seljuk Turks were a nomadic people from central Asia. They had converted to Islam and prospered as soldiers for the Abbasid caliphate. As the Abbasids grew weaker, the Seljuk Turks grew stronger, moving gradually into Iran and Armenia. By the eleventh century, they had taken over the eastern provinces of the Abbasid Empire. In 1055 a Turkish leader captured Baghdad and took command of the empire. His title was sultan—or "holder of power." The Abbasid caliph was still the chief religious authority, but, after they captured Baghdad, the Seljuk Turks held the real military and political power of the state.

The Sui Dynasty

The Han dynasty is considered to have set the standard for the Chinese dynasties that followed. In fact, the Chinese word for someone who is Chinese means "a man of Han."The Han dynasty ended in 220, and China fell into chaos. For the next three hundred years, the Chinese suffered through disorder and civil war. Then, in 581, a new empire was set up under a dynasty known as the Sui (SWAY). The Sui dynasty (581-618) did not last long, but it unified China once again under the authority of the emperor. Sui Yangdi, the second emperor of the dynasty, completed the Grand Canal, built to link the two great rivers of China, the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River). The new canal linked north and south, making it easier to ship rice from the south to the north. Sui Yangdi was a cruel ruler. He used forced labor to build the Grand Canal, which he used to keep an eye on his empire. This practice, together with high taxes, his extravagant and luxurious lifestyle, and military failures, caused a rebellion. The emperor was murdered, and his dynasty came to an end.

France

The Hundred Years' War left France exhausted. However, the war had also developed a strong degree of French national feeling toward a common enemy. The kings used that spirit to reestablish royal power. The development of a strong French state was greatly advanced by King Louis XI, who ruled from 1461 to 1483. Known by many as the Spider because of his devious ways, Louis strengthened the use of the taille—an annual direct tax usually on land or property—as a permanent tax imposed by royal authority. This tax gave Louis a sound, regular source of income. To curb the power of the great French nobles, Louis relied on support from the lower nobility and middle class. He added Anjou, Maine, Provence, and other regions to his kingdom. By consolidating power and by promoting industry and commerce, he created the foundations of a strong monarchy.

The Emergence of Korea

The Korea Peninsula, only slightly larger than the state of Minnesota, is relatively mountainous. Its closeness to both China and Japan has greatly affected its history. Indeed, no society in East Asia was more strongly influenced by the Chinese model than Korea. In 109 b.c., the northern part of the Korea Peninsula came under Chinese control. The Koreans, however, drove them out in the a.d. 200s. Eventually, three separate kingdoms emerged: Koguryo in the north, Paekche (PAK • chuh) in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. Each of the kingdoms was governed by the combination of a hereditary monarch and powerful aristocratic families. From the fourth to the seventh centuries, the three kingdoms were bitter rivals. In this period the beliefs and traditions of Buddhism spread to Korea. It quickly became the state religion of each kingdom. After 527, Silla kings adopted Buddhist names and sponsored the building of many Buddhist temples. As the Silla kingdom became more allied with the Chinese, the monarchy turned to Confucian ideal. Gradually, with the support of the Tang dynasty of China, the kingdom of Silla gained control of the peninsula. After the king of Silla was assassinated, Korea sank into civil war. Finally, in the early tenth century, a new dynasty called Koryo (the root of the modern word Korea) arose in the north. This kingdom adopted Chinese political institutions in order to unify its territory and remained in power for four hundred years. In the thirteenth century, the Mongols seized the northern part of Korea. By accepting Mongol authority, the Koryo dynasty managed to remain in power. Mongol rule led to much suffering for the Korean people, especially the thousands of peasants and artisans who were forced to build ships for Kublai Khan's invasion of Japan. After the collapse of the Mongol dynasty in China, the Koryo dynasty broke down.

The Role of Women (Islam)

The Quran granted women spiritual equality with men. Believers, men and women, were to be friends and protectors of one another. Women had the right to the fruits of their work and to own and inherit property, although the Quran did state that if an inheritance was shared, men were to inherit twice that of women. Islamic teachings accounted for differences between men and women in the family and social order. Both had duties and responsibilities. As in most societies of the time, men were dominant in Muslim society. Every woman had a male guardian, be it father, brother, or other male relative. Parents or guardians arranged marriages for their children. The Quran allowed Muslim men to have more than one wife, but no more than four. Most men, however, were unable to afford more than one, because they were required to pay a dowry (a gift of money or property) to their brides. Women enjoyed certain privileges, like the right to freely enter into marriage, and the right of divorce under some circumstances. Adultery was forbidden to both men and women. After the spread of Islam, older, pre-Islamic customs slowly eroded the rights enjoyed by early Muslim women. For example, some women were secluded and kept from social contacts with males outside their families. The custom of requiring women to cover virtually all parts of their bodies when appearing in public was common in the cities and is still practiced today in many Islamic societies. It should be noted, however, that these customs owed more to traditional Arab practice than to the Quran. Despite the restrictions, the position of women in Islamic society was better than it had been in former times, when women had often been treated like slaves.

Central and Eastern Europe

The Slavic peoples were originally a single people in central Europe. Gradually, they divided into three major groups: the western, southern, and eastern Slavs. Slavic Europe The western Slavs eventually formed the Polish and Bohemian kingdoms. German monks had converted both the Czechs in Bohemia and the Slavs in Poland to Christianity by the tenth century. The non-Slavic kingdom of Hungary was also converted. The Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians (Magyars) all accepted Western Christianity and became part of the Roman Catholic Church and its Latin culture. The eastern Slavic peoples of Moravia were converted to Orthodox Christianity by two Byzantine missionary brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who began their activities in 863. The Slavic peoples had no written language. Cyril developed the Cyrillic alphabet so that he could create a Christian Bible and liturgy in the Slavic language. The southern Slavic peoples included the Croats, the Serbs, and the Bulgarians. Most of them embraced Eastern Orthodoxy, although the Croats came to accept the Roman Catholic Church. The acceptance of Eastern Orthodoxy by many southern and eastern Slavic peoples meant that their cultural life was linked to the Byzantine state.

Vietnam

The Vietnamese were one of the first peoples in Southeast Asia to develop their own state and their own culture. After the Chinese finally conquered Vietnam in 111 b.c. , they tried for centuries to make Vietnam part of China. However, Chinese officials were often frustrated by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese clung to their own identity. In the tenth century, they finally overthrew Chinese rule. Chinese influence remained, however. Vietnamese rulers realized the advantages of taking over the Chinese model of centralized government. The new Vietnamese state, which called itself Dai Viet, adopted state Confucianism. Following the Chinese model, the rulers called themselves emperors and adopted Chinese court rituals. They also introduced the civil service examination as a means of recruiting government officials on the basis of merit instead of heredity. The state of Dai Viet became a dynamic force on the Southeast Asian mainland. As its population grew, it expanded southward. Several centuries of bitter warfare with its southern neighbor, Champa, ended in Vietnamese victory by 1500.

The Development of Feudalism

The Vikings posed a threat to the safety of people in Europe. As organized governments such as the Carolingian Empire were torn apart, people began to turn to local landed aristocrats, or nobles, to protect them. To survive, it became important to find a powerful lord who could offer protection in return for service. This led to the formation of a new political and social order in medieval Europe known as feudalism. One of the major characteristics of feudalism was the idea of vassalage.

Architecture

The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed a dramatic building of churches in Europe. These cathedrals were built in the Romanesque style, which was a deliberate return to the architectural principles of Rome. Romanesque churches normally followed the basilica shape of churches built in the late Roman Empire. Romanesque builders replaced the basilica's flat wooden roof with a long, round, arched vault made of stone (called a barrel vault) or with a cross vault, in which two barrel vaults intersected. The builder used the cross vault to create a church plan in the shape of a cross. Because stone roofs were extremely heavy, these churches required massive pillars and walls to hold them up. This left little space for windows, so Romanesque churches were dark inside. A significant example of architectural style that demonstrates the artistic ideal of the High Middle Ages was a new style, called Gothic, which appeared in the twelfth century and was brought to perfection in the thirteenth. The Gothic cathedral remains one of the greatest artistic triumphs of the High Middle Ages. Two basic innovations made Gothic cathedrals possible. One innovation was the replacement of the round barrel vault with a combination of ribbed vaults and pointed arches. Builders could now make Gothic churches higher, giving a sense of upward movement, as if the building is reaching to God. Another technical innovation was the flying buttress—a heavy, arched support of stone built onto the outside of the walls. Flying buttresses made it possible to distribute the weight of the church's vaulted ceilings outward and down. This eliminated the heavy walls needed in Romanesque churches to hold the weight of the massive barrel vaults. Gothic cathedrals were built, then, with relatively thin walls filled with stained glass windows. A | A | A Vocabulary | Reading Strategies LESSON 3 Culture of the Middle Ages ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS How did the Church influence political and cultural changes in medieval Europe? How did both innovations and disruptive forces affect people during the Middle Ages? These windows depict religious scenes and scenes from daily life. The colored glass windows create a play of light inside the cathedral that varies with the sun at different times of the day. The Gothic cathedral, with its towers soaring toward heaven, bears witness to an age when most people believed in a spiritual world.

The Mongols

The formation of the Mongol Empire was a turning point in world history. Due largely to their military prowess, the Mongols rose to power in Asia with stunning speed. The Mongols were a pastoral people from the region of modern-day Mongolia who were organized loosely into clans. Temüjin (TEHM • yuh • juhn), born during the 1160s, gradually unified the Mongols. In 1206, he was elected Genghis Khan—strong ruler—at a massive meeting somewhere in the Gobi. From that time on, he devoted himself to conquest. The army that Genghis Khan unleashed on the world was not unusually large; it totaled fewer than 130,000 in 1227. It was the Mongols' military tactics, which were devastatingly effective, that allowed them to invade and conquer so many foreign lands. Mongol armies were almost entirely made up of archers mounted on horseback. Their ability to move quickly around a battlefield set them apart from their enemies. The impact of the Mongolian invasions was felt across most of Asia and much of Europe where their conquests resulted in the largest land empire in history. To rule the new Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan set up a capital city at Karakorum. Mongol armies traveled both to the west and to the east. Some went as far as central Europe. After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the empire began to change. Following Mongol custom, upon the death of the ruling khan, his heirs divided the territory. The once-united empire of Genghis Khan was split into several separate territories called khanates, each under the rule of one of his sons. It may be that only the death of Genghis Khan kept the Mongols from attacking western Europe.In 1231 the Mongols attacked Persia and defeated the Abbasids at Baghdad in 1258. The weakness of the Abbasid Caliphate allowed the Mongols to conquer much of Southwest Asia. With Baghdad conquered, the caliphate lost any real authority and the center of Islamic power shifted to the Mamluk dynasty based in Cairo, Egypt. The caliph would exist only as a figurehead until the early 1500s. Mongol invasions also paved the way for the future Islamic Ottoman, Safavid, and Mogul dynasties. Mongol forces attached the Song dynasty in the 1260s. In their attack on the Chinese, the Mongols encountered the use of gunpowder and the fire-lance. These inventions came too late to save China from the Mongols, however. By the early fourteenth century, foreigners employed by the Mongol rulers of China had introduced the use of gunpowder and firearms into Europe. These technologies had a major impact on Europe. In 1279 one of Genghis Khan's grandsons, named Kublai Khan (koo • bluh KAHN), completed the conquest of the Song and set up a new Chinese dynasty, the Yuan (YWAHN). The effects of the Mongol invasion of China were seen far and wide. Kublai Khan, who ruled China until his death in 1294, established his capital at Khanbalik—the city of the Khan—later known by the Chinese name Beijing. Under the leadership of the talented Kublai Khan, the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty continued to expand the empire. Mongol armies advanced into Vietnam, and Mongol fleets were launched against Java and Sumatra and twice against the islands of Japan. Only parts of Vietnam were conquered, however, and then only for a while. The other campaigns failed. On one occasion, a massive storm destroyed the Mongol fleet that attacked Japan, killing thousands. The Mongols had more success in ruling China. Mongol rulers adapted to the Chinese political system and made use of Chinese bureaucrats. Culturally, the Mongols were quite different from the Chinese and became a separate class with their own laws. The Mongol invasions of China resulted in profound changes. The Mongols overthrew the Song dynasty, leaving China ruled by a foreign power for the first time. While Mongols adapted to the Chinese political system, they ended civil service exams. Mongols and Chinese lived by different laws. The Mongols welcomed merchants into court, and trade flourished. Over time, the Mongol dynasty won the support of many Chinese people. Some came to respect the stability and prosperity that the Mongols brought. By bringing the entire Eurasian landmass under a single rule, the Mongols increased trade, especially along the Silk Road. This new trade had a major impact on Europe. The capital at Khanbalik was a magnificent city, and foreign visitors, such as Marco Polo, were impressed by its splendor. An effect of these foreign visits was to generate new interest in trade between Europe and China. This interest eventually contributed to the discovery of the Americas. The Mongol dynasty eventually fell victim to the same problems that had plagued other dynasties: too much spending on foreign conquests, corruption at court, and growing internal instability. In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang (JOO YWAHN • JAHNG), the son of a peasant, put together an army, ended the Mongol dynasty, and set up the Ming dynasty.

Poetry

The period between the Tang and Ming dynasties was in many ways the great age of Chinese literature. The invention of printing during the Tang dynasty helped to make literature more readily available and more popular among the educated elite. Art, especially landscape painting and ceramics, flourished during this period. Poetry Historians view this period as the great age of poetry in China, and this literature reflected the history of Chinese culture. At least 48,000 poems were written by some 2,200 authors. Poetry was expected to represent Confucian ideals, to encourage high moral ideals and served as a means of self-expression. Chinese poems celebrated the beauty of nature, the changes of the seasons, and the joys of friendship. Li Bo (LEE BWAW) and Du Fu (DOO FOO) were two of the most popular poets during the Tang era. Li Bo was a free spirit whose writing often centered on nature. He wrote probably the best-known poem in China, "Quiet Night Thoughts," which has been memorized by schoolchildren for centuries.

Henry II and the Church

The power of the English monarchy was enlarged during the reign of Henry II, from 1154 to 1189. Henry increased the number of criminal cases tried in the king's court and also devised means for taking property cases from local courts and moving them to the royal courts. By expanding the power of the royal courts, Henry expanded the king's overall power. In addition, because the royal courts were now found throughout England, a body of common law—law that was common to the whole kingdom—was created and began to replace law codes that varied from place to place. Henry was less successful at imposing royal control over the Church. He claimed the right to punish clergymen in royal courts. Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury and the highest-ranking English cleric, claimed that only Roman Catholic Church courts could try clerics. An angry king publicly expressed the desire to be rid of Becket: "Who will free me from this turbulent priest?" Four knights took the challenge, went to Canterbury, and murdered the archbishop in the cathedral. Faced with public outrage, Henry backed down in his struggle with the Church.

Collapse of Central Rule

The power of the local aristocrats grew during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Heads of noble families, now called daimyo (DY • mee • oh), or "great names," controlled vast landed estates that owed no taxes to the government. As family rivalries continued, the daimyo relied on the samurai for protection, and political power came into the hands of a loose coalition of noble families. By 1500, Japan was close to chaos. A disastrous civil war known as the Onin War (1467-1477) led to the virtual destruction of the capital city of Kyōto. Central authority disappeared. Powerful aristocrats in rural areas seized control over large territories, which they ruled as independent lords. Their rivalries caused almost constant warfare.

The Growth of Cities

The revival of trade led to a revival of cities. Towns had greatly declined in the Early Middle Ages, especially in Europe north of the Alps. Old Roman cities had continued to exist, but they had dwindled in size and population. With the revival of trade, merchants began to settle in the old Roman cities. They were followed by craftspeople or artisans—people who had developed skills and saw a chance to make goods that the merchants could sell. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the old Roman cities came alive with new populations and growth. Many new cities or towns were also founded, especially in northern Europe. Usually a group of merchants built a settlement near a castle because it was located along a trade route or river and because the lords of the castle would offer protection. If the settlement prospered and expanded, new walls were built to protect it. The merchants and artisans of these new cities later came to be called burghers, or bourgeoisie, from the German word burg, meaning "a walled enclosure." Medieval cities were small in comparison with either ancient cities or modern cities. A large medieval trading city would have about 5,000 inhabitants. Most towns were often part of a lord's territory and were therefore subject to his authority. However, townspeople needed freedom to trade. They wanted their own unique laws and were willing to pay for them. Lords and kings, in turn, saw that they could also make money and sold to the townspeople the liberties they wanted. By 1100, townspeople had numerous rights from local lords. These included the right to buy and sell property, freedom from military service to the lord, a written law that guaranteed townspeople their freedom, and the right for an escaped serf to become a free person after living a year and a day in the town. Over time, medieval cities developed their own governments for running the affairs of the community. Only males who had been born in the city or who had lived there for some time were citizens. In many cities, these citizens elected the city council members, who served as judges and city officials and who passed laws. Elections were rigged so that only patricians—members of the wealthiest and most powerful families—were elected to public office. Medieval cities were surrounded by stone walls. Walls were expensive to build, so the cities were tightly filled. They had narrow, winding streets, and houses were crowded against one another, with the second and third stories built out over the streets. The physical environment of medieval cities was not pleasant. Often dirty, cities smelled from animal and human waste. Air pollution was also a fact of life. Smoke from wood fires or from the burning of cheap grades of coal filled the air. Considerably more men than women lived in medieval cities. Women were expected to supervise the household, prepare meals, raise the children, and manage the family's finances. Often, they helped their husbands in their trades, and some women developed their own trades to earn extra money. Sometimes, when a master craftsman died, his widow carried on his trade. It was thus possible for women in medieval towns to lead quite independent lives. With the revival of trade, cities and towns became important centers for manufacturing a wide range of goods such as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather goods. Many craft activities were carried on in houses located in the narrow streets of medieval cities. From the 1000s on, craftspeople began to organize themselves into guilds, or business associations. Guilds played a leading role in the economic life of cities. By the 1200s, there were guilds for almost every craft, such as tanners and bakers, and separate guilds for specialized groups of merchants, such as dealers in silk, spices, or wool. Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production process. They set the standards for the quality of the articles produced and even fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold. Guilds also determined the number of people who could enter a specific trade. Making Generalizations What role did guilds play in the e

Life in Southeast Asia

The states of Southeast Asia can be divided into two groups: agricultural societies, whose economies were largely based on farming, and trading societies, which depended primarily on trade for income. States such as Vietnam, Angkor, and Pagan drew most of their wealth from the land. Others, such as the sultanate of Melaka, supported themselves chiefly through trade. Trade through Southeast Asia expanded after the emergence of states in the area and reached even greater heights after the Muslim conquest of northern India. The rise in demand for spices also added to the growing volume of trade. As the wealth of Europe and Southeast Asia increased, demand grew for the products of East Asia. At the top of the social ladder in most Southeast Asian societies were the hereditary aristocrats. They held both political power and economic wealth. Most aristocrats lived in the major cities. Angkor Thom, for example, had royal palaces and parks, a huge parade ground, and many temples. Beyond the major cities lived the rest of the population, which consisted of farmers, fishers, artisans, and merchants. In most Southeast Asian societies, the majority of people were probably rice farmers who lived at a subsistence level and paid heavy rents or taxes to a landlord or local ruler. Most of the societies in Southeast Asia gave greater rights to women than did their counterparts in China and India. Women worked side by side with men in the fields and often played an active role in trading activities. Chinese culture made an impact on Vietnam. In many other areas of Southeast Asia, Indian cultural influence prevailed. The most visible example of this influence was in architecture, and the most famous and beautiful temple is Angkor Wat. Its architectural techniques demonstrate the ideals and principles of its culture. The temple is a blend of local and Indian culture, and the architecture reflects the history of the region's combined culture. The construction of Angkor Wat, which took 40 years to complete, required a huge quantity of stone—as much as it took to build Egypt's Great Pyramid. Monks, merchants, and cultural influence from India spread Hinduism and Buddhist ideas into Southeast Asia in the first millennium A.D. In all Southeast Asian societies, as in China and Japan, old beliefs were blended with those of the new faiths. Buddhism also spread to Southeast Asia. Monks spread Theravada Buddhism in Burma in the eleventh century. From Burma, Theravada spread rapidly to other areas of Southeast Asia.

The Black Death

Toward the end of the thirteenth century, noticeable changes in weather patterns were occurring as Europe entered a period that has been called a "little ice age." A drop in overall temperatures led to shorter growing seasons and bad weather conditions. Between 1315 and 1317, heavy rains in northern Europe destroyed harvests and caused food shortages, resulting in extreme hunger and starvation. The Great Famine expanded to other parts of Europe as well. Famine might have led to chronic malnutrition and in turn to higher susceptibility to disease because malnourished people are less able to resist infection. This might help explain the high mortality of the great plague known as the Black Death, the most devastating natural disaster in European history. Bubonic plague was the most common form of the Black Death. It was spread by black rats infested with fleas carrying a deadly bacterium. Italian merchants brought the plague with them from Kaffa, on the Black Sea, to the island of Sicily in October 1347. The plague had spread to southern Italy and southern France by the end of 1347. Usually, the path of the Black Death followed trade routes. In 1348 and 1349, the plague spread through France, the Low Countries (modern Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands), and Germany. It ravaged England in 1349 and expanded to northern Europe and Scandinavia. Eastern Europe and Russia were affected by 1351. Out of a total European population of 75 million, possibly more than one-third of the population died of the plague between 1347 and 1351. Especially hard hit were Italy's crowded cities, where 50 to 60 percent of the people died. In England and Germany, entire villages disappeared. People did not know what caused the plague. Many believed that God sent it as punishment for their sins or that the devil caused it. Extreme reactions led to anti-Semitism, or hostility toward Jews, who were sometimes falsely accused of causing the plague by poisoning town wells. The death of so many people had economic consequences. Trade declined, and a shortage of workers caused a dramatic rise in the price of labor. At the same time, the decline in the number of people lowered the demand for food, resulting in falling prices. Landlords were now paying more for labor while their incomes from rents were declining. Some peasants bargained with their lords to pay rent instead of owing services. This change freed them from serfdom, an institution that had been declining throughout the High Middle Ages, ultimately contributing to the end of medieval Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

Unlike France, England, and Spain, the Holy Roman Empire did not develop a strong monarchical authority. Germany was a land of hundreds of states, most of which acted independently of the German ruler. After 1438, the position of Holy Roman emperor was held by the Hapsburg dynasty, who ruled the Austrian lands along the Danube. In Eastern Europe, rulers found it difficult to centralize their states. Religious differences troubled the area as Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and other groups, including Mongols and Muslims, confronted one another. Since the 1200s, Russia had been under Mongol domination. But by 1480, Ivan III had thrown off the yoke of the Mongols. The next ruler of Muscovy, Ivan IV, was recognized as the legitimate ruler and czar of Russia by the Orthodox Church.

Buddhism and Daoism

onfucian principles became the basis for Chinese government during the Han dynasty. By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Buddhism and Daoism rivaled the influence of Confucianism. Buddhism and Daoism Buddhism was brought to China in the first century by merchants and missionaries from India. At first, only merchants and intellectuals were intrigued by the new ideas. However, as a result of the insecurity that prevailed after the collapse of the Han dynasty, both Buddhism and Daoism became more attractive to many people. Both beliefs gained support among the ruling classes. Daoism was a rival system of ideas to Confucianism. The growing popularity of Buddhism continued into the early Tang dynasty. Early Tang rulers lent their support to Buddhist monasteries that were set up throughout the country. Buddhists even became advisers at the imperial court. Ultimately, though, Buddhism lost favor at court. Buddhism was criticized for being a foreign religion. Like Christian monasteries in Europe during the Middle Ages, Buddhist monasteries had acquired thousands of acres of land and serfs. With land came corruption. The government reacted strongly. During the later Tang period, it destroyed countless Buddhist temples and monasteries and forced more than 260,000 monks and nuns to return to secular life. Buddhists taught that the material world was not real, but an illusion. By teaching this, Buddhism was denying the very essence of Confucian teachings—the need for devotion to family and hard work. These were virtues that the Chinese state had reason to support.