W, Jan 12

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 Important Dates:

4:47 PM 

Today's Topics: Important People:

 What are the crusades? 

Lecture Topic:
During the lecture, take notes here.
-fundamentally, the Crusades are religiously motivated attempts to re-conquer the Holy Land from
the Muslims in order to propagate salvation through the power of the papacy
-there are other motivations-- economic resources, extension of papal authority, allowing young
bachelors an opportunity to make their fortune, etc.

-societies throughout the Crusades are fractured, and increases in the 1000 years up to the First
Crusade
-France in 1030, for example, is fractured into nearly 100 territorial units, each engaged in multiple
political organizations with each other
-some groupings of 50 square miles have nearly 30 castles and lords--going to war is easy, and the
society is designed for it

-medieval society is divided into three groups; the classic writer of this is Ansem of Long
-the people who work (90%)
-the knights who control the politics and war
-the clergy

-feudal relationships:
-Lord --> Military positions --> Legal Defense --> Sustenance provided by the fief --> Vassal
-Vassal --> Military Aid --> Council --> Economic Aid --> Lord

-lords can be anyone with property, and vassals can be anyone at all
-these feudal relationships are not of pure hierarchy

-this relationship develops from the fall of the Roman Empire and emerges through the
Middle Ages
-it has two moments of acceleration
-under Charlemagne, c.800, who organized his territories into counties and placed
an individual of his choice in charge of the territory
-c.900-1100, development caused by the invasion of the Vikings and Hungarians and
Muslims (from the south)
-the resulting reorganization of lords towards the appearance of the medieval world was
because the old German territories could not fight the invaders without a new form of
soldier
-the mobility of the Vikings necessitated a mounted soldier
-this solider also required heavy iron armor
-this soldier also required much time to train and eventually become a professional
soldier
-this soldier also required technology that needed much money and training
-the foremost piece of technology for this was the high -back saddle
-secondly was the development of the stirrup, allowing the soldier to gain
leverage while still sitting on the horse
-thirdly was the development of the iron horseshoe

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 -thirdly was the development of the iron horseshoe
-fourthly, the breeding of a particular kind of war horse that was more
powerful, taller, and trained to attack in combat

-as society collapsed during the Viking invasions, a new political society develops known as the
feudal relationship in order to fund this development of new soldiers
-as far as Crusade motivations:
-vassals who wish to go on Crusades must obtain permission from their lords / the church
-lords who wish to go on Crusades can / will take all their vassals with them

-one of the problems of feudal society is that there are very few strongly fixed borders
-how does one protect their territorial rights?
-each individual piece is controlled by individual lords
-but the opportunity for multiple allegiances and vassalages is available
-how do the Crusades attempt to resolve this problem?

-homage
-a vassal must publicly swear an oath to fulfill his legal duties to the lord
-it requires (increasingly over the 11th C.) also a written legal document spelling out the
responsibilities of the vassal
-it is the ritual-ization of becoming a vassal
-there is a protection against forgery through the creation of seals and the adoption of
public notaries

-castles develop
Motte and Bailey Castle
-protects the lord from outside invasion
-defines the land area he owns
-the lord keeps control of local populations
-the castle is offensive, in that they are used as staging grounds
-stone keep
-lords develop more powerful and more expensive castles
-there is a miniature economic boon, so castle design becomes more and more
elaborate
-warfare is changing through the amount of violence and development of siege
technology

-relationship of lords to clergy

-collection of taxes
-development and construction of monasteries
-providing donations on feast days for the benefit of the public
-expected to be principal financial backers of the church
-many lords tried to have their family members appointed to the local churches in
order to control the property indirectly
-not merely political:
-the church was neither allowed to carry weapons nor defend itself nor carry
out corporal punishment and so needed the lords
-the lords were in essence paying the church for their own salvation
-this motivation led lords to go on Crusades, because the lords who
know that their lives are religiously forfeit, now have the opportunity to
create their own salvation through their own deeds

-the first Crusaders were never knights, but merely peasants who believed they will achieve
salvation, an idea so inunndated within society even 15000 children do the same in the 13th C.
-the life of the peasant was tied to land production
-the development of the horse drawn plow with a metal cutter instead of a traditional
stick / scratch plow

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 stick / scratch plow
-increase of 30% in agricultural productivity --> 40% population increase from
c.900-1100
-change of diet to include more healthy foods
-increase of feudal taxes
-development of excess production for use in trade, leading to the development of
markets and small-market communities
-will create eventually more and more towns and commerce
-local lords, with this extra money, will be able to travel
-this town development would be centered on the creation of the nuclear
village, in which the church would occupy the center point
-the peasants would combine the basic story of Christianity with folklore, but could not
contribute financially to the church for their own salvation
-in a medieval society, in order to be in a proper relationship with God, one must not
work and instead pray "ceaselessly"
-or… create a class of professional prayers to pray for everyone else (or everyone
else who pays)
-the people would trust the Latin-speakers until the introduction of the vernacular
Bible

We got out 20 minutes early!

Summary
After the lecture, summarize the main points of this lecture topic.
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