1. The High Middle Ages
Europe is coming out of the Dark:
An Era of Turning Points

2. Turning Points of the High Middle
Ages
• The Crusades
• King John I signs the Magna Carta
• The Hundred Years’ War
• The Babylonian Captivity
• The Bubonic Plague

3. The Crusades
• Holy wars between Christians from
Western Europe and Muslims from the
Middle East
• Cause: Muslims were moving in the
Byzantine Empire, so the Patriarch reached
out to the Pope for help

4. • During: Many people left Europe to travel
to the Holy Land to fight because they
hoped to
– Gain wealth and power
– Be forgiven for their sins
– Escape from the bonds of serfdom
– Have an adventure
– Go to Heaven if they died in battle
• There were many Crusades, in the end the
Christians did NOT win lasting control
over the Holy Land

5. • Effects
– Western European isolation ends
– Trade with the East begins again
– Peasants who went to fight do not want to
become serfs again  feudalism ends
– Trade  end of self sufficiency
– Trade  the Commercial Revolution
– Trade  the Black Death

6. Crusades
• What were the major causes of the Crusades?
• Who were some important people? What did
they do?
• How did the Crusades impact the relationship
between Christians and Muslims?
• List at least three results of the Crusades
– 1
– 2
– 3

7. King John Signs the Magna Carta
• Background:
– John I was king of England in the early 1200s
– The Pope wanted to make one of his friends the
Arch Bishop of Canterbury
– John I refused and put one of his friends in the
position
– The Pope excommunicated John I and placed
England under interdict

8. • Causes:
– Nobles from England appealed to the Pope to
remove his punishment
– The Pope agreed as long as the nobles
promised to keep John I under control
– The nobles formed a parliament and wrote the
Magna Carta
– John I signed the Magna Carta in 1215

9. • Magna Carta main ideas
– The king is not above the laws
– Only Parliament can raise taxes
– All people have the right of Habeas Corpus
– All people have freedom of travel and trade
– The king cannot sieve anyone’s property
– The Church is not controlled by the king (this idea
doesn’t last long!)
– Eventually this will lead to a limited monarchy in
England
– This is the 1st step towards a written constitution in
Europe!

10. Magna Carta
• What was England like under John I?
• What was the purpose of the Magna Carta?
• What limitations were placed on English
kings by the Magna Carta?
• What were the effects of the Magna Carta?

11. The Hundred Years War
• A war between England and France over
control of territory in northern France
(1337-1453)
• Causes:
– England gained some land in France when
Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in the
1100s
– France wanted to reclaim that territory

12. • During
– Many battles with wins and losses on both sides
– Joan of Arc
– New technology like longbows, crossbows, and
cannons!
– Eventually France wins and England is forced
out of France
– These two countries won’t really forgive and
forget until the 20th century!

13. • Effects
– Kings of France and England both gain more
power
– Many nobles (vassals) die  even more power
for kings!
– Church courts called “Inquisitions” gain more
power
– Civil war in England will follow (The War of the
Roses) putting the Tudor family in control

14. Hundred Years’ War
• Why did the Hundred Years War begin?
• What new technology emerged during the
Hundred Years’ War?
• What were some of the long term effects of
the hundred years war on
– England?
– France?
– Both?

15. The Babylonian Captivity & Great
Schism
• Background and causes
– After the fall of Rome, the Catholic Church
was the only institution left in Western Europe
– The Pope became the most powerful and
influential person
– The Hundred Years’ War increased the power
of the kings of England and France
– Philip IV of France attempted to gain control of
the Church by forcing the Pope to move to
Avignon

16. • During
– For 76 years, nine different popes lived in
Avignon France
– France gained huge influence over the Church
– Christians became increasingly worried about
the growing worldliness of the Church

17. • Effects: It’s a huge mess!
– In 1376, Pope Gregory IX was returning to Rome
when he died
– Cardinals in France and in Rome each chose a new
Pope. Two Popes? This is called the Great
Schism OMG!
– It took a long time to get sorted out, and by the time
it did, many people had lost faith in the Church or
thought it was too worldly and corrupt
– Eventually the Protestant Reformation will begin as
people protest the Church and demand reforms

18. The Bubonic Plague
• Background and Causes
– Black Death is also known as the Bubonic
Plague
– Spread by fleas on rats
– Spread along trade routes like the Silk Roads
– The Mongols inadvertently spread the plague
by increasing trade!
– The Mongols purposely spread the plague by
shooting infected dead bodies over the walls of
cities they were trying to defeat!

19. • Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague
– Red rash around the neck (ring around the
rosey)
– Extremely high fever
– Black puss filled blisters called buboes around
the neck, armpits, and other places where there
are lots of sweat and salivary glands
– Death! (90% of people died within 3 days of
showing symptoms)

20. • Short term effects
– 1/3 of the population of Western Europe dies
between 1347 and 1352
– Increasing superstition
– Rise of weird religious cults
– People lose faith in a Church that is unable to
protect them
– Anti-Semitism

21. • Long term effects
– Trade increases – no longer self-sufficient
– Beginning of wage labor
– End of feudalism
– Church loses power
– Kings gain more power

22. Bubonic Plague
• Where did the plague come from?
• How did it spread?
• Where did people think it came from?
• What was a major short term effect of the
plague?
• What was a major long term effect of the
plague?

23. TURNING POINTS
• What makes each of these things a turning
point?
– The Crusades
– King John I signs the Magna Carta
– The Hundred Years’ War
– The Babylonian Captivity
– The Bubonic Plague