The Abrahamic World to c. 1450 CE

1. The
Abrahamic
World:
Judaism,
Christianity,
and Islam
to c. 1450 CE

2. Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Jewish Star of David Latin Christian Cross Islamic Star and Crescent Moon

3. Judaism
• the oldest monotheistic faith
• ~ 12-14 m. Jewish people in the world today live
in Israel or U.S.

4. Jewish beliefs:
• One, all-powerful God, who created the
universe
• God has a special relationship with Jews =
covenant
• Authority = Tanakh (Torah, Nevi’im, and
Ketuvim), Talmud and traditions
Torah:
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

5. Jewish beliefs:
• Place of worship = synagogue
• Religious leader of a Jewish community =
rabbi (teacher)
Belz Great Synagogue , Jerusalem, Israel, opened 2000
Rabbi Regina Jonas, the world's first
female rabbi, ordained in 1935, was
killed in the Holocaust in 1944.

6. Abraham:
• “Father of many nations”
– Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam
• ~ 2000-1500 BC: born
in Ur, Mesopotamia
• Moved to Canaan

9. Moses
• Moses (c. 1391-1271 BCE)
was the founder of the
Jewish people and religion
• Led Jewish ancestors
(Hebrews) away from
slavery in Egypt
• Formed covenant with God
• Author of the Torah and
established Jewish law

10. Kingdom of Israel
• Kings
• Saul (c. 1037-1010 BCE)
• David (c. 1010-970 BCE)
• Solomon (c. 970-931 BCE)
• Conquered by:
• 722 BCE: Assyrians
• 586 BCE: Babylonians
• 332 BCE: Greeks
• 63 BCE: Romans

11. Christianity
• founded in Judea,
c. 30-33 CE
• Today, there are around
2.4 billion Christians.
• major divisions:
- Catholic (50.1%)
- Protestant (36.7%)
- Eastern Orthodox (9.4 %)
- Other (3.8%)

12. Christian Beliefs
• Monotheistic Abrahamic religion
based on veneration of Jesus of
Nazareth
• Jewish teacher and healer
from Roman Judea
• earliest followers were Jewish
• believed he was their
prophesized messiah, or
Christ
• executed by the Romans by
crucifixion around 30 CE
Castelfiorentino Madonna
(c. 1283-1284), Cimabue
The Crucifixion (c. 1420-
1423), Fra Angelico

13. Spread of Christianity
• Paul ➔ Greece and Asia Minor
• Peter ➔ Rome

14. The Jewish Revolt
• 66-70 CE: The
Great Jewish Revolt
• 70 CE: Romans
destroyed the Jewish
Temple
• Christian missionaries
to non-Jewish Gentiles
• schism between
Judaism and
Christianity

15. Jewish Diaspora
• Refugees fled Judea during
the Jewish Diaspora
• Sephardic Jews: Spain,
Portugal, N. Africa and
Mideast
• Ashkenazic Jews: France,
Germany, and Eastern
Europe

16. Christianity in the Roman Empire
• Early Christians refused to
worship Roman emperors and
were persecuted as martyrs
• 313 CE: Constantine ended
Christian persecution and offered
religious toleration
• 380 CE: Theodosius made
Christianity the official state
church of the Roman Empire

17. Anti-Semitism
• 300-400s CE: Christianity
spread; Jewish persecution
increased.
• Early Christians blamed
Jews for Jesus’ death.
• Execution was by Roman
authorities at insistence of
conservative Jewish
political and religious
leaders
• Political spin: Christians
wanted Roman converts 
blame Jews, not Romans

18. Anti-Semitism
• “Christ killers” and “children of the devil.”
• Accusations of “blood libel” ritual
murder and “desecration of the host.”
From the Hortus Deliciarum, 1175
Two of a series of six panels depicting the
Desecration of the Host by Paolo Uccello,
Italy, 1465

19. Anti-Jewish Laws
• stripped citizenship
• prohibited intermarriage with Christians
• prohibited Christian servants and slaves
• no public office
• no land ownership
• no guild membership Jewish Ghetto
Venice, Italy
Tommaso da Salo, 1567
Anti-Semitic Abuse:
• negative stereotype
emerged of Jews as
cheating merchants
and money-lenders
• ghettos
• expulsion
• property confiscation
• forced conversion to
Christianity

20. Division of Rome
• 476 CE: collapse of the
Western Roman Empire;
the Eastern Roman
Empire, or Byzantine
Empire, ruled from
Constantinople,
survived until 1453 CE

21. Division of Rome
• 476 CE: collapse of the
Western Roman Empire;
the Eastern Roman
Empire, or Byzantine
Empire, ruled from
Constantinople,
survived until 1453 CE

22. The Great Schism
• 1054 CE: Roman
Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox
Churches split in
the Great Schism
• Latin Christendom:
all parts of western
Europe united by
Christianity and use
of Latin

23. Christian Beliefs
• Bible: Jewish Old Testament and Christian
New Testament (four Gospels and letters)
• 325 CE: Council of Nicaea clarified basic
Christian doctrine.
• Nicene Creed: a monotheistic God coexists as
the Holy Trinity of three distinct persons:
1. Old Testament Creator, Father, and Judge
2. Jesus Christ, God’s only son who lived
among humans and was resurrected upon
his death
3. Holy Spirit
Constantine I and bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE)
holding the Nicene Creed of 381

24. Christian Church Hierarchy
• Clergy: Church officials who
performed religious services
• Bishops: high-ranking clergy with
authority over a local area, or diocese
• Pope: bishop of Rome, head of the
Roman Catholic Church
• Patriarch: bishop of Constantinople,
head of the Eastern Orthodox Church
• Laymen: ordinary Church members

25. Christian Sacraments
Local priests performed religious rites,
or sacraments:
1. baptism
2. confirmation of Church membership
3. commemoration of the Last Supper
4. confession and forgiveness of sins
5. anointing of the seriously ill or
injured
6. commissioning of ministers
7. marriage

26. Christian Institutions
• Inquisition: church court to root out heresy (1184)
• Excommunication: religious exile and refusal of sacraments
• Interdict: refusal of sacraments to a whole diocese or region

27. Universities
Universities taught theology, law, and medicine:
Bologna (1088), Paris (1150), and Oxford (1167)
Scholasticism: medieval school of thought
(Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, c. 1274)
reconciling contradictions between ancient Greek
philosophy and Christian theology

28. Cathedrals
Romanesque cathedrals:
used Roman construction
techniques
Gothic cathedrals: let in
more light by incorporating
rib-vaulted ceilings and tall,
thin walls with large stained
glass windows supported by
flying buttresses; Chartres
(1252), Cologne (1322), and
Notre-Dame de Paris (1345)

31. Gloucester Cathedral, England was built between 1089
and 1499 CE. The stained-glass windows date from
1350 CE.

32. cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral, England

34. Sedlec Ossuary,
Czech Republic
40,000-70,000 skeletons!

37. Islam

38. Islam
• founded in
Arabia, 622 CE
• Today, there
are around
1.2 billion
Muslims.
• largest
Islamic
populations:
- Pakistan
- India
- Bangladesh
- Indonesia
Arabia

39. Islamic Beliefs
There is only one God, called Allah.
• Arabic for “The one who is God”
• the creator of all things
• all-powerful, merciful, and eternal
• same god of Abraham common to Jews and Christians

40. Islamic Beliefs
• Islam = Arabic for “surrender to God”
• Muslim = “one who submits [to Allah]”
• All Muslims, of all ethnicities,
are members of one community.
• Muslims believe that they have one life,
after which they are judged by Allah.
• The soul is rewarded with heaven or
punished with hell.
• Islam seeks and welcomes converts. Calligraphic representation of the shahadah
"There is no deity but God. Muhammad is the Messenger of God."

41. Shari’ah
• Islam is more than a system of
religious beliefs, rituals and
observances.
• shari’ah = social and legal
system
• concerns family life, law and
order, ethics, dress, and
cleanliness
• requires honesty and
morality

42. Shari’ah
• bans gambling, alcohol, and
consumption of pork
• forbade enslavement of
Christians and Jews
• allows polygyny but it is rare;
men could have up to four
wives, in part for community
care for widows and orphans
following conflicts
• today = basis of law in
Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Afghanistan, Libya, Oman,
Sudan, and Yemen

43. Early Arabia
• Bedouins – nomadic
pastoralists, tribal,
polytheistic
• tribes were led by a
sheikh and tribal
council
• no priests
"I and my brothers against my cousins,
I and my brothers and my cousins against the world.”
- Bedouin Proverb

44. Early Arabia
• land-based
camel caravans
competed for trade
against
sea-based trade in
dhows
major incense
trade routes
dhows with lateen sails

45. Islamic Beliefs
• Allah revealed himself to humanity
through 25 prophets.
• Many prophets are common to Judaism
and Christianity, including:
• Adam
• Noah
• Abraham
• Moses
• Jesus
• Muhammad received the final revelation
as Allah's last prophet.

46. Islamic Beliefs
Muhammad (570-632 CE)
• He was not divine.
• He was a man through whom Allah revealed his will.
• Although he is revered by Muslims, he is not worshipped.
• Not only a religious leader, but a political leader as well.

47. Islamic Beliefs
Holy text = Quran
• dictated to Muhammad in a cave
on Mount Hira by the angel Jibril
(Gabriel) through divine revelation
• regarded as the actual word of God
• the only authoritative version is
the original Arabic
• has not been altered in any way
since it was first compiled

48. Hijrah
• Mecca attracted religious pilgrims
to a shrine called the Ka’aba
which contained over 360 idols.
• Muhammad’s early converts were
persecuted in Mecca by those who
believed his teachings were
offensive to traditional Arab gods.
• 622 CE: Muhammad and 70
followers escaped to Medina
during the Hijrah ('emigration' or
'flight’). This event marks the start
of the Islamic calendar.
Muslims pray around the Ka’aba
in a time-lapsed photo.

49. Islamic Beliefs
• place of worship =
mosque
The Prophet's Mosque was built by Muhammad in Medina.
It is the second largest mosque and second holiest site in Islam.

50. Islamic Beliefs
• All Muslims must perform
the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Shahada, the
profession of faith:
“There is no god
but Allah,
and Muhammad
is His prophet.”

51. Islamic Beliefs
• All Muslims must perform
the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Salah: A prayer ritual
performed 5 times
daily.

52. Islamic Beliefs
• All Muslims must perform
the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Sawm: Abstinence
from bodily pleasures
between dawn and
sunset during the holy
month of Ramadan.
• It is meant to develop
self-control, to better
understand God's
gifts, and nurture
greater compassion
towards the deprived.

53. Islamic Beliefs
• All Muslims must perform
the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Zakah: Giving alms to
the poor.

54. Islamic Beliefs
• All Muslims must perform
the Five Pillars of Islam.
• Hajj: The pilgrimage to
the holy city of Mecca
that all physically able
Muslims should make
at least once.

55. Spread of Islam
• In Medina, Muhammad formed a
new tribe that quickly grew.
• Islam spread throughout Arabia
during his lifetime.
• drought pushed followers to
new regions
• desire for expanded trade
• military conquest
• 632 CE: Muhammad returned to
Mecca with over 100,000 followers.

56. Sunni-Shi’a Schism
• After Muhammad’s death, a dispute
over leadership arose.
• Sunni Muslims accepted Abu Bakr,
Muhammad's father-in-law, as the
rightful caliph (“successor”), and
that Muslims should follow the
Sunna (“Muhammad’s example”).
• Shi’a Muslims believed Ali,
Muhammad’s son-in-law, to be the
rightful imam (“leader”), and that
Muslims should follow
Muhammad’s descendants.

57. Sunni-Shi’a Schism
Today: Sunni = 80-85%; Shi’a = 15-20% (mostly in Iran and Iraq)

58. Four Rightly Guided Caliphs
• 632-661 CE: Early Muslims
were led by four Rashidun
(“Rightly Guided”) Caliphs:
Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman,
and Ali.
• Abu Bakr invoked jihad
(“struggle”) against
unbelievers and Islam
quickly spread through
military conquest.

59. Umayyad Caliphate
• 661-750 CE: After the murder of Ali,
the general Mu’awiya founded the
Umayyad dynasty and moved the
Islamic capital to Damascus, Syria.
Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, Iraq
Great Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria

60. Umayyad Caliphate
• Arab and North African
pastoral Berber forces
captured Spain.
• 717 CE: The Byzantine
Empire withstood an Arab
siege of Constantinople.
• 732 CE: The Battle of Tours,
France stopped Islamic
expansion into Europe.

61. Umayyad Caliphate
• By 750 CE, Islam sprawled 6,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to India.
• Dar al-Islam = all lands united by Islamic culture

62. Umayyad Caliphate
• Arab conquests led to the rapid spread of
Islam, the Arabic language, and
cultivation of cotton, sugar, and citrus
fruits

63. Islamic Society
• Christians and Jews
were respected as
Peoples of the Book
• non-Muslims paid the
jizya tax but were exempt
from military service

64. Islamic Society
• Newly conquered people
who had previously been
under Byzantine and
Sassanid Persian rule often
welcomed Islamic invaders.
• Attractions:
• promise of salvation and
hope of an afterlife
• tolerant rule following
initial conquest
• no forced conversions
• equality of all Muslims
• tax exemption from jizya
In 685 CE, the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ordered construction of the
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem on top of the site of the Second Jewish Temple
which had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

65. Islamic Society
• upper class = Muslims at birth
• second class = Muslim converts
• third class = Peoples of the Book
• lowest class = enslaved persons
• from animist and pagan regions
of Africa, Eastern Europe, and
Central Asia
• not hereditary
• Islamic converts were freed

66. Islamic Society
• As Muhammad was a merchant, traders held greater respect than in
other Asian societies.

67. Islamic Society
Women
• more economic and property rights
than women in China, India, and Europe
• could inherit property and retain
ownership in marriage
• could read and study
(but not in front of unrelated men)
• potential husbands paid the bride,
not her father
• female infanticide was forbidden
• could practice birth control
• could initiate divorce
• widows could remarry

68. Abbasid Caliphate
• Internal struggles
threatened Umayyad
stability. Officials
favored Arabs over
other ethnic groups,
and revolts broke out.
• 750-1258 CE:
Abu al-Abbas al-
Saffah overthrew the
Umayyads and
founded the Abbasid
dynasty and moved
the Islamic capital to
Baghdad, Iraq.

69. al-Andalus
• 756-1031 CE:
The only surviving
Umayyad prince fled
to the Iberian
peninsula and
established the
Emirate of Cordoba in
Muslim al-Andalus.

70. al-Andalus
• 756-788 CE: Abd ar-Rahman founded the Umayyad
Caliphate in al-Andalus and built the Great Mosque
of Córdoba.
The Great Mosque of Córdoba

71. al-Andalus
Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides)
• greatest Jewish philosopher
• influential rabbi, physician, and
astronomer
• compiled and codified Jewish
halakha religious law
Maimonides teaching his students, 1347

72. al-Andalus
• 1238 CE: The Alhambra
palace and fortress in
Cordoba, Spain held the
world’s largest library.

73. Abbasid Caliphate
• Judges, merchants, and government officials were
valued over warriors.
• Mawali, non-Arab Muslims could now hold office,
and Persian cultural influence increased.
• During council meetings, the caliph sat behind a
screen and whispered orders to the vizier (prime
minister) who advised him.

74. Baghdad
• Baghdad grew to become
the largest city in the
world outside of China.

75. Baghdad

76. Islamic Golden Age (c. 700s-1200s)
• Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE)
• great patron of arts and learning
• built the House of Wisdom
• inspired the stories of
The One Thousand
and One Arabian Nights
• Al-Ma’mun (813-833 CE)
• continued patronage of arts and
learning
• supported astronomy
• translated ancient Greek works
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was established by the two great
Abbasid caliphs, Harun Al-Rashid and Al-Ma’mun.

77. Islamic Golden Age
• The Great Mosque of Sammara (built 848-851 CE)
was destroyed by the Mongols in 1278 CE.
Only the 171-foot tall minaret survived.
The Great Mosque of Sammara

78. House of Wisdom
• scholars gathered and
translated Greek, Persian,
and Indian texts into Arabic.
• major advances in medicine,
mathematics, and astronomy
• Knowledge preserved by
Muslim scholars was passed
on to Christian Crusaders
and contributed to the
European Renaissance
(c. 1400s-1500s).
Scholars worked together to
translate ancient knowledge
of the Greeks and other
ancient civilizations into a
common language, Arabic.

79. House of Wisdom
Al-Khwarizmi
• influential astronomer
and geographer
• developed al-jabr (algebra)
Ibn Hayyan
• developed first systematic
classification of chemicals
Jabir ibn Hayyan (left) was the father of chemistry,
and Al-Khwarizmi (right) invented modern algebra.

80. House of Wisdom
Physicians were required to pass a
medical exam and be licensed
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
• father of early modern medicine
• wrote a medical textbook used for
over six hundred years
Al-Razi
• greatest Islamic physician
• compiled a medical encyclopedia
from Greek, Syrian, Arabic and
Indian sources
• father of pediatrics, obstetrics,
and ophthalmology
• developed treatment for smallpox
Al-Zahrawi (right), the father of surgery, invented
many surgical Instruments that are still used today.

81. House of Wisdom
Al-Zahrawi
• father of modern surgery
• wrote 30-volume medical
encyclopedia that was a
standard textbook for over
500 years
• pioneered use of catgut for
stitches and invented
surgical instruments still
used today

82. House of Wisdom
Al-Haytham
• studied vision
• discoveries contributed
to the development of
lenses for telescopes
and microscopes
Ibn-Rushd (Averroes)
• studied law,
philosophy, and
sciences
• argued that Greek
philosophy and Islam
had the shared goal of
finding the truth
Al-Haytham (left) studied light. Ibn-Sina (middle) laid the foundation for modern medicine.
Ibn-Rushd (right) was the father of western philosophy.

83. Persian Culture
• Persian Muslims resisted Arab cultural
domination and maintained use of Farsi
language rather than Arabic
• Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 CE)
• astronomer-poet
• calculated precise length solar year and
provided the basis for the Persian calendar
• developed solutions for algebraic cubic
equations
• wrote Rubaiyat poems
• Rumi (1207-1273 CE)
• poet and Islamic scholar who inspired Sufi
mystics
“How sad, a heart that
does not know how to love, that
does not know what it is to be drunk with love.
If you are not in love, how can you enjoy
the blinding light of the sun,
the soft light of the moon?”
- Omar Khayyám, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

85. Invasions
• 793 CE: Scandinavian Vikings explored the Atlantic and the river networks of
Eastern Europe conducting raids, seeking trade, and settling outposts.

86. Invasions
• 1066 CE: Norse Vikings who settled in
northwestern France were known as Normans.
William of Normandy conquered England.

87. Invasions
• Late 800s: Magyars
migrated from Asia and
settled the Great
Hungarian Plain.
• Stephen I converted to
Catholicism and was
crowned King of
Hungary in 1000.

88. Feudal Society
• Invasions and a lack of
a centralized imperial
government led to the
development of
feudalism.

90. Feudal Society
• Under feudalism, political authority was
decentralized and rested on complex
relationships and obligations.
• A lord provided a vassal with a fief in
exchange for loyalty and military service.

91. Holy Roman Empire
• 962 CE: Otto I established the Holy
Roman Empire.
• The empire lacked unity. It was a
decentralized collection of small
kingdoms, bishoprics, republics,
and Free Imperial Cities.
• The population was primarily
German.
• The Austrian Hapsburgs were weak,
elected emperors after 1438. Though the Holy
Roman Empire included
much of Central and
Western Europe, it was
a loose affiliation of
politically fragmented
feudal micro-states.

92. Feudal Society
• Christians believed the universe to exist
in a hierarchical Great Chain of Being:
• God
• angels
• demons
• nobles
• commoners
• animals
• plants
• minerals
• Humans bridged
the spiritual and earthly realms.

93. Feudal Society
Stratified feudal society was divided
in three estates, or classes:
1. Church clergy
2. nobles
3. commoners (peasants, serfs,
townspeople)
A 13th century French representation of the social order:
"those who pray", "those who fight", and "those who work".

94. Feudal Society
• Wealth was based on landownership.
Aristocratic nobles ran (mostly)
self-sufficient manors.
• Medieval serfs were required to work
manorial fields, mines, and forests
and received the lord’s protection,
justice, and the right to farm for their
own subsistence.
Serfs preparing fields for winter from
The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, c.1410 CE

95. Feudal Society
• Knights were guided by chivalry. They
jousted and practiced mêlée combat in
tournaments to win riches and glory.
tournament of knights from the Codex Manesse

96. Seljuk Turks
• Central Asian nomads
• converted to Islam and
prospered as Abbasid soldiers
• captured Baghdad and
established office of sultan
(“holder of power”)
• stripped caliphs of political
power and reduced them to
religious authorities only

97. Seljuk Turks
• Seljuk Turks defeated the
Byzantine Empire at the
Battle of Manzikert (1071)
and settled in Asia Minor.
• 1096 CE: Byzantine emperor
Alexius I turned to western
Christian states for help
against the Seljuks.

98. The Crusades
• 1096–1400s: The Crusades brought
the Christian and Islamic worlds into
conflict.
• European knights sought to capture
Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

99. Control of Jerusalem
70-638 CE: Roman/Byzantine Empire
638-1099 CE: Islamic Caliphates
1099-1187 CE: Christian Crusaders
1187-1229 CE: Egyptian Islamic Sultanate
1229-1244 CE: Christian Crusaders

100. Mamluk Sultanate
• 1250-1517 CE: Mamluk Turkish
military slaves captured Egypt
and the Crusader states.
The battle of Wadi al-Khazandar (1299) depicting Mongol
archers and Mamluk cavalry.

101. Invasions
• Mongols: sacked Baghdad and destroyed
the Abbasids in 1258 CE

102. Late Medieval Economy
• Mediterranean trade between Europe and western Asia was revived.
• Europeans recovered lost ancient knowledge preserved by Muslims.

103. Late Medieval Economy
• 1100s–1300s: The growth of late
medieval trade led to the rise of
market towns, often along rivers.
Merchant capitalism developed.
The first joint-stock companies
were founded.
• Cities were few and small
• Largest in 1400 CE =
Paris ~ 250,000 people
• Fewer than 10 cities had over
100,000 people

104. Late Medieval Economy
• Towns and cities were centers of
commerce, princely courts,
churches, government, and military
offices.
• The most important commercial
cities in Western Europe were
Genoa, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and
London.
• The Crusades led to the growth of
of Italian city-states, including
Venice and Florence.

105. Late Medieval Economy
• Most urban dwellers were artisans and free
laborers. Artisans organized craft guilds
to ensure quality and regulate prices.
• Many serfs escaped to urban centers and
were considered free after a year and a
day.

106. Sack of Constantinople
• Venetians sacked Constantinople during
Fourth Crusade (1204 CE), accelerating
the Byzantine Empire’s decline.

107. The Mongols and Muscovy
• The Mongols advanced to Hungary
(1242) but fell back to Kievan Rus.
The Mongol Golden Horde ruled
from Sarai on the Volga River.
• Eastern Slavs were semi-isolated
from western Europe for over 200
years.
• Alexander Nevsky and later
princes of Moscow turned
Muscovy into a powerful Mongol
tributary state.

108. Jewish Pogroms
• 1095-1291: Jewish pogroms during the Crusades
• 1200s: the Church required Jews to wear special
yellow markings or a “Jew hat”
Bible illustration; France, 1250.
Jewish Couple from Worms, Germany,
16th century
“Jew Hat”, Holy Sepulchre Chapel, Winchester,
England, 13th century

109. Jewish Expulsion
• 1290 CE: expulsion from England
• 1291 CE: prohibition of settlement in France
• 1298 CE: massacre of 100,000 Jews in Germany
Expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt in 1614.
According to the text, "1380 persons old and young
were counted at the exit of the gate.”
“Jews being persecuted” from the Chronicles of Offa, England, 13th century

110. Jewish Expulsion
• Many Jews settled in
Poland and other parts
of Eastern Europe

111. Roman Catholic Church Decline
• 1305–1377 CE: Pope Clement V moved
the papacy to Avignon, France, during
the Babylonian Captivity.
• 1378–1417 CE: Pope Gregory XI
returned the papacy to Rome, but the
French elected a second pope causing
the Great Western Schism. Papal
prestige fell as European loyalties were
divided.

112. Roman Catholic Church Decline
• 1300s–1400s: Reform efforts by English
John Wycliffe and Czech Jan Hus were
violently suppressed.
Jan Hus is considered the first Church reformer. He was burned at the
stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

113. The Little Ice Age
• c. 1300-1850 CE: Cold summers
made for shorter growing
seasons and periodic famine
during the Little Ice Age.
• Expanding glaciers wiped out
Alpine villages, and Norse
colonies in Greenland failed.

114. The Great Famine
• 1315–1322 CE: Millions starved
during the Great Famine.
• 10%–25% of population died.
The elderly voluntarily starved
to save young family members.
Cannibalism was widely
reported.

115. The Black Death
• 1346–1353 CE: Italian merchants
imported the Black Death, or
bubonic plague, from Crimea. It
killed 40%-50% of the European
population. Some Mediterranean
areas, especially cities, suffered
75%–80% losses.
• It reduced the labor force offering
serfs new opportunities and allowing
bargaining for improved conditions.
• Remained endemic until 1721

116. The Black Death
• 1348-1352: Jewish communities
were blamed for the Black Death
and destroyed
• Remaining Jews were expelled from
Western Europe and fled to Poland.

117. Poland-Lithuania
• Wladyslaw II Jagiello
founded the
Jagiellonian dynasty
(1386), which ruled in
Poland, Lithuania,
Hungary, and
Bohemia until 1572.

118. Ottoman Turks
• Osman I founded the Ottoman Turkish
Empire (1299). Murid I expanded the
Ottomans into the Balkans.

119. Ottoman Turks
• 1389 CE: The Ottomans defeated Serbia,
and encircled Constantinople.
• The last great Crusade failed to stop the
Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria at the
Battle of Nicopolis (1396).
Nicopolis, the last great battle
of the Crusades

120. Ottoman Turks
• 1453 CE: Mehmed II
conquered Constantinople’s
walls with a massive cannon
that was able to fire 600-
pound stone balls over a mile.

121. The Iberian Peninsula
• 1400s: The Iberian
Peninsula was divided
between Muslim outpost of
Grenada and the Christian
Kingdoms of Portugal,
Castile, Aragon, and
Navarre.

122. Reconquista of Spain
• 1469 CE: The marriage of
Isabella I of Castille and
Ferdinand II of Aragon
politically unified Spain.
• 1492 CE: the Christian
Reconquista of Spain was
completed.
• 800,000 were Jews exiled;
conversos spread through
the Spanish and Portuguese
empires but faced the
Inquisition.

123. The Hundred Years’ War
• 1337–1453 CE: The English Plantagenet
and French Valois dynasties engaged in a
series of conflicts for control of the French
throne during the Hundred Years’ War.
• These conflicts gave rise to English and
French national identities.

124. The Hundred Years’ War
• Feudal armies were replaced by professional
soldiers.
• Though outnumbered, English longbow
archers killed 1,500 knights (nearly half of
the French nobility) at Agincourt (1415).
The age of knights and chivalry was ending.

125. The Hundred Years’ War
• 16-year-old Joan of Arc led
the French to victory over the
English at Orleans (1429),
boosting French morale and
turning the tide of the war.
Joan of Arc depicted on
horseback in an illustration
from a 1504 manuscript

126. Valois France
• 1328–1453 CE: The French Valois
dynasty defeated the English
Plantagenet claim to the throne of
France in the Hundred Years’ War.
• 1461–1483 CE: Louis XI the Spider
absorbed the Duchy of Burgundy.

127. Tudor England
• 1455 CE: English defeat in the
Hundred Years’ War led the
House of York (white rose) to
battle the House of Lancaster
(red rose) for the throne in the
War of the Roses.
• 1485-1509 CE: Henry Tudor
was crowned Henry VII of
England and established the
Tudor dynasty.

128. English Law
• English common law
blended Roman law,
Church canon law,
and Germanic legal
customs.
• It was applied
throughout England
by royal judges who
toured provincial
towns.
• In contrast, provinces
were governed by
local laws in France,
Germany, and Italy.
Common law countries are in several shades of pink, corresponding to variations in common law systems.

129. English Law
• 1215 CE: Nobles forced King John of
England to sign the Magna Carta.
It declared the king be subject to the
rule of law and stipulated subjects
had basic rights, including due
process. It also established the first
English Parliament.
• English Parliament determined taxes,
heard grievances, and developed
legislation. Nobles and bishops served
in the House of Lords. Knights and
prominent citizens served in the
House of Commons.

130. French Law
• 1302 CE: The Estates-General,
a French national assembly of
the clergy, nobility, and
commoners, first met to
discuss the King Philip IV’s
conflict with the pope.
• It convened only periodically
until 1614, and then only one
final time in 1789.
• Unlike the English Parliament,
it had no real power and only
advised the king.
The Estates-General in Tours, May 14, 1506, by Jean-Louis Bézard

131. Russia
• Grand Prince Ivan III the Great of Moscow
(r. 1462–1505) stopped paying Mongol
tribute, tripled the size of Muscovy, and laid
the foundations of a centralized, autocratic,
orthodox Russian state.
• After the fall of Constantinople, Eastern
Orthodox Christians declared Moscow to be
the Third Rome.
• Ivan IV the Terrible (r. 1533–1584) was
crowned the first tsar (ceaser) of Russia.