Medieval Miscellany
Germanic Tribes
Class
Structure in the High Middle Ages
Ninth and
Tenth Century Invasions
The
Feudal Manor
Otto
I, The Holy Roman Empire, and the Magyars
Women
in Childbirth
Inheritance
and Class Mobility
Child Abandonment
and Oblation
Lords and Vassals
Monasteries
and Convents
Medieval
Commercial Revolution
Long
Distance Trade and the English Economy in Medieval Times
Results
of the Hundred Years War
Witchcraft
Germanic Tribes are the general
term applied to the people, who were referred to as barabarians by the
Romans. They lived in the areas north and east of the Roman Empire.
Many were absorbed into the empire and eventually contributed to the ethnic
mix of people in the Mediterranean world. They often enriched the manpower
sources from which the Roman army recruited its soldiers. Those who retained
their tribal organizations were attracted by the wealth within the empire,
and, if not absorbed by the empire, would eventually constitute a threat.
It had been the genius of the Romans to gradually absorb conquered peoples,
and even to extend citizenship to them, a practice begun on the Italian
peninsula in the days of the Roman Republic.
When the empire became corrupted in the civil wars of
the third century A.D., many of the so-called barbarians already held high positions
in the army as well as in the ranks of the soldiery, but there is no evidence
beyond the circumstantial to attribute the anarchy to them.
When the empire weakened and again
collapsed into anarchy in the Fifth Century, the Germanic Tribes swept into
former imperial lands in western Europe. Their semi-nomadic way of life and
their warrior culture enabled them to conquer, but not to retain control. At
the center of their strength was the "comitatus", the band of warriors, bound
into a close-knit circle of inter-dependence. Women were valued as the mothers
of the next generation, and honored for the children they bore, but otherwise
had little status in a male-dominated society where warrior prowess was the
highest virtue. Western Europe was then on the fringes of the civilized world,
and these tribal cultures were probably not unlike the cultures of other migrating
peoples who had encroached upon the "civilized" world from time to time.
In spite of the obstacles, Christianity
spread into this world even after the Roman Empire was gone. It is clear that
the warrior-rulers converted because it suited their political ambitions just
as it had for the emperor Constantine. If the accounts of the conversion
of Clovis are a typical guide, the clergy made compromises of their religious
principles in order to arrange their conversion and gain their military protection.
It would then be expected that the ordinary person would be attracted to a religion
which the ruling class had sanctified by their conversion. But the accounts
of Bishop Ambrose, St. Martin of Tours, and St. Patrick of Ireland suggest also
that the church benefited from some extraordinary leadership.
The development
of Feudalism as the political institutution of European Medieval civilization
had determined initially that the class structure would consist of a warrior
aristocracy, which ruled as a privileged elite, and a peasantry which farmed
the land. Of these, the peasantry were, by far, the great majority of the population,
perhaps, as much as 90%. There was a functional relationship between the two
classes, the peasantry needing the aristocracy for protection and security,
while the aristocracy needed the peasants to produce the food and perform the
labor for a variety of other tasks. During the course of the 11th and 12th centuries,
as the wave of migratory invasions ceased and the feudal system provided a degree
of political security, the peasants produced an increasing surplus. There is
also some indication that a slight warming trend in the climate had facilitated
agricultural production. The surplus, combined with relatively peaceful conditions,
enabled specialization and trade to occur. Specialization took the form of a
variety of craft production and a growing volume and variety of goods to be
exchanged. The craftsmen and merchants who emerged to fulfill these tasks were
concentrated in towns and cities that were located at strategic points on the
highways of commerce. Overland transportation was slow and cumbersome,
given that there were few roads in a largely undeveloped environment. The best
means of transportation was by boat. Hence, the towns and cities grew at the
juncture of rivers or along rivers leading to the Mediterranean or the North
Sea. The merchants and craftsmen were neither members of the titled aristocracy,
nor were they peasants. Since they had no claim to the status of the upper class,
and yet were materially better situated and better organized than the peasantry,
they constituted a middle class. Throughout medieval times, they probably never
exceeded more than 10% of the population, but their contribution to the economy
and to economic growth was out of proportion to their numbers.
Invasions in the Ninth and Tenth
Centuries
There were three major waves
of invasion into western Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. The most
important of these were the invasions by the Norse, which came by sea from
Scandinavia and swept around the entire maritime perimeter of Europe from
Byzantium to Sicily to Normandy to the British Isles to Russia.
The Magyars or Hungarians
were another invading people who came by land from the Balkans into northern
Italy and southern Germany and France, threatening peace and stability
there.
The Saracens were the third
major invading group. They came from Tunisia across the Mediterranean to
Italy and parts of Spain in the ninth century. They came as plunderers,
raiding and causing havoc before abandoning the area. Rome was sacked
in 846.
These invasions stimulated
the development of feudalism as a means of organizing warriors to fight
off the invaders.
The manor is the name given
to the economic unit into which the medieval European farm economy was
divided. The manor might have consisted of a single small village surrounded
by sufficient farm land to support its population , or it might have included
a network of villages over several thousand acres of land, ruled by several
lords (members of the warrior aristocracy). The central feature of each
village was a church, and a manor house, which was the lord's estate. These
were surrounded by the peasant cottages. Larger villages and towns included
a castle surrounded by a wall and defensive moat. In many cases, the wall
was extended to encircle the entire village as a means of defense in an
age when there was little security beyond those walls. Farmland surrounding
the village was typically divided into strips of plowed land, worked communally
by the peasants.Some of these strips were set aside to produce food for
the lord, others for the village priest, and the remainder for the peasants.
Some land was set aside as common land for the grazing of farm animals.
Manors often included some uncleared forestland, which was needed for wood
and other essential forest products. Each manor had to be self-sufficient
in almost every respect since there were no provisions or services to be
provided from any outside source.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor,
and the Magyars
Otto I, also known as
Otto the Great, was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII
in the year 962. He had led his armies into Italy and saved the Pope from
political enemies among the Italian nobility. Whether he did this to rescue
the Pope or rather to rescue Queen Adelaid, a widow of one of the Italian
kings from an undesirable marriage, is not clear. In any case he proceeded
to take Queen Adelaid as his own wife.
More important than the salvation
of the Pope or Queen Adelaid, was his defeat of the Magyars a few years
earlier. By organizing military provinces along the eastern frontier and
encouraging settlements east of the Elbe River, he effectively brought
an end to the threat posed by the Magyars to western Europe, thereby helping
to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity.
Most of the specific research,
which has been done concerning women in childbirth in Europe prior to modern
times, relates to the later centuries of Early Modern Europe, the 16th
through 18th centuries. It is, however, logical to assume that conditions
were similar in the Medieval era. There was a long-term trend in which
care-giving to women in childbirth was initially provided by other women
serving as midwives, but gradually medical practitioners, usually
male, became involved. This was more likely to be the case in larger towns
and cities. In medieval times, and in rural areas, it was exclusively the
province of the midwife.
Normal childbirth, in which
there were no complications, was a commonplace occurance tended to by midwives
aided by female relatives, and almost always resulted in complete recovery
of both the mother and infant. However, complications were frequent. Any
circumstance of abnormality which might have required physical intervention
with hands or forceps into the birth canal posed the danger of introducing
infection for which they had no effective answer. Caesarian sections had
been known since antiquity, but they were rarely performed, unless it was
believed to be the only way an infant's life might be saved. Sometimes,
it was performed when the mother was already dead and the infant near death,
in order to baptize the infant before death. Maternal mortality was probably
high and a major cause of death for young women, whereas in modern industrial
areas today, it is extremely rare. Infant mortality was also much more
likely than it is today in the industrialized world.
Inheritance and Class Mobility
The warrior aristocracy produced
under the feudal system of medieval Europe sought, quite naturally, to
pass on its power and privileges to the next generation. This, in a patriarchal
society, meant passing from father to son, and if a son was lacking, to
a brother, uncle or nephew. It was exceptional that a wife or daughter
inherited political power, though it did sometimes occur when there were
no male relatives available. In any case, an essential principle upon which
the stability of European civilization was based, at least until the 19th
century, was the principle of inheritance. Whenever one asked who
the legitimate ruler was, it was inheritance which determined that legitimacy.
The effectiveness and stability of the European political system, therefore,
depended upon a ruler producing a son. Failing that, or if the heir was
sickly or incompetent, there was a potential for conflict as other members
of the titled aristocracy would be tempted to make their claim. Having
more than one son might also create a problem unless the principle of primogeniture
(succession to the eldest son) was firmly established. Given the crucial
importance of the principle of inheritance, members of the aristocracy
sought to sustain and grow their power through the perpetuation of family
dynasties, and an increase in dynastic power and wealth through strategic
marriages which created alliances between powerful families. It is striking
that a crucial principle of European culture in pre-modern times, that
of inheritance, is no longer accepted today, indeed, it is considered a
corrupt practice known as nepotism.
The middle class and the peasantry
also honored the principle of inheritance, although mainly to pass down
whatever economic assets the family had. Economic considerations were vital,
since the peasantry, in particular, lived at a bare subsistence level,
and new families could not be formed without those assets. It is for this
reason that marriages in medieval times and, indeed, throughout pre-modern
times, were almost always arranged by parents for economic reasons, and
among the aristocracy, for purposes of political power.
Class mobility was
very limited because of the importance of inheritance in conveying wealth
and power. There were, however, rare opportunities for individuals who,
in providing notable military leadership in the service of the aristocracy,
might be granted a title. Marriage between aristocratic families and wealthy
middle class families was another rare but not impossible occurence. This
would become an increasingly frequent practice as the wealth and importance
of the middle class grew. The development of towns and cities opened possibilities
for small numbers of the peasantry to escape the rural life and the control
of the landlord, and to be afforded the liberties of a citizen of a town.
These were usually young people who might have found employment in craft
industry. Opportunities would also occur when new areas were being settled
and opened to development, and the aristocracy recruited peasants to settle
there. Probably the greatest opportunity for upward mobility was offered
by the church. Within the church, inheritance did not apply. This gave
more room for performance and merit as a basis for advancement. Younger
sons of the aristocracy who did not inherit their father's position often
found a career in the church. Even peasants, particularly if they had become
literate, might find a place in the monastic movement.
Child Abandonment and Oblation
Child abandonment was a frequent
practice in medieval Europe. Peasants were often faced with dire circumstances
in which they believed they could not possibly support the child. Subsistence
living and periodic famine made life precarious. If a child were left in
the hands of a more fortunate family, its opportunities for survival might
be improved. Prosperous merchants and craftsmen were often looking for
apprentices to serve them in return for room and board. A child, taken
as an apprentice at the age of 10, for example, moved away from his
parents permanently, and then had the opportunity to learn a skill which
would greatly improve his prospects.
The church also provided opportunities
of a similar nature. Monasteries or convents often took in children who
had no place in their situation of birth. Parents decided, in advance,
to embark their child upon a clerical career, which offered a favorable
alternative for younger sons and "superfluous" daughters. This practice,
known as oblation, was the most socially acceptable form of child
abandonment, usually occurring before the age of 10, and considered as
a gift to God.
Lords and Vassals
In the feudal system, the lord
is the warrior aristocrat who held title to land and possessed the power,
passed down by inheritance, to rule over the inhabitants of his demesne.
In addition to holding a position of high privilege and status, he had
great responsibilities. He had to provide for the security of the peasants.
This meant he had to be prepared to fight, along with other nobles, or
to engage in diplomacy in the context of the shifting allegiances of the
feudal system. He also had to adjudicate disputes and decide upon the relationships
between his peasants. These responsibilities were demanding of his time
and required constant travel which often kept him away from his estate
for prolonged periods. The vassal was a lesser lord, who had sworn an oath
of fealty to a greater lord to serve under the lord's banner in time of
war in return for his protection. Violation of the oath of fealty was a
serious offense labeled a "felony". In spite of this, the
shifting fortunes of a warrior aristocracy were such that vassals were
often tempted to violate their oath, if they believed that they could advance
their own fortunes by attaching themselves to another lord. Feudalism,
therefore, was an unstable political system, in which, though lords and
vassals were dependent upon each other, there also was considerable tension
between them.
The fact that the system was
based upon inheritance meant that the son must wait for the father to die
or become incapacitated before he could inherit the father's position as
lord. Meanwhile he was brought up in preparation for his primary role as
a fighter. It was not unusual for a son to have to wait until he was in
his thirties before he succeeeded to his father's role. He, therefore,
had few responsibilities, and also postponed marriage, since marriages
were made for political reasons. As a bachelor with few responsibilities,
and trained as a warrior, he and his fellow fighters often were the source
of instability and criminal activities, sometimes committed with impunity
upon a helpless peasantry. When he finally received his inheritance he
then usually married a woman who was considerably younger than him. Parents
of the aristocracy sought to marry their daughters at a young age
in order to cement an important political alliance. Such circumstances
created temptations for sexual liaisons between young wives of the aristocracy
and bachelors, in spite of the risks involved.
Monasteries and Convents
Monasteries and convents
provided numerous valuable services to the society at large. In the early
medieval period, in particular, they were invaluable depositories of learning
as some monks, and nuns, devoted themselves to the meticulous and laborious
task of copying and preserving the writings of earlier times, and before
the printing press, were a principal means of perpetuating the knowledge
base. They continued to serve an educational function in the high medieval
period. They were a principal source of the few books that were available.
These were works of art with colorful and decorative script bound carefully
in hard protective binders. They were scarce and extremely expensive. As
universities developed in the 11th and 12th centuries, these writings of
earlier authorities were read to students, but could not be made available
to them due to their rarety and high value. Clergy were usually the most
educated group of Europeans and many were employed by the aristocracy to
help and advise them. Village priests, although often not well-educated
themselves, were an important source of information about the outside world
to a largely illiterate peasantry.
Monasteries and convents also
contributed extensively to the medieval economy. The work ethic was
promoted as a high priority in monastic life. The Cistercian monasteries
of northern England were engaged in raising sheep and horses, and became
an important element in the production of wool which was traded extensively
as part of an expanding textile industry.
The appeal for charity to
the poor was another element in the role of the monasteries and convents.
The monastic movement was
a response to the need, among Christians, to try to return to the original
calling of Christ and to reject the temptations of the material world.
In spite of this, successive generations of monasteries often failed to
live up to the original calling of their founders. Temptations of wealth
and power often led to corruption. The higher clergy of the church were
members of the European warrior aristocracy and shared the values of their
class which often contradicted the principles of their religion. Financial
managers of the monasteries and convents were often higher hired from outside
the clergy, and their priorities were frequently to enrich the monastery
rather than to fulfill religious goals.
Medieval Commercial Revolution
The Medieval European
economy prospered during the 11th century for several reasons. First, the
wave of 10th century invasion ( The Vikings, the Magyars, and the
Moors) had come to an end. Secondly, improved farm technology ( a heavy
plow, and the horse collar) had increased the agricultural surplus, and
thirdly, a slightly warmer climate also increased food production. A growing
surplus brought increased trade. Towns and cities developed and grew at
the juncture of rivers and the coastline.
The most extensive urban growth
took place in northern Italy where urban and commercial activities had
been centered in the ancient world. This was also the area which had contact
through the Mediterranean to the Arab Near East and North Africa. Venice,
Florence, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Naples, and Palermo flourished to varying
degrees in response to the commercial opportunities. Goods flowed through
these cities between Europe and the Arab civilization. The textile industry
expanded, particularly, in Florence. These Italian cities were among the
most populous in Europe, with Venice, Florence, and Milan each achieving
populations of more than 80,000 people. Of European cities outside of Italy,
the only one to achieve a population greater than 80,000 was Paris. Seven
cities in Italy and Sicily had populations exceeding 40,000. Outside Italy,
there were eight cities with populations exceeding 40,000. Among these
were London, England; Ghent, Flanders; Cologne, Germany; and Toledo and
Seville in Spain. These population levels were achieved by the late 13th
century.
Long Distance Trade and the
English Economy in Medieval Europe
The development of sailing
vessels such as the caraval, which had both fore-and-aft and square sails,
and were decked over to prevent swamping in a heavy seaway, made it possible
for trade to extend from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic Ocean and
the North Sea. Cistercian monasteries in northeastern England had raised
sheep and produced wool ever since the early 12th century. Woolen production
in central and northeastern England was, therefore, an important part of
the English economy before the advent of long distance trade. Most English
wool was sold to the domestic market and to the thriving textile industry
in Flanders. Then, in the 13th century, the improved sailing vessels brought
the textile industry of Florence and other large Italian city-states within
trading range of England. Southern and eastern English port cities benefitted
from this growing commerce.
Results of the Hundred Years
War
The many years of warfare associated with the Hundred Years War between England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries involved sporadic conflicts between French and English armies, but also involved civil conflict on French territory between rival factions of the continental nobility, some of whom were aligned with the French dynasty in Paris while others were aligned with the English. France bore the greater devastation as a consequence. This was particularly true in the first phase of the conflict when the English were victorious. The divisions within the continental nobility created high levels of distrust within the French aristocracy. This situation caused the French kings to shun the calling together of French nobility in common cause against the English. Therefore, during the second phase of the long war when the French were victorious, the French king emerged as a dominant leader of the French faction, while the nobility were discouraged from assembly.
In England, although there were coastal raids and a war with the Scots, the land was spared the devastation of warfare, and the ravages of the war were of a different nature. English noblemen were, like their continental counterparts, warriors, trained to fight. War with France was generally welcomed as an opportunity for glory and plunder by knights who were recruited to fight. Similarly, the need for manpower to fight led to recruitment of criminals who also relished the opportunities. Victory in the early phase of the war brought plunder, easy wealth, inflation and disorder to England. The prolongation of the war stimulated criminal activities and callous attitudes among warriors returning home. The warrior nobility, especially young bachelor knights without responsibilities, when not actually employed in war, were often involved in the commission of theft, plunder, and pillage. Being members of the nobility, crimes committed against a helpless peasantry often went unpunished. This was known as "fur-collar" crime. It was in this time and setting that you had the development of the legend of Robin Hood. The then-existing forested areas of England were regions where the political authorities had not established control. Outlaws and other individuals who could not find a safe and secure place for themselves in English society, might and sometimes did find temporary refuge. The general atmosphere of lawlessness created by the crises of the period and the particular prevalence of "fur-collar crime" provoked an opposing vision. An outlaw, who could turn the tables on the rich and powerful and prey upon them rather than upon the poor and powerless, became a popular hero. A strong urge for wish- fulfillment created the legend.
The Hundred Years War not only created great instability, but it was also extremely costly. The king's government financed the war by taxing the English wool crop. English woolens became so expensive that they could no longer be exported abroad and the woolen industry collapsed. It is also important to be reminded that these events occurred at the same time that the Black Plague swept through Europe and decimated the population.
During the long reign of Edward III, the king frequently called the lords and barons to meet in London. He also assembled knights and burgesses together in order to call upon them for service or for financial support for the war. These frequent assemblies ( almost one every year), created a routine and began the development of the institution of the English Parliament. They provided an opportunity for the political elite of England to ask for redress of grievances from the king in return for their support in the war effort.
In both France and England,
the war effort stimulated a feeling of unity directed towards a common
goal. Members of the political elite in both areas were beginning to develop
a consciousness of a national identity as French people and English people.
Witchcraft
In medieval times, there
was a widespread belief in the supernatural. Before the 17th century Scientific
Revolution and the 18th century Enlightenment, there were no objective
or scientific answers for most of the natural phenomena observed by people.
The church often provided the wrong answers as, for example, in their insistence
that the earth was the center of the universe. This belief could appear
to be rational since our senses apparently confirmed it. When people persisted
in their beliefs in spite of the remonstrances of the clergy, they might
be subject to persecution. However, the prevalence of the belief in magical
forces which explained almost every conceivable event, was so widespread
among ordinary people, that the clergy found it impossible to stamp out
such beliefs. In many instances, the Church responded to popular beliefs
by adopting them into Christianity. The supposed healing powers of the
virgin Mary, the worship of patron saints in hundreds of communities, and
the belief in the healing effect of touching or seeing supposedly sacred
relics are characteristics of Catholicism that were accepted by the
Church in response to the unshakable convictions of large numbers of people
in their comfort-giving efficacy.
However, whenever a belief
seemed to challenge the authority of the clergy or threaten to undermine
their control over spiritual matters, the Church responded sharply, with
ruthless persecution, to eliminate that threat. People, who espoused such
challenging ideas were declared to be heretics or witches, subject to torture
and death for their sinfulness. Witches were identified as agents of the
devil. It was not difficult, given the superstitious gullibility of most
people, for the authorities, either the church or the state, to bring charges
of witchcraft and have them accepted readily by the common folk. Indeed,
many of the original charges of witchcraft were brought by ordinary people
against members of their family or their neighbors, perhaps, to satisfy
a grudge or to solve a troublesome personal relationship. If the authorities
gave credence to the charges, then a witchhunt hysteria might develop.Witchhunts
were directed almost exclusively against women, who were easy targets because
of their relative powerlessness. The Christian identification of women
with Eve, the temptress, and the widespread belief that women were unclean
during menses or during childbirth are other factors causing women to be
vulnerable.
The incidence of witchcraft hysteria
reached its greatest extent during the 16th and 17th century. The Protestant
Reformation and the Catholic Counter-reformation raised the fears of religious
authorities to a high level so that the campaign against heretics became institutionalized.
The intolerance and warfare between the major religious denominations, allied
with state authorities, combined to give great momentum to witchhunts. There
are not reliable statistics concerning the numbers of women who were persecuted
and executed as witches, except for a few regional and isolated examples. The
incidence of witchcraft persecution is greater in Germany than in France or
England because of the less stable political situation in the Holy Roman Empire.
Modern estimates by feminist groups today, which have claimed executions of
two to three million, are probably exaggerations, particularly when compared
with the overall population statistics of Europe in the time period. A more
realistic estimate might be that of Voltaire, who writing in the 18th century,
estimated about 100,000 women. In any case, it is horrendous commentary on the
price paid for intolerance and ignorance and fear.