January 15, 2001.
Live on the radio station “Echo of Moscow” program “Not So”.
Our guest is historian Alexander Kamensky.
The broadcast is hosted by Sergey Buntman.

S.BUNTMAN: Good evening. They asked questions on the Internet, I hope that they will also be sent via pager. Here such a fundamental question came to us from Pskov from Maxim Kopytov: “What determines the very formulation of the question of what era the 18th century belongs to?” Let me remind you that the theme is the Middle Ages or Modern Times in Russia, the 18th century? “What criteria allow us to judge, for example, that the era of the formation of the Russian Empire is still the Middle Ages?” I think that we can build on it.
A. KAMENSKY: Yes, of course. Actually, this is what we will talk about today. And it seems to me that in general this conversation may be especially interesting and relevant precisely in connection with the fact that we have entered the 21st century, and it will probably not be long before a new generation of historians appears, who will be called specialists in 21st century mu century. Because historians in general are usually divided into specialists in a particular century. And the 18th century is the core of our conversation today, but in essence we will generally talk about periodization, about the periodization of our national history. If we remember how we all studied at school and what we were taught there, then we will remember that there were in fact two parallel periodization schemes. One, the fundamental one, was based on a natural formational approach. That is, all history was divided into periods in accordance with socio-economic formations. Accordingly, there was a primitive era, feudal, capitalist
S.BUNTMAN: No, slaveholding, feudal
A. KAMENSKY: Sorry. You, Seryozha, remember me better. It must be said that, of course, for several generations to students and schoolchildren this scheme seemed quite logical, harmonious and did not raise any doubts. But in fact, upon closer examination, it turned out that it works most productively in relation to general history. When applied to Russian history, it works with some difficulty. In general, this, of course, is not accidental, because such basic concepts as feudalism and capitalism are, after all, concepts that were drawn from Western science. They were born there. But as far as Russian history is concerned, problems immediately arose. Firstly, Soviet historians were never able to agree on when the capitalist era began in Russia. The problem of the genesis of capitalism has been a controversial issue for many decades, and in fact, it has never been completely resolved; there are different points of view on this matter. There was a large group of historians who started from Lenin’s phrase that the 17th century was a new period in Russian history, and from here they considered the beginning of the emergence of capitalism. There were historians who found elements of capitalism almost in the Novgorod Republic. However, there was another large group of historians who still believed that it was truly possible to talk about the development of capitalism in Russia in the 18th century, and best of all by the end of the 18th century, or even in the 19th. And it must be said that, in general, formally, if you look at the structure of our university departments and academic institutions, then the 18th century, one way or another, always fell into the feudal era, and capitalism began in the 19th century . It’s as if only somewhere in March 1801 Paul I was killed - and capitalism immediately began.
S.BUNTMAN: And they proclaimed the beginning of the capitalist era
A. KAMENSKY: Yes. In parallel with this, there was a second scheme of periodization, which was based on the concepts of the Ancient World, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modern Time and Contemporary Time. At the same time, the scheme was not born in the depths of our domestic science, but also borrowed from the West, but adapted to Marxist teaching. And we had clear ideas. Our Middle Ages clearly ended in 1649 with the English bourgeois revolution. Here, if you think about it, there was some problem. Firstly, it was still unclear: the Middle Ages ended in Europe, but here in Russia they also ended, or do they continue? It was impossible to read about this in school textbooks. If we remember that the year 1649 in Russia was marked by the appearance of the Council Code, which finally approved serfdom, then, naturally, doubts became even greater. Again, in relation to general history, New History was divided into 2 parts, the border ran in 1870, and Modern History began in 1917. Again, there seems to be a certain logic, and also this scheme at the schoolchildren level, of course, at least did not raise any serious questions. Meanwhile, in fact, in the West, where this scheme itself was born, it was always considered that the Middle Ages ended around the 15th century, at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries.
S.BUNTMAN: Even 1492 was given very often.
A. KAMENSKY: Yes, and this is connected with the Renaissance, first of all. And here, of course, we immediately see a fundamental difference in approaches. Because the Renaissance, of course, is a phenomenon that has nothing to do with changes in productive forces, production relations, etc.
S.BUNTMAN: This is from the superstructure of the Renaissance, not from the base.
A. KAMENSKY: Well, here, accordingly, when we have now abandoned the Marxist approach, all the questions that I mentioned, and many others, as they say, have come to light. It should be noted that in Soviet times, they tried to avoid using such terms as “Middle Ages”, “Modern Times”, etc. to domestic history, if possible they tried to avoid them. For example, this characterizes the fact that the collection of the Academy of Sciences “The Middle Ages” was published. Materials on European history were published there, exclusively. According to Russian history, nothing has ever happened there. But it is natural that if we have now abandoned this scheme, we have a problem: what should we do now with the periodization of Russian history. It seems that, at first glance, we can borrow, take this scheme applied to general history, and transfer it to Russian history. But here comes the first question. Middle Ages If we recall the very origin of this phrase, then the Middle Ages is the middle between something and something, between antiquity and modern times. There was no antiquity in Rus'. Some experts, but they are a clear minority, consider it possible to talk about some elements of the Renaissance in Rus', say, they associate it with the name of Andrei Rublev, etc. But I think it is quite obvious that even if Andrei Rublev, with certain reservations, can perhaps be put on a par with some figures of the European Renaissance, then, one way or another, he is still an isolated figure. He is a lonely figure, and yet when we talk about the European Renaissance, this is a fairly massive era, it is associated with essential changes in the consciousness of large masses of people.
S. BUNTMAN: And moreover, consciously as a revival and an appeal to some ancient models in the late Renaissance, especially. That is, this is some kind of return and a different awareness of one’s history. Rublev has completely different approaches, no one says what is better or worse, but these are completely different approaches. He may somewhere coincide in his perception of the world, in his spiritual perception with someone, but here he doesn’t, the message is not the same.
A. KAMENSKY: Absolutely right. And we will remember that in general, at the center of that cultural phenomenon that we call the Renaissance, the Renaissance, there was a person, a human personality. The place of man in the world, the status of the human personality has changed, and this is extremely important. I think we don’t see anything like this in Russia in the 15th-16th centuries and much later. And the term “Middle Ages” itself, in fact, was born during the Renaissance, because the figures of the Renaissance felt that some kind of milestone had arrived, some new time. “Modern time,” by the way, is a phrase that first appears in Petrarch, one of the titans of the Renaissance. And at the same time, they perceived the Middle Ages as some kind of dark era, as a decline in culture.
S.BUNTMAN: The gap between that time and the new?
A. KAMENSKY: Yes, it’s kind of timeless, I would say. And, in general, with all this, one can think a little differently. In the end, okay, maybe the Middle Ages and Modern Times are concepts that can be correlated with certain time periods and in this sense with a certain convention, but still used when speaking about Russian history. This approach is, of course, also possible in principle. But if you and I accepted it, naturally, we must answer the following question: do these time periods in universal history, in European history, first of all, and in Russian history - do they coincide? That is, then, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the New Age begins for us. And our 16th and 17th centuries and beyond are new times? Or does the Middle Ages last longer here? This whole picture was greatly complicated by the French historian Jacques Le Goff, who introduced the concept of the “long Middle Ages,” speaking not only about Russia, but about Europe, because according to Le Goff, the Middle Ages continued in the 18th and even at the beginning of the 19th -th century. And this is a serious argument or an additional argument, which also makes us think and doubt how correctly we use these concepts in connection with Russian history.
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S.BUNTMAN: I would like us to answer two questions, one came from Tallinn, the other from Moscow. This applies to the new chronology, the works of Fomenko. Andrei Svetlov from Moscow asks whether they will harm history as a science, whether this will lead to degradation, and whether the media are to blame for picking up the idea? Here’s a more neutral question: “What do you think of the chronology proposed by Fomenko?” from Victor Abramov from Tallinn.
A. KAMENSKY: I would say that my attitude is, of course, negative, this is understandable, I think. As for will do no harm, I think not. These are two non-touching planes, and in principle this has nothing to do with science at all.
S. BUNTMAN: But since Fomenko’s new chronology is believed to operate in the fields of science, then until and before the era of tolerance and respect for other people’s opinions comes, then from a scientific point of view it should be criticized, and what will the programs be devoted to “Not so!”, where historians, astronomers, mathematicians, and linguists will speak about once a month, we are going to do this. And in fact, Fomenko’s theory was very clearly presented by Garry Kasparov, a great apologist of this theory. So after presenting it, you can begin a fairly long and point-by-point criticism. And we return to our topics. There was one more question that I would like to ask you. Mikhail Shcherbakov from Moscow asked today on the Internet: “If the Middle Ages are possible in the 18th century, then don’t we have it in the 21st?” Let's see this way. Jacques Le Goff spoke of the “long Middle Ages” that existed in Europe until the beginning of the 19th century. Let's try to think, do we still have the Middle Ages now, or do you think that we have completely left it?
A. KAMENSKY: So, moving on to the 18th century, we must remember one more very important thing, namely: that in historical science, the concept of “Middle Ages”, when it comes to Western Europe, is also associated with with the concept of feudalism as it was, strictly speaking, in Marxist historical science. The problem is that today many historians working on Russia question the possibility of applying this concept, the concept of feudalism, to Russian history. As a matter of fact, in Western historical science, in foreign historical science, such a question has never been raised; our foreign colleagues have never had any doubt that in Russia, strictly speaking, there has never really been feudalism.
S.BUNTMAN: So they were sure that there was?
A. KAMENSKY: No, we have never had what I would say is understood as feudalism.
S.BUNTMAN: So, we didn’t have feudalism, that is, we didn’t have that European one.
A. KAMENSKY: There was no such thing as European feudalism. And now, speaking about the 18th century. At the turn of the 17th-18th centuries and further in the first quarter of the 18th century, radical changes occurred in Russia associated with Peter’s reforms, reforms that are often associated with the concept of modernization. And it seems that this event is pushing us to say that the 18th century is the absolute beginning of a new period in Russian history and we have the right to talk about this period as New History. The Middle Ages ends somewhere around this time, and the New Age begins. It must be said that the observations of modern historians on a certain evolution of thinking, the mentality of Russian people of this era confirm this observation. But the fact is, we know this very well, that, in essence, Peter’s reforms were of an apex nature; they, in essence, affected only a narrow layer of Russian society.
S.BUNTMAN: That is, we only estimated the clothes of the New Age?
A. KAMENSKY: We changed our clothes, we created institutions that had new names, the lifestyle of the elite changed, radically changed, absolutely changed. But only, as I said, a narrow layer of people. The bulk of the population continued to live as before. Moreover, Peter’s reforms, as we know, consolidated that feature of the socio-political development of Russia at that time, which so distinguished it from its European contemporaries - serfdom.
S.BUNTMAN: In France at the beginning of the 14th century it was abolished.
A. KAMENSKY: It’s different in different countries, and in Eastern Europe such a phenomenon as the second edition of serfdom is known. But it still wore softer forms than it was in Russia, and already in the 18th century there were no traces of this. And here the question arises again. In this case, can we say that the 18th century is a modern era? But that's just one look. We can say that yes, the reforms affected and changed the lives of only a narrow layer of people, the elite. But this was not just an elite, not just a narrow layer of people, this was the layer of people who actually determined the history of the country. This was that layer of politically, socially active people who influenced politics, who created what you and I knew as Russian culture. It is clear that first Lomonosov, then Sumarokov, and then Pushkin, etc. It would not have happened without Peter’s reforms, without this Europeanization and modernization.
S. BUNTMAN: That is, they could not have been different at all, let’s say, but there was no such concept at all?
A. KAMENSKY This is already a fortune-telling moment.
S.BUNTMAN: In general, there was no function that
A. KAMENSKY: Absolutely right. Again, this is just one aspect. On the other hand, it turns out that such innovations of Peter’s time as, say, the poll tax, conscription, all kinds of labor mobilizations, the spread of industry, although based on serf labor, in general, affected much wider sections of the population, affected including broad sections of the peasantry. The peasantry was increasingly drawn into commercial and industrial activities, the scale of such a phenomenon, known to everyone as otkhodnichestvo, expanded, and all kinds of intra-patrimonial credit, monetary, usurious relations, etc. began to take on a massive nature. Peasants participated in the construction of city houses and noble estates, which were characterized by a completely different architecture, a fundamentally different architecture. That is, they were drawn in, although not en masse, but still drawn into some new forms of activity. It turns out that peasants knew the law quite well in the 18th century. That is, the system created by the state to inform about the emergence of new legislative acts (they were read in churches, first of all), turned out to be quite effective.
S.BUNTMAN: So such awareness is also a sign of the New Age?
A. KAMENSKY: Of course.
S.BUNTMAN: This is, in general, legal literacy.
A. KAMENSKY: This is some legal literacy. In addition, it turns out that rumors of various kinds were quite common among the peasantry, distorted rumors, of course, but, nevertheless, rumors about political events that took place in St. Petersburg, for example.
S. BUNTMAN: Now we will answer the question and give statistics. We have the Middle Ages in the 21st century, which is 15 days old - do we have it or not in Russia? The vast majority of the 556 people who called thought it was 87%. 13% believe that there is none left. We will talk to you later, we’ll say two more words whether this is good or bad and what it is in general, or is it a statement, or is it natural pessimism due to the fact that they believe that the Middle Ages are obviously bad and backward, and that’s why they think so. Thanks to everyone who called. Well, how deep did it all go?
A. KAMENSKY: It is naturally impossible to directly answer the question of how deep it was, because there is no such measuring device with which it could be measured. But, one way or another, it is clear that these reforms, in general, of a modernization nature, by and large affected the entire population. Recruitment, after all, concerned the entire population, the poll tax concerned the entire population, peasants were driven from different regions of the country back in Peter’s time to Voronezh to build ships, to Azov, etc. And we are talking about changes that are associated specifically with modernization processes. That is, the picture turns out to be quite ambiguous. And if we follow this path, then we probably do not receive any unambiguous answer to the main question of what the 18th century was, whether it was the Middle Ages or the Modern Age. And here, going a little to the side, it’s probably time to say that in general the periodization of history is still not something that you can touch with your hands, it’s still something invented. Because, maybe someday, in 100-200 years, people will say, historians will write that at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries there was a change of eras and some kind of, I don’t know what they will call it, but a fundamentally new period began . You and I don’t know this yet, we don’t feel it. People who lived at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries in Western Europe, in general, did not know that the Middle Ages at that time were moving into the New Age, because the Renaissance was also not 2 years, it was still quite a long era. The same thing, naturally, with the 18th century, and so on. So, any periodization is something artificial; in the end, it is only a certain tool that the historian creates in order to make it more convenient for him to study the past. But our heads are designed in such a way that as soon as we assimilate some kind of periodization, we learn that there were some periods, each of them had some kind of characteristic, then as soon as we said Suppose, we decide with you that The 18th century is the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages have some of their own characteristics. And immediately it’s as if a mechanism in our head turns on, a click, a toggle switch, and we seem to automatically, involuntarily, subconsciously transfer to the time we are considering these characteristics, which are written down somewhere, exist somewhere like an unwritten law. This is where the danger lies, which is why this periodization turns out to be so important. Because it seems difficult without periodization, not that it’s absolutely impossible, of course, but it’s difficult, and as soon as periodization is created, it sometimes begins to have such a negative impact.
S. BUNTMAN: We can say that there is no such clear periodization for all countries and for world history in general.
A. KAMENSKY: That’s the problem. On the one hand, we can say so, and by and large this is certainly true. Because you and I talk about Russia all the time today, but there is also Asia, Africa, and America. For example, one of our greatest Russian historians, Igor Mikhailovich Dyakonov, writes in one of his works that in fact, as he believes, And he is an orientalist by profession, and he believes that in fact, real feudalism was not in England or in France , but only in the East.
S. BUNTMAN: On the other hand, on the contrary, Academician Conrad said: “What kind of revival is there in Japan? Revival of what?
A. KAMENSKY: Absolutely right. It all just depends on the angle of view really. And, going back to the 18th century, there is another approach in science that appeared recently and was proposed by one of our colleagues. It is associated with a change in the body of sources and the nature of historical sources. A terribly seductive approach. Indeed, the body of sources is changing radically. And this seems to be such a reason to believe that yes, the 18th century is New History. But on the other hand, we understand that sources are only a secondary thing, they are a product, and written sources are a product of the same elite.
S. BUNTMAN: That is, she simply began to produce it more intensively, this product, and more diversified?
A. KAMENSKY: She diversified it, yes, but at the same time, in the same sources, numerous archaic forms dating back to previous centuries were preserved. I think there are actually two possible approaches here. One approach is actually related to what we are studying. If we are studying economic history, perhaps one approach is possible. If you and I study the history of mentality, then another is probably quite justified. And finally, it seems to me possible to connect this problem with the question of the evolution of traditional society into modern society. Traditional society with its characteristics, with the fact that the mentality of medieval society is characterized mainly by religious mythological ideas, the mentality of that time is associated with an orientation not towards scientific knowledge, but metaphysical knowledge. Consciousness is collectivistic in nature, there is no distinct personality, etc. Here is how to connect periodization with the process of evolution of traditional society into modern society. And if we try to do this, then we will probably find that, at the root, we will end up with the problem that was really the most important for Russia and which largely determined its development towards the problem of serfdom. And we will then be forced to say that this type of consciousness and this type of society in Russia is preserved, probably, at least until the 60s of the 19th century, when, as a result of the reform of Alexander II, radical changes and radical changes, first of all, actually took place in the social structure.
S. BUNTMAN: And in my opinion, the listeners are right that nothing ever disappears anywhere, and it cannot be said that the same Middle Ages, no matter how we imagine it economically or simply with swords and armor of knights or warriors, is never disappears.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, or Middle Ages, are one of the most significant stages of human history. The term "Middle Ages" was first used by Italian humanists to designate the period between classical antiquity and their time. In Russian historiography, the lower boundary of the Middle Ages is traditionally considered to be the 5th century. n. e. - the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the upper one - the 17th century, when the bourgeois revolution took place in England.

The Middle Ages period is extremely important for Western European civilization: the processes and events of that time still often determine the nature of the political, economic, and cultural development of the countries of Western Europe. Thus, it was during this period that the religious community of Europe was formed, urban culture was taking shape, new political forms were emerging, the foundations of modern science and the education system were being laid, and the ground was being prepared for the industrial revolution and the transition to an industrial society.

The development of Western European medieval society is usually divided into three stages: the early Middle Ages, the classical Middle Ages and the late Middle Ages.

The Early Middle Ages covers the period from V to XI centuries During this period of time, large-scale changes occurred in the world. During this period, the slave-owning Western Roman Empire collapsed. On its territory, new states were formed by Germanic tribes. At the same time, there is a transition from paganism to Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. The new religious system became the basis of Western civilization and maintained its unity, despite differences in the pace of development of individual countries and regions and their internal fragmentation.

In the early Middle Ages, the foundations of new production relations were laid - feudal, which were characterized by the dominance of large land property in the hands of feudal lords and the presence of small individual farms of direct producers - peasants, whom the feudal lords endowed with the main means of production - land. The form of sale of the feudal lord's land ownership was feudal rent, which was collected from peasants renting land in labor, in kind or in cash.

During the early Middle Ages, Western European peoples gradually mastered writing and laid the foundations of an original culture.

During the classical Middle Ages (XI-XV centuries) The process of formation of feudal relations is completed, all structures of feudal society reach their fullest development.

At this time, national states began to form and strengthen (England, France, Germany, etc.). The main classes took shape, and class-representative bodies—parliaments—appeared.

Agriculture continued to be the main sector of the economy, but during this period cities were actively developing, becoming the focus of handicraft production and trade. New relations undermined the foundations of feudalism, and within its depths capitalist relations gradually strengthened their capabilities.

In the late Middle Ages (XVI-early XVII centuries) The pace of economic development of European countries is increasing. This was largely due to the Great Geographical Discoveries, as a result of which colonial empires began to take shape, and treasures, gold and silver began to flow from the newly discovered lands to Europe - the Old World. All this contributed to the growth monetary wealth merchants, entrepreneurs and served as one of the sources of primitive accumulation, which led to the formation of large private capital.

In the late Middle Ages, the unity of the Catholic Church was split by the Reformation movement. A new direction is emerging in Christianity - Protestantism, which contributed most to the formation of bourgeois relations.

At the end of the Middle Ages, a pan-European culture began to take shape, based on the theory of humanism, a new culture called the Renaissance.

During the late Middle Ages, the most important idea of ​​the West took shape: an active attitude to life, the desire to understand the world around us, the desire to transform it in the interests of man.

A significant part of Europe in the 5th century. was part of a vast state - the Roman Empire, which by this period of time was in a state of deep decline. The Roman Empire found it increasingly difficult to maintain its strength and unity. The process of gradual economic, political and cultural isolation of the Roman provinces led in 395 to the division of the empire into Western and Eastern parts, which later received the name Byzantium.

The barbarian tribes bordering on its periphery posed a particular danger to the existence of the vast Roman state. The Romans called barbarians tribes and peoples alien to Roman culture.

These tribes were at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system and the beginning of the formation of a class society.

The largest ethnic groups of the tribes in contact with Rome include the Celts, Germans, and Slavs. The main areas of Celtic settlement were Northern Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain and Iceland. These tribes were conquered by Rome and constituted the Gallo-Roman or Spanish-Roman people in its territory.

Germanic tribes inhabited the territory bounded by the Rhine in the west and the Vistula in the south. At the end I century BC e. this territory was conquered by Rome, but not for long. After a series of clashes with the Germans, the Romans went on the defensive. The Rhine became the border between Rome and the territory of the Germanic tribes.

In II–III centuries n. e. There were regroupings and movements of Germanic tribes in Eastern and Central Europe, which led to an increased pressure of the Germans on the borders of the Roman Empire. At this time, the Germans were undergoing internal consolidation processes, large alliances were formed - Saxons, Franks, Visigoths and Ostrogoths, etc.

At the end IV century. Particularly intensive movements of barbarian tribes and their invasions into the territory of the Roman Empire began, usually called the Great Migration of Peoples. The Roman Empire was unable to provide effective resistance to the conquerors. After taking in 410 g. Rome by the Visigoths began the process of disintegration of the empire.

IN 418 g. The first barbarian state arose on the territory of Roman Gaul - the Visigothic kingdom. In the second half of the 5th century. The Visigoths conquered all of Gaul, as well as most of Spain. The center of the Visigothic kingdom moved to Spain.

During the resettlement of barbarian tribes in the southern and southwestern direction, 13 kingdom states were formed. On the territory of the former Roman Empire, states were formed by the Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Lambradors, etc. From the middle V in. began a massive invasion of barbarian tribes - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes - into Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic tribes of the Britons. The conquerors formed several barbarian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain.

The barbarian invasions were of utmost importance for the history of Europe. Their result was the fall of the slave-owning Roman Empire in the West. On the territory of the newly formed states, the conditions necessary for the development of new social relations and the transition to feudalism were created.

The most durable was the one educated in V in. as a result of the conquest of the Frankish state in Northern Gaul by Germanic tribes - the Franks. It was headed by the Frankish leader Clovis from the Merovingian clan (hence the name of the Merovingian dynasty). From the end 7th century. The Frankish state was ruled by representatives of a new dynasty, which, after the largest of its representatives - Charlemagne - was called the Carolingian dynasty.

During the reign of the Carolingians, the formation of the feudal system among the Franks was completed. TO 800 g. under the rule of King Charlemagne there was a vast territory inhabited by many peoples. In size it was close to the collapsed Western Roman Empire. However, his descendants failed to keep the empire unified. IN 843 g. An agreement was concluded in Verdun to divide the empire into three parts. The Treaty of Verdun became the basis for the formation of three future European states - Germany, France and Italy.

The Frankish tribal union formed in III in. in the lower reaches of the Rhine. Clovis, third member of the Merovingian dynasty extended his power to all Franks. He captured Soissons and all of Northern Gaul up to the Loire River.

IN 496 g. Clovis and his retinue accept Christianity, establishing friendly relations with the Pope.

The government structure under the Merovingians was relatively primitive. The court remained popular, the army consisted of the militia of all free Franks and the royal squad.

The king's position was strong, the throne was inherited. The royal court was in charge of administrative affairs. In the spring and autumn, meetings of the nobility were held, at which published legislative acts and new laws were announced. The basic laws and codes of law were barbarian truths, written down at different times by order of the kings. The administration of regions and districts was carried out with the help of counts and centurions, whose main duty was to collect taxes, fines and duties into the royal treasury.

In the places of Frankish settlements, counties and hundreds were created on the basis of the German military and judicial organization in Central and Southern Gaul? based on the Roman provincial system.

In the social structure of the Franks, clan ties also played an important role. The free Frank was a member of the clan, enjoyed its patronage and was responsible for the members of the clan. The accused was responsible for crimes not to the state, but to the victim and his relatives. For the murder of a member of another family, all relatives of the killer up to the third generation of kinship on the paternal and maternal lines were financially responsible. On the other hand, a member of the clan had the right to receive a share of the vira for the murder of a relative and to participate in the inheritance of the property of deceased relatives. Movable property was inherited by men and women, land? only by men.

Allod design? freely alienable land ownership? accelerated property inheritance among the free Franks and the formation of large landownership.

Free Frankish peasants went bankrupt, lost land property and, becoming dependent on the propertied, began to be subjected to feudal exploitation.

Large landed property existed even before the conquest of Gaul. The king, having appropriated the lands of the Roman fiscal and undivided communal estates, distributed them as property to his associates and the church. But the growth of large land ownership occurs mainly due to the appropriation of the lands of impoverished social activists.

Large landowners had complete power over their slaves and dependent community members. The magnates themselves created the judicial-administrative apparatus and started their own military squads. The nobility did not want to obey the king and share with him the rent collected from the population, and often rebelled against the restoration king. The royal power could not cope with the magnates and made concessions to them. Royal lands were distributed or stolen by the nobility, and unrest continued in the state.

The last kings of the Merovingian dynasty lost all real power, retaining only the title. They were disparagingly called lazy kings. In fact, power passed to the mayors, who controlled the collection of taxes, royal property and commanded the army. Having real power, the mayors disposed of the royal throne, erected and removed kings.

Being large landowners, they relied on the local nobility. But in a state fragmented into appanages there was no single mayor-domo. Each of the three regions was ruled by its own mayor, who had hereditary power.

In 687, the Austrian majordomo Pitius of Geristal defeated his rivals and began to rule the entire Frankish state. Pitius pursued an active aggressive policy and was able to suppress the resistance of the nobility. Later, the dynasty he founded began to be called the Carolingians, named after Charlemagne, the most prominent Frankish king.

The Frankish state reached its greatest power under Charlemagne (768–814).

He pursued a policy of conquest with the goal of creating a world empire. In 774 he made a trip to Italy.

In 774 Charlemagne conquered the Lombards, and in 882 Saxony was conquered. In 778, Charles abolished the Duchy of Bavaria and incorporated it into the Kingdom.

The conquest of vast territories greatly expanded the borders of the Frankish state. They now extended from the Ebro River and Barcelona to the Elbe and the Baltic coast, from the English Channel to the Middle Danube and the Adriatic, including almost all of Italy and part of the Balkan Peninsula. Charlemagne did not want to be content with the title of King of the Franks, but laid claim to the title of universal monarch, “Emperor of the Romans.”

In 800, Pope Leo III crowned him in the Lateran Church with the crown of the “Roman Emperors.” Charles hoped that he could use the imperial title to enhance his international prestige.

The population of the empire was subordinate to royal servants and performed various kinds of duties. The entire territory of the state was divided into counties, headed by royal commissioners? graphs. The counties were divided into hundreds, the heads of which, the centecaries, were appointed by the royal court.

In the conquered border areas, Charlemagne created marches - fortified military-administrative districts that served as outposts for attacks on neighboring countries and defense organizations. The margraves, who headed the marks, had broad judicial, administrative and military powers. At their disposal was a constant no less important influence on the evolution of the early feudal Frankish state, the military force of the vassalage. By the end of the 8th century. ? beginning of the 9th century Vassal-personal relations spread throughout the military organization and political system.

Royal vassals began to be appointed to government positions. At first, it even strengthened the state system. Vassals, bound to the king by conditional possessions and personal oath, served more reliably than independent masters. But soon the vassals began to turn their benefices into hereditary possessions and refused to perform permanent service for them.

Created as a result of the conquest of weak tribes and nationalities by the Thracians, the empire was a fragile state formation and collapsed soon after the death of its founder.

The reasons for its collapse were the lack of economic and ethnic unity and the growing power of large feudal lords. The forced unification of ethnically alien peoples could only be maintained under a strong central government.

Already during the life of Charlemagne, symptoms of its decline began to emerge: the centralized control system began to degenerate into a personal seigneurial one, and the counts began to fall out of obedience. Separatism intensified on the outskirts.

The royal power was deprived of the previous political support from the feudal nobility and did not have sufficient funds to continue the policy of conquest and even to retain the captured territories. The free population was subjected to enslavement or fell into land dependence on the feudal lords and did not fulfill the previous state, natural and military duties. Thus, the king was deprived of material resources and military strength, while the feudal lords expanded their possessions and created their own troops from vassals. All this inevitably led to the collapse of the empire and feudal fragmentation.

In 817, at the request of the grandchildren of Charlemagne, the first division was made. But ambitions remained unsatisfied, and a period of internecine wars began.

In 843, an agreement was concluded in Verdun on the division of Charlemagne's Empire between his grandchildren? Lothair (France and Northern Italy), Louis the German (East Frankish state) and Charles the Bald (West Frankish state).

By the beginning of the 10th century. the imperial title lost its meaning and disappeared.

The thousand-year history of Byzantium had its ups and downs, its revival and extinction. Until the 7th century. The Eastern Roman Empire remained one of the most powerful states in the world. Meanwhile, already in the 5th century. she had to face barbarians. The first were the Goths and Isaurians (a wild Asia Minor tribe). In the second half of the 5th century. The Isaurian Zeno even became emperor of Byzantium. From the north, the empire was disturbed by the Bulgarians, Huns and Slavs, and from the east, it was threatened by the strong Persian power of the Sassanids. However, Byzantium had the strength not only to resist attacks, but also to expand in the middle of the 6th century. borders due to the reconquest of “Roman” territories in North Africa, Italy and Spain from the Germans. The empire retained the features of late antique society and state. The emperors considered themselves followers of the Roman Caesars, and the Senate and State Council were preserved. Even the least well-born could still “get out into the world.” Emperors Justin and Justinian the Great were peasants. Dissatisfaction with the government led to uprisings. The plebs took advantage of the distribution of free bread. As in Rome, there were traditional spectacles in Constantinople - gladiator fights and chariot races. But with the spread of Christianity, attitudes towards spectacles began to change. Gladiatorial combats were banned under pressure from Christians, and circuses were increasingly used as public stands. Roman law remained the most important element of Byzantine economic life. Under Justinian the Great, the codification of laws was undertaken, which led to the creation of a legal framework for regulating property relations. In a certain sense, Byzantium of that period can be considered a legal state of the Middle Ages.

In the 7th–9th centuries. The Byzantine Empire was experiencing a deep crisis. The Arabs attacked Constantinople from the sea. For more than half a century, the brave warriors of Islam haunted Byzantium. The entire 8th century. took place in the wars with the Bulgarians. The Eastern Roman Empire remained an empire in name only. But civilization resisted the onslaught of barbarians. Constantinople officials tried to establish governance and divided the country into regions - themes - with strong civil and military authority of the strategists. But this only complicated the situation: the semi-barbarian themes did not want to obey Constantinople and rebelled. In addition, the empire was agitated by an iconoclastic movement within Christianity that lasted more than 100 years. The Troubles led to the fact that all laws were violated, monasteries were abandoned, and the university was burned. In the 9th century. The Christian movement "Paulicians" was born - followers of the elder Constantine, who preached the New Testament with the messages of the Apostle Paul. In the middle of the 9th century. The Paulicians marched across Asia Minor with weapons in their hands, exterminating the infidels. Emperor Basil I defeated the Paulicians, but accepted many of their demands. From this time on, the revival of civilization and Greek learning began.

End of the 9th century marked the restoration of the empire: the state again began to regulate relations between citizens; Basil I reissued the laws of Justinian; a strong army was created and the role of the military nobility was strengthened; the revival of ancient sciences and arts began; cities and crafts were restored; The church rose to unprecedented heights. There were also significant changes in the social system of Byzantium. A strictly centralized state began to play a huge role. The special role of state principles received theoretical justification, which contributed to the formation of the specific mentality of the Byzantines. It was believed that along with the one God, the one true faith and the one true church, there should also be a single Christian empire. Imperial power acquired sacred (sacred) functions, for by its very existence it ensured the salvation of the human race. It was a complex of a kind of messianic ideas, where the role of the messiah, the savior, was assigned to the empire.

The fullness of legislative, executive, and judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor. In fact, the emperor also ruled the church, appointing and dismissing patriarchs. The emperor relied on a bureaucracy and a strictly hierarchical state apparatus. Autocracy was born - the sole power of the emperor, sanctified by the church.

The relationship between society and government was built on the principles of citizenship. The social system was corporate in nature. Corporations of artisans and traders were completely dependent on the state. The neighboring peasant community was the supreme owner of the land and was responsible to the state for paying taxes. Thus, the Byzantine Empire acquired the features of a traditionally eastern state.

In the middle of the 11th century. The Great Steppe spilled out from its womb a new wave of warlike nomads. An avalanche of Turks on horseback swept across the plains of Persia and poured across the Byzantine borders. In the first decisive clash in 1071 at Manzikert, the Roman army was defeated. After this, the Seljuk Turks occupied almost all of Asia Minor, as well as Syria and Palestine - the Holy Land. The military nobility of Byzantium rebelled and placed their leader Alexios I Komnenos on the throne. Unable to withstand the pressure of the victorious Turks, the emperor turned to Western Christians for help. Back in 1054, the church split into two parts - Catholicism and Orthodoxy, but under the pressure of Muslims, Christians temporarily forgot their mutual grievances. Emperor Alexei I Komnenos managed to cope with the enemies pressing on all sides. Together with the crusading warriors, Byzantium began to conquer territories in Asia Minor. During the 12th century. The empire wages numerous wars, trying to regain Southern Italy, and seizes the Balkan countries. However, by the end of the 12th century. Byzantium weakens and loses Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, territories in Greece and Asia Minor. The Crusades began in 1096, and by the beginning of the 13th century. internal peace among Christians came to an end. Rich Byzantium has always attracted Western European knights, who looked at it with feelings of envy, contempt and discontent. The defeat of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 reflected their true feelings. The Frankish knights divided the country among themselves, but could not get along peacefully and were constantly at war. In 1261, the Greeks managed to take possession of what was left of Constantinople, and their leader Michael VIII Palaiologos became emperor, but his power extended little beyond the dilapidated walls of “New Rome”. Around the city during the XIII-XIV centuries. Bulgarians and Turks ruled.

By the beginning of the 14th century. The Turks created a powerful state. The rapidly emerging Muslim civilization captured Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. By the middle of the 14th century. Asia Minor was captured. The Balkan states, weakened by internal strife, were captured one by one.

On May 29, 1453, the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople by storm. Byzantium fell. This ended the centuries-old history of Byzantium. With the establishment of Turkish rule in the Balkans, the peoples of the peninsula found themselves in an oppressed position, since the conquerors and the subordinates were divided by ethnic origins and religious beliefs. The confrontation between the “Cross and the Crescent” results in a series of endless wars between European Christian countries and the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

The Eastern Roman Empire perished at a time when Western Europe switched to a progressive path of development. The classical principles of Byzantine civilization had a significant influence on Russian cultural and political traditions, and, during the Renaissance, on European artistic creativity.

After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire in 843, the eastern border of France, separating it from Germany and Italy, passed mainly along large rivers: along the lower reaches of the Meuse, along the Moselle and Rhone. Neustria and the northwestern part of the former Burgundy - the Duchy of Burgundy - remained under the rule of the last Carolingians in France.

Fierce wars were fought between the German and French Carolingians. The raids of the northern tribes - the Normans - brought many disasters.

Within the country there was a struggle for political dominance between the influential Parisian counts (Robertins) and the last Carolingians. In 987, the Robertins won a victory, electing Hugh Capet as their king, with whom the Capetian dynasty began in France.

In the 10th century In the Kingdom of France, the socio-economic processes that led to the establishment of feudal relations were completed, and the long process of merging heterogeneous ethnic elements ended. On the basis of the Gallo-Roman people who mixed with the Germans, new feudal peoples emerged - northern French and Provencal. These nationalities formed the core of the future French nation.

In the 10th century the country acquired its modern name. It began to be called not Gaul or the Frankish kingdom, but France (after the name of the region around Paris - Ile-de-France).

In the territory occupied by the Northern French people, several large feudal estates were formed. Almost the entire coast of the English Channel was occupied by the Duchy of Normandy. The Normans who founded it quickly adopted the language of the northern French people and the French feudal order. The Normans managed to expand their possessions along the English Channel coast to Brittany in the west and almost to the Somme in the east, also subjugating the County of Maine.

Along the middle and lower reaches of the Laura were the counties of Blois, Touraine and Anjou, and somewhat to the south - Poitou. The lands of the Capetians (royal court) were centered around Paris and Orleans. To the east of them lay the County of Champagne, to the southeast was the Duchy of Burgundy.

In the extreme north-west was Brittany with a Celtic population, in the extreme north-east was the County of Flanders. On the territory of the Provencal people there was the Duchy of Aquitaine, adjacent to the Duchy of Gascony.

The Kingdom of France also included the County of Barcelona and a number of other counties and lands.

The French kingdom was hierarchical, headed by a king. But the large feudal lords - dukes and counts, although considered vassals of the king, were almost independent. The first kings of the Capetian house were not much different from the major feudal lords. They accumulated land holdings slowly, drawing income mainly from their own estates.

Feudal relations developed in the Kingdom of France. The land was in the hands of the owners - lords, the peasants bore various duties in favor of the lords, and were dependent on the owners of the land. Dependent peasants (servas) were obliged to work for the lord: to work off the field corvee, to pay dues in kind and in cash. The lords were also paid other duties and taxes.

Some peasants retained personal freedom (villans), but at the same time were in land, and sometimes in judicial dependence on the feudal lord.

The duties in favor of the lord were constantly growing. The peasants paid an additional fee to the landowner for the use of forests, waters, and meadows. The lords were paid market, bridge, ferry, road and other duties.

Extortions from feudal lords and constant feudal wars, which ruined the economy, made the life of the peasants extremely difficult.

The peasants resisted feudal exploitation in every possible way. Rebellions broke out in various regions of the kingdom. This forced the feudal lords to look for ways to overcome social differences. The lords agreed to reduce feudal rent. They provided peasants with more time and opportunities to work on their personal farms and strengthened their rights to an inherited plot. These measures contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the rights of peasants and thereby created conditions for more rapid development of productive forces in feudal society.

In the Middle Ages, Italy was not a single state; three main regions historically developed here - Northern, Central and Southern Italy, which in turn broke up into separate feudal states. Each region retained its own distinctive features, resulting from the peculiarities of the economic, political and geographical conditions of individual parts of the Apennine Peninsula.

Most of Northern Italy was occupied by Lombardy - the fertile valley of the Po River, which from the VI-VIII centuries. was under the rule of German tribes - the Lombards (hence its name - Lombardy), and from the 8th century. became part of the Carolingian Empire. A significant part of Central Italy was occupied by the Papal States, the secular state of the popes with its center in Rome. To the north of the pope's domain lay the Duchy of Tuscany. Northern and Central Italy after the Treaty of Verdun in 843 formally became an independent single kingdom led by a king. But the power of individual feudal lords in this area was also significant.

Southern Italy and the island of Sicily until the end of the 11th century. were also fragmented into separate fiefs and often passed from one conqueror to another. For a long time, large parts of the south of the country - Apulia, Calabria, Naples and Sicily - were Byzantine provinces. In the 9th century new conquerors invade here - the Arabs, who took possession of all of Sicily and formed an emirate there with its center in Palermo. At the beginning of the 16th century. These lands were conquered by the Normans and founded the Kingdom of Sicily here.

The diversity of the political map of Italy complicated the development of feudal relations. In Northern Italy, the processes of feudalization occurred more slowly than in other regions. The Frankish conquest accelerated these processes.

Church land ownership played a very important role in Italy, especially in its middle part.

In the south of Italy and Sicily, slave-owning systems persisted for a long time, which caused a significant lag in the feudalization of these areas.

The formation of feudal relations led to an increase in productive forces in agriculture. The favorable geographical position of the Italian lands intensified trade here, the development of commodity-money relations and contributed to the accelerated separation of crafts from agriculture. The result of this was the growth of cities. They arose in Italy earlier than in other European countries. Particularly significant was the growth of cities conducting intermediary trade between Western and Eastern countries. The early development of cities in Italy led to their early liberation from the power of feudal lords. Since the 10th century. As a result of the struggle of cities with lords, in some cities self-governing urban communities (comunes) arise, many of which by the end of the 11th century. become independent city republics (Milan, Piacenza, Verona, Parma, Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Lucca, Siena, etc.).

In 962, the Italian lands fell into the dependence of the German king Otto I, who launched a campaign against Rome, captured it, was crowned with the imperial crown and proclaimed the creation of a new Roman Empire, which included Germany and a significant part of Italy. It's artificial political education, which had neither a common economic base nor ethnic unity, caused innumerable disasters for Italy over many centuries of its history.

In the 9th century The papacy was in a state of extreme decline. After the campaign of Otto I, the popes came under the control of the German emperors, who began to place persons they liked on the papal throne. Such a papacy supported the idea of ​​​​creating a strong Roman Empire led by German kings, which played a reactionary role in relation to the Italian people.

However, despite these difficult conditions, in the 9th-11th centuries. In Italy, the process of formation of the Italian nationality began. It was born in a difficult and lengthy struggle with foreign invaders, but was not destroyed by numerous conquests. On the contrary, the conquerors assimilated the local population, adopted the language of the Italian people, which was based on Latin, and their high culture, which had been created over centuries.

After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, secured by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the formation of an early feudal state in Germany began. By the beginning of the 10th century. On the territory of Germany there were duchies: Saxony and Thuringia (in Northern Germany), Franconia along the middle reaches of the Rhine, Swabia (along the upper reaches of the Danube and Rhine) and Bavaria (along the middle reaches of the Danube). The dukes, turning into large feudal landowners, used their position as tribal leaders to strengthen their power. This led to the preservation of tribal disunity, which hampered the historical development of Germany.

In 911, after the Carolingian dynasty ended in Germany, one of the tribal dukes, Conrad I of Franconia, was elected king. After his death, a struggle for power developed between the tribal dukes, as a result of which two kings were elected at once - Henry of Saxony and Arnulf of Bavaria. But the objective prerequisites for strengthening central royal power in Germany already existed. On the one hand, the process of feudalization in the country was making progress; its further strengthening required strong royal power. On the other hand, the political unification of Germany was necessary in the face of external danger. From the end of the 9th century. Germany became the object of attention of the Normans, and from the beginning of the 10th century. - Hungarians who settled in Pannonia.

Objective prerequisites for strengthening royal power in Germany were used by the kings of the Saxon dynasty, under whose first representatives - Henry I and Otto I - the German early feudal state actually emerged. True, the tribal dukes resisted the unification processes in every possible way.

To curb the separatism of the tribal dukes and strengthen the authority of the central government, Otto I began to rely on large church feudal lords - bishops and abbots, who, unlike secular magnates, did not have hereditary rights to their possessions. Church property was under the supreme protection of the king. Therefore, the king tried in every possible way to increase the rights of church institutions at the expense of secular magnates. Higher church dignitaries were recruited by the king to perform administrative, diplomatic, military, and public service. This church organization, placed at the service of royal power and being its main support, received the name in literature of the imperial church (Reichs-kirche).

The church policy of Otto I found its logical conclusion in the desire of royal power to establish control over the papacy, which stood at the head of the Roman church. The subjugation of the papacy was closely connected with plans for the conquest of Italy and the revival of some semblance of the empire of Charlemagne. The ambitious plans of Otto I were realized. He managed to conquer the scattered Italian principalities. At the beginning of 962, the pope crowned Otto I in Rome with the imperial crown. Before this, Otto I, by a special treaty, recognized the pope's claims to secular possessions in Italy, but the German emperor was proclaimed the supreme lord of these possessions. A mandatory oath of the pope to the emperor was introduced, which was an expression of the papacy's subordination to the empire. Thus, in 962, the medieval German Empire arose (later it received the name of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation) led by the German emperor, which included, in addition to Germany, Northern and a significant part of Central Italy, some Slavic lands, as well as part of Southern and Southeastern France. In the first half of the 11th century. The Kingdom of Burgundy was annexed to the empire.

The expansionist policy of the German kings led to a waste of strength and was an obstacle to the formation of the German national state. Large church feudal lords, who found themselves masters of vast territories, like secular magnates, are increasingly becoming in opposition to the central government and are actively developing separatist processes in the country.

In the 19th century central state power in Germany weakens, and a long period of feudal fragmentation begins.

On the territory of Britain, conquered by the Anglo-Saxons in the period from the second half of the 5th to the beginning of the 7th century, several barbarian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed: Kent - in the extreme southeast, founded by the Jutes; Wessex, Sussex - in the southern and south-eastern parts of the island, Northumbria - in the north and Mercia - in the center of the country, founded by the Angles.

The main population of the island, the Britons, offered stubborn resistance to the conquerors. But the Briton tribes were pushed back by the conquerors to the northern and western mountainous regions (Scotland, Wales and Cornwall). Many Britons died in battles with Germanic tribes, others mixed with the newcomers. Many Britons moved to the mainland - to Northwestern Gaul (France). The name of the province of France - Brittany - came from the Britons.

The entire conquered part of Britain was subsequently called England, and its inhabitants - Anglo-Saxons.

The formation of the feudal system in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had some peculiarities. The most important of them are the relative stability of communal orders, the relatively slow process of the disappearance of the free peasantry and the formation of large feudal landownership. These features were due to the relatively weak Romanization of Britain and the destructive nature of the Anglo-Saxon conquest. The Angles and Saxons were at the stage of development of the destruction of tribal ties, therefore the development of feudal relations among them proceeded through the internal evolution of the decaying primitive communal system.

The predominant occupation of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain was agriculture. The basis of Anglo-Saxon society was made up of free communal peasants - curls, who owned significant areas of arable land. The preservation of a strong community strengthened the strength of free peasants and slowed down the entire process of feudalization.

The beginning of this process among the Anglo-Saxons dates back to the 7th century. By this time, property inequality among the curls had become noticeable and the disintegration of the community began. From the 7th century The practice of royal land grants, formalized by special charters, is also spreading. The granted land was called bokland (from the Anglo-Sansconian words boc - “charter” and land - “land”). With the advent of Bockland in England, the development of large feudal landownership began. The ruined community members became dependent on large landowners.

The stability of the community and the free peasantry in England led to a particularly large role for royal power in the process of feudalization. The church also contributed in every possible way to this process. The Christian religion, which the Anglo-Saxons began to embrace in the 6th century, met the interests of the ruling stratum of Anglo-Saxon society, as it strengthened royal power and the landowning nobility grouped around it. The kings actively supported the clergy and donated land to the churches. The Church, in turn, encouraged the development of private ownership of land and in every possible way justified the growing dependence of the peasants.

In the 7th–8th centuries. England was not politically united; each region was ruled by an independent king. There was constant struggle between the individual Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. From the beginning of the 9th century. political dominance passed to Wessex. Under King Egbert of Wessex in 829, all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms united into one early feudal state.

This unification was due not only to internal, but also to foreign policy reasons. From the end of the 8th century. The devastating raids of the Normans, mainly Danes, on England began.

An important stage in the development of the Anglo-Saxon feudal state was the reign of King Alfred, who managed to provide worthy resistance to the Danes. Under Alfred, a collection of laws, “King Alfred’s Truth,” was compiled, which reflected the new feudal order established in the country.

Danish raids resumed at the end of the 10th century. The power of the Danish kings was re-established in England. The Danish King Canute especially tried to strengthen his power over England. The unpopularity of Danish rule over England was especially evident under the sons of Cnut. Danish rule soon fell, and the English throne again passed to the king from the Wessex dynasty.

The transition from a slave system to a feudal system was accompanied by fundamental changes in the cultural life of Western European society. The ancient, mainly secular culture was replaced by a medieval culture, which was characterized by the dominance of religious views.

The deep crisis of late antique society contributed to the strengthening of the role of Christianity, which became in the 4th century. state religion and has an increasing influence on the ideological and spiritual life of feudal society. Church doctrine was the starting point and basis of all thinking. Jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy - all the content of these sciences was brought into conformity with the teachings of the church. Religion became at the center of the entire sociocultural process, subordinating and regulating its main spheres.

Spiritual hymns, liturgical plays, and stories about the lives and miraculous deeds of saints and martyrs, popular in the earlier Middle Ages, had a great emotional impact on medieval people. In the Lives, the saint was endowed with character traits that the church wanted to cultivate in believers (patience, firmness in faith, etc.). Medieval people were persistently instilled with the idea of ​​the futility of human daring in the face of an inevitable fate. According to the church worldview, earthly “sinful” temporary life and the material nature of man were opposed to eternal “otherworldly” existence. As an ideal of behavior, the church preached humility, asceticism, strict performance of church rituals, and submission to masters.

The growth of the influence of Christianity was impossible without the spread of writing, necessary for Christian worship, based on church books. Correspondence of such books was carried out at monasteries. There were also centers for the dissemination of knowledge - schools.

In the hierarchy of spheres of medieval culture, theology (theology) had undisputed leadership. Theology played a large role in protecting official church doctrine from numerous heresies (from the Greek hairesis - “special doctrine”), the emergence of which dates back to the early Middle Ages and without which it is impossible to imagine the socio-cultural situation of that time. Among the most common heretical ideas stood out: Monophysitism (denial of the doctrine of the dual divine-human nature of Christ); non-Stroianism (proved the position of the “independently existing” human nature of Christ); Adoptian heresy, which was based on the idea that God adopted the human son Christ.

Philosophy, designed to provide evidence of the truth of the Christian faith, occupied a prominent place in the hierarchy of spheres of medieval culture. The remaining sciences (astronomy, geometry, history, etc.) were subordinated to philosophy.

Artistic creativity was strongly influenced by the church. The medieval artist was called upon to depict only the perfection of the world order. Western Europe during the early Middle Ages was characterized by the Romanesque style. Thus, buildings of the Romanesque style are distinguished by their massive forms, narrow window openings, and significant height of the towers. The temple buildings of the Romanesque style were also massive; they were decorated with frescoes on the inside and reliefs on the outside.

Romanesque painting and sculpture are characterized by a flat two-dimensional image, generalized forms, violation of proportions in the depiction of figures, and lack of portrait resemblance to the original.

By the end of the 16th century. The Romanesque style gives way to the Gothic, which is characterized by slender columns soaring upward and huge windows stretched upward, decorated with stained glass. The general plan of Gothic churches is based on the shape of a Latin cross. These were the Gothic cathedrals in Paris, Chartres, and Bourges (France). In England, these are Westminster Abbey in London, the cathedrals in Salisbury, York, etc. In Germany, the transition to Gothic was slower than in France and England. The first Gothic church was the church in Lübeck.

An important element of the culture of this time was folk art: folk tales, epic works.

Europe in the early Middle Ages was the territory of barbarian states. Movements of barbarian tribes and their attacks on Roman possessions were commonplace. The Roman Empire at one time restrained this process, but at the end of the 4th century. the great migration of peoples began to be uncontrollable.

The main reason for these movements was the growth of the population of barbarian tribes, caused by an increase in living standards due to the intensification of agriculture and the transition to permanent settlement. Barbarian tribes sought to seize the fertile lands of the Roman Empire and create permanent settlements on them.

The Visigoths were the first to move into the Roman Empire (at the beginning of the 3rd century BC). In the battle of Afianopolis (387), the Goths were victorious and Emperor Valentine was killed.

In 405–407 Italy was invaded by Suebi, Vandals and Alans under the leadership of Radagais.

In 410, Visigoth tribes under the command of Amearikh invaded Rome. The Eternal City was monstrously plundered.

The Visigoths captured the southwestern part of Gaul and founded their kingdom there with its capital at Toulouse (419). Essentially it was the first independent state on Roman territory.

In the 3rd century. Vandals moved from the depths of Germany to the Middle Danube. Under the onslaught of the Huns, they moved to the West, invaded Gaul, and then? to Spain. Soon the kingdom of the Vandals was formed with its capital in Carthage (439). The Vandal kingdom was conquered in 534 by the Eastern Roman Empire.

East German Burgundian tribe in the 4th century. moved to the Middle Rhine and founded his kingdom in the Vorlev region, which was defeated by the Huns. Later, the Burgundians occupied the entire Upper and Middle Rhone and in 457 founded a new kingdom with its capital in Lyon. Settlement among the Halo-Romans contributed to the decomposition of social-clan relations among the Burgundians and the growth of social differentiation. In 534, the Burgundian kingdom was conquered by the Franks.

In 451 the Huns, led by Atilla, invaded Gaul. The common danger forced the Western Roman Empire and the barbarian peoples to join forces. The decisive battle, nicknamed the Battle of the Nations, took place on the Catalaunian fields. An allied army consisting of the Romans, Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians, under the command of the Roman commander Aetius, defeated the Huns.

Despite the loss of almost all of its provinces, the Western Roman Empire still formally continued to exist. The imperial court had long been located not in Rome, but in Ravenia, and the affairs of the empire were actually managed by barbarian military leaders. In 476, the military leader Odoacer usurped power and became the de facto ruler of Italy and Rome. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist.

In 493, Odoacer concluded an agreement on the division of the territory of the empire with the Visigoth leader Theodoric, after which he was killed.

In 546, the Lombards invaded Italy. Gradually, the Lombards conquered most of Italy; the north of the country belonged to them.

The conquest of the Roman provinces and the settlement of barbarians among the Romanesque population, who lived in a more developed society, accelerated the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of early feudal relations among the barbarian peoples. On the other hand, barbarian conquests accelerated the decomposition of slaveholding relations and the formation of the feudal system in Roman society. At the same time, they created the preconditions for the Romano-Germanic synthesis.

The conquests were accompanied by a process of redistribution of land property. The senatorial nobility, the elite of the curials and the clergy remained the major owners. Kings, old tribal nobility and royal warriors appropriated a significant share of the conquered land. Allotment land turned into property, and this led to property inequality among community members and to the establishment of land and personal dependence.

The barbarian kingdoms inherited, to one degree or another, the Roman territorial and administrative system, and they tried to extend it to the German population. Did new Romanesque peoples begin to emerge in Western Europe? Italian, Spanish, Franco-Roman, in which the Germans were absorbed into the Roman-Celtic population.

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban III called for a crusade to rescue holy places from the yoke of the Saracens (Arabs and Seljuk Turks). The first echelon of crusaders consisted of peasants and poor townspeople, led by the preacher Peter of Amiens. In 1096 they arrived in Constantinople and, without waiting for the knightly army to approach, crossed over to Asia Minor. There, the poorly armed and even worse trained militia of Peter of Amiens was easily defeated by the Turks. In the spring of 1097, detachments of crusading knights concentrated in the capital of Byzantium. Main role The feudal lords of Southern France played in the First Crusade: Count Raymond of Toulouse, Count Robert of Flanders, son of the Norman Duke William (future conqueror of England) Robert, Bishop Adhemar.

The main problem of the crusaders was the lack of a unified command. The dukes and counts participating in the campaign did not have a common overlord and did not want to obey each other, considering themselves no less noble and powerful than their colleagues. Godfrey of Bouillon was the first to cross over to the land of Asia Minor, followed by other knights. In June 1097, the crusaders took the fortress of Nicaea and moved to Cilicia.

In October 1097, Godfrey's army captured Antioch after a seven-month siege. The Sultan of Mosul tried to recapture the city, but suffered a heavy defeat. Bohemond founded another crusader state - the Principality of Antioch. In the fall of 1098, the Crusader army moved towards Jerusalem. Along the way, she captured Accra and in June 1099 approached the holy city, which was defended by Egyptian troops. Almost the entire Genoese fleet, which carried siege weapons, was destroyed by the Egyptians. However, one ship managed to break through to Laodicea. The siege engines he delivered allowed the crusaders to destroy the walls of Jerusalem.

On July 15, 1099, the crusaders took Jerusalem by storm. On August 12, a large Egyptian army landed near Jerusalem, in Ascalon, but the crusaders defeated it. Godfrey of Bouillon stood at the head of the Kingdom of Jerusalem they founded. The success of the First Crusade was facilitated by the fact that the united army of Western European knights was opposed by disparate and warring Seljuk sultanates. The most powerful Muslim state in the Mediterranean - the Egyptian Sultanate - only with great delay moved the main forces of its army and navy to Palestine, which the crusaders managed to defeat piece by piece. This reflected a clear underestimation by the Muslim rulers of the danger threatening them. For the defense of the Christian states formed in Palestine, spiritual knightly orders were created, whose members settled in the conquered lands after the bulk of the participants in the First Crusade returned to Europe. In 1119, the Order of the Templars (Knights of the Temple) was founded, a little later the Order of the Hospitallers, or Johannites, appeared, and at the end of the 12th century. The Teutonic (German) Order arose.

The Second Crusade, undertaken in 1147–1149, ended in vain. According to some estimates, up to 70 thousand people took part in it. The Crusaders were led by King Louis VII of France and German Emperor Conrad III. In October 1147, the German knights were defeated at Dorileum by the cavalry of the Iconian Sultan. Then epidemics struck Conrad's army. The emperor was forced to join the army of the French king, with whom he had previously been at enmity. Most German soldiers chose to return to their homeland. The French were defeated at Khonami in January 1148.

In 1149, Conrad and then Louis returned to Europe, realizing the impossibility of expanding the borders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In the second half of the 12th century. Saladin (Salah ad-Din), a talented commander, became the sultan of Egypt, which opposed the crusaders. He defeated the crusaders at Lake Tiberias and captured Jerusalem in 1187.

In response, the Third Crusade was proclaimed, led by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French king Philip II Augustus and the king of England, Richard I the Lionheart. While crossing one of the rivers in Asia Minor, Frederick drowned, and his army, having lost its leader, disintegrated and returned to Europe. The French and British, moving by sea, captured Sicily and then landed in Palestine, but were generally unsuccessful. True, after a siege of many months, they took the fortress of Acre, and Richard the Lionheart captured the island of Cyprus, which had recently separated from Byzantium, where he took rich booty in the East. But strife between the English and French feudal lords caused the French king to leave Palestine. Without the help of the French knights, Richard was never able to take Jerusalem. On September 2, 1192, the English king signed a peace with Salah ad-Din, according to which only the coastal strip from Tire to Jaffa remained under the control of the crusaders, and Jaffa and Ascalon were previously destroyed by the Muslims to the ground.

The Fifth Crusade was organized in 1217–1221. to conquer Egypt. It was led by King Andras II of Hungary and Duke Leopold of Austria. The crusaders of Syria greeted the newcomers from Europe without much enthusiasm. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, which had experienced a drought, found it difficult to feed tens of thousands of new soldiers, and it wanted to trade with Egypt rather than fight. Andras and Leopold raided Damascus, Nablus and Beisan, besieged, but were never able to take the strongest Muslim fortress of Tabor. After this failure, Andras returned to his homeland in January 1218. The Hungarians were replaced by Dutch knights and German infantry in Palestine in 1218. It was decided to conquer the Egyptian fortress of Damietta in the Nile Delta. It was located on an island, surrounded by three rows of walls and protected by a powerful tower, from which a bridge and thick iron chains stretched to the fortress, blocking access to Damietta from the river. The siege began on May 27, 1218. Using their ships as floating battering guns and using long assault ladders, the crusaders took possession of the tower. In mid-July, the Nile began to flood, and the crusaders’ camp was flooded, while the Muslims had prepared in advance for the rampant elements and were not harmed, and then cut off the path of retreat for Pelagius’s army. The crusaders asked for peace. At this time, the Egyptian Sultan was most afraid of the Mongols, who had already appeared in Iraq, and chose not to tempt his luck in the fight against the knights. Under the terms of the truce, the crusaders left Damietta and sailed to Europe.

Led the Sixth Crusade in 1228–1229. German Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Before the start of the campaign, the emperor himself was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX, who called him not a crusader, but a pirate who was going to “steal the kingdom in the Holy Land.” In the summer of 1228, Frederick landed in Syria. Here he managed to persuade al-Kamil, who was at war with his Syrian emirs, to return Jerusalem and other territories of the kingdom to him in exchange for help against his enemies - both Muslims and Christians. The corresponding agreement was concluded in Jaffa in February 1229. On March 18, the crusaders entered Jerusalem without a fight. Then the emperor returned to Italy, defeated the pope's army sent against him and forced Gregory, under the terms of the Peace of Saint-Germain of 1230, to lift his excommunication and recognize the treaty with the Sultan. Jerusalem, thus, passed to the crusaders only due to the threat that their army created to al-Kamil, and even thanks to the diplomatic skill of Frederick.

The Seventh Crusade took place in the fall of 1239. Frederick II refused to provide the territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem for the crusader army led by Duke Richard of Cornwall. The Crusaders landed in Syria and, at the insistence of the Templars, entered into an alliance with the emir of Damascus to fight the Sultan of Egypt, but together with the Syrians they were defeated in November 1239 in the Battle of Ascalon. Thus, the seventh campaign ended in vain.

The Eighth Crusade took place in 1248–1254. His goal again was the reconquest of Jerusalem, captured in September 1244 by Sultan al-Salih Eyyub Najm ad-Din, who was assisted by 10,000-strong Khorezmian cavalry. Almost the entire Christian population of the city was slaughtered. This time, the leading role in the crusade was played by the French king Louis IX, and the total number of crusaders was determined at 15–25 thousand people, of which 3 thousand were knights.

The Egyptians sank the Crusader fleet. Louis' army, suffering from hunger, left Mansura, but few reached Damietta. Most were destroyed or captured. The French king was also among the prisoners. Epidemics of malaria, dysentery and scurvy spread among the captives, and few of them survived. Louis was released from captivity in May 1250 for a huge ransom of 800 thousand bezants, or 200 thousand livres. Louis remained in Palestine for another four years, but without receiving reinforcements from Europe, he returned to France in April 1254.

The ninth and last crusade took place in 1270. It was caused by the successes of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars. The Egyptians defeated the Mongol troops in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. In 1265, Baybars captured the crusader fortresses of Caesarea and Arsuf, and in 1268, Jaffa and Antioch. The crusade was again led by Louis IX the Saint, and only French knights took part in it. This campaign was unsuccessful

The early Middle Ages were marked by the dominance of subsistence farming and the independence of commodity-money relations.

Everything that the feudal lord needed was produced on his estate. If there was a need for other products, then, if possible, an equivalent exchange was made.

Each feudal lord had talented artisans who could produce competitive goods. The signor sought to quickly “enslave” such people. The only chance to maintain freedom was to leave in search of a better life.

They ran away by all means. The fugitives tried to settle closer to the royal family in order to find protection. The kings did not hand over fugitives to their former masters, protecting their freedom. The monarchs were in dire need of money to fight unfaithful vassals. And the townspeople-artisans paid off the royal person in exchange for support.

Another option for urban settlements is advantageous locations with appropriate landscapes.

Progressive-minded feudal lords, not wanting to concede in any way to the king as “first among equals,” began to help the townspeople. But the symbiosis of cities and royal power turned out to be more stable and more successful.

Gradually, self-government bodies began to form in cities. In practice, this meant complete economic and, partially, political freedom. The richest citizens elected the head of the city. The meetings were held in a solemn atmosphere in the city hall.

The transition from the early feudal period to the period of developed feudalism was due to the emergence and growth of cities, which quickly became centers of craft and exchange, as well as the widespread development of commodity production. These were qualitatively new phenomena in feudal society, which had a significant impact on its economy, political system and spiritual life.

The first centuries of the Middle Ages in Western Europe were characterized by the dominance of subsistence farming. The production of agricultural products and handicrafts specifically designed for sale, that is, commodity production, was then almost undeveloped in most of Western Europe. The old Roman cities fell into decay, and the economy became agrarian. During the early Middle Ages, urban-type settlements were preserved in place of dilapidated Roman cities. But for the most part they were either administrative centers, or fortified points (fortresses - “burgs”), or church centers (residences of bishops, etc.) But the cities had not yet become the focus of crafts and trade during this period.

In the X-XI centuries. Important changes took place in the economic life of Western Europe. The growth of productive forces, which occurred in connection with the establishment of the feudal mode of production, occurred most rapidly in crafts and was expressed in the gradual change and development of technology and craft skills, the expansion and differentiation of social production. The production of handicraft products increasingly turned into a special sphere of labor activity, different from agricultural, which required further specialization of the artisan, no longer compatible with the work of the peasant.

The moment came when the transformation of craft into an independent branch of production became inevitable. In turn, progressive changes also occurred in agriculture. As tools and methods of soil cultivation in agriculture improved, the area of ​​cultivated land increased. Not only agriculture, but also cattle breeding, gardening, etc. developed and improved. As a result of all these changes, the volume of products produced in the rural sector increased. This made it possible to exchange it for handicrafts.

In the process of separation from agriculture, crafts went through a number of stages in their development. At first, craft appeared in the form of producing products to order from the consumer. Commodity production was still in its infancy. Subsequently, as handicraft production developed, it was focused not only on a specific customer, but on the market. The artisan becomes a commodity producer. Commodity production and commodity relations begin to emerge, and exchange between city and countryside appears.

A characteristic feature of medieval craft in Western Europe was its guild organization - the unification of artisans of a certain profession within a given city into special unions - guilds, craft guilds. The guilds appeared simultaneously with the cities themselves in the 10th-12th centuries. The final registration of the guilds (receipt of special charters from kings and other lords, drawing up and recording of guild charters) occurred later.

The number of workshops increased with the growth of the division of labor. In most cities, belonging to a guild was a prerequisite for practicing a craft, i.e., a guild monopoly was established for this type of craft. This eliminated the possibility of competition from artisans who were not part of the workshop, which, in conditions of a narrow market and insignificant demand, was dangerous for manufacturers.

The main function of the guilds was to establish control over the production and sale of handicrafts. The members of the workshop were interested in ensuring that their products were sold. Therefore, in the workshop organization the process of producing products of a certain type and quality was regulated. The guilds, despite the fact that they limited competition, played a progressive role and contributed to the improvement of tools and craft skills.

The political unification of the countries of Europe, in particular England and France, took place over a long period and was accompanied by wars, both internecine, within these countries and between England and France. The most difficult and longest war between them was the Hundred Years' War, which began in 1337 and ended in 1453. This war took place on the territory of France, where England had its possessions in the southwestern part of France and in the north - the port city of Calais on the coast English Channel.

During the bloody wars, France was united under the rule of the king with the simultaneous liberation of territories captured by the British. The final victory over feudal fragmentation in France is associated with the name of King Louis XI.

The most dangerous rival of Louis XI and the main obstacle to the creation of a strong centralized state was the Duchy of Burgundy - the last major seigneurial possession in France. Its rulers often acted independently of the king. The subjugation of this duchy led to the completion of the process of unification of France. By the end of the reign of Louis XI, only the port city of Calais and the Duchy of Brittany remained outside the king's possessions. By the end of the fifteenth century. in France, thanks to the firm royal power, the unification of many previously isolated regions into one country, a state, was completed. From these times onwards, the population began to consider themselves French, and common characteristics developed for the whole country. French and French culture.

The situation in England after the defeat in the Hundred Years' War was in many ways reminiscent of the situation in France at the beginning of the 15th century. During the reign of King Henry VI, England found itself at the mercy of rival noble families. This rivalry resulted in the Thirty Years' Civil War (1455–1485). This war was called the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, based on the images on the coats of arms of the opponents. As a result of the long war, many representatives of English dynasties and noble families died. It cleared the way for the restoration of strong power under the new king Henry VII Tudor, who came to power in 1485.

As for other state formations of Western Europe - Germany and Italy, they were in the X-XI centuries. were united into one state - the Holy Roman Empire. It was ruled by German emperors, who were crowned in Rome by the head of the Catholic Church - the pope. During a long period of internecine wars, this Empire broke up into many independent principalities, kingdoms, city-republics and the Papal States.

After the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, there was no strong government in Germany. There was a constant struggle for the throne; power did not always pass from father to son. Germany did not have a single capital, a single government, or a single monetary system.

In the middle of the 14th century. Charles IV became the next king and head of Germany. From his father he also inherited the Czech crown. But he failed to unite the country; moreover, he recognized the independence of the princes and their right to war among themselves.

In Italy, after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, many independent small states were also formed - city-republics, kingdoms and the Papal States centered in Rome.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Siena experienced rapid prosperity. The main role in these city-states was played by merchants and artisans. The most numerous were the communities of artisans and merchants - guilds and guilds. It was in these areas that the active accumulation of wealth and capital took place. Many Italian cities were centers of science and culture. Universities were founded in Padua, Pisa, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Rome and other cities.

Italian city-states were governed by councils of rich and noble citizens. Kings ruled only in the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples in southern Italy. The city-states protected their independence with the help of special military detachments. Many Italian city-states became centers of Renaissance culture.

From HP c. In France, the process of state centralization begins. The royal power began to wage a more active fight against feudal anarchy, which was undermining the country's productive forces. The centralizing policy of the kings was supported by the cities, which fought against large feudal lords and were interested in weakening their influence. The kings skillfully used and incited this struggle.

But the French kings had strong rivals. In 1154, one of the French feudal lords, Count of Anjou Henry Plantagenet, became king of England. His possessions in France (Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Normandy, Poitou, etc.) were several times greater than those of the French king.

The rivalry between the Capetians and Plantagenets especially flared up under Philip II Augustus. He achieved his greatest successes in the fight against the English king John the Landless, declaring his possessions in France confiscated and conquering Normandy.

The strengthening of royal power also occurred during the reign of Louis IX, during which this process was consolidated by a number of important reforms. A unified monetary system was introduced in the royal domain. This contributed to the economic unity of the country. Louis IX carried out judicial reform. Court chambers were formed in the country, which became known as parliaments. The main parliament was located in Paris, which became the capital of France.

The last representative of the Capetian dynasty, King Philip IX the Fair, made a lot of efforts to strengthen the unity of France. Realizing that the greatly expanded French state required expenses to maintain control, Philip IX began to take care of increasing state revenues. He introduced a tax levied on all classes, including the clergy. By this he violated the rights of the Pope, on whom the clergy depended. Having conceived decisive action against the pope, Philip IV convened in 1302 the Estates General, where the clergy, nobles and townspeople were represented. Philip IV informed the meeting participants of his intention to enter into a fight with the pope. The Estates General supported the king. At the insistence of Philip IV, a new pope was elected, a Frenchman by birth, who moved his residence to the city of Avignon, in the south of France. Here the popes lived under the French king for almost 70 years. The time of the papal stay in Avignon was called the Avignon Captivity of the Popes.

The accession of the Valois dynasty to the French throne led to the beginning of the Hundred Years' War between France and England, which was of paramount importance for the future fate of France.

The Hundred Years' War was mainly a struggle over the southwestern French lands, which were under the rule of the English kings. These lands were necessary for France for its final unification.

For many decades, the British won military battles with the French. The most successful offensive of the British in France was in the 15th century. They managed to occupy the north of France and Paris. The French king was also captured by them.

The situation changed somewhat after the British siege in 1428 of the city of Orleans-on-Laure, which was an important strategic point in the south of France. The peasant girl Joan of Arc took an active part in deciding the fate of the city of Orleans. She became convinced that, according to God's will, she must help France in the fight against the British. She managed to persuade the French king Charles VII to take decisive action, as a result of which the siege of Orleans was lifted. The British retreated to Paris. In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the British, who burned her at the stake.

The fierce struggle and execution of Jeanne awakened the patriotic feelings of the French. All classes of the kingdom rallied around Charles VII. In 1436, the French king solemnly entered Paris. The war was over by 1453 with the victory of France, but the port of Calais remained with the British.

Victory in the war cost the French people countless sacrifices, at the cost of which the country's independence was saved.

In the sixteenth century. France entered as a centralized state with developing economic ties, wealthy cities and a growing cultural community.

The unification of England took place gradually over more than four centuries in conditions of constant long-term war with foreign invaders, as well as internal struggle - political and military - with opponents of the strengthening of central royal power.

In the 12th century. Henry II Plantagenet, a descendant of French feudal lords, came to power and owned vast lands in France. In order to further strengthen the centralization of the state, he carried out a number of reforms - judicial and military. These reforms met the interests primarily of the feudal lords, who formed the basis of royal power.

In the XIII century. The political struggle to strengthen royal power was continued by the son of Henry II, John, nicknamed the Landless. He increased the tax pressure on almost all segments of the population, which led to an aggravation of the social situation in the country. In the spring of 1215, large feudal lords, with the support of knighthood and townspeople, began a war against the king. The king failed to break the resistance of the opposition, and in June 1215 he signed the so-called Magna Carta, designed to protect the interests and rights of the majority of the country's population from royal tyranny.

Major political changes occurred in England during the reign of Edward I (1272–1307). A body of class representation arose in the country - parliament, in which, along with the barons, deputies of the knighthood and cities sat. Parliament made it possible for the king to more actively rely on knighthood and the city elite and suppress the separatism of large property owners. The king agreed with parliament regarding the imposition of taxes on the population.

In the first half of the 14th century. Parliament began to be divided into two chambers: the upper House of Lords, where representatives of the clergy and barons sat, and the lower House of Commons, where knights and representatives of cities sat. The strong alliance of the knighthood and the city elite in parliament provided them with greater political influence in the country. The masses of the free peasantry and the urban poor were not represented in parliament. Villans (dependent peasants) were generally prohibited from participating in elections.

Meanwhile, the situation of the masses, especially the peasants, was constantly deteriorating. The peasantry was particularly indignant at the new taxes associated with the resumption of the Hundred Years' War under King Richard II (1377–1399). The increase in the tax burden was the reason for the peasant uprising, which broke out in the spring of 1381 in the southeast of England, in the county of Essex. The leader of the uprising was the rural artisan Wat Tyler. The main goals of the rebels were to abolish personal dependence and minimize the tax burden. The king managed to suppress the uprising, but it did not pass without a trace - after 1381, the English feudal lords abandoned corvée, and throughout the 15th century. Almost all the peasants of England bought their freedom.

The Hundred Years' War also served as a reason for increasing tensions within the privileged sections of the population. The war had reduced the income of the aristocracy, and now its attention was focused more than before on the struggle for power and income at court. A convenient reason for feudal feuds was the dynastic disputes of the large dynastic houses of Lancaster and York. In 1455, a military clash occurred between them. It marked the beginning of a long internecine war, which in history was called the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. Most of the major feudal lords stood behind the Lancasters, especially the feudal lords of the North, who were accustomed to political independence and possessed large armed forces. The Yorks were supported by large feudal lords of the economically developed South-East. The Yorks were supported by the majority of the new nobility and townspeople, who sought to establish strong royal power. For many large feudal lords, this war was only a pretext for robbery and strengthening their political independence. They easily moved from one camp to another. The armed confrontation between the Lancastrians and Yorkists ended in 1485. The representative of the new Tudor dynasty, Henry, who went down in the history of the country under the name Henry VII, was proclaimed King of England. The new king continued the policy of strengthening the centralization of the country.

A characteristic feature of the political life of Germany in the 11th-12th centuries. the system of territorial principalities was strengthened. The country was unable to overcome feudal fragmentation. Socio-economic changes in the country's development have not led to the formation of a single economic center to which all regions of the country would gravitate. For many German states and cities closely connected with transit foreign trade, the unification of the country was not a vital necessity. Regional centralization was the economic basis of the so-called territorial principalities, that is, compact territories within which the ruling elite had relatively complete power. Territorial princes encouraged the development of cities in their lands and founded new trade and craft centers. The ties of such economically and politically wealthy lands with the central royal power weakened. In medieval Germany, the union of royal power and cities, which was a necessary condition for overcoming the political fragmentation of the country, did not develop.

Lacking a strong social support, the German emperors were forced to maneuver between regional princes and thereby contribute to their further strengthening. This policy was pursued by Frederick I Barbarossa and his successor Frederick II. The legislative consolidation of the independence of local princes led to even greater fragmentation of the country. The emperors, abandoning great-power politics, themselves increasingly turned into territorial princes.

Economic changes associated with the growth of crafts and trade, and in the 14th century. did not lead to the emergence of pan-German market relations and a single economic center.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Social tension increased between the cities and the princes on whose lands these cities developed. The weak imperial power could not protect the interests of the townspeople and merchants from the arbitrariness of local princes. Under these conditions, cities were forced to unite into unions.

The largest of these unions was the North German Hansa. By the middle of the 14th century. The Hansa spread its influence over almost all German cities located on the shores of the North and Baltic seas. The core of the union was Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, Lubeck, Hamburg and Bremen. They sought to concentrate in their hands all intermediary trade in the Baltic and North Seas.

In the conditions of political fragmentation that reigned in Germany, the Hanseatic League acted as an independent political force. However, for all its power, the Hanseatic League did not become the economic and political core of Germany. The union had neither common administration, nor common finances, nor a common fleet. Each city that was a member of the Hansa conducted its affairs independently.

In the 14th century the political fragmentation of Germany was legally enshrined in the Golden Bull issued by Emperor Charles IV in 1356.

According to the document, the princes were granted full sovereignty in the principalities: the right to court, collect duties, mint coins, and exploit natural resources. The Golden Bull declared that the empire was a political organization of sovereign princes. Germany became more and more fragmented, its center became more and more weak. Nevertheless, the search for ways to the imperial form did not stop. At the end of the 80s. XV century A large political and military association arose in South-West Germany - the Swabian League. Formally, it was a union of knights and imperial cities of South-West Germany, to which individual major princes joined.

At the Reichstags of 1495 and 19500, at the head of the Swabian League, the princes carried out a project of “imperial reform”. It was decided to proclaim “Zemstvo peace” in the empire, i.e., the prohibition of internal wars, and to create a general imperial administration and an imperial court to settle disputes between the princes. However, for fear of shaking the sovereignty of their territories, the princes did not want the imperial institutions to have real military and financial power and their own executive bodies. The “imperial reform” did not achieve its goal: instead of eliminating petty holdings and political fragmentation, it only further consolidated them.

In Italy, as in Germany, the period of developed feudalism did not end with the unification of the country. It remained economically and politically fragmented. The different regions of the country were also not homogeneous. Northern Italy and Tuscany, the Papal States and Southern Italy differed significantly.

The main feature of Northern Italy and Tuscany was the earlier and much faster development of cities than in other countries of medieval Europe. In these cities, handicraft production and trade actively developed, which outgrew the scope of local significance.

These cities, strengthening their economic capabilities, waged an active struggle with the lords on whose lands they were located. The struggle of cities for their independence led to the fact that cities expanded their possessions, subjugating nearby districts. These vast territories were called “disretto” and often represented an entire state. Thus, in Northern and Central Italy, city-states emerged - Florence, Siena, Milan, Ravenna, Padua, Venice, Genoa, etc.

The development of the Papal States, which occupied a significant part of Central Italy, proceeded differently. Since its sovereign was at the same time the head of the Catholic Church, and Rome was its organizational and ideological core, the history of this state was significantly influenced by the European policy of the papacy, which was based on the desire for supremacy over the secular sovereigns of Europe.

The popes managed to strengthen their political influence in Europe, but this did not lead to economic strengthening of the region. The Papal States lagged behind Northern Italy and Tuscany. Cities here developed more slowly; the popes did not support the policy of granting self-government rights to Rome and other cities in the region.

In Southern Italy and Sicily, which were under the influence of foreign (Norman) rule, the development of cities did not stop. Moreover, they achieved significant prosperity here, but it was associated primarily with transit trade, and their own handicraft production and local trade were poorly developed here. Unlike the cities of Northern Italy, the southern Italian cities failed to achieve independence and even autonomy; they remained subordinate to a strong central government.

In the second half of the 19th century. The threat of German enslavement loomed over Italy. The German feudal lords, led by Frederick I Barbarossa, considered the basis for their aggression to be the formal belonging of part of the Italian lands to the so-called Roman Empire. The German invasion threatened primarily the prosperous northern Italian cities. Only the united efforts of the Italian lands with the support of the papacy made it possible to prevent a catastrophe.

After the collapse of the conquest plans of Frederick I, the authority of the papacy increased, as did the theocratic plans of the popes themselves. The popes again sought to strengthen their political positions not only in Italy, but also in other feudal states of Europe. The theocratic policies of the popes were doomed to failure. Large centralized states emerging in Europe were increasingly moving away from the political influence of the popes. The defeat of the papacy in the fight against the French monarchy led to the weakening of its power even in the Papal States. The transfer of the papal residence to Avignon in 1309 meant the actual subordination of the papal curia to French politics and the loss of control by the papacy over the feudal lords and cities of the church region.

This contributed to the strengthening of the independence of Rome. The struggle of the townspeople against the feudal nobility was led by Cola di Rienzo. With the support of Roman citizens, he managed to seize power in Rome. The city was declared a republic. Cola di Rienzo called on all Italian cities to unite around Rome as the capital of Italy. However, Italian cities did not support his initiative. The power of the feudal lords in Rome was restored.

Italy failed to overcome feudal fragmentation. Discovery of America and routes to India at the end of the 15th century. destroyed Italy's trade dominance and increased its agrarianization. Italy stood on the threshold of its decline, which it came to at the end of the 16th century.

Medieval cities were not only economic, but also cultural centers.

From the 12th century Along with elementary and vocational schools, new education - secondary and higher - is becoming widespread in cities. Scientific and intellectual initiative passes from the monasteries to this school, directly connected with the city.

City schools introduced a new scholastic - rationalistic (i.e., logical) method of thinking into the world of medieval ideas, which contrasted mental equipment with reference to authority and the principle of its logical justification. The attitude towards books has changed - from a treasure in monastic culture, they are transformed in a city school into a source of knowledge obtained through critical analysis.

Gradually, teachers, separating from church and monastic authorities, began to create their own corporations - universities. The term “university” itself originally meant any association of people connected by common interests and having a legal status. From the end of the 14th century. it began to be used in relation to an academic corporation.

The opening of universities was of great importance for the cultural development of European countries. The popes were initially wary of the new educational institutions, but then considered it a good idea to take them under their protection. Charters received from popes and kings gave universities legal and administrative autonomy and made them independent from secular and spiritual local authorities.

The most ancient universities are the University of Paris, which emphasized theology, and Bologna, which became famous for teaching law. Formed at the same time, they at the same time differed significantly in their internal structure, personifying the two main types of universities of the Middle Ages. The University of Bologna (and Padua) was a student organization that arose to protect the interests of visiting law students. Student associations - guilds - managed university life.

But this system did not represent a democratic organization, since power was in the hands of a few officials - rectors and the chancellery.

The University of Paris, on the contrary, developed as an organization of teachers. Students could neither vote nor participate in university meetings.

Northern universities were built according to the Parisian type. Oxford adopted, in general, the Parisian system of organization. The main difference was that Oxford, like Cambridge, did not originate in an episcopal city and, accordingly, its subordination to episcopal authorities was weaker than in French universities.

Not all students who entered the university were able to complete the full course of science. Among the students there were those who spent years wandering around universities in different countries and cities to hear lectures by famous professors. Such students were called vagants - “wandering” students.

In all universities there were “junior” and “senior” faculties, that is, special departments, each of which taught different sciences. Students listened to lectures or participated in debates. The lecture (translated from Latin as “reading”) began with the teacher reading out important passages from the works of ancient or medieval scientists. Then the professor commented and explained them. A debate was a discussion of controversial issues.

By the 14th century 60 universities appeared in Europe. This gave a powerful impetus to the development of science. Scientists in the Middle Ages were called scholastics. Many of them were university teachers. They taught how to reason and build evidence.

History has preserved the names of prominent scientists of that time. This is the philosopher and master Peter Abelard, the “father” of medieval scholasticism and mysticism, Archbishop Anselm of Cantebury, Abelard’s student Arnold of Brescia, a propagandist of the idea of ​​equality and the poor church of the early Middle Ages, John Wycliffe, professor at Oxford University, Doctor of Divinity, forerunner of the European reformation movement. Of course, this is only a small part of those who embodied the intellectual image of the medieval era.

Time period from the end of the XV-XVIII centuries. in historiography they are called differently: Late Middle Ages; early modern; the period of initial accumulation of capital, if we are talking about progressive changes in the economy; the era of proto-industrial civilization, if we are talking about the early stage of the genesis of industrial society; the time of the Renaissance and Reformation, associated with the emergence of new ideological ideas, forms of economic activity, methods and goals of political struggle, reflecting the collapse of traditional society.

During this period, there was a process of collapse of feudal relations and the formation of a new type of relations - capitalist.

Not all European countries were equally affected by this process. In some of them, capitalist forms did not have noticeable success, and the growth of commodity-money relations and foreign trade relations was used by the nobility to enrich themselves by returning to corvée and serfdom.

But in the most progressive states, such as England, France, and the Netherlands, significant changes took place. In the economic sphere, the feudal forms of the economy were decomposing in these countries, the process of initial accumulation of capital was underway, and the emergence of a new economic structure was underway. In the social sphere, the class stratification of traditional society was eroded, new social groups emerged - the bourgeoisie and hired workers. In the ideological sphere, new worldview orientations are emerging - humanism, reformation doctrines (Lutheranism, Calvinism) and radical teachings with egalitarian ideas. Significant changes also took place in the political sphere. Estate-representative states were replaced by absolute monarchies.

The late Middle Ages are also famous for the first acts of bourgeois revolutions. These are the Reformation, the Peasants' War in Germany in 1525, and the Dutch bourgeois revolution, the result of which was the formation of the first bourgeois republic in Europe - the Republic of the United Provinces (Holland).

Based on growing economic ties and the gradual formation of a capitalist structure, most countries of Western Europe are uniting territorially, a common language and culture is taking shape for each country, which creates conditions for the emergence of nations.

The process of decomposition of traditional society was accelerated by the geographical discoveries of previously unknown lands by Europeans. Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian sailors rushed to search and capture them. The expeditions of H. Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and F. Magellan significantly expanded the economic opportunities of the Old World. European newcomers actively explored new territories and brought them under their influence. But the influence of geographical discoveries did not affect the Old World equally everywhere. The discoveries facilitated the movement of trade routes and shopping centers within Western Europe. Thus, Europe’s connections with India and the New World followed new paths, which reduced the importance for Europe of Mediterranean trade and Italian cities as trade intermediaries of Europe with overseas countries. In the sixteenth century. Lisbon, Seville, and Antwerp began to play the role of intermediaries.

The expansion and increase in the volume of commodity production led to progressive changes in the economic life of European countries. One of the distinctive features of this period was that money, which was a guarantee of a certain power, began to play an increasingly important role in the lives of Europeans. The concentration of the main financial resources in cities in the hands of large merchants, entrepreneurs and artisans and the strengthening of their economic position also determined the growth of their political influence.

The accumulation of funds made it possible to strengthen the technical equipment of production. Progressive changes took place in the leading industry of that time - metallurgy. Its active development made it possible to move on to the improvement of labor tools, which contributed to an increase in labor productivity and an increase in the volume of output both in the field of handicraft and agricultural production.

The prerequisites for the transition from the feudal mode of production to the capitalist one were created in the era of the Late Middle Ages, during the period of primitive accumulation of capital.

The term "capitalism" comes from the Late Latin word for "head". The word itself appeared quite a long time ago, back in the 12th-13th centuries. to denote “values”: stocks of goods, mass of money that earns interest. The word “capitalist” is later, appearing in the middle of the 17th century. to designate “the owner of funds.” Even later, the term “capitalism” appears. This concept has its own clear content. In relation to property, it means the dominance of private ownership of tools and means of production, land, and labor. In relation to individual freedom, capitalism does not know non-economic forms of dependence. In cultural and ideological terms, capitalism is based on liberal secular values. It was the presence of these features that made capitalism different from traditional feudalism.

The Late Middle Ages were characterized by two stages of development of capitalism: merchant capitalism and manufacturing capitalism. The main forms of organization of production were simple capitalist cooperation and complex capitalist cooperation (manufacture). Simple capitalist cooperation was a form of cooperation of homogeneous (identical) concrete labor. This form of cooperation appeared a long time ago, but only capitalist freedom - personal and material freedom - made this cooperation a ubiquitous phenomenon.

From the middle of the 16th century. manufacturing is spreading. Manufacture is a relatively large capitalist enterprise based on the division of wage labor and craft technology. Manufactures could not arise within the framework of the workshop organization of production with their prohibitive statutes regulating the production process. Therefore, the first manufactories appeared in rural areas based on crafts. Manufacture emerged from simple cooperation. Later, the forms of production organization became more complex. In the XVI-XVII centuries. There were not many manufactures yet. Existing in a feudal environment, manufactories were subject to persecution both from the guilds and from the state.

In parallel with the emergence of manufacturing production, there was a process of capitalization of agricultural relations. Large owners began to lease land to peasants or wealthy townspeople. The original form of such rent was sharecropping (letting out land for temporary use). The sharecropper paid rent in the form of a certain share of the harvest. Rent under sharecropping was semi-feudal in nature. In England, sharecropping gave way to a capitalist form of entrepreneurship - farming. The farmer also rented land, but gave a fixed amount of money as payment for this. In the future, he could buy the land and become its owner. This organization of labor was not typical in medieval Europe. In France, not to mention Germany, Italy, and Spain, the development of capitalism in agriculture proceeded much more slowly.

In countries with the irreversible development of capitalism, technical and economic progress changed the social and political appearance of states.

Here the traditional stratification of society was actively changing. The third estate, the bourgeoisie, strengthened its capabilities.

The term "bourgeoisie" comes from the French word "burg" - "city". Linguistically, the bourgeoisie are residents of cities. However, it would be wrong to connect the emergence of the bourgeoisie only with the evolution of medieval townspeople. The bourgeoisie consisted of various layers: nobles, merchants, moneylenders, urban intelligentsia, wealthy peasants.

With the development of the bourgeoisie, a class of wage workers emerged.

Changes in the economy, social and political spheres led to the strengthening of the dictates of the state and the strengthening of absolutism. Absolutist regimes were different types(conservative, enlightened, etc.)

According to F. Braudel, state violence was a guarantee of internal peace, road safety, reliability of markets and cities.

Great geographical discoveries played an important role in the transition to the bourgeois mode of production. This historical process was caused by the development of the productive forces of society, the growth of commodity-money relations for the further circulation of funds, as money gradually became a means of circulation.

Within the European world there were no sufficient sources of gold and silver. At the same time, in the East, according to Europeans, inexhaustible riches were hidden: spices, precious metals, silk fabrics, etc. Control over the East became the cherished goal. Representatives of all classes were looking for gold. Knowing about the existence of India and China, travelers looked for accessible routes to them and equipped expeditions.

Strong centralized monarchies could afford to equip expensive and complex expeditions. The implementation of these activities could not be possible without innovations in shipbuilding and navigation. By the middle of the 15th century. In Western Europe, large sea vessels were built that could make long voyages. Compass, geographical maps and other devices began to be used.

The impetus for the search for sea routes to the East was the obstacles put up by the Ottoman Empire and trade relations between Europe and the Near East. In this regard, they looked for workarounds to India by sea around the coast of Africa.

The pioneers in this direction were Portugal and Spain. Portuguese sailors managed to circumnavigate the southern part of Africa in 1486, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama reached the shores of India. And the first trip around the world was committed in 1519–1522. expedition of F. Magellan and marked the beginning of the exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Many geographical discoveries were made in the 16th century. by English and French sailors in North America, as well as Russian sailors in Northeast Asia, by the middle of the 17th century. came to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

The results of the Great Geographical Discoveries were the expansion of the world market, the emergence of new specific goods, rivalry between European monarchies in an effort to take possession of Asian treasures, and the formation of a colonial system. At the same time, the center of the intersection of world trade routes moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, which had its consequences - strengthening the economic positions of England, Spain, Portugal, Holland and France.

The quality of manufactured goods has increased dramatically. New products entered trade: tobacco, coffee, tea, cocoa, cotton, corn. The colonies became a market for industrial goods for Europe, especially tools. As a consequence of this, a crisis emerged in the workshop system, which could not satisfy the growing demand. The medieval organization of labor was forced to give way to capitalist manufacture, which increased the scale of production through the division of labor. The result is the concentration of commercial and industrial capital, the formation of a bourgeois class.

The Reformation was the first act of action by a new bourgeois class, born in the depths of feudal society, against the feudal order.

The Reformation began in the spiritual sphere, with the action of the bourgeoisie against Catholicism - the ideology of feudalism. The name of this phenomenon comes from the Latin word reformatio - transformation.

This movement burst into flames in Germany.

The Reformation movement here began with the speech of Wittenberg University professor Martin Luther against indulgences in 1517 and ended with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. The culmination of the movement was the Peasants' War of 1524–1525.

By the 16th century The Catholic Church in Germany had a decisive influence on all aspects of public life, and it was also the largest landowner. Church taxes affected the material interests of various social strata of German society. Catholicism was especially unacceptable to the emerging bourgeoisie.

The Catholic teaching on the “fair price” (the requirement to be content with a moderate premium to the cost of goods) significantly cut merchant profits; the prohibition on charging interest was also in the economic interests of creditors. But most of all the German burghers were outraged by the high cost of the cult. From the point of view of the burghers, various donations and duties in favor of the church diverted a significant part of the national wealth from productive use. Therefore, it is no coincidence that it was the German burghers who were the main bearer of reformation ideas.

However, other classes of German society did not remain aloof from the reform movement. Representatives of the nobility, as well as the lower classes of the city and village took part in it. The nobility and royal power were impressed by the burghers' action against the secular power of the church. Kings and emperors found the tutelage of the Catholic Church a burden; they also actively sought an independent existence.

The herald of the German Reformation was Martin Luther. Having chosen a career as a theologian, he began to move further and further away from Catholic orthodoxy. In his opinion, faith is a purely individual act. The Word of God is contained in the Holy Scriptures. Luther formulated “95 Theses” on theology, in which he defended the idea of ​​the need not for the remission of sins, but for their prevention. In 1520, M. Luther published pamphlets important for the fate of the Reformation. In them, he called not only to destroy the power of the pope, but also to secularize church lands, stop persecution on charges of heresy, etc.

In 1521, the social movement for church reform in Germany assumed great proportions. Luther's teachings found many supporters among the German population. Luther was supported by the Elector (regional ruler) Frederick of Saxony. When M. Luther was outlawed, it was Frederick of Saxony who provided Luther with refuge.

M. Luther linked the fate of the Reformation with princely power; he did not call for a radical change in the feudal order.

But M. Luther’s calls for reform radicalized the lower ranks of the people. The culmination of the social movement of the Reformation era in Germany was the Peasants' War, which began in 1954 with the revolt of peasants against their masters in the Landgraviate of Stühlingen on the Upper Rhine. The spokesmen for the popular understanding of the Reformation were B. Hubmaier and T. Münzer. They combined the peasants’ complaints into a common program called “Article Letter.” This program was not limited to concessions to the peasants, but proclaimed the idea of ​​a radical revolution and building a society on the basis of social justice.

The peasant uprising was suppressed. In Germany, the princely reformation won, which strengthened the power of the princes and carried out the secularization of church lands in favor of the princes. This cemented German fragmentation. This was the main result of the social movement.

Nevertheless, the Reformation movement affected the cultural life of Germany. The social upsurge was an important stimulus for the development of national self-awareness, German language, new religious system- Protestantism.

The English Reformation, due to the same reasons as in other countries, at the same time had its own important features. If everywhere the political and social orientation towards a break with Rome manifested itself at the final stage of the Reformation, then in England it became obvious from the very beginning - here the Reformation began as a state political action.

The English Reformation was at first royal with the hostile attitude of the masses towards it, then it resulted in a bourgeois-noble movement, expressing the dissatisfaction of these classes with the nature of the changes that had taken place, and, finally, it gave birth to a broad popular movement with a pronounced socio-political orientation.

The initiator of the Reformation was Henry VIII Tudor. The conflict with Rome began with the English king's speech against the annates (a collection in favor of the Catholic Church from persons who received a vacant church position). Initially, this fee was equal to the annual income from this position.

The fight against the Annatians united all sectors of English society. In 1532, a law was passed refusing to pay annats to the papal treasury.

Some historians believe that the reason for the king's break with Rome was a purely personal issue. The king intended to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. But the divorce became a favorable reason for breaking with Rome. The Pope refused to grant the king a divorce and did not legalize the second marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. When Henry divorced, threats of excommunication poured in from Rome. And then in 1534 the king issues an act of supremacy (supremacy). This was the beginning of the English Reformation. According to this act, the king became the head of the national church. Recognition of the legality of the act of supremacy was mandatory for all subjects of the kingdom. Refusal to do so was regarded as high treason and was punishable by death.

The king's decisive actions led to Rome excommunicating him from the church. The secularization of church lands further alienated the king from Rome.

The decisive actions of the royal administration led to a split in the English aristocracy. Part of it (North, West and Ireland) organized the Catholic Party - the Northern League. Catholics in England strengthened their position during the reign of Mary Tudor, a supporter of Catholicism. To strengthen her position, she decided to rely on Spain and become engaged to the Spanish King Philip II. Having married the Queen of England, he began to strive to seize all power in England. But the English lords opposed this. Then Mary Tudor begins terror against the reformers. The Pope forgives rebellious England. But, while fighting the Reformation, the English government did not cancel the secularization of church lands. The queen was afraid to take this measure, as she might encounter active resistance from the new nobility - the gentry. And these fears were not unfounded. In the middle of the 11th century. A wave of anti-Catholic unrest swept across England, in which townspeople and gentry participated.

In 1558, after the death of Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, became Queen of England. The new queen enjoyed the support of the bourgeois strata. Elizabeth I reversed all of Mary Tudor's counter-reformation acts and continued the work of her father Henry VIII. In 1571, the “39 Articles of Faith” were adopted, they completed the Reformation in the country and established the new Anglican Church. It retained Catholic features and affirmed Protestant ones.

The church was personally subordinate to the royal authority, this helped Elizabeth in her fight against Catholicism in the country. The queen's decisive measures led to increased activity by the Northern League. Catholics relied on the Scottish queen Mary Stuart, whom they sought to place on the English throne.

Elizabeth I had to fight not only the Catholic opposition, but also the English Calvinists, whose social base was the merchant bourgeoisie. The appearance of the opposition in the form of the Calvinists indicated the beginning of the crisis of English absolutism. Cracks appeared in the former alliance between royal power and the early bourgeoisie, which, growing, will cause the confrontation of 1640.

The reform movement in France had its own characteristics. The royal power, long before the Reformation, managed to subjugate the Catholic Church. In 1438, the “Pragmatic Sanction” was signed, according to which a national Gallican church was established in France, which, without breaking with Rome, managed to protect itself from the excessive claims of the pope.

But the reform movement affected France. Here it was represented by two streams: Lutheran and Calvinist. The first stream soon dried up, but the second plunged the country into the abyss of long civil wars.

At the end of the 40s. XVI century A reformation movement arose in the country, which later became widespread worldwide - Calvinism. The rapid growth of Calvinism and its militant nature frightened the government, and it began repressive actions against its supporters. The teachings of J. Calvin were not widely spread among the bourgeoisie; they were more actively used by the feudal nobility to implement reactionary separatist plans.

The further development of the Reformation is associated with civil wars that lasted from 1559 to 1598. The civil wars in France actually resulted in the struggle of the old feudal nobility against the political centralization of the country. But they had a religious connotation and formally represented the struggle of the Calvinists (Huguenots) with the Catholics.

The Calvinists were led by the feudal aristocracy of the south of France - the Bourbons, Condés and others, the southern small and middle feudal nobility; southern and southwestern cities. Separatist sentiments were strong in this environment.

The advanced bourgeoisie of the North, on the contrary, was interested in the strong power of the king, that is, they supported the process of centralization of the country. During the civil wars, a reactionary group of the court aristocracy, led by the Duke of Guise, took shape within this predominantly Catholic camp. Its reactionary nature manifested itself in the struggle for power with the ruling Valois dynasty.

The first stage of the war ended in 1570 with the conclusion of peace in Saint-Germain, which brought success to the Huguenots. They were allowed to hold public office, and Protestant worship was allowed throughout the kingdom.

Catherine de Medici, who ruled France at that time, considered it beneficial to draw closer to the Huguenots; this allowed her to have a counterweight to the Guise party. She called the Huguenots to court. But Catherine feared the strengthening of the Huguenots, and she decided to get ahead of events and destroy the Huguenot leaders. In such an environment, the wedding of Henry, King of Navarre, with the king’s sister Margaret of Valois was celebrated. This marriage was supposed to cement peace between the Huguenots and the king. But Catherine de Medici took advantage of this event differently. The Huguenot aristocracy and representatives of the nobility from the southern provinces came to Paris for the wedding. This was an opportunity to put an end to the Huguenots. Catherine and Charles IX decided to use the Guises’ hatred of the Huguenots and end them at once. On August 24, 1572, on St. Bartholomew's Day, the alarm sounded between 2 and 4 am. The beating of the Huguenots, taken by surprise, began. The massacre continued for several days and spread to the provinces.

This event did not weaken the Huguenot movement. The Huguenots in the south of the country created their own organization - the Huguenot Confederation with its own army, tax system and self-government. But at the second stage of the civil wars, the goal of the Huguenots was to fight not so much against the Guises as against the Valois. The state unity of the country was called into question.

After the death of Charles IX in 1574, the Guise party became more active and openly switched to the path of anti-dynastic struggle. Fearing the strengthening of the Huguenots, the Guises created their own organization - the Catholic League.

The Guises' struggle with the Valois dynasty ended in their defeat.

In 1594, Henry of Navarre came to power in France. He converted to Catholicism, and in 1598 the Edict of Nantes was issued in the country, which regulated the religious issue. The Catholic religion was recognized as dominant in France, but the edict allowed the practice of Protestantism. The royal court managed to preserve the integrity of the country.

From the second half of the 14th century. An important turning point occurred in the cultural life of medieval Europe, associated with the emergence of a new early bourgeois ideology and culture.

Since early capitalist relations arose and began to develop primarily in Italy, an early bourgeois culture, called the “Renaissance,” began to take shape in this country. It reached full bloom by the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries.

The term "Renaissance" (often used in its French form - "Renaissance") was first used by the Italian artist G. Vasari.

The ideological content of Renaissance culture is usually denoted by the term “humanism”, which comes from the word “humanitas” - human. The term “humanists” arose in the 16th century. But already in the 15th century. Renaissance figures used the word humanitas to designate their culture, which meant education, and secular education at that. Secular sciences (studia humana) were opposed to church science (studia divina).

The ideology of humanism brought a new attitude towards the world and man himself. Contrary to the dominant teaching of the Church in previous centuries about earthly life as sinful and joyless, humanists discovered the multicolored world of reality in all its living and concrete diversity. They created the ideal of a person greedily striving for the blessings of life.

An important feature of the ideology of humanism was individualism. Humanists put man at the center of attention. They show a passionate interest in the inner world of a person, in the individual uniqueness of his feelings and experiences, in their subtlest shades. Humanism announced the greatness of man, the power of his mind, his ability to improve.

The individualism of the humanists had a progressive anti-feudal sound. At the same time, this worldview concealed a tendency towards such an affirmation of personality, for which the desire to satisfy needs became an end in itself. The absolutization of individualism opened the way to the pursuit of pleasure without any restrictions. In addition, the ideal of the development of the individual personality put forward by humanists meant only a select few and did not extend to the broad masses.

Humanists showed great interest in the culture of Ancient Greece and Rome. They were attracted to this culture by its secular character and life-affirming orientation. She opened the world of beauty to humanists and had a huge influence on all areas of Renaissance art.

The greatest admiration for ancient culture was manifested in Italy. Humanists perceived the history of Rome as their national past. Here in Italy, in Florence in the middle of the 15th century. The Platonic Academy was founded, headed by Marcio Ficino, which satisfied the interest of lovers of ancient philosophy.

Humanists returned to Europe the ancient heritage lost in the Middle Ages. They searched for ancient manuscripts and published them.

Humanists were also interested in ethical problems. They were concerned about issues of human behavior in society, the goal that a person should set for himself in his activities, since the new ideology meant a revaluation of all human actions.

The creators of humanistic ideology were scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists, sculptors, architects, writers, etc. They formed a new social stratum - the intelligentsia. This category of people engaged in mental work played a large role in the social life of that time. Invention in the middle of the 15th century. printing made the works of humanists accessible to a wider circle of educated people and contributed to the strengthening of the influence of the ideas of the Renaissance. New ideas embodied in the images of literature and art had particular power of influence.

The cornerstone of the new worldview is laid by Dante Alighieri. His “Divine Comedy” became the first hymn to human dignity. This position was developed by F. Petrarch, a philosopher and brilliant poet who is considered the founder of the humanistic movement in Italy. The names of such humanists as D. Manetti, L. Valla, Pico della Mirandola, L. Bruni, C. Salutati, P. Bracciolini and others are also widely known.

The culture of the Renaissance was not the property of Italy alone, but it originated in Italy, and the path of its development was exceptionally consistent. Italian Renaissance art went through several stages. Chronologically, the Italian Renaissance is divided into: Proto-Renaissance (Pre-Renaissance) - second half of the 13th - 14th centuries; early Renaissance – 15th century; High Renaissance - end of the 15th - first third of the 16th centuries; Late Renaissance - end of the 16th century.

The main type of spiritual activity of the Renaissance was art. It became for the people of the Renaissance what religion was in the Middle Ages, and science and technology in modern times. It is not for nothing that during the Renaissance the idea was defended that the ideal person should be an artist. The work of art most fully expressed both the ideal of a harmoniously organized world and the place of man in it. All types of art were subordinated to this task to varying degrees.

The aesthetic and artistic ideal was most fully expressed by sculpture and painting. And this is no coincidence. The art of the Renaissance sought to understand and reflect the real world, its beauty, richness, and diversity. And painting in this regard had more opportunities compared to other arts.

The thirst for knowledge, which so distinguished the personality of the Renaissance, first of all resulted in the form of artistic knowledge. The art of that time solved many problems. A new system of artistic vision of the world was developed. Renaissance artists developed principles and discovered the laws of direct linear perspective. The creators of the theory of perspective were Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci. The discovery of perspective was of great importance: it helped to expand the range of depicted phenomena and to include space, landscape, and architecture in painting.

Florence, the most advanced city-state of Italy in the Late Middle Ages, is considered the birthplace of Renaissance art.

The first who took the decisive step towards a new type of art was the Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone, who outlined the path along which its development took place: an increase in realistic aspects, filling religious forms with secular content, a gradual transition from flat images to three-dimensional ones.

The greatest masters of the early Renaissance were F. Brunellesco, Donatelo, Verrocchio, Masaccio, S. Botticelli and others. These masters strived for monumentality and the creation of heroic images. However, they were limited mainly to linear perspective and paid little attention to the aerial environment.

In the High Renaissance, geometricism does not end, but deepens. But something new is added to it: spirituality, psychologism, the desire to convey the inner world of a person. An aerial perspective is being developed, the materiality of forms is achieved not only by volume and plasticity, but also by chiaroscuro. The art of the High Renaissance was most fully expressed by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. They personified the main values ​​of the Renaissance: intelligence, harmony and power. It is no coincidence that they are called the titans of the Renaissance, meaning their versatility.

Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artist, but also a talented sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, mathematician, and anatomist.

Another great master, Michelangelo Buonarroti, combined the gifts of a brilliant sculptor, painter and architect. In addition, he was one of the great poets of Italy of his time. Rafael Santi was also extremely versatile. He was one of the best portrait painters of the Renaissance.

The term "Late Renaissance" is applied to the Venetian Renaissance. Venice has long maintained close trade ties with Byzantium, the Arab East, and traded with India. Having reworked Gothic and oriental traditions, Venice developed its own special style, which is characterized by colorful and romantic painting. For the Venetians, problems of color come to the fore; the materiality of the image is achieved by gradations of color. The largest Venetian masters are Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto.

The culture of the Middle Ages created new art styles, a new urban way of life, a new economy, prepared the consciousness of people for the use of mechanical devices and technology. The medieval era left many achievements of spiritual culture.

The intensification of cultural life in the Middle Ages is associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The range of spiritual needs and interests among the townspeople was constantly increasing.

The sphere of secular education - schools and universities - began to actively develop in cities. In this intellectual atmosphere, Latin-language literature with pronounced secular tendencies flourishes: adventure literature, epistolary works, urban chronicles.

A special place in this literature is occupied by the work of vagants (wandering students). The Vagantes were associated with the traditions of Latin poetry, borrowing images and poetic rhythms from it. But the Vagantes also turned to folklore, transposing Latin into folk songs, preaching a life-affirming attitude towards existence.

From the 12th century In the countries of Western Europe, national literary languages ​​are beginning to take shape. During this period, heroic epics, which previously existed only in oral presentation, were written down in popular languages.

The most significant work of heroic epic in France is “The Song of Roland.” It has a powerful patriotic theme. The largest monument of the German heroic epic is the “Song of the Nibelungs”.

With the completion of the formation of the classes of feudal society, the ideology of chivalry took shape, which was reflected, in particular, in knightly literature. This literature was distinguished by its secular character and was alien to ascetic morality. This literature manifested itself most clearly in poetry, called courtly (court) poetry. It was developed by troubadours in Southern France, trouvères in Northern France, minnesirgers in Germany and minstrels in England. Courtly poetry was a model of love lyrics.

Urban literature played a large role in the development of secular and realistic motifs in medieval culture. In cities, the genre of realistic poetic short story and urban satirical epic emerges. His largest monument was “The Romance of the Fox,” which took shape in France over many decades and was translated into many European languages. Another outstanding work of urban literature is the allegorical poem “The Romance of the Rose,” written in France in the 13th century.

The largest poet in the 14th century. there was an Englishman D. Chaucer. His best work, The Canterbury Tales, a collection of poetic short stories, paints a vivid picture of England at that time. In France in the 15th century. The poetry of F. Villon stands out. A deep interest in man and his experiences allows us to classify F. Villon as the forerunners of the Renaissance in France.

Originating in Italy, the ideas of the Renaissance became widespread in the culture of Western Europe. But here the Renaissance was a whole century late in relation to Italian.

The literature of the early Renaissance is characterized by a short story, especially a comic one, with an anti-feudal orientation, glorifying an enterprising and free from prejudices personality. The High Renaissance was marked by the flowering of the heroic poem. The original epic of this time was the work of F. Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”. In the late Renaissance, characterized by a crisis in the concept of humanism and an awareness of the prosaic nature of the emerging bourgeois society, the pastoral genres of novel and drama developed. The highest rise of this era was the dramas of W. Shakespeare and the novels of M. Cervantes, based on tragic or tragicomic conflicts between a heroic personality and a system of social life unworthy of a person.

In the art of painting, the German artist A. Dürer became the founder of Renaissance ideas. He worked in different genres. But he most distinguished himself in the genre of portraiture. One of the most profound paintings of the portrait genre, in which A. Dürer summed up his views on man, is the diptych “The Four Apostles”.

Representatives visual arts During the Renaissance in France there were painters J. Fouquet, F. Clouet, in Spain D. Velazquez, in Holland - the brilliant Rembrandt.

X The Christian Church in the Middle Ages played the role of a connecting factor for European states. At the same time, the church also performed an identification function. After 1054 (the break with the Byzantine Patriarchate), the church turns into the center of political life in Europe (Vatican City, Rome, Italy).

According to the doctrine of St. Augustine, the church asserted and defended its priority over secular power. No king could challenge the privileges of the pope, interfere with political life own state. Of course, secular rulers were looking for ways to neutralize the strong and unnecessary influence of the Catholic Church. But these victories were rather the exception to the rule.

The main weapons in the fight against rebellious monarchs were the financial press and the institution of anathema. During the period of feudal irritability, kings were most dependent on the will of the Pope. The struggle for the integrity of the state required considerable funds, because the rebellious feudal lords were often richer than the overlord. Monetary assistance was provided in exchange for expanding the pope's influence in the region.

If the king turned out to obey the head of the Vatican, then the anathema mechanism was activated. Anathema? church curse, eternal excommunication from the church of an objectionable person. Anathema entailed terrible, irreparable consequences.

The French king Henry VII fell into this trap, infamous for his campaign in Canossa, where after incredible humiliations he was nevertheless forgiven by the Pope.

Unlike the secular authorities, did the Catholic Church have a solid financial income? church tithes from peasants, generous gifts from powerful feudal lords and benefits provided by the monarch.

During the early and middle Middle Ages, the Catholic Church controlled all spheres of human life: from politics to the spiritual world of the individual. The person took every step with the permission of the clergy. This position led the church to a double morality. The church demanded strict adherence to all moral standards from parishioners, but allowed itself the impossible.

Education was controlled by “black and white cassocks”; everything that contradicted official morality was removed from the programs of schools and universities. The natural development of science was hampered by dogmatism: for example, among the victims of the geocentric model of the world was D. Bruno, who was declared a heretic. Another talented scientist, G. Galileo, who was more diplomatic, had to beg for forgiveness for a long time.

But these circumstances do not negate everything positive that was done by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. Monasteries were the center of culture; many of them contained evidence of the great deeds of the Roman Empire. Literate monks painstakingly copied ancient scrolls.

The Church encouraged the development of such genres as all kinds of lives of saints and chronicles “from the Nativity of Christ.” Let us note that the Orthodox Church calculated chronology from the Creation of the world.

To dominate the minds, hearts and souls of its contemporaries, the church practiced various methods of monitoring changes in society. Of course, the methods chosen were not the cleanest, although they were effective. In the arsenal? surveillance, denunciations and good work of the Inquisition. There was an ongoing witch hunt. As a result, hundreds of thousands of “witches” were burned at the stake. Mass executions were practiced; up to 500 women were burned at the stake per day. Inquisitors, who are also the dark instruments of the Dominicans (Order of St. Dominic), in their search for heretics, were guided by the instructions of the treatise “The Hammer of the Witches.” The charges were absurd, the punishments? inhumane, cruel. Torture was used to force the victim to sign his own sentence. Most Popular? Iron Maiden hugs, Spanish boots, hanging by hair, waterboarding. As a sign of protest, no less terrible “black masses” took place throughout Europe, which caused a new surge in “witch hunts.”

The influence of the Catholic Church began to decline sharply in the late Middle Ages, with the end of the centralization process. Secular power noticeably pushed the clergy away from government decision-making, which resulted in some liberalization of all aspects of life.

The church's position proved to be stable in those European countries where the rate of economic growth noticeably lagged behind the leaders (Italy, Spain).

The Middle Ages is a broad period of development of European society, spanning the 5th to 15th centuries AD. The era began after the fall of the great Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the industrial revolution in England. Over these ten centuries, Europe has come a long way of development, characterized by the great migration of peoples, the formation of the main European states and the appearance of the most beautiful historical monuments - Gothic cathedrals.

What is characteristic of medieval society

Each historical era has its own unique features. The historical period under consideration is no exception.

The Middle Ages is:

• agricultural economy - most people worked in agriculture;
• the predominance of the rural population over the urban (especially in the early period);
• the huge role of the church;
• observance of Christian commandments;
• Crusades;
• feudalism;
• the formation of nation states;
• culture: Gothic cathedrals, folklore, poetry.

The Middle Ages - what centuries are they?

The era is divided into three large periods:

• Early - 5-10th centuries. n. e.
• High - 10-14th centuries. n. e.
• Later - 14-15th (16th) centuries. n. e.

The question “The Middle Ages - what centuries are these?” does not have a clear answer, there are only approximate figures - the points of view of one or another group of historians.

The three periods are seriously different from each other: at the very beginning of the new era, Europe was going through a time of troubles - a time of instability and fragmentation; at the end of the 15th century, a society with its characteristic cultural and traditional values ​​was formed.

The eternal dispute between official science and alternative science

Sometimes you can hear the statement: “Antiquity is the Middle Ages.” An educated person will clutch his head when he hears such a misconception. Official science believes that the Middle Ages is the era that began after the capture of the Western Roman Empire by barbarians in the 5th century. n. e.

However, alternative historians (Fomenko) do not share the point of view of official science. In their circle you can hear the statement: “Antiquity is the Middle Ages.” This will be said not from ignorance, but from a different point of view. Who to believe and who not is up to you to decide. We share the point of view of official history.

How it all began: the collapse of the great Roman Empire

The capture of Rome by barbarians is a serious historical event that marked the beginning of an era

The empire existed for 12 centuries, during which time invaluable experience and knowledge of people were accumulated, who sank into oblivion after the Ostrogoths, Huns and Gauls captured its western part (476 AD).

The process was gradual: first, the captured provinces left the control of Rome, and then the center fell. The eastern part of the empire, with its capital at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), lasted until the 15th century.

After the capture and sack of Rome by barbarians, Europe plunged into the Dark Ages. Despite significant setbacks and turmoil, the tribes were able to reunite, create separate states and a unique culture.

The early Middle Ages is the era of the “dark ages”: 5-10th centuries. n. e.

During this period, the provinces of the former Roman Empire became sovereign states; the leaders of the Huns, Goths and Franks declared themselves dukes, counts and other serious titles. Surprisingly, people believed the most authoritative figures and accepted their power.

As it turned out, the barbarian tribes were not as wild as one might imagine: they had the beginnings of statehood and knew metallurgy at a primitive level.

This period is also notable for the formation of three classes:

• clergy;
• nobility;
• people.

The people included peasants, artisans and merchants. More than 90% of people lived in villages and worked in the fields. The type of farming was agricultural.

High Middle Ages - 10th-14th centuries. n. e.

The period of flourishing culture. First of all, it is characterized by the formation of a certain worldview, characteristic of medieval man. My horizons expanded: an idea of ​​beauty appeared, that there is meaning in existence, and that the world is beautiful and harmonious.

Religion played a huge role - people worshiped God, went to church and tried to follow biblical values.

A stable trade relationship was established between the West and the East: traders and travelers returned from distant countries, bringing porcelain, carpets, spices and new impressions of exotic Asian countries. All this contributed to the general increase in the education of Europeans.

It was during this period that the image of a male knight appeared, who to this day is the ideal of most girls. However, there are certain nuances here that show the ambiguity of his figure. On the one hand, the knight was a brave and brave warrior who swore allegiance to the bishop to protect his country. At the same time, he was quite cruel and unprincipled - this is the only way to fight hordes of wild barbarians.

He definitely had a “lady of his heart” for whom he fought. To summarize, we can say that a knight is a very contradictory figure, consisting of virtues and vices.

Late Middle Ages - 14-15th (16th) centuries. n. e.

Western historians consider Columbus's discovery of America (October 12, 1492) to be the end of the Middle Ages. Russian historians have a different opinion - the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 16th century.

The autumn of the Middle Ages (the second name for the late era) was characterized by the formation of large cities. Large-scale peasant uprisings also took place - as a result, this class became free.

Europe suffered serious human losses due to the plague epidemic. This disease took many lives, the population of some cities was halved.

The Late Middle Ages is the period of the logical conclusion of a rich era of European history that lasted about a millennium.

The Hundred Years' War: the image of Joan of Arc

The Late Middle Ages also included a conflict between England and France that lasted more than a hundred years.

A serious event that set the vector for the development of Europe was the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). It was not quite a war and not quite a century. It is more logical to call this historical event a confrontation between England and France, sometimes moving into an active phase.

It all started with a dispute over Flanders, when the king of England began to lay claim to the French crown. At first, Great Britain was successful: small peasant detachments of archers defeated the French knights. But then a miracle happened: Joan of Arc was born.

This slender girl with a masculine posture was well brought up and from her youth she understood military affairs. She managed to spiritually unite the French and repel England due to two things:

• she sincerely believed that it was possible;
• she called for the unification of all French in the face of the enemy.

There was a victory for France, and Joan of Arc went down in history as a national heroine.

The Middle Ages ended with the formation of most European states and the formation of European society.

Results of the era for European civilization

The historical period of the Middle Ages is a thousand interesting years of the development of Western civilization. If the same person had visited first the beginning of the Middle Ages and then moved to the 15th century, he would not have recognized the same place, so significant were the changes that had occurred.

Let us briefly list the main results of the Middle Ages:

• the emergence of large cities;
• the spread of universities across Europe;
• adoption of Christianity by the majority of European residents;
• scholasticism of Aurelius Augustine and Thomas Aquinas;
• the unique culture of the Middle Ages is architecture, literature and painting;
• readiness of Western European society for a new stage of development.

Culture of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is primarily a characteristic culture. It refers to a broad concept that includes the intangible and material achievements of the people of that era. These include:

• architecture;
• literature;
• painting.

Architecture

It was during this era that many famous European cathedrals were rebuilt. Medieval masters created architectural masterpieces in two characteristic styles: Romanesque and Gothic.

The first originated in the 11th-13th centuries. This architectural direction was distinguished by rigor and severity. Temples and castles in the Romanesque style still inspire a feeling of the dark Middle Ages. The most famous is Bamberg Cathedral.

Literature

European literature of the Middle Ages is a symbiosis of Christian lyrics, ancient thought and folk epic. No genre of world literature can be compared with the books and ballads written by medieval writers.

The stories about the battles alone are worth it! An interesting phenomenon often occurred: people participating in major medieval battles (for example, the Battle of Hanstings) involuntarily became writers: they were the first eyewitnesses of the events that took place.

The Middle Ages is an era of beautiful and chivalrous literature. You can learn about the way of life, customs and traditions of people from the books of writers.

Painting

Cities grew, cathedrals were built, and accordingly, there was a demand for decorative decoration of buildings. At first this concerned large city buildings, and then the houses of wealthy people.

The Middle Ages is the period of formation of European painting.

Most of the paintings depicted well-known biblical scenes - the Virgin Mary and Child, the Whore of Babylon, the Annunciation, etc. Triptychs (three small paintings in one) and diptrichs (two paintings in one) became widespread. Artists painted the walls of chapels and town halls, and painted stained glass windows for churches.

Medieval painting is inextricably linked with Christianity and the worship of the Virgin Mary. Masters depicted her in different ways: but one thing can be said - these paintings are amazing.

The Middle Ages is the time between Antiquity and Modern History. It was this era that paved the way for the beginning of the industrial revolution and great geographical discoveries.

1. Daniel, 39, Midvale, Utah

Character Name: Sherman P. Tuckett
Character Bio: Sherman is a wizard who specializes in automata (golems/construction)
Active: since 1999

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2. Heather, 35, Orem, Utah

Character name: Scarlet Fury
Character biography: Valkyrie, tired of waiting for Ragnarok. To speed up the process, she searches for brave souls and heroes... and kills them in order to send them to Valhalla a little earlier.
Active: since 2007

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3. Jason, 39, West Valley, Utah

Character name: Darwin
Character biography: a decent and kind monk who wants to save the lost and free the captives. He prays often, knows how to heal, loves nature and martial arts with game weapons.
Active: 1982 to 1996

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4. Rachel, 22, Salt Lake City, Utah (left)

Character name: Leandra-Juliet de Valentinos
Character bio: Leandra is the last of an ancient family to turn to the dark side. At birth, the fortuneteller told her to restore her family to its former greatness. She considers herself invisible, only those with a special gift can see her.
Active: since 2004

Suzanne, 26, Salt Lake City, Utah (right)
Character Name: Rosie of the Laxmiga Clan
Character biography: Rosie is from the Solari race, she was found by gnomes when she was 2 years old. She doesn't know her real parents. Unlike most adventurers, she had a happy childhood and was trained in blacksmithing and martial arts. At age 26, she was sent to Nørgard across the seas to establish trade routes with the people in Nørgard. While traveling, she came across a group of adventurers and decided to travel with them for safety.
Active: since 2001

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5. Paula, 41, Murray, Utah (left)

Character name: LonnaLurielle (Lonnie) Swifthunt
Character biography: Lonnie is a half-breed cook, alchemist and robber. She is interested in ancient ruins, maps and magic. She loves puzzles, loves to feed guests, believes in hospitality and is ready to feed anyone who seems smart.
Active: since 1992

Dave, 44, Murray, Utah (Paula's husband)
Character name: Sandrek, wood elf warrior
Active: since 1992

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6. Val, 22, Provo, Utah

Character name: Tsame
Character biography: Tsame is a samurai who went to Europe to find a worthy opponent.
Active: since 2001

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7. Jessica (Chandra) applying makeup to Marley (Tanriyon) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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8. Bob, 30, Murray, Utah

Character name: Darr Brinkmann
Character Bio: Darr is a wandering warrior who finds himself on an adventure after losing everything. Now he has become one of the best warriors.
Active: since 2003

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9. Brad, 25, Pleasant Grove, Utah

Character Name: Horathi of Frost Hills
Character Biography: Horathi is the ice giant of Norse and the squire of Sir Diomedes. Brad chose this character because he loves Germanic history.
Active: since 2004

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10. Spouses Nashova (Bruce, left) and Sirena (Monet, right) at Pioneer Park in Provo, Utah.

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11. Isaac, 22, Salt Lake City, Utah

Character name: Quilik
Character biography: Half-elf paladin Kuilik was raised in the monastic stronghold of Raithart. He was a humble scholar and spiritual father who lived a simple life of faith and periodically explored his elven heritage. Quilik was expelled from the citadel for reasons unknown to him, and since then he has been wandering. And although he doesn't like it, he decided to take everything from it.
Active: unknown

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12. Rachel, 22, Salt Lake City, Utah

Character name: Leandra-Juliette de Valentinos
Active: since 2004

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13. Jessica, 22, Sandy, Utah

Character name: Chandra Tesni Verdandi
Character biography: Chandra lived all her life in the impenetrable tundra of Norgard. She spent the last 7 years with a group of older women - Isgaven. She was eventually sent to Austgar to "fulfill her destiny." She left without the slightest hesitation - she was an outcast - and cursed her tribe.
Active: since 2008

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14. Chris, 23, Provo, Utah

Character name: Arrow
Character Biography: Aerrow is from the kingdom of Ereduat, he is the founder of the Order and the Forsworn and a member of the Damned.
Active: since 2001

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15. Marley, 21 years old. Salt Lake City, Utah (right)

Character Name: Tanriyon Glamirite Ilsentri
Character biography: elven archmage/druid Tanriyon is already “retired”. During his career, this exiled prince was a member of the hero group - Children of the Legacy. He soon became their leader, using his flying ship to conduct politics and fight monsters.
Active: since 2004

John, 23, Salt Lake City, Utah (left)
Character name: Ganon Kazir
Character Biography: Ganon was raised as a semi-desert dweller and ran away from taxes. As a result, he had a certain patron who was interested in him and his sister, and he paid all his debts. He has been repaying him by doing weird work ever since.
Active: since 2001

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16. Michelle, 31, West Jordan, Utah

Character Name: Beccy (human-sized fairy)
Character Bio: Shortly after leaving the hive, she was kidnapped and taken to a mad scientist's dungeon. He tried to crossbreed humanoids with animals. He cut out her wings with a ritual knife (meaning they cannot be magically restored). Hadwick (her husband's character) was one of the scientist's assistants. When he saw what was going on here, he rescued her from the laboratory and even made mechanical wings for her. After that, they went together to the White Drag tavern, famous among adventurers throughout Daedalan.
Active: since 1996

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17. Daniel, 39, Midvale, Utah

Character name: Arcadios Walden
Character Biography: Archmage Arcadios Walden is an old wizard traveling around the country with his imaginary friend Griffus.
Active: since 1999

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18. Heather, 35, Orem, Utah

Their role in society far exceeded their numbers. During the Great Migration, many cities were Destroyed. In the few remaining fortified cities lived kings, dukes, bishops with their entourage and servants. The townspeople were engaged in agriculture in the vicinity of the city, and sometimes """ inside it.

From about the 10th century. big changes are happening. In cities, the main occupation of residents is crafts and trade. Cities that have survived from Roman times are growing rapidly. Appear

new cities.

By the 14th century There were so many cities that from almost any place in Europe you could get to the nearest city within one day. By that time, the townspeople differed from the peasants not only in their occupations. They had special rights and responsibilities, wore special clothes, etc. The working class was divided into two parts - peasants and townspeople.

EmergencecitiesHowtrade and craft centers.

The formation of cities as centers of craft and trade was caused by the progressive development of society. As the population grew, so did its needs. Thus, the feudal lords increasingly needed things that merchants brought from Byzantium and eastern countries.

The first cities of the new type developed as settlements of merchants. Traders With these distant countries. In Italy, in the south of France and Spain since the end of the 9th century. Some Roman cities were revived and new ones were built. The cities of Amalfi became especially large. Pisa, Genoa, Marseille, Barcelona, ​​Venice. Some merchants from these cities sailed on ships in the Mediterranean Sea, others transported the goods they delivered to all corners of Western Europe. Places for the exchange of goods emerged - trade fairs(annual markets). I especially saw them in the county of Champagne in France.

Later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, trading cities also appeared in northern Europe - Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, Danzig, etc. Here merchants transported goods across the North and Baltic seas. Their ships often fell prey to the elements, and even more often to pirates. On land, in addition to bad roads, merchants had to deal with robbers, often played by knights. Therefore, trading cities united to protect sea and land caravans. The union of cities in Northern Europe was called Hansa. Not only individual feudal lords, but also the rulers of entire states were forced to reckon with the Hansa.

There were merchants in all cities, but in most of them the main occupation of the population of the herd was not trade, but craft. Initially, artisans lived in villages and castles of feudal lords. However, it is difficult to make a living from crafts in rural areas. Few people bought handicrafts here, because subsistence farming reigned supreme. Therefore, artisans sought to move to places where they could sell their products. These were fair areas, crossroads of trade routes, river crossings, etc. In such places there was usually a feudal lord's castle or a monastery. Craftsmen built dwellings around the castle and monastery, and later such settlements turned into cities.

The feudal lords were also interested in these settlements. After all, they could receive a large rent. The lords sometimes themselves brought artisans from their feud to one place, and even lured them from their neighbors. However, most of the residents came to the cities on their own. Often serf artisans and peasants fled from their lords to the cities.

The earliest cities - centers of craft - arose in the county of Flanders (modern Belgium). In such cities as Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres, woolen fabrics were produced. In these places, breeds of sheep with thick wool were bred and convenient weaving looms were created.

From the 11th century cities grew especially quickly. In the Middle Ages, a city with a population of 5-10 thousand inhabitants was considered large. The largest cities in Europe were Paris, London, Florence, Milan, Venice, Seville, Cordoba.

Cities and lords.

The weight of the city arose on the land of feudal lords. Many townspeople were personally dependent on the lord. Feudal lords ruled cities with the help of servants. Settlers from villages brought the habit of living in a community to the cities. Very soon, the townspeople began to gather together to discuss issues of city government, elected the head of the city (mayor or burgomaster), and collected a militia to protect against enemies.

People of the same profession usually settled together, went to the same church, and communicated closely with each other. They created their own unions - craft workshops And trade guilds. The guilds monitored the quality of handicraft products, established work procedures in the workshops, protected the property of their members, fought with competitors in the dyne of non-price artisans, peasants, etc. To protect their interests, guilds and guilds sought to participate in city governance. They exhibited their detachments in the city militia.

As the wealth of the townspeople grew, the feudal lords increased the exactions from them. Urban communities - communes over time they began to resist such actions of the feudal lords. Some lords behind a substantial ransom expanded the rights of cities. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a stubborn struggle unfolded between the feudal lords and the communes. It sometimes lasted for many decades and was accompanied by hostilities.

The outcome of the struggle depended on the balance of forces of the parties. The rich cities of Italy not only freed themselves from the power of the feudal lords, but also took away all their lands. Their castles were destroyed, and the lords were forcibly relocated to cities, where they began to serve the communes. The surrounding peasants became dependent on the cities. Many cities (Florence, Genoa, Venice, Milan) became centers of small republic states.

In other countries, the progress of cities has not been as impressive. However, almost everywhere the townspeople freed themselves from the power of feudal lords and became free. Moreover, any serf who fled to the city was made free if the lord could not find him there and return him within one year and one day. “City air makes a man free,” said a medieval proverb. A number of cities achieved full self-government.

Some small towns remained under the rule of the lords. A number of large cities in which kings and other strong rulers lived also failed to become independent. Residents of Paris and London received freedom and many rights, but along with city councils

officials.

Shop organizations.

The main body of the workshop management was the general meeting of all members of the workshop, which was attended only by independent members of the workshop - masters Masters were the owners of tools and a craft workshop.

As demand increased, it became difficult for the craftsman to work alone. This is how they appeared students, Then journeymen. The student swore an oath not to leave the master until the end of his studies: the master agreed to teach him his craft honestly and fully support him. But the situation of the students was, as a rule, not easy: they were overwhelmed with backbreaking work, kept from hand to mouth, and beaten for the slightest offense.

Gradually, the student became the master's assistant - an apprentice. His situation improved, but he remained an underemployed worker. To become a master, the apprentice had to fulfill two conditions: after training, travel to improve his craft, and then pass an exam, which consisted of producing an exemplary work (masterpiece).

At the end of the Middle Ages, guilds became in many ways a hindrance to the development of crafts. The masters made it difficult for apprentices to become members of the guild. Benefits appeared for the sons of masters.

Controversies within urban communities .

In the fight against the lords, all the townspeople were united. However, the leading position in the cities was occupied by large merchants, owners of city land and houses (patriciate). All of them were often relatives and held city government firmly in their hands. In many cities, only such people could participate in the elections of mayor and city council members. In other cities, one vote of a rich man was equal to several votes of ordinary citizens.

When distributing taxes, when recruiting into the militia, and in the courts, the patriciate acted in his own interests. This situation caused resistance from other residents. Particularly dissatisfied were the craft workshops, which brought the greatest income to the city. In a number of cities, guilds rebelled against the patriciate. Sometimes the rebels overthrew the old rulers and established fairer laws, choosing rulers from among themselves.

The significance of medieval cities .

City dwellers lived much better than most peasants. They were free people, fully owned their property, had the right to fight with weapons in the ranks of the militia, and could only be punished by a court decision. Such orders contributed to the successful development of cities and medieval society as a whole. Cities have become centers of technological progress and culture. In a number of countries, townspeople became allies of kings in their struggle for centralization. Thanks to the activities of citizens everywhere, commodity-money relations, in which feudal lords and peasants are involved. The growth of commodity-money relations led over time to the liberation of peasants from personal dependence on the feudal lords.

§ 19. Catholic church V Average century. Crusades campaigns Church split.

In the Middle Ages in Western Europe, the church organization led by the Pope played a huge role.

Initially, most Christians did not recognize the authority of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, over themselves. The bishop of Constantinople, the patriarch, had great influence; the popes also obeyed him. Rome itself, after the conquests of Justinian, was under the rule of Byzantium.

However, at the end of the 6th century. this power has weakened. The emperors, busy repelling the onslaught of the Arabs and Slavs, could not help Rome in its fight against the Lombards. In 590, Gregory I, “a skillful and wise ruler, became Pope. He stopped the onslaught of the Lombards and managed to provide Rome with everything necessary. Gregory, nicknamed the Great, gained enormous authority. In most countries of Western Europe, the church began to submit to the Pope. Later in 754 g., arose Papal State.

As the popes became stronger, disagreements between Christians of the West and East widened. The Western Church was called Roman Catholic (universal), and the eastern one - Greek Orthodox (true). There were disputes over many issues. For example, the Catholic Church taught that worship can only be conducted in Latin, the Orthodox Church - in the languages ​​of each nation. According to Catholics, only church ministers were allowed to read the Bible, and Orthodox preachers often created a written language for different nations so that everyone could read the Holy Scriptures: Scripture. Catholics baptized themselves with five fingers, and Orthodox Christians with three or two. In Catholicism, priests were eventually forbidden to have a family, and in Orthodoxy, celibacy was extended only to "" monks.

An open clash occurred in the second half of the 9th century. under Pope Nicholas and Patriarch Photius. Nicholas announced the deprivation of Photius from the rank of patriarch. In response, Photius cursed the pope. During the dispute, Nikolai used a collection of ancient documents that he allegedly found. It followed from them that Emperor Constantine the Great transferred to the then pope power over the entire church and full power over the western part of his empire. Only in the 15th century. Italian scientists have proven that this entire collection of documents is a fake.

The final split between the Orthodox and Catholic churches occurred in 1054.

Organization of the Catholic Church.

In its structure, the Catholic Church resembled a “feudal ladder.” The lowest level were priests parishes The parish united residents of a village or part of a city who prayed in one church. They became priests after a special ceremony. He was seen off bishop - head of the priests of the diocese (region).

The parish priests elected the bishop of the diocese. During the initiation ceremony, the bishop was given a ring and a staff as a sign of power over the believers. The bishops of several dioceses were often under the leadership archbishop. Bishops and archbishops were subordinate to the Pope.

Cluny reform. Monastic orders.

Monasteries enjoyed colossal authority. The life of the monastery was determined by the charter. Several times a day the monks prayed together. The rest of the time was devoted to work. They worked in the fields, herded livestock, cultivated gardens, and were engaged in trade and crafts. The monks copied books, compiled chronicles, and opened schools and hospitals.

However, as wealth grew, many monks forgot about the rigor and purity of monastic life. Lands with peasants ended up in the possession of the monasteries. The monks worked less and less themselves, and lived more and more at the expense of the peasants. Heads of monasteries - abbots They surrounded themselves with luxury and sought pleasure.

This situation caused protest not only among the population, but also among individual monks. Some of them founded new monasteries, where strict rules were revived. From X - XI centuries. The monastery of Cluny in France became the center of the struggle for the purification of monasticism. Adherents of Cluny appeared in other monasteries where the ancient orders were being restored. The Cluny reform affected the entire church. The popes banned trade in positions and removed corrupt and dissolute priests and bishops. Church ministers were forbidden to have families, so that there would be no incentive to accumulate wealth. The reform significantly strengthened the authority of the church.

However, over time, vices associated with the growth of wealth again spread in the church environment. Dissatisfaction with the existing situation led to the emergence in the 13th century. orders of mendicant monks. These monks believed that they should not live in monasteries, but wander throughout the world and preach the teachings of Christ. The Franciscan monarchy was the first order to emerge . Its founder was an Italian Francis of Assisi. He preached love for people and even animals, renunciation of property, and voluntary poverty. The Franciscans, by their example, showed everyone the possibility of a sinless life. Another association of mendicant monks was the order Dominicans, originated in Spain. The Dominicans became famous for their defense of Catholicism.

The struggle between popes and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

In X V. The rulers of the East Frankish Kingdom (Germany) led the fight against the Hungarian raids and created a powerful knightly army. Initially, there was no clear "feudal ladder" in Germany. The king's vassals were not only dukes and counts, but also many knights. King Otgon I finally defeated the Hungarians in 955 at the Battle of the Lech River. Otgon strengthened his power and subjugated many dukes. To strengthen his authority, the king established a special relationship with the church. He granted her many benefits, but arrogated to himself the right to approve bishops - he handed them a ring and a staff. The Church in Germany passed from the authority of the Pope to the authority of the King.

The expulsion was favored by the decline in the authority of the pope at that time. The nobility of Rome and the Kingdom of Italy placed their proteges on the papal throne. Otgon made several campaigns in Italy, took the title of King of Italy, and defeated the enemies of the pope. In 962, the pope crowned Otgon with the imperial crown. This is how the empire was recreated, which later became known as the Holy Roman Empire. . The popes became completely dependent on the emperors. Because of this, the papacy lost its authority even more. Some church leaders sought to change the situation. It was they who initiated the Cluny reform. Initially, they were supported by the emperors, successors of Otgon, because they also wanted to increase respect for the church, which was one of the pillars of their power. However, having strengthened the church, the popes began to fight for liberation from the power of the emperors. A law was passed according to which only a few bishop-cardinals could participate in the election of popes. The emperor was excluded from participating in the elections. The pope then declared that bishops should obey only him and not the emperor.

In 1073, an ardent supporter of reforms became pope

GregoryVII. An open struggle for power over the bishops developed between him and Emperor Henry IV. It continued under their successors. In the end, the popes achieved an almost complete victory over the emperors. Helped them That, that over time, imperial power in Germany weakened, and Italy actually fell away from the empire.

In the 12th century. The power of the popes increased. The word of the clergy was law for the common man, the feudal lord, and the king. Attempts by some rulers to resist the popes ended in failure. In the middle of the 12th century. Frederick Barbarossa became emperor. He was an intelligent and determined man. He managed to somewhat strengthen his power in Germany and wanted to subjugate Italy again, but his knightly army was defeated by the militia of Italian cities that supported the pope. The defeat of the emperor further strengthened the importance of the popes. The most powerful of them was the pope InnocentIII(1198-1616). Innocent called himself vicar of Christ on the ground. He overthrew and appointed emperors and kings. By order of Innocent, wars began. The pope tried to curb feudal strife and clashes between Christian countries, and direct all his strength to the fight against heretics and Muslims.

Crusades. Spiritual knightly orders .

Termination at the beginning of the 11th century. The raids of the Hungarians, Arabs, and Normans contributed to the successful economic development of European countries and rapid population growth. However, by the end of the 11th century. this led to an acute shortage of available land. Wars and their companions - famine and epidemics - have become more frequent. People saw the cause of all misfortunes in punishments for sins. The best way to get rid of sins was considered to be visiting holy places, especially Palestine, where the Holy Sepulcher was located. But after the capture of Palestine by the Turks and Seljuks, who were intolerant of non-Muslims, pilgrimage there became almost impossible.

The idea of ​​​​a campaign against Muslims to liberate the Holy Sepulcher was becoming increasingly widespread in Europe. This was not only a charitable deed, but also a way to provide land for both feudal lords and peasants. Everyone dreamed of rich booty, and merchants hoped for trade benefits. In 1095 the Pope UrbanII called for a campaign in Palestine. Participants in the campaign decorated their clothes and armor with crosses - hence its name. Both feudal lords and peasants took part in the first crusade.

In 1096-1099 The crusaders conquered Syria and Palestine from the Seljuk Turks. There arose the Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose vassal possessions were the counties of Edessa and Tripolitan and the Principality of Antioch. The crusader states waged constant wars with the Muslim rulers of the surrounding countries. Gradually, the crusaders, of whom there were not very many in the East, began to lose their possessions. There were seven more major crusades. Peasants almost no longer took part in them, but emperors often led the knights

and kings. However, all these campaigns were almost in vain. During the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders attacked Constantinople and took it in 1204. They created the Latin Empire on the lands of Byzantium. Only in 1261 did the rulers of the Nicene Empire, which had survived from Byzantium, manage to liberate Constantinople. But Byzantium never regained its former power.

In Palestine, with the support of the popes, spiritual knightly orders were created. Those who joined the order became warrior monks. The first to arise Order of the Knights Templar. Then it was created Order of the Hospitallers. Later arose Warband. The knight-monks lived off the lands that belonged to the orders in Palestine and Europe. Detachments of order knights differed from ordinary feudal troops in their discipline. However, over time, the orders grew richer, and their members ceased to show their former zeal in military affairs. Many of them surrounded themselves with luxury. It was even claimed that the Templars, who became especially rich, secretly renounced Christianity.

Meanwhile, the Muslim onslaught intensified. In 1187 the Sultan Salah al-Din(Saladin), who united Syria and Egypt, recaptured Jerusalem. In 1291, the last crusader fortress in Palestine, Acre, fell.

Despite the failure and great sacrifices, the Crusades also had a positive meaning for Western Europe. They contributed to the acquaintance of Europeans with the higher culture of Byzantium and eastern countries at that time, and the borrowing of many achievements. The position of European merchants strengthened. This subsequently led to the development of commodity-money relations, the growth of cities and handicraft production. The outflow of the most militant part of the feudal lords and their death contributed to the strengthening of royal power in a number of European countries.

Heresies and the fight againstthemchurches.

Heresies, i.e. deviations from church dogmas arose during the formation of the Christian church. However, from the XII-XIII centuries. they especially intensified. Heretics pointed out that many priests, including the pope himself, do not practice what they preach, live in luxury, lead dissolute lives, and interfere in the affairs of states. Heretics called for a return to the foundations of the early christian church, when her servants were poor and persecuted, but they showed everyone an example of righteousness.

Some heretics taught that the world is ruled by two forces equal to each other - God and the devil. They called themselves people of God, and all opponents, including the clergy led by the Pope, servants of the devil. Heretics called for the destruction of churches and icons, and for the extermination of all church servants. There were heretics who advocated the equality of all people not only before God, but also in earthly life. They offered to divide all property equally. In communities of such heretics, property was considered common: sometimes even wives were common.

Heretics refused to pray in “damaged” churches or pay church tithes. In some places, even feudal lords, including rulers of large regions, dissatisfied with the claims of the popes to secular power, became heretics. At the beginning of the 13th century, in some areas of northern Italy and southern France heretics made up the majority of the population.Here they exterminated the clergy and created their own church organization.

Church ministers condemned heresies and sermons, and placed curses on heretics. However, the main way to combat heresies was persecution and punishment. Suspects of heresies were subject to arrest, interrogation using torture, and then execution. Not relying on the zeal of secular rulers who pitied their subjects, the popes created an ecclesiastical court - the holy the Inquisition(investigation) - A person who fell into the hands of the Inquisition was subjected to the most sophisticated torture. The usual punishment for heretics was their public burning alive at the stake. Sometimes up to 100 or more people were burned at once. In addition to heretics, the Inquisition also persecuted people suspected of having connections with the devil, witches and sorcerers. Many hundreds of thousands of women died at the stake in Western Europe because of these ridiculous accusations. The property of the condemned was divided between the church and local sweets. Therefore, wealthy citizens especially suffered from the Inquisition.

In areas where there were a lot of heretics, crusades were organized. The largest campaigns were in the south of France against the Albigensian heretics under Pope Innocent III. At the start of the war, the inhabitants of entire regions and cities were exterminated.

Decline of the papacy.

After Innocent III, the power of the papacy began to decline. Fights between popes and emperors resumed. As a result, both sides were exhausted. The authority of the popes was undermined during the struggle between Pope Boniface VIII and the French king Philip IV and the subsequent "captivity of Avignon" the reign lasted until 1377. All this time, the popes lived in the city of Avignon in the south of France and obeyed the will of the French kings. After the return of the popes to Rome, Great Schism in the Catholic Church. For 40 years, two and sometimes three popes were elected simultaneously. In England and France, the church actually found itself subordinate to royal authority.

To overcome the crisis of the Catholic Church, an Ecumenical Council was convened. He sat in Constance from 1414 to 1418. In 1417. a new pope was elected. Thus, the Great Schism was overcome.
§ 20. The emergence of nation states

Hundred Years' War.

In the XIV-XV centuries. (late Middle Ages) great changes take place in Europe. One of the largest conflicts of that time was the Hundred Years' War between England and France, which had a long history. In the West Frankish Kingdom (France), in 987, the Count of Paris, Hugo Capet, who became famous for his fight against the Normans and became the founder, was elected king Capetian dynasty. The power of the first Capetians was weak. France was breaking up into the possessions of large feudal lords. The royal power in England was then much stronger. Wilgelm the conqueror immediately strengthened the central government in the kingdom conquered in 1066. His great grandson HenryIIPlantagenet(1154-1189) significantly expanded his possessions in France. In England, he continued to strengthen the central government and created a powerful army.

In France, King Louis VI (1108-1137) was able to suppress the resistance of feudal lords in the royal domain (personal domain). The increase in the size of the domain occurred under his grandson Philip II Augustus (1180 -1223). In 1202 - 1204 he conquered Normandy and most other possessions in France from the British. The strengthening of central power and the struggle with England continued during the reign of LouisIXSaint(1226-1270) and PhilippaIVbeautiful ( 1285 -1314).

The kings of England and France sought to rely on representatives of the classes as a counterbalance to the nobility. This prompted the convening of the first estate-representative institutions - parliament in England (1265) and General stamp in France (1302). In England in 1215 it was proclaimed Magna Carta, aimed at protecting free people from the arbitrariness of authorities.

At the beginning of the 14th century. In France, the male line of the Capetian dynasty was cut short. English King Edward III. a descendant of the Capetians on the female line, declared his rights to the French throne. But the crown was transferred to a representative of the side branch of the Capetians - Philip VI of Valois. Soon the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) broke out. For a long time it was successful for England. The British defeated the French army in 1346 at Crecy and in 1356 at Poitiers. However, in the second half of the 14th century. King Charles V of France managed to oust the British. But France itself at the beginning of the 15th century. shocked by the wars between the Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans. The Duke of Burgundy entered into an alliance with England. In 1415, the English army resumed the war. At the Battle of Azenture, the French-Skos feudal army was defeated. The British captured northern France, including Paris. The unification of both states was proclaimed. Their common king was to be the son of the English king from the daughter of the French king Charles VI. However, the 15-year-old son of Charles VI fled to Orleans, which remained free from the British, and proclaimed himself King Charles VII of France.

In 1428 the British besieged Orleans. At this difficult moment for France, a turning point occurred due to the activities of a peasant girl. Joan of Arc, leading the French troops. In 1429, four days after Joan's appearance, the British, having lost their fortifications, lifted the siege of Orleans. Joan continued the war, but in 1430 she was captured and burned by the British in 1431. The speech of Joan of Arc predetermined the outcome of the war. Reformed by Charles VII french army by 1453 she completed the expulsion of the English from France.

Reconquista.

The main content of the history of the Iberian countries in the Middle Ages was the Reconquista (conquest). The Christian states of the north (Leon and Castile, Aragon, Catalonia) gradually moved their borders to the south. Period XI-XIII centuries. was the time of decisive successes of the Reconquista. In 1085, Toledo fell to the Castilians. At the beginning of the 12th century. the Aragonese captured Zaragoza, and Lisbon was taken in 1147. In 1212, King Alfonso VIII of Castile, who led the troops of all states, defeated the Muslims in Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. In the 30s -50s. XIII century after the final unification of Leon and Castile, Cordoba and Seville were recaptured. Only Granada remained in Muslim hands, which was captured by the troops of Castile and Aragon in 1492. Thus ended the Reconquista. In place of the Muslim possessions, two kingdoms arose - Spain And Portugal.

Hussite wars.

An important event of the late Middle Ages was the Hussite wars. Their center was the Czech Republic, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, being one of its most developed parts. The war got its name from Jan Hus, came up with the idea of ​​transforming the Catholic Church. In his sermons, read in Czech, Jan Hus accused the church of excessive wealth and interference in the affairs of secular power. He also spoke out against German dominance in the Czech Republic. In 1415 Hus was burned by decision of the church council and

Constanta.

The execution of Hus caused a storm of indignation in the Czech Republic. The number of supporters of his teachings quickly grew. Hussites became townspeople, peasants, knights, and some of the large feudal lords. In 1419, the war between Catholics and Hussites began. During the war, the Hussites split into two camps. Moderate They demanded the deprivation of the church of its property and the subordination of the clergy to secular power. Radical Hussites - Taborites(their center was on Mount Tabor) tried to create a just society based on divine commandments. The Taborite army led by Jan Zizka learned to defeat knightly cavalry. In 1420, the Pope declared a crusade against the Hussite heretics. The crusaders were led by the emperor himself. This campaign, like all subsequent ones, failed. The Taborites themselves went on the offensive. Later, opponents of the Hussites were able to take advantage of the contradictions between the Taborites and the moderates. The combined forces of Catholics and moderates defeated the Taborites in 1434 Battle of Lipam.

During the Hussite Wars, German influence in the Czech Republic weakened. By the end of the 15th century. The Czech Republic was the only European country where Catholics and Hussite heretics coexisted peacefully. This ensured the rapid development of the country.

The beginning of the Ottoman conquests. Fall of Byzantium.

In the late Middle Ages, Byzantium fell, and in its place a new aggressive power of the Turks, the Ottomans, emerged. The Ottoman Empire arose in the west of Asia Minor from the possessions of Sultan Osman (1258-1324). In Byzantium at that time there was an acute internal struggle. The Ottomans, helping one of the contenders for the throne, made a number of campaigns in Europe. For this they received a fortress there in 1352. From this time on, the Ottomans began their conquests in the Balkans. The Turkish population is also sent to Europe. The Ottomans captured a number of Byzantine territories, and after defeating the Serbs at Kosovo in 1389, they subjugated Serbia and Bulgaria.

In 1402, the Ottomans were defeated by the ruler of Samarkand, Timur. But the Turks managed to quickly restore their strength. Their new conquests are associated with the Sultan MehmedIIConqueror. In April 1453, a Turkish army of 150 thousand people appeared under the walls of Constantinople. They were opposed by less than 10 thousand Greeks and mercenaries. The assault on the city took place in May 1453. Most of its defenders fell in battle. Among them was the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos. Mehmed II declared the city his capital under the name Istanbul.

Then the Turks captured Serbia. In 1456, Moldavia became a vassal of Turkey. The Venetians were defeated. In 1480, Turkish troops landed in Italy, but were unable to gain a foothold there. After the death of Mehmed II, conquests in the Balkans continued. The Crimean Khanate became the Sultan's vassal. Hungary was later captured. Poland, Austria, Russia, and other countries were subjected to devastating raids. The Turks began conquests in Asia and North

Changesin the innerlife of Europeanstates.

In addition to tires, Europeans had to endure other disasters in the late Middle Ages. In 1347, a plague epidemic (“Black Death”) hit the continent. The plague caused the greatest damage to the common people. Thus, the population of France has almost halved.

The population decline led to a decrease in the need for food. Peasants began to grow more industrial crops, which they then sold to urban artisans. The freer the peasant was, the more successfully he acted in the market, the more income he received and the more profit he could bring to his lord. Therefore, after the epidemic in many countries The liberation of peasants from serfdom accelerated. In addition, the reduction in the number of workers increased their value and forced the feudal lords to treat the peasants with greater respect. However, most lords set huge ransoms for the liberation of peasants. The response was uprisings.

Particularly large uprisings of peasants took place in France and England, where the situation worsened in connection with the Hundred Years' War. In the north of France in 1358, an uprising broke out, called Jacquerie(The nobles contemptuously called peasants Jacques). The rebels burned feudal castles and exterminated their owners. The Jacquerie was brutally suppressed. In England, in the spring of 1381, a peasant uprising broke out. Its leader was a roofer Wat Tupler. Peasants killed tax collectors and destroyed estates and monasteries. The peasants were supported by the urban lower classes. Having entered London, Tanler's troops dealt with the hated nobles. At a meeting with the king, the rebels put forward demands for the abolition of serfdom, corvee, etc. The uprising was also suppressed. Despite the defeats, peasant uprisings accelerated the liberation of the peasants.

The formation of centralized states in the Fraction and England.

In France, a decisive step towards strengthening central power was taken by the king LouisX! (146! - 1483). During long wars, the king defeated the powerful Kir-lom Brave, Duke of Burgundy. Part of Burgundy, Provence, and Brittany were annexed to the king's possessions. Many regions and cities have lost swap privileges. The Estates General have lost their importance. The number of officials has increased. The creation of a standing army, the service of which was paid by the king, made the feudal lords (nobility) more and more dependent on him. The nobility, although they partially retained their possessions, were deprived of their former independence. France entered the 16th century as a major centralized

state.

There were also internal strife in England. which ended with the strengthening of the king's power. In 1455, the War of the Roses broke out between supporters of the two branches of the ruling dynasty: Lancaster and Mink. It led to the death of a significant part of the large feudal lords. In 14Q5 the king came to power HenryVIITudor(1485 - 1509). Under him, central power became significantly stronger. He achieved the dissolution of the troops of large feudal lords, executed many, and took the lands for himself. Parliament still met, but everything was decided by the will of the king. England, like France, has become centralized state. In such a state, the entire territory is actually subordinated to the central government, and management is carried out with the help of officials.
21. Medieval culture. Beginning of the Renaissance

Science and Theology.

Social thought in the Middle Ages developed within the framework of the Christian faith. The highest authority was the Bible. However, this did not exclude heated debates on a variety of issues. Philosophers were looking for general patterns the development of nature, human society and their relationship with God.

The 11th century was the time of birth scholastics. Scholasticism is characterized by the subordination of thought to authority. One of the scholastics formulated the thesis that philosophy is the handmaiden of theology. It was assumed that all knowledge has two levels - supernatural, given in revelation by God, and “natural”, found by the human mind. “Supernatural” knowledge can be obtained by studying the Bible and the writings of the church fathers. “Natural” knowledge was sought by the human mind in the writings of Plato and Aristotle.

In the 12th century. the confrontation between various trends in scholasticism led to open opposition to the authority of the church. Headed it Pierre Abelard, whom his contemporaries called “the most brilliant mind of his century.” Abelard set understanding as a necessary precondition for faith. Abelard's opponent was Bernard Clairvaux.ii. He was one of the most prominent representatives of medieval mysticism. In the middle of the 15th century. scholasticism suffered a blow Nikolai Kuzansky. He insisted on separating the study of nature from theology.

A peculiar phenomenon of medieval science, which was intertwined with faith, was alchemy. The main task of all alchemists was to find a way to transform simple metals into gold, which allegedly happened with the help of the so-called “philosopher’s stone”. Alchemists were responsible for the discovery and improvement of the compositions of many paints, metal alloys, and medicines.

Development of education.

From the 11th century The rise of medieval schools begins. At first, education in schools was conducted only in Latin. Thanks to their knowledge of Latin, scientists from different countries could freely

communicate with each other. Only in the XIV century. schools teaching in national languages ​​appeared.

The basis of education in the Middle Ages were the so-called “seven liberal arts.” They were divided into two levels: initial, which included grammar, dialectics And rhetoric, and the highest, which included astronomy, arithmetic, geometry And music.

In the XII-XIII centuries. As cities grew, city schools gained strength. They were not subject to the direct influence of the church. Schoolchildren became bearers of the spirit of freethinking. Many of them wrote witty poems and songs in Latin. The church and its ministers especially suffered in these songs.

Universities.

The scales that existed in some cities were transformed from the 12th century. V universities. This was the name of the union of students and teachers to study and protect their interests. The first higher schools, similar to universities, appeared in the Italian cities of Solerno (medical school) and Bologna (law school). In 1200 the University of Paris was founded. In the 15th century There were already about 60 universities in Europe.

Universities had broad autonomy, which was granted to them by kings or popes. Teaching was conducted in the form of lectures and debates (scientific disputes). The university was divided into faculties. Junior, compulsory for all students, was artistic department. The “seven liberal arts” were taught here. There were three senior faculties: legal, medical And theological. The basis of education in many universities was the works of Aristotle, which became known in Europe through Muslim Spain. Universities, being centers of knowledge, played an important role in cultural development.

Architecture. Sculpture.

With the growth of cities, urban planning and architecture developed intensively. Residential buildings, town halls, guild buildings, shopping arcades and merchant warehouses were erected. There was usually a cathedral or castle in the center of the city. Loma with arcades were built around the main city square. Streets diverged from the square in different directions. Along the streets and embankments there were lined up 1 - 5 floors.

In the XI-XIII centuries. V European architecture dominated Roman-skip style. This name arose because architects used some construction techniques of Ancient Rome. Romanesque churches are characterized by massive walls and vaults, the presence of towers, small windows, and an abundance of arches.

Cathedrals in the Gothic style began to be built in the 12th century. in Northern France. Gradually this style spread throughout Western Europe, remaining dominant until the end of the Middle Ages. Gothic cathedrals were erected by order of city communes and emphasized not only the power of the church, but the strength and freedom of cities. In the Gothic cathedral, the light, openwork walls seemed to dissolve, giving way to tall narrow windows decorated with magnificent stained glass windows. The interior space of the Gothic Cathedral is illuminated by the light of stained glass windows. Rows of slender pillars and the powerful rise of pointed pointed arches create a feeling of unstoppable movement up and forward.

Gothic sculpture had enormous expressive power. Human suffering, purification and elevation through it are reflected in the linden trees and figures. Painting in Gothic cathedrals was represented mainly by painting of altars.

The invention of printing.

The invention of the printing press revolutionized not only the book business, but also life.

the whole society. A German is considered the creator of the European method of printing. Johann Gutenberg. His method (printed typesetting) made it possible to obtain an arbitrary number of identical prints of text from a form made up of letter - movable and easily replaceable elements. Gutenberg was the first to use a press to produce an impression, and developed recipes for printing ink and an alloy for casting liter.

Gutenberg's first printed page dates back to 1445. The first complete printed edition of Europe was the 42-line Bible (2 volumes, 1282 pages) in 1456. The discovery of Gutenberg made the book, and with it knowledge, much more accessible to a wide range of literate people.

Early Renaissance.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Great changes are taking place in the culture of Europe associated with the unprecedented rise of science. literature, art. This phenomenon is called The birth (Renaissance). Renaissance figures believed that after the death of antiquity, a period of decline began - the Middle Ages. And only now the revival of ancient education, science, and culture begins. The birthplace of the Renaissance was Italy, where much of the T ancient heritage and where educated people from Byzantium fled to escape the Turks. Since the 14th century lovers of antiquity developed ideas humanism(recognition of the value of a person as an individual, his right to free development and manifestation of his abilities). Later they began to be called humanists. Florence, Venice, Milan become centers of humanism.

One of the leading trends in the first half of the 15th century. was civil are humane. Its founder was Leonardo Bruni, highest official of the Florentine Republic. He translated a number of Aristotle’s works from Greek into Latin, and also wrote his own works, including “The History of the Florentine People.”

Another outstanding Italian humanist of the 15th century. Lorenzo Valla clearly raised the question of the relationship between secular culture and the Christian faith. Culture, Balla believed, is one of the aspects of spiritual life that does not depend on the church. It reflects and guides worldly life, encourages a person to live in harmony with himself and the world around him.

Another direction in Italian humanism of the 15th century. represented creativity Leona Baptista Alberti. He was a thinker and writer, art theorist and architect. Alberti's humanistic concept of man is based on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, Cicero and Seneca. Its main thesis is harmony as one of the basic laws of existence. Both the universe and the inner world of man are subject to the laws of harmony. Humanist

He affirmed the ideal of an active civil life, in which a person reveals the natural properties of his nature.
Unlike humanism, which began to take shape in the second half of the 14th century, painting, sculpture and architecture embarked on the path of innovation only in the first decades of the 15th century. At this time, a new type of building is being formed in Italy - palazzo I villa(urban and suburban housing). Simplicity of the facade, perfect proportions, spacious interiors - these are the characteristic features of the new architecture.

Florence became the center of painting during the Renaissance. In the second half of the 15th century. artists are looking for principles of construction prospects for image three-dimensional space. During this period, various schools emerged - Florentine, Northern Italian, Venetian. A large number of currents arise within them. The most famous painter of the Early Renaissance was Sandro Bptticemi.