Picture source: wikipediaĪ new era: changes in Europe bring about changes all over the worldĪfter the Middle Ages in Europe, the European Renaissance began to take place in the 15th and 16th centuries. Oxford University, Cambridge University, and many other universities were founded around this time. Zapotoczny titled ‘The Political and Social Consequences of the Black Death, 1348 – 1351’ (PDF) and discuss the consequences of the plague in class, listing them in your note book or on the board. The rulers of the time believed that if you wanted to stop people from committing a crime, the punishment should be as harsh as possible.Īctivity: The black death: plague and the consequences Read this paper by Walter S. Each year hundreds on people were hanged. The death penalty was used for major crimes such as murder, treason, counterfeiting and arson as well as for theft in the Middle Ages. There were many revolts by peasants against the harsh conditions under which they lived and worked, but these revolts were crushed without mercy. You could only become a member of the aristocracy if you were born into a noble family. The aristocracy did not see themselves as ordinary people rather they believed they had special or ‘noble’ blood. Most members of the aristocracy did not work for a living. They lived in big castles and had hundreds of people working for them and living on their land. They were made up of a few hundred families who owned most of the land in Europe. The most powerful and wealthy group of people in Europe were called the aristocracy or the nobility. Most books were written in Latin, a language not spoken by most people, but used in the universities and the Church. Very few people in Europe could read or write. Only a small number of men had enough money to go to university. The reason universities had an important influence was that learning took place there.
Universities were also important social institutions at the time. Priests also told people that they could make sure of a place in Heaven if they did not break these rules. People were punished severely for breaking these rules. The teachings of the Church were based on very strict rules. Almost everyone in Europe belonged to the Catholic Church and believed in God and the devil. The Church taught people that life on earth was not important. It influenced what people believed about the world. The Church owned land, and people had to pay some of their wages as taxes to the Church. At its head was the Pope, who lived in the Vatican City in Rome. The Roman Catholic Church was a very rich and powerful social institution in Europe.
People’s religious beliefs were more important to them than the country that they lived in. They believed in sea monsters and that strange and weird people lived in other parts of the world. Most Europeans believed that the world was flat and that is was dangerous to sail close to the edge. At the time that the other empires you read about in this section were at their height, Europe was quite isolated from the rest of the world, and was divided into many small states.Įuropeans were ignorant of the rest of the world. The Middle Ages in Europe are the years between about 410 AD and 1500 AD. In Europe this was the middle ages period. Glossary Feudal Society: The stage of society that preceded capitalism, during which a small elite (the aristocracy) demanded recompense from a peasantry in exchange for military protection. The Middle Ages in Europe, a feudal society
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