14-2

14-2:

__Three-field system:__ 800 A.D. villages began to organize their lands into 3 fields, two of them were planted and the other lay resting for a year. __Guild:__ Is an organization of individuals in the same business or occupation working to improve the economic and social conditions of its members. __Commercial Revolution:__ Increased availability of trade goods and new ways of doing business changed life in Europe. __Vernacular:__ The poets everyday language of their homeland __Scholastics:__ School men who were at the universities
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__Burghers:__ Merchant-class town dwellers that resented their interference in their trade and commerce.
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__- A Growing Food Supply -__ • Once warmer climate came in 800-1200 farmers started to grow crops in places they normally wouldn't have. __Switch to Horsepower__ • Peasants depended on oxen to pull plows, and horses needed more food but they plowed three times as much land. • 900 farmers in Europe began using a harness that fitted across the horse's chest, enabling it pull a plow and they then replaced oxens. __The Three-Field System__ • 800 A.D. villages began to organize their lands into 3 fields, two of them were planted and the other lay resting for a year. This is called a three-field system, farmers could grow crops on 2/3 of their land each year which made food production increase which made European population grow. __-The Guilds-__ • The first guilds were merchant guilds who banded together to control the number of goods being traded and to keep prices up. They also provided security in trading and reduced losses. • Skilled artisans like wheel wrights, glassmakers, tailors, druggists, began craft guilds. The guilds set standards for quality work, wages, and working conditions. • 1000s artisans and craftspeople were manufacturing goods by hand for local and long-distance trade. Better products were more available and guilds became powerful forces in the medieval economy. The wealth they accumulated helped them influence government and the economy of towns/cities. __-Commercial Revolution-__ • Trade and financing was expanding __Fairs and Trade__ • Great fairs were held several times a year during religious festival. This was when peasants traveled to the town to trade. • Trading items included; cloth (most important) bacon, salt, honey, cheese, wine, leather, dyes, knives, and ropes. Local markets met all the needs of daily life for a small community, so nothing was produced on a self- sufficient manor. • Trade routes spread across Europe from Flanders to Italy. Trade routes included, Mediterranean, Byzantium (Constantinople), Muslim, North African Coast, Asia. • Merchants would reinvest the profits in more goods. __Business and Banking__ • Ways to get money as a merchant from fair to fair was bills of exchange that established exchange rates between different coinage systems and letters of credit between merchants eliminated the need to carry large amounts of cash and made trading easier. Trading firms and associations formed. • money lending and banking became the occupation of many of Europe's Jews and over time Christians from the church entered the business because the law of usury became relaxed. __Society Changes__ • Two of the most important changes with increased trade involved what people did to earn a living and where they lived. As towns attracted workers, the towns grew into cities. Life in the cities was different from life in the sleepy villages or on manors. __-Urban Life Flourishes-__ • Scholars estimate that between 1000 and 1150 the population rose from around 30 million to 42 million. European towns were unsophisticated and tiny. Europe's largest city, Paris had no more than 60,000 people by the year 1200 and a typical town only had 1,500-2,500 people. __Trade and Towns Grow Together__ • Trade was the lifeblood of the new towns. In towns streets were narrow, filled with animals and their waste. With no sewers, most people dumped household and human waste into the street in front of the house. Most people never bathed, and houses lacked fresh air, light and clean water. Houses were also a constant fire hazard. • Many serfs ran away from their manor and according to custom a serf could now become free by living within a town for a year and a day. Saying was, "Town air makes you free." Serfs made better lives in their towns. __Merchant Class Shifts the Social Order__ • At first towns came under the authority of feudal lords who used their authority to levy fees, taxes and rents. Then burghers resented this interference in their trade and commerce so they organized themselves and demanded privileges. which included freedom of certain kinds of tolls and the right to govern the town. __-The Revival of Learning-__ __The Muslim Connection__ • In the 1100s, Christian scholars from Europe began visiting Muslim libraries in Spain. Jewish scholars living in Spain translated the Arabic versions of works by Aristotle and other greek writers into Latin. This made Europeans knowledge of philosophy, law, mathematics, and other fields grow. Also muslim technology in ships, navigation, and weapons came back to Europe. __Scholars and the University__ • The university was where people could meet. For most students the goal was a job in government or the Church and most students were the sons of burghers or well-to-do- artisans. • In Latin, a few poets began using lively vernacular. Some include Dante Alighieri who wrote "The Devine Comedy"(1308-1314) in Italian. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" (1386-1400) In English. Christine de Pisan wrote "the book of the city of ladies" (1405) in French. __Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy__ • Mid 12oos the scholar __Thomas Aquinas__ argued that the most basic religious truths could be proved by logical argument. Between 1267- 1273 Aquinas wrote the //summa theologicae// which combined ancient Greek through with the Christian thought of his time. Aquians and his fellow scholars who met at the great universities were known as scholastics. They used their knowledge of Aristotle to debate many issues of their time. Their teachings on law and government influenced the thinking of western Europeans, particularly English and French. They began to develop democratic institutions and traditions.
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