5 Steps to a 5TM AP European History

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance (^) ‹ 51
Language as well would play no small role in this change. The vernacular(s) replaced
Latin as the language of trade and education and paved the way for the Reformation and
Counter-Reformation of the High Renaissance.
One last element to consider as laying the foundations for the Renaissance is warfare.
Technological advances resulting from medieval Asian–European interactions (the use of
gunpowder, cannons, and the longbow) led to the “impersonalization,” almost the “dehu-
manization,” of war. No longer was combat primarily face-to-face. Cannons and the longbow
made it possible to kill “the enemy” more efficiently and from a distance. The word “enemy”
is critical here as it represents a nameless, faceless opponent. Changes in weaponry would
also lead to changes in political organization and to a militarily based social hierarchy.
As the Renaissance would have southern and northern European manifestations, so
did the Middle Ages. Northern Europe, the British Isles, France, Kievan Russia, and Sicily
were changed forever by the Vikings and their descendants, the Normans: by their military
and trade excursions, expansion and settlement, and conversion to Christianity. It was the
Normans, after all, who under the leadership of William the Conqueror conquered England
at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, ending Saxon rule and paving the way for the subsequent
ruling dynasties (especially the medieval Plantagenets) that would have profound cultural,
political, and juridical effects.
In order to understand how the medieval foundations allowed the building of the
Renaissance, students should focus on two words: legacies and purpose. Legacies encompass
the ideas of continuity, action/reaction, and cause and effect. Purpose is one way to respond
to the most basic of questions: why?
A good example of continuity can be seen by looking at the reign of King Henry II
of England. Henry’s legacies include groundbreaking work in establishing the jury system,
replacing Roman law with common law in England, and gaining some control over power-
ful feudal lords. He is best known, however, for the following things: first, his marriage to
Eleanor of Aquitaine and his attempts to expand England’s control in France. The latter
resulted in almost 400 years of war. He is also known for his friendship with Thomas à
Becket. Henry’s friend and drinking companion, Thomas à Becket studied theology at the
University of Bologna in Italy, where, among other things, he evidently grew a conscience.
Home in England, and elected Archbishop of Canterbury, he defied the king by defending
the rights of the Church. In response to Henry’s exasperation over not gaining juridical con-
trol of the church, four of Henry’s knights rode to Canterbury and murdered Becket in the
cathedral. Two hundred years later, Geoffrey Chaucer would set his fictional pilgrims, who
came from all social classes, on their trek to Thomas à Becket’s shrine. Chaucer wrote in the
vernacular. He matched style and literary form to characters who came from all walks of life.
Henry’s legacies are obvious and long lasting: elimination of trial by ordeal, the use of
judges and juries, and the change from a feudal monarchy to one with a bureaucracy made
up of professionals, which would eventually lead to the establishment of a representative
parliament.
The Renaissance was not a brand-new creation, but the culmination of changes begun
before and during the Middle Ages. History is not contained or defined by isolated eras. It
reflects the actions and reactions, the innovations and the adaptations of everything that has
come before. As you study Europe’s history, you might consider the following guiding questions:
• What are the roots of something seemingly new? For example, compare the Magna
Carta, the United States Bill of Rights, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man.
• What is the “climate of opinion” of a given era? If the Middle Ages were theocentric,
as visible in university curricula, literature, art, and architecture, what characterized the
Renaissance and made it more “humanistic”?
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