16 Ch. 1 • Medieval Legacies and Transforming DiscoveriesThe growth in the European population during the medieval period
depended on these modest increases in agricultural yields. Some lords
became market-oriented farmers in response to increased population. This
in itself increased agricultural production. In England, Flanders, northern
France, and Sicily (as well as North Africa), grain was intensively cultivated
for the market. Urban growth encouraged cash-crop farming, enriching
nearby landlords, merchants, and wealthy peasants. Prosperous agriculture
was to be found in the rich valley of the Po River in central Italy, the plains
of Valencia in Spain, and the Beauce, between the Loire River and Paris.
Landowners brought more land under cultivation, cleared forests, drained
marshes and swamps, and where possible, irrigated arid fields.
Religion and Popular Culture
Religion played an enormous part in the lives of Europeans in the Middle
Ages. Christianity shaped a general system of belief and values that defined
the way most people viewed themselves and the world in which they lived.
The Church, its faith and learning preserved during the so-called Dark Ages
before the medieval period, viewed itself as a unifying force in Europe. This
gave the clergy great prestige and moral authority as distributors of the
sacraments (above all, penance, the forgiveness of sins), without which
Christians believed that salvation could not be achieved. When preachers
passed through villages, the faithful waited long into the night to have their
confessions heard. One of Europe’s most traveled routes took pilgrims from
many countries to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern
Castile (Spain). The Church blessed oaths of fealty (loyalty) sworn by vas
sals to lords and rulers, and it took an important role in the rites of passage
(birth, marriage, death). The Italian Renaissance (see Chapter 2), to be sure,
would rediscover the dignity of humanity, but did so within the context of
Christian belief.
Religious themes and subjects permeated virtually all medieval art and
music. In the twelfth century, magnificent Gothic cathedrals began to be
built. The construction of these colossal churches often lasted as long as a
century, absorbing enormous resources, and paid for by gifts, large and
small, from people of all walks of life. Church bells tolled the hours (clocks
would remain novelties until the end of the sixteenth century) and called
people to Mass.
Western Christendom was interlocked with Western civilization, although
Muslim and Jewish heritages remained strong in Spain and Turkish
controlled areas. Jews remained outcasts, although in general they did not
live apart from the Christian population until the fifteenth century, when
they were forced to do so by civil and ecclesiastical authorities. The popes
forced Jews in Rome to wear distinctive badges; Venice established the first
Jewish “ghetto” in 1516. Many Jews, forbidden to enter certain trades, were
forced to wander in search of towns where they could live in relative peace.