mEDIEVAL EUROPE341
Town scene
Trade increased in the
later medieval period,
making merchants wealthy
and powerful. Towns became
important trading centers with
a new class of craftspeople. The
craftspeople created organizations
called guilds to control the prices
and quality of their goods.ShoemakersPeople bought
fabric to make
their own clothing.women
Peasant women worked very hard all their lives.
They brought up their children, spun wool and
wove clothing, and helped with all the farmwork.
Upper-class women also led busy lives. They often
ran the family estates while their husbands were
away traveling around their lands, fighting
against neighboring lords, or on a crusade to
the Holy Land. women also nursed the sick and
provided education for children in their care.A French medieval
woman, Christine de
Pisan (left), earned her
living as a writer.Hunting (above) was a
popular sport for upper-
class medieval women.14th-century manuscript (right)
shows feudal structure, with
the king at the top.FeUdaLism
Kings gave their
vassals—powerful nobles—tracts
of land called fiefs. in return for this land,
the vassals fought for the king when required.
The vassals divided their land into manors
(estates), which they gave to lesser nobles and
knights. in return, the knights and lesser nobles
worked for the lord of the manor, and had to
fight for him when called on.medieval europe
400 ce Roman empire
begins to decline.
450 German tribes—
angles, Jutes, and
saxons—settle in Britain.
480s Franks set up
kingdom in Gaul
(now France).
800 charlemagne, king
of the Franks, unites
western europe.
900-1000s europe is
divided into feudal
estates; there is
widespread poverty and
disease in the region.
1066 normans conquer
england.
1000s-1200s High middle
ages: trade improves,
population grows, towns
develop, and learning
flourishes.
c. 1100 First universities
are founded.
1215 magna carta:
english barons win
power and rights
from King John.
1300-1500 Late middle
ages.
c. 1320 Renaissance,
a rebirth of arts and
learning, begins in italy.
1337 Hundred Years’
war begins between
england and France.
1348 Black death, a
killing plague, reaches
europe. eventually, it
wipes out one-third of
the population of europe.
1378-1417 Great schism:
catholic europe is
divided in support of two
different popes, Urban Vi
and clement Vii.
1454 Johannes
Gutenberg, a German,
develops movable type.
Printing begins
in europe.The poultry
trader sold
geese.Find out more
Black death
europe, history of
Knights and heraldry
Renaissance
Roman empireUS_341_Medieval_Europe_2.indd 341 09/02/16 3:57 pm