06-02 -24

• In the Middle Ages, religion was the most important thing in most people’s lives
• Almost everyone in Europe in the High Middle Ages was Christian; there was also a very small population of Jews
• Reasons why the Christian Church was powerful:

  • The Christian Church owned large amounts of land, making it rich and powerful
  • People believed that the Church offered a route to everlasting life in heaven, even the king and lords
  • The Pope had the power to excommunicate people, even kings, leading to eternal punishment in hell
• Majority of the population was illiterate, only priests and monks could read and write
• Pilgrimage was the only way ordinary people could leave their town or village, regarded as a help in the quest for heaven
• Christianity was divided since the 11th century into Western Europe (Pope in Rome) and Eastern Europe (Emperor of Byzantium)
• Organisation of the Church:

  • The Pope was the head of the Western Church in Rome, Italy
  • Bishops were heads of dioceses, parishes were led by parish priests
  • Monasteries and convents were led by abbots and abbesses, housing monks, nuns, and friars
• In the Early Middle Ages, monasteries were centers of education with functions like schools, scriptoria (copying books), bibliotheca, and missionary work
• The struggle for power between the Emperor and the Church led to the Investiture Controversy in the 11th and 12th centuries
• The Crusades were a series of wars between Christians and Muslims over control of the Holy Land, with the main goal of capturing Jerusalem
• Reasons for going on Crusades:

  • Seeking money and power
  • Believing they would go directly to heaven by killing unbelievers
  • Criminals and thieves escaping punishment
• There were 7 official crusades and some unofficial ones, such as the Children’s Crusade in 1212
• During the First Crusade (1096-1099), the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and created a Christian kingdom in the Holy Land
• Military orders were chivalric orders with a military purpose, established as Catholic religious societies during the medieval Crusades for the protection of Christians
• The birthplace of Islam is the Arabian Peninsula
• In the Early Middle Ages, the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by Arabs, mostly nomads, some farmers, and some merchants living in oases that served as trading centers
• The most prosperous trading center was situated on an important crossroad of trading routes between East Africa, India, and Asia Minor
• Arabs were organized into tribes and worshipped idols
• Mecca was the religious center because of the Ka´aba, a shrine of extraterrestrial origin where some idols were kept and protected
• In 610 CE, a Meccan merchant named Muhammad experienced a vision in a desert cave where Angel Gabriel told him he would be God's messenger
• Muhammad started to spread his belief that there is only one God and all other gods must be abandoned
• Believers in Islam were called Muslims, meaning "one who has submitted"
• Muhammad decided to leave Mecca in the year of the Hijrah, which marked the beginning of the Muslim calendar
• The Holy book of Islam is called the Qur´an, written by Muhammad's followers
• The Sharia is a body of laws controlling family life, morals, and community life of Muslims
• The Sunnah is a set of rules on how to live a good and moral life
• There are five pillars of Islam that each Muslim must follow
• Creed of faith: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet"
• Prayer: five times a day, facing Mecca
• Alms: charity to the poor
• Fasting: during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims must not eat or drink from sunrise till sunset
• Pilgrimage: every Muslim who can afford it must travel to Mecca once in a lifetime
• Muhammad's successors are called caliphs, with the first caliph being Abu Bakr
• The Muslim community split into Shiites and Sunnis, with different beliefs on the rightful successors of Muhammad
• The influence of Islamic culture in Europe
• Throughout the Middle Ages, the Muslim world was more advanced and civilized than Christian Western Europe
• Cordoba in Muslim Spain was a city with over half a million inhabitants, with advanced infrastructure
• In the 8th century, the Islamic empire stretched from Spain to India
• In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor, leading to a series of crusades
• In the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire was founded by a Turkish chieftain named Osman