HISTORICAL REVIEW. MIDDLE AGES
Cultural scientists call the Middle Ages a long period in history. Western Europe between antiquity and modern times. This period covers more than a millennium - from the 5th to the 15th centuries. There are three periods of the Middle Ages:
· Early Middle Ages, from the beginning of the era to 900 or 1000 years (up to X - XI centuries);
· High (Classical) Middle Ages - from the X-XI centuries to about the XIV century;
Late Middle Ages, XIV-XV centuries.
The Middle Ages is a time when turbulent and very important processes took place in Europe, such as the invasion of the barbarians, which ended with the fall of the Roman Empire. Barbarians settled on the lands former empire, assimilated with its population, creating a new community of Western Europe. At the same time, the new Western Europeans, as a rule, adopted Christianity, which by the end of the existence of Rome became its state religion. Christianity in its various forms supplanted pagan beliefs, and this process only accelerated after the fall of the empire. This is the second most important historical process that determined the face of the early Middle Ages in Western Europe. The third significant process was the formation on the territory of the former Roman Empire of new state formations created by the same "barbarians". Tribal leaders proclaimed themselves kings, dukes, counts, constantly at war with each other and subjugating weaker neighbors. A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages was constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down the economic and cultural development. In the period of the early Middle Ages, the ideological positions of the feudal lords and peasants had not yet taken shape, and the peasantry, which was only being born as a special class of society, in terms of worldview was dissolved in broader and more indefinite layers.
The task of the church was to smooth out social conflicts and antagonisms as much as possible. Turning to the powerful of this world, she appealed to mercy in relation to the oppressed and destitute. This sympathy stemmed in large measure from the social teaching of the church, which extolled poverty as an ideal condition. In the context of the general decline of culture immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire, only the church for many centuries remained the only social institution, common to all countries, tribes and states of Western Europe. The church was not only the dominant political institution, but also had a dominant influence directly on the consciousness of the population. In the conditions of a difficult and meager life, against the background of extremely limited and unreliable knowledge about the surrounding world, the church offered people a coherent system of knowledge about the world, its structure, and the forces acting in it. This picture of the world completely determined the mentality of the believing villagers and townspeople and was based on the images and interpretations of the Bible. The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity. Monasticism played a huge role in the life of society at that time: the monks took upon themselves the obligations of “leaving the world”, celibacy, and renunciation of property. However, already in the 6th century monasteries turned into strong, often very wealthy centers, owning movable and immovable property. Many monasteries were centers of education and culture.
During the classical or high Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome difficulties and revive. Since the 10th century, they have been enlarged state structures, which made it possible to raise more numerous armies and, to some extent, to stop raids and robberies. Missionaries brought Christianity to the countries of Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, so that these states also entered the orbit of Western culture. The relative stability that followed made it possible for cities and the economy to rapidly expand. Life began to change for the better, the cities flourished their own culture and spiritual life. A big role in this was played by the same church, which also developed, improved its teaching and organization.
The late Middle Ages continued the processes of formation of European culture, which began in the period of the classics. However, their course was far from smooth. In the XIV-XV centuries, Western Europe repeatedly experienced a great famine. Numerous epidemics, especially plagues, brought innumerable human casualties. The development of culture was greatly slowed down by the Hundred Years War. During these periods, uncertainty and fear dominated the masses. The economic upswing is replaced by long periods of recession and stagnation. In the masses, complexes of fear of death and the afterlife were intensified, fears of evil spirits were intensifying. However, in the end, the cities were reborn, people who survived pestilence and war got the opportunity to arrange their lives better than in previous eras. Conditions arose for a new upsurge in spiritual life, science, philosophy, and art. This rise necessarily led to the so-called Renaissance or Renaissance.
The Genesis of Capitalism in Western Europe
16-17 centuries - this is the time the main content of which was three processes,
1. Genesis of capitalism
2. Reformation
3. Folding absolute monarchy
This period of traditional historiography was considered the late Middle Ages, and in Western historiography - the New Age. This difference is explained by the fact that Marxist science took as a basis the change of the general formation and the bourgeois revolution, and Western science relied on the development of the spirit, therefore it considered it possible to start a new time with the Culture of the Renaissance. 16-17 centuries are very different from the New Time, and today etrmin is used Early Modern.
The difference between the feudal mode of production and the capitalist one. To determine the content of the genesis of capitalism, it is necessary to reveal how the capitalist mode of production differs from the feudal one.
Main differences:
1. Under feudalism, the feudal lord has ownership of the land - but not the instrument of production that belongs to the peasant. Under capitalism, the capitalist owns everything.
2. Under feudalism, the direct producer has the means of production. Under capitalism, the direct producer is alienated from the means of production - but he is personally free.
3. Under feudalism, the main production unit is the peasant economy. Under capitalism, it is a capitalist enterprise: a manufactory, a factory, a farm.
Thus, in order for the feudal mode of production to be transformed into a capitalist one, it was necessary to deprive the direct producers of the means of production, replace the small production cell with a large capitalist one, and change the form of ownership. Based on this, one should consider the genesis of capitalism.
initial accumulation. Primitive accumulation is the process of creating (prerequisites) the conditions for the formation of bourgeois relations. The term was introduced by Marx to separate the concepts of primitive accumulation and capital accumulation. The issue is being debated:
1 point of view: there is no problem of primitive accumulation, since, in fact, capitalist relations have always existed.
Why did this process take place in the 16th century, and not at the time of the emergence of cities (not earlier): the process of primitive accumulation needed conditions, a developed commodity economy was required. This expanded trade relations contributed to the specialization of individual areas. Commodity relations included both the feudal lord and the peasant. Potential capitalists appeared - usurers and merchants, the product turned into a commodity.
By the end of the 15th century, technical innovations appeared
- top-firing wheel, with its appearance, productivity has increased tenfold.
Domain processes, after which forging and casting of metal appeared.
New types of spinning wheel and loom
Until some time, the old organization of production was fine, but the more the level of development grew, the tighter the guild framework became. Production, as it became more complex, acquired a social character. The process itself became more expensive - investment was required, and the question arose of the emergence of new forms. Thus, it was precisely by the 16th century that conditions arose in production that went beyond the limits of small-scale farming. The essence of primitive accumulation was defined by Karl Marx in the book "Capital" - in 21. main entity The primary accumulation is the separation of the direct producer from the means of production - expropriation. This process was carried out in relation to their own and foreign villages.
Forms of initial accumulation:
1. Direct separation of the direct producer from the means of production. Most developed in England, occurred in the form of enclosures.
2. Taxes - France was like this - constantly raising taxes constantly. During the reign of Richelieu, taxes increased 4 times.
3. Robbery of the colonies. - although it in itself could not give an effect, since a combination of favorable conditions is needed. For example, Spain plundered the colonies the most, but capitalism did not develop there as intensively as in England. In the end, the funds stolen in the colonies flowed to those countries where there were the most favorable conditions for capitalism.
Manufactory - it developed not on the basis of the disintegration of the guild craft, but outside it. But the very existence of manufactory contributed to the disintegration of guild craft. The emergence of manufactory is directly related to the process of primitive accumulation, since as a result of expropriation, free hands are released - mercenaries. Manufactory arises on the basis of rural crafts. Manufactory arises rather there:
1. Where there are more artisans engaged in crafts
2. Where did new branches of production appear that did not have time to take the form of a workshop (printing house, shipbuilding, new metallurgical production)
3. Where large capital investments were required
4. Where products are widely sold in the foreign market (English cloth making)
Over time, the artisan began to receive a salary, and the merchant became the organizer of production. A scattered manufactory appears. An entrepreneur could grow not only from merchants, but also from the artisans themselves. The main condition for the existence of manufacture is the division of labor.
The emergence of manufactories is a slow process. Even in England on the eve of the revolution, in the most developed branch of cloth-making, manufactories accounted for only 10% of production. Finally, shop production was supplanted only by the factory.
The development of capitalism in agriculture. In agriculture, capitalist production proceeded slowly, and was successful only in the Netherlands and England. In other countries, one can speak of farming only conditionally. The old forms of farming were preserved there. In the Netherlands, the development of capitalist relations in agriculture was facilitated by natural conditions: drainage, the construction of dams and dams, the creation of huge areas reclaimed from the sea and their transformation into meadows and areas for crops. Without diligence and capital investment - all this would mean nothing. As a result, on the eve of the Dutch Revolution, feudal land ownership was only 25%, and the rest was farming. In England:
1. There have never been sharp lines between classes. A rich peasant was obliged to be knighted, i.e. there was a blurred line between the top of the peasantry and the lower chivalry. In the 15th century, the Gendry was born - a new nobility (nobles by birth, bourgeois by methods of extracting income.) This became possible since no one threatened England since the 11th century, it was not the defending side in wars - and there was no need to maintain a large knightly society. So the nobility lost their traditional occupation, and showed economic initiative.
2. Nowhere has the price revolution affected the traditional feudal relations so much as in England, for here it has fallen on prepared ground. By the time of the price revolution, leasing relations were widespread in England, and since the tenant paid the landowner constantly, he benefited from the price revolution.
The difference between feudal rent and capitalist rent:
1. Feudal lease, as a rule, was long-term not less than for a lifetime, more often for three lives - 99 years.
2. The feudal tenant does not invest his capital in the land, but the capitalist one does; the tenant is not the one who works on the land, but the one who invests his capital. Laborers work directly on the land, laborers do not own what they produce.
3. There are not 2 figures here - Landowner - arnedator, but 3 - land - hired laborer. The landowner has nothing at all to do with production, even indirectly, he only gets the tenant, the tenant and pays the farm laborers.
The role of the state in the process of primitive accumulation. The state played an active role, both contributing and inhibiting, but there were more contributing facts:
1. Capitalist relations are purely economic in nature, and economic coercion is applied here. But at first, the state uses non-economic coercion, regulates relations between the bourgeoisie and the workers. An example is the bloody labor legislation in England, when a worker was forced to be hired by a manufactory under pain of punishment.
2. Without the state, the bourgeoisie could not solve the problem of supplying raw materials, and some other issues. The most striking state intervention is protectionism: the supply of raw materials, the artificial expansion of the domestic market, and the involvement of specialists from other countries. Creation of monopolies. The most successful in the protectionist policy of Elizabeth 1, and Richelieu.
3. The external active policy of the state contributed to the creation of conditions for the internal economic development of the bourgeoisie. In this regard, the most remarkable are the wars of England with Spain, and then with Holland.
___________________________________________________________________________________-
The period of the Middle Ages (from lat. media - the middle) occupies a middle position between the time ancient world and New Time. The transition to it was marked by the Renaissance, the Great geographical discoveries, the industrial revolution and the emergence of a market economy.
The chronology of the beginning of the Middle Ages is beyond doubt. The starting point is considered to be the 5th century AD, more precisely, 476 AD, when the leader of the Germanic barbarian tribes, Odacar, deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus. The word "barbarians" comes from "barbaros", as the Greeks called everyone who incomprehensibly chatted in an unknown and dissonant language.
This word has become a household word for the destroyers of material and spiritual values. In addition, representatives of the tribes - the conquerors of Rome were at a lower level of general cultural development than the Greeks and Romans.
For everyone who studies economic history humanity, it seems most reasonable to start the starting point of the New Age, following the Middle Ages, with the events of the industrial revolution in England in the 60s.
Conventionally, the entire Middle Ages can be divided into three stages:
the first - the early Middle Ages from the end of the 5th - the beginning of the 6th century.
the second - the heyday of medieval civilization from the 10th to the 15th centuries;
the third - the late Middle Ages - from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 18th century.
So, the duration is set.
Location - Europe. This word comes from "Erebus" - "West" (translated from Semitic). Under the Greeks and Romans, Europe was seen as an object for collecting indemnities. It was, as it were, a barbarian periphery, the border of the Roman Empire. From north to south, the continent is located from the Arctic Ocean to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from west to east - from the Atlantic coast to the Ural Mountains.
So, since antiquity, the concept of Europe has been identified with geographical definition"West" and was opposed to "Asu" (translated from the Semitic "Asia"), or East. For the peoples and countries that already inhabited Europe in those centuries, one can distinguish common features of economic, socio-political and socio-cultural development.
The countries of Western Europe have long stood out on the continent: England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavian countries. Here, faster than in Eastern Europe, the processes of feudalization and industrialization took place, achievements in science and technology were more clearly manifested. The Celtic and Germanic tribes were part of the Roman Empire and had the opportunity to meet and adopt some of the achievements of the advanced for that time ancient civilization.
Western European countries with the end of the Great Migration of Peoples established themselves within the state borders. They actively used the advantages and benefits of their geographical position. The seas and rivers surrounding them, crossing the plains and mountains, facilitated trade and primary exchanges of information about various kinds of innovations in material culture.
Eastern Europe became the place of settlement of the Slavic tribes, who found themselves geographic location further from the seas and ancient world centers of culture.
A kind of outpost of Europe in the east was Byzantium - the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire.
The main feature of the early Middle Ages was the emergence of feudalism in the young European states.
A qualitatively new civilization - Western (European) - is formed precisely in the Middle Ages on the basis of a synthesis of the relations of private property and the colony (lease relations) of antiquity and the communal-collectivist principles of European tribes.
The third component of this synthesis of a new civilization was the material and spiritual culture of the Ancient East - the foundation of the entire world civilization. Without taking into account these closely interrelated processes that determined the material basis of European civilization, one cannot understand the features of the progress of the European economy in the Middle Ages, the formation of world economic relations.
By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the productive forces Ancient Greece and Rome were largely destroyed, monuments of material and spiritual culture perished in the fire of fires during the raids of barbarian tribes, in continuous wars, with the active migration of large masses of the population.
Many labor skills were forgotten, the qualifications of artisans were lost. In the early Middle Ages, the development of technology and people's knowledge of the world around them was at a very low level.
This led to low labor productivity.
Middle Ages
Manual, handicraft production prevailed. For the successful development of vast new spaces in the north and in the center of Europe, covered with dense forests, the means of communication were primitive. Poor communication between individual regions made it difficult to exchange experience in economic life, which also held back progress. Wars, epidemics of plague and cholera, mass diseases of people and domestic animals greatly undermined the productive forces of society.
But at the same time, the most important process of the formation of modern states was taking place, within the framework of which national economic complexes began to gradually form.
Appearance already in the XIII century. in England, the Parliament, then the first constitutions in a number of countries legislated the right of private ownership of the main means of production. The works of scientists in chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, mechanics were used in technical improvements, navigation; rising living standards of the people. The dissemination of knowledge accumulated by mankind was facilitated by printing. 1000 years after the fall ancient rome a galaxy of brilliant thinkers, rightly headed by Leonardo da Vinci, put the production and cultural experience of antiquity at the service of people.
They reached new heights in technology, science, art, often looking far ahead, ahead of their time. The Renaissance was not only the heyday of medieval civilization, but also worthily introduced human society into the New Age, leading it through the Great Geographical Discoveries.
So, there was no smooth transition, progressive movement in the development of productive forces along an ascending line from the era of the Ancient World to the Middle Ages, but there was undoubtedly economic progress, especially characteristic of the third period of the Middle Ages.
Early Middle Ages (V-X centuries)
The question of the population of Europe as a whole and its individual regions in the era of the Early Middle Ages in modern historical science is still debatable. Due to the lack of accurate statistics, we can only name the most approximate figures.
So, by the middle of the 5th c.
Italy remained the most densely populated region of Europe, where 4-5 million people lived, 3-5 million lived on the territory of modern France, about 4 million lived in Spain, up to 3 million in Germany, and about 1 million in the British Isles.
What years are the Middle Ages?
The population of Europe was constantly changing. Crop failures, epidemics, incessant wars led to a demographic decline. But from the beginning of the 7th c. the European population begins to gradually increase.
However, population growth in Europe during the Middle Ages was neither consistent nor constant.
To a large extent, it depended on changes in life expectancy, fertility and mortality. In the Early Middle Ages, the average life expectancy for a man was 40-45 years, for women - 32-35 years.
Such a short lifespan can be explained by the depletion of the body due to constant malnutrition, frequent epidemics, constant wars, and nomad raids. Also, factors influencing the reduction in the average life expectancy of women were early marriages and short intervals between the births of children.
High and late Middle Ages (XI-XV centuries)
The general population growth, which began as early as the 7th century, continues until the beginning of the 14th century.
By this time, 10-12 million people lived in Italy, France and Spain, 9 million in Germany, and about 4 million people in the British Isles. This was the maximum that the traditional agricultural economy could feed.
In the middle of the XIV century. an incomparable blow to the European population was dealt by a terrible plague epidemic, called " Black Death».
According to various sources, it claimed from half to two-thirds of the population of Europe. After this, the most terrible wave, the plague returned to Europe more than once. So, the plague epidemic of 1410-1430 was accompanied by huge victims. It was only by the beginning of the 16th century that the population losses caused by the plague could be replenished. Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru
average life expectancy
Coming to the beginning of the XI century.
socio-political stabilization, increased productivity, general economic recovery, and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of epidemics led to an increase in average life expectancy: for men - up to 45-50 years, for women - up to 38-40 years.
The number of people over 50 years old in the XII century. accounted for 12-13% of the total population. In the XI-XII centuries. the number of children in families is increasing, which is associated with a decrease in the level of infant mortality due to improved living conditions.
Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru
On this page, material on the topics:
The population of medieval Europe
The population of the Kama region in the Middle Ages
Life expectancy in Europe during the Middle Ages
The population of the cities of the Middle Ages
Population in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages cover the period from the 5th to the 17th centuries. In the early periods of the Middle Ages, many peoples began the formation of statehood, which was accompanied by large-scale aggressive campaigns and the creation of huge early feudal states.
All the battles and battles that took place at that time were distinguished by particular cruelty, bloodshed and total plunder of enemy territories. In the future, the development of feudal relations became the basis for political fragmentation and long internecine wars.
At the junction of antiquity and the Middle Ages in the history of Europe, Asia and North Africa, there was another period, which was called the "Great Migration of Peoples".
There was a migration of the barbarian tribes of Asia and Europe to the territory of the ancient centers of civilization, where barbarian states were created. They became the basis medieval states. At the same time, the new social relations and culture that developed in them later had a huge impact on neighboring peoples, whose development no one interrupted by force.
As a result, medieval feudal states with more or less significant political and economic differences were formed.
The early Middle Ages (V-XI centuries) are considered by many historians as a period of decline in military affairs. Only from time to time were short-term military successes of one or another people, commander or some state. Among them are certain moments of the Arab-Muslim conquests, Viking campaigns, the military achievements of the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, the Chinese Tang empire, the state of Mahmud Gaznevi.
There was a simplification of military affairs, i.e.
e. everything was like in the days of military leaders, only now in Christian states. As a result of this, the number of troops was sharply reduced, but the quality of a professional fighter who devoted his life to the art of war increased markedly. Battles in the early Middle Ages took place between tiny armies of a few hundred or thousands of fighters.
There was a catastrophic lack of people for complex formations and maneuvers.
The armament and equipment of the knights remained unpretentious. The main weapons were the sword and spear. In addition to them, there were battle axes and clubs. Foot soldiers began to use composite bows of the eastern type.
By the XI century, a crossbow appeared in Europe. An interesting fact is that the bow and crossbow were considered at that time the most dangerous weapons, because an arrow fired at close range easily pierced chain mail.
In order to get as close as possible to the enemy, the troops began to build a column and a wedge.
The knights, as a rule, tried to save their horses for the attack. They let them rest, because the heavy equipment of the warriors was extremely tiring for the animals. The knights usually rode at a pace, and at this time they were ideal targets for archers and crossbowmen.
And such troops in the 11th-12th centuries during the Crusades clashed with the armies of Muslims.
Problems began to arise immediately. Muslim warriors inherited the wonderful military traditions of Iran and the eastern regions of the Roman Empire.
They were protected by chain mail and a caftan quilted on cotton wool, over which a shell was put on, consisting of interconnected plates. The spheroconic helmet was equipped with a steel half-mask and a chain mail aventail (a part of the helmet that covers the neck and sometimes the face).
Muslim warriors carried with them round, small shields, greaves made of leather reinforced with steel plates.
The collision of a simplified European military machine with a much more complex and developed eastern nevertheless highlighted two important advantages of the Europeans - stamina and endurance.
European rulers in the East recruited mercenaries from local residents for horse archers. Such warriors were called turkopulas. To strengthen discipline, the knights had to give up many of the joys of life, tame pride and arrogance, and observe subordination. Then spiritual and chivalric orders began to appear.
Uccello. "Battle of San Romano"
The military traditions of the Roman Empire were almost entirely adopted by the Byzantines. They used a combination of squads belonging to the emperor and nobles, with mercenary and allied detachments, as well as militias of military settlers. The armament of the Byzantines, although it resembled the Muslim one, was closer to the ancient Roman prototypes.
There were good prerequisites for the development of military affairs in China, where, in addition to practical, detailed military treatises, the commander had at his disposal numerous fighters, detachments of nomadic federates, as well as a wide selection of weapons and a powerful production base.
The Japanese received the initial impetus for the development of military affairs from Korea and China, where there was a cult of weapons.
The Japanese had especially great achievements in the production of blades, which in the 7th-8th centuries began to be made using the Damascus method.
In the 13th century, the Mongol invasion almost completely changed military affairs in Asia and Europe. Genghis Khan and his successors had military successes only thanks to the strictest discipline based on a system of material incentives and the most severe punishments for various misconduct.
The squads of the steppes turned into a real army that retained all the advantages of a nomadic army - speed of movement, maneuverability on a campaign and on the battlefield, as well as the traditions of dividing troops and allocating reserves, methods of false retreats with luring into an ambush.
Under the Mongol influence, Western European armor changed. The metal now hugged every part of the knight's body.
Türkiye also made its contribution to the development of military affairs. Although the striking force of the Ottoman army, as before, was heavily armed horsemen, the basis of the army was made up of foot shooters and saber fighters - Janissaries, who were brought up in special schools.
In the middle of the 16th century, the horseman was armed with a shield made of thick leather, a long spear, a saber, or a konchar, a knack and a pair of pistols. The effectiveness of such cavalry in battle was so great that it served in the future as a prototype of two types of cavalry - lancers and hussars in Europe.
Since the development of crafts and manufactories continued, commodity-money relations also developed. As a result, centralized states began to form in Europe. All these transformations created the prerequisite for changing the methods of warfare, i.e.
e. permanent troops began to arise, surpassing in their organization, armament and preparedness of personnel the previously existing feudal detachments and non-permanent armies. During this period, firearms appeared in the arsenal of the armies, which simply revolutionized the way wars were waged.
In connection with the emergence firearms The composition and organization of the armies changed radically.
For example, the heavy knightly cavalry disappeared from the battlefields, and the infantry was armed with firearms, and it became the main branch of the military. In addition, another branch of the armed forces arose - artillery.
New social relations, mostly capitalist, were established in the most economically developed countries which included, among others, England and the Netherlands. In the period from the 12th to the 18th centuries, mercenary troops, as a rule, prevailed, and mass armies did not exist.
Zurbaran. "Defense of Cadiz from the British"
At that time, the target for hostilities was not the army, but the territory of the enemy, because all wars were fought just for the sake of capturing new lands without decisive battles. The troops maneuvered a lot, forcing the enemy to retreat, that is, the war was waged not to destroy the enemy, but to exhaust him. This strategy became known as maneuvering.
Its essence was to exhaust the enemy with maneuvers without resorting to major battles. In this regard, powerful fortresses with strong garrisons were built on the borders of states. Therefore, the soldiers at that time had to be able not only to perform maneuvers, but also to storm the fortress or besiege them.
In the Middle Ages, battles took place in a variety of territories.
For example, we can name the attempt of the Mongols under the command of Kublai Khan to invade Japan, and the Japanese - to Korea, the struggle for dominance in the Mediterranean between Christians and Mohammedans, the wars between European states for influence in the world and authority on trade routes and colonies.
J. S. Copley. "The Death of Major Pearson"
All these reasons contributed to the promotion of talented military leaders, including admirals, who became the founders of naval combat tactics.
The most characteristic example is the Anglo-Dutch wars, which at first used armed commercial ships. During the battles, the ships lined up in different ways, but most often - in two wake columns.
The tactics developed by the Dutch admiral Ruyter were countered by the onslaught of the English flagships, who advanced from the cavalry commanders.
Having won this war, England found itself in the position of the largest maritime power, for which the waterways were vital. importance. It is quite natural that it was in the British fleet that there were many capable admirals, distinguished by their strength of character, fortitude and ability to fight at sea.
Among them are Anson and Benbow, who most successfully proved themselves in battles with France, Spain, Holland and other countries. But the French sailors also showed great courage and excellent knowledge of maritime affairs.
The most prominent of these were Duquesne and Tourville.
Publication date: 2015-01-10; Read: 85 | Page copyright infringement
studopedia.org - Studopedia.Org - 2014-2018. (0.003 s) ...
The Middle Ages (Middle Ages) is the designation of the period of world history accepted in historical science, following the history of the ancient world and preceding modern history. The concept of the Middle Ages (Latin medium aevum, literally - middle age) appeared in the 15th and 16th centuries among Italian humanist historians, who considered the period of history preceding the Renaissance to be the “dark ages” of European culture.
The 15th century Italian humanist Flavio Biondo gave the first systematic exposition of the history of the Middle Ages in Western Europe as a special period of history, in historical science the term "Middle Ages" was established after a professor at the University of Halle X.
Keller called one of the three books of his textbook "History of the Middle Ages" (Ch. Cellarius, Historia medii aevi, a tempori bus Constantini Magni ad Constantinopolim a Turcas captain deducta..., Jenae, 1698). Keller divided world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times; believed that the Middle Ages lasted from the time of the division of the Roman Empire into East and West (395) and the fall of Constantinople (1453). In the 18th century, a special branch of historical science arose that studied the history of the Middle Ages - medieval studies.
In science, the Middle Ages date from the end of the 5th century - the second half of the 15th century. The conditional date for the beginning of the Middle Ages is the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and the end date of the Middle Ages is associated with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, with the discovery of America X.
Columbus in 1492, the Reformation in the 16th century. Supporters of the theory of the "Long Middle Ages", based on data on changes in the life of ordinary people, connect the end of the Middle Ages with the Great French Revolution. Marxist historiography has preserved the traditional three-part division of history into ancient, medieval, and new - the so-called "humanistic trichotomy".
She considered the Middle Ages as the era of the birth, development and decay of feudalism. Within the framework of the theory of the change of socio-economic formations, Marxists associated the end of the Middle Ages with the time English revolution the middle of the 17th century, after which capitalism began to actively develop in Europe.
The term "Middle Ages", which arose in relation to the history of the countries of Western Europe, is also used in relation to other regions of the world, especially to the history of those countries that had a feudal system. At the same time, the time frame of the Middle Ages may differ. For example, the beginning of the Middle Ages in China is usually dated to the 3rd century AD, in the Near and Middle East - from the spread of Islam (6th-7th centuries).
There is a period in the history of Russia Ancient Rus'- before the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Consequently, the beginning of the Middle Ages in Rus' refers to the 13th-14th centuries. The end of the medieval period in Russia is associated with the reforms of Peter the Great. Differences in chronology and the impossibility of applying the unambiguous application of the term "Middle Ages" to all regions of the world confirms its conditional character.
In this regard, it seems reasonable to consider the Middle Ages at the same time as a global process, and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and chronological framework in each country.
In the narrow sense of the word, the term "Middle Ages" is used only in relation to the history of Western Europe and implies a number of specific features of religious, economic, political life: the feudal system of land use, the system of vassalage, the dominance of the church in religious life, the political power of the church (the inquisition, church courts, bishops-feudal lords), the ideals of monasticism and chivalry (a combination of the spiritual practice of ascetic self-improvement and altruistic service to society), the flowering of medieval architecture - Gothic.
The European Middle Ages is conditionally divided into three periods: the early Middle Ages (end of the 5th - the middle of the 11th centuries), the high, or classical, Middle Ages (the middle of the 11th - the end of the 14th centuries), and the late Middle Ages (15th-16th centuries).
The term "Middle Ages" was first introduced by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo in his work "Decades of History since the Decline of the Roman Empire". Before Biondo, the dominant term for the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance was the concept of "Dark Ages" introduced by Petrarch, which in modern historiography means a narrower period of time.
The humanists intended to designate in this way the boundary epoch between antiquity.
which inspired them, and contemporary times. Since humanists primarily assessed the state of language, writing, literature and art, this "middle" period seemed to them the embodiment of the savagery of the ancient world, barbarism and "kitchen" Latin.
In the 17th century, the term "Middle Ages" was introduced by the professor of the Gallic University J.
Keller. He divided world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times. Keller believed that the Middle Ages lasted from 395 until 1453.
In the narrow sense of the word, the term "Middle Ages" applies only to the Western European Middle Ages.
In this case, this term implies a number of specific features of religious, economic and political life: the feudal system of land use, the system of vassalage, the unconditional dominance of the Church in religious life, the political power of the Church, the ideals of monasticism and chivalry, the flowering of medieval architecture - Gothic.
In a broader sense, this term can be applied to any culture, but in this case it either denotes a predominantly chronological affiliation and does not indicate the presence of the above features of the Western European Middle Ages, or, conversely, indicates a historical period that has signs of the European Middle Ages, but does not coincide in chronology with the Middle Ages of Europe.
Knighthood in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is the era of domination in Western and Central Europe of the feudal economic and political system and the Christian religious worldview, which came after the collapse of antiquity.
Replaced by Renaissance. Covers the period from the 4th to the 14th centuries. In some regions, it was preserved even at a much later time. The Middle Ages is conditionally divided into the Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages.
The most important feature of medieval culture is the special role of Christian doctrine and the Christian church. In the context of the general decline of culture immediately after the destruction of the Roman Empire, only the church remained for many centuries the only social institution common to all countries, tribes and states of Europe.
The church was the dominant political institution, but even more significant was the influence that the church had directly on the consciousness of the population. In the conditions of a difficult and meager life, against the background of extremely limited and most often unreliable knowledge about the world, Christianity offered people a coherent system of knowledge about the world, about its structure, about the forces and laws acting in it.
The Early Middle Ages in Europe is the period from the end of the 4th century.
until the middle of the tenth century. In general, the early Middle Ages was a time of deep decline in European civilization compared with the ancient era.
This decline was expressed in the dominance of subsistence farming, in the fall of handicraft production and, accordingly, urban life, in the destruction of ancient culture under the onslaught of an unliterate pagan world. A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages was constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.
In the period from the 5th to the 10th centuries.
against the backdrop of a general lull in construction, architecture and fine arts there are two striking phenomena that are important for subsequent events. This is the Merovingian period and the Carolingian Renaissance on the territory of the Frankish state .. Merovingian art. The architecture of the Merovingian era, although it reflected the decline of building technology caused by the collapse of the ancient world, at the same time prepared the ground for the flourishing of pre-Romanesque architecture during the Carolingian Renaissance. The Carolingian Renaissance.
In Carolingian art, which adopted both late antique solemnity and Byzantine grandeur, as well as local barbarian traditions, the foundations of European medieval artistic culture were formed. Temples and palaces were decorated with multicolored mosaics and frescoes.
The era of the Middle Ages
Russian and Western medieval studies consider the collapse of the Western Roman Empire at the end of the 5th century to be the beginning of the Middle Ages, however, in the encyclopedic edition of the UNESCO History of Humanity, the milestone was drawn at the time of the emergence of Islam.
Regarding the end of the Middle Ages, historians have no consensus. It was proposed to consider as such: the fall of Constantinople, the invention of printing, the discovery of America, the beginning of the Reformation, the Battle of Pavia, the beginning of the English Revolution, the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia and the equalization of the rights of Catholics and Protestants on the principle of cujus regio, ejus religio in 1648, 1660- years, the turn of the 1670s-1680s, the turn of the 1680s-1690s and some other periods.
Supporters of the so-called Long Middle Ages, based on data on the development of not the ruling elite, but the common people, consider the end of the Middle Ages, which entailed changes in all layers of European society, the Great French Revolution.
IN last years Russian medieval studies attribute the end of the Middle Ages to the middle or end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. The most correct is to consider the Middle Ages both as a global process and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and its own period in each country. For example, if Italian historians consider the XIV century to be the beginning of the New Age, then in Russia the beginning new history usually attributed to the end of the 17th and the first decades of the 18th century.
It is very difficult to systematize within the framework of the European Middle Ages, for example, the history of the states of Asia, Africa, pre-Columbian America. Disagreements in the chronology of the era and the impossibility of applying the term Middle Ages to all states of the world confirm its conditional character.
This is interesting
Formation of the CIS - circumstances and consequences
When in 1991 many of the union republics refused to sign the agreement on the creation of the SSG, most of the state leadership ...
Tree and its properties
Any objects around us have certain physical and mechanical properties that are very important when using them ...
Copper Riot Coins
The new urban uprising, called " copper riot”, happened in Moscow in 1662.
It unfolded in…
Apollo 15
Apollo 15 (eng. Apollo 15) is the ninth manned spacecraft in the framework of the Apollo program, the fourth landing of people ...
(1300-1640)
In Western European science, the end of the Middle Ages is usually associated with the beginning of the Church Reformation (beginning of the 16th century) or the era of great geographical discoveries (15th-17th centuries). The late Middle Ages is also called the Renaissance.
This is one of the most tragic periods of the Middle Ages. In the XIV century, almost the whole world experienced several epidemics of the plague, the Black Death. In Europe alone, it killed more than 60 million people, almost half of the population. This is the time of the strongest peasant uprisings in England and France and the longest war in the history of mankind - the Hundred Years. But at the same time - this is the era of the great geographical discoveries and the Renaissance.
Reformation (lat. reformatio - correction, transformation, reformation) - a broad religious and socio-political movement in Western and Central Europe of the 16th - early 17th centuries, aimed at reforming Catholic Christianity in accordance with the Bible.
The main cause of the Reformation was the struggle between those who represented the emerging capitalist mode of production and the defenders of the then dominant feudal system, whose ideological dogmas were protected by the Catholic Church. The interests and aspirations of the emerging bourgeois class and the masses of the people who somehow supported its ideology found expression in the founding of Protestant churches that called for modesty, economy, accumulation and self-reliance, as well as in the formation of nation-states in which the church did not play a major role.
Until the 16th century, the church in Europe owned large fiefs, and its power could only last as long as the feudal system existed. The riches of the church were based on the ownership of land, church tithes and payment for ceremonies. The splendor and decoration of the temples was amazing. The church and the feudal system ideally complemented each other.
With the advent of a new class of society, gradually gaining strength - the bourgeoisie, the situation began to change. Many have long expressed dissatisfaction with the excessive splendor of the rites and temples of the church. The high cost of church rites also caused a great protest among the population. The bourgeoisie was especially dissatisfied with this state of affairs, which wanted to invest not in magnificent and expensive church rites, but in production.
In some countries where the power of the king was strong, the church was limited in its appetites. In many others, where the priests could manage to their heart's content, she was hated by the entire population. Here the Reformation found fertile ground.
In the 14th century, Oxford professor John Wyclif spoke openly against the Catholic Church, calling for the destruction of the institution of the papacy and the removal of all land from the priests. His successor was Jan Hus, rector of the University of Prague and part-time pastor. He fully supported the idea of Wyclif and proposed to reform the church in the Czech Republic. For this he was declared a heretic and burned at the stake.
The beginning of the Reformation is considered to be the speech of Martin Luther, doctor of theology at Wittenberg University: on October 31, 1517, he nailed his “95 theses” to the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church, in which he opposed the existing abuses of the Catholic Church, in particular against the sale of indulgences. Historians consider the end of the Reformation to be the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, as a result of which the religious factor ceased to play a significant role in European politics.
The main idea of his composition is that a person does not need the mediation of the church to turn to God, he has enough faith. This act was the beginning of the Reformation in Germany. Luther was persecuted by church authorities who demanded that he retract his words. The ruler of Saxony, Friedrich, stood up for him, hiding the doctor of theology in his castle. Followers of Luther's teachings continued to fight to bring about a change in the church. The speeches, which were brutally suppressed, led to the Peasants' War in Germany. Supporters of the Reformation began to be called Protestants.
The death of Luther did not end the Reformation. It began in other European countries - in Denmark, England, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, the Baltic States, Poland.
Protestantism spread throughout Europe in the creeds of the followers of Luther (Lutheranism), John Calvin (Calvinism), Ulrich Zwingli (Zwinglianism), and others.
A set of measures taken by the Catholic Church and the Jesuits to combat the Reformation,
The process of pan-European integration was contradictory: along with rapprochement in the field of culture and religion, there is a desire for national isolation in terms of the development of statehood. The Middle Ages is the time of the formation of national states that exist in the form of monarchies, both absolute and class-representative. The peculiarities of political power were its fragmentation, as well as its connection with conditional ownership of land. If in ancient Europe the right to own land was determined for a free person by his ethnicity - the fact of his birth in a given policy and the civil rights arising from this, then in medieval Europe the right to land depended on a person's belonging to a certain estate.
At this time, centralized power was being strengthened in most Western countries. European countries, nation-states (England, France, Germany, etc.) begin to form and strengthen. Large feudal lords are increasingly dependent on the king. However, the king's power is still not truly absolute. The era of estate-representative monarchies is coming. It was during this period that the practical implementation of the principle of separation of powers begins, and the first parliaments arise - class-representative bodies that significantly limit the power of the king. The earliest such parliament - the Cortes - appeared in Spain (end of the 12th - beginning of the 12th centuries). In 1265 Parliament appears in England. In the XIV century. Parliaments have already been established in most Western European countries. At first, the work of parliaments was not regulated in any way, neither the dates of meetings nor the procedure for their holding were determined - all this was decided by the king depending on the specific situation. However, even then it became the most important and permanent issue that was considered by parliamentarians - taxes.
Parliaments could act both as an advisory, and as a legislative, and as a judicial body. Legislative functions are gradually assigned to parliament, and a certain confrontation between parliament and the king is outlined. Thus, the king could not impose additional taxes without the sanction of the parliament, although formally the king was much higher than the parliament, and it was the king who convened and dissolved the parliament and proposed issues for discussion.
Parliaments were not the only political innovation of the classical Middle Ages. Another important new component of public life was political parties, which first began to form in the 13th century. in Italy, and then (in the XIV century) in France. The political parties were rigidly opposed to each other, but the reason for their confrontation then was rather psychological reasons than economic ones.
In the XV-XVII centuries. in the field of politics also appeared a lot of new things. Statehood and state structures are noticeably strengthening. The line of political evolution common to most European countries was to strengthen the central government, to strengthen the role of the state in the life of society.
Almost all countries of Western Europe during this period went through the horrors of bloody strife and wars. An example is the War of the Scarlet and White Roses in England in the 15th century. As a result of this war, England lost a fourth of its population. The Middle Ages is also a time of peasant uprisings, unrest and riots. An example is the revolt led by Wat Tyler and John Ball in England in 1381.
Great geographical discoveries. One of the first expeditions to India was organized by Portuguese sailors who tried to reach it by going around Africa. In 1487 they discovered the Cape of Good Hope - the southernmost point of the African continent. At the same time, the Italian Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) was also looking for a way to India, who managed to equip four expeditions with the money of the Spanish court. The Spanish royal couple - Ferdinand and Isabella - believed his arguments and promised him huge incomes from the newly discovered lands. Already during the first expedition in October 1492, Columbus discovered the New World, then called America by the name of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512), who participated in expeditions in South America in 1499–1504 It was he who first described the new lands and first expressed the idea that this is a new, not yet known to Europeans, part of the world.
sea route the Portuguese expedition led by Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) in 1498 first laid a trip to real India. The first round-the-world trip was made in 1519-1521, led by the Portuguese Magellan (1480-1521). Of the 256 people of Magellan's team, only 18 survived, and Magellan himself died in a fight with the natives. Many expeditions of that time ended so sadly.
In the second half of the XVI - XVII centuries. on the way colonial conquests the British, Dutch and French entered. By the middle of the XVII century. Europeans discovered Australia and New Zealand.
As a result of the Great geographical discoveries, colonial empires begin to take shape, and from the newly discovered lands to Europe - the Old World - treasures flow - gold and silver. The consequence of this was an increase in prices, especially for agricultural products. This process, which took place to one degree or another in all countries of Western Europe, was called the price revolution in the historical literature. It contributed to the growth of monetary wealth among merchants, entrepreneurs, speculators and served as one of the sources of the initial accumulation of capital.
Another most important consequence of the Great geographical discoveries was the movement of world trade routes: the Venetian merchants' monopoly on caravan trade with the East in Southern Europe was violated. The Portuguese began to sell Indian goods several times cheaper than the Venetian merchants.
The countries actively engaged in intermediary trade - England and the Netherlands - are gaining strength. Engaging in intermediary trade was very unreliable and dangerous, but very profitable: for example, if one of the three ships sent to India returned, then the expedition was considered successful, and the merchants' profits often reached 1000%. So the trade was the most important source for the formation of large private capital.
The quantitative growth of trade contributed to the emergence of new forms in which trade was organized. In the XVI century. for the first time there are exchanges, the main purpose and purpose of which was to use price fluctuations over time. Thanks to the development of trade at this time, there is a much stronger connection between the continents than before. This is how the foundations of the world market begin to be laid.
The process of primitive accumulation of capital also took place in the sphere of agriculture, which is still the basis of the economy of Western European society. In the late Middle Ages, the specialization of agricultural areas was significantly enhanced, which was mainly based on various natural conditions. There is an intensive draining of swamps, and by transforming nature, people have transformed themselves.
The area under crops, the gross harvest of grain crops increased everywhere, and the yield increased. This progress was largely based on the positive evolution of agricultural technology and agriculture. So, although all the main agricultural implements remained the same (plow, harrow, scythe and sickle), they began to be made of higher quality metal, fertilizers were widely used, multi-field and grass sowing were introduced into agricultural circulation. Cattle breeding also developed successfully, cattle breeds were improved, and stall fattening was used. Socio-economic relations in the field of agriculture were also changing rapidly: in Italy, England, France, and the Netherlands, almost all peasants were already personally free. The most important innovation of this period was the widespread development of rental relations. Landowners were more and more willing to rent land to the peasants, since it was economically more profitable than organizing their own landlord economy.
During the late Middle Ages, rent existed in two forms: feudal and capitalist. In the case of a feudal lease, the landowner gave the peasant a piece of land, usually not very large, and, if necessary, could supply him with seeds, livestock, implements, and the peasant gave part of the crop for this. The essence of capitalist lease was somewhat different: the owner of the land received a cash rent from the tenant, the tenant himself was a farmer, his production was market-oriented, and the scale of production was significant. An important feature of capitalist rent was the use of hired labor. During this period, farming expanded most rapidly in England, northern France and the Netherlands.
Some progress was also observed in the industry. Manufactory assumed specialization between workers in the manufacture of any product, which significantly increased the productivity of labor, which, as before, remained manual. Wage workers worked at the manufactories of Western Europe.
Technique and technology improved. In industries such as metallurgy, blast furnaces, drawing and rolling mechanisms are beginning to be used, and steel production is increasing significantly. In mining, sump pumps and hoists were widely used, which increased the productivity of miners. In weaving, and in particular in cloth-making, the method invented at the end of the 15th century was actively used. a self-spinning wheel that performed two operations at once - twisting and winding the thread.
The most important processes taking place at that time in the field of socio-economic relations in industry were reduced to the ruin of a part of the artisans and their transformation into hired workers in manufactories.
An important layer of the urban population were merchants, who played a major role in domestic and foreign trade. They constantly traveled around the cities with goods. Merchants, as a rule, were literate and could speak the languages of the countries through which they passed. Foreign trade during this period, apparently, is still more developed than domestic. The centers of foreign trade in Western Europe then were the North, Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. Cloth, wine, metal products, honey, timber, fur, resin were exported from Western Europe. From East to West, mainly luxury items were transported: colored fabrics, silk, brocade, precious stones, ivory, wine, fruits, spices, carpets. Imports to Europe generally exceeded exports. The largest participant in the foreign trade of Western Europe were the Hanseatic cities. There were about 80 of them, and the largest of them were Hamburg, Bremen, Gdansk and Cologne.
The development of domestic trade was significantly hampered by the lack of a unified monetary system, numerous internal customs and customs fees, the lack of a good transport network, and constant robbery on the roads.
European science is also actively developing, having so strongly influenced not only European civilization, but also all of humanity. In the XVI-XVII centuries. in the development of natural science there are significant shifts associated with the general cultural progress of society, the development human consciousness and growth in material production. This was greatly facilitated by the Great Geographical Discoveries, which gave a lot of new facts in geography, geology, botany, zoology, and astronomy. The main progress in the field of natural sciences in this period went along the line of generalization and comprehension of the accumulated information. Thus, the German Agricola (1494–1555) collected and systematized information about ores and minerals and described the mining technique. The Swiss Konrad Gesner (1516–1565) compiled the fundamental work The History of Animals. The first multi-volume classifications of plants in European history appeared, and the first botanical gardens were founded. The famous Swiss doctor
F. Paracelsus (1493-1541), studied the nature of the human body, the causes of diseases, methods of their treatment. Vesalius (1514–1564), born in Brussels, studied in France and Italy, author of the work “On the Structure of human body", laid the foundations modern anatomy, and already in the XVII century. Vesalius' ideas were recognized in all European countries. The English scientist William Harvey (1578–1657) discovered the human circulation. An important role in the development of the methods of natural science was played by the Englishman Francis Bacon (1564-1626), who argued that true knowledge should be based on experience.
There are a number of great names in the field of physics. This is, above all, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The brilliant scientist made technical projects that were far ahead of his time - drawings of mechanisms, machine tools, apparatus, including a project for a flying machine. The Italian Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647) studied hydrodynamics, studied Atmosphere pressure created the mercury barometer. The French scientist Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) discovered the law of pressure transmission in liquids and gases.
A major contribution to the development of physics was made by the Italian Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who gained great fame as an astronomer: he first designed a telescope and for the first time in the history of mankind saw a huge number of stars invisible to the naked eye, mountains on the surface of the Moon, spots on the Sun. His predecessor was the Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the author of the famous work "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres", in which he proved that the Earth is not a fixed center of the world, but rotates along with other planets around the Sun. The views of Copernicus were developed by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), who succeeded in formulating the laws of planetary motion. These ideas were also shared by Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), who argued that the world is infinite and that the Sun is only one of an infinite number of stars, which, like the Sun, have planets similar to the Earth.
Mathematics is developing intensively. Italian Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576) finds a way to solve equations of the third degree. The first tables of logarithms were invented and published in 1614. By the middle of the XVII century. special signs for recording algebraic operations are in general use: signs of addition, exponentiation, root extraction, equality, brackets, etc. The famous French mathematician Francois Viet (1540–1603) proposed using letter designations not only for unknown, but also for known quantities , which made it possible to set and solve algebraic problems in a general form. Mathematical symbolism was improved by René Descartes (1596–1650), who created analytic geometry. The Frenchman Pierre Fermat (1601–1665) successfully developed the problem of calculating infinitesimal quantities.
National achievements quickly became the property of all-European scientific thought. By the end of the late Middle Ages in Europe, the organization of science and scientific research. Communities of scientists are being created, jointly discussing experiments, methods, tasks, and results. On the basis of scientific circles in the middle of the XVII century. national academies of sciences are formed, the first of them arose in England and France.
During the late Middle Ages, the most important idea of the West took shape: an active attitude to life, the desire to learn the world and the conviction that it can be known with the help of reason, the desire to transform the world in the interests of man.
In the field of technology, great progress was observed: more advanced horse harness and wagons with a rotary axle, stirrups for riders, windmills, articulated steering wheels on ships, blast furnaces and cast iron, firearms, and a printing press appeared. In the Middle Ages, organized professional education in the form of universities, but in general, science was in deep decline. In the XII century, there were no more than 10 scientists in the whole of Europe, in the XIII - no more than 15, in the XIV - less than 25 (for comparison: today there are hundreds of thousands of them).
Renaissance, or Renaissance (French Renaissance, Italian Rinascimento; from "re / ri" - "again" or "again" and "nasci" - "born") - an era in the history of European culture, which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and pre-modern culture. Approximate chronological framework of the era: the beginning of the XIV - the last quarter of the XVI century and in some cases - the first decades of the XVII century (for example, in England and, especially, in Spain). A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture and its anthropocentrism (that is, interest, first of all, in a person and his activities). There is an interest in ancient culture, there is, as it were, its “revival” - and this is how the term appeared.
The growth of city-republics led to an increase in the influence of estates that did not participate in feudal relations: artisans and artisans, merchants, and bankers. All of them were alien to the hierarchical system of values created by medieval, in many respects church culture, and its ascetic, humble spirit. This led to the emergence of humanism - a socio-philosophical movement that considered a person, his personality, his freedom, his active, creative activity as the highest value and criterion for evaluating social institutions.
In the late Middle Ages, a new worldview based on humanism was taking shape in Europe. Now a specific person was placed at the center of the world, and not the church. Humanists sharply opposed the traditional medieval ideology, denying the need for complete subordination of the soul and mind to religion. Man is becoming more and more interested in the world around him. During this period, inequality in the levels of economic and political development of individual countries is more clearly manifested. Italy, the Netherlands, England and France are developing at a faster pace. Spain, Portugal, Germany are lagging behind. However, the most important processes in the development of European countries are still common to all countries.
Secular centers of science and art began to appear in the cities, the activities of which were outside the control of the church. The new worldview turned to antiquity, seeing in it an example of humanistic, non-ascetic relations. The invention of printing in the middle of the 15th century played a huge role in spreading the ancient heritage and new views throughout Europe.
The revival arose in Italy, where its first signs were visible as early as the 13th and XIV centuries(in the activities of the Pisano family, Giotto, Orcagna, etc.), but it was firmly established only from the 20s of the 15th century. In France, Germany and other countries, this movement began much later. By the end of the 15th century, it reached its peak. In the 16th century, a crisis of Renaissance ideas was brewing, resulting in the emergence of Mannerism and Baroque.
NEW TIME
Modern time is still a rather conditional concept, since all countries entered it at different times. New time was a stage of great changes in all spheres of life: economic, social, political. It occupies a shorter period when compared with the Middle Ages, and even more so with the ancient world, but in history this period is extremely important. The famous geographical discoveries, the book of Nicolaus Copernicus changed the old ideas of people about the Earth, expanded human knowledge about the world.
The Reformation, which passed through all the countries of Europe, abolished the power of the popes over the minds of people, and led to the emergence of the Protestant movement. The humanists of the Renaissance achieved the emergence of many universities and led to a complete revolution in the mind of man, explaining his place in the world around him.
In the era of modern times, mankind has realized that they actually live in a small space. Geographical discoveries led to the convergence of countries and peoples. In the Middle Ages, things were different. The slow speed of movement, the inability to cross the ocean led to the fact that even about neighboring countries there was no reliable information.
Western Europe has carried out expansion in modern times, establishing its dominance over most countries in Asia and Africa. For the peoples of these countries, the new time has become a period of brutal colonization by European invaders.
How did the small countries of Western Europe manage to subjugate vast territories in Africa and Asia in a short time? There were several reasons for this. European countries are far ahead in their development. In the East, the life of subjects, their lands and property belonged to the ruler. Most of all, it was not the personal qualities of a person that were valued, but the interests of the community. The basis of the economy was agriculture. In the West, things were different. Above all were human rights, his personal qualities, the desire for profit and prosperity. The cities that arose in the Middle Ages led to the emergence of a variety of crafts and a breakthrough in the development of technology. In this respect, the countries of the European countries have gone far ahead of the eastern ones.
The new time has led to a change in the political system in many countries. The rapid development of trade, especially during the period of famous geographical discoveries, the emergence of banking, the emergence of manufactories began to increasingly contradict the traditional economy and political system. Appeared new class, the bourgeoisie, is gradually beginning to play a significant role in the state.
In the 18th century the power of the bourgeoisie increased manifold. In many countries, the contradictions between the capitalist mode of production and the feudal system, which had reached their limit, led to bourgeois revolutions. This happened in England and France. Capitalism is finally victorious in Europe. The industrial revolution begins, and the obsolete manufactory is replaced by the factory.
Most European countries in modern times are going through a difficult time of changing forms of power, a crisis of absolute monarchy. As a result of changes in the political system, parliamentary democracy is emerging in the most progressive countries. During the same period, it begins to take shape modern system international relations.
New time is a period of a kind of second Renaissance. Reality showed how much an ordinary person can actually do and change. Gradually, a thought is formed in the human mind - a person can actually do anything. There is a conviction that he can subdue nature and change his future.
Philosophy is developing a lot. There is a literal rebirth. Philosophy has managed to retain its dominant position among the sciences. Modern philosophers sincerely believed that society needed their ideas. A completely new philosophy is being formed, the problems of which remain important today.
In early modern times in European economy the agrarian sphere of production still sharply prevailed over industry; despite a number of technical discoveries, manual labor dominated everywhere. In these conditions special meaning acquired such factors of the economy as the labor force, the scale of the labor market, the level of professionalism of each employee. Demographic processes had a noticeable impact on the development of the economy in this era.
One of the main historical background the genesis of capitalism was high level division of social labor, as well as technical changes in the leading industries, which made it possible to organize manufacturing production. The progressive nature of the genesis of capitalism, its irreversibility, also largely depended on the breadth of exports of manufactured consumer goods. So, a large part of them began to be absorbed by the colonies, which prompted the production of clothing, utensils and other goods in European countries.
The early modern era was the era of the formation of the prerequisites for capitalism and the formation of the early capitalist structure in the economy of a feudal society. One of the main aspects of this process is the initial accumulation of capital in its various forms - commercial, banking, usurious and industrial - in conditions of a higher level of production and exchange than in the Middle Ages. In the early modern times, commodity circulation quickly outgrew local and national boundaries, acquiring a wide international scope. Initial accumulation was given a powerful impetus by the Great Geographical Discoveries and the development of new lands and trade routes associated with them, which accelerated the formation of the world market. In the XVI - the first half of the XVII century. production for the export of consumer goods steadily increased, the trade in them by European countries acquired a much more significant scale than before. Trade with the colonies, in which the rate of profit was especially high, accelerated the formation of large merchant capital.
A significant impact on the economic development of Europe had the so-called "price revolution" (a kind of mechanism for the depreciation of money) - an increase in food prices caused by an increase in the mass of money in circulation. With the development of the American colonies, rich in deposits of precious metals, and the robbery of the treasures of the Indians, an influx of cheap gold and silver into Europe began - their low cost was associated with the use of almost free labor of the local population in the mines. The "price revolution" that lasted for many decades led to the enrichment of the most diverse sections of European society, depending on the economic and political situation in a particular country. So, in England it was mainly the new nobility and farmers who benefited from it, in Spain - the grandees, in Germany - the big merchant class.
The accumulation of capital in the sphere of trade was favored by the system of monopolies that had developed in previous centuries. In a number of countries, the demands of the rank-and-file merchants to introduce free trade and resolutely fight monopolies on trade certain types goods were generally in vain. Monopolies were often imposed or actively supported by the royal power. So it was in Spain, England, France. The process of primitive accumulation was also accelerated by the significant difference in prices for many "colonial" goods. Thus, the sale price for spices imported from Indonesia, India, and Arabia was a hundred or more times higher than their cost at the place of production. Such an important economic factor of the era as the availability of cheap labor in the conditions of mass pauperization of the peasantry and urban artisans also played a significant role in the initial accumulation. Especially cheap was women's and children's labor, the widespread use of which became a characteristic and very sad sign of the times.
In the banking and usurious sphere, the accumulation of capital had its many sources - state and large private loans, a system of tax-collection payoffs, usurious lending to artisans (loans secured by a workshop, machine tools, inventory) and, on a particularly large scale, financing at high interest rates from the peasantry. The monetary dependence of tenants and other categories of land holders on the usurer deepened the differentiation in their environment, this contributed to the replenishment of the free labor market and at the same time led to a significant enrichment of lenders.
Merchant capital in craft and industry. It was merchant capital that initiated innovations in the organization of market-oriented production in this era, with a tendency to expand exports of products to other countries.
The financial dependence of artisans on merchants - and usurers acted hand in hand with them - led to the gradual loss by independent producers of property rights to the workshop, tools of production and their transformation, in essence, into hired workers. The expropriation of urban and rural artisans, the pauperization of the bulk of the producers - a process that invariably accompanied the penetration of merchant capital into the sphere of handicraft and industry.
The deepest and most widespread was the introduction of commercial capital into mining, metallurgy, textile and book production. New methods of organizing production gave rise to changes in the social status of its contractors: the merchant and the master turned into entrepreneurs of the early capitalist type, and the artisans formed an environment of dispossessed hired workers, the pre-proletariat,
Manufactory. The subordination of handicrafts and industry to profit-oriented commercial capital entailed the search for new, more profitable forms of organization of production. This form of early capitalist entrepreneurship was manufactory, based in general on manual labor, but the most specialized. The economic base of the manufactory was the entrepreneur's ownership of the tools of production, the organization and control over the process of manufacturing products and their marketing, the use of hired labor of workers. Early modern times are marked by a variety of types of manufactory - depending on the nature of the production itself and the degree to which it is covered by capital. Manufactories were of three types - scattered, mixed and centralized.
Mixed manufacture turned out to be more economically efficient, when part of the production operations were carried out in the entrepreneur's workshop.
Industrial capital in the early modern times was just beginning to take shape as an independent financial sector, more often it was one of the functions of commercial and banking capital. In the new forms of industrial organization, primarily in manufactories, favorable conditions were created for initial accumulation. The growth of profits here was facilitated by: an increase in labor productivity, in which technical improvements and improvement in production technology played a significant role; lack of competition in the labor market; finally, the protectionist policy of the authorities pursued in a number of countries.
When all the functions of capital were combined in the activities of individual merchant houses, companies, clans, conditions were created for the formation of huge fortunes for that era, sometimes millions. The presence of large capitals was an important, but not the only condition for intensifying the process of the genesis of capitalism. In addition, the large masses of money accumulated in the trade and banking sphere were by no means always rushed into industry, into entrepreneurship of the early capitalist type. More reliable, as before, was the investment of capital in landed property and other real estate. Often, wealthy merchants spent huge sums on acquiring noble titles and titles, on buying lucrative positions in the state apparatus, and also on maintaining a lavish, prestigious lifestyle.
Apart from the accumulation of capital, another important economic condition for the genesis of capitalism was the existence of a free labor market. In the early modern times, such a market was actively formed due to the pauperization of the peasantry and urban artisans. Deprived of the means of production, knocked out of the usual rut of life, the poor were forced to sell their labor to the entrepreneur on favorable terms for him. Laws against vagrancy (in England, France) forced the beggars and vagabonds to work, forcibly drawing them into the sphere of early capitalist production and making them the object of particularly cruel exploitation. The socially heterogeneous mass of poor people was, as a rule, deprived of any legal protection and doomed to a miserable, semi-beggarly existence, even in those cases when, voluntarily or under duress, they got work in manufactories. The genesis of capitalism was accompanied by an unprecedented intensification of labor and a high rate of exploitation of hired workers (low wages, long working hours, the use of the labor of women and children, who were paid less for work equal to men).
In the early modern times, the early capitalist way of life took shape or began to take shape in most European countries. The dynamics of its development also actively influenced the traditional forms of feudal production, prompting changes in the guild craft, rental relations, and free small-scale farming. Early capitalism marked the main line of economic progress in Europe in the following centuries.
The greatest achievement of modern times was the destruction of the feudal-patriarchal fetters and the proclamation of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. It unleashed huge creative forces, which changed the face of the world, but could not prevent the concentration of property and power in the hands of a few, the exploitation and suppression by them of the majority of individuals and peoples. Collisions between freedom and equality, the interests of the individual and society, the efficiency of production and social justice have been exposed as never before. The result of the fetishization of capital was the extreme aggravation of class, interethnic and other social contradictions. They contributed to the rise of nationalist and socialist utopias, which further exacerbated the antagonisms.
Agriculture in the early modern period was still engaged in by the vast majority of the population of Europe. This main sector of the economy remained little affected by changes in both agriculture and inventory. In land use methods, one can note the transition in a number of areas of grain farming to multi-field and fallow grass sowing, as well as the more frequent use of fertilizers than in previous centuries. Types of iron agricultural implements multiplied, replacing wooden implements. There were no cardinal changes in the organization of production - it remained small, individual, based on manual labor with the traditional use of animal traction - horses and bulls.
And yet, under the influence of expanding market relations, the rural landscape began to change: in many areas, grain crops were reduced, but the size of the areas occupied by gardens and kitchen gardens increased, the scale of cultivation of industrial crops - flax, hemp, more beautiful (woad, madder, saffron) increased. . The intensification of farming methods was more noticeable in viticulture and horticulture than in arable farming; it occurred mainly under the influence of the requirements of urban or foreign markets (for example, export trade and wine). The food demands of the townspeople had a noticeable effect on the expansion of garden crops. The diet of a Western European city dweller now included, in addition to traditional vegetable crops, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, artichokes, and twill.
There was an evolution of land relations: although different forms of feudal holding did not disappear (sometimes only the legal status of the land user changed), they gave way to free fixed-term lease with a tendency to reduce its terms, which is typical for many countries. Land owners were directly interested in this, since a short period of time - from 3 to 5 years - made it possible to change the terms of the lease more often and increase the payment for land, bringing it in line with changing market conditions.
The middle stratum of the peasantry, which consisted mainly of personally free tenants of relatively small plots of land, increasingly oriented its economy towards connection with the market. This was expressed, in particular, in the rejection of arable farming and the transition to intensive gardening, viticulture, and the cultivation of industrial crops. This stratum is characterized by the use of wage labor along with family labor.
The peasant poor, although they had a small household plot, not always provided with working cattle, saw the main source of livelihood in wages, hiring to rich neighbors, urban landowners, and farmers. From the mass of the poor, a rural pre-proletariat was formed, which was also involved in the village craft organized by entrepreneurs.
A stratum of farming also took shape - large tenants (or owners) of land, for the cultivation of which laborers were involved. Farms were usually commercial in nature, they often encountered new methods of intensifying labor and specialization dictated by market conditions. Both people from wealthy peasants and townspeople who switched to agricultural entrepreneurship became farmers. Early capitalist relations began to penetrate into the rural economy, but they specific gravity agriculture was small.
New time - period rapid development technology. One of the important inventions of that time, which played a huge role in the development of culture, is printing. The advent of the printing press accelerated the speed of book creation many times over. Previously, books were copied by hand, or created using stamps, and this process took a huge amount of time. Now everything is much simpler.
In the XVIII century in England, where there was a large raw material base, the first spinning, weaving and sewing machines were created. The development of navigation, the growth of armies, the emergence of light industry lead to an increase in the role of machine building and the metallurgical industry. At the beginning of the 18th century, Europeans learned how to smelt cheap cast iron and discovered the secret of steel. At the same time, the Marten brothers invented a furnace that made it possible to restore steel from cast iron. In their honor, it received the name of the open-hearth furnace. In the 19th century, the problem of transportation was solved a large number raw materials and products - the steam locomotive and the steamboat were invented.
Energy sources. Engines. The main conditions for economic progress in the early modern era were the accumulation of production experience, the deepening of the social division of labor, the improvement of labor tools and the improvement of production technology. Not a small role in the progressive development of the economy was played by the types of energy and methods of its use. The main types of energy, as in the Middle Ages, remained human labor, the power of animals, water and wind. The sources of thermal energy were wood, wood and coal, peat. In this era, engineering thought directed its efforts towards improving traditional and inventing new devices for using the main sources of mechanical energy - the power of water and wind. Windmills began to be built with devices for rotating the body of the tower or its helmet, the inclination of their wings changed, which made it possible to catch the changing direction of the wind. Water mills also improved: the diameter of the vertical water-filling wheel doubled (it sometimes reached 10 meters), and the horizontal wheel immersed in the water flow acquired blades. All this increased the energy capacity of the mills. They began to be used not only in flour-grinding and cloth production, as before, but also at sawmills, for grinding and enriching ore, preparing paper pulp, and in blacksmithing.
An important factor in technical progress was the invention of an energy transmission system and the use of mechanisms for this, known in antiquity, but almost forgotten in the middle of the century (gate, pump, crane, etc.). This affected primarily mining: here they began to use mechanisms for pumping water from deep mines and adits (they reached from 300 to 800 meters in depth). Water was pumped out by pumps, pumps, which were driven by a horse drive or water wheel, and sometimes a windmill. To lift ore from the mines, they began to use gates, which dramatically increased labor productivity: only two people could serve the gates, while several hundred workers were usually employed to lift the ore. Trolleys appeared on wooden rails to deliver ore to blast furnaces.
Technological advances in metallurgy were very significant. A water wheel was actively used here - they set in motion heavy hammers with which iron was processed. A real revolution in metallurgy was the improvement of the invention invented in the 15th century. blast furnace - it replaced the gradation forge. IN blast furnaces, where the temperature was much higher than in the furnace, first cast iron was smelted from ore, and then iron from cast iron. In addition, in blast furnaces they began to use not charcoal, but stone coal as fuel, since it gave a higher combustion temperature. This made the smelting process more efficient and improved the quality of the smelted metal. The technology of melting metals (iron, steel, silver, copper, lead) was also improved, new types of alloys were created. Another important technical innovation in metallurgy is the use of rolls for working iron.
Dramatic changes have taken place in the arms industry with the improvement of firearms. In the XVI century. guns were cast, not riveted. Various iron products (sickles, scythes, wheels, etc.). Nails, the production of which was stimulated by the development of shipbuilding, began to be widely used in household needs.
Textile production. Significant dynamics was noted in the early modern period in the textile industry: new industries appeared (manufacturing of mixed fabrics), new types of fabrics were created in cloth making and silk weaving, old centers of the textile industry were replaced by new ones. In the textile industry, an important innovation was the horizontal loom with new design shuttles. At the end of the XV century. a wheeled spinning wheel ("self-spinning wheel *") appeared: the spinner rotated the wheel, thanks to which he could not only spin the thread, but also wind it. The technology of textile production was also improved - new methods of dyeing fabrics and fixing paint appeared.
Thanks to the works of Galileo and Copernicus, a new picture of the world is being created - heliocentric. In science, it is not the authority of the scientist that comes first, but personal experience and experiments.
The heyday of European culture occurs in the XVII - XVIII centuries. There are big changes in art. New styles appear - baroque and classicism.
In the XVIII century, as in its time, in the Renaissance, there is a great need for enlighteners. A brilliant constellation of minds is emerging in almost every field of art and science. These are Voltaire, Lomonosov, Locke, Kant, Diderot, Rousseau. Their common unifying feature was a great faith in science and progress.
Page 17 of 17
Late Middle Ages. The origin of capitalist relations and the end of the Middle Ages (XIV - XV centuries)
The last period of the Middle Ages, often called the "autumn of the Middle Ages", is characterized primarily by the overcoming of feudal fragmentation and the formation of centralized states. This happened as a result of the strengthening of the cities and the formation of an alliance between the cities and the royal power. Relying on the financial resources of the cities, the kings were able to create and maintain a permanent mercenary army to fight the recalcitrant feudal lords. The soldiers of these armies no longer served by virtue of feudal customs, but for a salary directly to the king. The need to maintain large armies led to the desire to streamline and increase tax revenues, which became possible only with the organization of the bureaucratic bureaucracy. The kings had a powerful support, they could already behave in a completely different way even with the most powerful and recalcitrant vassals. With the advent of firearms at the beginning of the 14th century, the importance and role of chivalry gradually decreased. Not a single castle could now resist artillery, the appearance of handguns made the use of armor meaningless. The knighthood loses its monopoly on military affairs, in which the main role begins to be played by infantry, primarily mercenary: first Swiss, then German landsknechts.
There have been changes in the economy and social sphere. In France, for example, during the fourteenth century virtually all peasants were given personal freedom, as is the case in England and West Germany. Naturally, this did not happen without the resistance of the feudal lords. Many countries were shaken by peasant uprisings, for example, Jacquerie in France in 1358 or Wat Tyler's rebellion in England in 1381.
An enormous role in the general crisis of feudalism was played by the so-called Black Death” - an epidemic of plague that devastated Europe in the middle of the 14th century, and its individual outbreaks continued in various countries throughout the end of the 14th and the first half of the 15th centuries. In some places, the mortality rate was at least 60%. The decrease in the population led to a decrease in plowed areas and, consequently, to the desolation of a number of lands and a decrease in the income of landowners. But the needs of the feudal lords grew, because in connection with the increase in trade activity, in particular with the East, many additional temptations appeared. This entailed an increase in exploitation, and the landed estates began to be drawn into the market. This happened in different ways: in East Germany, for example, dues and corvée increased; in England, many farms began to specialize in sheep breeding and, in order to increase pastures, peasants were driven off the land; in northern France, rent became widespread.
The penetration of commodity-money relations into all spheres of life destroyed the main economic basis of feudalism - subsistence farming, which contributed to the further development of the crisis. One of the ways of obtaining additional income for the feudal lords was participation in public affairs, which made it possible to enrich themselves at the expense of the treasury, and with the strengthening of royal power and the fiscal system, these opportunities increased. Ultimately, this also contributed to the centralization of power and meant the end of the feudal freemen.
The Hundred Years War and Joan of Arc. The so-called Hundred Years War(1337 - 1453), which, of course, was not conducted continuously, but was a series of active military operations, interspersed with peaceful respite. The reason for the war was a dispute over the county of Flanders, in whose economic relations with the cities England was extremely interested, and the reason was the dynastic confusion in France, as a result of which English king began to claim the French crown. During the war, it became clear that the chivalry could no longer claim a monopoly in military affairs. Moreover, the small armies of the English, in which the archers recruited from the peasants played the main role, twice (at Crecy in 1346 and at Poitiers in 1356) utterly defeated the French knightly armies. One of the reasons for the defeat was the extreme indiscipline of the knights, which made it impossible to carry out battle plans. The defeat of the French knights greatly undermined their authority, as well as in general estate system in France. In the second half of the 14th century, through the efforts of the constable Du Guesclin, France achieves notable successes in the war, applying new methods of its conduct. Artillery is actively used during the storming of fortresses, and the main burden of hostilities is borne by mercenary troops. This does not mean that the knights stopped fighting, but they now made up only a part of the armed forces, besides, among the mercenaries there were many of the same knights, but organized according to a completely different principle.
At the beginning of the 15th century, France was plunged into a long feudal war, in which the British were not slow to intervene. At the same time, the French Dauphin (heir to the throne), the future King Charles VII, is deprived of most of his possessions. It seemed that the war was irrevocably lost, but at that moment Joan of Arc(c. 1412 - 1431), a girl from a peasant family who convinces the Dauphin to entrust her with the command of the troops. Having managed to convince the French soldiers that she was acting with God's help, she freed Orleans from the siege and achieved a turning point in the course of hostilities: within a month, the fate of the war was, in fact, decided, although hostilities continued for more than 20 years. And even the betrayal and capture of Jeanne could not change the situation in favor of the British. Perhaps the trial of her and the subsequent execution only brought harm to the British, awakening the French desire for revenge. The endless defeats and humiliations of France revived national feelings, all that was needed was a center of gravity, which was Jeanne. The conviction that they are right, that they are fighting for a just cause, since God cannot help the wrong, and they saw in Jeanne precisely the instrument of God, revived the morale of the French, and the first victories gave confidence in their abilities. In addition, some new phenomena can be noted: Jeanne fights and calls to fight for “dear France”, perceiving the whole country as a whole, which is completely uncharacteristic of classical feudalism, where people first of all feel like natives of a particular region, and by no means the whole country. The victory in the war gave a powerful impetus to the development of the process of centralization of the French kingdom, which is completed by the son of Charles VII, Louis XI.
The defeat in the Hundred Years' War caused a crisis in England, the manifestation of which was War of the Scarlet and White Roses(1455 - 1485) - feudal turmoil, during which most of English nobility simply exterminated each other, which made it easier for the victorious pretender to the throne, Henry VII Lancaster, to strengthen royal power after being approved on the throne.
Centralization processes also took place in other countries - Spain and Portugal, where royal power was strengthened in the fight against the Arabs or Moors, as they were called in the Pyrenees. Germany and Italy, in contrast to the above countries, remained fragmented for various reasons. In Germany, for example, the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which arose in 962, was by no means inherited, but as a result of elections that were held among the seven most significant feudal rulers of the country, none of whom was interested in strengthening the central power. Therefore, in Germany, the power of princes is increasing, striving to strengthen their possessions, but in every possible way opposing this process throughout the country. In Italy, too, many very different possessions created powerful centrifugal forces, in addition, the policy of the Roman popes, who were by no means interested in creating a strong unified Italian state that could compete with the authority and power of the Roman Curia, contributed in every possible way to maintaining fragmentation. In addition, too often Italy became the object of the military expansion of the German, French, Spanish armies.
Byzantium in the XI-XV centuries. In the 30s of the XI century, Byzantium annexed the Armenian states, thereby its remote eastern borders were poorly protected. At the same time, the Turks - the Seljuks - fell upon the empire. In 1071, the battle of Manzikert took place. In battle, the Byzantine emperor Roman IV Diogenes was wounded and taken prisoner. The Byzantine army was defeated by the Turks.
After that, the Seljuks occupied almost all of Asia Minor, as well as Syria and Palestine - the Holy Land. It was then that Byzantium turned to the Pope, the kings and knights of Europe for help. Emperor Alexei I Komnenos managed to cope with the enemies pressing from all sides: repel the onslaught of the Normans from the west, the Seljuks from the east, together with the soldiers of the First Crusade, begin to recapture the Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor.
During the XII century, Byzantium remained a power that was considered both in Europe and in the East. She wages numerous wars, tries to regain Southern Italy, the Balkan countries obey her. But at the end of the XII century, the empire weakens. The defeat from the Turks at Miriokefal in 1176 in Asia Minor brought to naught all the successes of past years. Then Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, many territories in Greece and Asia Minor come out from under the control of Constantinople. In 1204, fifteen thousand crusaders captured Constantinople without much difficulty. Latin knights plundered palaces and temples, burned icons and books, devastated ancient imperial tombs, and melted antique sculptures into copper coins. The Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. In Constantinople, the crusaders founded their own state - the Latin Empire. For 60 years, the capital of a once powerful state lived under the yoke of conquerors. In addition to the Latin Empire, several more crusader states arose on the territory.
Most of the inhabitants of Constantinople fled to the outskirts of the country, to Nicaea. The patriarch, representatives of the nobility, many scientists, artisans also moved here. The Empire of Nicaea arose, one of several Orthodox states that formed within the boundaries of the former Byzantine possessions.
The rulers of Nicaea waged a long struggle for the liberation of Constantinople. Gradually, they captured almost all the lands around it, but they managed to take the city itself only in 1261. The crusaders, led by their emperor and Catholic patriarch, fled to the West. Nicene emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos restored Byzantine Empire, but the times of great power are gone forever. The descendants of Michael VIII Palaiologos ruled Byzantium for the last 200 years of its history. From the beginning of the XIV century, all the forces of the empire went to the struggle for survival. At this time, a new powerful rival arose, her last enemy - the Ottoman Turks. The state of the Palaiologos was also weakened by internal strife.
The Balkan states also weakened in civil strife and fruitless strife. The Turks dealt with them one by one. The Serbian state is falling apart. The II Bulgarian kingdom perishes. The fierce resistance of the Slavic peoples did not lead to success. In 1389 there was a bloody battle of Kosovo, during which the hero of the Serbian people Milos Obilich even managed to get into the Turkish camp and kill the Sultan. But in the end, the Turks still won.
By the middle of the 15th century, only minor Byzantine possessions remained. In 1452, the preparations of the Turks for a new assault on the Byzantine capital became apparent. But Western countries they did not provide sufficient assistance to the city, the siege of which began on April 2, 1453. Constantinople fell May 29, 1453. Constantine, the last Byzantine emperor, died in battle. This ended the centuries-old history of Byzantium, and formally the history of the Ancient Roman Empire.
With the establishment of Turkish power in the Balkans, the peoples of the peninsula found themselves in an extremely oppressed position, since the conquerors and subordinates were divided, in addition to ethnic origin, also by religious beliefs. The confrontation between the “cross and the crescent” received an additional impetus, and from this period an endless series of wars between European Christian countries and the Turks began, and for the first three centuries, the advantage in this struggle most often turned out to be on the side of the latter.
The question of the end of the Middle Ages is debatable, quite often it is extended until the beginning of the English bourgeois revolution, sometimes it ends with the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Great geographical discoveries. It seems to us that all these events already belong to the period of modern history, since the ideas put forward by the humanists, the soil on which they could appear at all, are strikingly different from the principles and stereotypes of the Middle Ages. It really was a new time, and, in our opinion, it is logical to end the Middle Ages precisely with the process of the formation of centralized states. In addition, new ideas could not have appeared without the development, and a sufficiently strong, capitalist way of life in cities, and it is diametrically opposed to feudalism as an economic structure and in terms of basic values.
| Table of contents |
|---|
| History of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages. |
| COURSE PROGRAM |
| Periodization of world history. Comparison of formational and civilizational approaches to the study of world history |