History 114 Term 2 Notes

History 114 Term 2
Week 1: The Middle Ages

Gregorian calendar
International standard
Western calendar/Christian calendar
Represents refinement of Julian calendar (1582)
Associated with Catholic Church and papacy
Year numbering system:
Anno Domini/Before Christ
Common Era/Before the Common Ear
Approximate timeline
Middles Ages (476 CE - 1500 CE)
Dark Ages (476 CE - 8th century CE)
Black Death (Late 1340’s)
Renaissance (1400 CE - 1600 CE)
The Modern Era (1500 CE - present)
The Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire
Dark Ages
Cultural decay
Barbarianism
Stagnancy
Inherited view from Italian Renaissance
Between Antiquity and Modern Era
Definition:
History 114 Term 2 1

The period from the end of Classical Antiquity to the Italian
Renaissance
Whose ‘Middle Ages’?
Did not occur in all societies as the same time
Seventeenth century:
Europe struggled through its Dark Ages
India and Islamic Arabian culture entered their ‘golden ages’
China entered a golden age
Tenth century:
Chine entered a period of decline
Europe entered the High Middle Ages
Terminology
Periodization
Attempt to structure historical events into blocks or periods on a

timeline
Occidental
Related to the countries of the West
Oriental
Related to countries of the Far East (Asia)
The European Middle Ages

Spread of Christianity
Emergence of areas sharing a common language
Rise of territorial states
Revival of urbanisation
Stimulation of trade between Europe, Asia and Near East
Fall of the Roman Empire

4th - 5th century
410 - City of Rome was sacked

451 - 453 - Roman Italy attacked by Atilla the Hun
Referred to as the “scourge of God”
End 5th Century - West Roman Empire governed by Germanic tribes
8.51 - 12 min
395 - Theodosius divided Roman Empire into two
Rome fell in 476
West
East continued as the Byzantine Empire

East: Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire (395 - 1453)
Direst continuation of East Roman Empire
Could withstand Germanic invasions
Had older, bigger and more cities than them
Early Eastern Emperors wanted to re-create the Roman Empire
Reclaim territories of former West Roman Empire
Safeguarded classical thought, conduit of classical learning
Formed protective barrier between former West Roman Empire and

invaders
Persia
Arabia
Türkiye (Turkey)
Justinian
Justinian (c. 527 - 565)
Arguably greatest eastern emperor
533 - Recaptured Rome and Sicily
565 - Roman Italy was lost to the Lombards
Symbol of Justinian’s desire to reunite Rome:

Commission of 16 men revised Roman Law
6 years later - Corpus Juris Civilis
Body of Civil Law
Hagia Sophia Church
Figure who ought to be thought of in biblical terms

Fall of West Roman Empire
West Roman Empire
Fractured into various Germanic kingdoms
Ostrogoths - Italy
Visigoths - Northern Gaul (France)
Vandals - Northern Africa
Angles and Saxons - England
Fall of Rome - traumatic
5th - 8th century - European Dark Ages
Second Sack of Rome (455 CE)

When we say Rome fell…
Disappearance of centralised state
No centralised state to control law and order
Political instability
The weak turned to the strong
Free tenant farmers abandoned their small farms
Land was taken by large landowners
People worked land in exchange for protection
Villa/manor became dominant form of social organisation
Agriculture was the main occupation
Manorialism

When we say ‘Dark’…
No more long distance trade
Difficult communication
Existence for most:
Rural
Isolated
Limited
Life became centred around the local estate
Manor
Population decline
Disease and violence
Roads and harbours fell into disrepair
Little building undertaken
But things were happening:

A distinctive world began to emerge
Roman culture was not destroyed
Existed alongside Germain culture
Germain societies slowly became Christianised
Influence of Roman culture
A culture centred on Christianity emerged
Christianity
Started as reform movement in Judaism
Urban religion
Emerged and formed in crowded, urban areas of Roman empire
Surfaced in a time of religious ferment in Roman Empire
Greco-Roman and Eastern pantheons offered no moral guidance,

no hope or promise of salvation

Alternatives
Philosophical systems
Moral base
No hope
Mystery cults
Hope
Some moral guidance
Grew quickly
Greco-Roman and Eastern Religion
Mythology
Heart of ancient Greece
Part of their history
Used myth to explain natural phenomena
Ancient Greece - Roman Empire
Roman mythology born through syncretisation of Greek, foreign

gods and eastern religion
Little mythology of their own
Mythological overlap and inheritance
Both embraced a multitude of gods and goddesses
Advantages
Founder was a real person (Jesus Christ)
Based on Jewish legal code and traditional morality
More universal appeals
Crosses class and gender lines
Martyrs
Brave
Appeared to have something to die for

Constantine I
312 - converted to Christianity
Battle of Milvian Bridge - Tiber River
Allegedly saw flaming cross with words ‘in this sign thou shalt
conquer’
Constantine I was victorious
Initiated reform in Roman Empire
Ended persecution of Christians
Returned confiscated land
Unclear whether Constantine’s conversion was purely spiritual or

whether he was politically motivated
Peace of Constantine
312 - 330 - series of decrees legalised Christianity and ensured
religious tolerance
These decrees - Peace of Constantine
This was the start of the institutional Church
391 - Theodosius closed all Pagan temples
Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire
By 5th century Christian missionaries were expanding Christendom
Gradually assimilating Germanic, Celtic and Slavic societies
Christianity cont.
During Middle Ages informed almost every aspect of life
Powerful cultural force
By 8th century:
A culture of Christianity has been established
Church became dominant political, economic and social force
Christianity fused three distinct traditions:
1. Greco-Roman tradition

2. Judeo-Christian tradition
3. Germanic tradition
Christianity acted as a unifying force and facilitated creation of world

distinctive from Byzantine and Islamic worlds
Recap
Byzantine civilisation came from East Roman Empire
Steadily became Greek (Hellenic)
Christianity became a unifying force
Linked former Wester Roman Empire with Byzantine Empire
6th - 9th cent. - Byzantine and Islamic worlds flourished, former

West Roman Empire was in ‘Dark Ages’
Fall of West Roman Empire
Rural
Isolated existence
Centred around the manor/estate
Dark Ages
Destruction of Paganism
Clovis (Merovingian Dynasty)
Germain cultures were altered by Roman culture
Fusion led to new social system (feudalism)
Clovis, king of the Franks
481 - Clovis became Frankish king
496 - converted to Catholicism
486 - 511 - aggressive expansion
Conquered many provinces ruled by Roman patricians
Destroyed many Germanic kingdoms
Alemanni
Burgundians

Visigoths
Clovis and Clotilde
Converted to Christianity
Followers and subjects followed and converted to Roman

Christianity
Clovis waged wars of aggression into Holy Wars
Franks now considered themselves protectors of faith
Resulted in long history between Franks and Roman Church
Manorial system
As time went on the manorial system changed
By 12th cen. - manors became castles (defence)
Protection in exchange for land and work (=food)
Generally maintained a balanced economy
Peasants farmed
Skilled worked provided skilled labour
Village priests handled spiritual matter
Lord protected estate from attack
Carolingian Empire - Charlemagne

742 - 814
Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, Charlemagne
Son of King Pepin the Short and Betrada of Laon
Frankish king
Initially co-ruled with his brother Carloman
771 - died mysteriously
Crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III
25 December 800
Emperor of the Romans

Ruled until 814
Characterised by stability
Saxon Wars (772 - 804)
Coronation
Implemented 2 policies
1. Expansion
Expanded Frankish kingdom into an empire
By 800, incorporated all of modern France, Belgium, Holland,

Switzerland, most of Germany and parts of Italy and Spain
2. Christianization
Forcibly Christianized those he subjected
Had an effective system of rule
Divided kingdom into several hundred admin units or countries
System of messengers
Checked local affairs
Reported to him
Continued Germain tradition
Travelled throughout his kingdom
Showed himself to the people
Gave warriors land in exchange for service
Stabilized commerce
Standardized the minting of coins
Based on silver standard
Encouraged trade
Manufactured swords, pottery and glassware
Exported to England and Scandinavia
Foreign trade
Initiated trade with Muslims

Made commercial pacts with Venetian merchants
Traded with the Byzantine
Traded with Islamic worlds

Carolingian Renaissance
Revival of learning
Charlemagne
Illiterate as youth
Devoted to new ideas and learning
Studied Latin, Greek, rhetoric, logic and astronomy
Dissatisfied with state of learning
No good copy of Bible in libraries
Fall of Roman Empire
Learning left to monks in the monasteries
Monks copied manuscripts
Did not understand them
Manuscripts from 7th-8th cen. are confusing
All uppercase
No punctuation
Many errors
Poor handwriting
Some were education
Started great libraries in this time
Changed when Charlamagne met Alcuin
Anglo-Saxon scholar
Alcuin created a curriculum for the palace school to train clergy and
monks
Trivium
Grammar (write)

Rhetoric (speak)
Logic (think)
Quadrivium (mathematical arts)
Geometry
Arithmetic
Astronomy
Music
Revival of classical and literary education
Improved standard of copying ancient texts
Instituted a standard writing style
Carolingian miniscule
Upper and lower case
Punctuation
Separated words
Used today
Standardised Latin
Medieval Latin
Became the language of scholarships

Decline
Transition from Antiquity and Dark Ages to definitive Middle Ages
During reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne’s rule and Carolingian Renaissance
Encouraged spread of unform religious practices and culture
Unified empire and spread Christianity
Elevated the standard of education
Standardized coins, handwriting and scholarly Latin
But
Empire declines after Charlemagne’s death

814
Renews invasions
Vikings, Magyars and Muslims
Invaded Sicily in 825 and 895

Viking Age
8th - mid - 11th century
Dark Age became “darker”
793 - Attacked Lindisfarne
Vikings were seen as barbaric heathens
Self-enrichment, overpopulation, adventure and encroachment by

Christian missionaries (Saxon Wars)
More success = more waterborne raids
Protection money
810 - Charlemagne Coastal Defence System
Legend (e.g. Egill)
Helped to militarise Europe
Knights
Accept lordship of owner of castle
Unemployed soldiers without immediate danger, aligned

themselves with aristocrats
Role of Catholic Church
Rules
Relics of saints
Feudalism
With the death of Charlamagne, the empire fractured
Divided into smaller and smaller states
Many invasions
Until tenth century

Communication and trade became difficult
Recovery slow
The weak turned to he strong
Powerful landowners raised armies and built castles for

protection
Feudal
Refers to the social, political and economic system that emerged

from the ninth century
Difficult to describe
Varied from place to place

In Brief
Society separated
Peasants/serf
Nobility (warriors)
Church
Based on need for security and protection
At the top were those who could provide this
Warriors
Strength in numbers
Warriors could acquire large armies and land
Vassals
Became a professional military class
Code of conduct - chivalry
Development of ‘Serfdom’
Increasingly complex system of personal relationships and
obligations
Peasant lost freedom
Serf and serfdom

Serf:
Could not leave without lord’s permission
Had to have lord’s consent to get married
Other services:
Gather firewood
Maintenance work
Repair roads and bridges
Had to pay taxes
Capitation (head tax)
A tax on existence
Taille
Property tax
Heriot
Inheritance tax
Power structure
King
Nobels
Knights
Vassals
Peasants
Feudalism
Political system
Nobles (lords/vassals) only allowed to take part in this system
Land (fief) is given in exchange for swearing homage (as protection)

to the lord
Land is power
Manorialism

Economic system
Nobles (lords) and non-nobles (peasants) take part in this system
Goods/services are exchanged for protection on the manor
Lords own the manor, serfs work the manor

So:
Manorial system (before Charlamagne):
Land and protection for food
Feudal system (after Charlamagne) :
Land and protection for military service
Church ambitions to extend empire (Holy Roman Empire) + feudal

knight - Crusades
The Crusades
A series of Christian campaigns from Europe to the Holy Land lasting
from 1096 to 1270
The Holy Wars
Eight official crusades
They were the climax of the Middle Ages when feudalism, with its
values of landownership and military strength, dominated Europe
Europe had entered period of expansion
Also demonstrated the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church
Powerful and wealthy in a time in which people saw God’s will in

everything
Islam
Between 7th - 12th centuries Islamic world flourished and expanded
Outer edge of Latin and Byzantine Empire
7th - 22th cen.
Islam became centre of great progress (golden age)
Islam

“Desert religion”
Produced in largely illiterate, nomadic culture
Christianity
“Urban religion”
Produced in literate, urban culture

‘God wild it…’
1071 - Muslim Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem from the Egyptians
Had already captured most of Asia Minor from the Byzantine Empire
Humiliating defeat of the Byzantines of Mantzikert
1071
Byzantine Emperor, Alexius , appealed to the West for help
1095 - Council for Clermont
Pope Urban II called for Holy War in dramatic speech
Exaggerated the anti-Christian acts by Muslims
Deus vult (God wills it)
Became the rallying cry
Chanted by French serfs and nobles
Causes on crusades - complex
Church had spiritual and practical objectives:
1054 - Great Schism
Split between Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic

Church
Pope wanted to reunite East and West with the Roman Catholic
Church in power
Jerusalem was spiritually important
Many pilgrimages by Western Christians
Pilgrimage - journeys to visit distant holy places to worship

there and view the relics of the saints (also brought stories of
persecution against Christians and holy places)

To reduce feudal land wars between European lords
Feudal aristocracy needed more land
Church promised:
To protect the crusader’s fiefs and possessions
Potential land and riches
Free serfs and criminals who joined
Excuse taxes and absolve debt of those who joined
Eternal salvation
Attractive offer
Common belief that Islam was violent and intolerant religion
Potential for personal gain and new prospects in the Holy Land
The First Crusade (c. 1095 - 1099)
Not cohesive movements
Conflict between spiritual and material aims evident
French dominated first crusade
Two movements
1. Pauper’s Crusade - failure
2. Baron’s Crusade - success
Pauper’s Crusade
Some people say it preceded the first crusade and others say it was
part of the first
1094 - Peter the Hermit (preacher) gathered 40 000 crusaders
French and German
Claimed he ha a document from Jesus ordering them to free

Jerusalem and kill the ‘infidels’ (Muslims)
Spread throughout Europe
60 000 - 100 000 peasants joined
Peasants were desperately seeking relief

Famine
Disease
Poverty
Agricultural depression
Joined similar groups of crusaders
Walter the Penniless (Walter Sans Avoir) group sacked district of

Belgrade
Groups of desperate, undisciplined peasants inspired by Pope’s call

to Holy War
Largest but least effective
Disorganised and defeated before they even reached Jerusalem

The Baron’s Crusades
Led by nobles
Count Raymond of Toulouse
Godfrey of Bouillon
Baldwin
About 20 000 knights, also:
Servants
Archers
Foot soldiers
Divided into 4 armies
Regroup at Constantinople
Byzantine emperor (Alexius), worried by large Western armies

gathering in his empire
Made them swear oath of fealty
First target - Nicaea
Successfully seized in May 1097
Most Turkish troops were fighting elsewhere

Defeated Turkish ruler and seized his riches
Myth of the invincibility of the crusader knights spread
Many died
Hot weather
Poisoned water wells
Divided leaders
Fights over conquered lands
Defeated Antioch
Seven month siege
Along with towns on the route to Jerusalem
1099 - Reached Jerusalem
Low morale lifted by:
Italian supply ships
Promise of Peter Desiderius that victory would come
Only if they sacrificed personal ambition
Mass hysteria
Crusaders attacked city
Killed all Muslims
Killed all Jews
Victorious crusaders established small states
Modelled on feudal system
Led to creation of new Orders of Knights
Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
The Hospitalers
Knights of the Temple of Solomon
Templars
Muslims began to reunite under Sultan Zengi
Exploited pitfalls of Europeans military strategy

Soon led to calls for more crusaders
Subsequent crusades failed to achieve any of the successes of the

first
Increasingly Roman Catholic Church’s influence and the appeal of the

Crusaders diminished
Second Crusade (1147 - 1149)
Ended in failure to expand Crusader kingdoms
Weakened Church influence
Western Christians less supportive
Truce for a period
Broken by Reynald (ruled Antioch)
Caused Saladin (Muslim leader) to start jihad (in the form of a

holy war) against the Christians to recover Jerusalem
Won in short siege
Led to end of Christian rule in Middle East
Fall of Jerusalem in 1187
Third Crusade (1189 - 1192)

Church claimed that Christian sin had cost Jerusalem
More Church promises to compel people to join
Some rulers taxed those who refused
Richard the Lion-Heart joined
He and Saladin admired each other
Richard negotiated a peace treaty
Stories of Richard “scared Muslim children to sleep”
Results:
More political and military failure
More religious doubts

Thereafter:
Series of small crusades to regain Jerusalem
Ended in failure and were heavily criticized

The Children’s Crusade
1212
Two children’s crusades
Simultaneous
Rhineland and Loire Valley
Nicholas (Cologne preacher boy) attached 20 000 children
Stephen of Cloyes (Saint-Denis, 12 yr old, French peasant

boy) attracted 30 000 children
Believed they would succeed where the elders failed
Ended badly
Sold into slavery
Died from disease and starvation
Shipwrecks
Father of Nicholas was hanged by parents
Symptomatic of deeper social unrest
Effect of the Crusades

Dramatically weakened the Byzantine Empire
In Europe:
Advanced development of national monarchies
No longer turned to pope to make decisions
Facilitated growth of new class of merchants and craftsmen
Weakened feudalism
Exposed Europe new ideas, technologies and trade routes
Led to growth of Italian seaports for international commerce
Western Europe brought into direct contact with trade routes

Sugars
Spices
Silks
Silverware
Dishes
Glass windows
Official start of European expansions
End of European isolation
Increase spread of the bubonic plague
Black death
Week 2: The Black Death

The Great Pestilence
4th century-claimed a 3rd pop within 4 yrs
Originally:
Great Plague
Great Mortality
Great Pestilence
Big Death
Exterminating of humanity
Term ‘Black Death
1631
Early 17th century
Meant horrible and not blackening of the skin
Pessimism
Everybody was pessimistic
Thought it was the end of the world
Bubonic Plague

Strain of bubonic plague
One manifestation of Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis)
Spread by flea
Carried on the back of small animals
Natural reservoirs
Black Death commonly associated with:
Black rat
Black rat flea
Xenopsylla cheopis
1 rat - 200 fleas
Zoonotic disease
Transmission
Flea infected by y.pestis
Blockage
Hungry
Can’t get into stomach
Bites for blood
Swallows blood but regurgitates
Regurgitates blood infected with y.pestis
Enters hosts bloodstream
Incubation
2 - 8 days
Infected faeces skin abrasions
Marked for death

1st - 2nd day:
Fever

Pain in limbs
Convulsions
Intolerance of light
2nd - 3rd day:
Buboes
Swelling in the groin
Spots
Result of bleeding
Blotches
Irregular marks
“God’s tokens”
Exhaustion
Heart failure
Internal haemorrhage
Mortality rate - 60%

Three types of Black Death
1. Bubonic
Most common
Symptoms:
Sudden, high fever
Headache
Chills
Body aches
Buboes
2. Pneumonic
95 - 100% fatal
Spread through coughing and sneezing
Symptoms:

Sudden pneumonia
Bloody, watery mucus
Respiratory failure
3. Septicaemic
100% fatal
Death between 24 - 34 hrs after infection
Very rare
Symptoms:
Fever
Chills
Body aches
Sever abdominal pain
Shock
Blackened skin at the extremities

Major outbreak of Bubonic Plague
1. Plague of Jerusalem
541 - 542
Arrived in Constantinople via grain boats from Egypt
Mortality rate - 1000/day
Caused by a distinct type of Y-Pestis
2. Black Death
Worst - 1346 - 1353
3. Third Pandemic
1855 - 1959
During early Middle Ages comparatively less disease
Roman Europe - 50 - 70 million
Europe - 25 - 26 million
c. 700

Changed in 1 000 AD
Population growth
Europe (1300) - 75 million
Trade and travel increased
Environment recreated
Ecological disaster
Study of tree ring data
4 yrs of last 2 000 were periods of sever weather
540
1325
540:
Egypt
2 Years before Y. Pestis
Unnatural weather
Natural disasters
Blood coloured rain
Yellow substance emerged from the ground
1325:
Ecological change
Y. Pestis in rodent population
Pushed rodents to human settlement
Natural disasters
Earthquakes
Locust swarms
Anthrax
Graham Twigg - 1984
Not bubonic plague but anthrax

Others - anthrax and plague co-existed
Most rejected the anthrax hypothesis

Other possible origins
Black Death emerged in China
Mongols-Eurasia
Unification
Trade
Travel
Communication
Plague spread
East to China
West to Russia
1340’s Italian posts in Crimea
Sailors
European
Environment
Trade
War
Biological warfare?
Popular agreement:
Plague was a result of biological warfare
Squabble between Italian merchant and local Muslims
Mysterious illness strikes
Plague corpses
More likely, rats carrying infected fleas crept through walls
Spread through ports
Constantinople

Messina
Sardinia
Genoa
Spread of the plague
Early 14th century:
Plague emerged in inner Asia
1330’s:
1331 - 9/10 Hopei province killed
13322 - Great Khan and his sons killed
March 1348:
Central and northern Italy infected
Genoa
Florence
Venice (trade)
During 1348:
Spain
France
Balkans
England
Ireland
Austria
Late 1348:
Germany
1349 - 1350:
Scotland
Scandinavia
Poland
Portugal

Nursery Rhymes
Ring o’ Roses
The Smell of Death

Pessimism
References the smell
Most likely due to:
Poor sanitation
Insides becoming gangrenous
Stench of death
Mass graves
Buried like “lasagne”
Explanations of Transmission
Theory - contamination by sight
Theory that sight entailed spirit passing from eye of observer to

the thing observed
Not taken seriously
Shows awareness that person-person transmission was

occurring
Common conclusion:
Miasma
Bad air
Corruption of the atmosphere
Very influential on reaction and treatment of the plague
Quarantine
Regulations to ‘clean up’ city/town
Treatment
Many course of treatment advised by physicians:

Purgatives
Vomit
Excrete
Buboes should ripen then cut open and squeezed
Baths were seen as dangerous
No baths in Europe till mid 18th century

None safe from the plague
Explanations:
Act of God
Second coming of Christ and arrival of anti-Christ
Planetary alignment
Jews poisoning wells
Fight or flight?
Migration of many into rural areas
Some stayed to help the sick
Doctors advised to stand near an open window, keep an aromatic

scent under nose or sponge soaked in vinegar near the mouth
Ward off sick smells coming from victim
Best remedy - flighty
Seen as immoral by many
Plague sent by God and must be accepted
Divine punishment
Scapegoats
Foreigners, poor, travellers and Jews
Officials investigate, confession via torture
Panic

Almost any ‘evidence’ was accepted
Strasbourg
2 000 Jews killed
Feb 1349
Similar riots elsewhere during plague

The cure of penance
Believed it was an act of God
Punishing human sinfulness
Saved from future sin and damnation
Moralising
Blame immorality and decadence
Emphasis on universal sinfulness of mankind
Turn to God for penance
The Flagellant Movement

Extreme movement
Publicly performed self-abasement in penance of personal sin

and sin of society
Existed before Black Death
‘Great Alleluia’ movement - 1260
Grew during Black Death
Elite (fee)
Moved through city and beat selves with knotted cords singing
hymns
Initially impressed the Church
Outlawed by Pope Clement VI
October 1349
Saintly cures
Mary - Mother of Mercy

Saints associated with the Black Death
Often rediscovered during the time
St Sebastian
St Rose of Viterbo
Last rites and burials
Enduring effect
Changing attitude towards death
Last rites:
Primary function:
Help dead achieve rest
Performed by priest at bedside of dying
Final confessions of sins
Communion and sacrament
Service at grace
Mass burials
People not buried properly
Last confessions to laymen, even to women
Changing attitudes towards death
People abandoned the sick and dying
Jokes and laughing
Coping mechanism
Life became fragile
Disrespect of the dead-prostitutes in graveyards
Death personified
Emergence of the Dance Macabre
Everyone in a dance with death
Death was seen as the leveller of society

Breaking “Malthusian Deadlock”
Far reaching consequences
Political
Economic
Social
Facilitated breakdown of feudalism and end of Middle Ages
Broke the Malthusian Deadlock
Plague decimated 1/3 of the population
Optimistic view:
Freed Europe from deadlock
Followed by growth, renewal and innovation
Malthusian Crisis
Idea of plague as an inevitable crisis wrought on humanity in order to
control population and human resources
1798 Essay on the Principle of Population
High population + low resources = crisis
Yet Malthusian crisis should have occurred earlier
Marxist theory
Population loss due to class struggle
Crisis of feudalism
A drop in noble income from rents led to pervasive violence, higher

taxes, thus population crisis
Deadlock broken
Resources freed
Many dead
Less labour
Fewer worked and higher wage demands

Capital and technical innovation
Death and taxes
Not all enjoyed raised standard of living
Peasants still taxed and tied to land by new lands
Peasants became increasingly discontent
Increasing tension between feudal lord and peasant
Revolts and rebellions
Feudalism increasingly broken down
Peasant’s Revolt of 1381
Greatest medieval working-class rebellion
Change from chaos?

Horrible but spurred growth
e.g. Education
Injected learning and revitalization of classics
Eventually the end of the Middle Age and the Renaissance
Week 3: The Renaissance

The Renaissance
Middle Ages and the Modern Era
1400 - 1600
French term
Traced back to 1550 - Giorgio Vasari:
Described “the rise of the arts to perfection, their decline, and

their restoration, or rather, renaissance”
From the Dark Ages to the Renaissance

A time of rebirth and discovers Vs Middle or “Dark Ages”
Comparatively stagnant)
Which Renaissance?

Broad period of time
Huge geographic area
Thus rather:
Italian Renaissance
English Renaissance
German Renaissance
French Renaissance
etc.
Italian Renaissance
1st - Italy
Associated with the great Italian painters
Architects
Poets
Dante
Petrarch
Associated with the 15th century Italian philosophers
Marsilio Ficino
Lorenzo Valla
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
The spread of the Renaissance

Ideas slowly spread northwards
Happened at different times in Europe:
1st - Italy
Venice - wealthy because of Asian trade
Florence - financial centre for literature and art
1453 - fall of Constantinople
Geography

Medici family
2nd - France
1490’s - King Charles VIII and Invasion of Italy
German Renaissance
2nd half of 15th century
Classical thinking and natural sciences
English Renaissance
16th century
Parliamentary Acts
1532 - 1534
Closely linked with establishment of Protestant church on

1530’s
Mary - Papal Jurisdiction
1553
Linked with Age of Reformation
Peak in Elizabethan Era
1559 onwards
Northern Europe, Agriculture and Urbanisation
Heavy wheeled plough
Components:
Wood and iron
Mounted on wheels
Iron cutters
Oxen
Consequences:
Expansion of cultivation to wet lowlands and alluvial plains of

northern Europe

High expenses of plough stimulated collective ownership,
communal agriculture
Horse technologies
Components:
Horse shoes
Iron collars
Stirrups
Consequences:
Larger “radius” of cultivation
Being able to support larger, more diverse villages
Decreases the cost of transporting goods, and intensification

of trade networks
Three-field rotation system
Consequences:
Diversification and improvement of diets of common people
Productive capacity of land grows exponentially

Effects of Agricultural improvement
Food surplus and increased population
Growth of trade and market economics
Proliferation of towns and urbanisation
Early modern European towns:
Literacy and universities
Manufacturing centres
Banking and credit systems
Complex trade networks
Emergence of merchant class
Early capitalism
What did the new Universities do?

Trained clergy, doctors and teachers
Translation of Greek and Arabic science into Latin
Production of new knowledge in:
Astronomy
Mathematics
Medicine
Anatomy
Cosmology
Perspective mapping/cartography
Stimulated the print market
Print Revolution
Stimulating scientific thinking beyond and out the University

Renaissance as ‘Scientific Revolution’
Most Renaissance is about development in the arts
Process aided by technological and economic advancements
E.g. Brunelleschi and visual perspective
The Scientific Revolution

An intellectual transformative involving:
1. Slow move away from superstition and religious authority as a

source of authority about the natural world
2. Slow move toward a belief that humans as the most important

source of authority and power in the world
3. The discovery of ignorance
Desire foe new kinds of knowledge and ethical knowledge
‘Scientific method’ based on empirical reason and

mathematics
4. Belief in the power of technology and economic growth to

improve human society

Changing attitudes towards knowledge and
learning
Before the Scientific Revolution
Everything important in the world is already known
All knowledge possessed by God
All knowledge revealed in sacred texts, which are declared final

and absolute truth
Texts interpreted to common people by trained priests, presented

in parables or moral stories
Knowledge achieved through obedience, memory and recitation

of ancient texts
Students study only how ancient authorities have answered

problems, no voice of their own
Belief that it is impossible for humans to obtain new knowledge
After the Scientific Revolution
Humans admit their ignorance of knowledge
Sacred texts provide no authoritative guide to knowledge
No theory or explanation is beyond challenge
New knowledge is always possible
Knowledge constantly reviewed and updated in light of new

evidence
Evidence based on observation and mathematics
Evidence presented in graphs and numbers
Point of learning is for students to learn to think for themselves

and develop original solutions
Changing attitudes towards ethics

Humans part of great cosmic plan, devised by omnipotent gods

or eternal laws of nature

Humans like actors on a stage, their actions strictly limited by
religious scripts
Bad things had a larger purpose and meaning, according to

cosmic plan
Only gods can create and define goodness, righteousness and

beauty
Humans believed to be ignorant, corruptible, and deceived by

sensual pleasure and delusion
Humans mortal, emotionally fickle and unable to understand

absolute truth
Human feelings sole source of authority to resolve questions of

meaning
Human actions decided by ‘inner feelings’ and ‘heart’
Correct ethical conclusions and decisions reached by observing

and being influenced by personal experience and emotions
Feeling of self and other selves more important than scriptural

injunctions
Humans believed to be able to understand and experience

absolute truth
Changing attitudes towards progress
Belief in world as stagnant or deteriorating, with its ‘golden age’

in the past
Human’s cannot overcome fundamental problems
Poverty
War
Sickness
Famine
Social problems can be only solved through divine intervention

Research into solving social problems viewed as ridiculous and
arrogant
Technology used to strengthen social order, designed by amateur

craftsmen with no connection to abstract science or new visions
of the world
Confidence in power of science and technology to improve

almost any aspect of society
Reject idea that poverty, suffering and hunger are inescapable

parts of an imperfect world
Belief in human power
Research into science and technology, financed, encouraged and

measured by utility or applicability to solving broader social
problems
Technology to transform and revolutionise social systems

Changing attitudes toward economics
Human production finite and stable
People can only prospers at the express of another
No belief in a better/richer future
Production, quality and value of goods controlled by guilds and

political authorities
Fixed prices, quotas and licences
Beliefs in economic growth and the possibility of reinventing

profit for further growth
Trust in better future
Achieved through interest-bearing credit
Economic growth needed to maintain standards of living for a

growing population

More production leads to more consumption and higher
standards of living
Economic growth offers more opportunities to more people, and

fewer opportunities for resentment and violence
Production, quality and value determined by the market
The customer is always right

Key thinkers and theoretical transformations in
understanding the universe
Astronomy and mathematics
1. Nicolaus Copernicus
2. Johannes Kepler
3. Galileo Galilei
4. Isaac Newton
New kinds of scientists
1. Francis Bacon
2. Renes Descartes
3. Andreas Vesalius
4. William Harvey
Copernicus
On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres - 1543
Placed the sun at the centre of the universe
Earth rotates around the sun
Heliocentrism
Opposed to geocentrism
Placed the sun at the centre
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler’s theory of Planetary Motion
Expands on Copernicus model

Includes elliptical orbits
Planets move through elliptical (oval) orbit,
Not a perfect circle
Offers mathematical proof for heliocentrism

Galileo
Invented telescope
Enabled us to view the moons of Jupiter
Galileo’s Telescope
Able to watch movement of planets in close detail
Earth not the centre of the universe
Conflict with RCC
House arrest
Proves Copernicus and Kepler’s theories and mathematical

proofs through empirical observation
Sir Isaac Newton

Experimented with earth’s gravity
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravity and Calculus
Develops a theory of gravity based on distance and mass
Rejects Aristotle notion of Celestial and Earthly Sphere
Uniform forces governing both earth and planetary objects
Foundation for sophisticated mathematics of calculus
All movement in universe explainable through mathematical laws
Baconian Science
Father of empiricism
‘Knowledge in Power’
Experimental science
Applied in:

Microscopy
Botany
Anatomy
Chemistry
Magnetism
Rene Descartes
“Father of Modern Philosophy”
“I think, therefore I am”
World as machine
Everything connected by laws of Mechanics
Science only worthwhile if it is beneficial
Develops the Cartesian Plane
Vesalius
Dissected corpses to study human anatomy
Father of Modern anatomy
William Harvey
William Harvey’s and Vesalius’ Anatomical Dissection
Dissection removes a taboo about body and afterlife
Heart as a pump, circulating blood
Changed the way doctors look at human body
The limits of the Scientific Revolution

Elite culture
The persistence of religion
Galileo case
The foundations of European colonialism
Renaissance as ‘Age of Exploration’

Economy typified by improvement and demand for goods increased

Good from Eats
Prompting investment in sea voyages
Trade
Exchanged of goods and ideas
Age of Exploration
Vasco da Gama found a route from Portugal to India
Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, John Cabot,

Ponce de Leon and Jacques Cartier sailed to the America
Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Frances Drake circumnavigated the

globe
Spreading ideas
Invention of printing press - Johannes Gutenberg
More cost effective printing method
1452 - Bible Project
Printing press - “Information Revolution”
Increased literacy of masses
Expansion of book subject matter
Superior basis for scholarship
Prevented corruption of texts
Faster and more reliable
Progress in thinking
Humanism
Intellectual movement - humanism
Value and agency of the human being
Human values vs religious beliefs
Critical thinking and evidence as opposed to dogma and

superstition
Studying the past - better understand the present

Renaissance humanism
Circulation of Greek and Arabic scientific texts
Translation into Latin
Rediscovery of Ancient Greek and Roman Art
Scholars study:
Literature
Philosophy
History
Visual Arts:
Emphasize and idealise the human form
Emphasis on individualism, anatomy and secularism
Francesco Petrarch
1st signs of classical influence in literature
Francesco Petrarch
Italian poet
Studied the works of Cicero and Virgil
Often imitated Cicero’s style
One of the first humanist thinkers
Influenced the spread of humanism writing and prominence
True to humanist thinking
Renaissance art
Radical departure from that of the Middle Ages
The art of the Middle ages depicted Saints and Biblical figures
Renaissance art
Humanist ideals
Realistic human body
Attention to the background

Linear perspective
Methods of light and shadow to make figures appear fuller and

real
Innovative
Striving to portray scenes, objects and expressions realistically

and accurately
Renaissance men
A person whose intellect spans all disciplines
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Leonardo Da Vinci
Da Vinci
Painter
Sculptor
Architect
Engineer
Scientist
Influenced the course of Italian art
1478 - independent art master
The Adoration of the Magi
First large painting
Left unfinished
1503 - Mona Lisa
Innovation in techniques of realism and the capture of

expression
Renaissance and music

Renaissance composers
Incorporate classics

Through studying Greek Drama Renaissance composers tried to
evoke emotion through composition
Matching lyrics to the melody
Realised audience responded to highly emotive singing
Renaissance composers tried to re-create but failed
Birth of Opera
Spiritual reform
Martin Luther
German churchman
Changed Christianity
Powerful critique of the Church’s practice of selling indulgences
Advocated many reforms
Igniting the Protestant Reformation
‘Old’ church - Roman Catholic Church
New Christian sects
Lutherans (Martin Luther)
Calvinists (John Calvin)
The Protestant Reformation

1517 - 1648
End Peace of Westphalia
Changed in intellectual thought
Protestant Reformation
Erasmus of Rotterdam called for reform
Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses
Luther’s movement sparked a religious revolution
95 Theses
October 31, 1517

Attacked indulgences and priestly abuses
Attacked the use of sacraments, relics and superstition
By 1520 - definitive break with the Catholic Church

Lutheranism
Religious movement with mass support in Holy Roman Empire
The Lutheran German princes took control of Catholic churches

in their territories
Ended Catholic mass
Bible readings
Prayer
Sing
The doctrine - Lutheranism
First Protestant faith
Calvinism
John Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion
A summary of Protestant religious thought
Foundation for:
Reformed
Congregational
Presbyterian churches
Politics in the German Reformation

Charles V - Holy Roman Empire
The Empire divided along religious lines
Protestant in North/East
Catholic in the South/West
Failure to defeat Protestant alliance

Peace of Augsburg - 1555
Fair permanent legal basis for existence of Lutheranism and

Catholicism together
European Wars of Religion
Despite Peace of Augsburg there still warfare
Series of wars followed the onset of the Protestant Reformation
Strongly influenced by religious changed during this period, but not

exclusively fought along neat religious divisions
Spanned the period c. 1524 - 1648
Some major conflicts:
Eighty Years’ War - Netherlands and Spain
French Wars of Religion - Catholics and Calvinists
Thirty Years’ War - affecting Holy Roman Empire
Council of Trent
Period of Catholic revival in response to the Protestant Reformation
Began with Council of Trent
Ecumenical Council
Initiated by Pope Paul III
Comprised a commission of cardinals tasked with institutional reform
Addressed pressing issues at the time
Corrupt bishops/priests
Indulgences
Other financial abuses
Rejected all compromise with Protestant
The Counter Reformation

Spanned the following elements:
Structural changes
Religious orders

Spiritual movements
Political dimensions
Ended in 1648 at conclusion of Thirty Year War
1618 - 1648
Peace of Westphalia - 1648
Series of peace treaties, that ended:
Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire
Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the Dutch Republic
Initiated new system of political order in Europe based on the

concept of the sovereign state
Created a basis for national self-determination which is still central to

international affairs today
Week 4+5: Industrial Revolution

General
Industrial revolution (Arnold Toynbee):
A rapid development in industry…the development which took

place in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, chiefly owing to the introduction of new and improved
machinery and large scale production methods
After 1782
Almost every statistical series of production in Britain shows a

sharp turn upward
The interrelated innovations of the last third of the 8th century had
long-term social and economic consequences
British Isles
Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Northern Ireland
Great Britain

Scotland
Wales
England
United Kingdom
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
England
Technology and culture
In the Revolution in GB, tech:
Sustained the advanced capitalist society
Made the transfer of commercial news faster
Made the movements of goods (and trade) faster
Made possible the exploitation of new and remote markets
Involved more than just technology
There is always technical innovation
At its most basic transformation of the nature of:
Manufacture
Transport
Communications
Affected almost all aspects of human
Involved technology and massive social changes
History - change over time

The Industrial Revolution saw Europe:
Move away from a primarily agricultural and rural economy to a

capitalist and urban economy
Move from a household, family-based economy to an industry-

based economy

From soil to the machine
1750 - European economy was agricultural
Wealthy and aristocratic landowners leased land to tenants in

exchange for real goods
Most non-agricultural goods were produced by individual families

who specialised in a specific skill
Radical reorganization of the nature of work as factory work replaced

agricultural work for cottage industry
Life became ruled by the factory clock instead of the more traditional
and seasonal patterns
From rural to urban

Urbanization:
The move to the towns created a demand for food
Stimulated the agricultural revolution
The agricultural revolution created a surplus of labour
Fed into workforce of factories
Profits fed into further industry
Population growth created a demand for goods and labour force

stimulated industrial growth
Production became faster, quality better and lowered costs
Increased trade and capital investment in industry
Enabling factors and conjuncture

Factors that enabled it:
Large population
Necessary raw materials and climate
Political context
Technical innovation
Conjecture:

Coming together at a particular point in time of otherwise
separate historical developments and processes
Large population
Large and growing population
Supplied a workforce
Market for goods
Population of Britain rose drastically in the 2nd half of the 18th

century
Industrial Revolution - growth in British population
Larger population - Industrial Revolution
High mortality rate and relatively low quality of life
Growing working class
Britain’s population was higher than the rest of Europe
Urbanisation was faster in Britain
Making for larger cities and workforce
Political context
War with France cut Britain from the rest of Europe
French Revolution
French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Britain had to become self-sufficient
Sought some goods elsewhere and developed new trade routes
Had to come up with ways to produce goods alone
British government was laissez-faire towards business
Business was allowed to develop on its own
British industry somewhat freer than other countries
Raw materials, climate and agriculture

Britain had all required materials

Had the right climate
Cotton industry
Domestic agriculture was able to supply:
Food
Raw materials
Surplus labour
Agricultural output was needed to maintain momentum of Industrial

Revolution
Cotton
Late 17th century:
Developed strong desire for Indian cotton textiles (calico)
Cotton was desirable because:
Lightweight for summer wear
More comfortable than other materials
Retains bright dyes
Cheaper
Cotton - competition with India

c. 1700 - India largest manufacturer and exported of cotton
18th cen. - costs of labour were cheaper (India)
Britain wanted independence from Indian markets
Early 18th cen. - ban on Indian textiles
Wanted to start British industry
Manchester
Failure:
Indian dyeing techniques
High production costs

Quality and quantity of single spinner was transformed:
Hargreaves
Spinning-Jenny - 1764
Weaving weak yarn
Worked as a single machine but made of many
Sped up process
Did work of multiple people
Arkwright
Water-frame
Improved yarn quality
Crompton
Spinning Mule
Spin cotton and other fibres

Cotton industry succeeds
Cotton boom after American Independence -1793
Eli Whitney Cotton Gin separated cotton fibre from seeds
1815 - 1840 - productivity of textile cities swelled
Cotton industry was large
Cotton industry
c. 1700 - India largest manufacturer and exporter
British development of domestic cotton industry
Early 18th cen. - banned importation
Manchester (dyeing techniques)
Steam power
1815 - 1840 - boom
1860 - US cotton accounted for over 88% of raw cotton from GB

Coal and steam power
1600 - most of Southern England deforested
Needed alternative power source
Coal
1800 - 90% of world output of coal
Surface deposits depleted
Steam power
Steam engine
Thomas Newcomen - 1712
Cooling chamber
James Watt - 1763
Development of railway
Steam engine
1712 - replaced water power
Thomas Newcomen
1712 - 1800 - +2 500 such machines were built
Machines were fuel inefficient
1763 - James Watts used both in mining and factories
1840’s - 1850’s - industries really benefitted from steam power
Railway grew quickly
Growth of iron industry
1830 - 1859
Iron - 680 000 to 2 250 000 tons
Coal - 15 mil to 49 mil tons
Industrialization and the environment

Massive social and environmental ramifications

Greater land use
Food supply + raw materials
Loss of habitat for animals and plants
Before and after:
Before - rampant deforestation
After - mining of coal
Substitutes for raw materials
Import
Underground
Industrial revolution and technical innovation
The railway:
Most significant encounter with mechanization
Brought places closer together
Rise of “excursionist”
Telegraph network:
Major impact on:
Private communication
Military
Business
Journalism
1865 - Atlantic Cable - GB to US
The ‘Knock on’ Effect - Gaslight

Gaslight replaced candlelight
Giant gasometers in working class districts
Safer for people to go out at night
Helped by the establishment of the police
Shops stayed open later

Long working day
Improved lighting + plated glass
Shopping arcades
Great exhibitions
Department stores
Technology and culture
Photography:
End of 19th cen.
Photography relatively cheap and user-friendly
By 1850’s use of ‘mug shot’
The Photograph:
Device used for the recording and reproduction of sound
1877 - Thomas Alva Edison’s phonograph recorded sounds
The Telephone:
1st - Antonio Meucci
1876 - patented by Alexander Graham
Benefits of telephonic communication not immediately apparent
By 1888 - telephone network had spread
Later 1890’s - used primarily for entertainment
Broadcasting concerts
Theatrical performances
The Typewriter:
Dramatically affected the business world
Saw employment of thousands of middle class women
“Typewriter girl” became a symbol for women in the workforce

and new possibilities of communication
Weaponry and Empire:

End of the 19th cen. - Britain added millions of miles of territories
to the Imperial Empire (1870 - 1900)
Facilitated by Britain’s technological superiority
Ability to:
Deploy modern weapons
Transport
Communication technology
Early 19th cen. :
Paddle steamers
Artillery
1884 - Maxim gun by Hiram Maxim
600 rounds a min
Used in Matabele War and Benin Massacre
Technical innovations had profound effects on society
Victorian culture:
Used to describe the society created by the early stage of the

Industrial Revolution, and to denote the technological and cultural
innovations of the Industrial Revolution under full swing in the
19th cen.
Consequences
Changed the nature of:
Human labour
Material culture
Gender relations
Family structure
Social structure
Individual identity
Urbanisation

Rapidly occurred
Plans and regulations
Late and inefficient
Cheap
Quick
Lacked sewage facilities or water
Public services
The “new poor”
Period of contradiction
Signs of progress
Signs of degradation
Poverty shifted
Urbanisation and immigration

1700 - 17% population in urban areas
1801 - 27.5% in urban areas
1871 - 23 in urban areas
Many immigrant part of urbanization process
60% of increase in urban from rural
Urban areas:
Higher wages
Continuous employment
Demands stimulated the development of industries
Liverpool
1700 - 5145 people
1821 - 118 972 people
+40% in next 10 years
Resulted in poor standard of living

Manchester
1830 - 2nd biggest
“Cottonopolis vs Darkchester”
London
Model
Sewage system
Public transport
Public transport became essential
1863 - first section
1868 - Baker Street Station
Use of steam-locomotives limited growth of underground

railways
Underground systems - London

Great deal of ambivalence towards industrialisation and urbanisation
Represented the triumph and progress of mankind
Burling arcade, Mayfair - 1819

Precursor of European shopping gallery
Retail shopping designed for the middle class
Poor areas
Contrasting image
Most dramatic example of the city
Overcrowding
Great problem
Lead to lists of ‘nuisances’ that could warrant police or court action
Discharging a firearm
Keeping a dead body
Keeping a disorderly house

Spread of diseases
The rise of the police
Before 1829 the duties of law and order:
Local watch or ward
Local militia or troops - Tudor system
Penal Code was severe
1820’s - Reform of the Penal Code
1829 - Peel’s Metropolitan Police Act
400 men and 1 000 recruits
Police - detection and prevention of crime
Lighting lamplights
Calling out the time
Watching for fire
Providing public services
“Bobbies” and “Peelers” were not immediately popular
Many people jeered them
Police proved successful
Gradual expansion
Municipal Corporations Act of 1835
1837 - 93/171 boroughs had police
Slow to react
Executing unpopular laws
Challenged liberties and rights of people and England
Slow communication
1865 - Parliament enforced police in all provinces

Disease, sewage and ‘toshing’
Inadequacy and lack of a sewage system
Enlarged in 1840’s but discharged into the River Thames until 1960’s
Toshing/sewer scavenging
1832 - Cholera epidemic
1/4 major outbreaks
Killed over 30 000 people
Great Sink of 1858

By Feb 1849 - London sewers flushed into River Thames
Thames became notorious
Crisis point in summer 1858
Cause great deal of alarm
Health, hygiene and death

The Victorians became obsessed with health and hygiene
Disease was rife and high mortality rates
Children were vulnerable
Death and disease

1841 - Registrar General reported life expectancies:
Surrey - 45
London - 37
Liverpool - 27
Labourers, servants and mechanics - 15
Disease was rife in the early 19th cen.
1820’s - typhus and small pox outbreaks
1831 - 1822 - two influenza outbreaks
1836 - 1842 - influenza, typhus, typhoid and cholera

Cholera
Frightening disease
From Bengal
1831 - first outbreak of Asiatic cholera
Claimed around 52 000 lives
Water borne disease
Typhoid and tuberculosis

Typhoid - enteric fever
Water borne disease
Other contagions killed thousands without being an epidemic
Measles and ‘hooping’ cough
Tuberculosis or consumption
Irish fever
1842 - 1846 - decline in epidemics
Advent and expansion of the railway
1846 - return of typhoid and typhus
Coincided with Potato Famine in Ireland
Coincided with virulent form of typhus - Irish fever
1858 - widespread outbreak of cholera
Belief that one disease brough the other
Diseases could not be controlled
Poor living conditions
Poor standards of hygiene
General ignorance
Living standards
Cause and means to prevent contagious diseases:
2 reports by Poor Law Commission of 1838

Royal Commission of 1845 into the Health of Towns and Populous
Places
Living standards in the early 19th century:
Bathing was uncommon/unknown in lower classes
Most households had a “privy pail”
Poor drainage
Unplanned urbanisation
Built on elevated sites
Sewage ran downwards
Many houses were damp
Irregular, sometimes contaminated water supply

Public Health Bill of 1848
Empowered a central authority to set up local boards
Proper drainage
Dependable local water supplies
Regulating the disposal of wastes
Supervising the construction of burial grounds
Construction of burial grounds was a pressing task
Burial grounds of New Bunhill Fields
St. Martins
1850’s - health begins to improve

Reasons:
Cleaning up towns
Raised standards of hygiene
1850’s and 1860’s - invention of diagnostic aids:
Stethoscope
Ophthalmoscope
Clinical thermometer

General anesthesia
Antiseptic surgery
1880’s and 1890’s - introduction of preventative inoculation sees the

systematic control of contagious diseases
The quality of food
Chronic food poisoning was common
Mineral poisons
1863 - Privy Council Report
Pure Food Act in 1860 and 1872
Often food was deliberately polluted
Not restricted by law until 1860
Bread was often whitened with alum
Milk was the most adulterated
Poor diet
Working class:
Uncertain
Unhealthy in effect
Cooking pot doubled as baby bath and family privy-pail
Poor Law Commission
Urban Poor Diet
Nutritional standards
Improved in last quarter of century
1877 - 1889 - food cost fell 30%
Invention of refrigerator
Social and family structure

Profits increase - new class emerged
Middle class

Rapid urbanisation
Towns unplanned and poor conditions
Overcrowded
Pollution
Crime
Traditional family life changed

Work or starve
Living conditions were poor
Life in factories were harsh
Wages dropped and series of trade depressions
By 1829 - marriage rates begun to drop
Life in the factories

Factory did not discriminate age or gender
Women and children were readily exploited
Children were given tasks
Scavenging cotton fluff from under machines
The textile industry

Factory work as long and laborious
Workers required permission to leave their post
Pregnant women
Working environment was hot and uncomfortable
System of sign language
Child labour
European families usually worked together in and around the house
A baby a year was a normal thing
Family structures altered
Entire family worked in factories and mills

Long hours in bad conditions
Rich source of labour
Children were exploited by the factory and mine ow res
Wages were low or not paid
Earliest weaving machines were made for children
Lowered labour costs
Orphans were seen as a labour force and were exploited
Factory owners justified no wages by saying they gave orphans food,

shelter and clothing
Children of both genders did the same kind of work
Later mines became males dominated
Women were not allowed to work there
Where children worked

Coal mines
Very dangerous
Rooves caved-in
Workers sustain injuries
Mainly cut out by children
Young children worked as trapped
Opened and closed mine doors
Older children worked as coal bearers
Mills
Cotton mills
Employed children to cut labour costs
Long hard hours
Lived there so they could work nights
Spent all their time with the machines
Had to work on Sundays

Had to clean machines
Scavengers:
Scavengers in textile factories
Pick up loose cotton from under the machines
Extremely dangerous as machine operated while they worked

Child health
Doctors noticed something was physically wrong with working
children
Employers tried to cover up
Very difficult to find evidence that child labour was bad
Severe effects on children’s health:
Negative impact on developing bodies
Worked very early until very late
Badly deformed bodies with twisted limbs and crooked spines
Girls’ eyes were damaged due to working with fine lace work
Environment:
Dust
Toxic fumes
High humidity
High temperatures
Class problem
Formation of working class
New forms of affiliation and alliance
1830’s - the Chartist Movement
1867 - Reform Act
Fear of ‘Dumb masses’
1870 - Education Act
Symptoms of a ‘Class Problem’

Cultural decline
Drinking, smoking, gambling, spitting

Reform
Children worked 16 hour days in horrible conditions
1833:
11 - 18 - 12 hour work day
9 - 11 - 8 hour work day
Under 9 - not allowed to work
Only applied to textile industry
1847 - both adults and children - 10 hour work day
19th cen. women

2 Terms:
Fallen woman
Prostitution
Offered hope that things might be better
Angel of the House
Duty was to be docile
Good wife
Raise children
Good morals
Class in the 19th cen.

Upper class:
Royalty
Nobility
Aristocracy
Gentry
Middle class:

Professionals
Lower middle class:
Tradeswomen
Innkeepers
Governess
Teachers
Working class:
Mine
Farm
Washerwomen
Seamstresses
Domestic servants
Underclass
Prostitution
The “angel of the house”
Home - arena of reproduction
Victorian ideal of femininity
Running the home became a unique and complex activity rather than
being simply part of a woman’s life
Household manuals
Household Management (1861) - Isabella Beaton
Detailed advice on running a home
The Idle Woman

Middle and upper class women
Consumer culture
Work - craft activities
Embroidery became a site of power

Domestic work
Largest realm of employment
Unskilled = domestic work
Unpopular profession
Domestic service
Long hours and few benefits
Worked Sat and Sun
Eight hour week
Uniform
Factory work
Social and meet man
Acts reduced hours
The fallen women

Most were forced into prostitution
Called "sunken classes"
Referred to as "fallen women"
Believed causes
Seduction
Immorality
Poverty
Ambivalence towards them
Social outcasts
If they fell pregnant they were cast out of polite society and their
families
Evidence
Bodies found
Oil paintings

Exhibitions
Walk the streets or enter the workhouse?
Woman did not have the choice of the workhouses provided by the
parishes
Less attractive than prostitution
Coarse uniforms
Fed little
Long working hours
Terrible reputation
Prostitution offered the hope that things might get better
Prostitution
Some gained celebrity status
Legal age was 12 until 1875 and then was increased to 13
Generally between 18-22
Many were not known by the police
Parliament takes action

1800s - seen as necessary evil
Early attempts to tackle prostitution failed
1840 - Brothels Suppression Bill
1848 - Bill for the Protection of Females
Venereal disease in British society, particularly the military
1864, 1866 and 1869 - Contagious Diseases Acts
1885 - Criminal Law Act
Outlawed brothels
Pimping
Homosexuality
Contagious Diseases Acts

Spread of syphilis
Killed a third of the British army
These acts:
Made prostitution legal
Forcibly detained and examined disease
Lock hospitals until they were cured
1864 - introduced Lock Asylum
Rehabilitation for a sinful lifestyles
Unpopular
Reaction to Contagious Disease Acts

Not well received
Victorian Feminist Movement
Florence Nightingale
Rescue Society
Major feminist triumph - Repeal in 1886
Feminist lessons for life
Week 6: New Imperialism

Introduction
1870 - Barely one tenth of Africa under European control
1914 - Only one tenth of Africa not under European control
Ethiopia
Liberia
Scramble occurred in the climax of new imperialism and colonial

expansion
1912 - only Ethiopia and Liberia not colonized
Some Europeans criticized imperialism as a betrayal of Western

Ideals

Freedom
Equality
1914 - 84% of global surface belonged to Europe
1870 - 1914 - colonising African territory became an all consuming

passion
Before ‘New Imperialism’
Africa was informal and a piecemeal
Affected by military influence and economic dominance rather

than direct rule
Fuel for European race to take over Africa:
Commercial greed
Territorial ambition
Political rivalry
Reasons for the colonization of Africa
1. Industrial revolution
Enormous gap:
Economy
Technology
Economy
2. European ideology
The need to save Africa
Complex answer
Reasons for the colonization

1. Technological advances
2. Social motives
a. Pride of the empire
b. Social Darwinism

c. Christian revival
3. Political motives
a. Balance of power
b. Geopolitics
c. Anti-slavery movement
d. Technology and labour
e. Lobby groups
4. The economic theory

1. Technological advances
Discovery of quinine
Malaria
1850’s
Steam engine
1804 - invented
1853 - first railway track
Telegraph
1885 - African Direct Telegraph Company
1910 - Reuters to Nigeria
Gun design
1830’s - Comparable firepower
1880’s - European superior firepower
2. Social Motives
Foundation for 19th cen. zeitgeist
To Europeans, Africa - ahistorical (no history)
No written history
2.1. Pride of the Empire

Imperialism is an extension (extreme version) of nationalism

Britain became the leader of the Industrialising world and developed
a rhetoric of empire to support it
Britain dominated the oceans
More than 80% of goods were carried in British ships
Pseudo-scientific views
Influence of the Transatlantic Slave trade
Christian Abolitionists - abolish slave trade
No equality, but believed it was their duty to enlighten
Used as justification and moralize the colonisation of Africa
European response to Imperialism

Henry Labouchere
The Brown Man’s Burden (1899)
Black Man’s Burden Association
E.D. Morel
The Black Man’s Burden (1903)
Hubert Harrison
The Black Man’s Burden [A Reply to Rudyard Kipling] (1920)
Imperialism as a response to the working class

Changing social fabric due to industrial revolution
Winning over the working class
Colonialism and imperialism
Instruments of propaganda and means of stabilizing society of

home country
2.2. Social Darwinism

European ideology or Zeitgeist (world view) rested on social
Darwinist theories
Eugenics

Victorian anthropologists
Used to justify European colonial rule
Lewis Henry Morgan - Cultural Evolution
Believed that human societies developed through three dominant

stages
1. Savagery - hunter gatherers
2. Barbarianism - agriculture (Africa)
3. Civilisation - commerce (Europe)
Africa stuck in barbarianism
Europeans most advanced
Charles Darwin
On Origin of Species (1859)
Natural selection
Species evolve into other species through this process
Controversial - opposing stance to the church and the bible
Others employed his theories as 'scientific' explanation for

European dominance
The Descent of Man (1871)
Includes writing on the issues of race and humanity
Race and colour are superficial
People act 'savage to lack of civilisation
Thomas R. Malthus
An Essay on the Principle of Population
Enlightenment era economist and social thinker
Theories were the basis for later Social Darwinist theories
Social Darwinism - Pseudo-Science
Herbert Spencer

The Evolution of Society
Darwin's theory applied to humans (Social Darwinism)
Some people adapt better than others normally
Those who adapt more efficiently dominate (biological superiority)
Coined the terms "survival of the fittest"
Natural order observable through scientific means
Empirically evident
Justified colonialism, imperialism and racism
Karl Pearson
National Life from the Standpoint of Science
Applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the struggle between

nations for imperial supremacy
Eugenics
Set of beliefs that aim at improving genetic quality of human

population
More extreme form of Social Darwinism
Coined by Sir Francis Galton
Supported the idea that the hierarchy qualities of a race or breed

could be improved through selective breeding
Religion
Antithesis to science
Challenged the creationist theory
All of these theories helped to justify European expansionist policies
Impetus and justification for imperialism
Transfer Darwinian laws of evolution to race/nations
Natural selection
Survival of the fittest
Progress as a law of nature

Strong nations must conquer the weak
Growing gratification of war
Biological grounds
Mechanism of evolution
2.3. Christian revival

Export ideas
Religion
Medicine
Hygiene
Monogamy
Role of:
Missionaries
Missionary societies
David Livingstone
Deplored the East African slave trade
Several calls for a crusade against those who perpetuated this

evil
Swahili Arabs
Advocated a three-pronged approach
Commerce
Civilisation
Christianity
Later served as a justification

3. Political Motives
3.1. European balance of power
1870 - 1871 - the watershed year
Before Europe was dominated by Great Powers

States that economically, politically and demographically and
militarily dwarfed others
Former 'Great Powers'
Great Britain
Austro-Hungary
Imperial Russie
France
Ottoman Empire
Formation of a new Equilibrium (1870 - 1871)
Old Great Powers were joined by new ones
Imperial Germany unified by Prussia
Following France-Prussian War
Italy unified by Piedmont
Thought of itself as a Great Power
A period of "Armed Peace" in Europe (1870 - 1914)
Period during which Great Powers manoeuvred to make allies
Create blocs through alliances and ententes
All in order to fulfil their own goals
Diplomatic chess game with Africa as a board
Europe used Africa as a proxy
3.2. National Rivalry (Geopolitics)

Britain was the foremost superpower by 1850
View that had right to Africa
Its explorers played a leading role in mapping the interior
British authorities displayed an increasing resentment at the

interest shown by other nations
British economy was coming under severe pressure

Political status of colonial power was reflected in colonial
possessions
Colonies became 'bargaining chips'
Territorial position important
Military and economic influence
Egypt, France and the Suez canal

Early 1800's - Egypt became independent
Under Khedive Mehmet Ali
Egyptian government wanted to modernise and industrialise
Decided to build canal across Suez isthmus
1.5 million workers
25 workers
Modernisation - expensive
Suez canal - very expensive
Egypt bankrupted by 1878
European Debt Commission dominated by France and Britain
Powers wanted a quick route to India
Khedive replace by more obedient governor
Revolt against European influence
Urabi Revoly
Battle of Tel El-Kebir (1882)
British forced to suppress unrest
Britain was drawn into occupying Egypt
Stayed to fend off further attacks
Anglo-French rivalry
Suez canal - Germany's Game

Anglo-French rivalry exploited by Germany

Germany sided with France to sooth Franco-German tension
Franco-Prussian war (1870)
French lost Alsace Lorraine
Germany threatened Britain in colonial matters to enforce British

civility towards Germany
Suez crisis
National rivalry and geo-political game heated up
Otto von Bismarck summed up geo-politics and the partition of

Africa
German Chancellor
"The Iron Chancellor"
3.3. Lobby Groups

Missionary societies
Imperialist associations
German National Association
Primrose League
French geographic societies

4. Economic Theory
Supply of raw materials
Investment of capital
Economic pressure groups
Trading companies
Shipping firms
John A. Hobson's Imperialism, A Study (1902)
Reform pamphlet
Idea of under-consumption and over-production
Concern that main rivals would acquire new territories and gain
an economic advantage unless protected

Spread of industrialisation
Spread of technology and infrastructure
Increasing national rivalries
Nations also competed and not only firms

Build-up to the Berlin
Conference (1884 - 1885)
Bismarck makes his move
Bismarck in need of support by National Liberal Party, which had
economic interest in colonies
Bismarck began declaring German protectorates over key areas
German actions create panic
European powers rush to annex territory
Competing claims
Berlin Conference
November 1884 - February 1885
Concentrated almost entirely on the Congo
The King and The Congo

King Leopold II of Belgium
Insatiable appetite for:
Land
Wealth
Women
Wanted a colony of his own
1875 - used Congress of French Geographical Society to gather info

of Africa
1876 - organised his own conference in Brussels as humanitarian and

scientific goals
Resulted in Association Internationale Africaine

Humanitarian org. to end slavery
Leopold II admitted he wanted a piece in Africa
Employed Henry Morton Stanley to:
Explore and open up the Congo
Create trading stations
Henry Morton Stanley

Born 1841 as John Rowlands
Illegitimate, orphaned and raised in workhouse
Sailed to New Orleans, jumped ship and adopted by Henry Stanley
Became a journalist
Found missionary, Livingstone on Lake Tanganyika
Popular writer
Played important role in Scramble for Africa
14 Aug 1879 - arrived in Congo
13 June 1879 - signed treaty giving Association Internationale

Africaine exclusive rights
Eventually got about 400 - 500 treaties
October 1882 received blank forms
Pierra de Brazza also collecting signed treaties in Congo
French explorer
Portuguese remembered their claim to the Congo

Conference of Berlin (1884 - 1885)
Scramble for Africa:
Panicked rush to annex African territory
Driven by:
Geopolitical politicking
National rivalry
Nationalist concerns

Agreement needed to facilitate partitioning to prevent war
Purpose of conference:
Disputed claim to Congo delta
No African states were consulted
General Act of Berlin - 26 Feb 1885
Principle of Effective Occupation
Nations could only hold colonies if they insure the

establishment of authority in the regions occupied by them
Divided Africa up on paper, still had to go in and control the

area
Scramble for Africa:
Seemed to initiate the partition of Africa after the Berlin West

Africa Conference (1884 - 1885)
German Territories
Had no real interest in travelling further inland
Acquired Togo and Cameroon (had South West Africa)
Carl Peters (explorer) complicated things:
Founded Society for German Colonization
Germany not interested
Bismarck blackmailed into allowing it and sanctioning Peters’ East

Africa Company
Peters annexed more territory
Expelled from Uganda by British
Faces revolt by Arabs in 1889
Germany forced into declaring German East Africa as their colony
Had to pacify Britain by exchanging Zanzibar for Heligoland (Nort

Sea Island)
Reflected British desire to protect new route for India via Suez
Canal

Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty (1890)
High imperialism
Berlin Conference of 1884 - 1885
Sparked Scramble for Colonies
Established the ground rules
Only really division on paper
Real boundaries only became reality afterwards
Period of ‘high imperialism’:
Masses of settlers arrived without approval
Began seizing land
Prompted extremely violent clashes
Occurred in various ways:
Settlement vs occupation
Consolidation through force
Direct vs Indirect Rule
Always exceptions
Different Colonial Policies

Settlement vs Occupation
Direct vs Indirect Rule
Experiences and techniques of rule differed
Colonies of settlement:
Large numbers of Europeans emigrated
Colonies of occupation:
Climate and terrain unsuitable for large amount of migration or

settlement
Also depended on degree or organisation and military strength
Settlement and occupation

Settlement:
German South West Africa
Occupation:
German Cameroon
Extremely complex country
Gained independence in 1960

Direct vs. Indirect Rule
Indirect rule:
Colonies were given a degree of internal autonomy
Nigeria
Direct rule:
Colony was directly administered by the colonizer
Senegal
France - Direct Rule

Early French Empire:
Highly centralised rule
Direct control:
Government
Economy
Infrastructure
Wanted to spread benefits of French Revolution
Liberty
Equality
Fraternity
Did not always stick to this
Increasingly colonial powers favoured ‘indirect rule’
Britain - Indirect Rule

Policy of indirect rule became a guiding principle of Empire
Lord Frederick Lugard was leading advocate
Argued administration be left to ‘native authorities’ on condition

that part of their tax revenues be sent to colonial treasury
‘Native authorities’ supervised by British government
Had to agree to rules and regulations of British government
Britain retained control of foreign affairs
Believed it was less destructive that ‘direct’
Had long been the form of British control
Decentralised rule
Favoured use of chartered companies

British Nigeria - Indirect Rule
Traditional heads of Ibeku meet with heads of the British
administration in Southern Nigeria
German Rule in East Africa - Violence

Violence - common feature of German rule
German East Africa:
Drawn into colonization by activities of Carl Peters
Armed conflict continued
1905 - land seizures, rising taxation and forced labour led to the Maji-
Maji uprising
80 000 African died at the hands of German military
Used African troops - Askaris
Destruction of rebel fields and villages led to famine
Everyday violence - public beatings
Violence reflects fragility of German control and their reliance on fear

to ensure dominance and quell resistance
British Empire

British consolidation of rule via violence
1895 - Joseph Chamberlain became Colonial Secretary
Was dissatisfied with loose treaty-based system
Wanted British rule to be more powerful
1897 - occupation of Ashanti capital
1898 - bombarded Zanzibar to show displeasure
1898 - Battle of Omdurman
1900 - West African Frontier Force created to way campaigns

against slave owning Muslim emirs in North Africa
The Belgian Congo
Rubber and slavery
Worldwide boom in rubber
Stimulated by innovations of industrial age
Leopold II devoted more efforts into harvesting rubber
Workers were effectively slaves
Sent into forests
Families were held hostage
Hostages were shot if not enough collected
People who were resisted were shot
Hands were cut off to prove bullets were not wasted
If number of hands did not match the bullets
Hands of living were cut off
International criticism
Lead to change
Atrocities reached notice of critics of colonialism in Britain and US
Facts and figures poured in
Thousands of deaths due to:

Shootings
Exhaustion
Maltreatment
Spread of disease in weak populations
Hungry and overworked
Small pox and sleeping sickness via trade networks
Birth rate plummeted
Refused to give birth
Men taken away to harvest rubber or build railway
1908 - Leopold forced to hand Congo to Belgium
Replaced collection of wild rubber with planting rubber trees
Forced labour continued and intensifies with discovery:
Gold
Copper
Tin
1924 - sever labour shortage
Belgian government ordered census
Found population reduced by half since colonisation

History 114 Term 2 Notes

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History 114 Term 2 Notes

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History 114 Term 2

Week 1: The Middle Ages

Western calendar/Christian calendar

Represents refinement of Julian calendar (1582)

Associated with Catholic Church and papacy

Year numbering system:

Anno Domini/Before Christ

Common Era/Before the Common Ear

Dark Ages (476 CE - 8th century CE)

Black Death (Late 1340’s)

Renaissance (1400 CE - 1600 CE)

The Modern Era (1500 CE - present)

The Middle Ages

Inherited view from Italian Renaissance

Between Antiquity and Modern Era

History 114 Term 2 1

Europe struggled through its Dark Ages

India and Islamic Arabian culture entered their ‘golden ages’

China entered a golden age

Chine entered a period of decline

Europe entered the High Middle Ages

Attempt to structure historical events into blocks or periods on a

Related to the countries of the West

Related to countries of the Far East (Asia)

The European Middle Ages

Emergence of areas sharing a common language

Rise of territorial states

Stimulation of trade between Europe, Asia and Near East

Fall of the Roman Empire

410 - City of Rome was sacked

History 114 Term 2 2

Referred to as the “scourge of God”

End 5th Century - West Roman Empire governed by Germanic tribes

395 - Theodosius divided Roman Empire into two

Rome fell in 476

East continued as the Byzantine Empire

Could withstand Germanic invasions

Had older, bigger and more cities than them

Early Eastern Emperors wanted to re-create the Roman Empire

Reclaim territories of former West Roman Empire

Safeguarded classical thought, conduit of classical learning

Formed protective barrier between former West Roman Empire and

533 - Recaptured Rome and Sicily

565 - Roman Italy was lost to the Lombards

Symbol of Justinian’s desire to reunite Rome:

History 114 Term 2 3

6 years later - Corpus Juris Civilis

Body of Civil Law

Hagia Sophia Church

Figure who ought to be thought of in biblical terms

Fractured into various Germanic kingdoms

Visigoths - Northern Gaul (France)

Vandals - Northern Africa

Angles and Saxons - England

Fall of Rome - traumatic

5th - 8th century - European Dark Ages

Second Sack of Rome (455 CE)

No centralised state to control law and order

The weak turned to the strong

Free tenant farmers abandoned their small farms

Land was taken by large landowners

People worked land in exchange for protection

Villa/manor became dominant form of social organisation

Agriculture was the main occupation