173-425: Central Europe Guelf , Hohenstaufen , and Ascanian domains in Germany about 1176 The High Middle Ages , or High Medieval Period , was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages , which ended around AD 1500 (by historiographical convention). Key historical trends of
346-510: A Carolingian expedition in 824 that led to the setup of the Kingdom of Pamplona . Aragon, founded in 809 by Aznar Galíndez , grew around Jaca and the high valleys of the Aragon River , protecting the old Roman road. By the end of the 10th century, Aragon, which then was just a county, was annexed by Navarre. Sobrarbe and Ribagorza were small counties and had little significance to the progress of
519-450: A capo d'Angiò or "chief of Anjou", containing yellow fleurs-de-lys on a blue field, with a red heraldic "label" , while Ghibellines had a capo dell'impero or "chief of the empire", with a form of the black German imperial eagle on a golden background . Families also distinguished their factional allegiance by the architecture of their palaces, towers, and fortresses. Ghibelline structures had "swallow-tailed" crenellations, while those of
692-402: A Basque uprising (probably resistance). Their son is reported to be Alfonso II , while Alfonso I's daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia. Alfonso's military strategy was typical of Iberian warfare at the time. Lacking the means needed for wholesale conquest of large territories, his tactics consisted of raids in the border regions of Vardulia . With
865-730: A Hispanic empire like the Visigothic Kingdom (418–720) to reclaim his hegemony over the entire Iberian Peninsula . Within this context, the territory between the Douro and the Tagus was repopulated and a western nucleus was formed in Portugal that wanted independence . This marks the beginning of the Portuguese Repovoação ou Repovoamento occurred during the reigns of the House of Burgundy up to
1038-564: A Muslim military expedition was sent into the north in late summer to suppress a rebellion led by Pelagius of Asturias (Pelayo in Spanish, Pelayu in Asturian). Traditional historiography has hailed Pelagius's victory at Covadonga as the beginning of the Reconquista . Two northern realms, Navarre and Asturias, despite their small size, demonstrated an ability to maintain their independence. Because
1211-702: A brief resurgence during the Italian campaigns of Emperors Henry VII (1310) and Louis IV (1327). Since the Pope granted Sicily (Southern Italy) to the French prince Charles I of Anjou , the Guelphs took a pro-French stance. As late as the 16th century, Ghibellines like the Colonna or Gonzaga still fought for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , while Guelphs like the Orsini and Este still fought for
1384-527: A campaign against different towns and strongholds in Hispania. Some, like Mérida , Cordova , or Zaragoza in 712, probably Toledo , were taken, but many agreed to a treaty in exchange for maintaining autonomy, in Theodemir 's dominion (region of Tudmir), or Pamplona , for example. The invading Islamic armies did not exceed 60,000 men. After the establishment of a local Emirate , Caliph Al-Walid I , ruler of
1557-457: A century there were more inventions developed and applied usefully than in the previous thousand years of human history all over the globe. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption or invention of windmills , watermills , printing (though not yet with movable type), gunpowder , the astrolabe , glasses , scissors of the modern shape, a better clock , and greatly improved ships. The latter two advances made possible
1730-414: A comprehensive production of alcohol. Food production also increased during this time as new ways of farming were introduced, including the use of a heavier plow, horses instead of oxen, and a three-field system that allowed the cultivation of a greater variety of crops than the earlier two-field system—notably legumes , the growth of which prevented the depletion of important nitrogen from the soil. During
1903-533: A divine spark. Other notable scholastics included Muhammad Averroes , Roscelin , Abélard, Peter Lombard , and Francisco Suárez . One of the main questions during this time was the problem of universals . Prominent opponents of various aspects of the scholastic mainstream included Duns Scotus , William of Ockham , Peter Damian , Bernard of Clairvaux , and the Victorines . Christian heresies existed in Europe before
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#17330943445582076-620: A fatherland which, according to them, was being threatened by regional nationalisms and communism . Their rebellious pursuit was thus a crusade for the restoration of the Church's unity, where Franco stood for both Pelagius of Asturias and El Cid . The Reconquista has become a rallying call for right and far-right parties in Spain to expel from office incumbent progressive or peripheral nationalist options, as well as their values, in different political contexts as of 2018. The same kind of propaganda
2249-437: A high demand for wine and steady volume of alcohol consumption inspired a viticulture revolution of progress. The relative protection from famine during this time allowed Europe's population to increase, despite the famine in 1315 that killed 1.5 million people. This increased population contributed to the founding of new towns and an increase in industrial and economic activity during the period. They also established trade and
2422-521: A key role in European trade from then on, making these cities become major financial centers. From the mid-10th to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway. After Cnut's death in 1035, England and Norway were both lost, and with
2595-611: A means of preserving its independence, rather than out of loyalty to the temporal power, as Forlì was nominally in the Papal States. Over the centuries, the papacy tried several times to regain control of Forlì, sometimes by violence or by allurements. The division between Guelphs and Ghibellines was especially important in Florence . The two factions frequently fought each other over power in many other northern Italian cities. The two sides were now fighting either against German influence (in
2768-517: A necessity to drive out the Muslims and restore conquered territories. In fact, in the writings of both sides, there was a sense of divide based on ethnicity and culture between the inhabitants of the small Christian kingdoms in the north and the dominant elite in the Muslim-ruled south. The linear approach to the origins of a Reconquista taken in early twentieth-century historiography is complicated by
2941-561: A number of issues. For example, periods of peaceful coexistence, or at least of limited and localised skirmishes on the frontiers, were more prevalent over the 781 years of Muslim rule in Iberia than periods of military conflict between the Christian kingdoms and al-Andalus. Additionally, both Christian and Muslim rulers fought other Christians and Muslims , and cooperation and alliances between Muslims and Christians were not uncommon, such as between
3114-603: A peace, but failed. Frederick defeated the League at Cortenuova and refused all peace offers from them. He besieged Brescia but was repulsed. In 1239, Frederick was again excommunicated by Pope Gregory. In response, he expelled Franciscan and the Dominican friars from Lombardy and made his son Enzo Imperial vicar in Italy. He also annexed Romagna , Marche , the Duchy of Spoleto , and part of
3287-555: A religious experience and became a preacher. He founded the Waldensians which became a Christian sect believing that all religious practices should have strictly scriptural bases. Waldo was denied the right to preach his sermons by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which he did not obey and continued to speak freely until he was excommunicated in 1184. Waldo was critical of the Christian clergy saying they did not live according to
3460-752: A result of the Alhambra Decree , the Jewish communities in Castile and Aragon—some 200,000 people—were forcibly expelled . The conquest was followed by a series of edicts (1499–1526) which forced the conversions of Muslims in Castile, Navarre, and Aragon , who were later expelled from the Iberian realms of the Spanish Crown by a series of decrees starting in 1609. Approximately three million Muslims emigrated or were driven out of Spain between 1492 and 1610. Beginning in
3633-462: A result of the First Crusade . In the context of the crusades, monastic military orders were founded that would become the template for the late medieval chivalric orders . The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded after the First Crusade to help protect Christian pilgrims from hostile locals and highway bandits. The order was deeply involved in banking, and in 1307 Philip
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#17330943445583806-575: A revealing indicator of their past factional leanings. Reconquista The Reconquista ( Spanish and Portuguese for ' reconquest ' ) or the reconquest of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the Muslim kingdoms following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate , culminating in
3979-443: A secessionist rebellion. Apparently a concerned Al-Walid I ordered Abd al-Aziz's assassination. Caliph Al-Walid I died in 715 and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik . Sulayman seems to have punished the surviving Musa ibn-Nusayr, who very soon died during a pilgrimage in 716. In the end, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa's cousin, Ayyub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi became the wali (governor) of al-Andalus. A serious weakness amongst
4152-602: A single family. During the High Middle Ages Lithuania emerged as a Duchy of Lithuania in the early 13th century, then briefly becoming the Kingdom of Lithuania from 1251 to 1263. After the assassination of its first Christian king Mindaugas Lithuania was known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Unconquered during the Lithuanian Crusade , Lithuania itself rapidly expanded to the East due to conquests and became one of
4325-656: A successful Vlach-Bulgarian rebellion in 1185 , and henceforth the region was divided between the Byzantines in Greece, some parts of Macedonia , and Thrace , the Bulgarians in Moesia and most of Thrace and Macedonia, and the Serbs to the northwest. Eastern and Western churches had formally split in the 11th century, and despite occasional periods of co-operation during the 12th century, in 1204
4498-522: Is hardly exact, for the centre was at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts. The Albigensians were strong in southern France, northern Italy, and the southwestern Holy Roman Empire . The Bogomils were strong in the Southeastern Europe , and became the official religion supported by the Bosnian kings . Peter Waldo of Lyon was a wealthy merchant who gave up his riches around 1175 after
4671-463: Is rememorated in the Moros y Cristianos festival, very popular in parts of Southeastern Spain, and which can also be found in a few places in former Spanish colonies. Pursuant to an Islamophobic worldview, the concept is a symbol of significance for the 21st century European far-right . The term Reconquista , used to describe the struggle between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula during
4844-645: The Almohads in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds fell to Christian forces in the 13th century, after the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the Siege of Córdoba (1236) and the Siege of Seville (1248)—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south. After the surrender of Granada in January 1492, the entire Iberian peninsula was controlled by Christian rulers. On 30 July 1492, as
5017-537: The Almohads , who espoused a similarly staunch Muslim Jihad ideology. In fact, previous documents which date from the 10th and 11th centuries are mute on any idea of "reconquest". Propaganda accounts of Muslim-Christian hostility came into being to support that idea, most notably the Chanson de Roland , an 11th-century French chanson de geste that offers a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass dealing with
5190-455: The Arista dynasty and Banu Qasi as early as the 9th century. Blurring distinctions even further were the mercenaries from both sides who simply fought for whoever paid the most. The period is seen today to have had long episodes of relative religious coexistence and tolerance. The idea of a continuous Reconquista has been challenged by modern scholars. The Crusades , which started late in
5363-520: The Battle of Legnano in 1176. Frederick recognized the full autonomy of the cities of the Lombard league under his nominal suzerainty . The conflict between the two factions dominated the politics of medieval Italy, and persisted long after the confrontation between emperor and pope had ceased. Smaller cities tended to be Ghibelline if the larger city nearby was Guelph. For example, Guelph Republic of Florence and Ghibelline Republic of Siena faced off at
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5536-485: The Battle of Montaperti , 1260. Pisa maintained a staunch Ghibelline stance against her fiercest rivals, the Guelph Republic of Genoa and Florence. Local or regional political reasons motivated political alignments. Within cities, party allegiances differed from guild to guild, rione to rione , and a city could easily change party after internal upheavals. The conflicts between Guelphs and Ghibellines ended in
5709-544: The Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was significantly more eastern. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire , which reached its high-water mark of unity and political power under Kaiser Frederick Barbarossa . During the successful reign of King David IV of Georgia (1089–1125),
5882-590: The Concordat of Worms in 1122. Timeline The conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines arose from the political divisions caused by the Investiture Controversy , about whether secular rulers or the pope had the authority to appoint bishops and abbots. Upon the death of Emperor Henry V , of the Salian dynasty , the dukes elected an opponent of his dynasty, Lothair III , as the new emperor. This displeased
6055-625: The Crusader States in the Levant . Other wars led to the Northern Crusades . The Christian kingdoms took much of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control, and the Normans conquered southern Italy, all part of the major population increases and the resettlement patterns of the era. The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual and artistic works . The age also saw
6228-720: The Early Middle Ages was based upon few copies and commentaries of ancient Greek texts that remained in Western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire . Most of them were studied only in Latin as knowledge of Greek was very limited. This scenario changed during the Renaissance of the 12th century . The intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of medieval universities . The increased contact with
6401-616: The Fourth Crusade treacherously captured Constantinople . This severely damaged the Byzantines, and their power was ultimately weakened by the Seljuks and the rising Ottoman Empire in the 14–15th century. The power of the Latin Empire , however, was short-lived after the Crusader army was routed by Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople (1205) . The Medieval Warm Period ,
6574-544: The Hanseatic League , a federation of free cities to advance trade by sea, was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck , which would later dominate the League, in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became Hanseatic cities, including Amsterdam , Cologne , Bremen , Hanover and Berlin. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges and
6747-647: The Kingdom of Georgia grew in strength and expelled the Seljuk Empire from its lands. David's decisive victory in the Battle of Didgori (1121) against the Seljuk Turks, as a result of which Georgia recaptured its lost capital Tbilisi , marked the beginning of the Georgian Golden Age . David's granddaughter Queen Tamar continued the upward rise, successfully neutralizing internal opposition and embarking on an energetic foreign policy aided by further decline of
6920-465: The Kingdom of León , when Leon became the seat of the royal court (it didn't bear any official name). Alfonso III of Asturias repopulated the strategically important city Leon and established it as his capital. King Alfonso began a series of campaigns to establish control over all the lands north of the Douro river. He reorganised his territories into the major duchies ( Galicia and Portugal) and major counties ( Saldaña and Castile), and fortified
7093-558: The Macedonian and Komnenos dynasties gradually gave way to the resurrected Serbia and Bulgaria and to a successor crusader state (1204 to 1261), who continually fought each other until the end of the Latin Empire. The Byzantine Empire was reestablished in 1261 with the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins, though it was no longer a major power and would continue to falter through
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7266-622: The Matter of France (stories about Charlemagne and his court), the Acritic songs dealing with the chivalry of Byzantium's frontiersmen, and perhaps the best known cycle, the Matter of Britain , which featured tales about King Arthur , his court, and related stories from Brittany , Cornwall , Wales and Ireland. An anonymous German poet tried to bring the Germanic myths from the Migration Period to
7439-500: The Middle Ages , was not used by writers of the period. Since its development as a term in medieval historiography occurred centuries after the events it references, it has acquired various meanings. Its meaning as an actual reconquest has been subject to the particular concerns or prejudices of scholars, who have sometimes wielded it as a weapon in ideological disputes. A discernible irredentist ideology that would later become part of
7612-786: The Papal States , and marched through Tuscany hoping to capture Rome . He was forced to retreat, sacking the city of Benevento . Soon the Ghibelline city of Ferrara fell and Frederick once more advanced, capturing Ravenna and Faenza . The Pope convened a council, but an Imperial-Pisan fleet defeated a Papal fleet carrying cardinals and prelates from Genoa in the Battle of Giglio . Frederick approached Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Gregory died. Frederick withdrew his forces and freed two cardinals he had jailed in Capua. However, Frederick marched again against Rome throughout 1242 and 1243. A new pope – Innocent IV –
7785-401: The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages . During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalry between these two parties dominated political life across medieval Italy . The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire arose with the Investiture Controversy , which began in 1075 and ended with
7958-420: The Reconquista . In the late 9th century under Count Wilfred , Barcelona became the de facto capital of the region. It controlled the other counties' policies in a union, which led in 948 to the independence of Barcelona under Count Borrel II , who declared that the new dynasty in France (the Capets ) were not the legitimate rulers of France nor, as a result, of his county. These states were small and, with
8131-400: The Romanesque style by combining flying buttresses , gothic (or pointed) arches and ribbed vaults . It was influenced by the spiritual background of the time, being religious in essence: thin horizontal lines and grates made the building strive towards the sky. Architecture was made to appear light and weightless, as opposed to the dark and bulky forms of the previous Romanesque style . It
8304-443: The Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione . He was followed by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck , Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , André de Longjumeau , Odoric of Pordenone , Giovanni de' Marignolli , Giovanni di Monte Corvino , and other travellers such as Niccolò de' Conti . Philosophical and scientific teaching of
8477-421: The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229) while excommunicated. While Frederick was in the Crusader states , this division developed there, and his regent in Italy fought a war with the Pope. That war was ended and the excommunication was lifted in 1230, but the hostility continued. In 1237, Frederick entered Italy with a large army, intending to subdue the defiant cities of the Lombard League . Pope Gregory tried to broker
8650-424: The Strait of Gibraltar , engaging a Visigothic force led by King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete (July 19–26) in a moment of severe in-fighting and division across the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania . Many of Roderic's troops deserted, leading to his defeat. He drowned while crossing the Guadalquivir River . After Roderic's defeat, the Umayyad governor of Ifrikiya Musa ibn-Nusayr joined Tariq, directing
8823-451: The Umayyad Caliphate , removed many of the successful Muslim commanders. Tariq ibn Ziyad was recalled to Damascus and replaced with Musa ibn-Nusayr, who had been his former superior. Musa's son, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, apparently married Egilona , Roderic 's widow, and established his regional government in Seville . He was suspected of being under the influence of his wife and was accused of wanting to convert to Christianity and of planning
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#17330943445588996-408: The intensive agriculture -prevalent model in Muslim-ruled lands did not require territorial expansion. While Muslim lands enjoyed a certain demographic and financial edge, Almoravids and Almohads from northern Africa featured volatile state structures; barring (unsuccessful) attempts to take Toledo, they did not stand out for carrying out an expansionist policy. In Italy, with the Norman conquest,
9169-410: The muwallad Banu Qasi of Tudela. Although relatively weak until the early 11th century, Pamplona took a more active role after the accession of Sancho the Great (1004–1035). The kingdom expanded greatly under his reign, as it absorbed Castile, Leon, and what was to be Aragon, in addition to other small counties that would unite and become the Principality of Catalonia . This expansion also led to
9342-530: The 11th century but only in small numbers and of local character: in most cases, a rogue priest, or a village returning to pagan traditions. However, beginning in the 11th century, mass-movement heresies appeared. The roots of this can be partially sought in the rise of urban cities, free merchants, and a new money-based economy. The rural values of monasticism held little appeal to urban people who began to form sects more in tune with urban culture. The first large-scale heretical movements in Western Europe originated in
9515-419: The 11th century, bred the religious ideology of a Christian reconquest. In the years just before the Council of Clermont took place, Spanish kings used religious differences as a reason to fight against Muslims, although this argument was not extensively used beforehand. In al-Andalus at that time, the Christian states were confronted by the Almoravids , and to an even greater degree, they were confronted by
9688-412: The 12th century, the Cluny monks promoted ethical warfare and inspired the formation of orders of chivalry , such as the Templar Knights . Inherited titles of nobility were established during this period. In 13th-century Germany, knighthood became another inheritable title, although one of the less prestigious, and the trend spread to other countries. The East–West Schism of 1054 formally separated
9861-420: The 13th century had a great impact on the east of Europe , as many countries of the region were invaded, pillaged, conquered or vassalized. During the first half of this period ( c. 1025 —1185), Byzantine Empire dominated the Southeast Europe , and under the Komnenian emperors there was a revival of prosperity and urbanization; however, their domination of Southeast Europe was coming to an end with
10034-423: The 13th century, in 1270, Ghibellines Oberto Spinola and Oberto Doria revolted against the Guelphs and established a separate government which lasted a couple of decades. Guelph families fled to their strongholds east (Fieschi) and west (Grimaldi). They were forced to cease their resistance after several military campaigns: they were again accepted in the city's political life, after paying war expenses. After
10207-404: The 14th century with the creation of a new situation, where the State and the laity began to withdraw from any ecclesiastical interference. At the beginning of the 13th century, Philip of Swabia , a Hohenstaufen, and Otto of Brunswick , a Welf, were rivals for the imperial throne . Philip was supported by the Ghibellines as a son of Frederick I, while Otto was supported by the Guelphs. Although
10380-434: The 14th century, with remnants lasting until the mid 15th century. In the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began a more intensive settlement, targeting "new" lands, some areas of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Western Roman Empire . In what historian Charles Higounet called the "great clearances", Europeans cleared and cultivated some of the vast forests and marshes that lay across much of
10553-441: The 15th century, the Guelphs supported Charles VIII of France during his invasion of Italy at the start of the Italian Wars , while the Ghibellines were supporters of the emperor Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor . Cities and families used the names until Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , consolidated the imperial power over Italy in 1529. In the course of the Italian Wars of 1494 to 1559, the political landscape changed radically and
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#173309434455810726-421: The 19th century, traditional historiography has used the term Reconquista for what was earlier thought of as a restoration of the Visigothic Kingdom over conquered territories. The concept of Reconquista , consolidated in Spanish historiography in the second half of the 19th century, was associated with the development of a Spanish national identity, emphasizing Spanish nationalist and romantic aspects. It
10899-425: The 19th century, associated with the development of a Centralist, Castilian, and staunchly Catholic brand of nationalism, evoking nationalistic, romantic and sometimes colonialist themes. The concept gained further track in the 20th century during the Francoist dictatorship . It thus became one of the key tenets of the historiographical discourse of National Catholicism , the mythological and ideological identity of
11072-548: The 19th century. That trend faltered during the Late Middle Ages because of a series of calamities , most notably the Black Death , but also numerous wars as well as economic stagnation. From around 780, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance stimulated scientific and philosophical activity in Northern Europe. The first universities started operating in Bologna , Oxford , Paris , Salamanca , Cambridge and Modena . The Vikings settled in
11245-412: The Arab chronicles. Further expansion of the northwestern kingdom towards the south occurred during the reign of Alfonso II of Asturias (from 791 to 842). A king's expedition arrived in and pillaged Lisbon in 798, probably concerted with the Carolingians. The Asturian kingdom became firmly established with the recognition of Alfonso II as king of Asturias by Charlemagne and the Pope. During his reign,
11418-410: The Arab-Berber strongholds of the Meseta, Alfonso I of Asturias centred on expanding his domains at the expense of the neighbouring Galicians and Basques at either side of his realm just as much. During the first decades, Asturian control over part of the kingdom was weak, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances and war with other peoples from the north of
11591-489: The Berber-Arab armies until 720. After the Islamic Moorish conquest of most of the Iberian Peninsula in 711–718 and the establishment of the emirate of al-Andalus, an Umayyad expedition suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse and was halted for a while on its way north. Odo of Aquitaine had married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa , a rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya , in an attempt to secure his southern borders in order to fend off Charles Martel 's attacks on
11764-473: The British Isles, France and elsewhere, and Norse Christian kingdoms started developing in their Scandinavian homelands. The Magyars ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary had become a recognized state in Central Europe that was forming alliances with regional powers. With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, major nomadic incursions ceased. The powerful Byzantine Empire of
11937-421: The Captain-General Andrea Claudio Galluzzo under the custody of Consul Luciano Artusi. The Mayor of Florence established the headquarters of the reborn Guelph Party in the historic Palazzo di Parte Guelfa in the city. Some individuals and families indicated their faction affiliation in their coats of arms by including an appropriate heraldic "chief" (a horizontal band at the top of the shield). Guelphs had
12110-463: The Catholic Monarchs. In the late 10th century, the Umayyad vizier Almanzor waged a series of military campaigns for 30 years in order to subjugate the northern Christian kingdoms. When the Caliphate of Córdoba disintegrated in the early 11th century, a series of petty successor states known as taifas emerged. The northern kingdoms took advantage of this situation and struck deep into al-Andalus ; they fostered civil war, intimidated
12283-432: The Christian church into two parts: Roman Catholicism in Western Europe and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east. It occurred when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, mainly over disagreement over the filioque , an addition to the creed concerning the origin of the Holy Spirit, as well as disputes as to the existence of papal authority over the four Eastern patriarchs , use of unleavened bread in
12456-581: The Church as his ally and appointing counts of Frankish or Burgundian stock, like his loyal William of Gellone , making Toulouse his base for expeditions against al-Andalus. Charlemagne decided to organize a regional subkingdom, the Spanish March , which included part of contemporary Catalonia , in order to keep the Aquitanians in check and to secure the southern border of the Carolingian Empire against Muslim incursions. In 781, his three-year-old son Louis
12629-503: The Diet of Paderborn in 777. These rulers of Zaragoza , Girona , Barcelona , and Huesca were enemies of Abd ar-Rahman I, and in return for Frankish military aid against him offered their homage and allegiance. Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity, agreed upon an expedition and crossed the Pyrenees in 778. Near the city of Zaragoza Charlemagne received the homage of Sulayman al-Arabi . However
12802-655: The Fair (Philippine le Bel) had the entire order arrested in France and dismantled on charges of alleged heresy. The Knights Hospitaller were originally a Christian organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor, sick, or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land . After Jerusalem was taken in the First Crusade, it became a religious / military order that was charged with
12975-646: The Florentine Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti (1260). After the Hohenstaufen dynasty lost the Empire when Charles I executed Conradin in 1268, the terms Guelph and Ghibelline became associated with individual families and cities, rather than with the conflict between empire and papacy. The stronghold of Italian Ghibellines was the city of Forlì , in Romagna . That city remained with the Ghibelline factions, partly as
13148-575: The Franks in 797, as its governor Zeid rebelled against the Umayyad emir of Córdoba. An army of the emir managed to recapture it in 799, but Louis, at the head of an army, crossed the Pyrenees and besieged the city for seven months until it finally capitulated in 801. The main passes in the Pyrenees were Roncesvalles , Somport and La Jonquera . Charlemagne established across them the vassal regions of Pamplona , Aragon , and Catalonia respectively. Catalonia
13321-603: The French. During the French-dominated Avignon Papacy , Pope John XXII , who supported the French-allied King John of Bohemia , excommunicated John's rival Emperor Louis IV in 1324 and threatened heresy charges against the Ghibellines. The Ghibellines then supported Louis' invasion of Italy and coronation as King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. In Milan , the Guelphs and Ghibellines cooperated in
13494-501: The Great, around 1038). Subsequent kings titled themselves kings of Galicia and Leon, instead of merely king of Leon as the two were in a personal union . At the end of the 11th century, King Afonso VI of León reached the Tagus (1085), repeating the same policy of alliances and developing collaboration with Frankish knights. The original repoblación was then complete. His aim was to create
13667-565: The Guelphs initially succeeded in getting Otto crowned as Emperor, Otto turned against the Papacy, was excommunicated, and was replaced with Philip's heir Emperor Frederick II . Frederick II was an enemy of both Otto and the papacy, and during Frederick's reign, the Guelphs became more strictly associated with the papacy while the Ghibellines became supporters of the Empire and Frederick in particular. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick II in 1227 for failing to go on Crusade, then again for going on
13840-400: The Guelphs were square. During the 12th and 13th centuries, armies of the Ghibelline communes usually adopted the war banner of the Holy Roman Empire – white cross on a red field – as their own. Guelph armies usually reversed the colors – red cross on white. These two schemes are prevalent in the civic heraldry of northern Italian towns and remain
14013-484: The High Middle Ages include the rapidly increasing population of Europe, which brought about great social and political change from the preceding era, and the Renaissance of the 12th century , including the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization . By 1350, the robust population increase had greatly benefited the European economy, which had reached levels that would not be seen again in some areas until
14186-558: The High Middle Ages, the idea of a Christian warrior started to change as Christianity grew more prominent in Medieval Europe. The Codes of Chivalry promoted the ideal knight to be selfless, faithful, and fierce against those who threaten the weak. Household heavy cavalry ( knights ) became common in the 11th century across Europe, and tournaments were invented. Tournaments allowed knights to establish their family name while being able to gather vast wealth and renown through victories. In
14359-627: The Hohenstaufen Conrad III was elected, while Lothair's heir, Henry the Proud , of the House of Welf , continued fighting. Guelph (often spelled Guelf ; in Italian Guelfo , plural Guelfi ) is an Italian form of the name of the House of Welf , the family of the dukes of Bavaria (including the namesake Duke Welf II of Bavaria , as well as Henry the Lion ). The Welfs were said to have used
14532-572: The Holy Lands, the order moved to Transylvania in 1211 and later, after being expelled, invaded pagan Prussia with the intention of Christianizing the Baltic region . Yet, both before and after the Order's main pagan opponent, Lithuania , converted to Christianity, the Order had already attacked other Christian nations such as Novgorod and Poland . The Teutonic Knights' power hold, which became considerable,
14705-527: The Iberian Saracens ( Moors ), and centuries later introduced in the French school system with a view to instilling moral and national values in the population following the 1870 defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War , regardless of the actual events. The consolidation of the modern idea of a " Reconquista " is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in
14878-510: The Iberian Peninsula. After Pelayo's death in 737, his son Favila of Asturias was elected king. Favila, according to the chronicles, was killed by a bear during a trial of courage. Pelayo's dynasty in Asturias survived and gradually expanded the kingdom's boundaries until all of northwest Hispania was included by roughly 775. However, credit is due to him and to his successors, the Banu Alfons from
15051-639: The Islamic world in Spain and Sicily during the Reconquista , and the Byzantine world and Muslim Levant during the Crusades , allowed Europeans access to scientific Arabic and Greek texts, including the works of Aristotle , Alhazen , and Averroes . The European universities aided materially in the translation and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. At
15224-462: The Middle Ages. Around 788 Abd ar-Rahman I died and was succeeded by Hisham I . In 792 Hisham proclaimed a jihad , advancing in 793 against the Kingdom of Asturias and Carolingian Septimania (Gothia) . They defeated William of Gellone, Count of Toulouse, in battle, but William led an expedition the following year across the eastern Pyrenees. Barcelona , a major city, became a potential target for
15397-533: The Muslim conquerors was the ethnic tension between Berbers and Arabs. The Berbers were indigenous inhabitants of North Africa who had only recently converted to Islam; they provided most of the soldiery of the invading Islamic armies but sensed Arab discrimination against them. This latent internal conflict jeopardised Umayyad unity. The Umayyad forces arrived and crossed the Pyrenees by 719. The last Visigothic king Ardo resisted them in Septimania, where he fended off
15570-570: The Platonist-Augustinian belief that the mind is an immaterial substance. The most famous of the scholastics was Thomas Aquinas (later declared a " Doctor of the Church "), who led the move away from the Platonic and Augustinian and towards Aristotelianism. Aquinas developed a philosophy of mind by writing that the mind was at birth a tabula rasa ("blank slate") that was given the ability to think and recognize forms or ideas through
15743-579: The Polish city of Gdańsk (Danzig), as well as Königsberg, capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In Bergen , Norway and Veliky Novgorod , Russia the league had factories and middlemen. In this period the Germans started colonising Europe beyond the Empire, into Prussia and Silesia . In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel
15916-567: The Pope so as not to be confused with actual heretical movements such as the Waldensians . Catharism was a movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church as heretical . It existed throughout much of Western Europe , but its origination was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France. The name Cathar stems from Greek katharos , "pure". One of
16089-554: The Tuscan Guelphs finally defeated the Ghibellines in 1289 at the Battle of Campaldino and at Vicopisano , the Guelphs began infighting. By 1300, the Florentine Guelphs had divided into the Black and White Guelphs. The Blacks continued to support the Papacy, while the Whites were opposed to Papal influence, specifically the influence of Pope Boniface VIII . Dante was among the supporters of
16262-471: The Tyrant of Verona, laid siege to the city. The imperial camp was ambushed by the Guelphs and in the ensuing Battle of Parma the imperial party was routed, losing much of their treasury. Frederick retreated and gathered another army, but the resistance of Parma encouraged other cities to rebel, and Frederick was powerless to do anything. The Ghibellines were eventually defeated in the Battle of Fossalta against
16435-444: The Umayyad armies and defeated them at the Battle of Poitiers in 732, killing Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. While Moorish rule began to recede in what is today France, it would remain in parts of the Iberian peninsula for another 760 years. A drastic increase of taxes on Christians by the emir Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi provoked several rebellions in al-Andalus, which a series of succeeding weak emirs were unable to suppress. Around 722,
16608-477: The Umayyad rulers based in Córdoba were unable to extend their power over the Pyrenees, they decided to consolidate their power within the Iberian peninsula. Arab-Berber forces made periodic incursions deep into Asturias, but this area was a cul-de-sac on the fringes of the Islamic world fraught with inconveniences during campaigns and of little interest. It comes then as no surprise that, besides focusing on raiding
16781-627: The Umayyads nor the Asturians had sufficient forces to secure control over these northern territories. Under the reign of Ramiro , famed for the highly legendary Battle of Clavijo , the border began to slowly move southward and Asturian holdings in Castile , Galicia, and Leon were fortified, and an intensive program of re-population of the countryside began in those territories. In 924 the Kingdom of Asturias became
16954-526: The White Guelphs. In 1302 he was exiled when the Black Guelphs took control of Florence. Those who were not connected to either side or who had no connections to either Guelphs or Ghibellines considered both factions unworthy of support but were still affected by changes of power in their respective cities. Emperor Henry VII was disgusted by supporters of both sides when he visited Italy in 1310. In 1325,
17127-448: The area. Alfonso VI was first and foremost a tactful monarch who chose to understand the kings of taifa and employed unprecedented diplomatic measures to attain political feats before considering the use of force. He adopted the title Imperator totius Hispaniae ("Emperor of all Hispania ", referring to all the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, and not just the modern country of Spain). Alfonso's more aggressive policy towards
17300-532: The army of Bologna. Enzo was captured and imprisoned until his death. Although the Ghibellines started recovering, defeating the Guelphs in the Battle of Cingoli , Frederick by then was ill. By the time he died, his son Conrad IV had reconquered much of his possessions. This brought peace to Italy for a few years. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the Ghibellines were supported by Conrad IV and later King Manfred of Sicily . The Guelphs were supported by Charles I of Naples . The Ghibellines of Siena defeated
17473-452: The battle. After this defeat, Moorish attacks abated until Almanzor began his campaigns. Alfonso V finally regained control over his domains in 1002. Navarre, though attacked by Almanzor, remained intact. The conquest of Leon did not include Galicia which was left to temporary independence after the withdrawal of the Leonese king. Galicia was conquered soon after (by Ferdinand, son of Sancho
17646-448: The beginning of the 13th century there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then, the natural science contained in these texts began to be extended by notable scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste , Roger Bacon , Albertus Magnus and Duns Scotus . Precursors of
17819-594: The bones of St. James the Great were declared to have been found in Galicia, at Santiago de Compostela . Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a channel of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond, centuries later. After the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian heartland of the Visigothic kingdom, the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees and gradually took control of Septimania , starting in 719 with
17992-417: The borderlands in the southern meseta . Agricultural models in areas with Mediterranean climate were generally based on biennial crop rotation . Despite population growth, agricultural output remained relatively rigid throughout the period; between the 10th and 13th centuries, migration southwards to exposed areas was incentivized by the possibility of enjoying privileges and acquiring properties. Conversely,
18165-486: The borders with many castles. At his death in 910 the shift in regional power was completed as the kingdom became the Kingdom of León . From this power base, his heir Ordoño II was able to organize attacks against Toledo and even Seville . The Caliphate of Córdoba was gaining power, and began to attack Leon. King Ordoño allied with Navarre against Abd-al-Rahman, but they were defeated in Valdejunquera in 920. For
18338-508: The care and defence of the Crusader states . After the Holy Lands were eventually taken by Muslim forces, it moved its operations to Rhodes , and later Malta . The Teutonic Knights were a German religious order formed in 1190, in the city of Acre , to aid Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands and to operate hospitals for the sick and injured in Outremer . After Muslim forces captured
18511-565: The case of the Guelphs) or against the temporal power of the Pope (in the case of the Ghibellines). In Florence and elsewhere, the Guelphs usually included merchants and burghers, while the Ghibellines tended to be noblemen. To identify themselves, people adopted distinctive customs such as wearing a feather on a particular side of their hats, or cutting fruit a particular way, according to their affiliation. The conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines
18684-414: The city, under the leadership of Husayn , closed its gates and refused to submit. Unable to conquer the city by force, Charlemagne decided to retreat. On the way home the rearguard of the army was ambushed and destroyed by Basque forces at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass . The Song of Roland , a highly romanticised account of this battle, would later become one of the most famous chansons de geste of
18857-623: The city-states of Guelph Bologna and Ghibelline Modena clashed in the War of the Bucket , resulting in Modena's victory at the Battle of Zappolino , which led to a resurgence of Ghibelline fortunes. In 1334, Pope Benedict XII threatened people who used either the Guelph or Ghibelline name with excommunication . The term Ghibelline continued to indicate allegiance to the declining Imperial authority in Italy, and saw
19030-450: The concept of "Reconquista", a Christian reconquest of the peninsula, appeared in writings by the end of the 9th century. For example, the anonymous Christian chronicle Chronica Prophetica (883–884) claimed a historical connection between the Visigothic Kingdom conquered by the Muslims in 711 and the Kingdom of Asturias in which the document was produced, and stressed a Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Hispania, and
19203-499: The conquest of Narbonne through 725 when Carcassonne and Nîmes were secured. From the stronghold of Narbonne, they tried to conquer Aquitaine but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse (721) . Ten years after halting their advance north, Odo of Aquitaine married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa , a rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya (perhaps all of contemporary Catalonia as well), in an attempt to secure his southern borders to fend off Charles Martel 's attacks on
19376-581: The continent. At the same time, settlers moved beyond the traditional boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers beyond the Elbe River , which tripled the size of Germany in the process. The Catholic Church , which reached the peak of its political power around then, called armies from across Europe to a series of Crusades against the Seljuk Turks . The crusaders occupied the Holy Land and founded
19549-650: The creation of the Golden Ambrosian Republic in 1447. However, over the next few years they engaged in intense disputes. After the initial leadership of the Ghibellines, the Guelphs seized power at the election of the Captains and Defenders of the Liberty of Milan. The Guelph government became increasingly autocratic, leading to a Ghibelline conspiracy led by Giorgio Lampugnino and Teodoro Bossi. It failed, and many Ghibellines were massacred in 1449. Others fled, including
19722-500: The dawn of the Age of Discovery . These inventions were influenced by foreign culture and society. Alfred W. Crosby described some of this technological revolution in The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 and other major historians of technology have also noted it. Art in the High Middle Ages includes these important movements: Gothic architecture superseded
19895-695: The defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man , while Sweden, under Birger Jarl , built up a power-base in the Baltic Sea . However, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240. By
20068-581: The division between Guelphs and Ghibellines became irrelevant. This became evident with the election of Pope Paul V (1605), the first to bear the "Ghibelline" Reichsadler in chief on his Papal coat of arms . On 25 March 2015, the Parte Guelfa was reconstituted as a Christian order and archconfraternity to serve the Catholic Church and the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, guided by
20241-511: The early 10th century when the focus of Asturian power moved from the mountains over to Leon, to become the Kingdom of León or Galicia-Leon. Santiago's were among many saint relics proclaimed to have been found across north-western Hispania. Pilgrims started to flow in from other Iberian Christian realms, sowing the seeds of the later Way of Saint James (11–12th century) that sparked the enthusiasm and religious zeal of continental Christian Europe for centuries. Despite numerous battles, neither
20414-407: The exception of Navarre, did not have the capacity for attacking the Muslims in the way that Asturias did, but their mountainous geography rendered them relatively safe from being conquered, and their borders remained stable for two centuries. The northern principalities and kingdoms survived in their mountainous strongholds (see above). However, they started a definite territorial expansion south at
20587-476: The first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelagius's daughter, was married to Alfonso , Dux Peter of Cantabria 's son. Alfonso's son Fruela married Munia, a Basque from Álava , after crushing
20760-421: The first great and powerful state was formed, the Kingdom of Sicily with hereditary monarchy. Subsequently joined to the Holy Roman Empire, it had its moment of maximum splendor with the emperor Frederick II . In the rest of Italy, independent city states grew affluent on Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade. These were in particular the thalassocracies of Pisa , Amalfi , Genoa and Venice , which played
20933-448: The first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau who wrote on heretics from Cologne in 1181: "Hos nostra Germania catharos appellat." ([In] our Germany [one] calls these [people] "Cathars".) The Cathars are also called Albigensians . This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the southern town of Albi (the ancient Albiga). The designation
21106-563: The former capital of the Visigoths, was a very important landmark, and the conquest made Alfonso renowned throughout the Christian world . However, this "conquest" was conducted rather gradually, and mostly peacefully, during the course of several decades. However, Toledo was not fully secured and integrated into Alfonso's kingdom until after a period of gradual resettlement and consolidation, during which Christian settlers were encouraged to move into
21279-541: The garrison massacred. The Pope made another treaty but he immediately broke it and continued to back the Guelphs. The Pope supported Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia as King of the Romans and soon plotted to have Frederick killed. After an attempted assassination failed, the pope fled to Liguria . Soon the tide turned against the imperial party. The Lombard city of Parma rebelled. Enzo – who had not been present – asked his father for help. Frederick and Ezzelino III da Romano ,
21452-526: The heirs of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom were not technically re conquering them, as the name suggests. One of the first Spanish intellectuals to question the idea of a "reconquest" that lasted for eight centuries was José Ortega y Gasset , writing in the first half of the 20th century. However, the term Reconquista is still widely in use. In 711, North African Berber soldiers with some Arabs commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed
21625-592: The hostile Seljuk Turks . Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated vast lands spanning from present-day southern Russia on the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea . Georgia remained a leading regional power until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death. In the High Middle Ages, Hungary became one of
21798-463: The house of Hohenstaufen , who were allied with and related to the old dynasty. Out of fear of the Hohenstaufen, Lothair III placed himself under the pope's protection. To this end, he ceded all Imperial rights to the pope under Henry V's Concordat of Worms . War then broke out in Germany between those who supported the Hohenstaufen, and those who were aligned to Lothair and the pope. Upon Lothair's death,
21971-467: The imperial party, while the Guelphs supported the pope. Cities more directly threatened by the enlargement of the Papal States tended to align with the Ghibelline faction, while the cities that wanted more autonomy from the Empire tended to belong to the Guelph faction. The clash between the municipalities of Northern Italy and imperial power originated in the struggle for investitures . The Guelph Lombard League defeated Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at
22144-454: The indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy . The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures, Galicians, Cantabri, Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society, laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Asturias and starting the Astur-Leonese dynasty that spanned from 718 to 1037 and led the initial efforts in the Iberian peninsula to take back
22317-594: The kings of Pamplona and the Carolingians , thereby gaining official recognition for his kingdom and his crown from the Pope and Charlemagne . The bones of St. James the Great were proclaimed to have been found in Iria Flavia (present day Padrón ) in 813 or probably two or three decades later. The cult of the saint was transferred later to Compostela (from Latin campus stellae , literally "the star field"), possibly in
22490-413: The largest states in Europe. In the mid-10th century Poland emerged as a duchy after Mieszko I , the ruler of the Polans , conquered the surrounding Lechitic tribes in the region. Then in 1025 under the rule of Bolesław I the Brave , Poland became a kingdom. The High Middle Ages saw the height and decline of the Slavic state of Kievan Rus' and emergence of Cumania . Later, the Mongol invasion in
22663-606: The level of the French and British epics, producing the Nibelungenlied . There was also a quantity of poetry and historical writings which were written during this period, such as Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth . Guelf The Guelphs and Ghibellines ( / ˈ ɡ w ɛ l f s ... ˈ ɡ ɪ b ɪ l aɪ n z / GWELFS ... GHIB -il-ynze , US also /- l iː n z , - l ɪ n z / -eenz, -inz ; Italian : guelfi e ghibellini [ˈɡwɛlfi e ɡibelˈliːni, -fj e -] ) were factions supporting respectively
22836-431: The liturgy, and fasting days. The Catholic Crusades occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were conducted under papal authority, initially with the intent of reestablishing Christian rule in The Holy Land by taking the area from the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate . The Fatimids had captured Palestine in AD 970, lost it to the Seljuk Turks in 1073 and recaptured it in 1098, just before they lost it again in 1099 as
23009-431: The middle of the thirteenth century when the Portuguese Reconquista was also brought to an end with the ultimate conquering of Gharb al-Andalus when in March 1249 the city of Faro was conquered by Afonso III of Portugal . Ferdinand I of Leon was the leading king of the mid-11th century. He conquered Coimbra and attacked the taifa kingdoms, often demanding the tributes known as parias . Ferdinand's strategy
23182-412: The modern scientific method can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his Opus Majus . During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. In less than
23355-423: The most famous sacral building of the time: Notre Dame de Paris . A variety of cultures influenced the literature of the High Middle Ages, one of the strongest among them being Christianity. The connection to Christianity was greatest in Latin literature , which influenced the vernacular languages in the literary cycle of the Matter of Rome . Other literary cycles, or interrelated groups of stories, included
23528-445: The most powerful medieval states in Europe. The Christian Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 under King Saint Stephen I of Hungary , and ruled by the Árpád dynasty for the following centuries. King Saint Ladislaus completed the work of King Saint Stephen . He consolidated the Hungarian state power and strengthened the influence of Christianity . His charismatic personality, strategic leadership and military talents resulted
23701-406: The name as a rallying cry during the Siege of Weinsberg in 1140, in which the rival Hohenstaufens (led by Conrad III) used "Wibellingen" (the name of a castle today known as Waiblingen , as their cry; "Wibellingen" subsequently became Ghibellino in Italian). Thus, the Hohenstaufen faction became known as the Ghibellines and the Welfs eventually became known as the Guelphs. The Ghibellines were
23874-429: The newly urbanized areas such as southern France and northern Italy and were probably influenced by the Bogomils and other dualist movements . These heresies were on a scale the Catholic Church had never seen before and as such the response was one of elimination for some (such as the Cathars ). Some Catholic monastic leaders, such as Francis of Assisi , the founder of the Franciscans , had to be recognized directly by
24047-442: The next 80 years, the Kingdom of León suffered civil wars, Moorish attack, internal intrigues and assassinations, and the partial independence of Galicia and Castile, thus delaying the reconquest and weakening the Christian forces. It was not until the following century that the Christians started to see their conquests as part of a long-term effort to restore the unity of the Visigothic kingdom. The only point during this period when
24220-582: The north of the Iberian Peninsula. It was the first Christian power to emerge. The kingdom was established by a Visigothic nobleman, named Pelagius ( Pelayo ), who had possibly returned after the Battle of Guadalete in 711 and was elected leader of the Asturians, and the remnants of the gens Gothorum (the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy and the Hispano-Visigothic population who took refuge in the North). Historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says an unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with
24393-454: The north-western Andalusian districts. He was also opposed externally by the Abbasids of Baghdad who failed in their attempts to overthrow him. In 778, Abd al-Rahman closed in on the Ebro valley. Regional lords saw the Umayyad emir at the gates and decided to enlist the nearby Christian Franks. According to Ali ibn al-Athir , a Kurdish historian of the 12th century, Charlemagne received the envoys of Sulayman al-Arabi , Husayn, and Abu Taur at
24566-444: The north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi , the latest emir of al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman, and the Muslim governor mustered an expedition north across the western Pyrenees, looted areas up to Bordeaux, and defeated Odo in the Battle of the River Garonne in 732. A desperate Odo turned to his archrival Charles Martel for help, who led the Frankish and remaining Aquitanian armies against
24739-417: The north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi , the latest emir of al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman. After expelling the Muslims from Narbonne in 759 and driving their forces back over the Pyrenees, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short conquered Aquitaine in a ruthless eight-year war. Charlemagne followed his father by subduing Aquitaine by creating counties, taking
24912-420: The period from the 10th century to about the 14th century in Europe, was a relatively warm and gentle interval ended by the generally colder Little Ice Age which would continue until the Middle of the 19th century. Farmers grew wheat well north into Scandinavia, and wine grapes in northern England, although the maximum expansion of vineyards appeared to occur within the Little Ice Age period. During this time,
25085-411: The period to expand Scholasticism , a combination of Judeo-Islamic and Catholic ideologies with the ancient philosophy. For much of this period, Constantinople remained Europe's most populous city, and Byzantine art reached a peak in the 12th century . In architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed around this period. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages began at
25258-441: The plunder he gained further military forces could be paid, enabling him to raid the Muslim cities of Lisbon , Zamora , and Coimbra . Alfonso I also expanded his realm westwards conquering Galicia . During the reign of King Alfonso II (791–842), the kingdom was firmly established, and a series of Muslim raids caused the transfer of the Asturian capital to Oviedo . The king is believed to have initiated diplomatic contacts with
25431-485: The prominent Ghibelline Vitaliano I Borromeo , who was sheltered in his County of Arona . Public opinion turned against the Guelphs. In the next elections the Ghibellines were briefly victorious, but were deposed after imprisoning Guelph leaders Giovanni Appiani and Giovanni Ossona. After Francesco I Sforza was made Duke by Milan's senate in 1450, many Ghibellines who had fled such as Filippo Borromeo and Luisino Bossi were restored to positions of prominence in Milan. In
25604-496: The reclamation of lands that had been lost to the Moors in generations past. In this way, state-building might be characterised—at least in ideological, if not practical, terms—as a process by which Iberian states were being "rebuilt". In turn, other recent historians dispute the whole concept of " Reconquista " as a concept created a posteriori in the service of later political goals. A few historians point out that Spain and Portugal did not previously exist as nations, and therefore
25777-412: The regime. The discourse was underpinned in its most traditional version by an avowed historical illegitimacy of al-Andalus and the subsequent glorification of the Christian conquest. The idea of a "liberation war" of reconquest against the Muslims, who were viewed as foreigners, suited the anti-Republican rebels during the Spanish Civil War , the rebels agitated for the banner of a Spanish fatherland,
25950-401: The reign of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain . The beginning of the Reconquista is traditionally dated to the Battle of Covadonga ( c. 718 or 722), in which an Asturian army achieved the first Christian victory over the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate since the beginning of the military invasion. The Reconquista ended in 1492 with the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to
26123-426: The restoration of the Visigothic nation in order to vindicate the expansion to the south. However, such claims have been overall dismissed by modern historiography, emphasizing the distinct, autochthonous nature of the Cantabro-Asturian and Vasconic domains with no continuation to the Gothic Kingdom of Toledo. Pelagius's kingdom initially was little more than a gathering point for the existing guerrilla forces. During
26296-415: The rise of ethnocentrism , which evolved later into modern national identities in most of Europe, the ascent of the great Italian city-states and the rise and fall of the Islamic civilization of Al-Andalus . The rediscovery of the works of Aristotle , at first indirectly through medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy , led Maimonides , Ibn Sina , Ibn Rushd , Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of
26469-457: The rule of independent native princes until the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282. The Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I , and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy , King John signed the Magna Carta into law, limiting the power of English monarchs . A key geo-strategic development in the Iberian Peninsula was the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085. Dominated by war,
26642-438: The situation became hopeful for Leon was the reign of Ramiro II . King Ramiro, in alliance with Fernán González of Castile and his retinue of caballeros villanos , defeated the Caliph in Simancas in 939. After this battle, when the Caliph barely escaped with his guard and the rest of the army was destroyed, King Ramiro obtained 12 years of peace, but he had to give González the independence of Castile as payment for his help in
26815-446: The societal structures and relations in the northern Christian kingdoms were subordinated to the demands of omnipresent military conflict. The territorial expansion of the northern Christian kingdoms to the south brought the creation of border societies, where military demands on knights and foot soldiers and the promotion of settlement were prioritized over potential seigneurial income; military orders also played an important role in
26988-475: The start of the 14th century and marked the end of the period. In England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland in 1169 and soon established themselves in most of the country, although their stronghold was the southeast. Likewise, Scotland and Wales were subdued into vassal states at about the same time, though Scotland later asserted its independence and Wales remained largely under
27161-453: The taifas worried the rulers of those kingdoms, who called on the African Almoravids for help. The Kingdom of Pamplona primarily extended along either side of the Pyrenees on the Atlantic Ocean. The kingdom was formed when local leader Íñigo Arista led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority and was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824), establishing a kingdom inextricably linked at this stage to their kinsmen,
27334-415: The termination of internal power struggles and foreign military threats. The Kingdom of Hungary expanded to the Adriatic coast and entered a personal union with Croatia in 1102, by establish other vassal states , Hungary became a small empire that extended its control over the Southeast Europe and the Carpathian region. The Hungarian royal Árpád dynasty gave the world the most saints and blessed from
27507-406: The territories then ruled by the Moors. Although the new dynasty first ruled in the mountains of Asturias, with the capital of the kingdom established initially in Cangas de Onís , and was in its dawn mostly concerned with securing the territory and settling the monarchy, the latest kings (particularly Alfonso III of Asturias ) emphasised the nature of the new kingdom as heir of that in Toledo and
27680-404: The time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. France pushed to the west. The Angevin Empire controlled much of France in the 12th century and early 13th century until the French retook much of their previous territory. By the time of the High Middle Ages,
27853-415: The turn of the 10th century (Leon, Najera). The fall of the Caliphate of Cordova (1031) heralded a period of military expansion for the northern kingdoms, now divided into several mighty regional powers after the division of the Kingdom of Navarre (1035). Myriad autonomous Christian kingdoms emerged thereafter. The Kingdom of Asturias was located in the Cantabrian Mountains , a wet and mountainous region in
28026-420: The weakened taifas , and made them pay large tributes ( parias ) for "protection". In the 12th century, the Reconquista was above all a political action to develop the kingdoms of Portugal , León-Castile and Aragon . The king's action took precedence over that of the local lords, with the help of the military orders and also supported by repopulation . Following a Muslim resurgence under
28199-541: The word. He rejected the practice of selling indulgences ( simony ), as well as the common saint cult practices of the day. Waldensians are considered a forerunner to the Protestant Reformation , and they melted into Protestantism with the outbreak of the Reformation and became a part of the wider Reformed tradition after the views of John Calvin and his theological successors in Geneva proved very similar to their own theological thought. Waldensian churches still exist, located on several continents. In Northern Europe,
28372-471: Was also expressed by the relatively large size of these buildings. A gothic cathedral therefore not only invited the visitors to elevate themselves spiritually, it was also meant to demonstrate the greatness of God. The floor plan of a gothic cathedral corresponded to the rules of scholasticism: According to Erwin Panofsky 's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism , the plan was divided into sections and uniform subsections. These characteristics are exhibited by
28545-859: Was broken in 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald , where the Order suffered a devastating defeat against a joint Polish-Lithuanian army. After Grunwald, the Order declined in power until 1809 when it was officially dissolved. There were ten crusades in total. The new Christian method of learning was influenced by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) from the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle , at first indirectly through Medieval Jewish and Muslim Philosophy ( Maimonides , Avicenna , and Averroes ) and then through Aristotle 's own works brought back from Byzantine and Muslim libraries; and those whom he influenced, most notably Albertus Magnus , Bonaventure and Abélard . Many scholastics believed in empiricism and supporting Roman Catholic doctrines through secular study, reason, and logic. They opposed Christian mysticism , and
28718-409: Was circulated during the Spanish Civil War by the Republicans , who wanted to portray their enemies as foreign invaders, especially given the prominence of the Army of Africa among Franco's troops, an army which was made up of native North African soldiers. Some contemporary authors consider the " Reconquista " proof that the process of Christian state-building in Iberia was frequently defined by
28891-506: Was commonly thought that light was an expression of God; therefore, architectural techniques were adapted and developed to build churches that reflected this teaching. Colorful glass windows enhanced the spirit of lightness. As color was much rarer at medieval times than today, it can be assumed that these virtuoso works of art had an awe-inspiring impact on the common man from the street. High-rising intricate ribbed, and later fan vaultings demonstrated movement toward heaven. Veneration of God
29064-449: Was crowned king of Aquitaine , under the supervision of Charlemagne's trustee William of Gellone, and was nominally in charge of the incipient Spanish March. Meanwhile, the takeover of the southern fringes of al-Andalus by Abd ar-Rahman I in 756 was opposed by Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman , autonomous governor ( wāli ) or king ( malik ) of al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman I expelled Yusuf from Cordova, but it took still decades for him to expand to
29237-451: Was elected. At first, Frederick was pleased with the election since Innocent had relatives in the Imperial camp. However, the new Pope immediately turned against Frederick. When the City of Viterbo rebelled, the Pope backed the Guelphs. and Frederick immediately marched to Italy and besieged Viterbo . The pope signed a peace treaty with the emperor, relieving the city. After the Emperor left, Cardinal Raniero Capocci , leader of Viterbo, had
29410-410: Was important in the Republic of Genoa , where the former were called rampini ("grappling hooks") and the latter mascherati ("masked"), although the origin of these terms is not clear. Local families like Fieschi and Grimaldi usually sided with the Guelph party, in conflict with the Doria and some branches of the Spinola families. While Genoa was often under Guelph rule in the early years of
29583-418: Was itself formed from a number of small counties , including Pallars , Girona , and Urgell ; it was called the Marca Hispanica by the late 8th century. They protected the eastern Pyrenees passes and shores and were under the direct control of the Frankish kings. Pamplona's first king was Iñigo Arista , who allied with his Muslim kinsmen the Banu Qasi and rebelled against Frankish overlordship and overcame
29756-399: Was killed in the siege of Zamora by the traitor Bellido Dolfos (also known as Vellido Adolfo) in 1072. His brother Alfonso VI took over Leon, Castile and Galicia. Alfonso VI the Brave gave more power to the fueros and repopulated Segovia , Ávila and Salamanca . Once he had secured the Borders, King Alfonso conquered the powerful Taifa kingdom of Toledo in 1085. Toledo , which was
29929-445: Was to continue to demand parias until the taifa was greatly weakened both militarily and financially. He also repopulated the Borders with numerous fueros . Following the Navarrese tradition, on his death in 1064 he divided his kingdom between his sons. His son Sancho II of Castile wanted to reunite the kingdom of his father and attacked his brothers, with a young noble at his side: Rodrigo Díaz, later known as El Cid Campeador . Sancho
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