As a glance at the map on the next page will show, this century was the acme of Latin Christendom. The Church had become a feudal and hierarachial structure headed by an all-powerful pope and dedicated to self protection and infinite continuity. The recovery of the Church from some of its past indiscretions was furthered by the progress of the Cistercian order which had been founded in the previous century. As a result of the enthusiasm of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, there were 500 houses of that order by the year 1200. Many special ecclesiastical doctrines had been expounded and one of the most onerous of these was the condemnation of interest, because it proved a great obstacle to the development of banking. Durant (Ref. 49) lists three bases for this condemnation of interest, as follows:
Aristotle's condemnation as it was something "unnatural"
Christ's condemnation of interest
Reaction of the Fathers of the Church against commercialism and usury in Rome
In spite of this, many means of subterfuge were found to obtain a return on money through "rents" and other devices. Until the middle of this 12th century the main course of land credit was mortgage loans supplied by monasteries. The first Lateran Council of 1123 forbade the marriage of priests and the practice of simony.
The writings of Abilard, the cleric who sought to embrace the most mystic doctrines of the Church with the grasp of reason, may have signaled the end of the "Dark Ages". This was also the time of the 2nd and 3rd Crusades. The former (1146 to 1148) was instigated by St. Bernard and led by the German Emperor Conrad III and the French Louis VII, who had between them about 500,000 men. They took separate routes and the Crusade ended in catastrophe and collapsed, only to be followed by the 3rd Crusade from 1189 to 1192. This one was led by Philip Augusta of France and Richard I, the Lion-Hearted of England and was composed chiefly of Norman troops, although Frederick I of Germany helped some. The city of Acre was conquered from the Turk Saladin, but after many battles this Crusade, like the previous one, ultimately met defeat. In the desert beyond Antioch, famine, plague and desertions reduced their numbers from 100,000 to 5,000. About 1130 a doctrinal heresy, Manichaeism, was imported to Europe from the Middle East and took root in southern France. (Ref. 68, 49, 8, 222) (See map on page 603)
NOTE: Insert Map 43: European Civilization in the Middle Ages
After the death of the Seljuq Sultan Sin jar, eastern Islam disintegrated into independent principalities of petty dynasties and warring kings. The strongest Moslem province was now Egypt, headed by the great Saladin. Additional Notes
At the third Lateran Council of Christ, the Christian Church adopted an increasingly hostile attitude toward Jewry and the wandering friars stirred the passions of the populace, so that the position of Jews in Europe deteriorated. They now began a gradual trek east from Germany into Poland, Lithuania and Russia and the general region of the eastern Danube, carrying with them their German dialect known as "Yiddish". This trek was to last for 4 centuries. France banished Jews in 1182. (Ref. 8, 222)
Islam, inheriting a lengthy Middle East tradition of long-distance trade, encouraged this throughout its existence and particularly in the 11th and 12th centuries. The endless sea voyages, the regular caravans indicated an organized capitalism predating any such activity in the Christian West. In Islam, the religion and the economy did not confront each other. (Ref. 292)
Back to Africa: A.D. 1001 to 1100
This was a period of building in the Lasta Kingdom of Ethiopia, with imported Egyptian artisans and materials for church construction. One of the greatest of the Lasta Zagwe kings was Lalibela, who came to power in 1195. Ethiopian records of this era were not kept indefinitely because later dominant dynasties considered the Zagwe an "usurping" one. (Ref. 270) The cathedral built about A.D. 700 in Qasr Ibrim, Nubia, was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but after a raid in 1172-1173 by Shams ed-Dowla, brother of Saladin, it was converted into a mosque. Its ruins remain today as a small island in Lake Nasser. (Ref. 271)
The death throes of the Fatimid caliphate came about not by Christian Crusaders but by the expansion of Nureddin and his Zangid Sultanate from Syria. Nureddin continued to live at Mosul and let Egypt be ruled by a Kurdish general, Saladin, who then proceeded to set up his own Ayyubid Dynasty in 1174. Islam glorified in the integrity and justice of his rule and even Christendom acknowledged him as a gentleman and scholar, even though a foe. At his death in 1193 his realm again became divided. (Ref. 137, 83)
The Norman, Roger of Sicily, annexed the Zirid Emirate of Tunisia about 1153, but as Saladin took over Egypt, a Shi'ite empire was created farther west by a Berber tribe led by another supposed "Mahdi" and this Almohade Dynasty[176] replaced the Almoravids and gave Barbary its finest hour. They defeated the remaining Zirids and finally even ran the Normans from Tunisia. (Ref. 137, 83)
The Tellem people continued to flourish in Mali. Men wore robes made of cotton strips sewn together, with waistbands or leather aprons and cotton caps. The women wore short fiber aprons, occasionally with the front pulled back between the legs to fasten to a waistband behind. They had leather sandals decorated with incised geometric designs, leather bags and knife sheaths. Personal ornamentation included beads, iron, wood or bronze pendants, iron and leather bracelets and cylindrical quartz plugs worn in noses or ears of both sexes.
Ife, a kingdom south of Nok (Nigeria), flourished from 1100 to 1500 and produced the greatest artistic creations of tropical Africa. Ife bronzes were cast by the "lost wax" process which is still in use for some purposes today. (Ref. 175) Timbuktu was a trade center of this century, servicing the empires of Manding and Songhoy. Great stone buildings were erected in Great Zimbabwe as the Shona people made it the capital of their powerful state. (Ref. 8, 35) (Please also see the 15th century C.E. where there is a summary of several centuries of activity in this part of Africa).
Back to The Near East: A.D. 1001 to 1100
In the north and east of this area the power of the Seljuqs waned as Sultan Sinjar died and the entire Near East became divided among warring kings, all Moslem. The western marches of the Sultanate of Hamadan were in the control of various emirs or atabegs (guardians for infant princes) and they were unable to prevent the founding of some Crusader states, such as Edessa and Jerusalem. In A.D. 1121 the Georgians from the Caucusus swept down as far as Tiflis. But a counter-blow by Zangi and his son Nureddin, establishing the Zangid Sultanate, soon unified Syria, with the absorption of Damascus and soon Egypt. (Ref. 137) The Crusaders kept on trying for territory, even after Saladin controlled the entire area. France's Philip captured Acre in 1191 and Richard of England negotiated with Saladin in 1192 and obtained a 3 year truce allowing the Christians a coastal strip between Joppa and Acre and access to Jerusalem. The Knights Templar and Hospitallers continued their mercy and military presence in that city. (Ref. 86)
The century opened with the Seljuq Sultan of Hamadan controlling all of Persia except a small region south of the Caspian which was still ruled by the Assassins of Alamut. In the last half of the century, however, the sultanate was shrunk by inroads from the Arabian Peninsula of a new Abbasid Caliphate and from the west by the Zangid Sultanate which extended out from Syria. New emirates from Armenia and Azerbaijain on the western Caspian shore also appeared. (Ref. 8)
The 1st Crusade left Anatolia in some confusion, with several small states, but although the remnant of the Byzantine Empire still held the coastal areas bordering the Aegean Sea (See map on page 575) the rest of Turkey became de-Hellenized and the Moslem culture predominated. Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus did manage to exterminate the Patzinak Turks in the Balkans in 1122 but this was followed by a four year war with Venice. Peace with both Hungary and Venice occurred in 1126. (Ref. 222) The Sultanate of Nicaea, which had originally taken the major part of the Byzantine land, broke up with the Seljuqs holding the southwest half of Iconium and the Danishmandids inheriting the region northeast of that. The former soon broke up into still smaller emirates, however. (Ref. 137)
Armenia proper was now ruled by Moslem Turks and Kurds but across the Tarsus Mountains in Cilicia, the Armenian people formed the country of Lesser Armenia, which now stood off all attacks and reached unparalleled prosperity.
Back to Europe: A.D. 1001 to 1100
After an adequate horse collar was developed at some place and some time in this 12th century, plowing was done with horses, from the Ukraine to Normandy although the Mediterraneans still used oxen and lighter plows. Flax was grown all over Europe throughout the Middle Ages and was used not only for linen clothing but also for linseed oil, sails and cordage. (Ref. 213) The craze for spices was in full swing and the west gave up its precious metals in the difficult Middle East trade, which went on through to the Far East.
NOTE: Insert Map 41. Crusader States c.1140
Fireplaces were now set in walls whereas previously the round hearth in the center of the room had been used for cooking while braziers were used for warmth. The new system was acceptable for cooking but deplorable for heating for many centuries, awaiting technical improvements. Until the beginning of this century European clothing had remained almost identical with that of Roman times; long tunics falling straight to the floor for women and to the knees for men. Now the men's clothes were lengthened but even this change was minimal. The number of water wheels increased and their use was extended from simply grinding grain to iron works and other purposes. The transformation of windmills from the horizontal to the vertical position greatly increased their power and usefulness.
We mentioned in the last chapter that there was an urban renaissance in Europe. It became apparent in this 12th century that at least in many areas, particularly Italy, Flanders and Germany, that the cities were actually superior to the state, leading completely separate lives. (Ref. 260)
Crete remained basically under Byzantine control, although at the end of the century Genoese colonists had located at several points. During the 3rd Crusade Richard the Lion Hearted conquered Cyprus from Byzantium but the Eastern Empire retained control over Rhodes, the Cyclades and most of the other Aegean islands except for a period in the middle of the century when the Normans, under Roger II, temporarily took some areas. (Ref. 222)
The Norman, Roger of Sicily, profited by the 2nd Crusade in being able to seize many of the Greek Islands and attacked Athens, Thebes and Corinth. He went down into the Peloponnesus in 1147 and up the Aegean coast in 1185. Constantinople remained a city of splendor, but there were many wars and the Balkans broke free, so that there was eventually little left of the Byzantine Empire except Greece, itself.
Hungary absorbed Dalmatia and after 1106 Croatia existed also under the Hungarian King Kalman. Secondary to the turmoil of the 1st Crusade the Byzantines did destroy the Patzinaks, who had finally been crowded into a small area just southwest of Hungary, but the territory was immediately taken over by the Cuman Turks. (Ref. 137) In 1124 Hungary's Stephen II was defeated by the temporarily resurgent Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus, who prevented the Hungarians from keeping control of Dalmatia, Croatia and Serbia at that time. (Ref. 222) The Orthodox Church considered Islam as simply a Christian heresy and felt that there was little to choose between this and the Latin schismatic and often felt that the "Franks" were even more detestable enemies than the Moslems, for they insisted upon substituting their own creed and rites for Orthodoxy, whereas Moslem rulers allowed the Orthodox Church to manage its own affairs, subject only to payment of taxes and recognition of Moslem political supremacy. This fact did much to assure Turkish success in the Upper Balkans and helped to stabilize later Mongol power over the Russian principalities. (Ref. 139) This feeling was often reciprocated by the Western Church. Petrarch, for example, wrote: "The Turks are enemies, but the Greeks are schismatics and worse than enemies"[177].
Near the end of the century Bulgaria again broke free from Byzantine rule and then Serbia was able to separate from Bulgaria to found the poverty ridden Serb Kingdom (1180).
The north half of Italy remained subject to the German Empire, but the Papal States had some semblance of self-government and Lombardy and Florence retained some local control. Venice continued to be independent while southern Italy and Sicily prospered under the excellent administration of the Normans. The people of the Two Sicilies had a free choice of religion under Roger I Guiscard and then Roger II after 1101. The latter even started a silk industry at Palmermo, bringing silk workers from Greece, after his expeditions there. Frederick Barbarossa entered Rome on his 4th expedition into Italy, in 1167, and enthroned an anti-pope Paschal III, but a pestilence broke out among his troops and he soon withdrew. The end of the predominance of knighthood was foreshadowed when an army of German knights met defeat to charging pikemen of the Lombard League of cities of northern Italy at Legnano in 1176. The League's subsequent military might was completely defensive with town walls and the massed pikemen infantry. (Ref. 279) At the end of the century the German Emperor Henry VI, with the help of Genoa and Pisa, which was then at the height of its power, wrested southern Italy away from Norman control. Genoa may have minted its own gold coins late in this century and other Italian cities soon followed. (Ref. 222, 260) Additional Notes
In the Italian Alps through Lombardy and Piedmont (as well as in Carinthia and Styria of Austria) the Carthusian monks were dominant in the development of pre-modern iron smelting through the use of strong drafts produced by the enormous water power of alpine streams. Then came a method of refining cast iron, by charcoal fire and the addition of scrap iron to produce steel (Ref. 260). In spite of political changes, the medical school at Salerno continued to function on a high level. Even epilepsy and psychoses were given somatic causes and treatment, although their organic bases were still denied by the followers of Galen. Salerno was a cross-roads of European, Arabic and Jewish medicine. Gerard, an Italian scholar of Cremona, went to Toledo, Spain to learn Arabic and by the time of his death in 1187 he had translated 71 Arabic works, most of them medical, including Avicenna's Canon and the works of Rhazes.
In general Europe experienced another warm period during this century, as in the last one. (Ref. 224)
North German cities soon dominated the Baltic trade and new cities were formed father and farther eastward by the pseudo-crusades of the Knights of the Sword and the Teutonic Knights. (Ref . 137). Cultural advances speeded up civilization in the German realms. The first paper mill in Europe opened at Ravensburg. These areas also saw the mining of copper, silver, gold and iron. There were continued emperor - pope struggles with a temporary peace following the Concordant of Worms of 1122 when it was agreed that there would be a divided ceremony of investiture - one spiritual and one lay, thus assuring the concurrence of both pope and emperor in the choice of bishops.
The Salic-Frankish Dynasty ended with the death of Henry V in 1125 and there followed dynastic battles between two great families for control of the empire. These were the Welfs or Geulfs (primarily in Saxony) and the Waiblingens or Ghibellines (from Swabia and southern Germany). (Ref. 68) The latter was the family name of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty[178] which will appear frequently in later German history. Under Frederick I (called Lord of Peace or Barbarossa, for his red beard) as Holy Roman Emperor, Germany rose to the leadership of Europe. Frederick at first forbade wars, but then reestablished imperial supremacy of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and Burgundy, only to meet failure in Italy as the old Lombard cities united with the pope, against him. He led a strong contingent to join Richard of England in the last part of the 3rd Crusade and died on the trip on the peninsula of Asia Minor.
In spite of the empire, most of the old Stem Duchies of Germany continued their own separate ways, pretty much independent of the empire. In Brandenburg the aggressive leaders of the Ascanian Dynasty, such as Albert the Bear, increased the size and power of their state. Settlers were imported and towns were founded. In Bavaria, from the 9th to the 12th century, all the dukes were at the center of the rebellions of the great German princes against the imperial authority. Early in the period Emperor Conrad II had deposed Guelph Henry t