In his book The Red Man’s Continent Yale professor Ellsworth Huntington states that “History in its broadest aspect is a record of man's migrations from one environment to another.” This quote bluntly conveys the important role that migrations have played in history. Migrations of large groups of people are a prominent and crucial pattern in the study of all aspects of history. Never has this held more truth than in Medieval Europe where several groups of people undertook large migrations over thousands of miles to all corners of the continent.
These mass migrations are consistent linchpins in the history of Medieval Europe. Specifically, the migration of the Goths into the Roman Empire altered the course of history by eventually leading to the downfall of Western Rome. Similarly, the Muslim migration into the Iberian Peninsula had strong impacts on the religious and cultural atmosphere of Medieval Europe when the lifestyles of the Muslim immigrants and the indigenous Christian and Jewish communities collided as a direct result of the migration. Analysis of primary sources from these times sheds light on the details and impacts both of these migrations. Together, the migratory habits of the Goths and Muslims served to shape the medieval continent of Europe by giving rise to unique interactions between sharply contrasting cultures and religions
During the 4th century in medieval Europe the Gothic tribes undertook the sizable task of migrating into the Roman Empire. To understand how this migration affected Europe it is important to understand why the Goths migrated in the first place. Once the reasons for the migrations are grasped, the consequences of the migration, and the overall impact of these consequences may be fully unde...
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...ninsula are just two examples of many that serve to highlight the extreme importance of migrations to the history of Medieval Europe. Migrations of large groups of people are characteristic of change, and true to this characterization migrations caused drastic changes in the history of Medieval Europe. The Gothic Migration on the 4th century led to the downfall of the Western Roman Empire, an event that sent ripples throughout the world. The migration of Muslims into the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century caused lasting alteration in the religious and cultural landscape in Iberia. The primary sources from these times contain phenomenal insight into the effects of these migrations on Europe. The voices of medieval scholars and historians will forever recount the importance of this dynamic time of movement and cultural collision to the history of the middle ages.
Through analyzing the five given documents, factors affecting cultural exchange through civilizations during 1000 and 1400 A.D. are noticeably those which result in the bringing of new ideas to a different area, such as missionary work, commerce, war, and travels. As new religions sprouted throughout Europe on other expansive areas, missionaries were sent out to foreign lands. Document 1 comes from the viewpoint of a Roman Catholic missionary attempting to spread his faith by presenting a letter from the pope to the emperor of the Tatars. This shows that by converting a powerful leader to your faith, such as an emperor, it is easier for others to follow said faith. Documents 2 and 4 also emphasize how travel can be accountable for the exchange of ideas between cultures. Both Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo traveled extensive distances, stopping in various cities. Throughout their journeys, they carried their ideas with them, but were also introduced to the ideas of the people in the places they were visiting. Document 3 presents what is most likely the culprit for the increase in cultural diffusion during 1000 to 1400 A.D. War is often the reason for major cultural diffusion because, as new lands are conquered and the people of that land are put under the rule of a different people, the beliefs, traditions, and cultures of the conquerors mesh with those of the conquered. Document 5 also introduces a driving force in cultural diffusion – commerce. During this time period, many people were traders. Products made by a people are characteristics of their culture, whether it is the skill, intelligence, cleverness, or religious inclination of those people. As traders made their way to foreign lands to conduct business, whole empires were int...
become complex and variegated” because there existed a “global” aspect in Europe. Rubin thinks that it is important to realize that Europe was not regionally isolated during that period. “Medieval Europeans were travelers” and when they returned home they shared their “tales, experience and expertise.” This vast travel was possible because there was a “modicum of safety... on the road and in public spaces.” It is from within this milieu that missionaries were able to travel and so “the figure of Mary accompanied [them and their] initiatives of reform and renewal.” Because of these insights, Rubin thinks that “historians of medieval Europe may [need] to develop a practice that is
What is a Crusade? How did a Crusader crusade? What caused him to seek “holy war?” Is a Crusade a Holy War or a Pilgrimage? Did a crusader only leave to find his own economic benefits? What caused the success of the first crusaders? These are some of the many questions that laid before me when I started my research. The crusading movements are such widely debated among the modern historian that they leave many readers confused about what actually caused the crusades, and what a crusade actually entails. In the coming pages I hope to give my reader something to ponder, understand, and acknowledge about it’s origins, and eventually lead my reader into the first crusading movement. Thus, the argument I intend to make examines the events in previous centuries, and the culmination of political and moral changes, as well as economic ones that occurred before Urban’s call for crusade. We will explore Feudalism, it’s war-centric society and how this caused Urban (as well as some Popes and religious figures before him) to seek a peaceable solution that would ensure safety for the clergy, the peasant, and the non-violent. Furthermore, Pope Urban sought to continue Pope Gregory's (and Cluniac) reform to solidify Papal authority over Christendom, and respond to years of Muslim raids along the Mediterranean and upper Italian Coastlines that threatened Italian unity. In effect, the first crusading movement represented and embodied the European culture, society, and ideologies of the time.
The nature of the cultural confrontation that took place between Old and New World cultures was profoundly shaped by the condition of fifteenth century Christian Europe at the moment of contact. Recent scholarship demonstrating parallels between New World and Old World paganism(1) raises the question of whether the reactions of fifteenth century Europeans to the native American cultures were conditioned by their own subconscious awareness of such cultural similarities. Given their history of suppression of their own primitive past, Europeans responded to the New World in the only way they knew how. Everywhere they turned they encountered alien cultural traditions exhibiting characteristics that reminded them of their own subconscious dragons. Acceptance of the Indian cultures on their own terms would have threatened the very catholic social order that had been the sole unifying force in Europe since the disintegration of the Roman Empire. The European predisposition to denigrate everything outside Christian experience was further accentuated by deep internal divisions within Europe that began to rend Christendom asunder in the sixteenth century.
Most people within the Middle Ages did not move or go anywhere very often. If you were born somewhere during these times, you most likely to stay there till your death. This idea matters greatly in the scheme of Feud...
This course dove into medieval history and touched on all of the most critical elements of the period giving a well-rounded look into the lives and cultures of the middle ages. As the class moved forward it became evident that religion is central to understanding the people, advances, and set backs of this period. We learned how inseparable the middle ages and religion are due to how completely it consumed the people, affected the art, and furthered academics. Since, there is a tendency to teach about history and literature separately from religion and since religion possessed a dominant position in every aspect of a medieval person’s life, while many of us had already looked into the period we missed some crucial cultural context allowing
Gregory, James N.. "Second Great Migration: Historical Overview." UW Faculty Web Server. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2011. .
Throughout the human history, there is a movement of peoples from one place to another. Migrations can be voluntary or involuntary because some migrations are done willingly, while others are done under coercion. Migrations intend to settle temporally or permanently in a new location depending on their circumstances. This paper will determine the explanation of migrations in the medieval period based on the activities of three different civilizations. It will examine the main potential reasons why there were movements of people from one place to another during the medieval times. Also, analyze what are the effects and outcome of these migrations. Furthermore, it will argue that physical forces factors such as economic, social, political and
... the Era. Vol. 4. Detroit: n.p., 2005. N. pag. Renaissance Europe 1300-1600. Rpt. in N.p.: n.p., n.d. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
The journey from a few cave people to seven billion humans on this planet has been characterized by the physical movement of Homo sapiens from one place to another, sometimes over thousands of miles, either individually, or in the form of flocks, both voluntarily as well as involuntarily. This act of leaving ones’ ground and moving to another land with a motive is known as migration. The motive can be anything such as bett...
Spanning from 1095 to 1212 C.E, the Crusades were an effort made by medieval Christians to regain their holy lands back from the Muslims. There were five crusades in total going in order from the First Crusade to the Children's Crusade. A few were effective in their own respects although these Crusades proved costly to the European Kingdoms as a result of large losses of life. This paper will explore these crusades and explain why some succeeded whereas others failed.
The crusades began to stir up after the death of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in 814. After his death Christian Europe was under attack and weak. “Magyars, nomadic people from Asia, pillaged eastern and central Europe until the 10th century.” (Encarta “Crusades”). Starting in the year 800, Viking raids interrupted life in northern Europe and even Mediterranean cities. But the greatest threat came from the forces of Islam. This was in consequence to Muhammad their notorious leader dying, in 632. “By the 8th century, Islamic forces had conquered North Africa, the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and most of Spain.” (Mayer, 3...
A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain is survey medieval Spain, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims once lived side by side and the Muslims were in charge. The book tries to lead the reader to the conclusion that there is indeed a historical precedent for the three major religions establishing a beneficially symbiotic relationship which may be an enduring lesson for coexistence. The author, Chris Lowney, is an ex-Jesuit and holds degrees in medieval history and philosophy.
Europe’s political, social, and economic order was facing a positive turnaround in at the turn of the century. Expansion was prevalent and, as a result, the economy was improving greatly from the turmoil it had experienced in 900. While all of this sounds good and was good to a certain extent, things were still fragile. Strength and the power of the unknown paved the way for the crusades. Land, expansion, adventure, zeal, soldiers, and powerful papal leadership were the essential ingredients for crusading, which became “popular social movement” (Noble 416). No one could have imagined what the Crusades meant from the first to the last. Peter Charanis notes that the motivating factors that promp...
Migration is defined as the movement of people from one place to another. The movement can be within a short distance or within a long distance. Human populations have a vast history of several migration patterns that occurred during different periods in history including the pre-modern periods. According to Koslowski (376), there are several factors that lead to the migration of people from one place to another. Some of these factors include increased human population, political instability, natural calamities such as drought and disasters, and religious conflicts. The migrating communities have several impacts in their new place of settlement. Some of the effects include the spread of culture, the spread of religion, and the introduction