Legacy

Learning Objectives

* identify and describe significant developments and achievements of Medieval Europe.

* selects and uses appropriate written form to communicate about the past.

THE LEGACY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE

The legacy of Medieval Europe is evident in:

a. great cathedrals

b. castles

c. walled towns

d. marketplaces

ART, ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE

Illuminated manuscripts provide excellent examples of art from the Middle Ages. They are primary sources found in handwritten texts, decorated initials and illustrations found in prayer books.

Gothic architecture from the Middle Ages has provided Europe with a strong legacy. It is evident in Cathedrals like Notre Dame and Westminster Abbey. Notre Dame contains beautiful stained glass windows.

UNIVERSITIES

Medieval universities were created in:

* Bolgna in 1088

* Oxford in 1167

* Cambridge in 1209

* Montpellier in 1220

* Padua in 1222

Lecturers would read from books at the same time as students listened, talked or dozed off. Religion was integral to these universities. Lecturers were required to reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church or face dismissal.

Government and the law

Even under the feudal system, monarchs had to accept limits on their own personal power. They also needed to respond to expectations that other groups in society have a say in decision-making. From the eleventh century onwards, English monarchs summoned the tenants-in-chief to advise them in the Great Council. By the late thirteenth century, they had begun to call this a parliament. Over time, a tradition developed that kings had to get parliament's permission to raise money through taxes.

From 1258 until his defeat in 1265, Simon de Montfort led a rebellion against the English king Henry III to force greater use of parliament and to include sub-tenants within it. These ideas developed into our modern expectation that parliaments control government and that the nobility should not control decision making.

People began to use medieval courts for problems that had previously been solved by trial by combat. As medieval courts heard more cases, they began to develop ways of applying the law consistently. This is a fundamental principle of our legal system today.

Habeas corpus

Habeas corpus (Latin for ‘you have the body’) is a judge's order for a prisoner to be brought before a court to test whether or not he or she has been imprisoned unlawfully. Its first recorded use was in 1305 during the reign of Edward I. People value habeas corpus as a protection against miscarriages of justice. In recent years, many people protested against the United States government's failure to apply this principle when it imprisoned people without trial at Guantanamo Bay.

Business

As merchants traded in and beyond Europe, they developed more specialised skills in areas such as bargaining, organising ships' cargoes and recording business dealings. In 1494, Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli devised the idea of double-entry bookkeeping. Under this system, merchants kept their account books ‘balanced’ by recording credits in one book and debits in another and ensuring that both books had the same balance. This has become the main way that businesses record their business transactions." direct from retro 2, needs to be summarised

DISCUSSION

Read the text above and discuss in class as a mindmap:

What does the term legacy mean?

Outline the legacy of the Middle Ages?

PARAGRAPH

* Describe the impact of the Middle Ages on future generations.