home Chimneys Middle Ages. Development of the lesson "historical sources of the Middle Ages" Examples of written historical sources of the Middle Ages

Middle Ages. Development of the lesson "historical sources of the Middle Ages" Examples of written historical sources of the Middle Ages

The historical source is understood as everything created in the process of human activity or experienced its impact. With regard to the Middle Ages, it is advisable to distinguish five types of sources:

1) natural geographical, i.e. landscape, climate, soil, vegetation and,

2) ethnographic, ancient technologies, customs, appearance of dwellings, costume, cuisine, stereotypes of thinking, folklore;

3) material buildings, tools, household utensils, weapons, etc.;

4) artistic and visual monuments of architecture, painting, sculpture and applied arts;

5) written, which are any texts written in letters, numbers, notes and other signs of writing.

They play different roles. Material sources have highest value in the study of the early Middle Ages, relatively poor in texts and works of art. Folklore and other ethnographic sources, on the contrary, are the most important for the study of the late Middle Ages. The main ones are written sources. It is appropriate to divide medieval written sources into three classes:

1) narrative (narrative),

2) normative, reflecting not only the existing legal practice, but also the will of the legislator, local customs, resolutions of church councils, charters of monasteries, craft workshops, universities, etc.;

3) documentary, fixing individual moments of predominantly socio-economic, -legal -political life through a special, largely formalized vocabulary. Within the framework of narrative sources, a special class of scientific literature is gradually taking shape. Somewhat earlier, fiction is separated from narrative monuments, reflecting reality by generalizing phenomena in artistic images. These classes of written sources are divided into types. So, among the narrative sources, historical narratives, hagiographic works telling about asceticism and miracles of saints are singled out; monuments of epistolary creativity; sermons and all kinds of instructions; up to a certain time also scientific literature, represented by various treatises. In turn, they can be divided into numerous varieties. For example, among the historical writings of the Middle Ages, annals, chronicles, biographies, genealogies and so-called histories are distinguished. Chronicles are divided into world and local, prose and verse, church and secular, the latter into royal, urban, family, etc.

Medieval written sources, in comparison with sources on the history of antiquity or modern times, have certain features. Due to the small distribution and generally low level of literacy in the Middle Ages, writing was used relatively rarely. The culture of that era, especially the early Middle Ages, was largely oral-ritual, so that information was mainly transmitted from memory. There was a gap between the living spoken language and the written language, which affected the style, terminology and nature of the use of the studied sources. The situation began to change only in the second period of the Middle Ages, when more and more texts appeared in vernacular languages. By the XIV - XV centuries. in most countries of Western Europe they already predominate, however, in some areas of public life (diplomacy, church, science), Latin retains its position until modern times. In addition, in a number of countries, Latin coexisted immediately with two vernacular languages - local and foreign.

The technology of production, the yield of agricultural crops, property stratification, family type, everyday life, the worldview of the masses, etc. are poorly described. The required information is present, as a rule, in the form of hidden information, which can be difficult to catch.

Until recently, source study distinguished between external and internal source criticism, but modern source study is based on a comprehensive, holistic study of the monument.

Irreplaceable help in interpreting a source as a product of a certain socio-cultural environment is provided by non-written sources and auxiliary historical disciplines studying them: historical landscape studies, archeology, ethnography, onomastics (the science of proper names, including geographical names), art history, numismatics, etc. A reliable tool The method of combining data of various types and classes of sources, which, illuminating society from different angles, not only complement, but also correct each other, remains the method of knowledge of the past, tested by many generations of scientists. In recent decades, this method has received additional impetus due to the development of interdisciplinary research.

Quantitative methods of source analysis are widely penetrating medieval studies.

ANNOTATED COURSE CONTENT

Introduction

Characteristic feudal system(Western European version). The conditional nature of feudal land ownership, the method of its implementation through small producers - peasants through feudal rent. Non-economic coercion. The hierarchical structure of landed property, its forms, the combination of property with political power. Vassal relations, the role of personal ties in society. Small farming. Peasant ownership of tools. Medieval craft. The corporate nature of property under feudalism. The social structure of feudal society: class and estate division. State, law, church.

general characteristics medieval Western European civilization. Christianity as a system-forming factor of medieval European civilization. Civilizational features of the region. The continuity of medieval civilization and its role in the formation of modern civilization. The legacy of medieval history in modern times: the emergence of most European peoples and states, the formation of national languages, cultures and characters, the origins of modern parliaments, the legal and democratic foundations of social development, Christian religious traditions and confessional features, the concept of personality, the connection of times in the monuments of material and spiritual culture .

Problematic orientation of studies of the Western European Middle Ages by Russian and foreign historians.

Sources on the history of the Middle Ages of the 5th-15th centuries.

Classification and features of medieval sources. Modern methods their study. Historical informatics in medieval studies. The most important sources on the history of the early Middle Ages. "Code of Civil Law". barbarian truth. Capitulary. Letters, cartulary. Polyptics. Stories, chronicles, annals. Hagiographic writings. Treatises. Epos.

Sources on the history of the developed Middle Ages. Public and private acts. Account books. Land inventories and cadastres. City charters and statutes. Feudal customary law and its codification. Royal (imperial) legislation. Judicial Records. narrative sources. Rhetoric. church sources. Genres of fiction.

EUROPE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (V - first half of the 11th centuries)

The Roman Empire and the World of the Barbarians: Collisions and Interactions.

The crisis of the Roman Empire (III - V centuries), its manifestations and consequences. The state and evolution of socio-economic relations and political system barbarians. Causes of the Great Migration. Movements of the Germanic tribes in the II-III centuries. Goths and their invasion of the territory of the Roman Empire in the IV century. Defeat of Rome by Alaric. Formation of the Visigothic Kingdom in Southwestern Gaul. Campaigns of vandals. Hun invasions in Western Europe. Battle of the Catalaunian Fields. Western Roman Empire in the last decades of its existence. Her fall. Formation of the Ostrogothic and Frankish kingdoms. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. General results and significance of the barbarian conquests. Early feudal monarchy as a type of state.

The development of feudalism in the Frankish state

Frankish state of the Merovingians. The Franks before the invasion of Northern Gaul. Formation of the Frankish state led by Clovis. The nature of the settlement of the Franks in southern and northern Gaul. Economic life and social structure of the Franks according to the "Salic truth". Frankish community and its evolution in the VI-VII centuries. Disintegration of family ties, allocation of allod. Discussions in historiography about the social structure of the Franks: communal and anti-communal theories (Fustel de Coulanges, Dopsch, etc.). Social stratification in Frankish society. The growth of large landed property. Gallo-Roman population and its role in the feudalization of Frankish society. The emergence of the early feudal state among the Franks and its territorial growth. Central and local government. The weakening of the central government under the successors of Clovis and the reasons for this phenomenon. The fragmentation of the state. Unification of the country by majordoms of Austria.

Frankish Carolingian Monarchy . Politics of Charles Martel. The struggle of the Franks with the Arabs. Beneficial reform of Charles Martel, its social background and consequences. The Carolingian dynasty. Conquests of Pepin the Short. Growth of the Frankish state under Charlemagne. Conquest of Lombard Italy and subjugation of Saxony; wars with Avars, Western Slavs and Arabs. Formation of the Spanish brand. Foundation of the empire, its international and domestic position.

The formation of the foundations of feudal relations in the Carolingian state. The development and strengthening of feudal property and the ruin of the free peasantry. The role of the state and the church in this process. Establishment of feudal land and personal dependence of the peasantry. Precarium, its types and role in the process of feudalization. Natural economy. The structure of the feudal estate.

The role of small estates in the process of feudalization. Forms of rent. The growth of personal and judicial dependence of the peasants. Patronage, immunity. The development of personal contractual and vassal relations among the feudal lords.

Political organization of the Carolingian state. Feudalization of local government. The social orientation of royal policy.

Byzantine Empire in the IV-XII centuries.

Features of the periodization of the history of Byzantium. Founding of Constantinople. Formation of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Territory. The composition of the population. The agrarian system of Byzantium in the IV-VI centuries. Community-Mitrocomia. Emphytheusis. Cities. Features of the development of crafts and trade. State structure in the IV-VI centuries. Christian Church and its role in the life of Byzantium. Politics and legislative activity of Justinian I. Social struggle. Nika's uprising. Conquest wars of Justinian I. Invasion of the Slavs. The crisis in the empire at the end of VI - VII centuries. Military administrative reforms. Femme system. Stratiot landownership. The evolution of the rural community. iconoclastic movement. Paulicians.

Byzantium in the second half of the IX - XI centuries. The process of stratification and dispossession of the peasantry. Allylengy. Dynats and wigs. Agrarian legislation of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty. Empire cities. "Book of Eparch". State apparatus and church. "Schism". Foreign policy. Fight against the Arabs and the conquest of Bulgaria. Russian-Byzantine relations. Popular movements and feudal revolts in the X-XI centuries. Features of the process of feudalization in Byzantium.

Byzantium at the end of the XI - XII centuries. Agrarian relations and social policy of the Komnenos. Byzantine cities. The international position of Byzantium.. The growth of crisis phenomena.

WESTERN EUROPE AT THE END OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

political map Europe in the IX-XI centuries. Raids of Arabs, Hungarians, Normans. The establishment of the feudal system in the countries of Western Europe by the end of the 11th century. dependent peasantry. Feudal lords. feudal hierarchy. political fragmentation. Life and customs of the feudal lords. Life and everyday life of peasants. The problem of the general and the particular in the development of different countries of Western Europe.

France in I X- 11th century The initial stage of the formation of the French kingdom. Completion of the process of feudalization in France and its features. Political fragmentation and royal power under the first Capetians. Major fiefs in France. The condition of the peasantry and peasant uprisings X - beginning of XI centuries.

Italy until the end of the 11th century. Formation of feudal relations. Lack of political unity in Italy. Differences in the nature and pace of the formation of feudalism in Northern, Central and Southern Italy and Sicily. Features of the development of the Italian city, the problem of continuity.

Germany in the 9th - early 11th centuries . Features of the development of the East Frankish kingdom. Social relations. Saxon dynasty. Italian campaigns of the German kings and the creation of their empire. The problem of universalist monarchies. Imperial Church. The beginning of the expansion of the German feudal lords to the East. "Ottonian Revival".

Northern Europe in I X- 11th century Age of the Vikings. Expansion of the Vikings in the 9th - first half of the 10th centuries. Settlement of Iceland by Norwegians. Icelandic Althing. Discovery of Greenland and the islands North America. Campaigns of the Vikings in the second half of the X - the first half of the XI centuries. Power of the Great Whip. The peculiarity of the genesis of feudalism in the Scandinavian countries. Socio-political structure of the Scandinavian states.

England in I X- 11th century . Weak Romanization of Britain. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain. Two stages of feudalization in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The stability of community orders. The growth of large landownership and the social stratification of the peasantry. Categories of dependent population. Organization of government in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Fight against the Danes. The processes of feudalization in the IX - the first half of the XI centuries. The role of royal awards and the distribution of immunity rights (juice) in this process. The resumption of Danish invasions and the temporary subjugation of England to the Danish kings.

Spain in the VIII - the middle of the XI centuries. Visigothic kingdom at the beginning of the 8th century. The conquest of Spain by the Arabs and Berbers. Muslim Spain: the specifics of the economic, political and social development. Urban culture of Muslim Spain. Battle of Covadonga. Beginning of the Reconquista. Centers of the Reconquista and the Christian States of the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th - early 11th centuries. Socio-economic and political structure of the Asturian-Leonese kingdom. Catalonia, Navarre and Aragon in the IX-XI centuries.

Church in the early Middle Ages

Conversion of Constantine the Great to Christianity. Formation of Christian dogmatics: Trinitarian and Christological disputes. Arianism. Ecumenical Councils and Church Fathers. Christian doctrine of salvation and the structure of the universe. Church and sacraments. Formation of the doctrine of the papacy. The folding of the pentarchy. Ideas about the relationship between church and secular power in the Greek East and the Latin West.

The course and features of the Christianization of the Germanic and Celtic tribes in the IV-V centuries. The Church in the Barbarian Kingdoms. Strengthening the secular power of bishops. Royal churches and their relationship with the papacy. Roman missionaries in England.

Christian asceticism and the emergence of monasticism. Early Monasticism in Western Europe. Distribution of the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia. Irish and Anglo-Saxon monasticism. Columban. Reform of St. Benedict of Anian. Anglo-Saxon missionaries on the Continent. Christianization of the German lands. Reform of St. Boniface. Union of the Carolingians with the papacy. Creation of the secular state of the popes. Carolingian theocracy and the imperial church system. The right of the private church.

Papacy in the second half of the IX - the middle of the XI centuries. "Konstantin's gift". "Dark Age" in the history of the papacy. The crisis of church life at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 11th centuries. The completion of the Christianization of Western, Central and Eastern Europe by the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD.

EUROPE DURING THE DEVELOPED MIDDLE AGES
(end of the 11th - 15th centuries)

Rise and growth of medieval cities

The problem of the origin of cities in historiography. domination subsistence farming and cities. The growth of productive forces in a feudal society as a prerequisite for the separation of handicrafts from agriculture. Simple commodity production under feudalism. The emergence of medieval cities and the features of this process in different countries. Cities as centers of crafts and trade, their types. Population and appearance of medieval cities. The struggle of cities with seniors, her social foundations and results. Medieval burghers. Urban craft, its character and organization. The value and role of workshops in the life of the city. The struggle of guild artisans with the urban patriciate. Stratification inside the shops and the beginning of their decomposition. The emergence of early capitalist forms of production.

The development of commodity-money relations and changes in the social life of feudal society. The problem of commodity production under feudalism in historiography. Trade and credit. Formation of city, regional and regional markets. Drawing the peasantry and feudal lords into market relations. The consequences of these processes in different countries. Rent switching, stratification and personal emancipation of the peasantry. Strengthening of the corvée system in a number of regions of Europe, senior reaction in the 13th-15th centuries. Changes in the position and structure of the layer of feudal lords. The problem of the "crisis of feudalism" in Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. in medieval studies.

Crusades

Crusades as military-colonization movements. Their character. Causes and background of the Crusades. Clermont Cathedral. Beginning of the crusade. Campaign of the poor. The first crusade of the feudal lords.

Crusader states in the East. "Jerusalem Assizes". Spiritual and knightly orders. Italian city-states and their role in the Crusades. Second and Third Crusades. The Fourth Crusade and the Defeat of Byzantium. The Last Crusades. "Northern" Crusades. The decline of the crusading movement and its causes. The meaning and influence of the Crusades on the development of Europe.

France XI-XV centuries.

The agrarian system of France and the position of the peasantry and feudal lords in the 11th-12th centuries. Shifts in the development of productive forces and the spread of food rent. internal colonization. The growth of cities in the XI-XIII centuries. unevenness economic development Northern and Southern France. Differences between the cities of northern and southern France and their struggle with feudal lords. Political fragmentation in the ÕI-ÕII centuries. The influence of the development of commodity-money relations on the French countryside in the 13th century. Distribution of cash rent. The growth of the economic independence of the peasant economy and the beginning of the personal liberation of the peasants. The redemption of personal duties and the appearance of qualifications. The reduction of the dominal economy and the development of seigneury. Strengthening the property rights of the peasants. The growth of property stratification in the city and countryside. Rural communities. Features of social struggle.

Economic and social reasons for strengthening royalty in the XII-XIII centuries. The liberation movement of cities, its role in the formation of the union of royal power and the urban class. Territorial expansion of the royal domain. Philip II Augustus and the Plantagenets. Albigensian Wars and annexation of Languedoc. Reforms of Louis IX. The growth of the state apparatus and the further strengthening of the French monarchy. Politics of Philip IV. Joining Champagne. Fight for Flanders. The struggle between the royal power and the papacy. The emergence of the States General, their composition and competence. Features of the class structure of French society. Causes and origin of the Hundred Years War. Defeats at Crécy and Poitiers. States General of 1356 and the draft of state reforms. Revolt in Paris led by Etienne Marcel and Jacquerie. Peace in Bretigny. Charles V of Valois and his reforms.

Urban and peasant uprisings in the second half of the XIV century. Feudal strife, uprising cabochens. Resumption of the Hundred Years War. People's struggle against the British invaders. Joan of Arc. Tax and military reforms of Charles VII. End of the Hundred Years War.

Growth of state centralization. Changing the social base of the French monarchy. Weakening of the Estates General. Bankers and merchants in financial management. Louis XI: his struggle with large feudal lords, economic policy. The completion of the political unification of France at the end of the 15th century.

England in the 11th-15th centuries

The Norman Conquest and its influence on the development of feudalism in England. The peculiarity of the linen system. Management organization. Strengthening royal power. The social structure of England and the position of the peasantry at the end of the 11th century. according to the Domesday Book. King and Church. Royal power and feudal lords. Features of the feudal system in England. The emergence of cities and features of their development in the ÕI-ÕIII centuries. Feudal strife in the middle of the XII century.

Further strengthening of the feudal state. Henry I. Judicial and military reforms of Henry II. Anglo-French power of the Plantagenets in the XII - early XIII centuries.

Central and local government. The relationship of royal power with the church, feudal lords, cities. Beginning of the conquest of Ireland. Attempts to subdue Scotland. The economic development of England in the XIII century. Features of the manorial structure. Property stratification of the peasantry. Contradictions within the layer of feudal lords. position in the cities.

Foreign and domestic policy of John Landless. Magna Carta. Henry III. Establishment of a baronial oligarchy. Civil War. The rise of Parliament. The social and political role of parliament at the end of the 13th-14th centuries. Features of the formation of the estate monarchy in England.

Beginning of the Hundred Years War. Economic and social shifts in the English countryside of the 13th-14th centuries. The process of commutation of peasant duties and the seizure of communal lands. "Black Death". "Labor Law".

Senior reaction. Church reform movement. Wycliffe's teaching. Lollards, John Ball. The rise of Wat Tyler. rebel programs. The consequences of the uprising and its significance.

Economic development of the English countryside in the 15th century. Categories of the English peasantry and their position. "Old" and "new" nobility. Features of the socio-political development of England in the XV century. End of the Hundred Years War. Rise of Jack Cade. War of the Scarlet and White Roses and its social consequences. Formation of the English people.

Germany in the 11th-15th centuries

Completion of the folding of the feudal system. The weakening of the central government and the political crisis of the second half of the XI century. Saxon uprising. Fight for investment. Canossa. Worms concordat.

The evolution of agrarian relations in the XII-XIII centuries. Peasant differentiation. Features of the social struggle in the countryside. Growth of cities. Cities and central government. Ministerials. The policy of the emperors of the Staufen dynasty. German colonization in the East. Italian policy of the German emperors.

Causes and consequences of folding the system of territorial principalities. Formation and development of the Swiss Union. Cities and unions of cities in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Hansa. Shop system.

The origin of manufacturing. German village in the XIV-XV centuries. political development of the empire. Charles IV. "Gold Bull". Representation bodies. Opposition movements in cities and peasant movements in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Italy in the 11th-15th centuries

Uneven development of various regions of Italy. Rise of the cities of Northern and Central Italy. City communes. Establishing the power of cities over the district. Rural communities. Features of the development of the Papal States. The struggle of the Italian cities against the German emperors and feudal lords. Campaigns of Frederick I in Italy. Ronkal Sejm. Guelphs and Ghibellines. Lombard League. The battle of Legnano and its historical significance. Southern Italy and Sicily under Norman kings. Features of the agrarian and urban development of the Sicilian kingdom.

The process of personal liberation of the peasants in the XIII century. Forms of land relations. The heresy of the "Apostolic Brethren" and the uprising of Dolcino. The political system of cities in the XIII-XIV centuries. Features of the economic and political system of Florence and Milan. Manufactory in Florence and the "ciompi" uprising. Italian maritime republics: Pisa, Genoa and Venice. Their struggle for hegemony in the Mediterranean. Chioggia War. Peculiarities state structure Genoa and Venice.

Papal States in the XIII-XV centuries. Roman Republic, Cola di Rienzo. Features of the economic and political development of southern Italy in the 13th-15th centuries. Kingdom of Sicily under Frederick II Staufen. Angevin dynasty in southern Italy. "Sicilian Vespers" The transition of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples under the rule of the House of Aragon.

Economic and political development of Italy in the XV century. Trade of Italian cities. Bank of St. George. Establishment of the signoria system in the cities of Northern and Central Italy. Tyranny of the Medici in Florence. Lorenzo the Magnificent. Savonarola.

Countries of the Iberian Peninsula in the 11th-15th centuries.

Reconquest in the 11th-13th centuries Its influence on the socio-political development of the peninsula. The role of the nobility, peasantry, cities, churches in the Reconquista. Features of the economic development of the Leono-Castile kingdom, Aragon and Portugal. colonization processes. communal organization of the village. Concejo and beguetria. The structure of the layer of feudal lords and the political organization of the Pyrenean countries. Formation of the estate monarchy. Cortes. The final stage of the Reconquista. Strengthening crisis phenomena in socio-economic development at the end of the 13th - the first half of the 14th centuries. Deterioration of the position of the peasantry and aggravation of the social struggle in the countryside. Feudal strife and rebellions of the XIV-XV centuries. Unification of Castile and Aragon. Catholic Church and spiritual and chivalric orders. Inquisition.

Scandinavian countries in the XII-XV centuries.

The peculiarity of the development of feudal relations in the Scandinavian countries. Royal power and the processes of feudalization. Bonds, features of their position and status. Civil wars in Norway. Strengthening of royal power under Magnus the Legislator. Development of feudalism in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. War between Denmark and the Hansa. Kalmar Union.

Byzantium in the XIII-XV centuries.

IV Crusade and Latin Romania, Latin Empire. The agrarian system of Greece under the "Franks". Possessions and trading posts of Venice and Genoa in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Greek states in the first half of the thirteenth century. Recovery Byzantine Empire. Michael VIII Palaiologos. late Byzantine feudalism. The position of the cities of the empire in the XIII-XV centuries. Civil War and Zealot Revolt. Ideological and theological struggle in the empire. Hesychasm. Turkish conquests in the Balkans and Asia Minor. Capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Causes of the fall of Byzantium.

The productive forces of society in Western Europe in the V-XV centuries.

Features of the medieval economic system. Demographic processes in the V-XV centuries. Conditions of the geographical environment of medieval society. Tools of labor and organization of production in craft and agriculture. The state of productive forces in the V-VII centuries. Progress in the development of productive forces in the VIII-XI and XI-XIII centuries.

Church in the XI-XV centuries.

Monastic movements of the X - the first half of the XI centuries. Cluniacs. The idea of church reform. The fight against simony and the establishment of celibacy. Roman Curia and College of Cardinals.

The split of the church. Schism of 1054. The doctrine of transubstantiation. Dogma about purgatory.

"Gregorian reform" and its significance in the history of the church. The struggle for investiture and the prohibition of the right of the private church.

Establishment of papal theocracy. False Isidore Decretals. The era of the highest power of the papacy in the XII-XIII centuries. The doctrine of indulgence.

The Cistercian order as a new form of organization of monasticism. Movement of the Canons Regular. The charter of St. Augustine.

Changes in mass consciousness in the XII century. Heresies of the second half of the ÕII - ÕIII centuries. Teachings of the Waldensians and Cathars. Establishment of the papal inquisition. Creation of mendicant orders. Dominicans and Franciscans.

"Avignon captivity" popes. The policy of the "Avignon" papacy and the attitude of the church and society towards it. Movement for the independence of national churches. Great schism. The fall of the authority of the papacy and the conciliar movement. Ferrara Florence Cathedral. The fight for the union.

CULTURE OF WESTERN EUROPE V-XV centuries.

Genesis of medieval culture. Synthesis of late antique, Christian and barbarian traditions. Augustine. Boethius. Cassiodorus. The value of their work. The growth of self-consciousness of the barbarian peoples. Carolingian revival.

The specificity of the self-consciousness of a medieval person. Theologism and universalism of the medieval worldview. Scholasticism. Realism, nominalism and conceptualism. Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux. The fate of Aristotelian philosophy in Western Europe. Averroism. Thomas Aquinas and the Synthesis of Catholic Theology. Okkamism. Nicholas of Cusa and his teachings. Education system. Schools and Universities. The emergence of experiential knowledge. Roger Bacon.

The history of the Middle Ages covers a long period, full of diverse events. It was marked by the emergence and development of new forms of economic and socio-political life, significant progress in the development of material and spiritual culture compared with previous historical eras. Along with the manifestation of feudal violence, ignorance, the dominance of a dogmatic worldview and the cruel persecution of dissent, famine and devastating epidemics, the Middle Ages left in the memory of mankind examples of the heroic struggle of the masses against oppression, patriotic movements against foreign conquerors, and early manifestations of free thought. The treasury of world culture rightfully includes outstanding works of writers, poets and masters of the Middle Ages, monuments of folk art. By the end of this era, there is a revolution in the development of natural science, the flowering of humanistic thought, the appearance of Renaissance masterpieces.

The term "Middle Ages"(more precisely " middle age"- from lat. medium aevum) originated in Italy in the 15th-16th centuries. in the circles of humanists". At different stages of the development of historical science, different content was put into the concept of "Middle Ages". Historians of the 17th-18th centuries, who fixed the division of history into ancient, middle and new, considered the Middle Ages a period of deep cultural decline as opposed to a high take-off of culture in the ancient world and in modern times. Subsequently, bourgeois historians were unable to put forward any unified scientific definition of the concept of "Middle Ages". In modern non-Marxist historiography, the opinion prevails that the terms "Middle Ages", "ancient world", "modern times" are devoid of a definite content and are accepted only as traditional divisions of historical material.

Marxist-Leninist historical science puts a completely different content into this traditional periodization. Considering the historical process as a natural change of socio-economic formations, Marxist historians understand the Middle Ages primarily as the time of the emergence, domination and decline of the feudal socio-economic formation, which replaced the slave-owning or primitive communal system, and then in modern times gave way to the historical arena of capitalism. Nevertheless, the concepts of "Middle Ages" and "feudalism" are not completely identical. On the one hand, in the period of the Middle Ages, other socio-economic structures coexisted with feudalism (patriarchal, slaveholding, then capitalist). Moreover, for a long time in the early Middle Ages in a number of regions of Europe (especially in Byzantium, the Scandinavian countries), the feudal mode of production was not dominant. On the other hand, the feudal system was preserved in the economy of many

From this Latin term originates the term "medieval studies", which is called the field of historical science that studies the history of the Middle Ages.

countries centuries after the medieval era. Therefore, only considering the formation in the dialectics of all stages of its development, we can say that the medieval era was essentially feudal.

Almost all the peoples who now inhabit Europe and Asia, as well as many peoples of Africa and Latin America, have passed through the stage of feudal formation in their development and, consequently, have survived their Middle Ages. Therefore, in Soviet historical science, the concept of "Middle Ages" refers not only to the history of European peoples. It is given world-historical significance. This textbook is devoted to the history of the countries of Western and Central Europe, as well as Byzantium.

Sources on the history of the Middle Ages V-XV centuries.

A historical source is understood to mean everything created in the process human activity or affected by it. Everything that in the course of history was generated or modified by society objectively reflects its development, carries information about it. The historical source is inexhaustible. The problem is how to extract and correctly interpret the information contained in it.

Classification of medieval sources. With regard to the Middle Ages, it is advisable to single out five types sources that differ in the forms of recording social information: 1) natural geographical, i.e. data that can be directly studied about landscape, climate, soils, vegetation and other components environment, both affected by human activity, and simply important for understanding its specific geographical specifics; 2) ethnographic, represented by ancient technologies that have survived to this day, customs, stereotypes of thinking, the appearance of dwellings, costume, cuisine, as well as folklore and ancient layers of modern living languages; 3) real, which include archeologically obtained or otherwise surviving material relics of the past: buildings, tools, means of transport, household utensils, weapons, etc.; four) artistic and visual, reflecting their era in artistic images captured in monuments of architecture, painting, sculpture and applied art; 5) written, which are considered any texts written in letters, numbers, notes and other characters of the letter.

In principle, only a combination of data from all types of sources makes it possible to form a comprehensive picture of medieval society. However, they play an unequal role in the practical work of the medievalist. Material sources are of the greatest importance in the study of the early Middle Ages. Folklore, ethnographic sources, on the contrary, are most important for the study of the late Middle Ages, since, with rare exceptions, when transmitting information from memory, realities and ideas of only relatively recent times are more or less accurately preserved. The main thing for all periods of the Middle Ages and

almost all aspects of its history are written sources, and over time, due to the spread of literacy and the improvement of the conditions for storing manuscripts, their number, variety and informativeness increase.

Medieval written sources can be appropriately divided into three class: 1) narrative(narrative), describing the real or illusory reality in all the richness of its manifestations and in a relatively free form; 2) documentary, fixing individual moments of predominantly socio-economic, socio-legal and socio-political life through a special, largely formalized vocabulary; 3) legislative, which, being also legal in form, differ from documentary ones in that they reflect not only (sometimes not so much) the existing legal practice, but also the transforming will of the legislator who wants to change this practice, and most importantly, an attempt to streamline social relations, systematize social gradations and situations. Gradually, especially in the Renaissance, within the framework of narrative, and partly legislative sources, a special class of scientific literature is constituted, where the description of phenomena gives way to the disclosure of their essence with the help of theoretical analysis.

Somewhat earlier, fiction separated from narrative monuments, reflecting reality by generalizing various phenomena in artistic images.

The named classes of written sources are divided into kinds. So, among the narrative sources, there are historical stories, specifically covering the course of political (mainly) events; various hagiographic writings, telling about asceticism and miracles of saints; monuments epistolary creativity; sermons and all kinds instructions; until a certain time scientific and fiction. In turn, they can be divided into numerous varieties. For example, among the historical writings of the Middle Ages, there are annals, chronicles, biographies, genealogies and the so-called stories, i.e. devoted to any specific event or period of time "monographs". Chronicles are divided according to various criteria into world and local, prose and poetic, church and secular, dividing the latter into seigneurial, urban, etc.

Being convenient in work, this classification, of course, is rather conditional. After all, a coin or an inscribed parchment scroll can be considered at the same time as a material, artistic and pictorial and written source. Medieval narrative sources often include the texts of documents, and the latter are lengthy excursuses of a narrative nature. The assignment of a source to a particular category is determined by the specifics of the information obtained by analyzing it from one point of view or another.

2. Subject, chronological framework of the "History of the Middle Ages", the concept of "medieval studies".

Classification of historical sources.

Weakly synthesized way of development of feudal relations.

Non-synthetic way of development of feudal relations.

Synthetic way of development of feudal relations.

The most active feudal synthesis proceeded where the ancient and barbarian principles were sufficiently balanced. A classic example of such a variant of development is northeastern Galia, where feudalism took hold early (already in the 8th-9th centuries) and was relatively weakly burdened by pre-feudal remnants in the form of various modifications of the primitive communal and slaveholding biases and their superstructured manifestations. The degree of activity of feudal synthesis in a particular region depended on many factors:

1. Numerical ratio of barbarians and Romans who found themselves in the same territory (in the north-east of Gaul, the ratio is 1:10). Feudalism developed most successfully here. The influence of the Germans as the dominant ethnic group was much greater than their share in the population.

2. The very nature of the settlement of the barbarians on the territory of the empire (the territories of the barbarians, which were in contact with the possessions of the Romans, contributed to economic interaction and the emergence of common affairs and interests).

3. Comparative cultural level of the newcomer and the local population. The provinces were mastered by the Romans far from evenly. The speed of the process still depended on religious and legal factors. Natural-geographical and foreign policy conditions also had a significant impact (soils, landscape).

Byzantine example. The settlement of barbarians on the territory of the empire created only the prerequisites for feudal synthesis (there was no automatic qualitative leap). It took at least one and a half to two centuries for the interaction of the two systems (late antique and barbarian societies) to take place. In the very first decades, feudalization took place in each of the two peoples in its own way, continuing the previous line of development, but in fundamentally new conditions. At the beginning, the evolution to feudalism manifested itself more in Roman society (from the 4th century), a sharp weakening of state intervention led to an increase in private power, the transformation of the socio-economic structure and the law of classical antiquity continues, the status of a slave changes (already as the owner of property). The Roman estate turns into a feudal fiefdom. The barbarians are even more influenced by the new environment - they get acquainted with Roman agricultural technology and the organization of Roman estates, Roman law. The German nobility imitates the Roman.

With regard to the Middle Ages, it is advisable to distinguish five types of sources that differ in the forms of fixing social information:

1) natural geographical, i.e., data on the landscape, climate, soils, vegetation and other components of the environment, both affected by human activity and simply visible for understanding its specific geographical specifics, that can be directly studied;

2) ethnographic, represented by ancient technologies that have survived to this day, customs, stereotypes of thinking, the appearance of dwellings, costume, cuisine, as well as folklore and ancient layers of modern living languages;

3) real, which include archeologically obtained or otherwise surviving material relics of the past: buildings, tools, means of transport, household utensils, weapons, etc.;

4) artistic and visual, reflecting their era in artistic images captured in monuments of architecture, painting, sculpture and applied art;

5) written, which are any texts written in letters, numbers, notes and other signs of writing.

Medieval written sources can be appropriately divided into three classes:

· narrative(narrative), describing the real or illusory reality in all the richness of its manifestations and in a relatively free form;

· documentaries fixing individual moments of predominantly socio-economic, socio-legal and socio-political life through a special, largely formalized vocabulary;

· legislative which, being also legal in form, differ from documentary ones in that they reflect not only the existing legal practice, but also the transforming will of the legislator who wants to change this practice, and most importantly, an attempt to streamline social relations, systematize social gradations and situations.

Gradually, especially in the Renaissance, within the framework of narrative, and partly legislative sources, a special class of scientific literature is constituted, where the description of phenomena gives way to the disclosure of their essence with the help of theoretical analysis.

Somewhat earlier, fiction separated from narrative monuments, reflecting reality by generalizing various phenomena in artistic images.

The named classes of written sources fall into types. So, among the narrative sources, there are historical stories, specially illuminating the course political events; various hagiographic writings, telling about asceticism and miracles of saints; monuments epistolary creativity; sermons and all kinds instructions; until a certain time scientific and fiction. In turn, they can be divided into many varieties. For example, among the historical writings of the Middle Ages, there are annals, chronicles, biographies, genealogies and the so-called stories, those. devoted to any particular event or period of time "monographs". Chronicles are divided according to various criteria into world and local, prose and poetic, church and secular, dividing the latter into seigneurial, urban, etc.

The early Middle Ages is characterized by the transition from antiquity and barbarism to feudalism (reflected in the sources of the 5th-11th centuries). This is the era of subsistence farming, weak trade and other ties between countries and regions, very primitive statehood, and low literacy. In the early Middle Ages, the majority of the population of the West. and southern Europe lived according to the old Roman laws, gradually waking up to the new time. In the 6th c. By order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, these laws were codified (the Code of Justinian). New laws (short stories) of Justinian himself, statements of the most famous jurists of antiquity, a brief special textbook of law (Institutions). All together they received the name in the 12th century. The Code of Civil Law, at the same time the Code of Canon Law took shape - it contains the most important acts of church legislation. The code of civil law, the basis of Byzantine legislation, is a valuable source of the early Middle Ages. In the west, the Code of Justinian was almost unknown until the 11th-12th centuries. The Germanic, Celtic and Slavic peoples preserved their ancient customs and recorded them in writing. Documentary sources - letters, acts. Letters were drawn up according to a certain pattern. There were paperwork documents, inventories of church estates. Among the historiographic works in the first place are the stories - "The History of the Wars of Justinian", "The History of the Franks"). Publicism has not yet stood out, it was contained in the messages and treatises "On the management of the empire." Folk literature is associated with folklore - songs, heroic tales.

History of the Middle Ages. Volume 1 [In two volumes. Under the general editorship of S. D. Skazkin] Skazkin Sergey Danilovich

Chapter 1 SOURCES ON THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES (V-XV centuries)

The history of the feudal society of Western Europe is reflected in numerous sources, mostly written. Archaeological monuments are important for studying the initial stage of feudalism, as well as monuments of architecture, art, coins, etc., which provide valuable information on the history of medieval agriculture, crafts, construction, money circulation, etc.

Medieval written sources fall into several types: documentary materials (public acts, private acts, documents of an economic nature, administrative, financial, military, etc. documents of state power), legal monuments (“truths”, i.e. records of customary law Germanic and other peoples, codes of civil, criminal and church law, individual laws and decrees, city charters, court records, legal treatises), narrative sources (annals, i.e. chronicles, chronicles, biographies, lives of saints, unofficial correspondence, journalism), folklore, literary works etc.

Documentary and legal sources, as a rule, provide abundant material on the history of the economy, social and legal relations. Narrative sources contain mainly data for political history.

Of all types of sources, documentary material has the greatest reliability. In narrative sources, to a greater extent than in documents and legal monuments, events are reflected through the prism of the consciousness of their authors. Therefore, the sources of this type are inherent in the subjectivity of perception, sometimes deliberate silence about certain facts or even their deliberate distortion.

The formation of barbarian states on the territory of the Western Roman Empire and the formation of the feudal system required the written registration of the customs that operated among the Germanic peoples, and the adoption of laws that regulated their relations with the conquered population. Therefore, already in the V century. the Germanic peoples who settled on the territory of the former empire had written laws; for the initial stage of the formation of feudalism, they are the only written sources reflecting socio-economic relations. Being according to their purpose judiciary, i.e., a list of fines and other punishments for various crimes and misdemeanors, these records of customary law provide rich and extremely valuable material for studying the level of productive forces, forms of ownership, incipient social differentiation, survivals of the communal-tribal system, forms litigation etc. during the period of the birth of the feudal system.

The same written laws then arose among the Germanic and Celtic peoples of Northern and Central Europe, who did not know the slave system and Roman rule. The process of decomposition of the communal-clan system and the formation of feudalism took place more slowly among some of these peoples, therefore, the recording of laws was carried out later - in the 8th-9th centuries, and among the Scandinavian peoples even later - in the 12th-13th centuries.

In Russian, most of these legal monuments are called "truths" by analogy with the name of "Russkaya Pravda". Their common Latin name (most written in Latin) is lex (i.e. law) with the addition of the name of the tribe or people (for example, lex saxsonum, lex frisionum). Collectively, they are usually called "Barbarian Truths" ("Leges barbarorum"). They represent a record of pre-existing legal norms, gradually developed in the process of development of society (the so-called customary law). However, even in the earliest editions of the “truths”, the norms of customary law, when they were fixed, underwent some changes under the influence of royal power. Over time, the "truths" changed and supplemented in accordance with the development of the feudal system; at this stage the people no longer took part in legislation. getting stronger government issued laws that changed certain provisions of the “truths”.

The text of "truths" is usually very complex in composition due to later stratifications, insertions, and numerous editions (i.e., variants). The Visigothic, Burgundian, Salic, Ripuarian, Alemannic, Bavarian, Saxon, Frisian, Thuringian and Anglo-Saxon "truths" have come down to us. The record of Lombard customary law is called the "Edict of Rotary". Particularly noteworthy is the "Salic Truth" (the law of the Salic Franks), in its oldest edition of the beginning of the 6th century. closest to the ancient German customs. The most important source for the study of the agrarian system of Byzantium in the VIII century. is the “Agricultural Law”, which is a set of Byzantine-Slavic customary law, in a number of its features reminiscent of the “truths” of the Germanic peoples.

Only a small part of the really existing documentary materials of the early Middle Ages has come down to us. In addition, the very social life of that time was limited to a relatively narrow area of relations that required official fixing in documents. Decisions of the royal court (local courts have not yet recorded their decisions), acts of donations, purchase and sale and exchange of land, wills, acts that consolidated dependency relations are the main types of early feudal letters. Along with them, there were also collections of formulas, that is, samples of typical charters, according to which real documents of various contents were written, giving an idea of all types of transactions that took place, but in an abstract form, without mentioning names, dates, specific descriptions of lands, etc. 8th-9th centuries in the monasteries there are polyptics, i.e. inventories of estates (for example, a detailed polyptics of Irminon, abbot of the Saint-Germain monastery near Paris, compiled at the beginning of the 9th century), and cartularies, i.e. collections of charters and other documents, usually in copies. At the same time, instructions for the management of large estates appear. The latter include, for example, Charlemagne's "Capitulare do villis", compiled around 800. Poliptics, cartulary, instructions give an idea of the organization of large feudal landownership, forms of exploitation of the dependent population, and the main types of dependence of the peasants.

In the empire of Charlemagne, an extensive and varied royal legislation appears - capitularies (so named because the text is divided into chapters, that is, chapters). In Byzantium, the publication of imperial decrees has not been interrupted since the time of the late Roman Empire.

Sources for the political and partly social history of the early Middle Ages are the annals and "histories" of individual peoples. Annals (lat. - annales from annus - year) were called chronicles in Western Europe. Inherited from Rome, they appeared in monasteries from the 6th century. and took the form of brief notes on Easter tables, in which the days of the celebration of the mobile church holiday easter. The first records appeared at first against individual years, and not every year was marked by some event; then records became more frequent, and from the end of the 7th century. - annual. By the VIII-IX centuries. include the annals of a wider territorial coverage compiled at the royal courts: the Royal Annals at the court of Charlemagne, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the court of King Alfred in England.

Along with the annals in the countries of Western Europe from the VI century. there appeared "stories" of individual Germanic tribes settled in the provinces of the former Roman Empire. They contain legends about ancestors, about migrations, about the first dukes and kings, folk songs, sagas, as well as much more detailed information than in the annals about the first centuries of the history of individual Germanic peoples: “On the origin and deeds of the Goths” of Jordan, “ History of the Goths" by Isidore of Seville, "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours, "History of the Lombards" by Paul the Deacon, "Ecclesiastical History of the Angles" by Bede the Venerable, etc. Valuable information on political history also contains those that have appeared since the 9th century. biographies of sovereigns, bishops and other major feudal lords, among which Eingard's "Life of Charlemagne" was widely known.

The narrative sources of this period in Byzantium are of particular value. The authors of Byzantine historical writings - the highest dignitaries or monks - make extensive use of ancient historiographic traditions and, having a broader political outlook than Western historians, give in their writings the history of not only Byzantium, but also of its neighboring peoples. The most famous are the works of the historian of the VI century. Procopius of Caesarea, dedicated to the events of the reign of Emperor Justinian. Later in the X century. the development of productive forces was reflected in the Byzantine treatise "Geoponics", which collected a lot of data on agriculture. By the X century. also includes an important source on the history of the Byzantine city - the "Book of the Eparch" - a collection of government orders that regulated the organization of crafts and trade in Constantinople. The book provides valuable information about the economic life and guild system of the Byzantine capital.

An important historical source of the early Middle Ages are the lives of the saints. In them, despite the abundance of legendary material, many features of folk life and valuable information on the history of the church, the growth of its land ownership, life, customs, ideology, aspirations and beliefs of the masses have been preserved.

For studying the history of the culture of the early Middle Ages, monuments of folk poetry are of paramount importance: Irish, Icelandic, Scandinavian sagas and the Anglo-Saxon epic. The ancient epic of other Germanic peoples has come down to us, as a rule, in later revisions, but they also contain a lot of interesting data.

On the territory of the former Western Roman Empire, the legal and narrative sources of the early Middle Ages were written in Latin. But, as a rule, it was not the literary Latin language, but the folk provincial dialects adopted by the Germanic peoples. In England, Ireland and Iceland, laws and some historical works were written in the vernacular, since Latin was alien to the Celts and Anglo-Saxons and remained during this period to a large extent the language of the church. In the empire of Charlemagne, the language of the annals and especially historical works was closer to the literary Latin, understandable only to the clergy and partly the nobility, but for the people it became less and less understandable, as the vernacular languages more and more departed from Latin. Byzantine sources, documentary and narrative, were written in Greek, which was used by the majority of the population.

The period of developed feudalism is characterized by significant progress in the life of the peoples of Europe. Cities appeared, nation-states began to take shape, a national culture was born. All this contributed to the quantitative growth of sources, their diversity and the emergence of new species.

The growth of productive forces in the XI-XV centuries. can be traced not only according to archaeological data and indirect evidence of documents and annals. In the XIII century. in Western Europe a number of agricultural treatises were drawn up; from the XIV-XV centuries. treatises on trade, on cloth making have come down to us. Guild statutes are very valuable sources on the history of urban crafts. On miniatures of manuscripts, on bas-reliefs and stained-glass windows of cathedrals and town halls, on carpets, many images of scenes of handicraft and agricultural labor have been preserved: mowing, reaping, threshing, making wine and oil, weaving, building.

The picture of feudal production relations is reflected in various documents. Letters, inventories of estates, lists of peasant duties are the main documents for the agrarian history of the XI-XII centuries. Unfortunately, most of these documents have come down to us not in originals, but in copies or in the form of summaries entered in the cartulary.

In connection with the development of commodity-money relations in the XIII-XV centuries. new types of documents appeared: acts that formalized various land transactions (purchase and sale, pledge and lease of land, pledge and sale of land rent, etc.), the establishment of fixed peasant duties, the redemption of peasants from serfdom, etc. these documents were also preserved in copies - in the form of notarial minutes (that is, brief records of the content of the transaction) or as part of urban and senior registers. Important material on the agrarian and social history of England in the 11th-13th centuries. give land censuses - the results of government investigations. Of greatest interest among them are the "Book of the Last Judgment", compiled in England in 1086 and which is a census of almost all land holdings, settlements, including cities, and the population of the country, as well. "Hundred Rolls" of 1279 - a continuous inventory of land holdings of some counties of Central England. Germany is characterized by the appearance in the XIII century. "Mark statutes", i.e., records of customary law, which recorded communal routines, and sometimes also the duties of peasants in favor of the feudal lords.

In countries where, even with the development of commodity-money relations, the feudal lords continued to conduct the lordly economy on a significant scale, great importance acquired in the 13th century. inventories of estates (extents in England, urbariums in Germany and other countries), reports of managers, accounts, instructions, etc. These sources sometimes even make it possible to make more or less accurate statistical calculations.

The development of cities gave birth to city charters and statutes that regulated the intracity organization and relations of cities with seniors. In the XIII century. for the first time, charters began to be written down, which determined the internal structure of the workshops. Among the sources of this kind, the “Book of Crafts” compiled in Paris around 1268, a set of 100 guild statutes, stands out. Starting from the XIV century. in cities, a large number of acts appear that draw up donations, purchases and sales, wills, marriage contracts, mortgages and debt obligations, loan documents, etc. In those countries where back in the XIV-XV centuries. the beginnings of capitalist relations appeared, for example in Italy, in large companies trading books are already being kept.

For the period of the XIII-XV centuries. characteristic are the records of feudal customary law (“Mirrors” in Germany, “Kutums” in France, “Fueros” in Spain, “Jerusalem assizes” in the state of the crusaders, etc.), which reflected the changes that took place in the socio-economic development of those or other countries. These documents, drawn up, as a rule, by judges, formalized the law that was in force within more or less large areas and regulated the relations of feudal ownership of land, legal proceedings, relations between individual estates, vassal ties and property relations within the class of feudal lords, as well as quitrent monetary relations. between peasants and landowners. In Byzantium, due to the preservation of a centralized state and legislation, as well as due to the long dominance of Roman law, legal collections were guides for lawyers in the form of a presentation of individual court cases (the collection "Feast" of the 11th century, etc.).

In the XIII-XV centuries. in the cities took shape their own urban law, built to a large extent on the norms of Roman law.

At the same time, in states with a growing central power, royal legislation developed (ordinances in France, statutes and ordinances in England), which introduced a certain uniformity into the sphere of legal proceedings and provided normal conditions for the development of trade and industry. Byzantium is characterized by the continuous development of imperial legislation. Of particular note is the appearance in the middle of the XIV century. in England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the so-called labor legislation, which established the working day and fixed the wages of hired workers who appeared at that time.

All these legal monuments, as well as protocols (registers) of judicial institutions since the 13th century. together with documents of an economic, financial and administrative nature, they become the most important sources on the history of property and social relations. They also outline the administration, court, police, and finances of the feudal state.

The most important sources for the political history of the X-XV centuries. are annals and chronicles. In feudally fragmented Europe X-XII centuries. annals were kept in separate, quite numerous centers of chronicle writing - monasteries and other church institutions. At the same time, chronicles appear, in which, unlike the annals, a coherent and sometimes very detailed presentation of events is given in chronological order, but with digressions, insertions, comparisons, etc. The annals are impersonal in nature. In the chronicles, the personality of the author, his interests, sympathies, and literary style are clearly manifested; this is a work of art. The chronicles of the 10th-12th centuries, especially the 13th century, are wider than the annals in terms of their interests and political tendencies. The crusades, the growth of cities and their political role, the expansion of economic, political and cultural ties - all these new phenomena are reflected in the chronicles.

In the XIII century. (and in France and Italy since the 12th century), with the growth of cities, urban annals appear, which from the very beginning had a different, secular character and other political tasks. They are characterized by anti-feudal tendencies that developed in the long struggle of cities with seniors, a clear presentation, a businesslike approach to all issues. Very quickly, the city annals turned into coherent and detailed city chronicles, compiled mainly by city officials. These chronicles, especially numerous in Italy and Germany, are the most important source for the history of cities and one of the main sources for the political history of this period.

In England, France, Spain and other countries, collections of “royal chronicles” appeared (for example, the “Great French Chronicles”, “St. illuminated from a progressive for that time point of view of the interests of the central government. These chronicles, reflecting First stage formation of centralized states, received in the XIV-XV centuries. further development and wide distribution, which led to the creation in the XV century. in many countries historical works of national scale.

In contrast to the earlier period, the authors of the chronicles of the XIII century. there were not only monks, but also secular people, mainly knights and large feudal lords, who already wrote in national languages and intended their works for a wider circle of readers and listeners than monks - authors of Latin chronicles.

In the XIV-XV centuries. chronicles were written, as a rule, by royal advisers, knights, townspeople or city clerics, close to the townspeople in their political interests. In the center of their attention are long-term wars, no longer of a local, but of a European scale, which contributed to a more distinct manifestation of national interests and sympathies. With few exceptions, chroniclers' accounts of numerous popular uprisings of this time are sharply hostile to the people, and the facts are often distorted. The content and style of the chronicles were reflected in the changing needs of readers, whose circle was constantly expanding. This contributed to the growth of the number of chronicles. But their significance as historical sources is gradually decreasing, partly because from the middle of the XIV century. the amount of documentary material is increasing, which becomes the main source for recreating political history; partly due to the fact that the chronicles of the XIV-XV centuries, with the exception of urban or compiled by royal advisers, lost essential quality source on political history - the reliability of the reported information. The complication of social and political life and the secrecy of some aspects of the state's activities that began at that time made it difficult for most chroniclers to receive the necessary information in a timely manner. The chronicles of this period, for the most part, remain of great importance mainly as sources for the history of public opinion, ideology, culture and life, as well as for the history of the language and literature of that era. The most characteristic in this regard is the French chronicle of the 14th century, written by the "singer of chivalry" Froissart.

Chronicles in Byzantium had a different character. The historiographical tradition was not interrupted there. As before, the authors were major dignitaries close to the government, who imitated the style of ancient historians, or monks who wrote in colloquial language. The destruction of almost all Byzantine documentary material makes narrative monuments the main sources on the political history of Byzantium in the 11th-15th centuries.

Starting from the XIV century. in all countries, the number of documents related to public administration, diplomacy, etc., - registers, accounts, reports, instructions, previously few. Now these documents are better stored and recorded; life itself causes the appearance of more and more new documents - minutes of meetings of central and local authorities management, daily business correspondence, numerous letters and instructions from leading persons, major public figures, etc. The value of these sources for the history of Western Europe is very high; these are the most reliable historical sources. They directly and accurately reflect reality, record all changes in government policy and reveal its secret springs, cover in detail the activities of many major political and public figures, and are reliable in terms of dates, names, and factual material in general. Documentary sources (mainly court records, city registers, etc.) contain a lot of valuable information on the history of the class struggle of the 14th-15th centuries.

A special place is occupied by sources on the history of the Catholic Church and the papacy. The main ones are papal charters (“apostolic charters”, from the 14th century usually called bulls (a bull was a lead seal hanging on a cord to a papal charter; this name was then transferred to the charter itself), and small charters - logs, published about various specific events); they reflect the policy of the papacy in the countries of Western Europe. Acts of church councils reveal the Catholic doctrine and illuminate the life of church institutions. The church and the clergy lived according to a special church (canonical) law, which at the beginning of the 13th century. was consolidated into a single code. On the history of heresies, the main sources are theological treatises and protocols of the inquisitorial courts.

Fund of sources on the history of culture of the XI-XV centuries. extremely large and varied. Here are folk songs, ballads, fairy tales, and the city theater with its mysteries (performances on gospel themes) and farces, and rich chivalric literature: chivalrous poetic and prose novels, love lyrics, processing of ancient epic tales. Sources for history scientific knowledge in the Middle Ages, those who appeared in the XII century can serve. philosophical, medical, philological and other treatises. Much material on the history of medieval culture is provided by architectural monuments, as well as monuments of fine art, represented mainly by miniatures in numerous manuscripts, stained-glass windows and sculpture in cathedrals.

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Chapter IV. CHANGES IN SENIORITY AND PROPERTY FROM THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE FRENCH

author Team of authors

Chapter 5. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE

From the book History of political and legal doctrines. Textbook / Ed. Doctor of Law, Professor O. E. Leist. author Team of authors

Chapter 6. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN THE ARAB EAST IN THE MIDDLE PERIOD