The West’s Expansionist Impulse

European expansion beyond initial postclassical borders. From the 11th century, Germanic

knights and agricultural settlers changed the population and environmental balance in eastern

Germany and Poland. In Spain and Portugal, small Christian states in the 10th century began the

reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslims. Viking voyagers crossed the Atlantic to

Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. The most dramatic expansion occurred during the Crusades

against Muslims in the Holy Land. Pope Urban II called the first in 1095. Christian warriors

seeking salvation and spoils established kingdoms in the Holy Land enduring into the 13th

century. Their presence helped to expose Europeans to cultural and economic influences from

Byzantium and Islam.

and renewal. The church’s wealth and power often led its officials to become preoccupied with

secular matters. Monastic orders and popes from the 11th century worked to reform the church.

Leaders, such as St. Francis and St. Clare, both from Assisi, purified monastic orders and gave

new spiritual vigor to the church. Pope Gregory VII attempted to free the church from secular

interference by stipulating that priests remain unmarried and that bishops not be appointed by the

state. Independent church courts developed to rule on religious concerns.

The High Middle Ages. Postclassical Western civilization reached its high point during the

12th and 13th centuries. Creative tensions among feudal political forms, emerging monarchies,

and the authority of the church produced major changes in political, religious, intellectual, social,

and economic life.

element in western Europe, even though it changed as European society matured.

attempted to preserve and interpret the ideas of earlier thinkers, especially Aristotle and

Augustine. The efforts gradually produced a fuller understanding of the past, particularly in

philosophy, rhetoric, and logic. After 1000, the process went to new levels. Absolute faith in

God’s word was stressed, but it was held that human reason contributed to the understanding of

religion and the natural order. Peter Abelard in 12th-century Paris used logic to demonstrate

contradictions in doctrine. Many church leaders opposed such endeavors and emphasized the

role of faith for understanding religious mysteries. St. Bernard of Clairvaux successfully

challenged Abelard and stressed the importance of mystical union with God. The debates

matched similar tensions within Islam concerning philosophical and scientific traditions. In

Europe, there were increasing efforts to bridge this gap. By the 12th century, the debate

flourished in universities, opening intellectual avenues not present in other civilizations. In

China, for example, a single path was followed. The European universities produced men for

clerical and state bureaucracies, but they also motivated a thirst for knowledge from other past

and present civilizations. By the 13th century, Western thinkers had created a synthesis of

medieval learning. St. Thomas Aquinas of Paris in his Summas held that faith came first but that

human reason allowed a greater understanding of natural order, moral law, and the nature of

God. Although scholasticism deteriorated after Thomas, it had opened new paths for human

understanding. Medieval philosophy did not encourage scientific endeavor, but a few scholars,

such as Roger Bacon, did important experimental work in optics and other fields.

ran deep within individuals. The rise of cities encouraged the formation of lay groups. The cults

of the Virgin Mary and sundry saints demonstrated a need for intermediaries between people and

God. Pagan practices endured and blended into Christianity.

and formal themes. Religious ideas dominated painting, with the early stiff and stylized figures

changing by the 14th and 15th centuries to more realistic portrayals that included secular scenes.

Architecture followed Roman models. A Romanesque style had rectangular buildings

surmounted by domes. During the 11th century, the Gothic style appeared, producing soaring

spires and arched windows requiring great technical skills. Literature and music equally

reflected religious interest. Latin writings dealt with philosophy, law, and politics. Vernacular

literature developed, incorporating themes from the past, such as the English Beowulf and the

French Song of Roland. Contemporary secular themes were represented in Chaucer’s

Canterbury Tales. Courtly poets (troubadours) in 14th-century southern France portrayed

courtly love.

cement formed by the Catholic church, Western society had other common features in economic

activity and social structure. The postclassical West demonstrated great powers of innovation.

When trade revived in the 10th century, the West became a kind of common commercial zone as

merchants moved commodities from one region to another.

New Strains in Rural Life. Agricultural improvements after 800 C.E. allowed some peasants to

shake off the most severe manorial constraints. Noble landlords continued their military

functions but used trade to improve their living styles. The more complex economy increased

landlord-peasant tensions. From then until the 19th century, there were recurring struggles

between the two groups. Peasants wanted more freedom and control of land, while landlords

wanted higher revenues. In general, peasant conditions improved and landlord controls

weakened. Although agriculture remained technologically backward when compared with that

in other societies, it had surpassed previous levels.

commerce. Banking was introduced by Italian businessmen. The use of money spread rapidly.

Large trading and banking operations clearly were capitalistic. Europeans traded with other

world regions, particularly via Italian Mediterranean merchants, for luxury goods and spices.

Within Europe, raw materials and manufactured items were exchanged. Cities in northern

Germany and southern Scandinavia formed the Hanseatic League to encourage commerce.

European traders, although entering into many economic pursuits as demonstrated in the 15thcentury

career of Jacques Coeur, still generally remained less venturesome and wealthy than

their Islamic counterparts. The weakness of western governments allowed merchants a freer

hand than in many civilizations. Cities were ruled by commercial leagues, and rulers allied with

them against the aristocracy. Apart from taxation and borrowing, governments left merchants

alone, allowing them to gain an independent role in society. Most peasants and landlords were

not enmeshed in a market system. In cities, the characteristic institution was the merchant or

artisan guild. Guilds grouped people in similar occupations, regulated apprenticeships,

maintained good workmanship, and discouraged innovations. They played an important political

and social role in cities. Manufacturing and commercial methods in Europe improved, but they

did not attain Asian levels in ironmaking and textile production. Only in a few areas, such as

clock making, did they take the lead. By the late Middle Ages, the western medieval economy

contained contradictory elements. Commercial and capitalistic trends jostled the slower rural

economy and guild protectionism.

limited women’s roles. Women’s work remained vital to families. Christian emphasis on

spiritual equality remained important, while female monastic groups offered a limited alternative

to marriage. Veneration of the Virgin Mary and other female religious figures provided positive

role models for women. Still, even though women were less restricted than those within Islam,

they lost ground. They were increasingly hemmed in by male-dominated organizations. By the

close of the Middle Ages, patriarchal structures were firmly established.

The Decline of the Medieval Synthesis. After 1300, postclassical Western civilization

declined. A major war embroiled France and England during the 14th and 15th centuries. The

sporadic fighting spread economic distress and demonstrated the weaknesses of the feudal order.

At the same time, key sources of Western vitality degenerated. Agriculture could not keep up

with population growth. Famines followed. Further losses came from the Black Death in 1348

and succeeding plagues. Tensions between landlord and peasants, and artisans and their

employees, intensified.

Signs of Strain. There were increasing challenges to medieval institutions. The land-owning

aristocracy, the ruling class, lost its military role as professional armies and new weapons

transformed warfare. Aristocrats retreated into a ceremonial style of life emphasizing chivalry.

The balance of power between church and state shifted in favor of the state. As the church

leaders struggled to retain secular authority, they lost touch with individual believers who turned

to popular religious currents emphasizing direct experience of God. Intellectual and artistic

synthesis also declined. Church officials became less tolerant of intellectual boldness and

retreated from Aquinas’ blend of rationalism and religion. In art, styles became more realistic.

Mediterraneans did not directly identify what “Western” was and because of the lack of political

unity in Western Europe in the postclassical era. However, western Europeans certainly would

have recognized Christianity as a common element. The rapid spread of universities and trade

patterns increasingly joined much of western Europe. Furthermore, defining Western

civilization is complicated because Europe borrowed so much from Asian civilizations.

period between the era of Greece and Rome and the vigorous new civilization of the 15th

century. This view neglects the extent of medieval creativity. Much of Europe had not

previously been incorporated into a major civilization. Europeans, for the first time, were

building appropriate institutions and culture. Medieval thinkers linked classical rationalism

within a strong Christian framework. Classical styles were preserved but were surpassed by new

expressive forms. Medieval economics and politics established firm foundations for the future.

Western European civilization shared many attributes with other emerging regions; among its

distinctive aspects was an aggressive interest in the wider world.

Global Connections: Medieval Europe and the World. Western Europe in the Middle Ages

had a love-hate relationship with the world around it. Early on, Europe seemed threatened by

Vikings, Asian nomads, and Islam. At the same time, Europeans actively copied many features

from Islam and traded with Asians. Through selective acceptance of benefits from the world

around them, this civilization developed a global awareness.

Reunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and

Song Dynasties

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Basic themes of Chinese civilization underwent vital consolidation during the postclassical

period. Less fundamental innovation occurred than in the Americas and Europe. Important

developments took place in technology. Political turmoil followed the fall of the Han during the

Period of the Six Dynasties (220-589 C.E.), and the empire’s bureaucratic apparatus collapsed.

The scholar-gentry class lost ground to landed families. Non-Chinese nomads ruled much of

China, and a foreign religion, Buddhism, replaced Confucianism as a primary force in cultural

life. There was economic, technological, intellectual, and urban decline. New dynasties, the Sui

and Tang, from the end of the 6th century brought a restoration of Chinese civilization. Political

unity returned as nomads and nobility were brought under state control and the bureaucracy was

rebuilt. Major changes occurred in economic and social life as the focus of a revived civilization

shifted from the north to the Yangzi valley and southern and eastern coastal areas. The Song

dynasty continued the revival; their era saw the restoration of the scholar-gentry and the

Confucian order. It was a time of artistic, literary, and technological flourishing. Male

dominance reached new heights.

Rebuilding the Imperial Edifice in the Sui-Tang Eras. A noble, Wendi, with the support of

nomadic military leaders, won control of northern China. In 589, he defeated the Chen kingdom,

which ruled much of the South, and established the Sui dynasty as ruler of the traditional

Chinese core. Wendi won popularity by lowering taxes and establishing granaries to ensure a

stable, cheap food supply.

Sui Excesses and Collapse. Wendi’s son Yangdi continued strengthening the state by further

conquests and victories over nomads. He reformed the legal code and the Confucian educational

system. The scholar-gentry were brought back into the imperial administration. Yangdi

undertook extensive and expensive construction projects at a new capital, Loyang, and for a

series of canals to link the empire. He attempted unsuccessfully to conquer Korea, and was

defeated by Turkic nomads in central Asia in 615. Widespread revolts followed. Imperial rule

crumbled and Yangdi was assassinated in 618.

The Emergence of the Tang and the Restoration of the Empire. Imperial unity was saved

when Li Yuan, Duke of Tang and a former supporter of the Sui, won control of China and began

the Tang dynasty. Tang armies extended the empire’s reach to the borders of Afghanistan and

thus dominated the nomads of the frontier borderlands. The Tang used Turkic nomads in their

military and tried to assimilate them into Chinese culture. The Great Wall was repaired. The

extensive Tang Empire stretched into Tibet, Vietnam, Manchuria, and Korea.

helped the Tang to maintain imperial unity. The power of the aristocracy was reduced. Political

authority henceforth was shared by imperial families and scholar-gentry bureaucrats. Thebureaucracy, subject to strict controls, reached from the imperial court to district levels of

administration. A Bureau of Censors watched all officials.

numbers of scholar-gentry rose far above Han levels. They greatly extended the examination

system, and civil service advancement patterns were regularized. Specialized exams were

administered by the Ministry of Public Rites. The highest offices went only to individuals able

to pass exams based on the Confucian classics and Chinese literature. Additional exams

determined their ranking in the pool eligible for office and awarded special social status. Birth

and family connections remained important for gaining high office. Intelligent commoners

might rise to high positions, but the central administration was dominated by a small number of

prominent families.

State and Religion in the Tang-Song Era. The Confucian revival threatened Buddhism’s place

in Chinese life. Many previous rulers had been strong Buddhist supporters. Chinese monks

gave the foreign religion Chinese qualities. Salvationist Mahayana Buddhism won wide mass

acceptance during the era of war and turmoil. Elite Chinese accepted Chan Buddhism, or Zen,

which stressed meditation and appreciation of natural and artistic beauty. Early Tang rulers

continued to patronize Buddhism, especially Empress Wu (690-705). She endowed monasteries,

commissioned colossal statues of Buddha, and sought to make Buddhism the state religion.

There were about 50,000 monasteries by the middle of the 9th century.

as an alien faith. Daoists stressed their magical and predictive powers. Confucian scholaradministrators

worked to convince the Tang that untaxed Buddhist monasteries posed an

economic threat to the empire. Measures to limit land and resources going to Buddhists gave

way to open persecution under Emperor Wuzong (841-847). Thousands of monasteries and

shrines were destroyed; hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns had to return to secular life.

Buddhist lands were taxed or redistributed to taxpaying nobles and peasants. Buddhism survived

the persecutions, but in a much reduced condition. Confucianism emerged as the enduring

central ideology of Chinese civilization.

Tang Decline and the Rise of the Song. The reign of Emperor Xuanzong (713-756) marked the

zenith of Tang power. He initially advanced political and economic reform; later he turned to

patronizing the arts and the pleasures of the imperial city. Xuanzong became infatuated with an

imperial harem woman, Yang Guifei. She filled upper levels of government with her relatives

and gained authority in court politics. Rival cliques stimulated unrest, while lack of royal

direction caused economic distress and military weakness. A serious revolt occurred in 755.

The rebels were defeated, and Yang Guifei was killed, but Xuanzong and succeeding rulers

provided weak leadership for the dynasty. Nomadic frontier peoples and regional governors

used the disorder to gain virtual independence. Worsening economic conditions in the 9th

century caused many revolts, some of them popular movements led by peasants.

of turmoil, a military commander, Zhao Kuangyin, renamed Taizu, in 960 reunited China under

one dynasty, the Song. His failure to defeat the Liao dynasty of Manchuria, founded by Khitan

nomads in 907, established a lasting precedent for weakness in dealing with northern nomadicpeoples. Ensuing military victories by the Khitans led to the paying of heavy tribute to the Liao,

who became very much influenced by Chinese culture.

Song Politics: Settling for Partial Restoration. The Song never matched the Tang in political

or military strength. To prevent a return of the conditions ending Tang rule, the military was

subordinated to scholar-gentry civilians. Song rulers strongly promoted the interests of the

Confucian scholar-gentry class over aristocratic and Buddhist rivals. Salaries were increased,

civil service exams were made routine, and successful candidates had a better chance for

employment.

Long-neglected texts were recovered; new academies for the study of the classics and impressive

libraries were founded. Many thinkers labored to produce differing interpretations of Confucian

and Daoist thought and to prove the superiority of indigenous thought. The most prominent neo-

Confucianist, Zhu Xi, emphasized the importance of applying philosophical principles to

everyday life. Neo-Confucians believed that the cultivation of personal morality was the highest

human goal. Confucian learning, they argued, produced superior men to govern and teach

others. Neo-Confucian thinking had a lasting effect on intellectual life. Hostility to foreign

thought prevented the entry of innovations from other societies, while the stress on tradition

stifled critical thinking within China. Neo-Confucian emphasis on rank, obligation, deference,

and performance of rituals reinforced class, gender, and age distinctions. The authority of the

patriarchal family head was strengthened. Social harmony and prosperity, claimed neo-

Confucianists, was maintained when men and women performed the tasks appropriate to their

status.

nomads to carve out kingdoms on the northern borders. The Tangut from Tibet established the

kingdom of Xi Xia, southwest of Liao. The Song paid them and other peoples tribute and

maintained a large army to protect against invasion, thus draining state resources and burdening

the peasantry. Song emphasis on scholar-gentry concerns contributed to military decline.

Confucian scholar and chief minister Wang Anshi attempted sweeping reforms in the late 11th

century. He used legalist principles and encouraged agricultural expansion through cheap loans

and government-assisted irrigation projects. The landlord and scholar-gentry were taxed, and the

revenues went for military reform. Wang Anshi even attempted to revitalize the educational

system by giving preference to analytical skills.

died in 1085, his successor favored conservatives opposing reform. Neo-Confucianists gained

power and reversed Wang’s policies. Economic conditions deteriorated, and the military was

unable to defend the northern borders. The nomadic Jurchens, after overthrowing Liao, in 1115

established the Qin kingdom. They invaded China and annexed most of the Yellow River basin.

The Song fled south and established a capital at Huangzhou in the Yangzi River basin. The

small southern Song dynasty ruled from 1127 to 1279.

Tang and Song Prosperity: The Basis of a Golden Age. The Sui and Tang had built canals

because of a major shift in Chinese population balance. Yangdi’s Grand Canal, eventually more

than 1,200 miles long, linked the original civilization centers of the North with the Yangzi River

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By early Song times, the South was the leader in crop production and population. The canal

system made government of the South by northern capitals possible. Food from the South could

be distributed in the North, while the South was opened to migration and commercial

development.