Social Studies... ► Hayden Carlson - The Renaissance.pdf
Historians usually place the start of the Middle Ages with the fall of the
Roman Empire in Europe in 476 A.D. The end of Roman rule left Europe in
chaos as rival clans fought constantly. Towns were sacked and trade
collapsed. Gone was the Greek and Roman interest in learning and the arts,
replaced instead with a single concern - land.
By the end of the 8th century, order was finally restored under the
leadership of Charlemagne, King of the Franks. Determined to bring an end to
the constant warfare in Europe, Charlemagne spent thirty years taking over
most of Western Europe. With vast lands under his rule, Charlemagne
oversaw the rise to power of the Roman Catholic Church to unify Europe and
establish feudalism, which brought peace.
For centuries, Europeans lived and worshipped in small, self-sufficient
communities and had little contact with outsiders. Then, in the late 11th
century, warriors from across the continent heeded the call of the Catholic
Church to go to war to capture the Holy Lands (the Middle East) for
Christianity. Though the Crusades failed in their goal, they forced people to
leave their closed communities and reawakened European interest in learning.
In the 12th century, trade was revived and people began to move in large
numbers to growing cities with schools and universities, busy shops, and
soon, printers. The growing availability of books added to a new thirst for
knowledge and ushered in a new and exciting period in Europe, called the
Renaissance.
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Which of these titles would be most appropriate for this passage?