During the twelfth century the French and English monarchs consolidated their power at the expense of their subject feudal lords. In France, Louis VI (1108-37) asserted his authority by defeating several of his insurrecting vassals, and he established the royal court as the final court of appeal. Abbot Suger of the royal abbey of Saint Denis and Louis had received their early education together at Saint Denis, and they continued a lifelong friendship. Suger became the most trusted advisor of the king, and conducted diplomatic missions for him. His public service, however, did not cause Suger to neglect his duties as abbot. He reformed the religious life of the monks and rebuilt the abbey church.
At 1100 Paris was one among
several important cities in France, but by 1150, Paris had emerged as the clear
leading French city and one of the most important cities in all of Europe. The Seine river provided good access to the
increasing North Sea commerce, and the Paris schools attracted students from
all of Europe. Louis VI had invested heavily in Paris, including the building
of new bridges. Philip Augustus
(1179-1223) continued this support, with paving improvements and
fortifications. He also made Paris the
official capital of France.
Henry II (1154-1189) was the most significant English king of this century, and he
could perhaps have accomplished more if it had not being for the fact that his
reign was marred by conflicts with the Archbishops of Canterbury over church
rights and by the intrigues of his sons.
The struggle with Archbishop Thomas Becket ended with Becket being
murdered by Henry’s courtiers. It must
be remembered that during this period the English kings owned half of
France. To maintain control of such a
large territory separated by the English channel, an effective administrative
structure had to be created. Henry was
an educated man and he attracted men of letters to his court to help him
organize this administration. He
introduced important judicial reforms, and is considered to be the father of
English common law.
Germany and Italy did not
attain the level of unification of France and England. The German emperors had
nominal authority over Northern Italy, but in practice the Italian cities were
largely independent, and they took a leading role in the development of
municipal government and institutions.
During the eleventh century control of Southern Italy was disputed between Lombard lords and the Byzantine Empire, while the Island of Sicily was under Moslem occupation. There were also papal interests in the area. Norman knights began arriving the scene as mercenaries, and by 1071 they had achieved military control of Southern Italy. By 1079 the Normans had taken Sicily from the Moslems. At first the area was divided among the Norman leaders. In 1130 Roger II, who was the Norman count of Sicily, consolidated his power as king of the whole domain of Southern Italy and Sicily.
Through the twelfth century,
the Norman kingdom of Sicily remained culturally and linguistically mixed and
somewhat tolerant of different religions.
The Arabs and Jews in the area had preserved the importance of
scientific learning, and this rich environment also now benefited from the
increased contact with the rest of educated Europe, becoming a fertile ground
for translations and other cultural exchanges.
Another cultural source during this period was the city of Toledo in Spain, which had been re-taken from the Moslems in 1085. Toledo had been a very important center of Moslem learning, and it was now fully accessible to the Christian West. Archbishop Raymond (1125-51) provided intellectual leadership at Toledo, initiating the translation into Latin of many important Greek works that had been unavailable for centuries [1].
[1] Charles H. Haskins,
The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927), 52.