The Hundred Years war

The Hundred Years war was a conflict that took place between England and France from 1337 to 1453. The causes of the conflict were the English claims over the French throne and the dispute over the succession of the English crown. The origin of the conflict was the duchy of Guyenne which originally belonged to the English kings but remained a fief of the French crown and the closest relatives of the Capetian king Charles IV who belonged to the English crown and hence the kings of England claimed the kingdom of France.

In the first half of the 14^th century England and France were the most powerful monarchies in Western Europe and France was the largest and richest country in Western Europe. England was also organized and it rivaled France. Technically the English kings were the vassals of the kings of France and the English kings which were Normans and the Angevin was also French. Thus, the French monarchs wanted to keep a check on the growth of English power. England too possessed holdings in France but by 1337 only the province of Gascony was in English hands. In 1328 Charles IV of France died without an heir to the throne and hence the crown passed directly to his closest relative his nephew Edward III of England. But the French rejected Edward III claims to the French throne and instead wanted a Frenchman for the crown of France. Thus, the French Crown went to Charles IV’s cousin Philip VI.

Thus, eventually, war broke out between England and France in which the English led by their king Edward III and his son defeated the French. However, by 1378 the French under King Charles the wise had taken back the lands ceded to King Edward in the treaty of Bretigny signed in 1360. The dispute over Guyenne and Gascony which belonged to England was also the high point of the conflict. Joan of Arc provided a decisive moment in the war and considerably boosted the French morale. The major battles of the war were fought at Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, and the siege of Orleans in 1429. The emergence of Joan of Arc in the siege of Orleans turned the tide of war against the English. However, she was eventually executed by the English. At the Battle of Castillon fought on 17 July 1453 the English were decisively defeated by the French. Finally, in the treaty of Picquigny signed in 1475 the war came to an end with Edward III renouncing his claim to the French throne.

The victory of France in the Hundred Years War brought to an end the English dreams of a joint monarchy and the rise of national feeling in England and France. The war led to the transformation of France from a feudal monarchy to a centralized state. With the war’s end, England lost all its continental possessions leaving it with only the province of Calais

Economy of medieval India

The economy of medieval India begins with the coming of Muslims to India in the early 13^th century. Before discussing the economic history of medieval India, it is essential to have a glimpse of the economy of ancient and early medieval India in the post Gupta period. From the fifth century AD, the practice of land grants became frequent. The Brahmanas were granted villages free from taxes that were collected by the king from the villages. The beneficiaries of this land grants were given the right to govern the people in the donated villages. Till the fifth century, the ruler retained the rights to these land grants, and the Brahmanas not only collected taxes from the peasants and artisans but also maintained law and order in the villages granted to them. Thus, the power of the king was heavily undermined from the end of the Gupta period.

Especially in the post Gupta period the agrarian economy underwent significant changes. Landed beneficiaries could neither cultivate land nor own it. The monasteries and Brahmanas who were the beneficiaries of these land grants hired peasants and slaves to work on these lands. Eventually, a landed aristocracy came to dominate the economy of ancient and early medieval India at the expense of the king. Thus, royal power was eroded and historians have come to use the term Indian feudalism in the context of these land grants.

With the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate the land revenue policy underwent considerable reforms. During the reign of Alauddin Khalji major land, agrarian and fiscal reforms were introduced in north India. Different categories of land existed during the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. The first was Iqta and for administration and land revenue collection, the state was divided into tracts called iqtas under iqtadars or muqtis. An iqta holder collected revenue from the land and remitted the balance to the central government. The iqtadars system as a means of collecting tax and distribution of revenues to the ruling class. The second category of land was khalisa or the royal land. This type of land was under the control of the government.

Alauddin Khalji levied different taxes on lands such as kharaj, charai, and ghari. The whole land was measured and a fixed portion of the state was assessed on the basis of these measurements. In addition to these, the strength of middlemen or khuts, muqaddams, and choudharies was considerably weakened, and thus the produce directly went from the farmers to the state. The revenue administration established by Alauddin Khalji was continued by his successors. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty fixed the share of state at 1/10^th of the total produce in contrast to Alauddin’s 50 percent. Muhammad bin Tughlaq made several changes in the revenue administration. He ordered the compilation of a register of the expenditure and income of the sultanate and introduced a uniform system of land revenue. He established a department of agriculture called Diwan-i-kohi with the intention of bringing more land under cultivation. Firoz Shah Tughlaq provided loans to the farmers and encouraged irrigation. He had got dug four canals for the purpose of irrigation and increased the salaries of the revenue officers so that the peasants are not harassed by the revenue officials. Firoz Shah introduced four taxes i.e. The Zakat, Jaziya, Khiraj, and Khamo.Khiraj was the land tax, Khams means 1/5^th of the booty captured during wars, Zakat a   tax on Muslims for religious purposes and Jaziya a tax levied on Hindus.

With the beginning of the Mughal rule in the 16^th century the economy of medieval India underwent significant changes. Babur and Humayun continued to follow the land and revenue administration of the Delhi Sultanate. However, it was Akbar who is credited with completely reorganizing the land revenue system. Akbar introduced the Zabti system and under this system, the cultivable lands were measured. After the measurement of the land, the state’s share was assessed on the basis of the produce of the land. The land was classified into four categories Polaj, Parauti, Chachar and Banjar.

Polaj was the first category of land which was readily cultivable. Throughout the season it had some crop ready. The second land was Parauti which was fallow land, Chachar was the third category of land which had to be left for three or four years to regain fertility and the fourth category of land was Banjar or barren land. The state share was calculated on the basis of these three grades of land and their average was the share of the state. The state share was 1/3^rd of the total produce and the share was paid either in cash or kind though the former was preferred.

Another aspect of The Mughal empire was the jagirdari system. The jagirdari system in the Mughal empire was a system in which the jagirdars or nobles were granted jagirs (landed estates) in lieu of their services to the emperor. The jagirdars and the zamindars formed the backbone of the Mughal empire and they were paid in cash or kind. However, in the late 17^th century during the reign of Aurangzeb the jagirdari crisis eventually led to the disintegration of the Mughal empire as there was not enough land for the jagirdars which led to the jagirdars forming their own independent states.

Trade and commerce also played an important role in the economy of medieval India as intra-regional ,inter-regional and external trade contributed to the economy of medieval India.Agra,Burhanpur, Aurangabad, Delhi , and Lahore were the centres of overland trade between India and Central Asia whereas seaborne trade was conducted between Surat,Cambay, Bharuch, and Arabia. North India imported luxury items and exported indigo and food grains. Silk, spices, and various other items were exported by India to other countries. The Bengal Subah alone accounted for over 50% to 80% of the exports and imports of India. By far the most important development in the economic history of medieval India was Hundis (Bills of exchange) as it amounted to cashless transactions in the Mughal empire.

With the beginning of the 17^th century the Europeans came to dominate the Indian trade as various European powers such as Portuguese, British, Dutch, and French established their factories and posts on the coastal cities of India. The Banjaras emerged as the most dominant class of traders in the economy of medieval India. Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the banjaras for the transportation of grain to the city markets. Mughal emperor Jahangir mentions the banjaras as carrying grains on their bullocks and transporting them to the cities. It can be summed up that the economy of medieval India was one of prosperity and growth until the advent of the British rule in India.

Art and Architecture of medieval India

The  coming of Muslims to India in the medieval period saw large scale architectural monuments and buildings in India like Qutub Minar,Adhai Din ka Jhonpra,Quwwat ul Islam mosque,Alai Darwaza,Alai minar,Tughlaqabad fort,Lodi Gardens in the Sultanate period and the Taj Mahal,Red fort,Agra fort,Buland Darwaza,Akbar’s tomb,Humayun’s tomb and the Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad,Agra, Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri during the Mughal period.

After the invasion of India by the Turks in the late 12th century the Muslim rulers came in to contact with the Hindus which gradually led to a fusion of Hindu and Islamic elements in architecture which came to be known as the Indo Islamic architecture. Over a period of time this style of architecture was visible in the construction of buildings and monuments during the Sultanate period.

For the sake of convenience the architecture of medieval India can be divided in to two periods –The Sultanate period and the Mughal period. The Sultanate period saw the evolution and beginning of a new type of architecture which was characterized by tall minarets, large domes, calligraphy and use of geometrical shapes. The Muslim rulers built their architectural buildings out of the materials acquired from the demolished temples of the Hindus and used the remains of demolished temples in the construction of their buildings. The factors which were responsible for the fusion of Hindu and Muslim elements in architecture were that the Muslim rulers employed local Indian craftsmen and masons in the construction of their buildings which unconsciously led to the introduction of Hindu architectural designs in their buildings. The Muslim rulers built their architectural buildings according to the Islamic traditions but also had Hindu influences in it.

Of the most influential of the Sultanate architecture the Delhi style of architecture is the most famous. The Delhi style of architecture developed during the reign of Qutubuddin Aibak.The most famous building built by Qutubuddin was the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque at Delhi which was constructed out of the remains of 27 Hindu and Jain shrines which were demolished by the invaders.The major part of this mosque was conceived as a Muslim House of prayer.The other features of this mosque are the Quranic verses inscribed in Islamic calligraphy. The Adhai Din ka Jhonpra at Ajmer was also built by Qutubuddin Aibak in the year 1200AD.It was built out of the remains of demolished temples and it was originally a Sanskrit college with a temple of Saraswati in it. It was converted in to a mosque by Qutubuddin Aibak.

The Qutub Minar at Delhi in the Qutub complex is a tall minaret built by Qutubuddin Aibak and is a UNESCO World heritage site.The Qutub Minar is a tapering tower and is 73 metres tall. It was built to celebrate the Muslim supremacy in Delhi. It has five levels and projecting balconies. The first three levels are made of red sandstone and  the other two of marble and sandstone. The  Alai Darwaza built by Alauddin Khalji of the Khalji dynasty in 1311 is located in the southern gateway of the Qutb complex. It is a domed structure and is built of red sandstone and marble.

The Tughlaqabad fort at Delhi was built in 1321 by the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. It is a massive walled structure and has walls of 10 to 15 metres height. The Lodi Gardens at Delhi was built during the rule of the Sayyid and the Lodi dynasties. It is a popular tourist spot in Delhi and has tombs from the times of Sikandar Lodi and Muhammad Shah.

With the coming of the Mughals in the 16^th century the architecture in India underwent a significant change with the fusion of Persian and Indian elements. The Mughals were great builders and this was visible in the construction of monuments like Taj Mahal at Agra, Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri, Agra fort, Akbar’s tomb and Red fort at Delhi,  Humayun’s tomb, Bibi ka Maqbara at Aurangabad in Maharashtra and the Badshahi Masjid at Lahore.

The Mughal rulers patronized architectural buildings and their rule produced monuments and buildings of unusual quality and fine craftsmanship. The tomb of Humayun at Delhi built during the reign of Akbar is known for its Persianate architectural influence and layout of gardens in the Charbagh style. Akbar was also a great patron of architecture and he built buildings of red sandstone like the Agra fort and the Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. However it was Shah Jahan in whose reign the Mughal architecture reached its zenith .He built the Taj Mahal at Agra and it was during his reign that marble replaced sandstone as the primary building material. Shah Jahan also built the Red fort at Delhi and the Jama Masjid at Delhi. Mughal architecture witnessed a decline during the rule of Aurangzeb. The only notable buildings of his reign are the Badshahi Masjid at Lahore and the Bibi Ka Maqbara at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

Hence it can be said that the medieval period in India produced architectural monuments of fine quality. The Sultanate period and the Mughal period contributed significantly to the construction of monuments and buildings which stand today as World Heritage sites in India like the Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal, Agra fort, Red fort and the Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri.