Middle Ages Timeline
This Christian figure established the set of rules that governed life in many monasteries and convents throughout medieval Europe.
Who is Benedict?
These places can best be described as self-sufficient economic units.
What are Medieval Manors?
In theory, this concept was based on cooperation and support by establishing economic ties between manors and towns.
What is feudalism?
This innovation was an important advantage to farmers by increasing the amount of land that could be planted every year.
What were the three-field system and crop rotation?
This religion brought organization to Europe such as bringing people together and the formation of new states.
What was Christianity?
After dominating on the battlefield this character established the Frankish Empire in Western Europe by uniting France, Germany, Italy.
Who was Charlemagne?
Describe a medieval manor and its residents.
A manor included a lord’s castle, farmland, and villages where peasants and serfs worked to produce everything needed for the community.
Much like a modern union, these groups also were developed to protect craft workers and they required members to pay fees.
What was a guild?
This innovation allowed two things; first, farmers could bring more land into cultivation. And second, surplus food allowed people to pursue other jobs.
What was the Horse powered Plow?
Popes sent groups of these people to the northern region of Europe to convert pagans to Christianity.
What are missionaries?
This group of people were at the very bottom under feudalism. Not quite slaves but not quite free either.
What were serfs?
These were places where monks and nuns prayed, worked, and lived self-sufficiently.
What are monasteries (or convents)?
This social concept created a strict system of social ranks and it provided people protection against foreign invaders.
What was Feudalism?
Because farmers grew more food than they needed, this allowed some people to stop farming and become craftworkers or merchants.
What are crop surpluses?
Members of both these groups believed in simplicity and religious devotion.
What were the Franciscan orders & the Poor Clares?
These two people founded the mendicant orders.
Who were Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi?
“The portion of land . . . was divided among them, each freeman, upon receiving his share, binding himself [pledging] to appear in arms [as a soldier] when necessary against . . . enemies . . . ; this military service was the condition on which he received and held his land, and . . . it exempted him [freed him] from every other burden [duty] towards the community. The king . . . had, of course, the largest portion . . . The grant of land on condition of military service was called a fief or a feud . . .”
Under the feudal system, this group promised to provide military service in exchange for land.
What are vassals?
These religious men and women copied books, cared for the sick, and educated others.
→ Who are monks and nuns?
Which was the Catholic Church’s most powerful tool in maintaining its authority in medieval Europe?
The Catholic Church maintained authority on Medieval Europe by exercising control over sacraments.
Explain how daily life in medieval Europe centered on the Catholic Church.
The Church guided people’s moral lives, ran schools, cared for the poor, and celebrated religious holidays that structured the year.
How did monasteries change as the Middle Ages went on?
They became centers of learning, agriculture, and community life instead of just isolated places of prayer.
Charlemagne is remembered for helping spread this religion and for starting schools.
What are Christianity and education?
During the Middle Ages, this powerful institution was the center of daily life — providing education, guidance, celebrations, and a sense of community.
What is the Catholic Church?