The Middle Ages
What is a fief?
Land that is given to a lord by a king in return for the lord's pledge to support the king in war.
How did a guild benefit its members and society in general?
Higher standard of products, financial benefits to members in need, guild members in general were much more willing to work with each other and help each other be better at their work.
What is the clergy?
What was the benefit of the civil service examination created in Medieval China?
It hired people into the government based on their merit and skill - not based on who they knew or were related to. The gov. became much higher functioning.
Who were the samurai?
A warrior class in Japan
What were the 3 main Chinese dynasties of the Middle Ages?
Sui (SWAY), Tang (TAHNG), and Song
How did the growth of cities benefit serfs?
They could escape, and if they were not caught for a year and 1 day, they were free.
What was the Inquisition?
A special religious court created to find heretics to the Church. Suspected heretics would be punished, forcibly converted, interrogated, and sometimes killed.
What is a "parliament?"
A government branch that was made up by people who represent the public. It could make laws.
Who was likely most responsible for the bubonic plague traveling from China to European kingdoms?
The Mongols
Describe Germanic tribal society in the Early Middle Ages:
Many different tribes, justice based on "wergild" and the "ordeal," society based around the family and the father.
Compare life in a castle vs. life in a city:
Both not great but a castle was better. Castles were dark and stinky and housed aristocrats. The city was much less safe, even more stinky and gross, and was crowded.
What were the Crusades and how successful were they?
Religious wars for control of Jerusalem between Christians and Muslims. First Crusade was successful for Christians, but the rest were mostly failures.
What is a major benefit of the development of a money economy to replace a barter economy?
People could agree on the value of items much easier. Anyone can trade with anyone when they have money.
How did the Black Death spread and about what % of the European population died?
Who was Charlemagne?
An emperor the pushed Europe towards becoming the modern continent that we see it as today.
What impact did the revival of European trade have on cities?
They GREW since they were natural trade centers.
What are 2 ways monks and nuns supported people in Medieval society?
Education, health care, copied manuscripts, went on religious missions...
Innovations like the carruca and three-field crop rotations helped increase food output. What was the greatest impact of having more food?
The populations exploded (not literally, that would be more with the Black Death). Population GROWTH!
What does "Medieval" mean?
What is feudalism?
A method of structuring society around relationships that were derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor.
Compare life between male and female SERFS.
They did not differ much. They had a lot of the same jobs.
How did the Great Schism weaken the strength of the Christian Church?
There were two different Popes and each claimed the other was fake. People did not know who to believe, so the Church lost credibility and power.
What was the Magna Carta and why was it important?
Limited the power of the English king. Important because it protected rights of citizens and set the stage for later democratic principles.
Why might one consider the Holy Roman Empire to be not holy, not Roman, and not an empire?
Not holy because it went to war with the leader of the Church (the pope). Not Roman because it never held the city of Rome. Not an empire because it could not even conquer the Papal States.