The Middle Ages
When the Western Roman Empire fell, the power in the city of Rome dispersed all around Europe. In other words, power became...
Decentralized
What does "Medieval" mean?
What does secular mean?
Non-religious
What's the difference between a peasant and a serf?
They're both poor, but a serf was a peasant who was bound to a lord and his land.
About 50%.
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 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
What is a vassal? Who were examples of vassals?
A person is loyal to another person through military service. Lords were vassals to kings. Knights were vassals to lords (and kings).
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.
The segment of the feudal system where serfs worked for lords, and where the food was grown, was known as the ... what? It was the engine to the feudal system.
The manorial system / manors.
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 population grew immensely in Europe.
How did the Black Death spread and about what % of the European population died?
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.