| A | B |
|---|
| Early Middle Ages | 500 - 1000 CE; politically decentralized; culturally "backwards" |
| High Middle Ages | 1000 - 1300 CE; nations more defined; economy healthier - more trade and urbanization; The Inquisition, the Crusades, the Reconquista |
| Late Middle Ages | 1300 - 1500 CE; social unrest (due to warfare, taxation, etc); the Black Death; the Renaissance, the Hundred Years' War; Fall of Constantinople and Byzantium |
| Decentralization | No single monarch strong enough to rule Europe or to governt lands effectively. |
| Feudalism | Lords and monarchs awarded land to loyal followers; those vassals might then subdivide their land into smaller units |
| What provided Europe with unity in a period of decentralization? | Feudalism and Christianity |
| Why was Europe so decentralized? | Because of the fall of the Western Roman Empire (which was, essentially, the powerful part of the Roman Empire) |
| Why did the Western Roman Empire fall? | Overextension of the empire; attacks by barbarian groups; the division of the empire by Diocletian; devaluation of the position of the emperor; etc. |
| Chivalry | The knight was supposed to be virtuous, loyal, gentlemanly, etc. |
| Manor | The basic unit of land in the feudal structure |
| Most peasants were: | serfs |
| Requirements of serfs: | Give portion of crops and livestock; fulfill labor obligations (build roads, clear forests, gather firewood, farm the lord's private fields); had to fight for the lord in times of war; had to pay fees to use water mill, oven, etc. |
| Long term Effects of feudalism | Created class differences that would last until the 1900s in Europe |
| Separated the Church into two parts: | Great Schism, 1054 |
| How did the Catholic Church shape medieval society? | monks preserved Latin and Greek manuscripts; linked people together in a single faith; governed the Papal States; determined heresy; tried to create Christendom; set up universities; created the Holy Inquisition; declared crusades |
| Formation of religious communities in Christianity | Monasticism |
| The Franks | A Germanic tribe that built a nation in region of modern Germany/France by the 700s; Leaders like Clovis, Martel, Pepin, and Charlemagne |
| The Vikings | Colonized Iceland and Greenland; reached North America around 1000 CE; raided and conquered land throughout coastal Europe (expert ocean navigators) |
| William of Normandy | Aka William the Conqueror; left Normandy, France, invaded England and overthrew Anglo-Saxon monarchy; blood ties and feudal obligations with England. |
| Limited Monarchy | The power of the king is limited by things like law codes; formation of representative assemblies (Parliament), etc. |
| Absolute Monarchy | No restrictions on the power of the monarch |
| Hundred Years' War | 1337 - 1453CE Severed the ties between England and France |
| Who won the Hundred Years' War? | France |
| Founded in the 900s by the heirs of Charlemagne: | Holy Roman Empire |
| Italy | Very decentralized; broken into states; the north was part of the Holy Roman Empire; south controlled by Muslims; center - Papal States; other city-states included Milan, Florence, Venice, Naples, etc. |
| Muslim invaders (especially from North Africa) | Moors |
| Spain and Portugal fight the Moors: | Reconquista |
| Served as a "buffer zone" against Turkish and Muslim attacks: | Holy Roman Empire |
| How did Spain take shape? | Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married in the 1400s and joined their lands together |
| Spain was heavily influenced by: | Muslims/Moors |
| This was seized by the Ottomans in 1453: | Constantinople; the Byzantine Empire then fell. |
| European Catholics fought against Muslims of the Middle East and North Africa from approx. 1095 - 1291 CE: | The Crusades |
| How and why did the First Crusade take place? | Pope Urban II called the Council of Clermont to call upon knights of Europe to retake Jerusalem from the Turks |
| Where did the majority of people live during the Middle Ages? | In the countryside; rural areas |
| The guild system | labor groups that established a monopoly on their respective trades |
| Major trade routes of the high and late Middle Ages: | Mediterranean, Rhine River, Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel |
| Controlled trade in the Baltic Sea: | Hanseatic Trade League |
| Geocentric theory: | Mistaken Greek idea that the earth was the center of the universe (and everything revolved around it). |
| Europe's language of learning and culture: | Latin |
| Most important factor shaping medieval culture: | The Catholic Church |
| Some people called the Middle Ages.... | the medieval period or the Dark Ages |
| Culturally superior to medieval Europe: | Byzantium and the Muslim world |
| Peasant women: | Performed a lot of "heavy duty" work like agriculture or domestic work; Joan of Arc was a famous peasant woman |
| Women's rights: | Right to property; right to divorce (although it could be very difficult to obtain); protection but not equality |
| Aristocratic women: | could become nuns - would receive advanced education (Hildegard of Bingen); could sometimes rule as queens or marry into politically/culturally influential families (like Eleanor of Aquitane); sometimes managed estates and financial accounts; sometimes ruled until sons came of age to rule |
| Medieval art: | Iconic; plainsong chants; Gothic and Romanesque architecture; building castles and cathedrals; troubadours and minstrels; increased use of vernacular languages; printing press leads to growth of literature |
| Universities | Heavy Church influence; started in Italy around 900s; exchange of ideas! |
| Gutenberg | Created a movable-type printing press; resulted in increased literacy, spread of information, expansion of libraries, explosion of knowledge. |
| Renaissance | "Rebirth" of cultural and intellectual pursuits |
| Classicism | Renaissance idea; admiration and study of Greco-Roman works |
| Humanism | Renaissance idea; bigger focus on celebrating humanity; move away from medieval view of humanity as tainted with sin and focused on the afterlife. |
| Medici of Italy | Powerful banking family |
| Branch of Christianity dominant in western and central Europe: | Catholicism |
| Branch of Christianity dominant in eastern Europe and the Middle East: | Eastern Orthodox |
| Which part of the Middle Ages - the Renaissance? | Late Middle Ages |
| When did Rome fall? | 476 CE |
| When was Christianity founded? | 1st century CE (around 30 CE) |
| When was Islam founded? | In the mid-600s CE (7th century) |
| Charlemagne | A nation-building monarch who expanded Frankish territory; defended against Muslim, Viking, and barbarian attacks; crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope |
| Russia during the medieval period | Made up mostly of city-states governed by constantly feuding princes; then ruled by Mongols until mid-1400s; then nation-building under rule of the tsars (czars) |
