1.6 Guided Reading

Peasants:

Lords provided land to peasants. Peasants were obligated to farm the lord's land and provide the lord with crops/livestock and to obey the lord's orders.

Explain how the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches emerged from the Christian Church in Europe in 1054.

The Christian church divided into two branches. This split was called the Great Schism.

Explain how religious, social, and economic pressures resulted in the Crusades.

The rules of primogeniture led to these pressures for the Crusades. This rule led to the eldest son in a family inherited the entire state and that led to younger sons with little access of wealth and land, which led to the Crusades

Great Schism

When the Christian church divided into 2 branches in 1054. Influenced the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox church.

Absolutist (government)

the political doctrine and practice of unlimited centralized authority and absolute sovereignty. This was Europe's form of government at the time.

Three-field system

An agricultural system where crops were rotated through three fields. This method helped Europe grow economically at the end of the Middle Ages.

Estates-General

A body that advised the king with representatives from 3 social classes. The France government used the Estates-General system.

Magna Carta

A document that required the King to respect certain rights. This gave the people more power in England.

How did greater agricultural prosperity impact European society in the Middle Ages?

It led to population growth in the late Middle Ages.

How did this system impact the groups above? How did this system impact women?

It provided some security for peasants, equipment for warriors, and land to those who serve the lord. Wealth was measured on land because of agriculture. The feudalism system had an unwritten rule for chivalry. This code put women on a pedestal while not investing in any significant importance.

How did the Renaissance and its interest in humanism impact Europe?

It revived interest in Europe in literature, art, culture and civic virtue. Humanism propelled the rise of monarchies, the centralization of government, and the birth of nationalism.

Lords:

Provided lands to kings, then knights become vassals of the lord and pledged a fight for the lord or king.

Describe the bureaucracy of France in the Middle Ages and evaluate its level of success.

The French has a system in their bureaucracy called the Estates-General. It was a body to advise the king that included three representatives from each of the three legal classes (estates) in France: the clergy, nobility, and the commoners. The French Kings did not exact regular taxes of the two upper groups on the classes. This bureaucracy was not successful because the Estates-General had little power and the two upper classes did not want to help the government they had no responsibility in.

Church and State:

Church was powerful in a feudal system. The Roman Catholic Church had many different religious leaders as well. Also, if the lord displeased the Church the lord could suffer in many ways.

Reform

Clergy wielded political influence in Europe and some monasteries became wealthy. Wealth and political power led to corruption during the 13th and 14th century. That corruption led to reformers (like Martin Luther) to take a stand that shattered the unity of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century.

Fourth Crusade

The Crusaders took over Zara and Constantinople. The last Crusade, they could not conquer the holy city.

First Crusade

Christians conquered Jerusalem in 1099. Was one of Christians only victories of the Crusades.

Although Jewish, Muslim, and female citizens positively impacted their communities, they also faced ostracism or negativity from Europe. Explain using specific examples.

Antisemitism was widespread around Christianity at the time which was a problem because that was the dominant religion. Jews were expelled from England, France, Spain, and Portugal. The Spanish king also expelled Muslims from his country. Women also did not usually receive an education as well.

Summarize the main goal of the Christian Crusades

Christians wanted to reclaim control over the Holy Land in the region of Palestine in the Middle East from the Muslims who took it from them.

Feudalism

Based on a system of exchanges of land for loyalty. Was Europe's main form of government in the Middle Ages.

Explain how Marco Polo's travels abroad impacted the economy of Europe

Because Marco Polo told about his travels to China, it caused a stimulating interest in cartography or map making.

Explain how the middle class emerged in Western Europe, and who made up this new social group.

Because of the growth of long-distance commerce, it created a new social class called the middle class. People in this class were shopkeepers, merchants, craftspeople, and small landholders.

Monasticism

Christianity remained part of the economics in Western Europe. The monasteries had the same economic functions of agriculture and protection as other manors. Women were also permitted to become nuns in monasteries.

Describe the system of decentralized governance used by Europe in the Middle Ages.

Europe in the Middle Ages followed feudalism as their system of decentralized government. Feudalism was a system of exchanges of land for loyalty.

Describe the manorial system; how was it similar and different to feudalism (think about which of the PIECES themes each reflects)?

It provided economic self-sufficiency and defense. Large fiefs or estates were often referred to as manors. It produced everything that people living on it required limiting trade. Manor grounds were small villages. They included the homes of serfs. Serfs were like peasants , but were not tied to the land. They also used the three-field system for agriculture as their profit.

Explain two new characteristics in the later Middle Ages that led to stronger monarchies. Why did this change create conflict?

Monarchies started employing their own bureaucracy and military.

How did population growth and agricultural prosperity lead to urban growth? How did the Little Ice Age impact society during this time?

The agricultural surplus encouraged the growth of towns and markets that could operate more frequently. Urban growth declined around 1300 by a five-century cooling period of the climate called the Little Ice Age. Lower temperatures reduced agricultural productivity, so people had less to trade cities grew slowly.

Explain the general evolution of Kiev to the modern state of Russia.

The city-state at the center of trade was the Kiev state. They were then conquered by Mongols and then became independent of the Mongols.

What developments allowed agriculture to become more efficient near the end of the Middle Ages?

They changed to the three-field system and had other advances in agriculture.

Explain the impact of the Roman Catholic Church on: Education and Art:

They established the first universities in Europe. Most artwork focused on religious themes and most philosophers were Christian.

Describe the feudal system of Norman England and explain how it changed in 1215 and 1265.

They followed a tightly ordered feudal system that used royal sheriffs as administration officials, this system was ruled by William the Conqueror. Many English Nobles resented the power William had and forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. This forced the King to follow rules, also the English Parliament was created in 1265. This led to nobles to have more representation in the British government.

Describe the governing system of the Holy Roman Empire and what led to its decline.

They had a German king named Otto 1 The Roman Empire had little power and came to a decline after Napoleon took it.

Serfs

They were not slaves, but they were tied to their lords' land, and lived in manor grounds. Was one of the social classes during Europe at this time period.

The Roman Catholic church was extremely influential in Europe at this time - why?

This is because Christianity provided people with a shared identity even as vernacular languages.

Fiefs

Tracts of land granted to lords by monarchs. Was one of the ways to organize the social classes in Europe during this time period.

Summarize the Middle Ages (medieval period) of Western Europe.

Trade declined, intellectual life receded, and the united Roman state was replaced by smaller kingdoms that frequently fought with each other. European kings, lords, and peasants worked out agreements to provide for common defense. The only thing that remained in power of all the Middle Ages was the Roman Catholic Church. Between 1000 and 1450 though, learning and trade revived.

In feudalism, there were several relationships, explain them below: Monarch:

Usually a king that granted tracts of land called fiefs to lords. A lord then becomes a king's vassal (a person who owed service to another person of higher status).