Medieval Europe
wergild
"money for a man"; the value of a person in money, depending on social status; in Germanic society, a fine paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured or killed
Third Crusade
(1189 - 1192) Crusade led by King Richard the Lionhearted to recapture the city of Jerusalem from Islamic forces led by Saladin; failed in attempt.
Thomas Aquinas
(Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology
Schism
(n.) a formal split within a religious organization; any division or separation of a group or organization into hostile factions
Gothic Cathedral Architecture
-Pointed arches -High, narrow vaults -Thinner walls -Flying buttresses -Elaborate, ornate, airier interiors -Stained-glass windows
role of women during the Middle Ages
-wife -mother -peasant -artisan -nun -abbess -queen regnan
Fourth Crusade
A Crusade from 1202 to 1204 that was diverted into a battle for Constantinople and failed to recapture Jerusalem causing damage to Byzantine Empire
The Great Schism of 1378
A division in Church- rival claimants to the papacy existed in Rome and Avignon. later a 3rd pope was elected in Pisa
vassal
A knight who promised to support a lord in exchange for land
Scholasticism
A philosophical and theological system, associated with Thomas Aquinas, devised to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and Roman Catholic theology in the thirteenth century.
three-field system
A rotational system for agriculture in which one field grows grain, one grows legumes, and one lies fallow. It gradually replaced two-field system in medieval Europe.
Constantinople
After the destruction caused by riots in a.d. 532, Emperor Justinian had rebuilt Constantinople and given it the appearance it would keep for almost a thousand years. With a population estimated in the hundreds of thousands, Constantinople was the largest city in medieval Europe. It viewed itself as the center of an empire and a special Christian city. Until the twelfth century, Constantinople was the greatest center of commerce in Europe during the Middle Ages. The city was the chief center for the exchange of products between West and East, which contributed to its rapid growth. Much of Constantinople's appearance in the Early Middle Ages was due to Justinian's program of rebuilding in the sixth century. The city was dominated by an immense palace complex and a huge amphitheater known as the Hippodrome, the site of chariot races that were an important part of Byzantine culture. In a reflection of the spiritual nature of Byzantine culture, hundreds of churches dotted the city, including the magnificent cathedral Hagia Sophia. No residential district was particularly fashionable because palaces, tenements, and slums existed alongside one another. Justinian added many new buildings. His public works projects included roads, bridges, walls, public baths, law courts, schools, churches, and colossal underground reservoirs to hold the city's water supply.
Henry II (of England)
Although he received some of his education in England, Henry II was born in and died in France. In fact, he spent two-thirds of his reign as king on mainland Europe. Henry inherited the English crown in 1154 after persuading King Stephen to name him heir. He continued to expand his territory through a combination of military strength and family alliances—the most advantageous of which was his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Soon Henry's realm included the western half of France and extended from Scotland to the Pyrenees. Henry consolidated his rule over a politically fractured England by establishing laws that increased the reach and power of the throne. However, his attempts to take control of the Church were met with opposition by his close friend and adviser, Thomas á Becket, who had been named archbishop of Canterbury at Henry's insistence. The king's anger led to Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral, an action that led to public outrage against Henry. Henry also faced rebellion within his family; his wife and four sons all opposed him in disputes over power that continued until the king's death.
Thomas Becket
Archbishop of Canterbury
bourgeoisie (aka Burghers)
At the top of urban society were the patricians. With their wealth from trade, industry, and banking, they dominated their communities. Below them were the burghers—the shopkeepers, artisans, guild masters, and guild members. Below the burghers were the workers, who earned low wages, and the unemployed. Both of the latter groups lived miserable lives and made up a significant portion of the urban population.
Reconquista
Beginning in the eleventh century, military campaigns by various Iberian Christian states to recapture territory taken by Muslims. In 1492 the last Muslim ruler was defeated, and Spain and Portugal emerged as united kingdoms.
Benedict
Benedict, who founded a monastic house for which he wrote a set of rules, established the basic form of monastic life in the western Christian church. The Benedictine rule came to be used by other monastic groups and was crucial to the growth of monasticism in the western Christian world.
bubonic plague/Black Death (how it spread, effects, etc.)
Bubonic plague was the most common form of the Black Death. It was spread by black rats infested with fleas carrying a deadly bacterium. Italian merchants brought the plague with them from Kaffa, on the Black Sea, to the island of Sicily in October 1347. The plague had spread to southern Italy and southern France by the end of 1347. Usually, the path of the Black Death followed trade routes. In 1348 and 1349, the plague spread through France, the Low Countries (modern Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands), and Germany. It ravaged England in 1349 and expanded to northern Europe and Scandinavia. Eastern Europe and Russia were affected by 1351.
Frankish Kingdom
By a.d. 510, Clovis had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom that stretched from the Pyrenees in the southwest to German lands— modern-day France and western Germany. He defeated the many Germanic tribes surrounding him and unified the Franks as a people. After Clovis's death, his sons followed Frankish custom and divided his newly created kingdom among themselves. The once-united Frankish kingdom came to be divided into three major areas.
role of the Church during the Middle Ages
Center of learning-clergy only people who could read or write so rulers and nobles had to rely on the clergy since they were educated
Carruca
Changes in technology also aided the growth of farming. The Middle Ages witnessed an explosion of labor-saving devices. People harnessed the power of water and wind to do jobs once done by human or animal power. Many of these new devices were made from iron, which was mined in various areas of Europe. Iron was crucial in making the carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare. Unlike earlier plows, this plow, drawn by six or eight oxen, easily turned over heavy clay soils.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne greatly expanded the Frankish kingdom and created what came to be known as the Carolingian Empire. At its height, this empire covered much of western and central Europe.He founded the Holy Roman Empire, stimulated European economic and political life, and fostered the cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
Carolingian Empire (accomplishments of, what led to the fall)
Charlemagne had a strong desire to promote learning in his kingdom. His efforts led to an intellectual revival sometimes called the Carolingian Renaissance, or rebirth. Monasteries played a central role in this cultural renewal. The efforts of the monks who copied the Bible and the works of classical Latin authors led to the preservation of thousands of Greek and Roman manuscripts. The monasteries in the Carolingian Empire, many of which had been founded by Irish and English missionaries, played a central role in this cultural renewal. As we have seen, monks in the writing rooms copied the Bible and the works of classical Latin authors. Their work was a crucial factor in the preservation of the ancient legacy. About eight thousand manuscripts survive from Carolingian times. The Carolingian Empire began to fall apart soon after Charlemagne's death in 814. Less than 30 years later, it was divided among his grandsons into three major sections: the west Frankish lands, the eastern Frankish lands, and the Middle Kingdom. Local nobles gained power while the Carolingian rulers fought each other. Invasions in different parts of the old Carolingian world added to the process of disintegration.
Charles Martel
Charles Martel seized control of the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom in 719. Then, in 724 he defeated Neustria, located in the western Frankish kingdom. In 732 Muslims invaded Bordeaux in southwestern France. They then entered Aquitaine and approached the city of Tours. Eudes, the ruler of Aquitaine, asked Charles for help. In response, Charles and his cavalry turned back the Muslim invasion at the Battle of Tours. After this, there were no more large Muslim invasions of Frankish territory. Soon Eudes died, and Charles gained control of Aquitaine. He then subdued the chieftains of Burgundy. By the time of his death, Charles had succeeded in uniting the entire Frankish kingdom under his control.
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri grew up among Florentine nobility. As a youth, Dante struck up a friendship with a renowned poet who urged Dante to write in Italian rather than Latin. Dante's greatest work, The Divine Comedy, is a narrative poem in the Italian dialect common in Florence. Dante also wrote lyric poetry and works on moral and political philosophy. During his life, Florentines experienced civil wars and were often politically divided. Dante began actively opposing papal policies around 1300, and by 1302 a death sentence effectively exiled him from the city. Dante worked on The Divine Comedy from around 1308 until the end of his life. As he aged, he traveled through the north of Italy, visiting many noble homes. He was buried with honor following his death in Ravenna.
Pepin III
During the a.d. 600s and a.d. 700s, the Frankish kings had gradually lost their power to the mayors of the palace, chief officers of the king's household. One of them, Pepin, finally took the logical step of assuming the kingship for himself and his family. Pepin was the son of Charles Martel, the leader who defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in a.d. 732. Upon Pepin's death in a.d. 768, his son became the new Frankish king.
Macedonian Emperors
Emperors who reversed the decline of Constantinople
vernacular
Everyday language of ordinary people
Abbott
Father of the monastery, who had complete authority over the monastery, Monks are supposed to obey the Abbot at all times.
how were feudal system and manor system related
Feudalism deals with the relationship between nobles and vassals. Manorialism deals with the relationship between the vassals, or the lords, and the peasants or serfs. Military Obligation: ... Description of one landlord is manorialism whereas description of many manors is feudalism.
guilds
From the 1000s on, craftspeople began to organize themselves into guilds, or business associations. Guilds played a leading role in the economic life of cities. By the 1200s, there were guilds for almost every craft, such as tanners and bakers, and separate guilds for specialized groups of merchants, such as dealers in silk, spices, or wool. Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production process. They set the standards for the quality of the articles produced and even fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold. Guilds also determined the number of people who could enter a specific trade.
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer is considered to be one of the greatest English poets. His most famous work was a collection of story-poems titled The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of people traveling on a pilgrimage to the town of Canterbury decide to compete against each other in a storytelling contest. The stories are wonderfully varied—some humorous, some bawdy, some profound—and they portray the wide sweep of fourteenth-century English society. Most importantly, Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in everyday English, called the vernacular, which greatly influenced the English literature to follow. In addition to being a poet, Chaucer was also a respected official in the royal court, serving three different kings.
Common Law of England
Henry expanded the king's overall power. In addition, because the royal courts were now found throughout England, a body of common law—law that was common to the whole kingdom—was created and began to replace law codes that varied from place to place.
Procopius
Historian of the Byzantine Empire who in his Secret History revealed the cruelty of the autocratic system in which the emperor ruled by divine providence.
Feudalism/Feudal society (Lord, Vassal, Serf, etc.)
In the Middle Ages, European feudal society was dominated by men whose chief concern was warfare. In this culture of warfare, vassals prepared to fight for their lords when called upon. The nobles were the kings, dukes, counts, barons, and even bishops who had large landed estates and considerable political power in society. They formed an aristocracy, or nobility, that consisted of people who held political, economic, and social power.
feudal society
In the Middle Ages, European feudal society was dominated by men whose chief concern was warfare. In this culture of warfare, vassals prepared to fight for their lords when called upon. The nobles were the kings, dukes, counts, barons, and even bishops who had large landed estates and considerable political power in society. They formed an aristocracy, or nobility, that consisted of people who held political, economic, and social power.
Vikings
Invaders of Europe that came from Scandinavia
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc was a peasant girl who grew up in northeast France during the Hundred Years' War. Before her time, the English had won most of the battles in the war. When Joan was 14, she began to hear voices. She believed the voices were those of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret telling her to save France. Amazingly, she won an audience with the French king's son and asked for a military force so she could save the besieged city of Orleans. In 1429, riding at the head of an army and wearing a full suit of white armor, the 17-year-old Joan of Arc beat the English army at Orleans. This victory was a turning point in the war. However, during a later battle, Joan was captured and turned over to the English. She was later tried and convicted of witchcraft and heresy and then burned at the stake. She has been a national heroine and symbol of French unity ever since.
Justinian (accomplishments)
John Wyclif was one of the first theologians to take a vigorous stand against the Catholic Church. He was an English philosopher from the University of Oxford who held several university and Church posts during his career. In his forties he was a spokesman for the king in discussions over papal taxes and Church appointments. He wrote treatises stating that people should follow the authority of God and the Bible, not the Church. He blasted the idea of transubstantiation (the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus), promoted the concept of predestination, and shepherded an English translation of the Bible. Wyclif argued that the Church should give up its property and return to poverty, a view supported by English royalty. The pope eventually denounced Wyclif and wanted him arrested, and Wyclif's followers at Oxford deserted him. Nonetheless, Wyclif's writings ultimately influenced later generations of Church reformers.
Manoralism
Manorialism, also called manorial system, seignorialism, or seignorial system, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.
King John
Many English nobles resented the ongoing growth of the king's power and rebelled during the reign of King John. At Runnymede in 1215, John was forced by the nobles to put his seal on a document called the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter.
growth of towns
Medieval Europe was an agricultural society in which most people lived in small villages. In the 1000s and 1100s, however, Europe experienced a revival of trade and an associated growth of towns and cities.
growth of trade after 1200
Medieval Europe was an agricultural society in which most people lived in small villages. In the 1000s and 1100s, however, Europe experienced a revival of trade and an associated growth of towns and cities. The revival of trade in Europe was gradual. Italian cities, such as Venice, developed a mercantile fleet (a fleet of trading ships) and became major trading centers in the Mediterranean. The towns in Flanders, an area along the coast of present-day Belgium and northern France, were ideally located for northern European traders. Merchants from surrounding areas came to Flanders for woolen cloth. In the thirteenth century, a medieval trade association, the Hanseatic League, developed in the Baltic and North Sea region. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of more than 100 northern European cities that banded together for mutual trade protection and economic opportunity.
estates (France)
Much of the thirteenth century was dominated by the reign of Louis IX. Deeply religious, he was later made a saint by the Catholic Church. Louis was known for trying to bring justice to his people by hearing their complaints in person. Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, ruled from 1285 to 1314. He made the monarchy stronger by expanding the royal bureaucracy. Indeed, by 1300, France was the largest and best-governed monarchy in Europe. Philip IV also created a French parliament by meeting with members of the three estates, or orders—the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the townspeople and peasants (Third Estate). The meeting, held in 1302, began the Estates-General, the first French parliament.
Clovis
Only one of the German states proved long lasting—the kingdom of the Franks. The Frankish kingdom was established by Clovis, a strong military leader who around a.d. 500 became the first Germanic ruler to convert to Catholic Christianity. At first, Clovis had refused the pleas of his Christian wife to adopt Christianity as his religion. According to Gregory of Tours, a sixth-century historian, Clovis had remarked to his wife, "Your God can do nothing." During a battle with another Germanic tribe, however, Clovis's army faced certain destruction. Clovis was reported to have cried out, "Jesus Christ...if you will give me victory over my enemies... I will believe in you and I will be baptized in your name." After he uttered these words, the enemy began to flee. Clovis soon became a Christian. Clovis found that his conversion to Christianity won him the support of the Roman Catholic Church, as the Christian church in Rome was now known. Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church was eager to gain the friendship of a major ruler in the Germanic states. By a.d. 510, Clovis had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom that stretched from the Pyrenees in the southwest to German lands— modern-day France and western Germany. He defeated the many Germanic tribes surrounding him and unified the Franks as a people. After Clovis's death, his sons followed Frankish custom and divided his newly created kingdom among themselves. The once-united Frankish kingdom came to be divided into three major areas.
missi dominici
Royal officials under Charlemagne who traveled around the country to enforce the king's laws
Romanesque
Style of church architecture using round arches, domes, thick walls, and small windows
Byzantine Empire (problems faced in the 11th century, fall of)
The Byzantine Empire faced threats from abroad as well. The greatest challenge came from the advance of the Seljuk Turks who had moved into Asia Minor—the heartland of the empire and its main source of food and manpower. In 1071 a Turkish army defeated Byzantine forces at Manzikert. As a result, Emperor Alexus I turned to Europe for military aid to fight the Turks. This problem would lead to Byzantine involvement in the Crusades and help bring about the downfall of the Byzantine Empire.
Crusades (how they began, long-term results, etc.)
The Crusades started when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus asked for help against the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuk Turks were Muslims who had taken control of Asia Minor. Pope Urban II, who responded to the request, saw an opportunity to provide leadership for a great cause. That cause was rallying Europe's warriors to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land from people whom Christians viewed as infidels, or unbelievers—the Muslims.
Alcuin
The English scholar whom Charlemagne brought to his capital city. There he established a palace school to teach members of the royal family and the children of the nobles.
Germanic tribes
The Germanic peoples had begun to move into the lands of the Roman Empire by the third century. The Visigoths occupied Spain and Italy until the Ostrogoths, another Germanic tribe, took control of Italy in the fifth century. By a.d. 500, the Western Roman Empire had been replaced by a number of states ruled by German kings. The merging of Romans and Germans took different forms in the various Germanic kingdoms.
Monasticism
The practice of living the life of a monk
Medieval Knights
Warriors who swore allegiance to a noble or to a king, and in return for their loyalty, they were given land grants; lived according to the code of chivalry
William the Conqueror
William, Duke of Normandy, proved adept at seizing political opportunities. After the death of England's King Edward the Confessor in 1066, Harold the Saxon took the English throne. Claiming Edward had designated him to be England's next king, William and his Norman troops invaded England. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "William came upon [Harold] by surprise before his people were marshaled. Nevertheless the king fought very hard against him with those men who wanted to support him, and there was a great slaughter on either side. . . And the French had possession of the place of slaughter, just as God granted them . . ." William's conquest had a profound impact on the course of English history. He brought with him many elements of French culture, including its laws, language, literature, and art. He crushed the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and replaced it with Norman lords. William still ruled lands in mainland Europe, and he spent more time there than in England. He died in France while on a military campaign to recover some land there.
Code of Chivalry
a code of behavior that governed the aspect of all knights behavior
interdict
a decree by the pope that forbade priests from giving the sacraments of the Church to the people
Battle of Hastings
an army of heavily armed knights under William of Normandy landed on the coast of England and soundly defeated King Harold and his foot soldiers at the Battle of Hastings. William was then crowned king of England. Norman knights received parcels of land, which they held as fiefs, from the king. All nobles swore an oath of loyalty to William as the sole ruler of England.
why Europeans begin studying ancient manuscripts
crucial factor in the preservation of the ancient legacy
Philip IV of France
enemy of the Pope; wants more state power; moved the Papacy to France (Later Medieval Europe)
Crusades
military expeditions carried out by European Christians in the Middle Ages to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims
Magna Carta (what led to the signing, what it provided?)
the "Great Charter" of rights, which King John was forced to sign by the English nobles at Runnymede in 1215
Hanseatic League
the Hanseatic League, developed in the Baltic and North Sea region. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of more than 100 northern European cities that banded together for mutual trade protection and economic opportunity.
Patriarch
the male head of a family or tribe
Middle Ages
the years between ancient and modern times
Western Europe after the fall of Rome
trade declined, towns emptied, and classical learning nearly disappeared