WHAP Ch. 9 and 14 Questions – Flashcards

When the Byzantine Empire fell, it opened up many military and land opportunities for the Holy Roman Empire.

After the fall of Rome, Europe split up into all sorts of little political entities. Where Rome had once ruled a large part of Europe, it now came to be ruled by "nobles" who controlled as much land as they could. Self-sufficiency became more important after the fall of Rome. Now that Rome did not control everything, it became very dangerous to travel and, therefore, to trade. There were too many people who might steal a trader's goods and money. So there came to be much less trade and areas needed to be self-sufficient.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe's reversion to a basic economy limited the freedoms and economic potential of most of the population. Outright slavery declined but vulnerable people traded their land to local strongmen for protection. These people became tied to the land as serfs. It also paved the way for an emerging wealthy class to reap great benefits. The basic political, economic, and social unit became the manor system, and the majority of the population worked on land owned by the head of the manor. Weakened central governments depended on a system of allegiances based on promises of military service. In addition to childcare, weaving, spinning, and sewing duties, poor women worked the land alongside their families. Noblewomen were important as heiresses and candidates for marriage, as men sought to increase their wealth and power through marriage alliances. Women sometimes owned land and performed administrative duties, but most often a wife exercised control only during her husband's absences.

After the fall of Rome, the Christian church was the one institution capable of countering European social stratification and political and economic fragmentation. By claiming spiritual jurisdiction and the loyalty of the European people, the church often dominated the legal, political, social, and economic life of Europe. There were challenges to church power, however. Differences in doctrine created schisms within the church, dividing its power among factions and regions. Challenges from other religions, particularly Islam, were very strong. Canon and secular law often collided, particularly after the rebirth of Roman law. Struggles between secular and church power were most notable during the reigns of strong-willed kings. Control of clerical appointments became an important issue. The church never entirely dominated European Civilization, and the division of church and state distinguished Western Europe from the Byzantine Empire and eastern Muslim states.

Students should recognize the way in which Vladimir I evaluated the three monotheistic faiths with secular rather than spiritual considerations in mind. The Islamic prohibition against alcohol dissuaded the adoption of Islam in Russia. The destruction of the Jewish kingdoms did not inspire faith and confidence in Vladimir I; therefore Judaism was not chosen either. Vladimir I was impressed with the splendor of the Byzantine Empire, the religion of which he adopted. Constantinople was the selling point with its trade and manufacturing.

Technological improvements in agriculture included plows that were better suited to cultivating the heavy northern European soils. These plows cut deep and turned the soil. The efficiency of those horses was further increased by the development of better harnesses and horse collars. The three-field system of cultivation decreased farm-labor requirements, freeing workers for other pursuits. Improvements in agricultural technology and techniques provided a growing food surplus, which stimulated the return to a money-based economy and supported manufacturing and trade. Those improvements helped cities and regions become independent from Church and feudal control. Improved central administrations and consolidated power eventually led to strong national kingdoms.

Monasticism removed thousands of the most talented women and men from participation in public life and reinforced the separation of religious affairs from secular politics and economics. Monasteries were the primary centers of literacy and learning for centuries after the fall of Rome. They also helped preserve and copy important works from the West's Latin heritage, as well as from outside cultures. Prescriptions for individual and societal behavior emanated from the monasteries across the West. After the thirteenth century, the reorganized monastery system exercised more centralized control and dominated European ecclesiastical life.

Although the Crusades are popularly viewed as religiously inspired campaigns to recapture the Holy Land, students should recognize them as a result of the social and economic events in Europe between 1000 and 1200. Religious and secular leaders seeking to end the fighting among feudal lords seized upon the Crusades as a means of redirecting that aggression. Feudal knights who would not be inheriting their family properties eagerly enlisted in the Crusades as a way to win wealth or status. The idea of the pilgrimage was a powerful one, and the Crusades were basically armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The various Crusades ultimately failed. The sack of Constantinople was a fitting denouement to the whole concept. The interaction with the East brought to Europe not only Arabic translations of Greek texts, but also original Arabic and Iranian scientific and philosophical works.

Russian territory was mostly slaves and they mainly relied on trade, because there were just rivers. They were also close to the Silk Road, which gave them an advantage to empires like Byzantine. They adopted many skills from them like glass-making and architecture skills.

In the Byzantine period, the family became more rigid; women were confined to their houses and wore veils if they went out. However, Byzantine women ruled alongside their husbands between 1028 and 1056, and women did not take refuge in nunneries.

Technology was more significant in the European recovery than self governing cities. Technology enabled the renewal of the transport system, the modernization of industrial and agricultural equipment, the resumption of normal production, the raising of productivity, and the facilitating of intra-European trade.

To most of the public, they thought it was great since they were taking back the holy land. It was more important to Europe because, as previously stated, it helped in the dark ages. Italy managed to get Western Europe in a frenzy about take the holy land away from the infidels. The real reason they did so was to open up the area to trade, and get some of the goods that came on the silk rode. Europe won the first crusade, which allowed the Venetians in Italy to trade. This helped build up their wealth which eventually led to the Renaissance, which later spread over Europe. This allowed for the West to become more powerful, and eventually take over and pretty much rule the world. Another reason it was more important, was that it destroyed the Muslims for awhile. The Byzantine Empire counted on them to be the first line of defensive against the Mongols. This allowed them to further weaken the Byzantine Empire. This also helped spread the Bubonic Plague, which was spread by the Mongols on fleas and rats that traveled along the silk road, which ended in the Holy Land, where the Venetians and Italians were trading, and they brought it to Europe. The Bubonic Plague was the end of the Dark Ages,and the beginning of the High Middle Ages. In this period Europe went on to the Renaissance and Enlightenment period, where Europe became more technologically advance and powerful. In basic terms, it helped end Western Europe's isolation, and open it up to the world and to trading. This led to several developments and events that changed the course of history and helped the West become the dominate player in the world.

The rebirth of scientific discovery, the fall of feudalism, the crusades, and the slow deterioration of the Church as the political leader.

After the Black Death, the culture in the late middle ages primary focus shifted from church building, cathedrals, and large monastery construction; and instead people culture became oriented toward own living standard.

Europe, more particularly Western Europe, benefited most from social, technological, and economic change from 1200 and 1500. The growth of cities and commerce brought western Europe into contact with the wider world.

Famines and plagues. -At first, many people would stop working because of the uncertain future. The long run Europeans adapted to the new conditions. -Because of the decline in population, Europeans were encouraged to find better techniques for making the most of available resources. -Less labor=more demand (this was good for the peasants). Statute of Laborers in 1351 was passed by Parliament to fix prices and wages to what they were in 1347. -The two powerhouses of the Middle Ages, the Church and nobility lost power. -pessimism, religious fanaticism, suspicion to travelers, intolerance to Jews

-Nine out of ten people lived in rural areas and that this majority of people were subjected to famine as well as epidemics such as the Black Death. -The rural worked hard in the fields with the fruits of their labor going to the noble landowner. -From 1110 to 1300 the European population more than doubled in part due to environmental changes such as increases in average temperature. -This explosion in the population led to the use of the three-field system as well as the opening of new agricultural settlements; however it also led to the reality that most Europeans would experience extreme hunger at least once in their lives. -This was a world of social inequality, where serfs worked and the nobility and the Church owned the land. -There were inefficient farming practices, widening class differences, and burgeoning population as the root factors creating rural poverty.

-The revival of Latin cities and intellectual life came in large part through contact with these two great civilizations. -The Byzantine and Muslim empires remained more advanced in many ways than the Latin West; however, the Latin West revived its civilization in large part through trade, the Crusades, and even through the remains of Muslim control of Spain. -The importance of the Silk Road and other sea-based trade routes from the East cannot be overstated in bringing technology, commerce, products, and even epidemics to the Latin West. -This Eastern-based commerce revived the urban economies of the Latin West. The Black Death, brought into Europe from China, also in the long run provided economic recovery and the decline of feudalism. In addition, the intellectual contributions of these empires were important to the growth of the Renaissance. -Islamic science, medicine, astronomy, and botany as well as the preservation of classical texts were the foundation of the era's intellectual revival.

-There was a type of an "industrial revolution" which is a bit overstated; however, there was the growth of a number of new machines to make products and perform useful tasks. -One indicator of an industrial transformation was the profusion of mills powered by both wind and water. -Waterpower made possible the rapid expansion of iron making, including trip hammers, stamping mills, and bellows to shape and pour iron for a variety of new uses. -Mills also processed other products such as paper, in addition to crushing olives, tanning leather, grinding grains, and sawing logs. Students should remark on the consequences of industrial growth as well. -The European landscape was changed significantly by this growth. The flow of rivers was changed by dams and canals, quarry pits and mines scarred the countryside, and dumping in the streams created polluted environments. -Deforestation for building and fuel was a common problem as well. In response to these environmental problems, the first anti-pollution law was passed in England in 1388.

Initially the universal language of the Roman Empire, Latin was used in the church in the West for the transmission of ideas at a time when Christianity was spreading to people of diverse cultures and languages. In the medieval era, the church retained its records and literature in Latin, and as the church schools were the ones training young clergy and nobility, the continuation of Latin as the main language of instruction allowed a widespread sharing of knowledge and culture. Universities, derived from cathedral schools, also taught in Latin, regardless of whether they were located in Italian states, the Holy Roman Empire, or France. This allowed a degree of mobility among academics, who could travel to various locales to study what they found of interest, regardless of nationality or political orientation. However, with the growth of humanism and popular literature, the transmission of knowledge in regional languages also increased, such as Dante and Boccaccio writing in Italian or Chaucer writing in Middle English. Thus the Latin-educated elite were no longer the only ones with access to literature.

-The Renaissance is not a break with the Medieval world but a culmination of centuries of cultural and intellectual enrichment. -As the Latin cities grew, the pace of intellectual life quickened. Students should remark that the Byzantine and Muslim worlds were responsible for transmitting new knowledge to Europe through the preservation of Greek and Roman texts of antiquity and the knowledge they had developed themselves. -The works of Plato and Aristotle as well as Arabic works were influential. In addition, the growth of European universities, which may have been modeled on the Muslim madrasa, became institutions of advanced teaching and research. -Some of the period's major intellectual developments were Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and the paintings of Jan van Eyck, Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Giotto and more....much more -The financial support of wealthy merchants like the Medicis was instrumental in the cultivation of these artists. -These achievements exemplify the intellectual growth of the time and have had a lasting influence on Western culture as well as the rest of the world.

-Humanism refers to an interest in the humanities in other words, the disciplines of history, poetry, and ethics. -Humanist writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio were well known for encouraging the rebirth of classical study. -Humanists were influential in reviving secondary education and revising curriculum to include classical tests. -The influence of humanism was enhanced because of new printing technology. -Printing originated in China, but Western Europeans improved it significantly and used printing for many purposes. -Johannes Gutenberg is credited with making at least three major contributions—in the mechanical printing press, uniform cast-metal letters for movable type, and a suitable ink. -The subsequent explosion of printing encouraged both the spread of literacy and the standardization of languages and was a great boon to European intellectual development.

The three transformations were: (1) monarchs' successes in struggles with their vassals (2) the development of military technology (3) the closer relationship of monarchs with both the commercial elites and the church. -The rate and ways of these transformations, however, differed from state to state. Italy, for instance, did not unite under one powerful monarch. Britain and France struggled through the Hundred Years War. Britain's monarch reluctantly accepted the Magna Carta. France had less control of the noble vassals, and Spain was finally united after driving out the remaining Muslims.

-The use of cavalry and armored knights became less central to warfare as improved bows, arrows, and firearms were devised. Metal-tipped arrows shot from crossbows penetrated knights' armor. -The English longbow could shoot both farther and more rapidly than the crossbow. -Firearms improved on Chinese designs. -Cannon terrorized cavalry and were effective against walled cities. -No longer could noble vassals withstand royal sieges. -Hand-held firearms completed the transformation from armored knights to effective infantry. -However, a new financing system was necessary for the monarchy to pay for standing armies.

-King Philip of France asserted his superiority over the church in his domains and subsequently engineered the election of a French pope. -The succession of French popes residing at Avignon, while concurrently rivals claimed the papacy in Rome, created the schism. -The crisis broke the pope's ability to resist the power of the new monarchies and led to new arrangements. Within their realms. -French and English monarchs controlled all high ecclesiastical appointments, along with their wealth.