Unit 3: The Middle Ages – Flashcards

To regulate a complex society of the divided empire, the emperor Justinian set up a panel of ten legal experts to create a single, uniform code of the "New Rome." The Code decided legal questions that regulated whole areas of Byzantine life. The Code served the Empire for 900 years. It contained 5,000 Roman laws; quotes and summaries of the opinions of Rome's greatest legal thinkers about the laws; a textbook that told law students how to use the laws; and new laws.

Meaning "Holy Wisdom" in Greek, it was a massive church that the emperor Justinian built as part as his building program for the empire. It helped him show the close connection between church and state in the empire. It has rich mosaics and a thousand lamps and candles. The emperor sought to make it the most splendid church in the Christian world. The beauty of the church helped convince visiting Russian nobles that their country should adopt Byzantine Christianity.

Leading Christian bishop of the East.

Religious images used by eastern Christians to aid their devotion. Emperor Leo III banned the use of them over the controversy that the use of them amounted to idol worship.

Meaning "icon-breakers," they supported the Emperor's view of the ban on icons. They broke into churches to destroy the religious images.

An outcast from the Church. A pope ordered that this happen to a Byzantine emperor over the destroying of icons. It was also a control tactic that the Popes used to control kings.

A split. It's what occurred to the Byzantine empire, which was permanently divided between the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East.

Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril invented an alphabet for the Slavic languages when working among the Slavs in the 9th century. With an alphabet, Slavs would be able to read the Bible in their own language. Many Slavic languages, including Russian, are now written in this alphabet.

Short term: -law and order disappear -crime -chaos -corrupt military -trade/travel stopped -infrastructure falls Long term: -Independence of the Roman Catholic Church. -creation of modern nation states -urban life to rural life

The medieval period that followed the decline and fall of Rome and lasted from 500 to 1500. During this time, new institutions slowly emerged to replace those of the fallen Roman Empire.

A Germanic people that lived in the Roman province of Gaul.

The Frankish leader, he brought Christianity to his region. As he conquered, the Church converted many of the Germanic people.

Religious communities built by the Church to adapt to rural conditions. They became Europe's best-educated communities. Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books.

Worldly

He broadened the authority of the pope's office, beyond its spiritual role. It also became a secular power involved in politics. The pope's palace became the center of the Roman government. He used Church revenues to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor. He also negotiated peace treaties with invaders like the Lombards. He acted like the mayor of Rome.

A battle between Charles Martel and a Muslim raiding party from Spain (732). It's victory of Charles Martel winning held a great significance for the Christian Europeans. If the Muslims won, they might have take Western Europe for part of the Muslim Empire.

Pepin the Short wanted to be king so he made a deal with the pope. If he fought the Lombards, the pope would make him king. Pepin won and was made king and started the long reign of the Carolingian Dynasty (751-987), which brought stability.

Pepin the Short's son, he quickly seized control of the entire kingdom after his father died. He built an empire comparable to Rome and was given the title of "Roman Emperor" by the Church (which showed the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire. He also encouraged the spread of education. -built a large empire -spreads Christianity with conquests -Saved Pope in Rome -Named "Holy Roman Emperor" -Empire collapsed due to Second Wave of barbarian invasions

In exchange for military protection and other services, a lord granted a fief. It depended on the control of land.

Relationships between various lords and their vassals were never clear-cut. The same noble might be a vassal to several different lords. This caused confusing relations and loyalties.

Kings on top Powerful vassals (wealthy landowners such as nobles and bishops) Knights (defense) Landless peasants (tied to the land they were born on; worked for vassals/lords)

Lord provided serfs with housing, strips of farmland, and protection. The serfs provided a few says labor each week and a certain portion of their grain in return.

The manor was self-sufficient and it was dangerous outside the manor.

They accepted their place in life as part of the Church's teachings. They believed that God determined a person's place in society.

A landowner.

The land a lord granted to others in exchange for military protection and other services.

The dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.

The person receiving the fief.

Mounted warriors who pledged to defend their lords' lands in exchange for fiefs.

People who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born and bound to the land. They were mostly peasants that made up the lowest class on the feudal pyramid.

The lord's estate. It was a self-sufficient community powered by the peasant workforce.

The system of manorial social and political organization.

A church tax on the peasant families that went to the village priest. The tax represented one-tenth of their income.

A complex set of ideals. Protected weak and poor; loyal; brave; courteous.

A poet who writes verse to music.

-Lord gives them land. -Wealth from fiefs allows for the knights to afford their own weapons, armour, and warhorses. -Knight needed to complete 40 days of mounted combat each year.

-Church viewed women as inferior to men. -Women's status declined. -Roles limited to home and convent. -Poor and powerless. -Performing endless labor, bearing children, and taking care of their family. -Noblewomen could inherit estate from husband. -->Could send knights off to war at lord's request. -->Act as military commander and a warrior when husband off to war. -->Defended castle when husband away. -Not eligible to receive land as reward in exchange for military service. -Lords passed down land to sons.

Social: -Monasteries -->Sole seats of education before universities. -->Europe's best-educated communities. -->Opened schools -->Maintained libraries and copied books -Set laws inspired by religion -Punishment for greed (greed is a sin) -Set classes Political Role: -King encouraged to follow the pope's rule. -Pope/Church ruled -Pope real leader -Pope threatened kings with excommunication and interdict to control the kings. -Far reaching political power -Monasteries also recruited for army. Economic: -Merchants discouraged in making a profit (rather break-even) -People who lend money (bankers) greatly discouraged by Church -Pope/Church closely watched/managed their large estates. -Some infrastructure repaired by Church -Collected tithe (Church tax) Religious/Spiritual: -Pope was the "greater light" and ruled over the souls. -two "greater lights" -People asked God for peace -Pope helped with peace treaties -Throughout the year, the Sabbath and holidays is a peaceful time. -Monks gave up all pleasures to study holy teachings. -Confess past sons to get into Heaven

Religious officials.

Important religious ceremonies.

The law of the Church.

An ordering that many sacraments and religious services could not be performed in a king's (if he doesn't cooperate with the Church) land. The king's subjects believed that without such sacraments, they might be doomed to eternal suffering in hell.

A loosely federated central European political entity under the rule of a Frankish or German king who bore the title of Roman emperor. It began after the death of Charlemagne with the coronation of the German king Otto I as the first emperor in 962. The empire was long troubled, first by the conflict between papal and civil authority and later by religious strife and political fragmentation, and after the 1200s the emperors had little power in most of its constituent states.

A ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials. Whoever controlled lay investiture wielded the real power in naming bishops. They were a powerful clergy whom kings sought to control.

A compromise between representatives of the Church and the emperor met in the German city of Worms (wurms). In the compromise, the Church alone could grant a bishop his ring and staff (symbols of Church office). But the emperor had the veto power to prevent the appointment of a bishop.

Shared beliefs in the teachings of the Church bonded people together during an era of constant warfare and political turmoil. The Church gave a sense of security and a religious community to their followers. Religious holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, were occasions for social gatherings and festive celebrations.They also provided the hope for an afterlife in heaven for the hard lives of the peasants if they followed the Church.

The king's subjects believed that without sacraments, they might be doomed to eternal suffering in hell.

Whoever controlled lay investiture wielded the real power in naming bishops. They were a powerful clergy whom kings sought to control.

Pope Gregory excommunicated Henry IV.

No because it didn't really solve anything because the emperor could still veto the Church's decision on the appointment of the bishops.

Advantages: -Given protection under lord -Given own land (small) to farm -Had Sundays and holy days off Disadvantages: -Victims of fighting -->Fields burned -->Serfs killed -->Houses destroyed -Punished unjustly -Tied to land for life. -->Inherited lifestyle/class -Has to work for lord three days a week

Advantages: -Provided food -Lived nice lifestyle at home -Income for serf labor -Didn't have to work unless at war. Disadvantages: -Sworn to answer to the call of battle fro, Duke -Had to pay for all their knight's armor. -Short life if soldier

When positions in the Church were sold by bishops.

The son of a rich italian merchant, he gave up his wealth and turned to preaching when he was about 20 years old. He founded an order of friars called the Franciscans. He placed much less importance on scholarship and treated all creatures as if they were his spiritual brothers and sisters.

A new style of architecture that describes a particular church architecture that spread throughout medieval Europe. The term Goth comes from a Germanic tribe named the Goths. Gothic cathedrals thrust upward as if reaching toward heaven and had light streaming in through huge stained-glass windows. The cathedral represented the City of God and was decorated with all the richness that people on earth could offer.

Byzantine emperor, Alexius Comnenus asked for help against the Muslim Turks who were threatening to conquer his capital, Constantinople. Pope Urban II then issued a call for what he termed a "holy war," a Crusade, to gain control of the Holy Land.

A call that Pope Urban II issued that he termed a "holy war." This "war" was fought for 200 years and the goal was to recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks though military expeditions.

A Muslim leader that Jerusalem had fallen to after the Second Crusade. People considered him a devout man who was honest and brave. He wished to chase the Crusaders back into their own territories. He wanted to "free the earth" of the those who weren't Muslim or die in the attempt.

Part of the Third Crusade to recapture Jerusalem. After the two other of Europe's most powerful monarchies gave up, he made a truce with Saladin in 1192. It called that Jerusalem remained under Muslim control and in return Saladin promised that unarmed Christian pilgrims could freely visit the city's holy places.

A long effort to drive the Muslims out of Spain.

To unify the country under Christianity and to consolidate power, it was a tribunal held by the Church to suppress heresy (people whose religious beliefs differed from the teachings of the Church. Jews and Muslims were suspected of this. Any person suspected might be questioned for weeks and even tortured. Once they did confess, they were often burned at the stake. Eventually, the monarchs expelled all practicing Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492, a month before Columbus sailed for America.

-Vikings attacked and looted Church monasteries. -Some priests could barely read their prayers. -Some popes were men of questionable morals. -Many bishops and abbots cared more about their positions as feudal lords than about their duties as spiritual leaders. -Many village priests married and had families, which was against Church rulings. -Positions in the Church were sold by bishops (simony). -The practice of lay investiture put kings in control of the church bishops. Church believed that the bishops should be appointed by them alone.

Religious -Cause a tremendous outpouring of religious feeling and support. -Retake the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks. Social -Knights looking for land and a place in society. Economic -Merchants profited by making cash loans to finance the Crusade. -->Also leased their ships for a hefty fee to transport armies over the Mediterranean Sea. -Merchants of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice hoped to win control of key trade routes to India, Southeast Asia, and China from Muslim traders.

-Lessened the power of the Pope. -Weakened the feudal nobility. -Thousands of knight lost their lives and money. -Stimulated trade between Europe and Southwest Asia. -Intolerance and prejudice displayed by Christians in the Holy Land left behind a legacy of bitterness and hatred. -Muslim and Christian/Jewish relations worsened.

-No currency -lack of trade -most people were poor/widespread poverty -wealth gap -fighting -no government -disorganized -lack of resources -disease -government corruption -lack of new technology -not united -decentralized -no sanitation -lack of education -loss of culture

A new system of farming that started around 800. Villages organized their land into three fields. For example, when using 600 acres, they used 200 acres for a winter crop of wheat or rye and in the spring they planted another 200 acres with oats, barley, peas, or beans, with the remaining 200 acres to fallow (cultivated land that is allowed to lie idle during the growing season). Farmers grew more crops per year and with an increase in food production, a population increase soon followed.

An association of people who worked at the same occupation. In medieval towns, guilds controlled all wages and prices in their craft. The first guilds were formed by merchants who controlled all the trade in their town. They enforced standards of quality. Only masters of the trade could be guile members (took +10 years).

Town dwellers.

The everyday language of a homeland. Few remarkable poets used this instead of writing in latin because most people couldn't read or understand latin. Vernacular writings brought literature to many people.

An Italian poet that wrote The Divine Comedy (1321). It was written in vernacular so more people could read/understand it.

An English poet who wrote The Canterbury Tales (1387). It was written in vernacular so more people could read/understand it.

A scholar who, in the mid-1200s, argued that the most basic religious truths could be proved by logical argument. He wrote the Summa Theologica, a great work influenced by Aristotle, combined ancient Greek thought with the Christian thought of his time. He also led a group called the scholastics.

Schoolmen; what Aquinas and his fellow scholars were called. They used their knowledge of Aristotle to debate many issues of their time. Their teachings on law and government influenced the thinking of western Europeans, particularly the English and French. They began to develop democratic institutions and traditions.

-Population growth. -Trade routes across Europe (from Flanders to Italy). -Trade routes opened to Asia, due to the Crusades. -Guilds created. -Merchants were lending money by moneylenders. Were able to sell more. -Church relaxed its rule on usury (Church rule against lending money at interest)

-Trade was the lifeblood of towns. -Caused towns to form at ports, crossroads, hilltops, and along rivers. -Towns were population hot spots. -People left life on the manor for life in towns. -People challenges the traditional ways of feudal society in which everyone had his place. -Towns offered economic and social opportunities.

As people left the manors and went to towns, they challenged the traditional ways of feudal society in which everyone had his place. So many serfs had left the manors by the 1100s that according to custom, a serf could now become free by living within a town for a year and a day. The merchants and craftsmen of medieval towns did not fit into the traditional medieval social order of noble, clergy, peasant. As trade expanded, townspeople organized themselves and demanded privileges from the feudal lords who used their authority to levy fees, taxes, and rents. Privileges that included freedom from certain kinds of trolls of the right to govern the town. At times they fought against their landlords and won these rights by force.

Fairs and guilds created the need for large amounts of cash. Before a merchant could make a profit selling his goods at a fair, he first had to purchase goods from distant places, which meant he had to borrow money. Since the Church forbade Christians from lending money at an interest, a lot of merchants went to Jews. A lot of Jews were moneylenders because to was one of few ways of making a living allowed to them due to guilds excluding them and being forbidden to own land. The Church eventually relaxed its rule on moneylending and banking became an important business.

Argumentin Defense: -Good for dictatorship -Makes things easy enough -Serfs had land/food -Protection given to serfs in turn for their labor -Created political, social, and economic order -Set roles in society -Everyone had a role/place -Manors were self-sufficient -Strong sense of community Argument Against: -Majority of people kept poor (intense poverty) -Unfair punishment on poor -Women inferior -Led to little development in technology -Inequality between classes -Serfs did hard labor for lord -No social mobility -Constant fighting -Serfs were powerless -Isolation -No cultural diffusion

-Byzantine Empire weakened -Pope's power declined -->Loss of wars discredited the Church -Power of feudal lords weakened -Kings became stronger due to nationalism -Italian cities expand trade and grow rich -->Where first towns formed and trade appeared -Religious intolerance grows -Muslims increasingly distrust Christians. -Trade grows between Europe and Middle East. -European technology improves as Crusades learn from Muslims.

Growing food supply => Increased Population => Increased Trade => Growth of Towns => Trade and Finance Expand and Emergence of a Middle Class -Fairs, trade routes, guilds, banking -Brings Europe out of Dark Ages

-Commercial monopoly -controlled membership -apprentice => journeyman => master => craftsman -controlled quality of the product -controlled trade

The duke of Normandy who won the struggle for the throne of England in 1066. He claimed the English crown after King Edward of England had died and invaded Britain with a Norman army. He is described as ambitious, tough, and an imposing figure. He firmly won England after after winning against his rival, Harold Godwinson the Anglo-Saxon, in the Battle of Hastings. After the battle, William claimed all of England as his personal property and granted fiefs to about 200 Norman lords who swore oaths of loyalty to him personally, this was how he laid the foundation for centralized government.

Ruled England from 1154-1189. He added more land to the English kingdom by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine for more land in France and made him a vassal to the French king. Father to the English kings, Richard the Lionhearted and John. He also strengthened the royal courts of justice by sending royal judges to every part of England at least once a year to collect taxes, settle lawsuits, and punish crimes. He also introduced the use of the jury in English courts and laid the foundation for a unified body of law that become known as common law, which became the basis for law in many English-speaking countries including the US.

The wife to two kings and mother to two kings. She married Louis VII of France when the Second Crusade began. When their marriage was annulled, Eleanor then married Henry Plantagenet (Henry II of England). Their marriage produced two sons that became English kings, Richard the Lionhearted and John, and also brought Henry large territory in France (Aquitaine) and made him a vassal to the French king.

The most celebrated document in English history, it was drawn up by English nobles who revolted against King John's high taxes. On June 15, 1215, they forced John to agree to it. The document guaranteed certain basic political rights because the nobles wanted to safeguard their own feudal rights and limit the king's powers. In later years, classes of all people argued that certain clauses of the Magna Carta applied to every citizen. Guaranteed rights included no taxation without representation, jury trial, and the protection of the law. It guaranteed what are now considered basic legal rights both in England and in the United States.

After Richard the Lionhearted died, his younger brother John took to the throne and ruled from 1199 to 1216. He failed as a military leader, losing Normandy and all of Northern France to the French. He was mean to his subjects and raised taxes to an all-time high to finance his wars. His nobles then revolted and created the Magna Carta, in which they forced King John to agree to.

A legislative group and was an important step toward democratic government. It was made up of knights, burgesses (citizens of wealth and property), bishops, and lords from every borough and county and would meet whenever a new tax was needed. It eventually evolved into two Houses, the House of Commons for knights and burgesses and the House of Lords for nobles and bishops. Parliament, as time went by, became strong and provided a check on royal power.

-Guaranteed certain basic political rights to nobles. -->Wanted to safeguard their own feudal rights. -Limited king's powers. -No taxation without representation. -Jury trial. -Protection of the law.

Parliaments were first developed when King Edward I needed to raise taxes for a war against the French to hang onto the last remaining French lands. He had knights, burgesses (citizens of wealth and property), bishops, and lords from every borough and county meet together to help reach a equal decision.

Over the next century after King Edward I (1300-1400), the king called the knights and burgesses whenever a new tax was needed. Eventually, due to obvious separations in classes, two Houses were created, the House of Commons for knights and burgesses and the House of Lords for nobles and bishops. Parliament, as time went by, became a strong power and provided a check on royal power.

A city in France where the French pope, Clement V, in 1305 moved to from Rome and lived there for the next 67 years. The move to Avignon badly weakened the Church and the move back to Rome weakened it even more. Catholics from Italy and France fought back and forth on whether the pope would be Italian or French. It eventually got the the point where both elected their own pope with the French one in Avignon and the Italian one in Rome.

The Church was dividing due the Catholics from Italy and France fighting back and forth on whether the the pope would be Italian or French. The two eventually elected their own pope. The Council of Constance ended the split in 1417 by having both pops resign and choosing a new pope, Martin V.

An English professor that challenged the papacy by preaching that Jesus, not the pope, was the true head of the Church and was greatly offended at the worldliness and wealth many clergy displayed and believed that the clergy should own no wealth or land. He also taught that the Bible alone, not the pope, was the final authority for Christian life. Though, when a professor in Bohemia carried out Wycliffe's teachings he was burned at the stake by the Council of Constance after he was seized by them and tried as a heretic.

A disease carried by fleas who were carried by rats. It was called by many the "Black Death" due to the disease causing purplish/blackish boils on the skin. It began in Asia and traveled the trade routes, infecting most of Asia and the Muslim world. It then reached Europe in 1347 when a fleet of Genoese merchant ships arrived in Sicily carrying a dead cargo. From there it spread through Europe's trade routes to France, Germany, England, and other parts of Europe within the span of four years. The disease caused the death of one-third of Europe's population (25 million with millions more in Asia and North Africa) and was so terrifying that it ripped apart the very fabric of society. The frightened people looked to the Jews as the scapegoat and accused them of poisoning the wells and drove them from their homes as well as massacred them.

A war between France and England that lasted from 1337 to 1453. The kings of England invaded France, trying to claim the throne. While the French eventually won the war, the English won three important battles in France, the Battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. In all three battles, the English were outnumbered against the French. The French rode on horses in heavy metal armor and even though they were higher in number, they were no match for the English longbows. The success of the longbow in these battles spelled doom for chivalric warfare and the mounted heavily armored medieval knight was soon to become extinct. The English occupied France and took the French throne after the Battle of Agincourt. Five years after the start of the English occupation, Joan of Arc helped rally the French, who finally drove out the English. The French victory left England with only the French port of Calais and raised the power and prestige of the French monarch. Nationalism resulted in both countries from the war in that people now thought of their king as a national leader fighting for the glory of the country and no longer as simply a feudal lord.

A French peasant teenage girl who claimed to have visions and heavenly voices telling her to drive the English out of France and give the French crown to France's true king, Charles VI's son. On May 7, 1429, Joan led the French army into battle against an English fort that blocked the roads to Orleans. It was a hard-fought battle for both sides and the French finally retreated in despair. But suddenly, Joan and a few soldiers charges back toward the fort and the entire French army stormed after her and won. In 1430, she was captured in battle and was handed to the Church authorities to stand trial. ALthough King Charles VII owned his crown to Joan, he did nothing to rescue her. Condemned as a witch and a heretic because of her claim to hear voices, Joan was tied to a stake and burned to death on May, 30 1431.

-Decline in population. -Trade declined. -Prices rose. -Workers were scarce everywhere. -Serfs had often been unpaid or poorly paid for their labor. -Old manorial system began to crumble. -Peasant revolts in England, France, Italy, and Belgium. -Church suffered a loss of prestige when it prayers and penance failed to stop the onslaught of the plague. -Many clergy deserted their flocks. -Clergy sometimes charges high fees to perform services for the dying. -People became pessimistic about life itself, fearing the future. -Art and literature of the time reflect an unusual awareness of death. -Many people also became occupied with with pleasure and self-indulgence. -Disrupted medieval society. -Society of the Middle Ages was collapsing.

People thought of their king as a national leader fighting for the glory of the country and no longer as simply a feudal lord.

-Crusades caused lords to be killed or lose land/fortune -Emergence of middle class

-Widespread Viking invasions -Feudalism -->Manors/castles -Norman invasion -->William the Conqueror -->Wipes out feudal lords ---->Replaced with Norman knights -->Creates monarchy -->Battle of Hastings -Henry I -->William's son -->Set up a court system -->Bank/currency -Henry II -->Common law -->Trial by jury -->Magna Carta (1215) ---->Opens door to democracy ---->limits rule of king

Economic Arguments -Little to no trade for much of the period. -->Not until the Crusades until trading pinked up because of the constant danger of warring states. -->Everyone isolated -->No universal currency made trade hard -->Money scarce -Most people were serfs/poor -Cities collapse due to people moving to rural lands Counter-arguments -Crusades opened up trade -->Occurred towards the end of the period -->Never restored trade to what it was before the fall of Rome -Agricultural boom (3-field system)(switched to horses) -->Occurred towards the end of the period -Fairs -->Only occurred in small pockets across Europe -Financial Revolution Social Augments -Barely anyone was literate -->Only monk in isolated monasteries had education *-Feudalism was inefficient -->Confusing relations/loyalties -Reliance on Church -->Constant and strict beliefs -->People had to pay tithe (10% of salary) -->Corrupted Counter-arguments -Religious unity -->Elimination of diverse cultures. -->Great Schism formed -->Religion loses power once society advances Political Arguments: * -Church became political and had widespread control -->Threatening kings with excommunication -->Kings and lords had too much power (pre-Magna Carta) -Crusades a big political battle started by the Church -Constant warring between lords and kings Counter-arguments -King had a clear power -->He could have too much power -King and Pope worked together sometimes (Crusades) -Church was only spiritual -->Hands in politics and economics ---->Corrupted The Middle ages were indeed 'Dark Ages' because of little to no trade, most people were serfs and trapped in manorialism/feudalism, there was a huge reliance n the Church, and barely anyone was educated. "An African or European Swallow?"