AP World History Chapter 9: Early Medieval Europe – Flashcards

Fear in Western Europe was caused by Arab raiding parties under the Umayyad caliph and Vikings sea raiders. These barbaric peoples caused economic and social instability that would hinder European growth.

Germanic culture formed in Rome because German political leaders brought their culture to the lands they conquered.

German civilization lost population, roads and public buildings deteriorated in the absence of laborers and civic leadership needed to maintain them, people relied less on trade and more on self sufficiency, and literacy declined. Not all of the changes were bad though. The average western European was well-nourished and lived a longer life.

The lords ruled the manors or lands, worked by peasants who were given the right to farm and harvest a small portion of the land. Constant warfare and instability attracted peasants to manors, and manors were the primary center of agriculture production.

Landholding and the obligation to provide military service to a lord. Kings would grant fiefs to a man in return for their promise to provide military support. Structured into the King, Lords, Knights, and then serfs.

Relations between serfs and lords differed to much from one place to another to fit together into a system.

Often political pawns (a man could marry the daughter of a lord with no sons and inherit his property). Little say in marriage matters, could own land, and nonnoble women worked alongside men, doing work such as shearing sheep and picking vegetables.

The equivalent is papacy, pope, and nepotism.

The relationship between them was tense because both thought themselves as ultimate authorities.