Early Middle Ages, 750-1000 – Flashcards
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The coronation of Charlemagne was a sign of what -- the rebirth of the Roman Empire or the emergence of a new European civilization?
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The emergence of a new European civilization
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When did Pope Leo III crown Charlemagne as Roman Emperor?
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800
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Three components of the medieval Roman world
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Germanic culture, Christianity, and Greco-Roman culture
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For whom is the Carolingian Dynasty named?
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"Carolus Magnus" -- Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
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How many military campaigns did Charlemagne undertake during his life?
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54
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What five areas did Charlemagne add to the Frankish kingdom (see map p. 157)?
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Brittany, Saxony, Bavaria, Italy, Spain
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Charlemagne's chief representatives in local areas of his empire
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Counts
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"Messengers of the lord king"; used by Charlemagne to ensure counts were complying with his wishes.
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Missi dominici
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An inheritance practice in which the eldest son receives all or the largest share of the parents' estate.
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Primogeniture
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What held Charlemagne's otherwise inefficient empire together?
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Loyalty to the king
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Main objectives of the Carolingian Renaissance
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Revival of Classical studies and preservation of Latin culture
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Writing rooms where monks copied the works of early Christianity and Latin classical authors.
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Scriptoria
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Percent of ancient Roman works which still exist because of the work of Carolingian monks
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90
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Best-known scholar of the Carolingian Renaissance
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Alcuin of York
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Who arranged most marriages in Frankish society?
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Fathers or uncles
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What did the Catholic Church seek to curb during the Early Middle Ages?
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Concubinage and divorce
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Marriage to one person promoted by the church in the Early Middle Ages.
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Monogamy
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A family group consisting of a pair of adults and their children
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Nuclear family
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What did the Catholic Church of the Early Middle Ages prescribe as the only acceptable way to limit children?
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Periodic or total abstinence from intercourse
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Which was condemned more harshly in the Early Middle Ages: homosexuality or contraception?
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Contraception
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What was the most important food for rich and poor in the Early Middle Ages?
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Bread
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What was the most common meat consumed in the Early Middle Ages?
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Pork
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What two dietary excesses were common in Carolingian society?
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Gluttony and drunkenness
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Two things stressed in the medical practice of the Early Middle Ages
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Medicinal herbs and bleeding
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What replaced pagan practices as as pagans throughout Europe converted to Christianity?
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Miraculous healing through God, Jesus, or the saints
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What agreement did the grandsons of Charlemagne sign in 843, which divided his former kingdom into three sections?
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Treaty of Verdun
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Which of the three territories formed by the Treaty of Verdun was fought over most in later times?
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The Middle Kingdom
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What languages developed among the Franks living in the western and eastern Frankish areas, respectively?
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French and German
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What three groups threatened the stability of Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries?
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Muslims, Magyars, and Vikings
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What peninsula did Muslims take over in the Early Middle Ages?
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Iberian (Spain)
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Where were the Magyars from?
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Western Asia
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Who were the Vikings?
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Norsemen from Scandinavia
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What two features of Viking society help explain what they accomplished?
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They were warriors and they were superb shipbuilders and sailors.
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An area of northeast England occupied by Danish Vikings
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The Danelaw
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Viking from Iceland who discovered Greenland in 985
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Erik the Red
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What group of people grew stronger as an indirect result of the Viking raids of the Early Middle Ages?
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Local aristocrats
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A class of hereditary nobility in medieval Europe; a warrior class who shared a distinctive lifestyle based on the institution of knighthood, although there were social divisions within the group based on extremes of wealth.
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Aristocracy
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a person granted a fief, or landed estate, in exchange for providing military services to the lord and fulfilling certain other obligations such as appearing at the lord's court when summoned and making a payment on the knighting of the lord's eldest son.
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Vassal
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Heavily-armored cavalry who came to have the greatest social prestige in the European aristocracy
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Knights
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A landed estate granted to a vassal in exchange for military services.
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Fief
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The practice in which a lord's greatest vassals subdivided their fiefs and had vassals of their own, and those vassals, in turn, subdivided their fiefs and so on down to simple knights whose fiefs were too small to subdivide.
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Subinfeudation
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About how many days of military service per year was a vassal expected to render to his lord?
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40
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What commodity did nobles and knights depend upon in order to function as warriors?
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Leisure time to pursue the arts of war
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Agricultural laborers bound to the land during the Middle Ages required to provide labor, to pay rents, and submit to their lord's jurisdiction.
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Serfs
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Probably what percentage of the population of western Europe were serfs in the ninth century?
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60
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A tenth; serfs were required to pay a tenth of their produce to the village church.
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Tithe
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How many days per week did serfs usually work for their lord?
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3
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Probably 90% of Europeans did what during the Early Middle Ages?
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Worked the land
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An agricultural estate operated by a lord and worked by peasants who performed labor services and paid various rents and fees to the lord in exchange for protection and sustenance.
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Manor
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The part of a manor retained under the direct control of the lord and worked by the serfs as part of their labor services.
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Demesne
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What declined a great deal in Europe during the Early Middle Ages?
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Trade
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In what century did Byzantine civilization reach its "golden age"?
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Tenth
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What patriarch of the eastern church condemned the western pope as a heretic for changing part of the Nicene Creed?
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Photius
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Which Byzantine dynasty is known for its great achievements in the ninth and tenth centuries?
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Macedonian
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What did Byzantium enjoy under the Macedonian rulers?
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A strong civil service, talented emperors, and military advances
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A people from central Europe who gradually divided into three major groups as a result of mass migrations and nomadic invasions
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Slavs
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What three eastern European people groups eventually accepted Christianity during the Early Middle Ages?
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Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians
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Byzantine missionary brothers who helped to convert the southern Slavs to Christianity and translated the Bible into Slavonic, using an alphabet (Cyrillic) similar to the Greek
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Cyril and Methodius
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What three people groups formed from the settlements of the southern Slavs?
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Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs
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What people groups formed from the settlements of the eastern Slavs?
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Russians, White Russians, and Ukrainians
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Who was the semilegendary Viking founder of the Russian state?
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Rurik
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What kind of religious and political life developed in Russia?
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Byzantine
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Who were regarded as the ideal citizens under the Abbasid dynasty?
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Judges, merchants, and government officials
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What capital city was built on the Tigris River by the Abbasids?
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Baghdad
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Whose reign is described as the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate?
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Harun al-Rashid
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Who set up the emirate of al-Andalus in Spain, where all religions were tolerated?
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Abd al-Rahman
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What two things unified Islamic civilization in the Early Middle Ages?
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The Qur'an and the Arabic language
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What works were translated into Arabic during the Early Middle Ages?
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Greek, Syrian, and Persian scientific and philosophical works
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How many public libraries did the city of Córdoba have?
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70
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Where were the works of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greeks studied by Muslim scholars?
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The House of Wisdom, in Baghdad
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In what areas of study did Muslims make significant advances?
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Mathematics and natural sciences
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From where was paper introduced, in the eighth century?
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China
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What instrument, perfected by Muslim scholars, later enabled Europeans to sail to the Americas?
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Astrolabe
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Renowned Muslim scholar who wrote a medical dictionary and observed the contagious nature of some diseases
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Ibn Sina / Avicenna
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The city at the center of the eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire; the largest city in Europe during the Middle Ages
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Constantinople
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Commander who helped the emperor Justinian expand the eastern Roman Empire
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Belisarius
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Prominent Byzantine emperor who sought to reestablish the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean
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Justinian
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"Body of Civil Law"; the document produced as a result of Justinian's attempt to codify all Roman law; later became the basis of the legal system of all of continental Europe
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Corpus Iuris Civilis
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Industry which flourished in Constantinople as a result of the smuggling of worms from China during Justinian's reign
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Silk
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Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, known for its enormous dome
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Hagia Sophia
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Huge amphitheater where Byzantines watched sporting events such as chariot races
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Hippodrome
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Threatened the eastern Roman Empire from the east during the 7th century
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Persians then Muslims
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Threatened the eastern Roman Empire from the north during the 7th century
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Slavs then Bulgars
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Eventually replaced Latin as the main language of the Byzantine Empire
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Greek
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Figure with absolute power who played a crucial position in the Byzantine state
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Emperor
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Held the Byzantine state together
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Spiritual values
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The year the Byzantine state finally fell to Muslim forces
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1453
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"Ox ford"
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Bosporus (meaning)
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What emperor traced out the original boundary of Constantinople with a spear?
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Constantine I
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"New Rome," the name used for the city of Constantinople
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"Nova Roma"
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What natural resource did the city of Constantinople lack?
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Fresh water
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Which emperor was responsible for building the longest aqueduct system?
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Valens
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How many miles did water have to travel from its source to the city of Constantinople?
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400
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What was engraved by masons on the aqueduct bridges of the Byzantines?
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Christian symbols
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Where did engineers decide to store most of Constantinople's fresh water?
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Underground
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What structure(s) enabled the Byzantines to remain secure from the attacks of the Huns?
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City walls
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What material did Byzantines use to ensure their structures would absorb shocks from earthquakes?
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Limestone mortar
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Who or what was responsible for damaging 57 towers along the wall of Constantinople?
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Earthquakes
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What did the Byzantines use to prevent an attack on their city from the water?
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A giant chain
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Who was Justinian's controversial wife?
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Theodora
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How did Justinian find money for all his extravagant building projects?
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taxation
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How many people could fit in the Hippodrome?
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100,000
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What famous riots began in the Hippodrome in 532?
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Nika
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What emperor revived Byzantine power by extending its territory into the Balkan Peninsula?
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Basil II
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Basil II's Bulgarian arch-enemy
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Czar Samuel
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What weapon was used by the Ottoman Empire to break through the walls of Constantinople in 1453?
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Cannon
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What do some scholars say contributed indirectly to the Renaissance in western Europe?
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Fall of Constantinople
