Download The Middle Ages WHAP/Napp “Within these new kingdoms, a highly

The Middle Ages
WHAP/Napp
“Within these new kingdoms, a highly fragmented and decentralized society with great
local variation emerged. In thousands of independent, self-sufficient, and largely isolated
landed estates or manors, power – political, economic, and social – was exercised by a
warrior elite of landowning lords. In the constant competition of these centuries, lesser
lords and knights swore allegiance to greater lords or kings and thus became their vassals,
frequently receiving lands and booty [plunder taken in war] in return for military service.
Such reciprocal ties between superior and subordinate were also apparent at the bottom
of the social hierarchy, as Roman-style slavery gradually gave way to serfdom. Unlike
slaves, serfs were not the personal property of their masters, could not be arbitrarily
thrown off their land, and were allowed to live in families. However, they were bound to
their masters’ estates as peasant laborers and owed various payments and services to the
lord of the manor. One family on a manor near Paris in the ninth century owed four silver
coins, wine, wood, three hens, and fifteen eggs per year. Women generally were required to
weave cloth and make clothing for the lord, while men labored in the lord’s fields. In
return, the serf family received a small farm and such protection as the lord could provide.
In a violent and insecure world adjusting to the absence of Roman authority, the only
security available to many individuals or families lay in these communities, where the ties
to kin, manor, and lord constituted the primary human loyalties. It was a world apart
from the stability of life in imperial Rome or its continuation in Byzantium. Also filling the
vacuum left by the collapse of empire was the Roman Catholic Church, yet another link to
the now defunct Roman world. Its hierarchical organization of popes, bishops, priests, and
monasteries were modeled on that of the Roman Empire and took over some of its political,
administrative, educational, and welfare functions. Like the Buddhist establishment in
China, the Church later became extremely wealthy, with reformers often accusing it of
forgetting its central spiritual mission. It also provided a springboard for the conversion of
Europe’s many ‘pagan’ peoples.” ~ Ways of the World
1. Serfs differed from slaves in that
2. During the Middle Ages, effective political
(A) Serfs were largely commercialized
and military power in Europe was
artisans while slaves were agricultural.
(A) Wielded by the Roman Catholic church.
(B) Serfs were ethnically Europeans while
(B) The domain of the national monarch
slaves were Muslims, pagans, and
such as the King of France.
Africans.
(C) Local in nature with regional aristocrats
(C) Serfs could not be bought or sold, and
holding the greatest influence.
owned some of the land they farmed.
(D) Furnished by mercenary armies
(D) Serfs could serve in the military, while
supported by the rich towns and cities.
slaves could not.
(E) Shared by the peasants, urban dwellers,
(E) Slaves frequently were better educated
and the church.
and lived in towns
3. Manorialism was characterized by all of these conditions EXCEPT:
(A) Most peasants were serfs.
(B) Manors and peasants depended on merchants for most necessities.
(C) Peasants were obligated to give their lord a portion of their produce.
(D) The lords protected the peasants.
(E) Levels of production and technology were low and limited.
Key Words/ I. Fall of Western Roman Empire – Internal Decay and External Pressures
Questions
A. Sheer size of the empire, expense of maintaining it, corrupt leaders
B. On borders, Rome faced external pressures: Germanic invaders
II. Comparison to fall of Gupta and Han
A. Romans, Gupta, Han faced invasions by nomadic invaders
B. Romans, Gupta, and Han experienced difficulties regarding taxation
III. After the Fall of Rome
A. Most Germanic tribes converted to Christianity but acted independently
B. The Medieval Church
1. Provided a sense of unity: only Christian Church in western Europe
2. Yet frequent fighting among Germanic tribes in early Medieval period
IV. Franks
A. A Germanic tribe united by King Clovis in late fifth century
1. Clovis converted to Roman Catholicism and established capital in Paris
2. After he died, his empire was divided among his sons
B. Yet empire helped western Europe solidify under common culture
1. Easier to unify against Muslim invasions
2. Charles Martel led the revolt against advancing Muslim armies
a) In 732, defeated them at Battle of Tours, not far from Paris
b) Martel then founded Carolingian Dynasty
C. Charlemagne (“Charles the Great”)
1. Revitalized concept of empire (747-814 CE)
2. Was crowned by the Pope in 800 and became known as Charlemagne
3. Strong focus on arts and education but religious emphasis
D. The Holy Roman Empire: Name of Otto I’s Realm
1. Upon coronation of Otto the Great in 962 (descendant of Charlemagne)
2. However, had little in common with the original Roman Empire
a) Largely limited to “Germany” but believed a renewal of Roman rule
V. Feudalism
A. At top: king had power over an entire territory
B. In exchange for military service/loyalty, king granted land to nobles
C. Nobles or Lords then gave lands to lesser lords (vassals)
D. Estates granted to vassals called fiefs, known as manors: self-sufficient
E. An increasing number of peasants became bound to the land (serfs):
needed protection which lord provided
F. Advances in agriculture: Three-field system with rotation of three
fields: one for fall harvest, one for spring harvest, and one fallow
G. Most lords followed code of chivalry (honor system)
H. Land and title passed down via primogeniture to eldest son
1. Women could inherit a fief, but could not rule it
2. But religious opportunities as nuns
VI. The Vikings (Today’s Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes)
A. Developed highly maneuverable multi-oared boats around 800
B. Raided beyond their borders: limited resources and population pressures
led to raiding of lands and monasteries, even as far as Constantinople
Reflections:
1. Which of the following possessed the
greatest unified organizational capacity
across the largest land area in Western
Europe in the centuries immediately
following the fall of the Roman Empire?
(A) Holy Roman Empire
(B) Islamic caliphates
(C) Catholic church
(D) Carolingian monarchy
(E) Mongol Empire
2. By which route would medieval women
have been most likely to find an alternative
path in life outside of marriage?
(A) Practicing witchcraft
(B) Joining a crusade
(C) Becoming a nun
(D) Entering banking
(E) Joining the priesthood
3. Which of the following terms matches this
definition: “Agricultural laborer tied to an
estate with rights including military
protection, heritable ownership of a plot of
land, and owing obligations to share crop
yields each season with his or her lord.”
(A) Peasant
(B) Slave
(C) Proletarian
(D) Serf
(E) Plebeian
5. The Holy Roman Empire was “neither
holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” because
(A) The emperors were not crowned by the
popes.
(B) The Byzantine emperors did not
acknowledge the Holy Roman Empire.
(C) The people who lived there did not
practice Christianity.
(D) It did not restore imperial unity to
Western Europe.
(E) All of the answers are correct.
6. During the high middle ages, the
development of towns and cities “fit
awkwardly in the framework of a medieval
political order” because
(A) Their citizens demanded autonomy
from local lords.
(B) Unlike feudal manors, cities were
egalitarian societies.
(C) Unlike the organization of the
workforce on feudal manors, women
became part of the working class in cities.
(D) Townspeople included all three estates.
(E) None of the answers are correct.
7. Which one of the following statements
does not describe the crusades?
(A) The campaigns showed European
military superiority to Muslim armies.
(B) One of the crusades conquered
Constantinople instead of recapturing
3. Which group was most likely to be literate Palestine.
in the period of European history often
(C) The crusaders traded eagerly with
called the Dark Ages?
Muslim merchants in the eastern
(A) Aristocrats
Mediterranean.
(B) Peasants
(D) The crusaders brought many Muslim
(C) Monks
ideas back to Europe with them.
(D) Knights
(E) The crusaders introduced to Europe
(E) Monarchs
new agricultural products they learned
about from the Muslims.
4. Which of the following regions of Western
Europe remained most insulated from the
8. The term Reconquista specifically
general trend toward disorder following the referred to
fall of the Roman Empire?
(A) Reconquest of Spain from the Muslims
(A) France
(B) Spain
(B) Reconquest of Sicily from the Muslims
The Magna Carta:
The Magna Carta was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights
and property against a tyrannical king. It is concerned with many practical matters and
specific grievances relevant to the feudal system under which they lived. The interests of
the common man were hardly apparent in the minds of the men who brokered the
agreement. But there are two principles expressed in Magna Carta that resonate to this
day: “No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way
destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his
peers or by the law of the land.” “To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay,
right or justice.”
~ National Archives
How did the Magna Carta limit the power of the English king and how did it influence the
development of modern democracies?
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Analysis:
Describe the ways in which Christianity shaped postclassical European culture.
Excerpt of Free-Response Essay Sample Response:
“Christianity permeated many aspects of postclassical European life. The church
established itself as a higher power than individual monarchs, in part as a result of the
investiture controversy. Universities, though allowing for some disagreement, emphasized
theology and trained countless clergymen; they also provided the backdrop for the
assimilation of Greek and Roman ideas into Christianity. Finally, religious themes
dominated art and architecture. As the Middle Ages came to a close, however, the influence
of the church declined.”
Rate this response and explain the reasons for this grade:
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Questions:
1- What were the duties and obligations of serfs?
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2- What were the duties and obligations of lords?
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3- What did vassals owe their lords and what did lords owe their vassals?
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4- What were the benefits of the feudal system for medieval society? Disadvantages?
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5- Why did feudalism develop, flourish, and ultimately end in Western Europe?
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