Christianity and the rise of the individual Flashcards
(39 cards)
What happens during the Middle Ages ?
civic order emerged in Western Europe out of brutality and violence, and for the first time religion played an independent role, a period of achievement vs the Dark Ages
What was the consequence of the division of the West Roman Empire ?
Successive waves of migration by tribes pushed westward by pressure of others behind them
What were the things that new civilizations were attrected to ?
Attracted by the prosperity and civilization of the Roman Empire
Where the security come from ?
came from protection by a class of professional warriors – at a price
Civil order had to be reinvented based on what ?
a) The vital love of freedom inherited from the barbarians themselves (tribal lawon which their identity was based)
b) dealings and agreemnets btwn a king and his more important vassals - decentralization (bound to each other by oath)
c) Christian religion
Who were the guardians of the law ?
kings
From whom they inherited the law o femphasis on community ?
From their ancestors
What do they prioritized btwn community and the others ?
A strong moral and legal sense of how to treat one`s own community
Very little care for the ‘others’
Gradually, they will include the ‘others’ within their law and extend it across the land they controlled
Why dealings between a king and his more important vassals became essential ?
Evolution from small, moving courts to bigger, fixed courts, usually located in castles
The authority must consult with its subjects
representation of law of tribes
The law of the tribes they represented became the law of the land they controlled
How was set civil order ?
Civil order had to be constructed by agreement with a set of magnates whose control over their own tenants gave them an independent position of their own
What is the geographic advantage of Europe ?
Europe is a well watered continent and its agriculture does not depend upon the construction of large digs and irrigation systems
What ais the consequence of the geographic connection ?
Because of water and weather, local life is relatively independent of central power
What caracterized the 11th century ?
a mosaic of independent principalities ruled by dukes and counts, some independent cities, and the beginnings of the future nation-states
What the feuodalism consist in ?
A new type of relationship between free individuals – what can one do when there is no government to protect him
Kings grants land to barons that grants land to knights that grants land to villains that provide food to knights thta provide military to barons that provide money and knights to king.
In what consists vassalages ?
Warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leader – they fought for their chief and he, in turn, took care of their needs.
The relationship between lord and vassal was made official by a public ceremony.
Vassal def
an individual who served a lord in a military capacity
What does the lord - vassal realtion allow ?
The lord – vassal relation bound together both greater and lesser landowners
The King had a number of vassals from the great lords, whom in turn had their own vassals, who also had their own vassals
What are the main points of feuodalism ?
An honourable relationship between free men
A set of practices: military service, usually about forty days a year, should also appear to his lord’s court when summoned, aid or financial payments to the lord on a number of occasions (marriage, ransom)
Protection: military and in the court of law
what are the facts about powerful nobles took control
Powerful nobles took control of large areas of land – gave grants of land to vassals who fought for them
A shift in weaponry too: heavily armoured cavalry becomes more important than the foot soldiers
Difficult to pay for the heavy armour – land allowed the warrior to pay for those expenses – the knights
What is the respective function o fkings, nobles and the church?
Kings intrigued, nobles fought wars, the Church took an active and direct role.
what determined which among the variety of languages and cultures across Europe came to be identified with nations?
an intermixture of policy and accident
+ The fashion for courtly romance – generated a different place for women in Western civ
What was the interests of the nobolity and the richer inhabitants of the cities ?
Rights and liberties
Parallel with nowdays
The voter of today inherits the rights first sustained by the barons of old
