Test!! Flashcards
(28 cards)
1
Q
How did the Roman Empire split?
A
Split in the late third century when the emperor divided Rome into Eastern (Byzantine) and Western empires
2
Q
How did the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire fall?
A
- Trade city
- Capital Constantinople
- Fell in 1453 to Ottoman Empire Turks
3
Q
How did the Western Roman Empire fall?
A
- Fell in 476 when Italy was captured by the Lombards and they deposed the last emperor
4
Q
What was the Praetorian Guard?
A
- Rome was weakened by internal corruption
- Roman officials brutalized citizens
- The emperor’s personal bodyguards that assasinated and installed new sovereigns at will. The spot was once even auctioned off to the highest bidder.
5
Q
What was the Oath of Homage?
A
- An oath where a vassal would pledge loyalty and submission to a lord in exchange for a symbolic title
- Required military service
6
Q
What was the Oath of Fealty?
A
- Stated a vassal would support the lord’s court and decisions
- Could pledge fealty to more than one lord
- Typically resulted in the vassal receiving land
7
Q
What was the Battle of Hastings?
A
- Fight for the English crown
- Fight between Harold II of England and Wiilliam of Normandy
- Started after Edward the confessor dedicated William as his heir to the throne of England
- However, on Edward’s deathbed he granted the kingdom to Harold which led to a battle between Harold and William
- William the Conqueror defeated the English army of Harold and become the new ruler of England
8
Q
What was the Doomsday book?
A
Commissioned by the new King William, it was meant to assess the land and resources that William had conquered and to determine who held which lands and how they were being used.
9
Q
What was peasant life like?
A
- Serfs were given land by a lord to work and the Serfs were then bound to that lord and that land
- Worked 6 days a week except for Sundays which were devoted to the church
- Many religious holidays
- Homes were wattle and daub built, walls were a lattice of wood smeared with mud, manure, and straw
- Lord’s houses were only a little better with greater use of stone and wood cut
10
Q
What were medieval guilds?
A
- Two types: merchant and craft guilds
- Merchant guilds were for all the merchants in a town
- Craft guilds controlled all artisan production
- Guilds were powerful such as the Mason guild that built castle and town walls
- Paris had over 120 guilds
11
Q
What were peasant beliefs like?
A
- Marriage was not considered a formal ceremony and could take place anywhere. Declared a sacrament in the 12th century
- Animal trials took place
- Peasants feared attacks and looked to their lords
- People thought fate ruled their lives, most could not read or write
12
Q
What was noble life like?
A
- Marriage for political or social gain, married young
- Lived in castles decorated with tapestries, minstrel gallery for entertainers, toilet opened into the moat, castles after 1200 had glass on windows
- Ate few vegetables but peasants did
- Took place in mock battle known as “melee”
13
Q
What was the right of first night/right of the Lord?
A
A legal right in Europe that allowed Lord’s to have relations with any female subject, particularly on her wedding night.
14
Q
What were the powers of the Catholic church?
A
- Charlemagne started Holy Roman Empire and concept that kings were under papal authority
- Pope Gregory declared he could depose emperors and to assert his power to do things like this
- Pope Innocent III placed Englad under interdict (prevented England from participating in church functions or recieving privileges)
15
Q
What did the church provide?
A
- Pope collected taxes, judged complaints, and provided basic services to Rome after 5th century
- Provided greatest source of educated people through monasteries
- Monasteries provided charities to places such as hospitals, orphanages, and inns
16
Q
What were medieval fairs?
A
- Based on commerce
- Merchants purchased stalls to sell wares
- Early fairs lasted 2-3 days
- Later fairs lasted 4-6 weeks and were usually centered around religious holidays
- Large fairs dedicated certain days to selling certain goods and last days to settling merchant accounts
- Champagne fairs were largest and held 6 times a year
- Fairs had their own legal code
- Police present called “Guards of the Fair”
17
Q
What were money changers?
A
Merchants that either exchanged coinage or purchased goods for people to have coinage at the fair
18
Q
Who was Eleanor of Aquitaine?
A
- Married to King of France then King of England
- Held control of Duchy of Aquitaine
- Best known yet least documented medieval person due to her active role in politics as a woman
- Life seems to have been purposefully removed from history
19
Q
Who was Hildegard of Bingen?
A
- Benedictine abbess in Germany
- Considered the founder of scientific natural history
20
Q
Who was Joan of Arc?
A
- 13 year old peasant that convinced the French king that God would lead her to victory at Orleans
- Captured and tried by the English for heresy
- Burned at stake
- Later declared a saint
21
Q
Who was Matilda of Tuscany?
A
- Powerful figure
- Controlled Tuscany and other Italian lands
- Helped broker the forgiveness of Henry IV in the Investure Controversy
22
Q
What was the Investure Controversy?
A
A conflict between the Church and state in medieval Europe over the ability of monarchs to appoint church officials. The monarchs lost the ability to appoint their own bishops.
23
Q
What did the Vikings do?
A
- From 793-1066, the Vikings raided and traded with much of Europe and portions of North America
- 793 attack on an island monastery off the coast of Northumberland in England marked beginning of Viking raids
- Battle of Stamford Bridge last Viking attack on Britain
24
Q
What was the Battle of Stamford Bridge?
A
- Fight between English and Vikings
- Another battle stemming from the succession struggle after the death of Edward the Confessor
- Vikings invaded England only to be defeated, marking the end of the Viking era in Britain
25
What did the Mongols do?
- Re-established the silk road and facilitated East-West trade in the 13th century
- Mongol battle victories at Mohi and Legnica threatened medieval Poland and Hungary
26
What were the battles of Mohi and Legnica?
- Legnica - Mongol raiders in Poland defeated a European army containing Christian knights
- Mohi - The Mongols fought against a Hungarian army. Mongols defeated Hungarians burning a city and taking control of land. Hungarians could not organize forces in time.
27
What were Paiza/Paizi?
Metal tablets inscribed in gold, silver, or bronze to signify certain privileges to protect diplomats, merchants, and messengers traveling the silk road
28
What were crusades?
- Meant to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims and enhance the reputation of the church in Europe
- Called for by Pope Urban II
- Only the 1st crusade (1095) was successful, resulting in the four Crusader States, centured around the cities Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem
- 8 crusades supported by the church from 1095-1291
- 4th crusade resulted in Pope Innocent III declaring all that took part excommunicated as they sacked a Christian city (Constantinople)
- Men who survived crusades introduced to new products such as sugar, coffee, mirrors, and carpets
