Katie Felton
Mr. Haskell
World History
14 October 2004
Study guide 8 and 9
Peasants- were the lowest class and also known as serfs. Peasants were the majority of the people in towns and cities.
Usury- the lending of money at interest made lots of profit for the merchants and bankers. The clergy thought this was very immoral.
Capital- money for investment that spurred the growth of banking houses. As trade grew the need for capital increased.
Tithe- a tax equal to a tenth of a person’s income. The church used the tithe to help the poor in their town.
Fief- an estate that a lord would give to his vassal in exchange for their work. Estates ranged from a few acres to hundreds of square miles.
Chivalry- the code of conduct that knights adopted in the Middle Ages. Chivalry required knights to be brave, loyal and true to their word.
Charter- a written document that set out the rights and privileges of the town. Merchants would ask for charters from local lords or even the king to protect their investments.
Troubadour- wandering poets who wrote love songs about the perfection, beauty, and wit of a woman. Later ideas of chivalry would shape our modern ideas on romantic love
Manor economy- peasants made the labor for the entire manor. Everything grown there came from the land and the work of the peasants.
Monks and nuns lived in a life of constant service to God and all people. Monks and nuns took a vow of poverty and other vows to chastity, purity, and obedience to the abbot.
Church reforms were desired because the church was becoming very corrupt. The clergy were worldly and lived in luxury, the monks and nuns ignored their vows, and married priests spent more time interested in their families than church affairs.
In 1000 when
Defense of castles- the strongholds of the castle were keeps or wooden towers ringed by a fence. Also castles were entirely surrounded by a moat or deep ditch filled with water.
Battle of Tours- in 732 the Franks defeated the Muslim army. Christians saw this as a sign that God was on their side.
Vassals- lesser lords who controlled their fief and the peasants that worked on the land. Vassals pledged their service and loyalty to the greater lord.
Peasants- workers that were tied to their lord and his land. Peasants had to work several days a week to farming the lord’s domain
Knights- mount warriors that protected the town and the people in it. Training to be a knight started at age 7 and finished when the men were usually 21.
Lords- were the second most powerful in the feudal system under the monarch. Lords were usually dukes and counts that held the largest fief.
The church had great power over the people because people felt that God determined what happened to you. Also anyone who refused to obey church law faced many penalties
Cluniac reforms- Were reforms to stop the church from
corruption and moral decay. It revived the Benedictine rule, announced that
nobles couldn’t interfere with the running of monasteries and filled
monasteries with only men devoted to religious pursuits.
Three field system- a system were in ones field they planted grain, in another they planted legumes and left the third fallow. Because this system made more food the population doubled.
Merchant guilds- associations of traders that dominated life in medieval towns. They passed many laws and later artisans came to resent them.
Clergy- church officials that were usually nobles and other wealthy people. During the time of corruption the clergy were worldly and lived in luxury.
Nobles- were the wealthy class of citizen below the king. They were lords, vassals or knights.
Charlemagne- great emperor of the
Leif Erikson- the son of Erik the Red and a Viking.
He is known for finding
Serf- were farmers and produced all the food for the town. They were bound to their lord and could not leave their fief without his permission.
Excommunication- a punishment in the church where people could not receive sacraments. This was the most severe of all the laws of the church.
Steel plow- this helped the peasants dig deeper into the soil and the new harness fit faster-moving horses. From this peasant expanded there crops and planted more food.
Feudal system- a class system where everyone had a place and a class depending on wealth. This system came out of the need for protection from the Vikings, Muslims and Magyars.
Black Death- the regions that were most affected by
the Black Death were Europe some of Asia and
Magna Carta- a charter between King John and his nobles that was written in 1215. It stated that the nobles had more power than the king and it protected that power.
Concordat of
The chief goal of Crusades was to conquer the Holy Land or
Reconquista- the campaign to drive the Muslims away
from
Early jury system- the jury determined where the trial should be brought to court. Another jury was composed of 12 neighbors of the accused once the trial made it to court.
Conflict between emperors and popes- they both felt they had the right to appoint bishops and other clergy men. Later they made a treaty called the Concordat of Worms.
Short Answer
A. 5 reasons late Middle Ages was a time of decline- The Middle Ages is a time of decline because there is famine, the black death has occurred, money process are going up, there was a division in the church and a war is going on which makes Europe more poor.
B. 3 long term effects of the crusades- Three long
term effects were that through trade we have used words in our language today
like sugar, cotton, rice and Muslim. This journeys to
other places began the age of discovery. Last, the exploration of