Chapter 12- Late Middle Ages Flashcards
What was the Black Death?
A plague that struck Western Europe from 1347 until 1350.
What were the consequences of the Black Death?
1) Killed 25 Million People or More.
2) Potentially Ended Feudalism in Europe.
3) Sparked Peasant Revolts Agains Lords and Kings.
4) Massive Decline in Law and Order.
What happened during the Avignon Papacy?
The papacy relocated from Rome to a small town in France for over 70 years and became known for its corruption.
What caused the Great Schism?
Two popes (anti-popes) tried to keep their seat in Avignon leading to competing popes excommunicating one another.
What group was created as a result of the Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism?
The Flagellants.
What is John Wycliffe known as?
The Morning Star of the Reformation.
What did John Wycliffe believe in regards to papal corruption and Scripture?
Papal corruption was not appropriate and people should be able to read the Bible in the vernacular of their own countries rather than relying on a priest or the ability to read in Latin.
What period did the High Middle Ages spark?
The Italian Renaissance
What occurred during the High Middle Ages to spark the Renaissance?
A rediscovery of Ancient Greece and Rome and its dissemination.
Why did the Renaissance start in Italy along with the High Middle Ages “rediscovery”?
1) Rome was in Italy and it had a large concentration of knowledge waiting to be rediscovered.
2) The Pope returned to Italy sparking a movement to remake Rome.
3) The wealth of the Italian city-states funded a revival of the arts.
Who was Machiavelli?
A political theorist (#theorymajorgoals) who became an advisor to the Medici.
What was the staple of the Medieval Diet?
Dark, Coarse, Heavy Wheat-and-Rye Bread
Who ate meat and when?
Lords and Knights regularly. Serfs only on religious feast days.
Who drank what during the High Middle Ages?
Lords and monks drank wine and peasants drank a heavy ale similar to beer.
Describe peasant housing in the High Middle Ages?
1) Walls of wood and sticks.
2) Rubble and Clay formed an exterior mortar/plaster.
3) Low and thatched roofs.
4) Floors of Dirt and Straw.
5) Mostly one Room.
6) Usually No Windows.
What was the state of marriage in 800 AD?
Serial polygamy due to the frequency of divorces and the lords use of slaves and free women as concubines.
By what year had the church stamped out divorce among the common people and the nobility?
1200 AD.
Approximately what percentage of the populate were nobility?
2%.
Describe the life of a noble male in the High Middle Ages?
1) Taught the art of war and chivalric code during childhood.
2) At age 17, a young man received his sword and became a full-time soldier.
3) The goal was to obtain his own land and marry.
4) Younger sons had to win land gifts through military exploits or faithful services.
5) Often a shortcut used was to kill an older knight on the tournament field, marry his wife, and take his land.
What roles did the wives of nobles play in the High Middle Ages?
1) Bore children.
2) Managed the Castle and Manor and directed a team of servants and peasants.
3) Engaged in Recreational Activities such as sewing, playing musical instruments, or chess.
What was the view of women during the High Middle Ages?
As temptresses in accordance with Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. This meant that men could beat their wives with church permission and with hunts often focused on women.
Why might women in Western Europe be said to enjoy a higher status in life than women in non-western cultures during the High Middle Ages?
1) The Catholic Church began to teach that women were equal in the sight of God in regards to spiritual matters.
2) Permanent marriages reduced the number of abandoned women who could be forced to sell themselves into slavery or prostitution.
3) Aristocratic women who became nuns grew intellectually as the convent built skills such as reading and writing.
4) Aristocratic Women, if they survived the difficulties of childbearing, would far outlive their husbands and become powerful people.
What was considered a sacred duty by people in the High Middle Ages?
Hospitality.
Why was hospitality considered a sacred duty?
Because manor-to-manor travel was dangerous.
Where did travelers (mostly lords, knights, and church officials) seek shelter?
Other lords homes and monasteries.
How advanced was medicine practiced by Medieval doctors?
Decently. Doctors used herbs and plants to create anesthesia. Bloodletting was a common practice. Hand-washing was optional since doctors did not understand the relationship between infections, cleanliness, and germs. Doctors also prescribed magical medicines such as wearing amulets with certain things inside of them.
Where did peasant recreation center?
The manor church and the church’s numerous holy festivals.
What were cycle plays?
Where a series of wagons paraded past a line of peasants with each wagon depicting a different stage of Christ’s life.
How long were Christmas celebrations in Medieval Europe?
12 days from December 25 to January 6.
Who was the only non-Christian group of people granted the right to practice their religion?
The Jews.
What role did the Jewish people serve in the Early Middle Ages?
Cultural Mediators between the East and the West.
Around what year did the prosecution of Western European Jews begin?
Around 1100 AD.
What were pogroms?
Organized killings, beatings, and plundering of Jewish people or possessions.
What did the Fourth Lateran Council decree in regards to the Jews?
1) Jews must wear ribbons, yellow badges, or specifically-marked clothing so that they might be easily distinguished from Christians.
2) Jews shall not go in public at all in the last three days before Easter.
3) Encouraged the development of Jewish ghettos to isolate them from the parts of towns where Christians lived.
What nations and when did those nations removed Jews from their country?
1) Edward I - England - 1290 AD.
2) French - Early 1300s AD.
What was the articulated Roman Catholic Medieval worldview called?
Scholasticism or Thomistic Synthesis.
What were the tenants of the pre-Scholastic worldview?
1) The Universe Existed on Two Planes: a “higher plane” of grace, spirit, and perfection that was heaven and a “lower plane” with nature, matter, experience, and sin that was the City of Man.
2) Spiritual growth was a matter of climbing the ladder to free that person from the lower world.
3) Monasticism was prevalent to help people escape the world of man.
4) Happiness came from hurrying on to the City of God and not repairing the fatally flawed city of man.
What were the tenants of the Scholastic worldview?
1) The marrying of faith and reason. (Christianity was not contrary to reason.)
Who was Anselm?
An early Scholastic Italian monk who lived in a monastery in Normandy.
What did Anselm postulate that made him a Scholastic?
1) Faith was a Precondition For Knowing.
2) Intellectual Inquiry Should Only Promote Christian Doctrine.
3) Attacked the misconception that Jesus was a ransom paid to Satan since Satan had possession over mankind.
Who was Peter Abelard?
A teacher of theology at the Cathedral School of Notre Dame who had an affair with one of his students.
What did Peter Abelard do/believe that associated him with the Scholastics?
1) Used reason to interrogate the Christian Faith
2) Wrote the book Yes and No where he said reason could resolve the Church’s contradiction in the interpretation of doctrine.
Who led the Scholastic Movement in its Zenith?
Thomas Aquinas.
What did Aquinas believe/do that associated him with the Scholastics?
1) He believed that philosophy would not necessarily contaminate the faith.
2) Tried to reconcile Aristotle’s worldview the Christianity. The result was his work Summa Theologica.
3) He agreed that faith and reason cannot conflict and that all truth is God’s truth.
What aspect of the pre-Scholastic worldview did Scholasticism particularly combat?
The belief that the city of man was just a sinful place worth escaping. Instead, it was part of God’s creation and worthy of understanding.
What happened to Europe’s population between 1000 AD to 1300 AD?
It doubled from 38 million to 74 million.
Why did Europe’s population increase?
1) Less frequent attacks by invaders such as the Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims.
2) Increased Agricultural Productivity.
What were the factors that increased Agricultural Output?
1) The clearing of more arable land.
2) The use of Iron to create more durable and efficient farm implements.
3) Water Driven Mills resurged to grind flour.
What changed the economy of Western Europe around 1100?
A Revival of Trade.
What cities played a key role in renewing commercial activity? What area did each city trade with?
1) Venice - Constantinople
2) Genoa - Spain and North Africa
3) Pisa - Spain and North Africa
4) Florence
What city became known for its high quality cloth and who provided the wool for the industry?
Flanders. The wool was provided by England.
What action did lords take to facilitate commerce?
The created Commerce Fairs.
What were the basic guarantees and actions of a commerce fair?
1) Guaranteed the Safety of Traveling Merchants
2) Supervised the Exchange of Goods
3) Collected a Tax on the Sales
What did the revival of commerce incentivize?
The development of towns.
