Europe's Late Middle Ages part 1 Flashcards
What percent of people were nobles during the late Middle Ages?
10% were nobles
What were the majority of people?
The majority were serfs who lived in dreadful conditions.
When did serfs start to free themselves from poverty
When people started to trade, serfs began to get out of poverty
What three things shook the late Middle Ages?
The church had problems of heresies, the Black Death and peasants revolts killed many, and the Hundred Years war
What two inventions made plate armour useless?
Longbow and firearms could pierce armour
What was the code of honor a knight swore to?
Chivalry based on personal honor
What did a knight swear to do?
protect women and children, be honest, brave and generous, to help the church
Did chivalry extend to how peasants were treated.
No, mistreatment was so common that laws had to be passed to try to stop attacks on peasants
What was seen as the trade of a knight?
Fighting and war, jousting and hunting practiced for war
Being a good fighter gave a knight…
social status
How was a knight educated?
A knight was sent to another castle at the age of 7 or 8 to be educated.
What did the ladies teach the page?
The ladies taught the page knightly courtesy, literature and music
What did the knights teach the page?
The knights taught the page how to fight and use weapons
When was a knight accepted as a squire?
A boy had to be 14 or 15 to become a squire.
What was a squire?
A squire was a knight’s assistant, body guard, helper at tournaments, and fought with him in battle
Why might some squires never be knighted?
If you couldn’t afford the armour, you could not be a knight
At what age did you become a knight?
21
What was the knighting ceremony?
The squire kept a vigil over his armour all night in a chapel, and then in the am, had a bath, purified himself and was dubbed and dressed as a knight by his lord.
What was the hundred year war?
The hundred year war was a struggle between the monarchs and nobles of England and France.
How long did it last?
The hundred years war lasted from 1338 to 1453
Why was this not like a modern war?
There were frequent truces and battles did not happen in winter when the roads were bad
What did armies spend a lot of time doing?
The armies would burn houses, trample crops, raid farmer’s food stores, and then manoeuvring for position
Why did the 100 years war begin?
a fight over who should be king
What was important about King Henry V’s victory at Agincourt?
It was one of the last important English successes of the war.
What was the powerful weapon the French did not have?
The French did not have archers
Who were archers?
Archers were ordinary villagers skilled in using the longbow
How strong was a long bow?
It could send an arrow through a knight’s leg covered in armour, through the horse, and through the knight’s leg on the other side.
Why wouldn’t knights attack archers?
Because they did not want to attack people of ‘low birth’ !!!
What did the French Knights do repeatedly?
They tried to ride past the archers to get to their social equals…the British knights, but they were slaughtered on their way past, then caught and held for ransom.
What did the archer do to the knight system?
The archers made the knights obsolete as they needed archers for protection now.
Who was Joan of Arc?
A 17 year old peasant girl who appeared at the French court saying she heard angel voices telling her to fight the British
What is the dauphin?
The dauphin is the eldest son of the French king… the heir to the French thrown
What did the dauphin do?
He gave Joan a plain suit of armour, a white banner and enough troops to battle the British.
What did Joan have on her side?
She was an inspirational leader
She beat the British, stood at the side of Charles VII when he was crowned, but when she was finally captured what happened?
Charles VII refused to pay her ransom and she was put to death (burned at the stake) as a witch
What was a piece of evidence against Joan?
They thought she was evil because she wore men’s clothing; armour
How did Joan’s death help Charles VII, even though he had abandoned her?
The French were rallied together after her death against the English, thinking of themselves as one nation now
What was her lasting legacy?
Joan strengthened the king at the expense of the nobles, but it ended the fighting between nobles which led to the end of Feudalism in Europe
What did people learn from the Crusades?
People learned that there were places around the world they could trade with
What kinds of products did people want to get from foreign lands?
Spices, silk, tapestries, sugar were things to get overseas
Where did traders first sell their goods?
at local markets or fairs held in towns and villages organized by the local lord
Why did people like the local fairs?
the fairs were social events, people browzed not just bought.
Why were fairs a way to escape serfdom?
People realized they could make things to sell at the market and earn money
How did this change people?
Serfs began to focus on honing their skills to get good at making different items.
How did towns rise out of country fairs?
Towns were a stable year round place to trade since fairs were only in the summer and could be far away
What is a craft guild?
A craft guild was a group of specialized craftsmen such as tailors, bakers, tanners
what did a guild control?
A guild controlled membership, set standards for quality, controlled prices, and kept out unskilled people so they could iliminate competition
What was the benefit of belonging to a guild?
A guild took care of your family if you died or if you were sick they helped you out
What was an apprenticeship?
an apprenticeship is a training period where you learn your craft, you had to do this to get membership into a guild
What did an apprentice earn?
In exchange for being taught the craft and working, you were given room and board an a small allowance
At what age did you become an apprentice?
Children 8 or 9 years old were sent to live with master craftsmen to learn their trade.
After years of learning, what happened?
Apprentices would take a test to become a journeyman and then would be admitted to the guild.
What did journeymen mean?
par journee… they could be paid by the day
How did the journeyman become a master craftsman?
The journeyman had to create a masterpiece that was judged by the guild. If It was up to standard he could become a mater craftsman
How did medieval towns compare to modern towns?
They were small, dirty and crowded.
In 1300 how many people lived in London?
50000
What was at the centre of a farming community?
A town was now at the center of each community
What did towns grow around?
Towns tended to grow around the castle’s defensive areas or large monasteries
Why did citizens build defensive walls around the towns?
They wanted to defend their towns from raids
As the town grew what happened to the walls?
They made bigger and bigger circles of walls.
How did people live in towns.
They were crowded together, houses were tall and over hung the streets, middle class and poor all were crowded together
What were streets like?
Streets were narrow and winding with open sewers
Why did people like towns?
They had more entertainment, pageants and plays, bear baiting and other blood sports.
