High Middle Ages Part 2 Flashcards
How did trade change the balance of wealth and power?
People could make money without the lord or king, just because they were resourceful or talented. They did not need to own land to be powerful
What did the towns become home to?
A new class of people – the middle class, lived in the towns.
Who were the middle class?
Merchants and trades people became the middle class.
What was the name for the middle class?
In England burgesses and in Germany bergers, and in France the bourgeois
How rich the middle class get?
Some got richer than the lords and feudal land owners
Why did nobility not start to trade?
The nobility thought trade was below them, but they still wanted the things traded in town
How did the rise of the Middle Class spell the end of the feudal system?
The middle class wanted freedom and wealth was giving them power
Who did towns draw?
People who wanted freedom would go to towns because you could marry who you wanted and make money as you could, even though the living conditions were cramped by the walls.
How could a serf become free?
If they lived in a town for a year without being discovered, they were free
Was it easy to hide in a town for a year?
No, the towns were quite small
What is a charter?
A charter is an agreement from the monarch or local lord, either paid for or granted, that says the town is free
What did a charter mean for the town?
Because of the charter, the lords could not control the people who lived in a town nor could the manor court
Who governed the town?
The town was governed by the people such as the wealthy citizens and guilds.
How old are many current European towns?
Many european towns can be traced back to medieval charters
Who was most powerful in a town?
The people belonging to merchant guilds were most powerful
Why were merchant guilds so powerful
because they bought and sold goods on a large scale, financed ships and sent caravans to trade in distant lands
What was the Hanseatic League?
The Hanseatic league were a powerful trade guild that were rich enough to have their own army and navy, they did this by putting together their wealth.
How powerful was the Hanseatic League?
They were so powerful that they could threaten to cut off all trade to a country and they could force the ruler to do what they wanted.
What happened to port cities such as Genoa, Venice and Naples in Italy?
These cities became very powerful city-states due to their merchant-traders
What was the social status of women in the middle ages?
Women had lower social status
How did the church justify this lower social status for women?
The church taught that lower status for women was in the bible.
because women had so little power, what did they do?
Women just tried to make the best of things in a male-dominated world
How were town women better off than serf women?
Women in town could earn money
Which women were best off?
The women who married a guild member or belonged to a guild themselves were better off than others
How did life for some women change?
Women of wealthy town families became educated though a parish school or a private tutor
What was a pilgrimage?
A pilgrimage was a religious journey to a place where a saint was martryed
What did pilgrimages show?
pilgrimages show that people were still very serious about their religion
How did people travel on their pilgrimages
People travelled by food, horse or sailing ship.
Where were popular locations to go on a pilgrimage to?
Shrine of St James at Compostela in Spain, St. Thomas Becket in England, holy places in Rome, or Jerusalem.
What did people gain from a pilgrimage?
People were making up for their sins.
What name did people take after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem?
They took the name Palmer b/c they would bring back palm leaves.
What did a pilgrim bring back from Spain
a cockle shell
What was a fake relic?
Merchants along the roads would sell fake relics claiming ‘this is a nail from Jesus’ cross’ etc
How did engineers change churches?
Engineers learned how to support heavy walls with flying buttresses
How did the flying buttress change church design?
Architects could make huge arches, fill walls with large windows full of stained glass, and support huge roofs
What were these new large churches called?
These new churches with flying buttresses and stained glass windows are called Gothic Cathedrals
How long did Gothic Cathedrals take to build?
Gothic cathedrals often took over a hundred years to build.
Why are these cathedrals so special?
Even today when you step into them they are awe inspiring because of their size and beauty
How did John Wycliffe affect religion?
He believed that the pope and church had no right to tell people what to believe.
What did John Wycliffe believe?
He thought that people should get salvation from following their own conscience.
What did John Wycliffe want to do with the bible?
He wanted to translate the bible from Latin to English so everyone could read it.
What was a big criticism of the church?
The big criticism was that the Church was very very wealthy and common people were fed up with paying taxes to the church
Why was the church not able to prosecute Wycliffe?
Wycliffe had many wealthy friends so he was protected from the wrath of the church.
In Hungary, one of Wycliffe’s followers (John Hus) was executed by the church. Why didn’t the nobles there protect him?
The nobles began to believe that these radical ideas might lead to a peasants’ revolt.
Why did people in the mid 14 C believe the end of the world had come?
The Black Death was rampant
How did the Black Death get to England?
The black death came because of the travel between countries.
How was the black death spread
The rats that lived on board ships carried the disease in their fleas
What is the real name for the black death?
Bubonic plague
How did the disease progress?
People exposed quickly got buboes (swollen lymph nodes), and dark blotches on their skin. The got a high fever and started puking blood and hallucinating.
how long did it take to die once you go bubonic plague?
It took 1-3 days to die
What is a shocking fact about the black death?
In some towns there were more sick than healthy
Was there a cure for bubonic plague back then?
No, they thought smelling garlic or burning sulfur might help
How many people died?
About 25 million or 1/3 of the total population died
How did these deaths affect towns and villages/
Towns and villages were like ghost towns, and some were gone totally not to be noticed until WW2 arial photography
Who were the Flagellants?
They were people who travelled from town to town claiming the black death was a punishment from God.
How did the black death bring about good in people?
Many priests, nuns, and doctors died because they were tending to sick people
How did the black death bring bad out in people?
People would rob corpses, abandon sick family members, people broke into homes where the whole family had died.
Where to historians think the plague started?
China
How did the plague spread?
It spread along trade routes
What was a gross thing the Mongol army did?
They catapulted dead bodies of plague victims into Caffa in Italy when they attacked it.
How did the black death change the feudal system?
Labor was in such short supply after the Black Death that laborers could ask for wages.
What happened to many feudal estates after the black death?
They did not have enough laborers and could not afford to pay wages to the laborers so they became bankrupt.
Why had Jewish people mainly become doctors, business, jewellers, money traders and merchants?
Jewish people had to focus on these areas because there were laws banning them from being other things.
How did Jewish people have to identify themselves in many Medieval towns?
They had to wear yellow patches on their clothing
Where were Jewish people forced to live?
The Jewish people were forced to live in section of the town called a Ghetto
Why were Jews so mistreated in Medieval times?
Many people blamed Jewish people for Jesus’ death, and they became the blame for many Medieval problems
What is a scapegoat?
A scapegoat is a person wrongfully blamed for something which leads to persecution
What horrible thing happened in Strasourg in France?
The towns people blamed the Jewish community for the Black Death, took the entire Jewish population and burned them to death in a bonfire.
What is the peasant’s revolt?
The lowest members of society rose up to demand better living conditions.
How did the nobles and merchants respond to these demands?
The peasants were savagely suppressed.
What was the ‘Jacquerie’
the Jacquerie is the French name for the revolt after the nickname for peasants: Jacques Bonhomme
How had the hundred years war affected peasant life?
The wars had devastated farm land, but the nobles were still demanding rent from the peasants.
How did French nobility respond?
They responded brutally by burning whole villages to the ground.
Why did peasants revolt in England?
wages and prices had risen due to labor shortages, but in 1381 the nobles passed a law returning wages to previous low levels, plus a tax to pay for the 100 years war.
What is a poll tax?
A poll tax is a fixed amount on each person from the lowest to the highest.
What happened when the peasants attacked London?
The guild members were sympathetic so let them in the gates, where the peasants killed many nobles
What happened to the peasants
after the killed the Archbishop of Cantebury and burned many buildings, Wat Yler was killed by the Lord Mayor and then John ball was captured and beheaded, this ended the revolt.
How did nobility react?
The lords hung many peasants
