The Dark Ages

Question 1

When were the middle ages?

Answer 1

500-1500

Question 2

What occurred when germanic people invaded the roman empire, what did this cause?

Answer 2

• Fighting disrupts trade and the economy, people begin to abandon cities and flee to the rural countryside
• The invasion by the germans causes the dark ages

Question 3

What do the dark ages do to Europe?

Answer 3

• Cause a lack of education within the citizens
• Stop’s innovation
• Stops greek and roman culture
• Latin stops being the universal culture of Rome
• Replaced roman provinces with germanic kingdoms

Question 4

What did the church provide during the dark ages?

Answer 4

• The church was wealthy and housed educated individuals
• Church documents kept alive greek and roman traditions
• The church was a safe place for everyone was christian and wanted to go to heaven, so nobody attacked the church
• The church gave people a sense of unity in a time a chaos and uncertainty

Question 5

When did Gregory I become pope?

Answer 5

590

Question 6

What did Gregory do to the church that increased it’s influence and power?

Answer 6

• The church became secular, concerned with worldly issues
• The pope’s palace become’s the center of Roman government
• He used the church’s wealth to raise armies and care for the poor

Question 7

By making the church secular, what did pope Gregory establish?

Answer 7

A christendom (Christian Kingdom), he created a kingdom based upon christianity

Question 8

What was the largest and strongest kingdom in Europe during the middle ages?

Answer 8

The Franks

Question 9

By 511, what area had Frankish rules expanded to?

Answer 9

Gaul (France)

Question 10

What was the name of the most powerful official in the Frankish kingdom?

Answer 10

Major Domo, mayor of the palace

Question 11

In 719 what was the name of the Major Domo that became more powerful than King?

Answer 11

Charles Martel

Question 12

What did Charles Martel do that made him a christian hero and what was the significance of it?

Answer 12

Charles Martel defeated the muslim invaders at the battle of tours in Spain. If the muslims saw victory in this battle, western Europe would have been completely be lost.

Question 13

Who was the son and successor to Charles Martel?

Answer 13

Pepin the short

Question 14

What dynasty did Pepin begin and when did it last from?

Answer 14

The carolingian dynasty, 751-987

Question 15

When does Pepin die, who is his successor?

Answer 15

Pepin dies in 768, his successor is his son Charlemagne after his other son dies (Note: at this time Charlemagne is NOT officially “emperor”)

Question 16

What does Charlemagne do to improve the Frankish kingdom and restore the Roman Empire?

Answer 16

• Charlemagne reunites Western Europe
• Charlemagne limits the power of nobles by governing his empire through counts
• He encourages learning through schools and monasteries

Question 17

What was the role of a count?

Answer 17

To rule over a province and keep it in line

Question 18

What does Charlemagne do in 800 and what is it’s significance?

Answer 18

• Charlemagne travels to Rome to protect Pope Leo III from mobs
• The pop gives Charlemagne the official title of Roman Emperor, reviving the Holy Roman Empire

Question 19

After Charlemagne dies who is his successor?

Answer 19

His son, Louis the Pious, he is a poor ruler and Charlemagne’s 3 Grandsons fight for rule of the empire

Question 20

In 843 what is created to stop the fighting between Charlemagne’s grandsons

Answer 20

The treaty of Verdun, its splits the empire into three kingdoms

Question 21

What is the definiton of Feudalism?

Answer 21

A politcal and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances.

Question 22

Who were the vikings and what did the do?

Answer 22

• The Vikings were warriors from Denmark, Sweden and Norway
• They sailed in long ships and sailed in shallow water that allowed them to do raids
• They raided rich monasteries and eventually adopted christianity and became farmers

Question 23

What were the major changes that the germans brought to the roman government?

Answer 23

• Germans held together by family ties and loyalty rather than government
• Small communities were governed by unwritten rules and traditions
• Germanic warriors pledges loyalty to their chief and lived in their lord’s hall

Question 24

How was christianity spread throughout the empire?

Answer 24

Missionaries

Question 25

Who was the leader of the Franks that converted to christianity in 496?

Answer 25

Clovis

Question 26

How did the church help to restore learning?

Answer 26

• Set up monasteries where monks learned and served
• Benedict wrote the rules to govern monasteries
• His sister Scholastica wrote rules for nuns living in covenants
• Monks set up schools and wrote illuminated manuscripts

Question 27

What was a fief?

Answer 27

A large land grant given to a vassal

Question 28

Who was a vassal?

Answer 28

A person who received a fief, they became powerful landowners

Question 29

What was the pyramid of power in feudalist western europe?

Answer 29

King->Noble->Knights->Peasants

Question 30

Who were knights?

Answer 30

Horsemen who defended their lords land in exchange for fief’s

Question 31

What were the three social classes?

Answer 31

Those who fight:
Nobles and Knights
Those who pray:
Monks, Nuns and church leaders
Those who work:
Peasants

Question 32

How did you get your class?

Answer 32

Social class was inherited

Question 33

What were most peasants?

Answer 33

Serfs, people lawfully bounds to a fief

Question 34

What did serfs do?

Answer 34

Worked brutal work in exchange for food and living quarters in a manor

Question 35

What did lords and their serfs provide for eachother?

Answer 35

Serfs provided work to maintain the manor and grow crops and the lord provided housing, farmland and protection from bandits

Question 36

What was the purpose of a manor?

Answer 36

To be a self sufficient society that was protected, so that nobody had to stray out of the walls of the manor and they could live a normal life

Question 37

Why did nobody complain about their feudalist class placement?

Answer 37

They believed that class was given by god and that they would anger him by refusing it

Question 38

What was the life expectancy for a peasant?

Answer 38

35 years old

Question 39

What was a tithe?

Answer 39

The tax that peasants payed to the church, equal to 1/10 a peasants income