Middle Ages

79 flashcards · History · by Jacob Pinney

The Middle Ages took place from 1066 to 1485.
What was the main social system in the Middle Ages?
feudalism
1/3 of the English civilization was killed by the Black Death.
Fraction of population killed, Name of disease
What two wars took place at the end of the Middle Ages?
100 years war, civil war
William the Conqueror was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy.
Name of person
King Harold was named king and William is outraged. William thinks that the throne is rightfully his.
Name of person
William the Conqueror was efficient and ruthless as a soldier.
Two qualities
William the Conqueror was lawful, orderly, and promoted cultural unity as a leader.
Two qualities and one noun
William the Conqueror inventoried the entire land and published it in the Domesday Book.
Account of all land/property
William the Conqueror established Martial Law.
Another name for militaristic rule
William the Conqueror promoted a strong central government.
Noun; type of rule/government
William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
Name of adversary, name of battle
During the Norman conquest, the French language was exposed to European civilizations.
name of language
The Norman Conquest brought superb soldiers. This is important because the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms didn't have a strong army.
type of people, militaristic force
The Norman Conquest also brought administrators and lawyers.
professions
The Normans didn't destroy the Anglo-Saxon civilization. Instead they enhanced it.
verbs
The Norman Conquest formed a national English character.
group of people
The hierarchy of feudalism is: Kings Landowners Vassals Serfs
descending order of main groups of people in feudalism
Feudalism is a fixed class system.
type of class system
During the age of feudalism, knights become the militaristic force.
type of soldier
Knights followed the Code of Chivalry.
rules that knights followed
Feudalism promotes courtly love. As a result, romantic literature emerges.
type of love, type of literature
During the age of feudalism, women were seen as inferior. They were not allowed to own land. Men had the authority.
adjective, thing, group
Ballads were popular during the age of feudalism. These were composed by common people.
type of literature/poem
Drama also becomes popular during the age of feudalism. The first signs of this are biblical stories performed on wagons pulled from town to town.
type of literature, genre of story
Theaters come into play as cities emerge and begin to grow.
places to host plays
Miracle and morality plays were popular in this time period.
two genres of plays
The Crusades took place from 1095 to 1270.
years
By the time of the Crusades, Christianity is full blow and widespread.
religion
People answered to the court and the church during the age of feudalism.
another powerful entity
The goal of the Crusades was to free Jerusalem from the Turks. It was ultimately unsuccessful.
city, people, unsuccessful or successful
During the Crusades, Arabs influenced public libraries, trade, universities, and medicine.
institutions for learning, type commerce, educational institutions, and healing stuff
During the Crusades, the church was responsible for preserving and transmitting culture.
Educated people during the Crusades spoke Latin.
language
Abbeys and monasteries are the main centers for learning.
where monks live
The Magna Carta was written in 1215.
year
The Magna Carta established a common law for the whole country.
document
Primogeniture, or leaving your wealth to your first born son, came into effect during the Crusades.
term
Before the Magna Carta, conflicts were settled by ordeals.
type of way to settle conflict
Pope Innocent the 3rd says ordeals should no longer exist. With the Magna Carta, trial by jury is foreshadowed.
name of pope, generation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc)
During the age of feudalism, the average person had 4 sheep.
number: 1,2,3 etc
Due to the excess of sheep and wool, people started to take their wool to sell. Cities start to develop and a new social class of merchants emerge.
place, type of people
Townspeople are no longer tied to their master's land or the knight system.
thing
A lot of people started moving to job in the city.
place
Cities are overcrowded, dirty, have no clean water, and have no sewage system.
population big or small, type of water, type of waste system
During the decline of feudalism, class systems become more fluid. There are more occupations available.
state of class systems: rigid, etc
During the decline of feudalism, cathedrals such as the York Minster are built. This specific cathedral took 400 years to build.
name of cathedrals, number of years: 1,2,3 etc
The Black Death was a plague that killed many people.
disease
The Black Death lasted from 1348 to 1349.
years
The Black Death killed 1/3 of the population
fraction
The Hundred Years' War lasted from 1337 to 1453.
years
During the Hundred Years' War, the British refused to give up territories to the French. The British were unsuccessful.
type of people: American, Swedish, German, etc
At the end of Feudalism a civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster took place.
house names
Yeomen used longbows to fight. Their arrows could even pierce a knight's armor.
type of person
William the Conqueror created the first taxes based on a person's property.
thing
In feudalism, God was the supreme overlord.
deity
Occasionally, powerful vassals rebelled against their weak overlords. These battles took place at moated castles.
type of people, noun
Knights resided in the warrior caste.
type of caste
Chivalry was a system of ideals and social codes governing the behavior of knights and gentlewomen.
code to follow for knights
Sir Lancelot broke the rule of no sex and caused Arthur's Round Table to collapse. The fall of Camelot came soon after.
name, name, city
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a piece of romantic literature.
parts of title
Medieval art came from the middle class.
lower, middle, or upper
Cities would eventually make feudalism obsolete.
thing
The Crusades were a series of holy wars waged by European Christians against Muslims.
asian, north american, etc type of people
Pope Urban the 2nd sent a plea out to Christians in 1095 to take back their holy land.
name, number (1st, 2nd, 3rd), year
During the crusades, Christians slaughtered thousands of Jews and Muslims.
religious peoples
Thomas a Becket lived from 1118 to 1170.
years
Thomas a Becket was almost like a prime minister under King Henry the 2nd.
names
King Henry the 2nd appointed Becket as archbishop of Canterbury in hopes of getting the church on his side. Becket, however, sided more with the Pope.
title, person
Four of King Henrythe 2nd's knights killed Thomas when Henry asked "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"
number spelled out, name, action
The murder of Thomas a Becket caused an outrage against King Henry the 2nd.
name, number (1st,2nd,3rd)
King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymede.
name, year, place
The Magna Carta was written for barons but later became the basis of the English constitutional law.
types of people
The Hundred Years' War was the first national war waged by England.
level of war
Weak claims to the French throne by English kings King Edward the 3rd and King Henry the 5th caused the Hundred Years' War.
name, number (1st, 2nd, 3rd), name, number (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
After the Hundred Years' War, the English were represented by yeoman.
type of people
The yeoman's yard-long arrows could fly over castle walls.
thing
The Black Death was spread by fleas on infected rats.
thing, thing
King Henry the 7th's marriage in 1485 reconciled the warring houses of York and Lancaster and the middle ages come to an end.
name, number (1st, 2nd, 3rd), year, name, name