Ap European History

After the fall of Rome, with no government to supply protection or to keep the rads and bridges repaired, travel became difficult and dangerous. This danger, coupled with ignorance and lack of desire to change the situation by the powerful lords, whose manors required little trade, led to the decline in travel and trade. Who was the first “Holy Roman Emperor” and how did he get that title?

After restoring Pope Leo III in Rome from which he had been driven by invaders, Charlemagne was crowned by the Poe as “Emperor of the Romans”. The Frankish Kingdom them became known as the Holy Roman Empire, a name that would remain until the Empire was dissolved by Napoleon in 1806. What is the difference between the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire? The Holy Roman Empire was started by Charlemagne and was centered in France. It was called the Holy Roman Empire” due to the fact that the Pope crowned Charlemagne as the Emperor.

• What were the connections between “The Holy Roman Empire” and “The Church”?

The Holy Roman Empire was an endeavor by the Catholic Church and Christian kings to restore in their own image the crumbled remains of the secular achievements of the ancient pagan Roman Empire. Define feudalism and describe the characteristics of its organization. Feudalism was also a social and economics organization based on a series of reciprocal relationships. The king in theory owned the land which he granted to lords who in return would give service, usually in the form of military aid, to the king.

The receiver of the land became a vassal, and these grants of land were known as fiefs. Sometimes these fiefs were larger than a lord could administer. So he, in turn, granted use of part of the land to lesser lords who pledged their service in return. This system continued on until, at the lowest level, a knight administered only small feudal estate. Why were strong kings rare and central government generally missing under the feudal system? Kings under the feudal system generally had weak methods for gathering taxes and for ensuring their rule.

For both, since the King’s writ didn’t extend directly through a country, they were often reliant on local governing mechanisms. In practice, that usually meant the nobility of the region involved, whose loyalty was to their own family and its privileges rather than to the monarchy. What were the benefits supposedly derived from the feudal system? Who benefited the most? Feudal manors provided both political and social organization. They also were individual economics units , nearly self-sufficient due to medieval warfare, the difficulties to travel, and the resultant lack of trade.

The feudal estate featured a manor-home, usually a fortified castle surrounded by protective walls, belonging to the lord, surrounded by fields, herds and villages where serfs lived and worked. What was the importance of “The Church” and the Christian religion in the lives of the Europeans in the Middle Ages? Religion and the after-life became the focal point of thought and living. The influence of religion can also clearly be seen in the art, architecture, literature, and music of the time. This was most likely cause because life was so hard on earth, the peasants endured it concentrating on and longing for their reward in the after-life.

• How did the ritual and sacraments of the Church establish a constant, ongoing relationship with its individual members? The believers of the Roman Catholic Church believed the seven sacraments kept an individual constantly connected to God and the Church from birth to death. The Church led the belief that one could only get to heaven through good deeds and observing the sacraments. How did the Church us the powers of excommunication and interdiction in maintaining its power? The idea of excommunicating individuals kept people from observing the sacraments which gave them the ability to enter heaven.

Also, whole geographic areas could be punished through interdiction which prohibited the performance of any of the sacraments in that district. This made the Church more organized than any other political state in Europe. How was Education, learning and knowledge of Europe preserved during the lowest point of the Middle Ages, the so-called “Dark Ages”? Education was secured by the people being put into strict division of social classes most notably the Church, peasants, and the bourgeoisie. What was the dominant philosophy of the Middle Ages called? Who was its most outstanding spokesman?

• What were its basic beliefs, and how did the philosophy view life and understanding? The dominant philosophy of the late Middle Ages was best articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas and known as scholasticism. Who belonged to each of the three estates of medieval European society and what was the primary duty of a member of each estate? How was this different from the social classes in modern society? The first of the estates were composed of the Church. The main purpose for this estate would be to claim the authority of God. The second estate consisted of the nobility of ‘society’. The primary focus of the nobility were to function as warriors.

The third estate had little to no power in that time of society and composed of peasants and laymen. This changed throughout Europe with the coming of feudalism. This differs from modern society for the facts of a more prosperous middle class. Describe the guilds. Who made up their membership and what was their influence on the business practices of the late Middle Ages? In the middle ages, the ‘Guilds’ were labor market intermediaries organizing training, working conditions. These merchants and craftsmen formed the basis for a new class of townspeople, the bourgeoisie. They would be the basis of the growing middle class.

• How did the guilds improve the lot of freemen? How did they help business and trade? How did they restrict its growth? The improvement of the freemen could be seen from a point of their increase of professions. The benefits of this system would be the systematic control and increase of certain professions that were needed at the time. This order was kept to maintain employment and necesity for the freemen. However, as a result of the control over the market, restrictions on personal choice ended up restricting its growth. Who were the bourgeoisie? Why did they not fit in the traditional class structure of the Middle Ages?

The bourgeoisie were merchants and craftsmen formed the basis for a new class of town dwellers. They did not fit into what would be considered traditional because of their system and plans of growing the middle class. Why was the social structure of Europe challenged by the growing number of free townspeople and the changing economy? With the strengthening control of the kings, powers and influence of the feudal lords led to leaving more land in the hands of fewer people. This led to the even farther decline in the idea of feudalism. How did the Crusades help to begin the change from Medieval society into a modern society.

• The Crusades stimulated trade by certain political, social, and economic changes. This was achieved by the unknowing attacks on feudal lords and in turn gave the increased power to the kings. The changes developed after the old nobility lacked the wealth to keep up with the kings. Why are the Crusades sometimes called “Successful failures”? The Crusaders led to the eventual fading out of feudal states in the most of Europe and is an important part of European expansion and colonialism. Why and in what ways did kings and central governments grow stronger at the end of the Middle Ages?

The Kings helped facilitate the forming of countries by uniting small feudal states into large kingdoms. They helped develop the idea of a central government within these kingdoms. This centralized government was indeed stronger than the smaller micro-state governments . What obstacles stood in the way of the creation of strong central governments? Since strong central governments often emerge from weaker central governments or loose confederations a central government may also have to deal with regional lords who regard centralization as an infringement on their own power. Why was the re-establishment of trade so important to the transformation of Europe? Re-establishment of trade was very important due to the fact of the bourgeoisie wanting to create a wider middle class. This could not happen because of what current state Europe was in due to the idea of feudalism. Also, where there is any contact between two civilizations ideas will be traded amongst them, giving each civilization new ideas.