The Middle Ages: Feudalism, Byzantium, and the Rise of Islam

Posted on Jun 13, 2024 in History

The Middle Ages

1. What does the concept of the Middle Ages refer to?

The concept of the Middle Ages refers to events that occurred from the 5th to 15th centuries in the territories that once belonged to the Roman Empire.

2. What are the periods of the Middle Ages? Write the names and the dates.

• The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries)
• The High Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries)
• The Late Middle Ages (14th-15th centuries)

3. What happened in the year 395?

The Roman Empire divided into the Western Roman Empire, with its capital in Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople.

4. What happened in the year 476?

The Western Roman Empire fell.

5. When did Muslims conquer the Iberian Peninsula?

In the year 711.

6. What happened in 800?

Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans.

7. What happened in 1453?

The Turks finally conquered Constantinople, and the Byzantine Empire fell.

Byzantium

1. How long did the Eastern Roman Empire survive? What was it called?

The Eastern Roman Empire survived a thousand years more as the Byzantine Empire.

2. What was the name of the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire?

Constantinople.

3. When was the peak of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire?

The peak was in the 6th century under the rule of the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora.

4. What territories did Emperor Justinian and his wife reconquer in the 6th century?

Many western territories:

• The regions along the Adriatic Sea.
• North Africa.
• Italy.
• The southeast of the Iberian Peninsula.

5. What was the Hagia Sophia?

In Constantinople, the emperor built the great church of Hagia Sophia.

6. What does the Fall of Constantinople mark for many historians?

It marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age.

The Splendor of Byzantium

1. Define the Code of Justinian.

Justinian had Roman Law recorded and compiled into a work called the Code of Justinian.

2. Describe Byzantine churches.

Churches were modeled in the Greek cruciform shape.

3. Explain the Iconoclastic controversy.

Society had an exaggerated manner of worshipping its icons.

4. Explain the East-West schism.

The patriarch of Constantinople was the highest authority of the Byzantine Church.

5. What do you know about the Cyrillic alphabet?

It is still used today by several European and Asian languages like Russian, Bulgarian, or Mongolian.

6. Write down two characteristics of the Orthodox church.

Many Slavs had already become followers of the Orthodox church.

Islam

1. Write all the important facts about Muhammad:

• 570 AD: Muhammad was born in Mecca.
• 610 AD: The archangel Gabriel revealed to him that he had been chosen to convey a divine message.
• 622 AD: The Hijra (Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina) marks the first year in the Muslim calendar.
• Why is the year 622 AD important? The Hijra marks the first year in the Muslim calendar.
• What did Muhammad proclaim in Medina? What had happened by the time of his death? In Medina, Muhammad proclaimed the Jihad or holy war, and Mecca fell into their power. By the time of his death, Islam had already dominated most of Arabia.

2. What is the Kaaba shrine, what does it hold, and where is it?

It is a cube-shaped construction that holds a meteor rock, and it is in Mecca.

3. What does Islam mean? What kind of religion is it?

• It means ‘submission to God’.
• Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion.

4. Explain the five basic precepts of Islam.

• Declaration of faith: Muslims claim that ‘there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger’.
• Obligatory prayer: Followers must pray five times a day facing towards Mecca.
• Pilgrimage to Mecca: Every Muslim must travel to Mecca at least once in his or her life.
• Fasting during Ramadan: During this month of the Muslim calendar, it is forbidden to eat and drink from sunrise to sunset.
• Compulsory charity: All Muslims must seek purification and growth by helping the poor.

Feudalism

1. Explain the principles the feudal system was based on.

It was based on:

• The vassalage relationship consisted of voluntary ties established between free men.
• It was a relationship of mutual dependence.
• A lord could have various vassals.

2. Define fief.

A fief is a piece of land that the lord granted to his vassals or that his vassals gave to others of a lower rank.

3. Explain the pyramid of fealty.

4. In the feudal system, the king was considered the primus inter pares. What does this mean?

It means “first among equals”.

• This means that he was chosen from among the nobles.

The nobles:

• accepted his authority.
• considered themselves equal to him.

5. Describe the parts of a vassalage ceremony.

• In the homage: the vassal agreed to provide the lord with help whenever it was needed and to give him advice.
• In the investiture: the lord granted his vassal a benefice. This provided a means of subsistence for the vassal.

Feudal Society and the Economy

1. What kind of society did the feudal system produce? How long did it last?

• It produced a highly hierarchical structure divided into estates.
• It lasted until the French Revolution (1789).

2. What were estates?

The estates were closed social groups made up of individuals who shared a similar way of life, social function, and legal status.

3. Copy the table.

4. What was the feudal economic system based on? Describe the 3 characteristics.

It was based on the possession of fiefs and supported by the feudal social structure.

• The feudal economy was essentially rural.
• The economy was self-sufficient.
• There was almost no surplus production that could be sold on the market. This meant that there was little trade, and peasants lived on what they produced in the fields.

5. Define copyhold and demesne.

• Copyholds: were lands the lord granted to peasants for their own use.
• The demesne: was made up of all the land the lord reserved for his own use.

Peasants

1. What types of peasants were there in the medieval world?

• Free peasants: could leave the fief if they wanted to, but this was very difficult.
• Serfs: they could not leave. They had to live and work on the fief for their entire life.

2. Describe the characteristics of life on a fief.

• Few resources and lived in poverty.
• They had to borrow their farming equipment and were required to give a portion of their crops to the lord or the Church.
• They lived in adobe or stone houses with no windows. The animals occupied part of the houses.
• The most difficult time was late spring when food stores were running out, and new food had not yet begun to grow.

3. What was crop rotation? Write a definition and draw 3 diagrams.

• It was the most common farming technique.
• Some land was left fallow so that it could rest and recover (diagram in the digital book on page 39).

The Nobility

1. What are chansons de geste? Name two.

• They were tales of heroic adventures, told in verse.
• Examples: The Song of Roland and Cantar de Mio Cid.

2. What were tournaments and jousts?

Their main duty was war; jousts and tournaments simulated battles with very strict rules, and hunting.

3. Fill in the blanks about the nobility and a war-based society:

• In medieval society, anyone born into a noble family had this status for their entire life and passed it on to their descendants.
• Being a noble was accompanied by warrior status. This meant that medieval society was a war-based society.
• Armies were not very big. They were made up of a few hundred men who formed the retinue of the king or the noble who led the military action.
• Military campaigns took place in spring and summer.