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History Study Guide

Terms in this set (12)

How did the geography of Europe influence the development of many separate kingdoms after the fall of the Roman Empire?
Many of the kingdom's boundaries were natural borders like rivers, mountains, and seas.
What differences developed over time between these isolated kingdoms?
Possibly different beliefs, rules, religions, and ways of life.
Who were the three main Viking groups?
The Norwegian Vikings, the Danish Vikings, and the Swedish vikings.
What were some of the major Viking accomplishments?
They raided many places and went as far as the Caspian Sea and the Americas.
What were the main military advantages for the Vikings?
The vikings would attack quickly and would attack at sunrise for an act of surprise. They also had berserkers that would attack first to try and break the enemies defense.
Understand the key elements of Viking culture (language, religion, family life).
The vikings had orals who spread viking stories down generations and gave women many rights.
How did feudalism function in Medieval Europe?
In the 800s a shift from power from king to nobles caused feudalism. It had the king's territory divided into sections in which each noble protected. Of course, this led to the nobles having more power than the king, but it was the start of feudalism.
What was the impact of farming improvements made in the early Middle Ages?
They invented the heavy wooden plow with an iron blade. This easily turned over the hard clay soils they had to farm with. They also invented the horse collar, horses were much faster than oxen so farming became much quicker after this invention. They also invented watermills to ground grain into flour, and started to rotate crops on three fields, allowing more crops to be grown.
Understand the key advantages and disadvantages of feudalism in Medieval Europe.
Feudalism protected communities from violence and outside invaders, made trade and travel safer, feudalism did not allow one person. But feudalism did have its downsides. Feudalism provided unity in local areas but not on a large scale, meaning it was near impossible to do large scale projects, there were many lies and betrayals to get one's way, there were many wars in between nobles, and most peasants were serfs with little rights or say.
How did Christianity spread in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire?
Christianity began to spread throughout Europe because by the time West Rome collapsed, Christianity was already the main religion of Rome. Priest Patrick went around building monasteries. Missionaries also went through Europe spreading the Christian religion, and eventually they focused on the king.
Why were monks and monasteries so important in Medieval Europe?
Monks schooled people, fed and allowed rest for travelers, they offered medical care, they taught skills (including weaving, farming techniques, and carpentry), and helped to preserve knowledge. They also had rooms where they copied holy books like the bibles.
Understand the importance of the Gregory/Henry dispute.
The concordat said that only the Pope could choose bishops but the king was the one to give them a job in the government. This caused the pope to eventually become really powerful and have the ability to choose kings. If they did not obey, they would be excommunicated or he would use an interdict against them.
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