Medieval Christian

Europe Part IIUNIT #9

Why is reading important?

Language in

Medieval Europe Emergence of vernacular language

Common language spoken by

ordinary people

French, German, Italian or the hybrid

language English

Stories began to be written about and

for the common person

How do you decide whether

something is true or not?

Summa Theologica

Written by Thomas Aquina

Central theme: faith and reason

do not contradict each other

Gothic Architecture

Late Middles Ages

Flying buttresses, rib vault

Reflected the wealth and

authority of the Church

Common in churches, cathedrals,

and universities

What does Gothic architecture tell

us about the Church during the

late Middle Ages?

Byzantine Empire

Greatest impact: preserving ancient sources of knowledge and

information.

What would life have been like

during the Bubonic Plague in

Europe?

The Black Death- Bubonic Plague

Plague

1/3 of the population of Europe

died

Production declined

Cost of labor soared

Spread of plague:

Conquering Mongol armies in Asia,

rats in Chinese cities, fleas with

travelers to the Middle East and

Europe.

What is a market economy?

Market Economy:

an economic system in which the decisions

regarding investment, production and

distribution are guided by the price signals

created by the forces of supply and demand.

Factors that led to Market

Economy

Bubonic plague

Severely reduced the population

of Europe

Higher demand for labor

increased wages and prices

What are some problems that

occurred in the Church of the

Middle Ages?

Religious Tensions

Papal rivalry in Avignon, France

Worldly, pleasure-loving papacy

Great Schism: Division of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Catholic Church

Caused people to question the authority of the Church

Resulted from the election of 2-3 rival popes.

Eastern Europe

Appealed to Jews because they could practice Judaism there without persecution

Russia

Isolated from Western Europe

Cyrillic alphabet

Olga selected the Byzantine Church

Moscow: Center of expanding political power

“the third Rome”

Impact of Geography on Eastern

Europe

Regions were influenced by the

cultures that were closest

Its geography and location

facilitated migration (no high

mountains or wide deserts)

Home to many ethnic groups

Essay Prompt:

How did late medieval governments shape life in a positive and

negative ways?

Think about: the Golden Horde, tsarist Russia, the Byzantines, Eastern

European kingdoms, and the declining feudal states and rising

monarchies of Western Europe.

Remember: You can use handwritten notes on the essay portion of

the test. You should be able to write 5-6 sentences to respond to the prompt and incorporate specific examples in your response.

Tsarist Russia

Positive

Defended Russia well & defeated the Golden Horde

Ivan the Great brought northern Russia under his rule

Negative

Ivan the Great built the framework for absolute rule

Ivan the Great limited the power of the boyars, or great landowning

nobles.

Ivan the Terrible- increased central power, limited noble families,

increased Russian serfs’ ties to the land, organized agents of terror who

enforced the tsar’s will killing rebellious boyars and destroying towns.