DEJ 06.02.2024

• The Middle Ages are periodized as the 5th - 11th century CE, with the term coming from Latin: “media aetas”.
• The Middle Ages are first mentioned by humanists for the barbaric era between ancient times and the Renaissance.
• Medieval is a special science specialized on the Middle Ages.
• The beginning of the period is marked by the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire in 476 CE.
• The 4th - 7th century is known as the migration period or “Barbarian invasion”, mostly by Germanic tribes and the Huns.
• The end of the period is marked by Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492, the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, and the beginning of book printing in the 15th century.
• Periodization of the Middle Ages is into the 5th - 15th century.
• Due to the migration of the Germanic tribes, the periodization of the Middle Ages is into the 5th - 11th century.
• These tribes built new kingdoms in Europe.
• The Church was at its most powerful position during the High Middle Ages.
• The rise of universities occurred during the High Middle Ages.
• The Frankish kingdom, the Czech kingdom, the Great Moravian Empire are examples of tribes that accepted Christianity and lasted longer.
• During the Late Middle Ages, there was a decline of the Church and a crisis in the society.
• Feudalism was introduced in the 8th/9th century in the Frankish kingdom.
• The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, was a epidemic that occurred during the Late Middle Ages.
• If these tribes did not accept Christianity, they disappeared very quickly, only those who accepted Christianity did last longer.
• New tribes such as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, and Huns came to Europe.
• Romanesque architecture was prevalent during the High Middle Ages, from the 12th to the 14th century.
• During the High Middle Ages, there were technical and agricultural innovations that made a more effective usage of land possible, using 2/3 of the land.
• Gothic art was prevalent during the Late Middle Ages, from the 14th to the 15th century.
• The main source of living for these tribes was agriculture, where half of the land was used and half stayed unused.
• Feudalism is a social-economic order connected with the Middle Ages, lasting in many countries, including our region, since 1848.
• Feudalism is the relationship between a liege lord and a vassal.
• A liege lord is a noble who holds land, a person who was granted possession of the land, a fief, by the lord.
• A vassal, in exchange for the use of the fief and the protection of the lord, provides some sort of service to the lord.
• The lord and vassal enter into a contract, the vassal promises to fight for the lord at his command, while the lord agrees to protect the vassal from external forces.
• Feudal hierarchy: king - > barons (higher vassals) - > knights (lower vassals) - > peasants.
• Feudalism began to be built in the Frankish kingdom in the 8./9. century.
• Social relations in medieval society were divided into major social groups/classes: nobility (those who fight), clergy (those who pray), commons (those who work).
• A nobleman was personally free and his major obligation was to fight for his lord.
• A knight was a basis of medieval army and could either inherit his property and title or gain it as a reward for bravery in the battlefield.
• A knight had to live and behave by a social and moral code named chivalry.
• Poets and musicians spread the songs about chivalric ideals.
• The clergy took care of the spiritual lives of believers and had to keep, teach and spread the Word of God.
• There were two groups of peasants: free and serfs (nevoľník).
• Serfs couldn’t move from their lord’s estate and had to give up a portion of their own crops and work on the lord’s estate.
• Serfs also had to pay 1/10 of their income/production to the Church - a tithe.
• A serf was not free to decide about who he wants to marry.
• An individual could do very little or nothing to change his social position.
• A person could be a vassal to more lords, even a king could be a vassal to another king (e.g. to the emperor of Holy Roman Empire).