History term work

• The Middle Ages, also called the Medieval Age


  400 - 1500 A.D.
• The Middle Ages saw a number of historical periods in Europe such as the Dark Ages, the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery
• During much of the Middle Ages, people in Europe were fighting against the Islamic Empire in a religious war called the Crusades
• Feudal system


  The law of the land, and the way that the upper class maintained control over the lower class
• Feudal system


  1. King gives land to lords who fought for him as a reward for their loyalty

  2. Lords allow peasants to live and farm on their land and protect them

  3. Peasants pay taxes to the lords
• Divine Right


  Kings believed God chose their family to be the ruler of the kingdom
• Social hierarchy in the Middle Ages


  • Upper class (King, Queen, lords, nobles, clergy)
  • Middle class (knights)
  • Lower class (peasants, farmers)
• Many 'Once upon a time' fairy tales have their roots in the Middle Ages
• The Dark Ages began with the fall of Rome


  410
• The Roman Empire's collapse led to chaos, war, and lack of cultural growth in Europe
• Outside forces like the Vikings and Moors further destabilized Europe during the Dark Ages
• The bubonic plague (Black Death) killed tens of millions of people and destroyed hopes of reunification in Europe
• Plague doctors


  Wore a mask with a bird-like beak to protect themselves from the plague, which they believed was airborne
• Christianity helped unify Europe during the Dark Ages and the Crusades gave European rulers a common religious goal and foe
• The Dark Ages was an extraordinarily difficult period, but it laid the groundwork for the world we know today
• In the Middle Ages, the Muslim world was scientifically and culturally ahead of the Christian countries of western Europe
• In 1071, Muslim Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire and stopped Christian pilgrims from entering Jerusalem
• The First Crusade


  1. Pope Urban II asked knights to go on a pilgrimage to win back Jerusalem for Christianity

  2. Many knights 'took the cross' and sewed red crosses into their tunics

  3. The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099
• The Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem was a terrible blow to the Muslims, who considered it a holy city
• The Crusades provoked a Muslim backlash, with the Turks capturing Constantinople in 1453 and surrounding Vienna by 1529
• The Crusades were a failure in capturing most of the land they attempted to conquer, but they helped reunite Europe and brought back new ideas that set the stage for the Renaissance
• Renaissance


  A period of time from the 14th to the 17th century in Europe when there was a rebirth of education, science, art, literature, and music
• Humanism


  A philosophy that all people should strive to be educated and learned in the classical arts, literature and science
• The Renaissance started in Florence, Italy and spread to other city-states, partly due to Italy's history and wealth
• The invention of the printing press in 1450 helped spread the ideas of the Renaissance across Europe
• Renaissance science


  • Scholars began to experiment and observe for themselves, rather than just relying on books
  • Nicolaus Copernicus showed the earth revolves around the sun
  • Andreas Vesalius studied the human body by dissecting dead bodies
• Renaissance art


  • Rulers like the Medici family in Florence spent money to support artists
  • Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael were important Renaissance artists who painted religious figures with a realistic, human quality
• Renaissance Man


  A person who is an expert and talented in many areas
• The Renaissance


  • Brought about new beliefs that challenged the world being flat
  • Some men now believed that the world was round and were brave enough to sail into the far seas to explore
• Europeans were afraid to sail far out at sea as they believed in ship-eating sea monsters and boiling seas
• They thought that when they reached the horizon they would fall off the edge of the world because the world was flat
• Marco Polo


  An Italian traveller who had visited China along the Silk Road
• In 1295, after 24 years of travel in the Far East, Marco Polo returned to Venice and wrote a book, 'The Travels of Marco Polo', about the riches he saw there
• Marco Polo's book became popular and many Europeans, on hearing of the wealth in the Far East, wanted to reach these lands
• Ottoman Empire


  Captured Constantinople in 1453, controlling many existing trade routes to India and China
• The Muslims acquired the goods from the Far East and then sold them to the Europeans at very high prices, acting as the middleman
• The Europeans wanted to find their own routes so they could acquire the goods themselves and then sell them in Europe, keeping the profits for themselves
• The 3Gs that encouraged the Europeans to explore

  • Gold (to make money and acquire wealth)
  • Glory (to gain fame)
  • God (to spread Christianity)
• New technology that made long sea voyages possible

  • Mechanized map-making showing coastlines, ocean currents and winds
  • Inventions of instruments to check position at sea (cross-staff, astrolabe, quadrant)
  • Improvements to the compass
  • Improvements in ship-building (caravel)
• Prince Henry the Navigator


  Though not a navigator or sailor, he sponsored many expeditions of exploration and paid for ships to sail and map and explore the west coast of Africa