Stuff

Feudalism- A system used in Medieval Europe that thrived from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Describe the government and the general political system from the middle ages. How everything was in the middle ages.

Feudal Compact - An arrangement between a lord and his vassal involving the exchange of property for personal service.

Fief - A grant of land and accompanying government responsibilities and power.

Homage - A vassal's act of promising loyalty and obedience to his lord. Pledge of allegiance.

Baron - A great lord who exercised government authority over vast family territory. Better than a lord.

Vassal - A warrior who agreed to serve a greater warrior in exchange for secure possession of land.

Lord - The hereditary possessor of lands, revenues, and powers over lesser warriors and peasants.

Manor - The principal farming property and social unit of a medieval community usually belonging to a member of the feudal nobility or to a church institution.

Estate - In the middle ages, the groups that made up society, often defined as those who pray, those who fight and those who work.

Serf - The laborers, farmers, etc. Lower class people, poor.

Knight - A man who served his lord and he was a warrior. Soldier in armor.

Three field - one field from spring, one for fall, one for extra jazz.

Suburb - outside the wall

Guild - a union

Master - becomes a master after master piece

Journeymen - create a master piece to become a master

Apprentice - become journeymen

Peasantry - Class of poor people

IMPORTANTE

important things

Max and David read off important things as Kelley and Grace acted things out. It was very interesting....

Feudalism

• Feudalism is a term used by historians to describe the governmental system and the relationships between landowners and warriors
• Warriors, known as knights, would pledge his allegiance to a lord, who would in turn give that knight land
• The lord would grant a fief (property) to the knight, who would then become the lord's vassal (servant) this was called the "feudal compact"  (a deal or contract)
• The vassal must fight for the land when he needs it and attend his court once a month
• A vassal was required to pay homage to his lord, usually this meant keeling down and taking the lord's hands in his while speaking an oath of loyalty
• Men were apprenticed to older knights before they could become a full knight themselves
• When a knight died, his fief would revert to his son, through his lord would be protector of that son if he was underage, or if it was a daughter

• Church land was bound up in feudalism like most other land
• Some clergy were known to fight as knights themselves
• By the 11th century, most clergy assigned fiefs to vassals who fought on their behalf

• Barans were lords of large territories who usually paid homage to a king
• Often a baron's army could outnumber that of a king, which kept a check on the king's power
• The divine right of the king gave him power over his vassals, no matter how much land they had
• In countries like France and England, the kings built up enough land and power to rule effectively over their barons

• Medieval society was divided into three estates the clergy the nobility and the common people
• Usually the peasantry farmed on large plantations known as manors which were owned by a lord or lady of the nobility or a member of the clergy
• iron plows and water powered grinding mills helped with agricultural production but the yield was still minuscule by today's standards
• THREE FIELD SYSTEM
• One in fall, one in spring and one was left to reconstitute its fertility they were rotated
• Most peasants were surfs
• Lady of the house ran household operations, oversaw servants, entertained guests and ran the manor when her husband was away

• Most medieval towns were surrounded by fortified walls
• Residences also sprang up outside the walls in the suburbs
• Towns were dominated by a main church a central marketplace
• Buildings for the craft guilds and the wealthiest families would also be in the center of the town
• Townspeople are free but they still have a hierarchy - merchants, skilled craftsmen and artisans, then unskilled laborers and apprentices (ALL ABOVE SERFS)
• The merchants, crafsmen and artisans formed their own groups called guilds which regulated their trade and protected its members
• craftsmen were classified as masters journeymen and apprentices
• once became  amaster after spending years learning as an apprentice working as a paid journeyman for a number of years completeing his masterpiece
• Guilds participated in religious feasts and festivals and social organizations and usually provided for charities

Decent Grade

Today we got our tests back. I passed with a B but I could have done better. I think that it was a pretty good grade for how bewildered I was when I got the test. Hopefully the next one will come more naturally.

Hard Quiz + Notes

After Rome - 500 - 700

Germanic Kingdoms of Western Europe
- Barbarian warlords and their families who assimilated into Roman culture became the "nobles" or aristocrats of medieval Europe
- Germanic tribes who ruled former Roman lands sought to conquer and assimilate other barbarian peoples who lived beyond the frontiers and were still pagans.

More
-The Angles and Saxons (from Denmark and northwestern Germany) invaded Britain and assimilated the native Britons
- Most of the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the 600s
- Most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks
- Real power lays with the "mayors of the palace" who were royal officials and nobles themselves

Meanwhile, back in the Eastern Empire
From Eastern Empire to Byzantium
- The Eastern Roman Empire continued while the west was now divided up by the barbarian tribes
- When the emperor Justinian came to power in 527, he decided to reunite the entire Roman Empire by reconquering the western territories
- Justinian succeeded for a time, but the land he retook got taken by new barbarian tribes and a massive plague depopulated much of the west (boo)

It's a Christian empire now
- Greek byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman emperors and the heads of the Christian Church
- Byzantines preserved Greco-Roman art, architecture, philosophy, and writing despite much of it being non-Christian
- Justinian built the massive domed Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople, considered to be most glorious church on earth at the time
- Third version finished in 537, the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Justinian's cathedral, was later a mosque and is now a museum.
- Using knowledge of the geometry of curves, it has a dome supported by arches high in the air that remained a model for both church builders and mosque builders for more than a thousand years.
- Became a museum in like 1930.
-

No Mas Notalones Por Favor

Today in class we took more notes *drawn out sarcastic yippee*. But in all seriousness, this school year needs to go faster! So here are the notes we took

Diocletian was super chill with persecuting Christians. He ruled from 284 - 303. Rome needs a big army (400,000) and big government of (20,000).

Constantine rules from 306-337. He thinks its pretty chill to be a Christian. He's "down" with that. He converted to Christianity (conquer by this!) and He has the Edict of Milan in 13. You're free to worship!!! Built a new capital also called Byzantium, which is then changed to Constantinople.

PEASANT
In the 4th century...this is how things went.

People were basically dirt poor from super high taxes. There was new farming structure. Peasants work for the more popular landlords on huge farms. Peasants are able to avoid taxes, but then they run into the landlords. It's always something isn't it? Then peasants could pay off debts and they were so fortunate *not* to work on the land endlessly for grotesque work - how fun. Landowners have lots of local power in bishops, and they were getting some more power. Go us! And this basically foreshadows the feudal system.

The power of Rome is going down, and nomadic barbarians are getting more power. The western empire is too poor, and neglected. Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe. Visigoths take over Spain, and actually capture tons of Rome itself in 410

Vandals control Carthage and western Mitterrand  Other tribes to know - Ostrogoths in Italy, Franks in Gaul, and Angles and Saxons in Britain.

500 BC - monarchy abolished
450 BC - 12 tables
44 BC - end of the line for julius C
27 until 188 Ad - Pax romana

constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the western roman empire shattered and crumbling

The last emperor was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his padre.
Barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him

So now its overrr.

Ow. That Test Burned

So basically I took the worst test ever and it was awful. Maybe I have short term memory loss but I just totally blanked on it. It was like OW. I think I atleast might have passed but other than that I do not have much faith right now.

Questions

What did Constantine do for the Roman empire? - Edict of Mulan, added onto the army
What reforms did Diocletian make?
How did Diocletian treat the arising Christians? - with torture
What types of torture did Diocletian give to the Christians? - fires, torture, cut them
What religion is Constantine? - Christian
How was Christianity treated in the beginning? - As a bad cult
Who was a very important person of the faith that helped to spread it? Paul
What did Constantine see in the sky before the battle? - conquer by this
What is the sign that Constantine used in a battle? - the cross
What is the Edict of Mulan? - People can't be persecuted of their religion
What revelation did Constantine have? - Christianity might help them
What does Gospels mean? -Good News
What god were the Christians forced to give sacrifice to? -Jupiter (Roman gods)
Who lit the fire in the Imperial palace? - we have no idea
What religion was Jesus born into? Jewish
What religion was Constantine's mother? - Christian
How many government officials were under Diocletian's rule? 20,000
Problems? Epidemic disease, couldn't defend frontier against barbarians, emperors began to lose their hold on power, maintaining army was too expensive.
Explain who Christianity appealed to? - Poor people, because they wanted to be redeemed and stuff
How many people were added to the military when Diocletian came into power? 400,000
What did the Edict of Mulan do? Made all religions be accepted?
Who wrote the Edict of Mulan? Constantine

Friday..

Today in class we went over Diocletian and Constantine. It was just your basic lecture class. Sorry this blog is boring. I am in a time crunch.

Diocletian!

The Diocletian persecution occurred in the early 300s. They told the people that they need to convert to the Empire's religion OR ELSE. So obviously from the title of this topic the or else is pretty grotesque. They sacrificed the Christians to the Roman gods. Diocletian gave severe types of torture. Like setting people aflame, cutting off tongues..unhumane things.

As for Constantine he helped to restore the humanity in the empire. Constantine converted to Christianity and therefore it was no longer shamed as much among people. Constantine's army had the cross as a symbol. Different rebellions and revolts occurred by Constantine, holding his ground, kept the people repressed. He was later declared a saint. You go Constantine!

Today..

Today in class we went over a powerpoint. This is rushed because I have much to do but this class helped me learn a lot about Christianity! Woo!

Christianity

So over time, Rome came into a time when Christianity was being spread. This was a time of Jews, and Jesus. Jesus being around at this time is significant information. He is the head of one of the most popular religions in modern day. Jesus had spread radical news including that he was the Messiah. He was crucified by the Romans. After his death, his apostles (meaning messengers  spread his word through-out the world. Paul, one of the specific apostles of Jesus, really understood the word and helped to settle qualms about the word being spread. Over time there was an acquired group of followers. These followers helped to add dimension to the beliefs and the religion was able to grow and evolve. Paul was beheaded in 60 A.D. because he was Jewish and stirring up conflict among the Empire. Jesus' temple was destroyed ten years later. The followers thought this was a sign of God ditching them. In the end, Paul helped the Catholic Church to develop a lot and instill a faith in people.