READING ( The Middle Ages Europe-FOR IGCSE )

 

HISTORY OF EUROPE (MIDDLE AGES 500 TO 1500 AD)

Worksheet 27

A short summary for IGCSE students.

1. The Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from 500 AD to 1500, although alternative starting and end points exist. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: antiquity medieval, and modern. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the early, high and late and the early medieval period is also referred to as the Dark Ages.

2. The early middle ages were a period of population decline, counter urbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority and invasion. The large scale migration of people including the Germans led to the rise of new kingdoms in western Europe. In the 7thCentury (700 AD) the Middle East and North Africa came under the Caliphal rule with Arab conquests. The Byzantine Empire (British Empire) survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and advanced secular law through the code of Justinian. ( It is a collection of Roman laws and legal principles enacted by the Roman Emperor Justinian who ruled between 527 to 565 AD.) During the 8th and 9th century the Carolingian Empire was established later it succumbed to internal conflict and external invasions. The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a French dominated empire in western and central Europe. It was called the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as Kings of Franks since 751 and as kings if the Lombards in Italy from 774. In 800,the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in an effort to transfer the Roman Empire from Byzantine Empire to Western Europe. The Carolingian Empire is considered the first phase in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.

3. During the high middle ages which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as technological and agriculture innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yield to increase. Manorialism, the organisation of peasants into villages that owed rent and labour services to the nobles and feudalism the political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military Service to their overlords in return for right to rent from lands and manors, were the two of the ways society was organised in the High Middle Ages. This period also saw the formal division of the Catholic and orthodox churches, with the East-West Schism of 1054. The crusades which began in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy land from Muslims and also contributed to the expansion of Latin Christendom in the Baltic region and the Iberian Peninsula. In the West, intellectual life was marked by Scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason and by the founding of universities. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the Gothic architecture of Cathedrals such as Chartres mark the end of this period.

4. The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and calamities including famine, plague, and war, which significantly diminished the population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black death killed about a third of Europeans. Controversy, heresy and the Western schism within the Catholic church paralleled the interstate conflict, civil strife and peasant revolts that occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning of the early modern period.

5. Giotto di Bondone is considered the father of the Renaissance because of his innovation and use of different artistic techniques. Giotto embraced a realist style. He used techniques such as perspectives, shading, and shadowing in order to create life-like paintings. It is known that Giotto died on January 8, 1337 when he was 70 years.

6. Both Geoffrey Chaucer and Dante Alighieri wrote in the Middle Ages and were the two most famous and most celebrated writers of that period. Chaucer established English (the East-Midland dialect) as the national language with his Canterbury Tales and Dante did the same for the Italian language with his Divine Comedy.

7. Thomas Aquinas -The philosophy of Thomism is based on the belief that reason and faith are both necessary to achieve true knowledge. It means that Thomists acknowledge there is a natural order to things that can be known through reason. At the same time, revelation from God is required to know certain truths about God and morality.

8. The Black Death or bubonic plague killed more than 25 million people in fourteenth-century Europe. Yersinia pestis (the plague bacteria) can be easily weaponized as a bioterrorism agent. Early plague treatment is curative, but its symptomatology can be nonspecific.

9. Heresy----a (religious) opinion or belief that is different from what is generally accepted to be true. Schism-( division or breach) In the early church, “schism” was used to describe those groups that broke with the church and established rival churches. The term originally referred to those divisions that were caused by disagreement over something other than basic doctrine. Byzantine – complex or complicated. 

10.The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages. Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature. 1490 to 1520.

11.David and Goliath is an oil painting by the Venetian painter Titian. It was made in about 1542–1544 for the church of Santo Spirito, but is now in the basilica of Santa Maria della Salute.

According to 1 Samuel 17, Goliath, a heavily armed Philistine giant, challenged Saul for 40 days to send out a man to fight him. No one would face this warrior until David, armed only with a sling and stones, volunteered. David hit the giant in the forehead with a stone and killed him. This story teaches an important lesson of bravery, courage and faith. It was with immense faith that David faced Goliath and came our victorious. From the giant Goliath's attitude we also learn that pride leads to fall and one should never underestimate their opponent. Verses 17:1 – 51: This is not just a story about a young man fighting a much larger enemy. It depicts the conflict of the ages. It is a story about the battle that has been raging ever since Satan rebelled against God, the confrontation between good and evil, between God and His enemy(Biblical stories)