Cracking the SAT Subject Test in World History, 2nd Edition by The Princeton Review

Author:The Princeton Review [Princeton Review]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2018-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

The Dominance of the Medieval Church in Christian Europe

The Church during the medieval period was a supranational power that in large part replaced the political and administrative system that was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire. Local bishops filled the power vacuum and regulated life in cooperation with the local nobility; members of the elite had already moved into bishoprics early in the Church’s development, filling these religious positions instead of other civil roles. Christianity was, simply put, what most Europeans had in common before the definition of modern national identities and large modern nation-states.

The kings of Europe, therefore, always had to mediate their power through two major groups: the local nobility and the Church. And when the spread of Islam threatened Christianity in Europe, it was the Roman Catholic Church that led the charge to combat Islam’s spread and to recapture the birthplace of the Christian faith: Jerusalem. At the time, no single secular ruler could have amassed the forces that the Church did in launching the First Crusade in 1095.

A Feudal Primer

Vassals Lesser lords who provided military service, loyalty, and sometimes goods and services to their feudal lord, who protected the vassals

Feudal Monarchy A kingdom bolstered by the feudal system; nobility served the king as his vassals

Fiefs Lands granted to nobility in exchange for loyalty to the giver. Granting fiefs was a typical method used by kings to gain troops for war and consolidate power after the war. The nobleman who received the fief ruled it and gathered its revenues for his own coffers.

Serfs Peasants who lived on the land of a fief. While not slaves, their social status meant they lacked many of the rights granted to free men. In particular, they were not allowed to own land, and had to pay tribute to the lord (landowner) of their fief.

Chivalry The code of conduct for vassals (in their role as knights, or mounted armed warriors serving the king), emphasizing warrior qualities, generosity, and loyalty to one’s feudal lord

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