World History I
Document Based Question on the Middle Ages
Name:
Date:
Historical Context:
The Middle Ages in Europe, a period of time from approximately AD 500 to 1400,
began with the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of kingdoms, which led to
the rise of feudalism. During this period, the Roman Catholic Church provided
spiritual direction and also served many non-religious functions. Many literary,
artistic, and architectural advances occurred.
Task: Using the information from the documents and your knowledge of world
history, write a DBQ essay (using at least 4 of the documents), answering the
following question: Which is the best title for the time period commonly called the
Middle Ages?
A Dark Age?
An Age of Feudalism?
An Age of Faith?
A Golden Age?
Directions: Answer the questions that follow each document.
Document 1
“The barbarians have broken through the ramparts. The Saracen [Moors]
invasions have spread in successive waves over the South. The Hungarians
swarm over the Eastern provinces… they sacked town and village, and laid
waste the fields. They burned down the churches and then departed with a crowd
of captives… There is no longer any trade, only unceasing terror… The peasant
has abandoned his ravaged fields to avoid the violence of anarchy. The people
have gone to cower in the depths of the forests or in inaccessible regions, or
have taken refuge in the high mountains… Society has no longer any
government...”
Source: In The Middle Ages, historian Frantz Funck-Bretano made use of
previously published texts to describe Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries.
(Heinemann, 1922, p. 1-3).
1. What were conditions like in Europe during the 800s?
Document 2
I, John of Toul, make known that I am the liege man of the [count and countess
of Champagne]… I will aid the count of Champagne in my own person, and will
send to the count and countess of Champagne the knights whose service I owe
to them for the fief which I hold of them.
Source: Homage Oath taken by John of Toul.
1. What are the obligations John is promising to uphold?
Document 3
842: In this year there was a great slaughter in London and Quentavic and in
Rochester.
846: According to their custom the Northmen plundered… and burned down the
town of Dordrecht… the Northmen, with their boats filled with immense booty,
including both men and goods, returned to their own country…
Source: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells of invasions of England.
1. According to this Chronicle, what is happening at this time (AD 842-846)?
Document 4
Feudal Obligations
Vassal to lord:
Obligations:
Loyalty
Military Service
Ransom, if needed
Lord to vassal:
Obligations:
Protection
Land (fief)
1. What mutual obligations did the Vassals and Lords have?
Document 5
“… we learn that an age once traditionally described as “dark” had remarkable
vitality and exuberance. Even at its worst it performed the function of guarding,
frequently by accident and chance, the knowledge and treasured of what had
come before, but even more it was creative and inventive, and transmitted to
later ages great riches of its own.”
Source: This excerpt is from “The Medieval Period” by Gray C. Boyce, in The 34th
Yearbook of the National Council for Social Studies, 1964, p. 69-70.
1. Why shouldn’t the Middle Ages be considered the “Dark Ages?”
Document 6
“… Medieval culture was imperfect, was restricted to a narrow circle of superior
minds… Measure it, however, by the memories and the achievements that it had
bequeathed to the modern world, and it will be found not unworthy to rank with
those of earlier and later Golden Ages. It flourished in the midst of rude
surroundings, fierce passions, and material ambitions… we must judge of them
by their philosophy and law, by their poetry and architecture.”
Source: Medieval Europe by H.C. Davis, Oxford University Press, 1946, p. 79.
1. According to this document, how could the Middle Ages be considered a
Golden Age?
Document 7
“I hereby renounce my parents, my brother and relatives, my friends, my
possessions… and the vain and empty glory and pleasure of this world. I also
renounce my own will, for the will of God. I accept all the hardships of the
monastic life, and take the vows of purity, chastity, and poverty, in the hope of
heaven; and I promise to remain a monk in this monastery all the days of my life.”
Source: excerpt from the monastic vows of Brother Gerald.
1. What is Gerald promising to do when he becomes a monk?
Document 8
“Your brethren who live in the [Middle] East are in urgent need of your help…
For, as most of you have heard, the Turks and the Arabs have attacked them
and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Byzantine Empire]… They
have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians… They have
killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the
Empire… All who die by the way, whether by land or sea, or in battle against the
pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.”
Source: Pope Urban II’s call for the first Crusade, 1095.
1. How does this call for a crusade demonstrate the power of the Pope and the
Catholic Church?
Document 9
How does this gothic cathedral illustrate the power of the Catholic Church?
Document 10
The medieval university did not limit itself to the study of metaphysics, theology,
law, and medicine. It also contributed significantly to the advance of science. That
the curriculum in medicine concentrated on what passed as scientific studies is
understandable. Yet even in the arts curriculum, the student gained some
acquaintance with astronomy, physics, meteorology, geometry, optics, mathematics,
and what the Middle Ages called natural philosophy but the modern world knows as
natural science in general. Roger Bacon even recommended the study of techniques
employed by artisans and alchemists. And when he declared that the study of
theoretical sciences was justified principally by the use man made of them, he
sounded thoroughly modern.
Source: A History of the Middle Ages by Joseph Dahmus, 1995.
1. What does this passage tell about university education?
Document 11
“In the year of the Lord 1348 there was a very great pestilence in the city and
district of Florence. It was of such a fury and so tempestuous that in houses in which
it took hold previously healthy servants who took care of the ill died of the same
illness. Almost non of the ill survived past the fourth day. Neither physicians nor
medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously
unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to
be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it
took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And
it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died. Dogs, cats,
chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same
disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured.
The symptoms were the following: a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the
trunk; or a small swelling under the armpit; sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva
(and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a frightful thing that when it got
into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people abandoned the house
and fled to another. Those in town fled to villages. Physicians could not be found
because they had died like the others. And those who could be found wanted vast
sums in hand before they entered the house…
Source: Accessed through Boise State University, European History
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/marchione.html
1. What does this tell you about the plague?
2. What question and answer would you think of related to this excerpt?
Document 12
Parts of the Magna Carta, signed by John, King of England, 1215
1. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever,
all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and
our heirs forever.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a
husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry without our consent,
if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds
of another.
13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free customs, as well
by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities,
boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or deprived or exiled or in any way
destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.
45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the
law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
Source: Yale Law School, Avalon Project: Medieval Documents Collection
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/magframe.asp
1. What were the circumstances under which the Magna Carta was written, and
what rights was it trying to protect?
2. Why might the Magna Carta be considered one of the cornerstones of
constitutional government?
Document 13
London in the twelfth century… To this city every nation under heaven merchants
delight to bring their trade by sea. The Arabian sends gold; the Sabaean (from Saba
in southern Arabia) spice and incense. The Scynthian (from southeastern Europe)
brings arms, and from the rich, fat lands of Babylon comes oil of palms. The Nile
sends precious stones; the men of Norway and Russia, fur and sables; nor is China
absent with purple silk. The Gauls come with their wines.
Source: Most Notable City of London by William Fitz-Stephen
1. What evidence from this account supports the idea that London was a thriving
commercial center?
2. Why do you think the increase of trade influenced the growth of cities? How did
this contribute to the decline of manorialism?