Name_____________________
Early Middle Ages Study Guide
Section 1: The Early Middle Ages
1. What did King Clovis of the Franks do after winning a battle in 496?
2. Explain the situation Western Europe found itself in between 500 and 1000 C.E.
3. What name has been given to this period of time in Europe?
4. What would people much later call this period (from the Latin word “middle age”)?
5. How was the culture of the Franks, Saxons, Vandals and Goths different from that of the
Romans?
6. How were kings put in place and what did warriors get in exchange for swearing loyalty
to the king?
7. What did Germanic tribes do in Western Europe between 400 and 700?
8. Explain why Clovis’ conversion to Christianity was so important?
9. Who rallied Frankish Christian warriors in 732 and what battle did he win?
10. What type of relationship did European Christians have with Muslims living in Spain
during the early medieval period?
11. What modern day country did Charlemagne’s Empire cover?
12. What does Charlemagne mean?
13. Why did the pope crown Charlemagne “Emperor of the Romans”?
14. What three significant things did Pope Leo III do by crowning Charlemagne emperor?
15. What reaction did Charlemagne’s crowning have in the Byzantine Empire and what longterm result did it create?
16. What did Charlemagne do to try to unite Europe under Christianity?
17. What did Charlemagne expect from the missi dominici (judges) he sent out?
18. What did Charlemagne hope education could help him accomplish in Europe?
19. Does it surprise you that Charlemagne could not write and could only read in a basic
way? Explain.
20. Where did Charlemagne have his court and Palace School?
21. Who took over for Charlemagne after his death?
22. What did the Treaty of Verdun, signed by the grandsons of Charlemagne, do with the
empire?
23. Critical Thinking: What impact would the Treaty of Verdun have on the dream of a
united Europe held by Charlemagne?
24. What are four aspects of the legacy left by Charlemagne?
25. What group settled in Hungary about 900?
26. What impact did the Vikings have on what was left of Charlemagne’s Empire?
27. How was Viking society organized, and what did Vikings start doing in the 700s?
28. What were two primary activities the Vikings were engaged in other than raiding?
29. What did the Vikings set up around 1000 A.D.?
Section 2: Feudalism and the Manor Economy
30. Where were Feudal ceremonies often held and what did they spell out?
31. Why was a system of Feudalism necessary during the early Middle Ages?
32. Define Feudalism:
33. Define vassals:
34. What was the political and economic exchange which took place in the feudal system?
35. Define feudal contract:
36. Define fief:
37. What did the lord promise to the vassal in the feudal contract? What did the vassal
promise to the lord?
38. List each of the social classes in feudal Europe:
39. Why was being a vassal often a complex situation?
40. What was a way of life for medieval nobles?
41. Define knight:
42. Describe the training and process of becoming a knight.
43. Explain how knights fought.
44. Explain how other soldiers fought during medieval times.
45. Define tournaments:
46. Explain how castles developed in the early middle ages.
47. What did peasants do during battles?
48. Which castles were often at the center of fighting during medieval times?
49. What did “the lady of the manor” often do when men were off fighting?
50. What noblewoman was a leading force in politics for more than 50 years?
51. What activities and expectations were noblewomen required to undergo during the
Middle Ages?
52. Define chivalry:
53. Provide some examples of chivalrous behavior.
54. How were women treated and viewed within the boundaries of chivalry?
55. Define troubadours:
56. Define manor:
57. What were included with the manor?
58. Define serfs:
59. List 5 obligations required of a peasant to their lord of the manor.
60. What three major things were peasants promised as part of the feudal agreement?
61. For whom were the forests and their wild game reserved during the Middle Ages?
62. Explain the typical life and provide the lifespan of a peasant in Medieval Europe.
63. What did the typical peasant family eat during the Middle Ages?
64. What two holidays gave peasants a week off and what did they do during these times?
Section 3: The Medieval Church (pp. 225-230)
65. What role/power did the Roman Church have during the Middle Ages in Europe?
66. Who was sent to convert the Saxons of England to Christianity?
67. Who may have been the only contact peasants might have had with the Church?
68. Define sacraments:
69. List 4 major services provided by the parish priests.
70. What was the social center of most Medieval villages?
71. Define tithe:
72. What makes a cathedral a cathedral and not just a church?
73. How did the Church both protect and harm women during the Middle Ages?
74. What productive things might monks and nuns be involved with in monasteries and
convents?
75. What services might monasteries and convents provide to the needy?
76. How did monasteries and convents help keep learning alive?
77. Who is Hildegard of Bingen and what power did she have?
78. How would women lose power as time went on during the Middle Ages?
79. Define secular:
80. Define secular supremacy:
81. What land and authority did the pope accumulate during the early Middle Ages?
82. Define canon law:
83. Define excommunication:
84. Define interdict:
85. Why did secular rulers generally succumb to the interdict?
86. What did the Church use to try to end warfare among nobles?
87. List at least three ways in which many clergy became corrupt during the Middle Ages.
88. What did Gregory VII do to limit secular influence in the Church?
89. Define simony:
90. Define friars:
91. Who was St. Francis of Assisi?
92. What was the position, role and situation for Jewish communities during the early Middle
Ages in Spain and Europe?
93. What happened to Jewish communities after 1000 due to outside invasions?
94. Where were many Jews forced to move to during this period?
Section 4: Economic Recovery Sparks Change
95. Read the apprenticeship agreement at the top of the page. Why would someone agree to
work for someone for four years without pay?
96. What two major technological developments allowed for an increase in agricultural
productivity by the 800s?
97. How did lords use their peasants to boost their incomes?
98. Explain the crop rotation system put into use during the Middle Ages.
99. What did an increase in agricultural production lead to between 1000 and 1300?
100. Provide four reasons for the growth of the economy in the 1100s.
101. What products did Europeans buy from Venetian merchants and what products did they
use to pay for them?
102. What was the Hanseatic League and what did it do to ensure ongoing trade?
103. What caused the re-emergence of European cities?
104. Where did the wealthiest cities emerge and what main product did they produce?
105. Define charter:
106. Define capital:
107. Define partnerships:
108. What two innovative business practices helped ensure the success and growth of trade?
109. Explain how the presence of money undermined the practice of serfdom.
110. Define tenant farmers:
111. What did many Jews become because the Church forbade the charging of interest?
112. Define middle class:
113. Define usury:
114. Define guilds:
115. What kind of guilds appeared first and who resented these initial guilds?
116. What services did guilds offer its members?
117. Define apprentice:
118. How many years might one work as an apprentice?
119. Define journeymen:
120. How did guilds affect the rights and activities of women in medieval towns and cities?
121. Describe the architecture and sanitation practices of a typical medieval town?