Changing Traditions
Propose why a wealthy merchant might choose to fund the construction of a cathedral.
Recall the popular saying that was associated with the freedom offered by medieval towns.
Demonstrate your understanding of 'vassalage' by describing the mutual promise it involved.
Evaluate the impact of the growth of a money-based economy on the personal bonds of feudalism.
Formulate an argument to convince a lord in the eleventh century to invest in a watermill on his manorial estate.
Name two well-known monasteries established in medieval Europe mentioned in the text.
Define the term 'feudalism' as it is used to describe medieval European society.
List the three 'orders' of medieval European society as believed by French priests.
Examine the primary reason for the rise of knights as a distinct social group from the ninth century onwards.
Demonstrate the Church's economic power by identifying the direct tax it levied on peasants.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the guild system in a medieval town.
Explain the difference between free peasants and serfs in the third order of feudal society.
Define the term 'new monarchs' and identify one such ruler from the text.
Describe the purpose and function of a guild in a medieval town.
Analyze the relationship between a lord and a peasant in the feudal system, focusing on both economic obligations and social control.
Analyze how the switch from a two-field to a three-field system of crop rotation improved agricultural productivity in medieval Europe.
Analyze why the saying 'Town air makes free' was popular among medieval serfs.
Analyze the primary economic function of a guild in a medieval town.
Explain the concept of 'vassalage' within the feudal system.
Identify two technological changes in agriculture that occurred by the eleventh century in Europe.
Explain what the 'Black Death' was and describe its impact on the population of Europe in the fourteenth century.
Examine the role of monasteries in the cultural and intellectual life of medieval Europe.
Analyze how the 'new monarchs' of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries strengthened their financial power.
Analyze the impact of environmental changes between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries on agriculture and settlement in Europe.
Critique the practice of vassalage from the perspective of a powerful king aiming to centralize authority.
Justify the peasant revolts of the fourteenth century as a logical response to the actions of the nobility.
Evaluate the long-term consequences of the switch from a two-field to a three-field system of agriculture.
Justify the description of the 'new monarchs' of the fifteenth century as 'absolutist rulers'.
Critique the role of the knight in feudal society, considering both their idealized image and their actual function.
Critique the European approach to encounters with peoples in the Americas, as described in the text.
Describe the main features of a self-sufficient manorial estate in medieval Europe.
List three major consequences of the fourteenth-century crisis in Europe.
Evaluate the statement that the 'three orders' of medieval European society provided a stable and just social structure.
Propose three key rules for a new monastery in the thirteenth century designed to avoid the corruption and luxury criticized by writers like Langland.
Propose an alternative historical outcome for western Europe if the Black Death had not occurred.
Describe the key factors that led to the growth of towns from the eleventh century onwards.
Justify the Catholic Church's encouragement of both the study of other cultures and attacks on non-Christians.
Summarize the changes in warfare and military organization that were introduced by the 'new monarchs'.
Examine the long-term social and economic consequences of the Black Death on the relationship between lords and peasants in the late fourteenth century.
Create a brief charter for a new town, proposing terms that would attract runaway serfs while still being acceptable to the local lord who owns the land.
Contrast the political development of the monarchy in France with that in England leading up to the seventeenth century.
Summarize the role and power of the Catholic Church in medieval European society.
Examine the underlying cause for the peasant revolts of the fourteenth century, such as the one in Flanders in 1323.
Compare the system of agricultural production under European feudalism with the system used on the latifundia of the Roman Empire.
Compare and contrast the roles and privileges of the First Order (the Clergy) and the Second Order (the Nobility) in medieval European society.