The Catholic Church

1.  Discuss the role of the Catholic Church during Medieval Europe.

Well the Catholic Church organization was just like the Medieval social order. The Pope was like the King, the Archbishop was like the Lord, the Bishop was like the Knight, and the Priest was like the Peasant. The pope made dioceses which were large divisions which had many Churches where the Catholics could attend church. Then he appointed Bishops to be in charge of those dioceses. Then if there was a problem and the bishop needs help he would ask the person above him. But since the pope didn't want to have to worry about all of that he appointed archbishops to help out, they oversaw a few dioceses. Then there was the Priest, he oversaw just one of the many churches in the diocese. He helped the members there. Charlemagne helped the Catholic church become the main religion in Europe.


 Now that the church had that power, it used it to try to stop warfare. First they encouraged the knights to stop fighting, but they ignored them. Then they said that they should not fight anyone who was not part of the war. When again they ignored them, they set a decree that said they were not to fight on Friday's or Sundays of every week. Eventually in the 1100s the fighting started to subside. The Catholic church also used its power for good by making monasteries. Monasteries were basically refuges from war for people in the area. 



2.  Discuss the impact the four different crusades had on Europe, the Church, and Jerusalem.

Well for the first crusade the pope helped unite the people against the Turks to get Jerusalem (their holy city) back.


But once inside the city, the knights killed everyone they could for personal gain. After they conquered it they divided it up into four different parts, and it was ruled in peace for the next 150 years.


But in 1144 the Turks took control of the holy city again. A French monk called for a second crusade, but it ended in failure and they were unable to drive away the Turks. Then when another Muslim army attacked they called for a third crusade. This crusade was special because King Richard of England fought in the war.


But even with him they couldn't win. But they did reach an agreement. Now the holy city was holy for both people. So they agreed that the Muslims could have the city but they would have to allow safe passage through the city. The Muslims agreed and it was settled.


I think the impact that the Catholic church had was that it got a lot more power, also it was much more widely known.

Feudalism

1. Identify the impact the different invaders had on Medieval Europe

It made the Europeans want protection from the invaders and that is when feudalism came about to help the Europeans needs.

2. Explain feudalism and chivalry

Well to explain feudalism there were four different groups of people (from lowest to highest in social importance): 1) peasants, 2) the knights, 3) the lords, 4) the king. The peasants looked for land to grow their crops and the lords gave them the land in exchange for a part of the food that they grew. The knights were usually the second born son in royalty who wouldn't inherit anything so he usually became a knight after being a Squire. Then he sought for money from the lords, and the knights gave them protection in exchange for money. The lords got protection from the knights and food from the peasants so I think they had it the best. The king didn't get much though. The lords were sworn to protect the king, but he couldn't tax them and he didn't get much out of it. Chivalry was how they conducted themselves in battle they were brave noble loyal to their lord. They also had to not only respect noblewomen but also protect them. They also wouldn't attack a knight until he had his armor on, which would be awful. Chivalry helped reduce some aspects of the warfare at that time.
3. Explain how feudalism impacted the king. The lords? the knights? the peasants?

Well it wasn't that good to the peasants I mean they did get land and food but they could never become anything better than a peasant. for the knights I think it was good that they could become something even though they wouldn't get any inheritance. For the lords it was great, but I think they became a little to greedy at times, that's why they attacked other lords to get more power.
It wasn't that good to the king but he can't complain because he is the king, the most powerful.
4. Discuss why feudalism failed to meet the needs of the Europe.

I think it failed to meet the needs of Europe because there was supposed to be more protection, but when there was no battle the lords fought each other and it wasn't any better than being attacked from outside
5. Explain the defenses for a castle.

The defenses for a castle were a moat, Location like on a mountain or an ocean, it would be harder to attack from just one side, Inner wall, after the moat there was another wall that invaders had to destroy in order to get at the castle, Castle built of stone, was very strong thick and high, one entrance
there was always only one entrance so they could concentrate their defense on that one spot because that was the way the got in. And also there were little slits in the walls that allowed the archers from inside the castle to shoot but not get shot at.