A History of the World: Chapter 19: Medieval Europe

Rivers also played an important role in Europe's growth.

He established a school for the children of government officials.

It has many fjords, or narrow inlets of the sea. The fjords, surrounded by steep cliffs or slopes, were carved by glaciers long ago. The Viking people, known as Norsemen or "north men," lived in villages near the fjords.

Patrick inspired Pope Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, to spread Christianity. Gregory asked monks to become missionaries—people who are sent out to teach their religion.

A concordat is an agreement between the pope and the ruler of a country.

Nobles governed and protected the people in return for services, such as fighting in a noble's army or farming the land. This led to a new political and social order known as feudalism.

Nobles were both lords and vassals. A lord was a high-ranking noble who had power over others. A vassal was a lower-ranking noble who served a lord. In return, the lord protected the vassal.

In exchange for the vassal's military service, a lord gave his vassal land.

The property granted to a vassal was known as a fief.

Many lower-ranking vassals were known as knights. They were armed warriors who fought on horseback.

Knights followed the code of chivalry. These rules stated that a knight was to be brave and obey his lord. A knight was also required to respect women of noble birth, honor the Church, and help people.

Many of today's ideas about manners come from the code of chivalry.

Most peasants, however, were serfs. Serfs and their descendants were tied to the manor. They could not own property, move to another area, or marry without the noble's permission. Serfs were not enslaved, however.

Craftspeople organized guilds, or business groups.

Traveling circuit judges met with a grand jury. It decided if people should be accused of a crime.

There they forced John to put his seal on a document called the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter.

The rulers of Moscow learned to cooperate with the Mongols.

They discovered how to build better ships and make more accurate maps.

By the 1100s, the Crusades and the rise of strong governments made medieval Europeans more confident and secure.

In about ten more years, a student could earn a doctor's degree in law, medicine, or theology—the study of religion and God.

By 1100, a new way of thinking called scholasticism was changing the study of theology. Its followers wanted to show that ideas accepted on faith did not have to contradict ideas developed by reason.

In the 1200s, an Italian Dominican friar named Thomas Aquinas became scholasticism's greatest thinker. His goal was to find agreement between Aristotle's teachings and Christian teachings.

Besides Latin, each region in Europe had its own local language. People used this language, called the vernacular, in everyday life. Early English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German were vernacular languages.

On Sundays and holy days, most medieval Europeans gathered to attend mass, the Catholic worship service.

Despite its power, the Church had to deal with heresy, or ideas that conflicted with Church teaching.

Hostility toward Jews is called anti-Semitism.

During the 1300s, a plague spread from Asia across Europe. A plague is a disease that spreads quickly and kills large numbers of people. The Black Death, as the disease was known, was probably bubonic plague.

The plague had an enormous effect on the economy of Europe. With so many deaths, trade declined. Wages rose steeply because of a high demand for workers. Fewer people, though, meant less demand for food, so food prices fell sharply.

Disputes in the Church reduced its authority.