CHAPTER 12.3CULTURE OF THE
MIDDLE AGES
WARM UP
1. What is an interdict?
2. In his goal to reform the Church, what were two things that pope Gregory VII declared?
3. Religious beliefs or opinions that differ from the norm are known as _________; in
response to this, the Church created the __________ to identify and try people with these
beliefs.
4. What were the Crusades primarily fought over?
5. The Fourth Crusade resulted in European Christians sacking the city of __________
instead of their initial target.
WARM UP1. What is an interdict?
– Declaration by the pope forbidding people from receiving sacred rites
2. In his goal to reform the Church, what were two things that pope Gregory VII declared?
– The pope is God’s voice on earth; the pope has authority over all Christians; the Church can appoint
its own leaders
3. Religious beliefs or opinions that differ from the norm are known as _________; in
response to this, the Church created the __________ to identify and try people with these
beliefs.
– Heresy; Inquisition
4. What were the Crusades primarily fought over?
– Jerusalem and Antioch
5. The Fourth Crusade resulted in European Christians sacking the city of __________
instead of their initial target.
– Constantinople
ARCHITECTURE
• Gothic style of architecture emerged in Europe during the
Middle Ages
– Flying buttresses allowed for taller, thinner walls; Gothic
churches were tall and pointed
• meant to look like the building is reaching to God
– Filled with stained glass windows
UNIVERSITIES• First European university appeared in Bologna, Italy
– Male only
• Students learned liberal arts
– Grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy
– Bachelor of arts > master of arts > doctor of law, medicine, or theology
• Theology (study of religion) is the most respected doctoral degree
• Scholasticism emerges
– Scholasticism: medieval movement to prove that faith is in harmony with
reason/logic
• Literature starts to be written in vernacular (everyday language);
French, Spanish, English, German
C H A P T E R 1 2 . 4L AT E M I D D L E A G E S
THE BLACK DEATH
• Late 1200s, Europe enters “little ice age”; leads to the Great Famine as crops
die
– Famine led to malnutrition and weakened immune systems
• Bubonic plague spread by black rats infested with fleas carrying deadly bacteria
– Plague rapidly spread along trade routes
– In four years, 1/3 of European population killed by plague
• Different beliefs about its origin:
– Punishment from God
– Satan
– Jews
• Fear of Jews creating and spreading plague led to anti-Semitism (hostility
towards Jews)