Chapter 8 - European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages, 750-1000

Byzantium

Byzantium

Although ________ was beset with internal dissension and invasions in the ninth century, it was able to deal with them and not only endured but even expanded, reaching its high point in the tenth century, which some historians have called the golden age of Byzantine civilization.

Baghdad

________ became the center of an enormous trade empire that extended into Europe, Asia, and Africa, greatly adding to the wealth of the Islamic world.

Charlemagne

________ had a strong desire to revive learning in his kingdom, an attitude that stemmed from his own intellectual curiosity as well as the need to provide educated clergy for the church and literate officials for the government.

Pepins

________ death in 768 brought to the throne of the Frankish kingdom his son, a dynamic and powerful ruler known to his- tory as Charles the Great or Charlemagne.

Bulgars

Although the ________ were originally an Asiatic people who conquered much of the Balkan peninsula, they were eventually absorbed by the larger native southern Slavic population.

Muslims

________ embellished their buildings with unique decorative art that avoided representation of living things because their religion prohibited the making of graven images.

tradition of Germanic

In the ________ kings, Charlemagne was a determined warrior who undertook fifty- four military campaigns.

Serfs

________ also paid the lord for the use of the manors common pasturelands, streams, ponds, and surrounding woodlands.

Macedonian rulers

Under the ________, Byzantium enjoyed a strong civil service, talented emperors, and military advances.

Abbasid rulers

The ________ brought much change to the world of Islam.

meager harvests

Drought or too much rain could mean ________, famine, and dietary deficiencies that made people susceptible to a wide range of diseases.

Islamic cities

________ had a distinctive physical appearance due to their common use of certain architectural features, such as the pointed arch and traceried windows, and specific kinds of buildings.

Abbasids

In 762, the ________ built a new capital city, Baghdad, on the Tigris River far to the east of Damascus.

Swedish Vikings

________, known to the eastern Slavs as Varangians, moved down the extensive network of rivers into the lands of the eastern Slavs in search of booty and new trade routes.

labor requirements

Although ________ varied from manor to manor and person to person, a common work obligation was three days a week.

southern Slavic peoples

The ________ were converted to the Eastern Orthodox Christianity of the Byzantine Empire by two Byzantine missionary brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who began their activities in 863.

Byzantine civil service

The ________ was staffed by well- educated, competent aristocrats from Constantinople who oversaw the collection of taxes, domestic administration, and foreign policy.

Arabs

The ________ were truly heirs to the remaining Greco- Roman culture of the Roman Empire.

Charlemagne

________ was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious.

Serfs

________ could be required to bring their grain to the lords mill and pay a fee to have it ground into flour.

Muslim

Although the Quran instructed men to treat women with respect, the male was dominant in ________ society.

Bulgars

The ________ were defeated, and both the eastern and western parts of Bulgaria were annexed to the empire.

Charlemagne

________ personally promoted learning by establishing a palace school and encouraging scholars from all over Europe to come to the Carolingian court.

Serfs

________ were required to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lords jurisdiction.

Charlemagne

________ was a deter- mined and decisive man, intelligent and inquisitive.

Charlemagne

________ encouraged his own artists to look to the arts of ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire.

Muslim

Although the Quran instructed men to treat women with respect, the male was dominant in ________ society.

Early Middle Ages

The cultivation of new land proved especially difficult in the ________. Given the crude implements of the time, it was not easy to clear forests and prepare the ground for planting.

Hungarian Graves

One study of ________ found that of every five skeletons, one was a child below the age of one, and two were children between one and fourteen; more than one in five was a woman below the age of twenty.

Carolingian Renaissance

His efforts led to a revival of learning and culture that some historians have labeled the ________, or ‘‘rebirth’’ of learning.

Alcuin

Best known was ________, from the famous school at York, founded as part of the great revival of learning in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.

French

By the ninth century, inhabitants of the western Frankish area were speaking a Romance language derived from Latin that became ________.

Byzantine Empire

During the reign of Michael III, the ________ began to experience a revival.

Constantinople

Thanks to this prosperity, the city of ________ flourished. To western Europeans, it was the stuff of legends and fables.

Barbarians

The Germans assumed responsibility for the conversion of these Slavic peoples because German emperors considered it their duty to spread Christianity to the ________.

al-Hakeem

One caliph, ________, collected books from different parts of the world and then had them translated into Arabic and Latin.

Cordoba

Large numbers of women served as teachers and librarians in ________.