Test Revision: Feudalism, Sources, and Concepts in History

Feudalism: Roles and Obligations

• King grants land to nobles to swear loyalty
• Nobles swear loyalty and military service
• Knights fought for nobles and protected the land
• Peasants worked hard and paid rent/tax in food or services

Primary and Secondary Sources

• Secondary sources: books, textbooks, articles that provide secondary information about an incident
• Interpretation of primary sources: secondary sources often interpret or analyze original records
• Primary sources: original records or physical objects created by the time being studied; provide direct evidence of the past
• Examples of primary sources: artifacts and documents
• Role of sources in history: use to understand what happened and how people experienced events

What Makes a Historical Event Significant?

• Significance involves the cause of real change
• It sparks a shift in real time and society
• Examples mentioned: COVID-19 (COVID pandemic) and the Black Death
• What changed? How can we connect it to today?
• Significance also comes from the broad impact: it affected many people around the world

The 7 Concepts of Understanding History

• Empathy: understanding how others felt and experienced events
• Feudalism: concept/structure used to understand the political and social system described in the notes
• Contestability: different interpretations or disputes about historical events or sources
• Evidence: use of sources to support historical claims
• Community and Change: how communities are formed, sustain themselves, and transform over time
• Significance: why an event matters in the broader historical narrative
• Effect and Cause: understanding the causal relationships between events and their outcomes

Connections to Today and Real-World Relevance

• How historical methods (primary vs secondary sources) help verify information today
• Recognizing the factors that lead to societal change and applying to contemporary events
• Reflecting on how large-scale events (like pandemics) affect people globally and over time

Additional Notes

• Page 2 content is not provided in the transcript
• Remember to distinguish between original records (primary sources) and later analyses (secondary sources)
• Use the seven concepts as a framework for analyzing any historical topic