US History final

The Medieval period of history was a time of enormous change . In many parts of the world it was a time of growth and expansion . In most of Europe however it was a time of instability and stagnation . The fall of the Roman Empire caused a wave of instability in Europe , decentralizing governmental control , but it did pave the way for the expansion of the Islamic culture . The birth and growth of Islam was also instrumental in unifying Christian Europe under Charlemagne but that also set the stage for the Crusades and the

thousand years of strife between Christians and Muslims . The Black Plague effectively brought Europe economic development to a halt toward the end of the Middle Ages due to the dramatic decrease in population of the serfs whose labor fueled the Aquarian economy . In the Middle East Genghis Khan and the Mongol Hordes brought the expansion and prosperity of Islam to a halt . The Medieval period was both a time of growth and a time of stagnation

The Fall of the Roman Empire caused an enormous vacuum in the governmental structure of Europe . It caused the rise of Manorialism which established small local political organization . It was a system designed to establish communal agricultural activity and centered around serfdom . The West was vulnerable to invasions and the kingdoms were established to provide protection using the militarized aristocracy The in tern expected a portion of the produce to be paid to them in exchange for their protection . Serfs did retain ownership of their houses and could pass property on from one generation to another but the land belonged to the lords . The only centralizing influence at that time was the Catholic Church . Popes attempted to impose a centralized government based on the old Roman Empire . Germanic kings , such as Clovis of the Franks , converted to Christianity as a means of securing their own authority over their lands . By the eighth century , the Carolingian family took over the Frankish monarchy . The most important of these rulers was Charles the Great , Charlemagne . He was able to unify much of Western Europe under his control and the title of emperor was given to him by Pope Leo III . Under Charlemagne there was a revival of learning in monasteries that he had established . Thousands of books from the ancient world were copied at his scriptoria . Almost all the Latin classics which have survived in Europe have come down to us through those copyists he employed . Before his death in 814 , he had established an enormous empire that stretched from Italy through Germany and France , covering most of continental Western Europe bringing both political and cultural stability . For the first five centuries of the middle ages until his reign cultural achievements in western Europe were stagnant . It wasn 't until the ninth and tenth centuries that western Europe that a series of technological innovations began to increase agricultural productivity and enhance economic prosperity . Population began to increase and more demand for goods began to...