Learning Targets - European Middle Ages 500-1200

Institutions of the Middle Ages

Early Middle Ages – Rise of Germanic Kingdoms

1. Students will be able to identify the effects of Germanic invasions on the Western Roman Empire i.e. social, education, political, economic, demographics 
2. Students will be able to understand the position and role of the church, and the importance of monasteries & convents. 
3. Students will be able to identify the new sources of authority and institutions in the Middle Ages.
4. Students will be able to describe the rise, renaissance and fall of Charlemagne’s empire.

Development of Feudalism & Manorialism

1. Students will be able to explain the origin of the Vikings and the effects of new invasions by Vikings, Muslims and Magyars on western Europe
2. Students will be able to summarize the cause, structure and effects of feudalism
3. Students will be able to explain the role of the manor system in the feudal economy and the conditions faced by the peasant class.

Warfare, Knighthood, Chivalry and Society/Culture

1. Students will be able to describe the changes in feudal warfare (technology and tactics) and development of the knightly class.
2. Students will understand chivalry and conditions faced by knights.
3. Students will be able to describe the way chivalry, knighthood and women are portrayed in medieval literature and contrast it with reality.

Church Power and Power Struggles

1. Students will be able to describe the church’s structure, influence and power
2. Students will be able to explain the relationship between the Church and the German empire.
3. Students will be able to describe the lay investiture controversy and its effect on power and authority in Europe.
4. Students will be able to explain why the feudal states of Germany did not unify during the Middle Ages and effect later in European history