Chapter 19 Lesson 2 Guided Reading
Feudalism and the Rise of Towns
Write out the question and answers: this will help your prepare for your project and tests so complete it!!
1. What was life like for people in the Middle Ages?
2. Would you have wanted to live in medieval Europe?
3. What did land-owning nobles offer to the people living on their lands?
4. What did people living of their lands offer the nobles in return?
5. What were the causes of feudalism?
6. What benefits did feudalism provide for ordinary Europeans?
7. Write out the vassal’s oath to his lord on page 549.
8. Explain the oath in your own words.
9. Which level represents the vassals in the feudal order?
10. What does the triangle shape of the graph indicate about the different classes in the feudal system?
11. What is the function and purpose of the drawbridge? Page 550
12. Where are the bedrooms compared to the servant’s quarters and what does this indicate?
13. What is a motte?
14. What was the purpose of building the keep on the motte?
15. What other features were designed to protect the castle and its residents?
16. What made of the lands of a fief?
17. What was a manor?
18. What are 3 main parts of a medieval manor?
19. What did a serf owe a noble for living on his land?
20. Why didn’t most serfs just leave the noble’s land?
21. What furniture did a serf’s house contain?
22. What crops did serfs plant in the spring?
23. Would you like to live on a medieval manor? Why or why not?
24. What are two main reasons why the population began to grow?
25. What were some of the new forms of technology that resulted in more crops?
26. What do the three Italian cities on page 553 have in common?
27. What industry became successful in these cities?
28. As these cities grew, with whom did they trade?
29. What were the two main classes in the early Middle Ages?
30. What factors created the new middle class in Europe?
31. Why did members of the new middle class try to break with the nobles who controlled towns under
the feudal system?