"all is for the best" echoed Pangloss of Voltaire's Candide (Lamm 175 ln 46). Pangloss believed that if something happens, then it is for a reason. He held that the, sometimes, bitter end-effect-was justified by the predestined and inevitable means-cause. Pangloss represented the...

To combat the Vikings and other invaders, many European rulers enlisted the aid of nobles under system known as feudalism. The nobles pledged their military assistance and their loyalty to the rulers in return for land and protection. The land a noble received was called a manor. Each manor wa...

Crusades In the Middle Ages, Christians considered Palestine the Holy Land because it was where Jesus had lived and taught. The Arabs had conquered Palestine in the 600s. Most Arabs were Muslims, but they usually tolerated other religions. Jews and Christians who paid their taxes and obse...

It has been asked if it is fair to consider the Middle Ages as "the Dark Ages" or was it only a continuation of trends that were long underway by the time the Renaissance occurred. Can we say there was no true political expansion? Would we be accurate in saying there were no new thou...

Causes and Effects of Crusades Towards 1071 AD, Seldjuk Turks had grown powerful and had started conquering the East. Christians began to find it difficult to reach the holy places during their pilgrimages. The military expeditions planned and fought by western European Christians that began arou...

"Napoleon I is sometimes called the greatest enlightened despot." Evaluate this assessment in terms of Napoleon I's policies and accomplishments. During the Enlightenment, many Enlightenment thinkers wanted to educate and enlighten the monarchs, who then could use that knowledge to enforce ...

The church was a major feature during the Middle Ages. Their life was centered around the Catholic Church. It grew with many importances to the people in the Middle Ages, and if it weren't for the church, everything would have been in terrible shape. During this time, Monks and missionaries w...

The Crusades One great theme of the middle ages would have to be the crusades and how they changed history in many different ways. The crusades changed a lot of things about society in that day including helping trade and also sparking interest in other cultures which paved the way for the renaiss...

Assess the condition of the Roman Catholic Church on the eve of the reformation. In the 1400 - 1500's there were many changes that took place. These changes were religious, political, social and economical. In the 1500, a large part of Europe was Christian. Muslims were common too though, espec...

Frederick Barbarossa, like other men of his age, was influenced by a growing resurgence of neoclassical sensibilities. It should not therefore be considered surprising that he would have considered himself ruling as "Frederick, by the grace of God emperor of the Romans and august forever....

At the meeting in Canossa between Henry IV and Gregory VII, it may appear that Gregory had been victorious. He showed his power over the king by excommunicating him and denying him his throne until he gave penance. But, in actuality, Henry was the victor. By saying he was sorry for his sins by the d...

Martin Luther was a revolutionary thinker born during the latter part of the fifteenth century in Catholic Germany. During this time the papacy in Rome was growing in stature and in corruption. Pope Leo X was working on the St. Peter's Basilica and was being creative in its financing. In o...

"Historical Significance" is an idea of how important a certain subject, person, or act is to that time and in some circumstances the future. In other words historical significance is the who, what, when, where, why and how of this subject, person, or act. Part B) Write and essay on the ...

The Catholic Reformation I INTRODUCTION Counter-Reformation, movement within the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th and 17th centuries that sought to revitalize the Church and to oppose Protestantism. Some historians object to the term as implying only the negative elements in the movement, and t...