CHAPTER 13
Changes in European Institutions
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, Western Europe underwent a period of
political, economic, and social upheaval that continued until about 900 CE. The one stabilizing force
throughout most of Western Europe was the Roman Catholic Church. Only in Spain, dominated by
Muslim influences, did the learning of the Greeks and Romans thrive in Western Europe.
Key Terms
benefice
chivalry
excommunication
feudalism
fief
Gothic architecture
investiture
Magna Carta
manorialism
medieval
Middle Ages
moldboard plow
parliament
vassal*