Early Middle Ages
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Created by:
jlundquist on February 23, 2011
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32 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 heresy | an opinion different from accepted belief; the denial of an idea that is generally held sacred |
| feudalism | a political and military system based on the granting of land in return for loyalty, military assistance and services. |
| vassal | person granted land in return for services |
| fief | grant of land from a lord to a vassal |
| primogeniture | inheritance of a fief only by the oldest son |
| manor | economic unit of the Middle Ages consisting of a large estate with manor house, fields and a village |
| domain | portion of manor the lord kept for his own use |
| serf | (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord |
| chivalry | code of conduct for knights |
| sacrament | a special Christian ceremony in which participants received graces from God |
| monasticism | system of monasteries and convents in which Christians withdrew from the world to lead a life of prayer, fasting and self-denial |
| abbot | head of a monastery |
| canon law | church law |
| interdict | church's punishment of an entire region by withholding some sacrament |
| tithe | church tax representing one tenth of a person's income collected from all Christians |
| simony | purchase of a church office or job |
| inquisition | church's efforts to eliminate heresy |
| curia | advisors to the pope |
| cardinals | most important members of the curia, they elected the popes |
| St. Francis of Assisi | founder of a preaching order of monks |
| Domesday book | A record of all the property and holdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1066 so he could determine the extent of his lands and wealth |
| knight | a mounted warrior |
| monastery | self-contained community for people who have taken religious vows |
| crusader | A Christian soldier who fought to free the Holy Land from Muslim Turks in the Middle Ages. The word means "carrier of the cross" |
| rune | any character from an ancient Germanic alphabet used in Scandinavia from the 3rd century to the Middle Ages |
| saga | Scandinavian myth; any legend; long heroic narrative |
| fjord | a long narrow inlet of the sea between steep cliffs |
| drakken | ships used by the Vikings to raid and plunder villages; were intimidating; could hold lots of men |
| epic | a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds |
| frank | a member of the ancient Germanic peoples who spread from the Rhine into the Roman Empire in the 4th century |
| Norse | the northern family of Germanic languages that are spoken in Scandinavia and Iceland |
| excommunication | the act of banishing a member of the Church from the communion of believers and the privileges of the Church |
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