Middle Ages Vocab
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38 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 vassals | lesser lords who pledged their service and loyalty to a greater lord -- in a military capacity |
| Fief | an estate; from a few acres to hundreds of square miles; also included the peasants that worked the land |
| Knight | a mounted warrior who had great prestige in the Middle Ages; they dominated warfare in Europe |
| Chivalry | a code that knights adopted in the late Middle Ages; requiring them to be brave, loyal and true to their word; they had to fight fairly in battle |
| Troubadours | wandering poets; their love songs focused on cherishing and protecting women |
| Manor | lord's estate |
| Serf | peasants on a manor; they were bound to the land; they were not slaves who could be bought and sold—still they were not free |
| Secular | worldly; associated with the world |
| Sacraments | the sacred rituals of the Church |
| Canon Law | the Church's own body of laws; this law applied to religious teachings, the behavior of the clergy, and even marriages and morals |
| Excommunication | the most severe penalty for refusing to obey Church laws; if you were excommunicated - could not be buried on sacred ground and could not receive the sacraments |
| Interdict | popes consider this to be their "spiritual weapon"; what you faced if you violated Church laws; which excluded an entire town, region, or kingdom from participating in most sacraments and from receiving Christian burial |
| Tithe | a tax equal to a tenth of one's income; this idea existed in ancient religions before Christianity; used to help the poor |
| Anti-Semitism | prejudice and hostility against Jews |
| Charter | written document that set out the rights and privileges of the town -- in return for the charter, merchants paid the lord or the king a large sum of money or a yearly fee or both |
| Capital | money for investments, spurred the growth of banking houses; banking houses were needed when merchants pooled their money together to finance big projects that would have been impossible for individual traders |
| Usury | lending money at interest |
| Guilds | business associations that dominated medieval towns; they passed laws, levied taxes, built protective walls for the city, etc. Each guild represented workers in one occupation such as weavers, bakers, brewers, sword makers, etc. |
| Apprentice | a trainee in a particular trade; a long process that youngsters went through to obtain membership in a guild (around 7 or 8 yrs. of age) |
| Wergild | a fine, the amount paid by the wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured or killed; translates as "money for a man" |
| Ordeal | a means of determining guilt in Germanic law; it was based on the idea of divine intervention; all involved a physical trial of some sort for example using red hot irons |
| Bishopric | also called diocese; a group of parishes headed by a bishop --- his area of authority is called this |
| Monk | a man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order to pursue a life of total dedication to God |
| Abbot | head of a monastery |
| Monasticism | the practice of living the life of a monk |
| Missionaries | people sent out to carry a religious message; also focuses on converting non-Christians to Christianity |
| Nun | a female who dedicates her life to God; avoids the things of the world |
| Abbesses | head of a convent |
| Scriptoria | writing rooms where monks copied the works of early Christianity, such as the Bible, but also the works of Latin classical authors |
| Feudalism | a political system and a social system where by a powerful lord would offer "protection" in return for "service" |
| Feudal Contract | an unwritten set of rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal - the major obligation was to perform military service (40 days a year) |
| Tournaments | contest where knights could fight; useful in helping knights train for war |
| Common Law | laws that were common to the whole kingdom --- this began to replace law codes that varied from place to place |
| Magna Carta | a written document that gave recognition to the relationship between king and vassals |
| Estates | another term for "classes" of people [the clergy (first estate), nobles (second estate), townspeople & peasants (third estate)] |
| Schism | a separation between the two branches of Christianity |
| Crusades | military expeditions to gain (regain) the Holy Land from the Muslims (from 11th to the 13th centuries) |
| Infidels | unbelievers - referring to the Muslims |
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