1.
bishopric: a group of Christian communities, or parishes, under the authority of a bishop
2.
chivalry: in the middle ages, the ideal of civilized behavior that developed among the nobility ; it was a code of ethics that knights were supposed to uphold.
3.
feudal contract: under feudalism, the unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and a vassal
4.
feudalism: Political and social system that developed during the Middle Ages, when royal governments where no longer able to defend their subjects; noble s offered protection and land in return for service.
5.
fief: under feudalism, a grant of land made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within the fief
6.
knight: under feudalism, a member of the heavily armored calvary
7.
missionary: a person sent out to carry a religious message
8.
monasticism: practice of living the life of a monk
9.
monk: a man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate himself to God; monks live in monasteries headed by abbots
10.
nun: a woman who separates herself from ordinary society in order to dedicate herself to God; nuns live in convents headed by the abbesses
11.
ordeal: A means of determining guilt in Germanic law, based on the idea of divine intervention: if accused person was unharmed after physical trial, he or she was presumed innocent.
12.
pope: the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church
13.
vassal: under feudalism, a man who served a lord in military capacity
14.
wergild: "money for a man,' the value of a person in money, depending on social status; in Germanic society, a fine paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured of killed