Ch. 10 Strayer
Holy Roman Empire
An empire established in Europe in the 10th century CE, originally consisting mainly of lands in what is now Germany and Italy.
Water-driven mill
An engine powered by rivers adopted in Europe by the ninth century CE. (technology)
Windmill
An engine powered by the wind designed to produce energy from an inexhaustible source. Adopted in Europe c. twelfth-thirteenth centuries. (technology)
Gunpowder
An invention originating in China but adopted in Europe by the fourteenth century.
Bulgars
Asiatic people, defeated the Eastern Roman forces, took possession of the lower Danube Valley, set up a strong Bulgarian kingdom.
Nestorius
Bishop of Constantinople who called for the council of Ephesus because he believed Jesus was 2 persons, started Nestorian branch of the Christian Church.
Cyril and Methodius
Byzantine missionaries sent to convert eastern Europe and Balkans; responsible for creation of Slavic written script called Cyrillic.
Cordoba
Capital of Muslim Andalusia (Spain), an economic center; hundreds of workshops; culture and learning flourished there.
Eastern Orthodoxy
Church established in the Byzantine Empire after the split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054; Greek & Russian Orthodox Churches descend from this.
Iconoclast Controversy
Conflict caused by the eastern emperor's decision to condemn the use of icons in worship vs. Catholics in western Europe that worshiped icons.
711
Date for the Muslim conquest of Spain.
1054
Date of the Great Schism in the Christian Church (Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox.)
1095
Date of the beginning of the Crusades.
800
Date that Charlemagne was crowned Emperor.
1204
Date that the 4th crusaders sacked the most important city in Christendom: Constantinople.
1453
Date that the Byzantine Empire's capital was conquered by the Turks.
Anselm
(1033-1109) Archbishop of Canterbury best known for his Ontological Argument for the existence of God ("God is the being that has all perfections, existence is a perfection, therefore God must exist).
1225-1274
Dates for Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian of Western Christianity who blended Aristotle's teachings with those of Christianity. "Scholasticism."
Heavy Plow
Device of the sixth century CE permitting the turning of heavy northern soils in Northern Europe, rotating crops, and increased agricultural production.
Adelard of Bath
(1080-1142) This man traveled to Spain, translated Ptolemy and Euclid's Elements and gave Europe astronomy and geometry. He himself also observed light travels faster than sound and believed God was an explanation reserved only for when others failed.
Bernard of Clairvaux
(1090-1153) Christian thinker who emphasized the role of faith in preference to logic; stressed importance of mystical union with God; successfully challenged Abelard and had him driven from the universities.
Byzantine Empire
(330-1453) The eastern half of the Roman Empire, which survived after the Western Empire was conquered by the Germans at the end of the 5th century C.E. Its capital was Constantinople, named after the Emperor Constantine.
Peter Abelard
1079-1142. A brilliant orator and very influential Christian thinker who was, nonetheless, very controversial: first for his affair with his teenage charge, and then for his unorthodox views. One of the pioneers of Scholasticism.
Justinian
6th century Byzantine emperor; failed to reconquer the western portions of the empire; rebuilt Constantinople; codified Roman law.
Franks
A Germanic people who settled in the Roman province of Gaul (France).
Ottoman Empire
A Muslim empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300's to 1922.
Council of Nicea
A council called by Constantine in A.C.E 325 in order to solidify further teachings of Chrisitianity. In Nicea in Anatolia (Turkey,) the Church leaders wrote the Nicene Creed, which defines the basic beliefs of many Christian churches.
Nestorianism
A form of Christianity that emerged in the 5th century CE. It was based upon the teachings of Nestor who taught, essentially, that Jesus was two beings at the same time. Usually practiced outside of Europe. Was briefly very influential in China.
Bezant
A gold coin of the Byzantine Empire.
Constantinople
A large and wealthy city that was the imperial capital of the Byzantine empire and later the Ottoman empire, now known as Istanbul.
Arius
A man that was the cause for doctrinal dissensions of the church in the early 4th century because he believed that Jesus, being created by his Father, was inferior to God, meaning he was only semi-divine. This was ruled as heresy at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Feudalism
A political, economic, and social system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land (serfs.)
Caesaropapism
A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire. "Caesar over Pope."
Dnieper River
A river that rises in Russia near Smolensk and flowing south through Belarus and Ukraine to empty into the Black Sea.
Three-field system
A system of farming developed in medieval Europe, in which farm land was divided into three fields of equal size and each of these was successively planted with a winter crop, planted with a spring crop, and left un-planted.
Russification
A tsarist program that required non-Russians to speak only Russian and provided education only for those groups loyal to Russia.
Hildegard of Bingen
Abbess of a religious house in Western Germany; one of first important women composers and contributor to Gregorian chant; had visions and was mystic and prophet to kings, popes, emperors, priests (1098-1179.) (role of women)
High Middle Ages
Age of Faith (1000-1300,) People all over western Europe began to look to the Church and to the people to provide moral and spiritual leadership. Spurred on by the success of the Gregorian reform movement, this was a time of vast increase in the power and reputation of the Church and papacy.
Venice
An Italian trading city on the Adriatic Sea; agreed to help the Byzantines' effort to regain the lands in return for trading privileges in Constantinople.
Cyrillic
An alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet and used for writing Slavic languages.
Roger Bacon
English scientist and Franciscan monk who stressed the importance of experimentation and helped lay important foundations for science. (c. 1260)
Tertullian
Father of Latin theology c. 150-225 CE. He disliked the influence of Greek Rationalism on Christianity and famously quoted "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"
Julian of Norwich
Female hermit and anchoress (lived in room attached to a church) who spoke about Jesus in feminine terms. (role of women)
Baltic Trade
Fish, salt, wood, beeswax, furs, rye, wheat, cloth, and wine. Items traded on the sea around the north of Europe. (trade)
University of Paris
Gained great prestige between 1259 and 1281 with programs in theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. First university in Western Europe.
Aristotle
Hugely influential upon European scholasticism in the Middle Ages. His logical approach and "scientific temperament" influenced European intellectuals more than anyone else. His writings became the basis for European university education and largely dominated the thought of Western Europe in the five centuries after 1200.
Thor
Important God in the Norse pantheon. Namesake for "Thursday."
Beguines
Independent communities of laywomen that first emerged in Europe in the High Middle Ages. They had no rule or permanent religious vows, but they shared a form of common life and engaged in contemplative prayer or ministries of caring for the sick and poor. (role of women)
Kievan Rus
State that emerged around the city of Kiev in the Ninth century CE; a culturally diverse region that included Vikings as well as Finnic and Baltic peoples. The conversion of Vladimir, the grand price of Kiev, to Orthodox Christianity in 988 had long-term implications for Russia.
Genoa
Name the port in northern Italy that has a long history of shipbuilding and was Christopher Columbus's birthplace.
Scratch Plow
Plow used before the Heavy plow (c. 500 CE) and was pulled by man and less successful in mixing soil.
Greek
Primary language for the Byzantine Empire. Contrasted with Latin Christianity in the West, Byzantine language tended to influence Eastern Christianity. More so than in the West, Byzantine thinkers sought to formulate Christian doctrine in terms of Greek philosophical concepts.
Vernacular Languages
The common speech of the masses. They were the alternative to Latin, the language of the learned. The late Middle Ages saw the rise of this form of literature which began to flourish in the 14th century as is exemplified by the works of Petrarch (1304-74), Boccaccio (1313-75). and Chaucer (1342-1400). Though Latin remained the universal tongue of scholarship, politics, and the Church in Western Europe until after the Middle Ages and the Reformation.
1000
The date for the Viking settlement of "Vinland" in North America by Leif Ericsson.
Plato's Academy
The philosophical school founded by Plato in 385 BCE. The Roman emperor Justinian I closed it in 529 CE, a date that some call the beginning of the "Dark Ages."
Woden
The supreme god in the Anglo-Saxon pantheon. He had magical healing powers, a tricky nature, and strength in battle. Anglo-Saxon kings claimed to be his descendants. Namesake for "Wednesday."
Germanic Kingdoms
They began to replace Roman provinces in Western Europe in the years of upheaval between 400 and 600. The borders of these kingdoms changed constantly with the fortunes of war.
Oxford
University that emerged in England c. late 13th century.
Italian City-States
Venice, Milan, Florence, Naples.
Latin Christianity
Western Christian church headed by the Pope in Rome. Influential in Western Europe.
Latin Language
Written and spoken Roman language, basis for modern Romance Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. Very influential on English after the Norman conquest of England in 1066.